A “Pink Family” Plant Spring

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Recent writings by a couple of my favorite bloggers has me considering more signs of spring than searching for new greenery and emerging plants. Those springs behind us are memories, and those ahead are spring-like visions. Anyway, I started thinking about my stash of Wedgewood Bone China. Its pattern, “Campion” depicts flowers of the “pink family”, pink and white with notched pedals.

Many years ago, while in England on business for about a month, I decided to acquire some real English pottery and for weeks searched, examining carefully the patterns on every bit of porcelain I came across. All I knew about bone china was that it’s pretty to look at and not heavy to handle. I enjoyed the idea of drinking from cups that allow natural light to shine through. I returned often to the Campion pattern, which was problematic, for it wasn’t highly popular and not easily obtainable in the U.S. Anyway, I went for it, had a set shipped home to California.

Unfortunately, the package arrived (finally!) with many broken pieces, and by the way, a lesson-learned. Nevertheless, I had enough pieces to support embracing tea-drinking as I’d done overseas. Over time, teas became secondary to trends like Starbucks and emerging better coffees. Eventually, my purchase of a Keurig sent the Wedgewood into semi-storage–in a glass display case, where often I paused to look at it.

Sometimes I’d remove a piece of the china and look closely, wondering what had attracted me in the first place. I still loved the pattern, and oddly, it didn’t occur to me that its strength was related to the subject of spring. That’s the unfortunate way of a working city girl, who neither gardens nor nor much breathes deeply in natural surroundings.

It wasn’t accidental that upon retiring, I changed my intense, focused life for one that’s semi-rural, casual, and smack in the middle of Oregon. Only after retiring did I become involved with nature, which unexpectedly arose from my impulse to acquire a horse. My horse carried me on local trails and high in the mountains, where for the first time, I moved in oceans of wildflowers and smelled varying airs of the seasons.

This morning, I pulled out a Campion mug, examined more closely its pattern and could see spring itself. After all these years, I reached into myself and experienced more than a delicate arrangement of pretty florals. I could see and feel the season ahead.

And now, I raise a coffee-filled Campion mug in salute to those bloggers who’ve encourage me to reconsider old perceptions. I’ll appreciate more this oncoming Spring, thanks to an unknown and talented pottery artist, who’s sweet signs of what’s ahead are in my sights.

Dear Readers: Renewing old perceptions takes time, effort, and focus. Diana