Plate-lets

I love salad plates.  I don't mean that I collect them, because collecting them would mean buying them, and buying them would mean having them.  And I already have too many things.  But I love the ones that I have, and I love to admire the ones that I don't have.  These are the salad plates that inhabit my cupboards (oh, and please pardon the strawberries.  They look a little more bedraggled than I expected).
These were my Grandma's everyday dishes.  I love them so much they almost give me a lump in my throat.  Even though I use them every day, they make me think of her every time I see them.

My marvelous sister gave me this adorable plate.  It's actually part of a set of four - there's a bunch of grapes, a peach and an apple to go along with the cherries.  I love it.  Aren't the cherries just so cheery?

I once saw a dish pattern in a magazine and just fell in love with it.  It was called "Grandma's Kitchen" and was so sweet and vintagy that it made you want to go out and plant a Victory Garden or something.  Anyway, I later found the dishes on clearance at our local discount department store, and simply couldn't resist .

My parents used to live in Maine, and when I went to visit we would sometimes go to the outlets in Freeport.  We found these absolutely fabulous rabbit plates at a pottery there.  I bought myself one, and then my wonderful parents surprised me with 4 more rollicking rabbit plates and 4 matching mugs for my next birthday.  I just adore them (the plates and my parents).

So there you have it.  A photographic ode to salad plates.  Dressing, anyone?  Croutons?  Bac-os?