"Centering" on Thanksgiving

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There is no better example of “rolling with the punches” than this centerpiece.

I host Thanksgiving every year, and look forward to decorating when the weather turns cool. This year, however, when the weather turned cool, my son, his wife, and their two cats descended upon me and my quiet abode for a six-week stay during the completion of their new home; it was challenging for all of us. 

I wanted to set glorious tables for us every night, but they and their stuff managed to present quite the obstacle between me and my stuff.

It wasn’t a question of not being able to get to my seasonal storage; I couldn’t even see it. So, I grabbed what I could, interspersed it among things that I had, strung some lighted fall leaves, and we all found it quite appealing.

The gourds (something I absolutely love year after year) and mini Indian corn are courtesy of Melissa’s Produce. After all, does anything say fall more than colorful gourds and Indian corn?

Seasonal fall décor like gourds and corn come in handy for adding texture, height, and color. The string of lighted maple leaves, bought on a whim, was tucked here and there.

Considering this was a “make do,” we all quite enjoyed it. Flipping the switch on those lights came to be a bit of a ritual, signaling dinner.

 So, no excuses, any of you. Even if you have nothing by way of holiday decor, a few seasonal elements -- gourds and a simple string of lights -- can make a festive addition to your existing table or centerpiece.

Get the look:

Galvanized Three-Tier Tray

Faux Gourds

Faux Indian Corn

Maple Leaf String Light

Cow Creamer

Corn Pitcher

Turkey Tureen

The Deck Garden 2019

Continuing my tradition of spending $300 on supplies in order to yield $25 worth of fresh produce, I got my deck garden planted this week. I am awaiting the arrival of a trellis so that I can plant my gourds, but other than that, it seems to be finished. It was nice to have a normal day after so many months of upset.

Naturally, I will be adding to this in the next couple of weeks, during which time I also plan to buy plants for the covered portion of the deck (the lanai). I thought buying 12 40-pound sacks of potting soil would be enough, but it would appear not. So, back to the garden center I head midweek.

I decided to do something different this year. Instead of growing plants that I can easily buy at the grocery store relatively cheaply (carrots, radishes, scallions), I decided to grow a wider variety of tomatoes, including heirlooms, as well as green beans, and cauliflower.

I cut back on the number of herbs that I normally grow, because I found that they were taking up space and I wasn’t using them (fennel, dill, sage, thyme). I may change my mind when they all go on sale for 50% off at a pop-up garden place that I frequent, but other than that I am growing massive amounts of basil and parsley, because I use massive amounts of basil and parsley. I also have rosemary that I overwinter every year. 

My newest, perhaps most exciting addition, is ginger. I ordered it from Baker’s Heirloom Seeds in Manchester, MO, and, as it is suited for my region, I’m hoping for the best. I use a lot of ginger in Asian cooking, so I’m interested in having the freshest of the fresh.

 I’ve been watching British garden shows on BritBox, and so decided to add more flowers to the garden, so this year I am growing a beautiful multi-pedaled pink Morning Glory, as well as zinnias, petunias, impatiens, and purple Cathedral Bells. The latter is a first for me, and I’m hoping it produces. 

What I also learned from the British gardening shows (and what should have been obvious to me, but somehow wasn’t), is to LABEL the plants, and I did so with these wonderful Zinc Plant Markers that come with their own carbon pencil.

I also decided to have a bit of fun, and grow gourds. Believe it or not, this was the most difficult decision I had to make, because there are so many varieties available. I truly found some amazing things, including the "R"-rated Elever Pumpkin that resembles male genitalia. Don't believe me? Click here (but first, have the kids and grandma leave the room).

Unlike last year, I seriously hope to keep you updated on my deck garden throughout the summer. I feel very fortunate this year that May has been seasonal. Last year, we moved into May and it immediately hit 90° and stayed there until October.

What do you have growing?

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Simple Holiday Centerpiece

 One of the (many) difficult things about moving is attempting to incorporate things that looked fabulous in the old house into the new place where they look, well, not so fabulous.  With the (never-thought-it-would-happen) sale of our old (literally, 121-years-old) house, many things arrived at the new, including a dining room set purchased back in the eighties that now I’d like to set ablaze.  As if this isn’t bad enough, nothing and I mean NOTHING that I currently own seems to make it look any better.

 Ever on a budget, I had to dig (and dig and dig), but came up with what ended up being a nice seasonal centerpiece.  The “trough,” for lack of a better word, from Pottery Barn, has long been a favorite.  I lined the bottom with weathered black basalt from Michael’s, and then interspersed these glass dishes that my mother gave me a couple of years ago that I had no idea how to use.  Moss seemed the answer, at least in this case, so I filled each with moss to provide a bit of green, and then scattered mini pumpkins and gourds from the local produce market.  

 After all was said and done, I then wondered if it didn’t look better here…Sigh.

This post is linked to:

Tabletop Tuesday

Wow Us Wednesdays

Tablescape Thursday

Tutorials Tips and Tidbits

Be Inspired Friday

Seasonal Sundays

A Harvest Dinner

Tablescape Thursday is hosted by Susan from Between Naps on the Porch.

I've long been a reader of the beautiful and informative blog, Between Naps on the Porch. Dish and dinnerware fanatic that I am, Tablescape Thursday was one of my favorite days.  It comforted me to know that I was not alone in my quiet accumulating of dishes and glassware, my flatware fanaticism, and linen lust!  Now that I have a blog of my own I've decided to take part, beginning with this harvest table set for a late October meal.

When I build a table, and in many cases, this is exactly what I do, I begin first with the tablecloth, and then the centerpiece.  This centerpiece was born of pure serendipity.  I was shopping at Michael's one day and saw cornucopias piled up like warped lumber outside in one of the sale bins.  In all my years of entertaining I'd never used a cornucopia, so grabbed one (At only $2.99 I figured if it didn't work I could just toss it without remorse.), and immediately my mind went to work deciding what I'd put in it and around it. 

I wanted the table to represent all of the beauty and glory fall has to offer, so this meant the harvest.  I wanted seasonal fruits and vegetables, nuts, sheaves of wheat, Indian corn, cranberries, and unassuming lighting that offered a glow without detracting from the main attraction.  I also wanted a hint toward what was yet to come so filled a small trifle bowl with cranberries and added an amber ceramic turkey.

I wanted the placemats rustic and the dinnerware simple.  The dinner plates were from my collection of Fiestaware, alternating yellow plates with crimson ones.  The bowls are from a set of dishes called "Autumn Splendor."  I can't tell you how much I love these.

The napkins were made by my dear mother who can turn any piece of fabric I give her into something lovely for the table.  This fabric she found on her own and I think it's just perfect.  I'd told her that I wanted something that smacked of fall and food.  Her choice of the Indian corn pattern did both perfectly.  The goblets are also a favorite.  My mother bought them on a whim back in the 70's along with the chunky yellow-handled flatware.  After 20 years of use she was ready to move on and passed them to my welcoming hands.  They are bold, and fun, and surprisingly versatile.

I hope you enjoyed my harvest table.

Plates: Fiestaware

Bowls: Autumn Splendor

Napkins: My mom

Table Covering: Bed, Bath & Beyond

Flatware & Goblets: Gift

Mini Trifle Bowl: Target

Ceramic Turkey: Crate & Barrel

Driving the Great River Road to Grafton, IL

The fall colors were unspectacular and the food was adequate at best, but still we three had a fun day driving along the Great River Road to Grafton, IL.

A Trip to the Farm Stand

There are two places I like to go in the fall; one is driving up the Great River Road to see the eagles and the beautiful scenery, the other is visiting farmer’s markets and farm stands. Today we did the latter. It was a gorgeous day for a drive out to the country and we were richly rewarded with so many visual delights. Instead of describing everything in great detail, I’ll let you have a look at just a few of the over 50 photos I took today. We came home with bags of fresh produce, a huge mum in a wine color, but nary a pumpkin despite the many displayed.

This charming sign greeted us as we approached the store.  While taking pictures I made a point to try to get at least one that would make a great cover shot for my Halloween cards this year.  I think this one might be it!

It's probably best to have a plan in mind when shopping farmer's markets, but we had none, we just kept wandering, and oohing and ahhing at all that was available.  As usual when I'm without a list, my mind went blank, but I did remember to pick up 5 bunches of scallions to try the new recipe I have for scallion soup.  It's supposed to be a variation on vichyssoise.

Look at the size of these radishes!  I had Jim hold up a bunch to try to give them some scale, but their grandeur still cannot be fully realized in this picture.  The largest one here was about the size of a small baseball.  We bought these.  They were just too odd not to buy them. 

We were sucked in by the gourds as well.  Have you ever seen anything more colorful?  And such variety!  I had not seen some of the unusual types that they had here.  At 3 for $1.00 we bought a dozen.  I'm hoping they'll look wonderful in a bronze leaf dish that resides on the coffee table in the living room.

Look at these pumpkins!  HUGE! Way too big for either of us to lift.  We really liked the oddball shapes and the fact that some of these looked so gnarly and had weird growths on them.  PERFECT for Halloween!  I was really looking for a small sugar pumpkin though, and what they had were more decorative than for culinary use.

When it comes to charm, Thies Farm and Greenhouses in Maryland Heights, MO has it over most of the others in the area, I think.  It is a fifth generation farm that has been in business since 1885.  The "Pumpkin Land" set up for kids took up an area about the size of a football field, and had one clever activity station after another.  Loads of kids were having a blast there today; my ears are still ringing from the squeals of joy.

For more colorful farm stand photos, please see my Flickr photostream. 

Have a great weekend!