DUMBWIT TELLHER: "Greening" the Dinner Table

This was my infamous napkin ring - where it all began

I'm greening up the family. I'm the constant 'recycling traffic cop'; directing kids, husband & visitors a like, where & what to recycle, reuse or toss. I see that my teen reuses plastic water bottles (worldwide 2.5 million used every hr.) & ask her to consider packaging in the products she buys. Why this all goes on, I teeter on my high horse while I still set the table with paper napkins, or continue to clean with paper towels.

Back in the day, my Minnesota grandmother would set the table for each meal with cloth napkins. One of my favorite memories is grandmother Inga scurrying around the kitchen in her day dress, apron & orthopedic black laced up shoes. Busy preparing bread pudding, split pea soup or Norwegian potato klub in a high pitched fever. She never went at a slow pace, but a brisk stride. My job responsibility was to set the table for meals on those summer days that I was lucky enough to visit from Washington State.
From day one I was asked to pick my favorite napkin ring & that would be "my" napkin for the rest of the week & such applied to all. Little did I know this was a "green" practice. In the 60's, "saving the planet" would of been thought of as preventing the use of atomic bombs. But today I can reapply this old familar habit, typically reserved for fancy dinner parties, as an everyday occurance. I can forever more keep the using of paper napkins to special situations. If you are of the crafty variety, why not include the kids & create your own as a fun, family project?
Quoting dear Martha, "don't be afraid to mix-up your napkins & rings". With her style approval, I can now unleash my' love of the hunt' for vintage, oh my!