Tablescape Thursday-A Sweet Table for Four

     I think some of the best table settings come from simply looking around to see what you have available at the moment. If you have a bouquet of flowers in your home, build a tablescape around that. If you have decorations out for a specific holiday, grab a few and use them as a centerpiece. A table setting can turn out beautifully without much pre-planning when you just "shop your house".

     I have a large miniature rose bush in my front yard. It burst into bloom this week and I knew that I would use pink roses as the basis for my table setting.

I also had freshly picked strawberries in the house. Is there anything better?

(Compote-Lenox China)

     The dinner plates are my favorite Bianca Leaf Square from HomeGoods. The salad plates along with the cups and saucers were a recent garage sale purchase. They are called Summer Fruit and I thought that the tiny red strawberries and the pink flowers went perfectly with my inspiration items.

     The tablecloth is vintage, something my mother had for years before she gave it to me 30 years ago. It is a very light green with pastel flowers, the napkins match. The tablecloth doesn't even fit the table. It is almost like a very wide runner...but that is okay, it still looks pretty. Use what you have. That is a shadow, not a stain. The flatware is Rogers Bros. Enchanted Rose (Ebay).

The goblets were from a thrift store in Florida.

I almost caught the "blue hour" in this picture.

The china cream pitcher belonged to my grandmother.

 added a full-sized single rose from a backyard rosebush.

I picked up this tiny urn with a bird's nest at a garage sale

several weeks ago.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it,

but it worked out well for this table setting.

My kids gave me this porcelain rose and butterfly years ago.

Would you like a strawberry?

The roses are in a silver frog with candlesticks that was a

wedding present. I guess that makes it vintage!

Time to light the candles...

Join our hostess Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for

Tablescape Thursday. There are so many beautiful tables in Blogland.

Dale Chihuly:A New Eden-Outdoor Wednesday

     I first became aware of Dale Chihuly's stunning glass art when he had an exhibit a few years ago at the St. Louis Botanical Garden. For the first time in my life I can honestly say I was completely memerized by an artist's work. His use of color, shape and the way he blended his art in with the environment truly took my breath away. Once you see a Chihuly piece, you will recognize his work anywhere. I have waited patiently for him to have another exhibit within driving distance of my home, this year he has two!

     Two weeks ago, on our way home from a few days in Traverse City, we stopped at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI to see Chihuly: A New Eden. We were not disappointed. The gardens themselves were beautiful and filled with interesting sculpture. I will write more about that at a later date. Today, I just want to share with you Dale Chihuly. I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

     Next Chihuly exhibit for me...Nashville, TN in July. Cheekwood Botanical Garden is hosting Chihuly at Cheekwood through October 31st. If you have a chance to see one of his exhibits in your area, I highly recommend it.

     I am linking today with Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday. Please visit her, you never know what you might find!

13 Days In May

     I mentioned in a prior post that my family, which I have always considered very traditional, seems to not be quite as traditional as I once thought. Some of that has been out of necessity, as my children and my sister’s children have gotten older, they are starting to move to different locations, work long hours and the days of getting our entire family together at one time have become much more complicated. It also may be that our family has always handled things slightly differently than most. We aren’t “showy” people. We don’t like to draw much attention to ourselves (sure, I write a blog) and we all like things to be a bit understated.

     When my mom died on May 13th (the same date as her mother’s death), we didn’t do what many families would do. We didn’t all come together around the kitchen table and wait for the casseroles to come. We all live in different towns, we would have had a long wait. What we did do may strike some of you as odd, but it really helped our family and that is why I decided to share it with all of you. We flew my dad in from Florida the next day. The process of getting my mom “home” from Florida would take a few days. My daughter had her once a year vacation back to Illinois planned for months. She was flying in on May 15th and we planned to take her to our favorite Michigan spots for 3 nights before coming home. Of course we talked of cancelling the trip to Michigan after mom died, but considering that we really had nothing to do at home except be sad, we talked my dad into going with us. So, two days after my mother’s death, we were on a road trip. We took a winery tour, climbed to the top of Sleeping Bear Dunes (even my 83-year-old father) and spent our allotted $20 each at the casino. We also visited a Chihuly exhibit (picture above and more to follow) which is something we all loved. We laughed, we cried, we talked about how much mom would have loved some of it and how she would never have let dad climb up a massive sand dune at his age. It was such a good thing to do, to go somewhere that my parent’s hadn’t been and be surrounded by such natural beauty, fresh air and three generations of family. I can honestly say that we had fun, not all the time, but mom would have been so proud of us. She told me shortly before she died that she didn’t mind dying, but she didn’t want to leave my dad, she didn’t want him to be sad. So, when I felt a twinge of guilt for enjoying myself, I remember her words.

 

     We also waited a few extra days for her services because my niece was graduating from Loyola Law School. Mom worshipped her grandkids and she wouldn’t have wanted to ruin such a wonderful experience for my niece, she was proud of her success. So, after Michigan, my dad went to Chicago with my sister and her family to graduation and the party that followed. It was difficult for him because he knew mom would have loved to have been there, but he enjoyed himself. We also sent my daughter home on the day she originally planned to leave. She wasn’t here for the services. She is in the middle of interviewing for a promotion and even though she wanted to stay, we all knew that mom wouldn’t want her to do anything that might hurt her chances.

     When we had mom’s visitation, I wore hot pink and my sister was in orange. We didn’t stand in a formal line, we mingled with those who came. Someone told my husband the next day that it felt like a cocktail party without the cocktails. My mom was a wonderful hostess and she would have loved the fact that so many old friends of hers, and my sister’s and mine came to show support. The next morning, with her casket covered in tropical flowers and one of my dearest friends as the minister,  we had a beautiful and brief service. After a trip to the cemetery, we invited those that were there to join us at a favorite local Mexican restaurant. We had margaritas and tacos, we laughed and we cried and we enjoyed how once again, mom brought all of us together.

     I’m sharing this because we all find ourselves in this situation sometime. There is a way that we think we have to behave and sometimes that differs from what works for your family. I would never have thought that this is how I would spend the 13 days in May from my mother’s death until her burial. In truth, I might have thought it really strange if someone did it this way. But, it helped us. We were already a very bonded family, but we pulled together and did things in a way that my mother would have loved and I know that she was watching with a smile on her face.