Time warp Tuesday: DEATH of an old friend....

You know Jen runs time warp Tuesday, right?  A chance to share old pics?  I have a different take this week.  A new pic, but a very verrrrrry old toaster....which caught fire and died yesterday.  My fire extinguisher was close to hand, but yanking the plug out of the wall did it.  Maybe it was just a VERY BRIGHT shortout that looked like flames?  No matter. It was over in less than a second, but never take cooking or appliances or anything for granted, right?  Be careful out there!

ANYWAY.  I have had this toaster 25 years!  It has served me well, and I thought it would be fun to trace its history with me, and it way predates my married life.
I bought it in Marshall Fields in Chicago in 1988 because it had a new innovation, a wide slot so you could toast bagels or bread!
At that time I was a graduate student in special education at University of Illinois, Chicago, and Marshall Fields had just redone the store, with a FINE new kitchen section in the basement.  I lived on North Broadway, a couple blocks from Lake Michigan.
It moved with me a couple blocks south, to Carmen St in 1990, then in 1991 we moved to Briar St near Wrigley Field...and me and the wife and toaster and my bachelor cat got together soon thereafter!  What a great little family...and there was, usefully, a tremendous bagel joint around the corner that I loved.
The toaster and I...and my cat Sammy....moved down to the wife's apartment in 1992 when we got married.  I had graduated with my masters by then and had taught since 1990 at Lighthouse for the Blind, which was quite near the wife's apartment, which was in Little Italy, surrounded by University of Illinois Chicago.  We looked out the window and had a million dollar view of the Sears Tower...a good 2 bedroom apartment for 350 a month!
We got into sourdough.  There were 2 Boudin sourdough bakeries in Chicago's Loop   and we would get these big and beautiful rounds.  My toaster turned out ideal, again, because it was not only wide for bagels, but could take really Looooooong slices too.  We added Petey the dog to the family.
The toaster and the rest of our little family moved to Massachusetts to teach in 1994.
Our village was so utterly small...but it had a liquor store and....bagel shop!  We got the day old bagels and kept that toaster busy, which remained true when we moved to New Hampshire in 1997.  By 1999 we had 3 dogs and 2 cats, same wife and SAME TOASTER.
There was a great bagel joint in Concord, NH...and again, we would fill our freezer with day old bagels and keep the toaster busy every day.
Fast forward to 2006....the toaster is dirty and OLD and full of crumbs, but finds a nice place to hang out on the counter here in Ithaca.
We are down to one cat and one dog...same wife, SAME TOASTER.
I do not buy bagels much, instead as you might notice I bake all kinds of things.  BUT, for example, with its dying breath, as it were, the toaster was ideal for toasting BIG and THICK slices of Irish soda bread...which I am about to have for breakfast...cold :(

In other news, I had a dream 2 weeks ago, and this black mug was in it.  Carved base, wide handle.  I woke up and tried to make it.  First is on the left, 3rd on the right....got it right the third time! (a friend saw them Saturday and asked how they differed, they look the same, and I said "the third one is a little taller and a little narrower at the base, more like the one I dreamt--potters have a DAMN good eye for sizing things up, like, maybe also carpenters etc)  I LOVE this mug...I added to the review I went to yesterday and plan to keep it (after all, it was in my dream!).  The first 2 make a nice pair, for sale now with other groovy items at my etsy gallery!