do we glow?

In our ongoing quest to live intentionally -- and our very real need to replace our chipped, non-microwaveable, made-in-China dishes -- my husband and I decided to get some good quality stoneware made here in the USA.

Guess how hard that was?

It wasn't that I was picky even. There just wasn't any to be had. Then we found Fiesta, commonly called "Fiestaware." Made in the USA for eons, I could find only a couple of drawbacks. First, it is collected by people who drive up the prices on eBay and elsewhere (much like Hot Wheels cars and Legos -- Hello? They're toys!). Second, I learned pretty quickly that should I be lucky enough to find some secondhand, I needed to be careful about the red dishes. It seems the very old reds were made with uranium in the glaze, at least until the government commandeered it for atomic weapons research. (Scary, but cool.)

I was super fortunate to find some for sale locally on Craigslist and I jumped on the buy. This sweet young couple was moving and shedding themselves of things they didn't use, like her grandma's nine plates and four fruit bowls of Fiesta. I'll take those, thank you very much.

Turns out that red means "orange" in Fiesta World. So while we are enjoying a bunch of grandma's dishes and the new ones we bought at Macy's (apologies for the rampant consumerism), I am now the proud owner of some radioactive material. I love it -- but I won't let the kids use it. And I'm on the lookout for a Geiger counter.

(For you collectors, the picture is new peacock, old cobalt blue, new scarlet, old green, old turquoise, new persimmon, old yellow -- not Old Yeller, and new cobalt blue. The "red" and ivory radioactive dishes are now for display purposes only.)