My little corner of the world

Hollyhocks at the window peeking in to say hello

It seems strange blogging about my little corner while outside the world has gone mad. But I made a commitment to post once a week so - here I am.

I spent the morning mourning the state of the world. Coffee and tears. I have no words of wisdom to share... Except that I hope this violence will lead us to something better.

When I am overwhelmed with sorrow and frustration, as I often am these days, I find peace and happiness in my home and garden. And I feel infinitely grateful for my circumstance.

May all who read this find peace.

Light and Dark in turn, but Love always

The corner outside

Hollyhocks, Roses, and Love-In-A-Mist

Madhatter's Tea Party

The dormouse welcomes you to the Maddhatter's tea party!

Finally got the chessboard painted!

Crab feast for New Year's Eve

You won't find us anywhere near a bar or nightclub on New Year's eve; too many drunk drivers and besides that, midnight is way past my bedtime!

Our New Year's Eve tradition: Dungeness crab, crusty San Francisco sour dough bread, Caesar salad, and champagne! We watch the ball drop in Times Square (9 pm on the west coast!) and then bedtime at a decent hour.

Tomorrow morning: home made crepes, coffee and mimosas!
And no hangover.























Dansk Winter White dinner plates over Dollar Tree chargers,  Heraldic silver plate, square ramekins for melted butter,  reused the Christmas place cards  (Hester & Cook)

An Act of Kindness

A few weeks into sheltering in place someone left a beautiful orchid on our porch. No note, no clue about who or why. The strange thing is that our Ring doorbell didn't record them. Either they were a vampire, or just lucky and the camera glitched, or they knew about the blind spot and came at it that way... It was quite a mystery.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out who did it or why. 

I had a hard time being on the receiving end of a random act of kindness. It's easy to give, to compliment someone, to pay someone's bridge toll, to donate anonymously. But being able to receive graciously is something entirely different.

After a few days of obsessing I left this message on my facebook page:   OK you sneaky sneak. Since you're not coming forward, I've decided not to worry about who you are and just accept the fact that there are so many people in this world that I love and who love me back. Thank you everyone.

This is the table I set to honor of the mystery giver.

Franciscan Sonora salad plate, Royal Doulton English Renaissance dinner plate, King Cedric silverplate.

Sheltering In Place

March 2020 and we're sheltering in place, my husband, son and I.

We decide to order takeout from local restaurants as often as possible in order to help them weather this pandemic. We'd been in the restaurant business before; we knew how slim the margins are, how one "hiccup" can ruin you. I decided to set the table every night too. It gave me a creative outlet and made the takeout feel more  like we were eating at a fancy restaurant.












John Maddock & Sons salad plates and Spode Fairy Dell dinner plates, Heraldic silver plate

First up Mojo's Kitchen 428. Yummy!!

The Best Laid Plans

February's  table was all set but the dinner party never happened.

Noritake "Thistle" salad plates over  "Vintage" by Fine China of Japan dinner plates, King Cedric silverplate, Kate Spade wine glasses. 

Funny story about the wine glasses. I found four of them at my local Homegoods store for a steal. Four was great but I really wanted at least 6 (or preferably 8) so I went to practically every Homegoods store in a 60 mile radius of my house and cobbled together another three ... then wound up buying the eighth at retail. Worth the effort - we love them.

The green tablecloth really sets off the dishes ... and some swans came out to play.

It's subtle but there is a "bubble/polka dot" theme going on: the silver and china both have small dots in the patterns, dots on the napkins and water glasses and even the roundness of the wine glasses and candlesticks.

Unfortunately, the dinner was canceled because I got sick and there was this nasty flu going around...

New Years Resolution

January 2020 

First a little history: I have always loved china and tablescaping but, being tighter than a frog's ass, I have always kept my spending in check.

Last September, I was diagnosed (finally!) with Sarcoidosis so my doctor put me on steroids. Steroids are great! But they have a few nasty side effects, including lowering inhibitions which can result in uncontrolled shopping, gambling or promiscuous sex.

Thankfully, I just shopped for 3 months.

My illness left me with two things:
1) A whole bunch of new china and 2) the realization that life is too short to keep putting things off.

So with that in mind, my husband and I decided that our New Year's Resolution for 2020 was to host a dinner party every month, to use the china, and most importantly to spend more time with our family and friends.

Here's the table for that party.

Ne Obliviscaris

Ne Obliviscaris - the Campbell motto means "never forget". This table is set with a Campbell tartan tablecloth and my Grandmother's Victorian ladies plates. The plates are Century by Salem; I remember Vava telling me they were a grocery store give-away ... or maybe she got them with Blue Chip Stamps. Either way, they are not valuable but they're precious to me. The tea cups are various designs and manufacturers but they all have forget-me-nots on them. 

Welcome to Gllynchroft!

OK so I'm starting another blog. On this blog I will share my passion for tablescaping and maybe while I'm at it, show off our beautiful 1913 home we named Gllynchroft.

I'm a sucker for beautiful china (and I suspect you are too) Come on in and have a seat. I hope you enjoy...




























We'll start with a classic blue & white scheme in my garden. An April Cornell tablecloth, Tiffin Fuchsia iced tea glasses, a mix of silver plate patterns, Mom's antique dutch boy & girl salt & pepper, and blue and white and blue and white and blue and white!

How I built this....

J&G Meakin - Romantic England

Johnson Bros - Denmark Blue

Lipper & Mann - Imari Blue