Hi All!! I have packed our little row boat full of cherry goodness for a fun outdoor dining experience!
Since it is cherry season and boating season - I have combined the two for my Life is a Boat of Cherries - dining alfresco tablescape for our hop.
Once again, Chloe Crabtree has assembled a wonderful group of talented table stylists for a week long hop of outdoor dining. All of the links to the blogs participating are listed at the bottom of my post. It is always fun to see what everyone has come up with and how creative the tables are.
I hope you enjoy my little take on words with this one!
Years ago I had purchased these faux picnic plates with cherries on them up in Michigan when we were on vacation. I have been meaning to do a table with them every summer and never did. Our dear neighbors, Patsy and Ron, had just recently given us this adorable little row boat - and the boat just happen to match my cherry dishes!!! Who would have thought- but that is the way my mind works! And after picking up some fresh cherries, it all fell into place.
I had an extremely hard time with this, though, because the weather was just not cooperating!! I poured a lot of sweat into this - literally - I was sweating buckets setting this up in 93 degree temperatures with about 100% humidity.
After checking the weather forecast I dragged all the stuff down the hill to the water and started setting up my boat - and with the sun still shining - down came the big huge rain drops!
So I packed it all up, hauled it up the hill and waited for two days.
I watched out my window as my little rowboat filled up with water.
I finally got a beautiful day of sunshine and hauled it all back down the hill -and dumped out my boat, set it all back up again with new food. I should pack a picnic basket that nice when we really do eat out on the pontoon boat!
But more trouble came when some of our other neighbors had guests over with a couple of dogs visiting as well. I am a dog lover - you have seen my dogs make a few appearances - but these dogs were running all over the place and I was so afraid they were going to eat my food sitting in the boat! It kind of reminded me of the the scene from A Christmas Story - when the Bumpuses dogs came over and stole the turkey! Plus I am sure they thought I was nuts for putting all this stuff in an old row boat and walking around it taking a million pictures - shooing away the dogs at the same time. It is hard to explain to someone just what you are doing and why!!!
But we had fun with it - no dogs were harmed in the process,
and they now know that the lady two doors down has a very odd hobby!
I battled with sun and exposure issues as well.
I baked these mini cherry pies and boxed them up with boxes and labels I made on my Silhouette, but I had a hard time getting a decent shot of those through the acetate window I put on the boxes.
Oh well!! It was still a beautiful sunny day and I was doing what I love to do!
A couple of bottles of Stewarts Black Cherry pop (yep, I am from Ohio!)
are on ice for a nice cold beverage on a super hot day.
are on ice for a nice cold beverage on a super hot day.
See that ice in those polka dot glasses - faux ice - that's why it's not melted.
After we (because my husband came down when he saw all the dogs) hauled it all back up the hill - we jumped in the lake!!! Oh, and if you are wondering why I didn't put the boat in the water - well - she is not sea worthy!! She is going to be filled with flowers and used in our landscaping!
As promised - here are all the links to the other alfresco tablescapes participating in our week long hop:
Thursday
Monday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
I will be updating the links as each day goes live. I hope you have the time to check all these great tables out and enjoy our versions of alfresco dining!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Ann
I have linked up to the following parties:
Reader Tip Tuesday @ Jodie Fitz
Celebrate Your Story @ Celebrate & Decorate
Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Dishing it & Digging It @ Life & Linda
The Scoop @ Confessions of a Plate Addict
Inspire Me Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life