Champagne and Strawberries Under the Stars

There are so many anniversaries this time of year, it seems like the ideal time for a romantic table for two.

This week's music to get stuck in your head is the Theme From Somewhere In Time.

This cute strawberry plate came from Sur La Table last year on clearance.  It's sitting on top of  a white Victorian Rose dinner plate by Gracie China.

The red dinner plate is Ambiance Valero and the sterling is Wallace Grande Baroque.

The  charger is from Andrea by Sadek.

The crystal is Waterford Lismore.  The silver fan vase was an eBay find long ago.

The fragrance of Night-Blooming Jasmine wafts through the air.

Wishing you romantic evenings from A Cottage in the Clouds...

I'll be joining Cuisine Kathleen  for Let's Dish  and Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday

When Life Gives You Lemons...

I've got lots of lemons.  Three trees full.  My lot is part of what was once a lemon orchard so they came with the property.   Lemon trees continuously flower, so no matter how many lemons you pick, new ones are on the way.

What does one do with all those lemons?  You can only cook with lemons so often before you start sounding like the Bubba-Gump Lemon Company... "We're having Lemon Chicken with Lemon Pasta and Lemon Pie and Lemon Cake and Lemon Sorbet and Lemon Cheesecake and Lemonade...."

Not bad for a hundred-year-old tree, huh?

Luckily, my little community has a fruit donation program where our extra fruit is delivered to food banks, senior centers, shelters and needy families.  Besides lemons, I've given avocados, peaches, apples, oranges and plums when we have a good season.  As a whole, the community donates around 1,400 pounds of fresh fruit per week.  That makes me smile.

My next "lemon" is this week's featured dinnerware, Sweet Olive Designs Fancy Scroll Collection.  Besides being yellow, it's a lemon because I ordered it from One King's Lane two months ago and  I'm still waiting for the dinner plates to arrive.  After corresponding with three different customer service reps, a supervisor finally took charge and got the plates shipped off today.  Too late, sister, we've already gone to press.  I paired your lemon salad plates with Mikasa Italian Countryside dinner plates. So there!

And I put an Andrea by Sadek Daisy plate under the mug.

The blue spokes on the tablecloth are simply folded napkins.   They're lemons, too.  It was supposed to be a set of six, from World Market, but there were only five in the package and not discovered until months after purchase.   So they're a set of four, with a spare!

The plaid napkins came from either Kohls or Bed Bath and Beyond - can't recall.

The goblets are Artland Iris in Citrine. 

The aqua glass charger is from Pier 1 and the flatware is San Remo.  

And that's how I made lemonade with the lemons life gave me!

I'll be joining Cuisine Kathleen  for Let's Dish and
Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday

Here Comes the Sun

Here comes the sun (doo doo doo doo)
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

I think those April showers are finally over, so I'm going to try a tablescape outdoors.

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

This tablescape started last fall with the purchase of Tommy Bahama tropical leaf salad plates and solid green tablecloth/napkins on sale.

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Later I found the matching leaf chargers at  Replacements.com

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes

Once I decided to use the black placemats and Mikasa plates, the green napkins didn't work, but luckily I found Tommy Bahama African Orchid napkins to brighten things up. I found the Cambridge Silversmiths Bamboo Green flatware at One Kings Lane, and the palm leaf glasses on Amazon.

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right
It's all right
-  Lennon/Harrison/McCartney

I'll be joining   Cuisine Kathleen for  Let's Dish and
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

Sunflowers and Bees

How about  something sunny this week?

This tablescape started with the bee napkin ring on sale at Sur La Table last fall, when I was first discovering tablescaping online while recuperating from an accident.  I thought it was so cute.

When I first saw it online, I showed it to Hubby and his reaction was a puzzled "Why would you want that?"  "Well, Susan says you need a bit of whimsy," I replied.  He grunted and walked away. So I didn't buy them.

Later I found this mug online at Pier 1.  "See?" I told Hubby,  "Those bee napkin rings would go great with this!"   "I like that," he said.  "Order it."

"And this cute sunflower plate."  "Order it," he said again.

"Uh, Pier 1 doesn't sell online, and Sur La Table is out of the napkin ring online,"  I told him.
 " *Sigh*  So I have to go to the store for you?"  
"Well, It's your fault for not letting me get the napkin rings before." 
"Of course it is." he said, grabbing his keys.  

And that was the birth of this tablescape.  Months later I have more things to choose from to pull it all together... like the green Andrea By Sadek petal plates that match the green on the mug handle and leaf chargers that match the green leaves on the sunflower plate.

The San Remo flatware along with DII napkins from Amazon tie in with the bee and the pale maize background on the mug.

The rattan chargers go well with the sculpted clay sunflower pottery.

Glassware from Marshalls and eBay complete the look.

Hope your week is a sunny one.

I'll be joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch  for Tablescape Thursday.

A Walk in the Woods

It's been another gloomy, rainy week here at the Cottage in the Clouds.  Every time I plan an outdoor tablescape, it rains.  Every time I sweep and hose down the patio, arrange the furniture, put down the rugs and plump the pillows, it rains. And gloomy weather outdoors means poor natural lighting indoors, so I have to choose between photos that are a little dark or photos that are a little washed out from the flash.  Ah, well, one of these days it will be sunny and then I'll be complaining about the heat!

This week I'm featuring my eBay win... a set of Wedgwood Napoleon Ivy dinnerware.

I think it's a versatile pattern that can be dressed up or down, and would mix well with other patterns.  Even in a formal setting, it feels a little woodsy to me, hence the title.

The sherbets were another eBay find.  The seller called them  Indiana Glass King's Crown Thumbprint. I haven't yet found anything yet to prove or dispute that.

Of course, I seized the opportunity to use my new Andrea By Sadek leaf chargers again.

The table looked a little bland with the white damask tablecloth and clear crystal, so I snipped some geraniums from the garden to fill in around the ivy topiaries from Marshalls.

The crystal is Waterford Lismore and the sterling is Wallace Grande Baroque. 

Might as well light the candles, since it's so dark in here anyway.

I'll be joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.