The White Pineapple Bowl

[Why_Nut]

For the record, the famous white bowl in which pineapple was found in crime scene photos taken after the morning of December 26th 1996 on the breakfast room table appears on the same table during the party on December 23rd when the Ramseys were hosting a gingerbread-house assembly for friends and children.

December 23rd:





December 26th or after:





Notice the size of the spoon in the bowl compared to the box of Kleenex on the right. You know how big those boxes are. The spoon is clearly smaller than the box. Also, look at the bowl in the context of the first picture at the top of this post, look at the bowl compared to the size of the children in the picture, and then put that spoon in that bowl, and judge for yourself whether you think that, for example, the girl to the right in the photo would have been holding an extremely large serving spoon, or a more ordinarily-sized tea- or tablespoon.

[koldkase]

Well, I don't know, but I am putting in my bet that the white bowl contained marshmellows at the gingerbread house party.

[Why_Nut]

Originally Posted by koldkase

Well, I don't know, but I am putting in my bet that the white bowl contained marshmellows at the gingerbread house party.

Marshmallows would make sense. I think another relevant aspect of this correlation of item to location found across a span of three days, though, is to narrow down considerably the period of time when both Patsy and Burke would have had the opportunity to deposit their identifiable fingerprints on the bowl. If the bowl was being used on the 23rd, and it was washed after the party, prints deposited before that time would have been eliminated. So the case requires a theory that puts both Patsy's and Burke's prints on the bowl on December 24th or the 25th.

[tylin]

Why_Nut,
You are amazing.
I'm tickled to death to see the pictures you so graciously posted.(BTW- I've never seen the pic of the kids at the Dec. 23 party.) I'm really surprised at the size of the white bowl and also the spoon...and to think for all these years, I thought the pineapple bowl and spoon were large.

Good question about the date(s) when Bruke and Patsy would have been in the kitchen together. Of course, I think they were in the kitchen together Christmas night after returning from the White's but I don't think anyone knows that for sure except, Burke, Patsy and John and of course JBR.

[Wenchie]

It looks like the Ramsey's had a set of white dinnerware that they used for everyday.

[philmein]

Well, about the size of the spoon (I don't get what the fuss is about) I know some children are given a larger than normal utensil so as to avoid spillage, messes etc... Some kids have a difficult time using smaller cutlery than what is called for and using a larger one makes it easier to pick food portions up. It's no big deal for the parents or the kid, whatever works best, they'll learn in time etc... Yes, I WAS one of those kids and my 5 year old is too...

[YumYum012]

I zoomed in on the "empty " white bowl, and am convinced that it has shredded coconut in it. That was my guess, so I did a very quick Google image search, and sure enough, about the third page I visited suggested using coconut for snow.

I haven't searched further, but would bet that that is a common item used on gingerbread houses. And you can bet that the idea was one that Patsy got from the internet, or from someone like Martha Stewart's TV show. Perhaps a search of the Marta Stewart site would yeild some resullts, but I've gotta go right now. The more I think about it ... the gingerbread house project just SCREAMS Martha and Patsy. I'd like to find Martha's 1996 episode descriptions ... cuz I'd bet BobC's left nut that one of her Christmas Holiday shows feature just such a project.

Here is the site mentioning the coconut:

http://www.allysgoodies.com/gingerbreadhouses.html


And on a separate note related to Patsy's Foundation paintings (on another thread) ... check out the WIDE VARIETY of signatures that she uses. There are several different styles ... some of which handwriting analysts might be interested in. At the very least, the variety might suggest some very wide mood swings, or even a little schizo in her personality. Sorry to post this here, but I'm in a BIG rush! Use the zoom at the Patsy Foundation site to zoom the sigs ... just place the cursor over the sig, right click, then click on "Zoom In". Do it as often as needed to get the size ya need.

Later.


...YumYum

[koldkase]

Another thing to think about: the Ramseys said they ate their traditional pancake breakfast that morning after opening the presents and Santa.

Surely someone cleaned off the breakfast dishes, since they weren't on the table the next morning. Were they washed in the dishwasher or left in there unwashed?

If this bowl was on the table still from the 23rd, that would seem a long time not to take it off the table. Plus, they were leaving town. Seems like Patsy would have washed the dishes, ran the dishwasher for the breakfast dishes before they left for the White's party. That would have been easier than doing it late, when they're all very tired and need to get up early for the Charlevoix trip.

So...why leave a dirty bowl on the table for two plus days when you're cleaning dishes and the table from breakfast, and you're going out of town?

Wasn't LHP there the day of the 23rd party, with her little girl? Didn't she stay for the Santa stuff, too? Didn't LHP help clean up afterwards? Seems like I remember she did stay for the party.

And I know I'm not trained in old money graces, but I always try to help clean up with the hostess after a big party if she needs help. These friends seem to have been close, so maybe some of them helped clean up the party stuff and load the dishwasher?

I guess my point is, I don't believe that bowl would remain on the table for 2+ days. I think either it was washed and then gotten back out on the 25th at some point after breakfast, or...could it have been part of breakfast?

Tea seems like a lunch drink to me. But some people take tea in the morning, hot, like with this bag.

[tylin]

koldkase,

Surely someone cleaned off the breakfast dishes, since they weren't on the table the next morning. Were they washed in the dishwasher or left in there unwashed?

If this bowl was on the table still from the 23rd, that would seem a long time not to take it off the table. Plus, they were leaving town. Seems like Patsy would have washed the dishes, ran the dishwasher for the breakfast dishes before they left for the White's party. That would have been easier than doing it late, when they're all very tired and need to get up early for the Charlevoix trip.

So...why leave a dirty bowl on the table for two plus days when you're cleaning dishes and the table from breakfast, and you're going out of town?

Not only that but one other important fact is that pineapple was found in JBR's tummy as per the autopsy. What is the likelyhood that Patsy would have left pineapple (in cream) on the table all day long? I say slim to none.

[YumYum012]

Damn ... I couldn't get away without doing one last Google search ... on "gingerbread house coconut". Got 143,000 hits. Anyone wanting to explore can check that out.

Outta here ...

...YumYUm

[cindysnow3]

Thank you so much Why Nut your're such an

[Cranberry]

Thank you Why Nut for the photo. I know you would get us the prints and dna off the spoon and tea bag if you could. I have to think about this bowl set up some more.