We didn't have a lot of money growing up and as much as possible lived off of the food our garden produced. So, when the corn came in, we would spend lots of time picking corn which my mother would freeze, and then for dinner, we would have nothing but corn.

I'm not sure if it the corn was brought to the table on the same platter my mother would bring the turkey to the table on for Thanksgiving, but the scene was very similar, a large dish stacked with food, with four hungry kids and my mother and father gathered around a small table in the kitchen. Since it was the only food and we were hungry growing kids, we would eat ear after ear of corn, much more than our well to do friends, neighbors or family would eat when they had corn as part of a meal.

We would grab ears of corn, roll them in sticks of butter, and then reach for the salt shakers on the table. Our hands would be buttery and soon the small salt shakers would be slippery with butter as well.

The salt shakers were glass, probably about an inch tall. The top was some sort of white plastic with a design around the top. We would unscrew them, put in the salt, and add rice to keep the salt from clumping up.

The design around the top of the salt shakes has long ago worn off. Now, the house has been sold and the memory-laden items have gone to us kids. I have two small glass salt shakers waiting in a kitchen cupboard ready for corn season.