New addition to the family

We have lots of animals, four dogs. We have Harley T-shirts. We have books. We have photo albums. We have Beanie Babies.  We have baseball hats.  All is loved or cared for, for one reason or another.

But I have another thing, actually many of them, that are special. It's a collection of teapots. A family of teapots, with nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, mom and pop, aunts and uncles. Who knew that teapots had family? I relate it to sizes, big ones, little ones, medium-sized ones, ceramic ones, metal ones, glass ones, and there's even a teapot that is a windchime.

One shelf of teapots.

My first teapot (that I remember anyway) is one that I still have. It was my grandmother's and had what I thought was an ashtray with it. Back then lots of people smoked. Now I wonder if perhaps it was a little dish to put used teabags on. I don't know.

This is one of the most unique teapots I own, because it was probably my first, it was made in England, and it was my grandmother's and so it's pretty old.  My grandmother died in the late-50s as near as I can remember.

My mother bought me teapots over the years, mostly the Japanese type with the little cups. There's even a blue duck one that is also still part of the teapot family.

There are teapots like houses, a rabbit, ones with pigs, ones with moose or bears, one that is a dragon, a peppermint one, one with the face of a clock. There are holiday ones, including Easter, Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day. It's a diverse collection, with something for everyone if you like teapots.

A few teapots.

For my birthday one year, friends got me a beautiful fish teapot, with the pouty fish lips as the spout, and fins, like a fancy fantail carp. It's one of my favorites.

Miss Fishy, came to me from Karl LeRay and Lynn Fibranz.  Isn't she a beauty?

Over the years other friends have added to the collection, and I cherish each and every one of them. I've also purchased some of them, including the Christmas teapots. Each teapot is special; each is beautiful in it's own way, perhaps because of its beauty, perhaps because it was a gift from people who are special to me.

This pretty little number with Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz characters came from my Kansas friends, Ruth and Sylvia.

As of today, there's another addition to the teapot family. It's like no other I've ever seen or heard of and will probably become a traveling teapot. Biker Bill went to the Sportsman's Show and was wandering around when he saw it. A Pack Away teapot. It's a fully-collapsible kettle, with a stainless steel base, a silicone body and a nylon handle. It collapses to less than 2 inches, and is ideal to carry on the motorcycle.

The new, practical, useful and beautiful addition to the family.  And Biker Bill knows the right color, too.  Red rules!

Others have given me many teapots over the years, but this is the first from my live-in man. Thank you, Biker Bill, and welcome home, teapot.