TABLECLOTH

In response to Mel's (http://www.unretouchedphoto.com/) question about using a tablecloth every day, my answer is no. But my mother always uses a tablecloth and has for as long as I can remember. She has a long dining room table which stretches almost the length of the dining room when all the leaves are in place. Her tablecloths vary in length and color. She probably still has every one she ever owned. I hope so anyway.
When I was a little girl we had company all the time. My mother knew how to set a table and load it with food, mostly grown in her garden. We never knew who might show up to eat. She always used a tablecloth, often changing it between meals, depending on how many were there to eat and how long they decided to stay. It wasn't unusual for a number of people to spend the night. My father would get tired and tell us we were all crazy and he would go to my grandmother's house and go to bed. Her door was never locked and sometimes she wouldn't even know he was there sleeping.
My mother is 88 and she still uses a tablecloth for every occasion. I actually have two tablecloths which I use if I can find the dining room table. It rises up out of the ruins at Christmas, dons it's tablecloth, and feeds us. Then it disappears, with the tablecloth, for another year.