I think I need help.

I am not a house-keeper sorta gal.  I prefer to be outside doing anything, rather than chasing down dust-bunnies.

Given that, I don't know what came over me today.

It's not just that I cleaned out the cupboard with the "good" dishes, it's what happened when I came across grandma's condiment stand.  I don't know what else to call it.  It's a ornate silver stand with matching cut-glass salt, pepper, oil and vinegar containers.   It comes from a time when salt was scooped from a its container with a tiny spoon.  Anyway, I digress.  The stand and the silver tops on two of the containers were black.   They'd been like that for years: tucked toward the back of the shelf.  Their blackness had never bothered me before.

So I didn't understand when I took it out from it's hiding spot, rooted around under the sink for "Silvo", got out the rubber gloves, gathered up some soft towels, opened the back door for ventilation, and started polishing !   I was so overwhelmed with a need to get into all the nooks and crannies, that I dismantled the whole damn thing, taking off microscopic, ornate screws and carefully giving them a cleaning rub too.

W.T.F. was I doing ?!!

That's not me.  I don't polish silverware.

You can imagine my alarm, when I caught myself going downstairs, gathering up mom's enormous spoon collection, and gleefully, yes, I said "gleefully",  taking it upstairs, where I spread it on the counter next to the now reassembled condiment stand.

An hour later, I was still standing there, vigorously polishing and sorting spoons.   I've been carting those spoons around since mom died in '07, allowing them to languish tucked away in untouched boxes in the storage room.

Why polish them now ?

After reviewing them, I decided to keep about thirty spoons: less than half of her collection.  The ones I kept all have meaning for me, or I know what they meant to her.  Like the one from 1956 from the church choir she once sang in with her beloved mother.  Two of these (below) with marvellously ornate tops, commemorate the Queen's Silver Jubilee (1977) and Charles and Dianna's wedding (1981).

After two hours of cleaning I called my friend Lynne, to see if she'd be willing to take part in some sort of intervention.  Instead, she laughed and gave me a few tips on how to get the left over cleaner out of the tricky spots.

I still don't know what came over me, but as long as I don't make a habit of it, I'm  pretty happy with the result.