Looking for Lily

It seems that Lily never made it, poor thing. Lily; beautiful living through faith is a magazine in my premiere issues collection. For some reason, I didn't code the template of that blog to alert me when there were comments. Maybe I figured no one would comment? Anyway, that entry has had more comments than any other because people are looking for it. Because I need to start cleaning out (I should write a Thursday Thirteen meme on my odd ball collections, some of which have only 2 pieces)--and my first issue hobby which used to fit in the back of a closet until the mid-80s, is totally out of control. So the most persistent one will get it. She e-mailed and left a Facebook comment, plus a comment at the blog. The problem with sorting and arranging them either by size or topic is I always open one up and start to read.

Knowing it would be leaving me soon, I decided to reread Lily (I usually don't read my first issues, just examine them for bibliographic data and research the provenance a bit). There's a very nice story about Laurie Smith, one of the TLC channel decorators. So I blogged about that at my faith blog, Church of the Acronym. She compares the goal of home decorating with that of maintaining and enhancing the soul. There's a yummy bread recipe I might copy, too.

Monday Memories--Rose Parade Covered Casserole

Last night I made swiss steak in my pretty blue covered casserole. The pattern is Rose Parade and it was made by Hall China of East Liverpool, Ohio.



Twenty years ago we bought a cottage in Lakeside, Ohio, which I've written about many times. When we were gathering up things to set up our household (much of the furniture came with the cottage, but the kitchen wasn't furnished), my good friend AZ was revamping her kitchen in Columbus, and had decided to give her 30 year old dishes to a church group. I looked at them--a box of 10 or 12 place settings of the blue and white Currier and Ives pattern that had been premiums at the A & P (as I recall), and asked if I could have them for our cottage, which was going to have the colors pink and blue. In the box I also found pink melamine dishes and platters, and a lovely blue covered casserole. I still have all of them, but the casserole I eventually brought back to Columbus because it is so nice and cooks with an even heat and is easy to clean. I rarely fix casseroles at the lake, and for years have enjoyed it more here.

I checked several antique dish sites on the internet and this casserole is going between $65 and $80. But it's too nice to give up--unless she would want it back.