Thanks for the Good Examples

It's been a wonderful weekend and not really over yet. Cooler weather - sit on the deck weather and we all know that's my reason for living! - nothing scheduled to do. Have done a ton of work in the garden - unfortunately it was mostly deadheading. This heat has not only caused things to bloom early, but has also caused shorter blooming cycles in so many of the summer perennials that I am well into fall deadheading already - and not liking it a bit! But it will mean that things are cleaned up earlier this year, or maybe that I will get finished this fall and not in the spring - wow! that's a great thought.

But what I really want to do is thank some of you for Friday night's dinner. Jeanne at Collage of Life had a lovely post on Thursday or Friday about summer table settings. She inspired me to actually "set" my table for a small dinner party that evening. Close friends came for an impromptu dinner [on the deck] so I spent a [very] little time and made it special. [Ok, here's the deal. I didn't think to take a photo before they came, and was embarrassed once they arrived, so no real photo. You will have to use a bit of imagination. I fail as a blogger!]

I pulled out a turquoise cloth and folded it so it would fit the wrought iron table and then made individual vases of flowers [from the garden] for each place. Not much interesting in bloom, but a posey here, a posey there and I liked the effect. Then a big candle for the table and voila', I had a table. *

Then Marie at 66 Square Feet stepped in and posted her recipe for Green Garlic Risotto and I was set. Add the family recipe for ribs, a fruit salad and we had a meal. I made my grandmother's recipe for "Berry Roll" using fresh blackberries from the CSA and we dined like kings.

The best part of all, tho, was the next morning Mitchell [seriously] said. "I really liked the table last night. It was like a party. We should do it more often." "We" in the previous sentence should be translated as "you". He even suggested looking for a tablecloth that fits correctly. That's one shopping trip I shall take soon.

So big thanks to Jeanne and Marie for the inspiration [and recipe]. You can teach an old dog some new tricks!

* Cheap, imitation dinner the next night. Reused the flowers with regular place mats. A little festive, tho, with beets and tomatoes [from our garden].