So, How Does YOUR Mind Work?

This is the antique pottery version of a Rohrschach test. 

Think of this piece of old china as an ink blot.  Quick!  Read the word.

Don't think about it -- what springs to your mind?

If you are like me, you read "Zucker" and think, "Sugar."   I took 5 years of German in school.
If you are like my Mother, you see "Zucker," but you think something else entirely. 

Something that doesn't begin with a "Z" or an "S."

My mother didn't study German and, more importantly, she loved a good naughty laugh.

That's all I'm saying.

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Full disclosure: it says Zucker, in Old German type.  I took German so long ago,

that some of our material was printed in the old style, and we had to learn it.  It means Sugar.

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I fell in love with antiques when I was very young,

and bought this old canister at a Long Island antiques shop while I was still in my teens.

It must have been very cheap for me to afford it!

When my Mom saw it, she burst out laughing and said,

"You aren't really going to put that out in public, are you?"

I didn't understand why she was so amused.  Being my Mom, she explained.

I held my ground; it was Zucker, and that was that.

It's lived in my kitchens, all 7 of them.

That's the Grandma Cake I made for my Dad on Sunday.  A big hit.

 When my kids got old enough to read, I tucked the Zucker side to the back.

What if they took after my mother -- who had never stopped teasing me about it?

It sits on the hutch in my kitchen now, Zucker proudly facing outward for all the world to see.

I took it down today to take pictures in the sunroom, where the light is good even on a rainy day like today,

and every little blemish and dirt pimple shows on the canister.  Real life.

I am not sure where it is from, although it's probably from Germany, maybe Austria.

Underneath, the mark is pressed into the pottery.  There are numbers and a beehive.  Any clues?

Oops. Wait. That may be upside down.  That beehive may be a shield.  :-P

Hey! That works better.  Looks like 3854 and a shield.

I have absolutely no idea what that means.

That's my Mom's old mortar and pestle.  It has been well used and smells faintly of cardamom.

I still like this old bit of kitchenware, and it makes me think of my mother whenever I look at it.

I miss her teasing me about it.

It's a rainy, rainy Monday in New Jersey.  But the linky parties brighten up the day!  -- Cass

At Smiling Sally, it's Blue Monday.  Click here!

 At Little Red House, it's Mosaic Monday.  Click here!

 At The House In The Roses, it's Show Off Your Cottage Monday.  Click here!

 And at Southern Hospitality, Today's Thrifty Treasues are featured on Mondays.  Click here!