Tis the Season
This afternoon, since I was going past, I stopped at the local Old Time Pottery store to see if I could find a small size (5 to 7 inch) pottery or glass pie plate. That is an emporium I normally avoid like the plague, mostly because my tolerance of kitsch is best measured in negative numbers, but the Anchor Hocking website said that was one of the retailers who handled their products, and there was a small pie plate listed among their wares.
This is essentially a warehouse-sized store. The back half was full of dishes, bakeware, pots, pans, linens, cushions, storage supplies and the like. Not my pie plates, but certainly a lot of stuff. The problem was that in order to get to the back half, I had to go through the front half.
The entire front half, an area larger than many grocery stores I’ve been in, was full of Christmas stuff. Trees. Ornaments. Fake greenery. Santas. Inflatable snowmen. Seven foot tall straw figures that I assume, from the costumes, were intended as either shepherds or wise men. You name it and it was there, and the vast majority of it was cheap in both senses of the word - inexpensive and tacky. And of course, there was the music. I never knew you could do Greensleeves as a torchy blues, and you know, my life would have been complete if I had continued in my blissful ignorance.
I did it. I got back to the back corner, looked at the stoneware and glass bakeware, found full size regular and deep dish pie plates, but none that were tart or individual sized. And then I fled. I don’t think I’ll be going back any time soon.