How fitting that today, a Sunday, is Maud Hart Lovelace's birthday (which I somehow thought was yesterday and thus have been tweeting it all weekend, oops). Why fitting you ask? Well, on Sunday nights in the Hart home, and the fictional Ray home immortalized in her Betsy-Tacy series of books, friends of the entire family would come over for Sunday Night Lunch. The culinary highlight of the night was Mr. Ray's onion sandwiches. Said sandwiches were no doubt served on a sandwich tray. And for my birthday this year, my dear sister gave me a sandwich tray in the exact same pattern that Mrs. Hart kept in her home.
So today, I'm unveiling it here! It's much smaller than I would have thought (about 6" x 11.5"), but I guess that explains how Betsy ate so much yet maintained her willowy figure. It's quite beautiful, with a pattern of flowers running along a black-and-cream checked border. The artwork is just enough off-perfect enough that I suspect it was hand painted, but I'm no authority on such things. The tray is outlined in dark green. The pattern, by John Maddock & Sons of England, is called Lily. Many thanks to the fellow listren on the Maud L list serv for discovering it on Replacements. Check out the link and get some for yourself. And of course thank you to my sister for purchasing it for me! These sorts of treasures and more (the brass bowl and Maud's typewriter for example) can be seen at the Betsy-Tacy houses in Mankato, MN where they are preserved by the Betsy-Tacy Society (who today held a birthday party) as well.
