This language business is so much fun. We always knew when it was spring when I was a child because Grandma Rose Palmer would go to the J.C. Penney store in Gresham Oregon and get a new "oilcloth" for the table. This was a slick washable cover for her kitchen table and it HAD to have a rose pattern. At the end of each meal, whatever was left over was put in the middle of the table and a dish cloth was put over it. If you got hungry before the next meal you just lifted up the dish cloth and helped yourself. Ohhh, don't even get me started on my Grandpa Palmer drinking his coffee out of his saucer!!! Donna in OR