I am tired today and therefore have decided to do not much of anything at all. I may take a little stroll downtown, should the spirit move me, but otherwise may spend the day pootering around.

Antique table linen is a bit of a challenge, and I envy Stilly her extended family where she can find new custodians for her own stash. I have at least four Irish linen damask tablecloths, ranging in size from modest to very large indeed, and when I am dead they will probably become trash. They all belonged to my grandmother, who was married in 1907, and I'm pretty sure she made the largest one -- embellished with drawn work and white-on-white embroidery -- for her trousseau, with assistance from her mother and sister. I once tried to iron it myself with a steam iron on a normal ironing board, achieving dismal results, so every time it is used means explaining the concept of "linen tablecloth" to a confused counter clerk at the cleaners', and a laundry bill of unpredictable size.

Meanwhile, the linen gets trotted out once or twice a year to blasé acceptance from my family and wondering remarks from in-laws and other guests. I believe the younger generation considers it "retro", along with the (real) silver cutlery that does NOT go in the dishwasher.

A big box of heirloom linens went to the church variety sale this spring, and I wondered (idly) where it went. Then one day I was in the big antiques market that operates in an old warehouse on the edge of town, and the centrepiece of one stall was a display of my granny's embroidered linen guest towels. God knows who would buy it; when was the last time you saw a linen guest towel in actual use?