February Guest Blogger Carol H.

Hi there,
For those of you whom I haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting, my name is Carol and to kick off my stint as February's Guest blogger, Maggie has asked me to put together a few things about myself so here we go.................
My husband and I have been married for fifty years. We have two children and two grand children.
We now live on ten beautiful acres in the tiny town of Fort White in North Florida after a permanent move from West Palm Beach about four years ago. Our new home is small and comfortable and just right for our collections of Quimper, railroad lanterns, primitives and American Country antiques.
Bill is retired from the Nursery and Landscape business, a business we owned and operated for 37 years before retiring.
I have a degree in Nursing and spent most of my career in the field of Obstetrics. Although I gained a great deal of satisfaction as a nurse, my first love and God given talent is in the field of art and creativity. I am an avid reader and have learned to paint, sculpt, sew, knit, crochet and decorate eggs, just to name a few, from reading books.
My interest in Quimper started innocently enough at the age of eleven.
My father died when I was six, leaving my mother a young widow with a limited education and a child to raise alone.
As so often back then, she had been a housewife during their marriage and her career choices were, to say the least, limited.
She knew how to clean and she was good at it! So, it wasn't surprising that she chose to become a domestic.
Over the years that followed, Mom worked for a number of very wealthy people in and around the Hollywood, FL area where I grew up. With her personality and strong work ethic she was well liked and almost became a part of their families. One such family was a middle aged couple that had a sprawling Winter "cottage" on the ocean.

Mom worked for them on Saturdays and since I was a latch key kid, with nothing better to do, I would occasionally accompany her to work. I'd find myself a quiet corner and occupy myself with a sketch pad and crayons.
It was in the early 50's.
Shortly after arriving back from one of their several Summer cottages, the lady of the house asked my mother to pack away her old dish set, to be donated to the Salvation Army, to make room for a new service she had acquired during their many trips abroad.

As mom and I worked together to clean out the cupboards of the unwanted dishes, Mom stopped to admire one. "These are nice. Colorful and sturdy--- Rather like me", she smiled. "Do you like them?" I said, "Yes." They were, indeed, sturdy and colorful, with their bright yellow and blue bands surrounding Dutch people. On the back was the mark Quimper.

When the lady came back to check on our progress, Mom asked if she could have the dishes in exchange for working two Saturdays for free. The lady replied, "Julie, If you want them, of course, you may have them!"
That afternoon we took four cardboard boxes home with us, filled with our new "old" dishes. We used them on a daily basis for years never knowing what a treasure we had found!

to be continued.......................