"Nature does not hurry,

yet everything is accomplished."
~ Lao Tzu I am trying to reorganize the shop, and I am hoping for the theory of nature to kick in...definitely not hurrying it, and, since the semester is in full swing, that seriously impacts my nature.

I found in my stash, some pretty "elegant" Depression sherbets. Traditional Depression glass was made in the central and mid-west United States, where access to raw materials and power made manufacturing inexpensive in the first half of the twentieth century. More than twenty manufacturers made more than 100 patterns, and entire dinner sets were made in some patterns.

Common colors are clear (crystal), pink, pale blue, green, and amber. Less common colors include yellow (canary), ultra marine, jadeite (opaque pale green), delphite (opaque pale blue), cobalt blue, red (ruby & royal ruby), black, amethyst, monax, and white (milk glass). The Quaker Oats Company, and other food manufacturers and distributors, put a piece of glassware in boxes of food, as an incentive to purchase. Movie theaters and businesses would hand out a piece simply for coming in the door. Depending on your age though, you may remember when banks and gas stations gave you "presents" for coming in the door...nowadays, you have to give them mega presents to get their attention!Often confused with Depression Glass is Elegant glass which was a better quality glass and was distributed through jewelry and department stores. A finer glass, it was often etched with intricate designs...few people think of what it takes to do the etching even on clear glass. From the 1920s through the 1950s, it was an alternative to fine china. Most of the Elegant glassware manufacturers had closed by the end of the 1950s, and cheap glassware and imported china replaced Elegant glass. (Note how many times in these articles, I talk about "cheap" replacing American made products. Anyone see the pattern to our current economic woes?) Some of the bigger "Elegant" glass manufacturers included Cambridge, Duncan Miller, Fenton, Fostoris, Imperical, Heisey, and Westmoreland.

So, while we wait for nature to unveil her spring etchings, as the poet Anne Bradstreet, New England's first published poet of the 17th century, wrote, "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant."