You probably expected some clever end to that phrase, but there isn't one. Teapots don't lend themselves to puns as well as old soldiers . . . the best I could do was they just steep away or they just break away. Perhaps you can think of the definitive ending, if so please pass it on!
So where is this leading? To my old teapots and their new home - high in a mulberry tree! As an avid tea drinker, I love teapots and tea sets. Despite normally being a 'never-breaks-a-dish' girl, my teapots have a higher-than-average break rate. (And I should qualify that last statement by saying the only one of our dishes I've broken was the gravy boat - of course, it wouldn't be a bread plate, would it?) It's hard to say what my problem is with the teapots. It's usually the lid that chips or breaks, which is odd because you would expect it to be the spout. Once it was the spout (and that was on a Brown Betty, known for its sturdiness!) and once it was the whole pot. But, twice is was just the lid and my husband thought of a very clever way to use the lid-less pots: as bird houses!
I love this idea because I was very attached to these teapots - one was a wedding present and the other was purchased in England and brought safely home in my checked luggage (you'd be amazed at the things that have traveled in my checked bags over the years . . . but that's another story).
The pots have been hanging in the mulberry tree for almost three years now; we clean them at the end of the season with the other birdhouses. They're very pretty during the winter months when the tree is bare. And, for some strange reason I haven't broken any pots since we put these up - one of those weird coincidences like never getting a red light when you want to apply lipstick . . .
I'd love to know what you do with your broken dishes . . . just in case my new gravy boat has a mishap at Thanksgiving!
