favorite things . Dragonfly Glasses from The Potager

Happy Vernal Equinox! Spring has arrived, even if the weather around these parts hasn’t been notified. To celebrate the start of a new season, I thought I would share a quick favorite thing that reminds me of Spring… a favorite thing holding a favorite memory, and thoughts back to a favorite shop in Northport, Alabama.

I love these dragonfly glasses. Handblown and etched, offering just the right weight, sometimes a little bubble in the glass, a slight green tint when the light hits it just right. They remind me of Spring and its emerging wonder! Today, I filled one with a favorite memory from the yearly budding of blooms in the yard, before that first mowing, when to the blessedly untrained eye, a weed looks a lot like a flower. We always have a hefty crop of clover with its threesome of leaves and white blooms. When the children were younger, they would scour the yard for every single one and hurry their fistfuls as a gift to Mommy. Little preschool backpacks dropped on the ground, stained knees and damp, dirty hands all bursting with pride at their discovery – and the gathering of the gift. I used to combine the bunches from all three of them into one bouquet in an old spice jar or Coke bottle. It held an honored place on the table or above the kitchen sink, an ordinary weed made precious in the giving.

I found the dragonfly glasses on an unexpected walk through Northport, Alabama. I was in Tuscaloosa for a client meeting a number of years ago, and decided to pull off to take a peek at this quaint little downtown between Hwy 82 and I-20. Northport has a great artsy vibe (the home of Kentuck Arts Festival) with lots of cute shops, superbly landscaped cobblestone streets, and unexpected finds. The Potager shop was serendipity.

Part home goods, antiques, vintage signs, apothecary and garden shop, The Potager feels a lot like what I imagine it’s like walking out of the French countryside into the local merchant shop. The kind of place you would describe as a hamlet with cobbled paths and the scent of fresh herbs. True to its moniker, the store space blurs the lines between kitchen and outdoors, table and garden. It brims with clay pots, the sound of chirping from the birdcage, natural light from the skylight, and perhaps the largest fiddle leaf fig I’ve ever seen. Among its wares… vintage wooden cutting boards, enamel canisters, copper cookware, garden tools, accoutrements for home and bath, lavender bunches and fill-your-own sachets. And among its table ware, this wonderful Mariposa glass collection, handblown from recycled bottle glass and etched with a dragonfly in Mexico. The shopkeeper told me they’d carried the glasses for years, and I bought two on my first visit. Since then, each time I’ve been in the area, I’ve stopped in to get a few more Old Fashioneds or Tumbler sizes.

The Potager is located on Main Street in Northport. Just look for the wooden doors and climbing vines. Look for the dragonfly glasses, and raise one in celebration of Spring!