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 "Poe"-tic Luncheon

One of the great things about having an October birthday is the availability of all sorts of seasonal goodies.  Year after year, I am gifted with some of these goodies, this year's treat came from my parents who gave me two sets of Edgar Allen Poe "Curiosity" plates from Pottery Barn.  Aren't they just perfect for Halloween? (Or, for that matter, any type of literary luncheon, book club meeting, or gathering of a group of fans of the macabre or Edgar Allen Poe.  Oooh, a Vincent Price or horror film festival would be another good usage -- the mind whirls!)  They were barely out of the box before I started inviting people. beginning with this little ladies lunch for three.  Last week I gave you all of the recipes to recreate this on your own.  This week I'm giving you a look at the table.  With just the three of us we employed only one end of the table, but considering I didn't go hog wild I think it worked out just fine.  The haunted house, scary tree, ghosts, and fence have all been gifts from my youngest son over the years, coming from one of my favorite mall shops, Illuminations, now sadly gone from this area.

Runners - Pottery Barn
White dinner plates - Old Time Pottery
Napkins - World Market
Salad plates - Pottery Barn
Cups - Amazon
Glassware - La Rochere
Flatware - Fiestaware
Pumpkin Salt & Pepper - Pier 1
Placemats - Pier 1

This post is linked to:

Share Your Creativity

Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Simple and Sweet Fridays

What To Do Weekend 
The Weekend re-Treat

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!