My dad died when I was 14 and my mother when I was 18. I stupidly threw
away or gave away all of the "old fashioned" kitchen items that she had.
I replaced them with Teflon and Tupperware. Now I realize what I did.
The items I miss most are my mother's Jadite spice bottle set and a
round ice bucket with penguins on it. If I ever run across them at an
antique store, I will replace them.

It takes becoming an adult to understand that new and improved is a lie.
I really miss my mom's kitchen with its tin ceiling, tiled walls, huge
farm type sink, large spooky closet that I didn't see the back of until
I cleaned it out after she died. The one old thing that I did keep was
a dusty old bottle of home made Apple Jack that I found while cleaning
out this closet. I remembered my dad talking about this mysterious
bottle, but until I found it, I didn't know it was in the closet. Dad
probably didn't know it was still there either. He said that his dad
made it before he was born (1909). I should have saved it, but instead
a friend and I downed it when I was 19. Wow, it was great, except for
the inch of sludge on the bottom of the bottle.

Denise in NH