Thursday, March 28, 2019

A Simple Vignette -- My First on the New Island

Well, I couldn't contain my excitement any longer! After 18 long weeks of renovation chaos, we have a finished kitchen! Well, almost...there's still a relatively small punch list of things for the contractors to do. But it's a working kitchen that I can't wait to share with you!


Thursday, March 21, 2019

A Tablescape in Celebration of Cranes

I'm often asked where I get ideas for tablescapes and vignettes. Of course sometimes I start with a plan. There's a holiday coming up or perhaps a change of seasons. Or I've just found something fabulous that I want to showcase. This week I hadn't thought of anything particular.

But then I was looking through my 'bucket list' and came across the Sandhill Crane migration. Every year in late winter/early spring over 600,000 sandhill cranes converge in the Platte River valley flyway to refuel for the journey to their subarctic nesting grounds. This is something I've got to experience!

While musing about a trip to the Platte River, I realized I hadn't done a tablescape featuring Kutani Crane dishes. I had found inspiration! And better yet, I had plates!

Monday, March 18, 2019

Spring in the Atlanta Botanical Garden

I know many of you are still knee deep in winter. For us March has been blustery, chilly and sodden. Luckily a few days of sunshine coincided with my daughter's spring break, so off we went to the Atlanta Botanical Garden.


Camellia japonica are still covered in blossoms here and in my garden. They are late this year.

Thursday, March 7, 2019

Celtic Patterns for the Table

I was very excited planning this table! It is the first St. Patrick's Day table I've set since we traveled through Ireland last May. So I've included a few shots from our trip to set the stage.

Ireland is incredibly green, in shades from yellow-green through dark spruce. Miss J is admiring the view from Newgrange — even in the rain, the greens are vibrant!


I bought this beautiful scarf at Trinity College in Dublin. The emerald cloth is woven with repeating Celtic patterns in a yellow green. Since it is very wide, I thought it would work perfectly as a table runner.