A replacement

And also an early anniversary present. Back story is here. I've looked online for a replacement occasionally over the last couple of years as has Kent with no luck until this week.

Behold the new butter dish:

The original one was turquoise, and we really liked that color a lot. But I also really like this color for two reasons. First, this color was only made between 1951 and 1959 which is also when Kent's mother got her dishes (toward the end of the decade after she got married). And second, we have the teapot, sugar dish and creamer in the same color. I am beyond happy we were able to replace this--and yes, it's most definitely housed back against the wall to keep it safe from Wally's pushy paws.

Heartsick

When Kent and I first got together we began collecting Harlequin dishes to complete the set his mother had passed on from the early days of her marriage. Harlequin dishes are similar to Fiesta in that they are brightly colored and have a distinctive shape, but the Harlequin ones are not collected as much so finding some of the pieces was pretty hard. You can read about the differences here, and see pictures of some pieces here. Our first or second Christmas together, Kent managed to find a butter dish and gave it to me. I wish I could show you a picture of what the dish looked like—it could hold a full pound of butter and ours was the really cool turquoise color.

Last night we were awakened by something breaking. Wally moved the butter dish from its spot against the wall on our pass through and far from any edges all the way to the edge where he pushed it off. To be honest with you, I cried. The dish was beyond salvaging in any way and was not only in pieces but parts were nothing but slivers. We know it was Wally because Eddie was under the covers with us and Chloe never gets on the counter, ever.

We almost certainly will not be able to replace that dish—in my brief search online this morning; I didn’t find a single one for sale. As I said, they are pretty rare and those who have Harlequin tend to keep them. It’s one thing when Wally destroys a roll of paper towel. This is different and I’m really struggling with not being angry with him.