Here's a picture of marital harmony: my Shakespeare Collection on my side of the dining room, and my wife's Danish Plate Collection on her side of the dining room. I snapped this picture six and one-half years ago. And I included it in my April 2012 My Sentimental Library blog post, Around the Dining Room Table: A View of My Shakespeare Collection.
As I mentioned in the post, I brought some of these Shakespeare books back with me from England when I retired from the United States Air Force in 1989. These books, and their brothers and sisters that I have since added, have travelled all over the Morris house since 1989. They have moved from the living room, to the master bedroom, to the spare bedroom (converted into a library), to the hallway outside of the library, and then to the dining room, where Hamlet and Romeo and all the other Shakespeare characters rested peacefully for six and one-half years.
But not anymore.
In the last six and one-half years, I have added hundreds of books to my library, many of which I acquired when we went toodling on Fridays to antique stores, and thrift stores, and libraries, and bookstores. And in the last six and one-half years, my wife has added at least a hundred Bing and Grondahl plates and figurines. And she even started collecting Royal Copenhagen plates and figurines as well.
Soon, the cabinet on her side of the dining room was overcrowded with Danish dinnerware and vases and figurines. She really really needed another cabinet for her expanded collection.
And then one day last month she found the perfect cabinet! But unfortunately for Shakespeare, the perfect place to put this cabinet was on my side of the dining room!
Yes. On that very day, the Dane banished Shakespeare from the dining room!
I had to empty the bookcase that was on my side of the dining room––or what used to be my side of the dining room––and I spread all the Shakespeare books in piles and piles on the dining room table. I swear Shakespeare gave me one them stern what-the-hell-are-you-doing looks.
And my bookcase, which looked so happy when it was full...
Now looked sad and forlorn––naked, it was! Completely naked!
Yes, a sad day it was: the day the Dane banished Shakespeare from the dining room!
But I have to admit that her Danish Collection looks pretty cool in the Dining Room.
And she even has cups and plates on the walls in the kitchen:
Now I am not a poor player––nor am I a fool! Tomorrow is another day. So I moved––or I should say, my daughter Anita and my grandson Dylan moved–– my bookcase around the corner into the living room.
The bookcase that used to be on this wall we moved to the other side of the living room next to the front door.
My wife's Obama Collection and her oversized books are located on the other wall:
And in the middle of the living room, on the coffee table, are recent books we have acquired:
No. I can't complain! And I don't think Shakespeare and his characters can complain either!
2 comments:
My parents had quite a large collection of Royal Copenhagen, starting with the first plate. In the 1960s and 70s their solution was to hang them in rows on the wall. Nice art objects!
The plates that my wife has hanging on the walls so far are Bing and Grondahl Christmas Plates. I bought her about five of them at least ten Christmases ago, and she has bought even more.
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