1990s

Back in the early 1990s my grandparents would 

spoil me with deep-red strawberries, sweet and cold 

with sugar on top and cream on the side served 

in a vintage swirl bowl made of green glass. It is 

one of the best childhood memories I have.

1952

My hands found the bowl when we cleared the

silent apartment; they’d moved into these rooms

some sixty years ago and I reckon the bowl must 

have been part of their household since their 

sunny wedding on Pentecost, June 1952. 

2016

I take the bowl home with me. Apart from an old 

photograph of my grandfather in black and white 

it is the only thing I have to keep him alive. Light-

years away I trace the apple green of the glass, I smile 

when thinking of that kitchen table and their hands.

2017

One weeknight I am tired and lazy. 

I run the bowl through the dishwasher and it breaks.