Mo'a Romig-Boyles

Red and White Transferware and Mr. and Mrs. Mouse

"Where are we and what are you standing on Mrs. Mouse" said Mr. Mouse.  "I am standing on what humans call a napkin they use on their lap to catch food that falls from a fork and to dab their mouth as they dine"...said Mrs. Mouse. Mr. Mouse replied "I don't know why they need a napkin when they can just lick the little bits away"  Mrs. Mouse replied...it is considered rude by humans to lick your finger while dining...although some do".

Mrs. Mouse continued her dissertation on a napkin by saying "She is flummoxed about where these napkins and tablecloth come from...she found them when she was looking through old fabrics that she has stashed away".  Mr. Mouse was amused and said "I suppose they come from her paternal grandparents, in-laws or the aunts".  "She has made those claims before" continued Mr. Mouse in his authoritative voice that sometimes irritated Mrs. Mouse. 

"I see a lot of new china here, did she go on a buying spree or did she find it in her basement storage?" Mrs. Mouse replied in a whisper "A buying spree" She felt a lecture coming on...however, much to her surprise Mr. Mouse said "Very festive and quite beautiful".  Mrs. Mouse with glee replied "Yes, yes, I agree" " She has always loved red and white china and remember when she bought all the red and white nursery pieces four years ago?...well, she is going to use that along with this china". 

"That is what I heard her tell her mother" continued Mrs. Mouse.  "Ok! so now I suppose you can understand Icelandic...isn't that the language in which they always converse?" said Mr. Mouse the learned.  "I understand them and that is that" said Mrs. Mouse...end of conversation.

 

"I noticed that nothing seems to match, a bid of a hodge podge I would say"...Mrs. Mouse is not amused when he uses his voice of criticism and replied. "She did that on purpose"  she continued "The names of each pattern is sooooo romantic and look at those images...I would like to live in one of these places"

"Careful Mrs. Mouse...don't fall of that plate"  "I am just fine you seem to forget that I am a limber mouse and can clime and squeeze into any place I would like" said Mrs. Mouse.  Mr. Mouse thought he better explain himself "My dear it is just that you wear that lovely purple dress with the beautiful red collar and I am afraid you would get tangled in it's hem"   "Harumph!" said Mrs. Mouse and Mr. Mouse knew right there and then that he had overdone it and sounded condescending to Mrs. Mouse.

To change the subject the very clever Mr. Mouse walked over to a couple of plates that looked different to him. "These look different to me Mrs. Mouse"  "She bought those to go on a wall in the kitchen...they are so beautiful...it's called Red and White and Polychrome"  "I could live in a land like this" said Mrs. Mouse wishfully.

Mr. and Mrs Mouse walked around the table admiring the various patterns...even Mr. Mouse was convinced that 'hodge podge' could look quite nice when put all together.  Mrs Mouse chattered away explaining each pattern, their names and how beautiful she found it all and how she would like to live in the depicted villages, farms and castles.  They jumped unto plates into cups  Finally Mr. Mouse pondered why there was no food on any of the plates or tea in any of the cups...Mrs. Mouse decided it was time to lead him into the kitchen towards the Lemon Pie she had spotted on her way to the dining room.  You see after many years of marriage Mrs. Mouse knew that Mr. Mouse could get quite grumpy when he was hungry.

Note: Most of this china was bought from Nancy's Daily Dish.

Red and White Transferware...as seen by Mr. and Mrs. Mouse

"Hello!!! Mrs. Mouse, what have we here"?

"A new  passion for the writer of this blog", replied Mrs. Mouse

"It seems that she got the idea...or actually fell in love with Red and White  Transferware after seeing this article in Victoria magazine."

"She started searching on the internet...totally clueless as to where to begin. She bought a sugar and a creamer because she liked the design of the knob on the sugar bowl...(seen in image four and the side of the bowl in image one) "Well when you have a sugar bowl it stands to reason to have a creamer also" I heard her say as she clicked on the PURCHASE button."

"Why, Mrs. Mouse, you were eaves dropping :)" "Yes, Mr. Mouse that is what we do best...next to having ladies jump up on chairs, when we scurry past them", said Mrs. Mouse and they both roared with laughter...actually it was more like a series of tweets.

"What is the deal with the photos of people doing silly things like having a special tent for their pet lamb and little boys playing with bow and arrows."

"Ah!!! yes, that is another and new passion that she found out she had, as she studied more about transferware on the internet. She found this site Childhood Antiques, they sell whimsical 19th century English children's transferware and other early toy dishes." Said Mrs. Mouse...Mr. Mouse with a smirk on his face shook his head and then smiled and said "I suppose that is when the buying frenzy started?"

"Well, Mr. Mouse, I would not call it a frenzy just because she bought a couple of cups, a plate that came with one of the cups and an other sugar and creamer."

"The sugar and the creamer has this marvelous depiction of Punch and Judy, and some silly frogs...Mr. Frog smoking a pipe and Mrs. Frog in a fetching bonnet sipping tea." "This was so up her alley...

...now how could she not buy them"?  "You know how she likes stories and childish things," continued Mrs. Mouse.

"So that is it, ...she will not be purchasing any more of this transferware"?  asked the very amusing Mr. Mouse.  Mrs. Mouse whispered..."She has her eye on a plate from Childhood Antiques"...Mr. Mouse laughed and said "That Victoria Magazine has cost her a fortune". 
Mrs. Mouse  whipped her tail as she turned quickly around, 'really some men just don't understand' she thought.

"Mrs. Mouse do be careful you almost fell of the mantel" shouted Mr. Mouse as he rushed towards her.

"Mr. Mouse,  I am a mouse and I certainly can handle a mantel ledge"..."I was just coming over to this cup and I was going to tell you about why it is here, as you can see it is not transferware" 

"I looks like transferware to me" said  Mr. Mouse.   Mrs. Mouse,  walked away and said "I suppose  that technically it is, as the image is transfered on to the cup and not hand painted...I will have to study why this is not considered transferware...Or is it"?  Said the very confused Mrs. Mouse...Mr. Mouse can easily confuse her...she has it all thought out and then he throws her a curve.

"Mr. Mouse, what I was going to tell you is that she found this amongst her treasures in the basement...and truthfully she does not know how she got it or where it came from" "It could have come from her Mother-in-law, Father-in-law, or one of the Aunts, Aunt Mabel or Aunt Elsie."  "So many of her treasures have come through inheritance." 

"Well she is a lucky lady" said Mr. Mouse, "She also receives many of her treasures from her Husband" said Mr. Mouse "I remember that she got this lovely water pitcher from her husband as a Christmas present."

"Oh!!!yes", said Mrs. Mouse swooning over the romantic image of the castle and well dressed people on the pitcher. 'That was another era' thought Mrs. Mouse dreamily...

 

"Come  Mrs. Mouse" said Mr. Mouse, "let's explore some of the other collections in this house...they do seem to like to collect things"

"Mr. Mouse, just remember many of the things in this house have come through inheritance"..."There are the things from her paternal Grandparents, her In-laws, The  Aunts"  chanted  Mrs. Mouse, as  she followed Mr. Mouse on another adventure.

 

The Further Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Mouse

"Ooooooooo!!!" Mr. Mouse said Mrs. Mouse.  "I feel that someone is watching us"
Don't worry my dear. it is safe...that artist by the name of Mo'a is showing us off to her blog friends again"
"That is a relief, I thought it was a cat" said Mrs. Mouse in a quivering voice.

Note: Please, if you are a cat reading this, don't make a comment...or if you do 1) pretend you don't like eating mice or 2) pretend to be a human...a little white lie never hurt anyone...on the contrary, they can help. Thank you.

"Whereare we going Mr. Mouse"?
"I have another little surprise for you Mrs. Mouse" "Right here by the patio in the Laurels"

 

"What is this"? said Mrs. Mouse
"According to Mr. Know-it-all, this is a Mushroom...it looks more like a Toadstool to me" said Mr. Mouse with authority in his voice.
"I was thinking, that perhaps we could take a swim in that one" said Mr. Mouse

"Oh, no!!! Mr. Mouse that is too frightening" said Mrs. Mouse, as she thought to herself 'Where does he get those strange ideas' ?

"We could add a little more water Mrs. Mouse and have ourselves a nice cooling off swim" said Mr. Mouse not willing to let go of the idea of a swim.
"No, no, dear, let's just walk around and enjoy their beauty" said Mrs. Mouse...she was not going for a swim and that was that.

"Ok!!! dear" said Mr. Mouse with a slight edge to his voice.

They walked around and admired the Mushrooms.....Mrs. Mouse chatting all the way, not willing to give Mr. Mouse a chance to bring up a swim again.
Mr. Mouse did a lot a harrumphing, which Mrs. Mouse pretended not to hear.

They walked on and over the bridge again...towards the Post Box.
"Look, here Mr. Mouse" said Mrs. Mouse, quite proud of herself.

 Mr. Mouse with hands on his hips said "This one looks like a sponge. We could take it over to the swimming pool mushroom and take a bath" 

Mrs. Mouse walked on ignoring Mr. Mouse's statement. Thinking to herself 'It does look like a sponge, just like the one she used to bathe the Mouse Children'
They walked on, when all of a sudden Mr. Mouse laid down next to another mushroom that was pushing up through the moss.

"Stand up Mr. Mouse"  "What if The Cat comes along"? said Mrs, Mouse with fear in her voice...she is always on the lookout for The Cat, and it makes her ever so nervous when Mr. Mouse takes such chances.

"No Cat, Mrs. Mouse, but I did spot another interesting mushroom. Let's check it out"

"That one is very interesting Mr. Mouse"  said Mrs. Mouse thinking that Mother Nature could have painted some of her mushrooms purple...Perhaps they will spot one later.

 

"Le us go home now Mr. Mouse...I feel we are being watched".  Mrs. Mouse, had had quite enough of mushrooms and talk of a swim.
She would have liked to see a purple mushroom, but promises that should she find one she will keep it to herself.

 

 

She still feels like she is being watched...which sends shivers down her spine.  She is very seldom wrong about Cats...they lurk and watch you and then.....Oh!!!, no!!!!! she will not think about that.

Magical Mushroom Forest

One day Mr. and Mrs. Mouse were out walking, in the Magical Mushroom Forest.

Just across the walk from the Tiger Lily.

 

They were enchanted by the lovely colors bright oranges, yellows and reds.  "How did this come to be"? Mrs. Mouse said Mr. Mouse.

"Well my dear, as you know we have been having a rather wet Summer...even the grass is still green...Mother Nature has been having a great time painting with her yellow, orange and red palette".

"Beautiful" exclaimed  Mrs. Mouse, overwhelmed with the beauty of it all.  She loves reds and thought to herself, 'Mother Nature could have used a bit of purple here and there'...another of Mrs. Mouses' favorite colors.
She and her handsome Mr. Mouse liked to dress in red and purple...the Royal  colors don't you know.  Mrs. Mouse had tendency of putting on airs.  Mr. Mouse was not lacking in airs either.

 

They walked on enjoying the sights, and chatting about the wonders of the world.

 

 

 

When all of a sudden Mr. Mouse stopped on top of a hill "What is that you see Mr. Mouse"? said Mrs. Mouse.

 

"Hmmmmmm!!!...Well my dear, there is a thingamajig just over there"  Mr. Mouse did not want to admit that he did not know what he was seeing...pride, you know.

 

Mr. Mouse, moved in closer for a better look.  Mrs. Mouse thought with pride 'He is so brave my Mr. Mouse'

 

"Very curious" said Mr. Mouse..."Stand back until, I investigate, my dear"  said the gallant Mr. Mouse.  Mrs. Mouse being a very old fashioned lady and not at all enlightened or brave...looked at Mr. Mouse with love and pride and a tinge of worry.
"It looks like it might be one of those things people sit on"  exclaimed Mr. Mouse. 
"I think they call that a chair, dear" said Mrs. Mouse.

 

 

"Hello !!!", came a voice from the chair.  Mr. and Mrs. Mouse jumped back and said a timid "Hello !" in unison.
"Who said that?"  whispered Mrs. Mouse to Mr. Mouse.
"I did", said the voice from the chair.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Mouse plucked up all their courage and looked up to see three elves in a chair.  "Are you stuck in there forever?" said Mrs. Mouse...rather proud of herself and how brave she had become.

 

"We are not stuck in this Chair!!!" Said the Elf..."This is where we live"  "And we like it like that" he added.

 

"How did you happen to come to live in this chair?" said Mr. Mouse.
"Well sometimes in the 90's an artist by the name of Mo'a created us in Jean Bernard's class...and we have lived here ever since" 
"By the by, she also created you sometime in the 90's"...the elf continued.
"Come dear", said Mr. Mouse..".let's continue our walk and leave Mr. Know-it-all to his chair"  You see Mr. Mouse did not like it when someone knew more than he did...and Mrs. Mouse always backed him up".
"Ta ta" said the elves in unison and then let out a roar of laughter. 
"Well, I never" said Mrs. Mouse,  as they continued on their lovely walk in the Magical Mushroom Forest.