Throw in another HH comment here (hairy husband):). My DW ("Dear Wife"?) Helps in very significant ways. Her job does not require as much time away from home as mine, and adult Dd does most of the housework, so DW does most of the mowing. She also does much of the front flower bed. I also take her advice and consent, especially on the front yard which highly visible, and she has specific ideas about what does not work. She does not like volunteers in front, e.g. the bull thistle which I let grow right out front our first year here. I have repented. Also some interesting "weeds" she pulled from the front bed three years running, I finally rescued one from the compost last summer, stuck it in a pot. It's moonflower. She has repented. Does anyone know, could there still be dormant seed in that pot? The moonflower is all. So this year she allowed a volunteer out frontside where an evergreen is planned. Nice foliage plant. Last week I Identified it as pokeweed. I have repented (not really), but next year I have to get her that tree for that spot. She really appreciates all that I do and I appreciate back. The grand d's are wide eyed about all nature, flowers, vegetables and weeds, and want to "help". Which I oblige. The Jack Russell really helps with encouragement (can we go outside and play daddy?), and she eats grubs that I find and grasshoppers. Too bad the japanese beetles are too prickly to eat. Sorry to go on and on, but getting away from 42-60 hours of my vocation per week, this garden is as close to heaven as....my back door. The appreciation...let's give it up: Thank You LORD for all your gifts! Duane

Nanny, your lovely silver may remain a mystery - I have several pieces without a maker's mark that I doubt I will ever identify. Many were made by small shops that sold to jewelers to stamp as their own or they did job work for larger companies. Is there anything that resembles a 'W' inside the triangle? The maker that comes to mind with that symbol is William Wilson & Sons of Phila (1893-1909). They produced very high quality work & your forks seem to fall into that category but it is an off-the-wall guess without seeing the closeup of the triangle. I've looked through 2 pattern books & didn't come up with an exact match. Regardless, enjoy your silver - & don't worry about who its father was! Master butter knives are larger (about 7-1/4" long, all-silver, & usually with an offset handle) & were used to take butter from the serving dish & place it on one's individual bread & butter plate. The individual spreader (approx 5-3/4") that accompanied the B&B dish was usually flat & used to spread the butter onto the roll or whatever. Large patterns sometimes offered the choice of all-silver spreaders or hollow handled with a plated blade, but either way, the spreaders are smaller & have more rounded tips than the Master Butter Knives. Sorry I can't give you better id of your forks.

I'd call that piece a small cache pot and further venture it dates from between the 1870's and the turn of the last century. Millions of pieces were turned out - complete sets of dinnerware to an endless assortment of decorative accessories. America had an appetite for it since it was affordable to the masses and something remembered from the Old Country. I looked at those pieces of mine I have on display; the Griffin, Smith & Hill are clearly stamped with the entertwined logo or "Etruscan", etc. etc. The unknowns can have little slashes, swipes, dots, drips of glaze that individual unknown artists would use to identify their own work while in the production, painting, and glazing process. Many have no markings at all. The grapes, grape leaves and cherubs were a popular theme, as were flowers, fruit, animals, tree bark and vines - nature, in general. Knowing what I've paid for pieces over the years, watched prices go sky high then hit rock bottom, I should think a swing for your piece could be anywhere between $30 and $45 dollars in today's market.

The mix looks very dark & peaty...what is it please? Crassulas prefer fast draining gritty mixes and can rot in water retentive soils. Also, the pot is on the large size for the small plant IMHO. Unless the rootball is filling almost all of the pot then there must be a large area of rootless mix....this can stay wet for too long as there are not many roots to take up excess water. I don't think a plant of that size would have large rootball? What size would it have been? Would be best in a smaller pot, then up-pot it as it grows on. Please be careful of plants being planted too deeply inside any pot, this one is on the verge of being like that, it's not too bad really, but could be set a little higher. Sorry if I'm sounding a bit negative about your efforts, but just trying to help :-) Are any of the dismembered parts in the second pic anything to do with this first plant? Gill