Shine, shine that silverware

Shine, shine that silverware…

As a kid.. one of my jobs as I turn 10 was to clean

Mom’s silverware… twice a year… Once for Easter and once for Thanksgiving..  Which the last one lasted long enough for Christmas dinner.

Now that might not sound like such a big job.

But you got to understand my mother and her family.

They were big into the full fledge silverware.. Because the word silverware does not just mean forks, knife and spoons..   There is a total full fledge gambit.

There is the said silverware.. but there was also, serving spoons, forks, (setting for 12) and there were salt spoons,

And the desert spoons and forks. And the salad forks.

Oh, we aren’t done yet… there is the serving dishes holders.. It is a silver thingie with tiny legs and a top all that were sterling silver.the glass bowl sits inside of it. Oh, yeah, forgot to mention all of this is STERLING SILVER.. and it isn’t unless it says so.  And if it didn’t say so, it wasn’t own by the Kaull family.

We are still not finished here… as we have the platter that the turkey sits on, and the smaller platters, and there is the bread plate and there is the salt and pepper holders, and there is the teapot and the platter or what ever (it surely had a name of its own) that the teapot sat on.. and then there is the sugar bowl with top.. and the spoon that goes with that.. And the creamer…  I think we are finish.. at least I can’t think of anything else.  Each November around the 15^th, it all came out of the closet, and put on the sink counter and the kitchen table.. stacks of it..   And when each piece was done, it was put on the dining room table.

And one does NOT wash it after you are done getting the tarnish of the year off.. and then rinse and let sit. It has to be not only dried .. each piece.. but dried well. Polished.. So not to get any spots on it.  (with the master sergeant better know as Mom, checking each piece.) This was usually a 2 day job.  Use to drive me nuts as she didn’t use all the pieces.. especially at Easter time.. but each and every piece had to be done..   As a child… I HATED THIS CHORE..   I almost said job, but job you usually get paid … but child labor doesn’t pay in the home for the family.  And this was far from the only chore that I had. So it isn’t one of those deals where one does chores to pay for room and board.

When I grew up and moved back home to be closer to the folks because of my husband’s health and for them as well, as they were getting older… I got hooked in to the November ritual. Which by the way, after I left home, the Easter cleaning was dropped. AND it seems that only a few used pieces were done for Thanksgiving.  Humm… Some how it didn’t seem so bad when I did it as an adult. It was like visiting my childhood… and I didn’t HAVE to do it.. But it was highly recommend, if you know what I mean.  And some of them were pretty dark..  as she brought out ALL of the silverware..  after all… Cis knows how to do this.. lol.. and it still takes two days.

So Monday night, brought back a lot of memories of those days..   As I had inherited (no, thank God, not the silverware, .. my brother and sister in law inherited that) … but a trophy that Mom has won in 1949 I think it says..  I have had it for ….oh, my gosh…. 27 years. I use to put half dollars in it.. and a couple years ago, I decided to put it up on the top of the cabinets in my kitchen…. And like anything else in my house.. everything over 6 foot tall seems to get forgotten.  I got it down Monday afternoon.. and GOOD GRIEF, my mother must be rolling in her ashes on the farm.

IT WAS BLACK!!! With tarnish. 

So out came the silver polish.. barely even touched it.. have some Tarnish remover.. that didn’t even faze it.

Ok.. back to the polish.. Wright polish.. been used by Mom for YEARS.. still hardly anything.. And yes, I use the most important of all removal.. that I used well over the years.. good old ELBOW GREASE…  for those who don’t know what that is.. it is where you put on your polish and rub like hell.. hard and fast and harder yet.. keep going..  Yet that didn’t faze it much either.  Ok.  Google, what can you give me..  Tomato ketchup.. nope, what a joke that was.. lemon and lime soda.. yeah, right… filled it up with that.. and again hardly anything.  Tooth paste they said.. nope… Then one I had heard of.. and I did do it with something one time..  That is boiling water, put a sheet about 2 feet long of silver foil, (can’t spell the hard to pronounce word) in it.. and then 4 tablespoons of baking soda and let soak … in a not metal pan..

That believe it or not.. actually works.. You have to be kind of fast.. as you let it soak.. for about 10 minutes, and then turn it.. back and forth.. and pour it in.. Oh, I guess I didn’t tell you.. this trophy is a pitcher.  I loved it as mom use to make Kool-Aid and put it in there when we were kids.. and with ice it would stay cold for a long time.  So that is why I asked for it.. plus it has about our horse HOLY SMOKE winning the championship of jumping. At an old stable, called Mayfair that no longer is in Middletown. A stable own by friend of my parents…Charlie Walker. The place where my mother worked in her 20s and met my father… So it has a special meaning to me.  So I was glad that my brother let me have it after the folks past away.

Any way.. at 1pm on Monday it was a black piece of silver and this is what I got it to look like after hours and lots of ELBOW GREASE.. along with the combo of baking soda, boiled water and silver foil.