The one with the pansies...

I didn't mean to collect tea cups.

I'm not sure you could even say that I DO collect tea cups...I have a couple of splendid, heavy celadon cups that Dave has brought me from business trips to Korea, but I don't officially "collect" them.

I collect books and knitting needles and yarn and refrigerator magnets (by default) and souvenir spoons and strange little science toys, but I've never collected tea cups.

Not until a couple of weeks ago.

Grandmother collected tea cups. She collected them on trips to Europe in the 60's and 70's and I used to admire them in her kitchen when we would visit...so pretty and dainty and elegant and everything a bookish pre-teen was not. They spoke to me of storybook characters and summer days in the garden and something beyond Girl Scouts and bicycle bells.

I don't think I ever touched them, but perhaps I was treated to sugared hot tea in one once. It wasn't important that I touched them...gazing at them fulfilled some sort of princess-y fantasy and was sufficient. I admired the gilt edging and the various curved handles and my favorite was always the one with the little purple and yellow pansies.

Grandmother is 93 now, and in recent years, she has been passing on her favorite possessions to those she loves.

Two weeks ago, she sent me the tea cups.