As you may know, I spend roughly half the year in Rockport, Maine, and half in Houston. This is the time of year when we start thinking about the return to Texas, and this is done with some regret. It is always hard to leave friends with whom we enjoy so many good summer times. This week we have shared meals, a last one at our house so I could use up whatever edibles were left.
Setting the table is always the first thing that happens when folks are coming for dinner. Ordinarily that is the easy part, but this one had me going in all different directions. I wanted to use the pumpkins and gourds that have been part of every table for the last month. To change them up a bit, they were worked in around a piece gotten some years ago from TJ Maxx.
That was the easy part. For some reason I couldn’t decide where to go from there. I tried this and that and finally decided to let the centerpiece be the star of this last table.
Playing off the colors in the runner, black plates were used on brown placemats. That’s pretty subtle for me!
From there, I added the harlequin patterned plates that are favorites.
For whatever reason, they just didn’t strike me right so it was back to the cabinet for more black. Additional color would have to come from the salad that would be served on them.
I liked the coppery tone of the flatware with the darker ones, but having it lay alongside the plate didn’t satisfy me. Are you beginning to feel my struggle?
Ultimately, copper and silver were combined and after several arrangements contained in a napkin.
There’s nothing left to do but add a mix of stemware
and sweet little cordials for the remainder of the puffball soup that had been in the freezer.
After so many tries, it was time to walk away and be satisfied with the result.
Considering the changes, it’s a good thing I started early preparing the table otherwise dinner may never have happened. Later in the day the sun hit just right on the pumpkins and gourds, and I knew it had been the right decision to let them be the star. Now if I can just figure out how to get them to Houston…….
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Lulu's Musings 
Your napkin solution is perfect Linda, and another lovely welcoming table~ safe travels, and I look forward to hearing about India!
Jenna
Beautiful presentation, as always! 🙂
Very nice, happy and safe travels south to you!
Thanks, Ellen, but first stop is India. Can’t wait!
Your table turned out beautifully, as always. I’m sure your dinner did, as well! 🙂
Thanks, Kim. You know, dinner turned out quite well considering it was a little of this and a little of that.
I know it must be so bittersweet leaving Maine, your beautiful home and friends…however, it is always nice to get back there and rediscover it all over again…I think we appreciate it so much better….and now you are headed back to your friends and family in Houston to spend more beautiful times with friends and family….I love your tables because they are always so beautifully done curated with “just enough” …. giving your guests a beautiful table to dine on; however, making them the focus of the dinner! … Safe travels!!!!
I so appreciate your sweet comments, Shirley. Yes, I hate leaving but look forward to seeing friends in Houston. Before then, however, I’m going to. India.
Linda, I always love your tables, and I can only imagine the fabulous food you serve. Living in two places would be hard for me, but I can tell you handle it with ease! How wonderful to summer in Maine…that sounds perfect to me!
Living in two places makes me appreciate each more and I love their differences.
I can only imagine how difficult it must be to pack up and move away year after year from the friends you’ve shared so many laughs with over the long summer months. I suppose it’s good, though, to go back to Houston and those friends there who await your return. Two very different styles of living, but that’s just GOTTA be half the fun! I feel your pain on the tablescape struggle. Some days the creative wheel just ain’t turnin’!!! But you pulled through with flying colors! Safe travels back to the Lone Star state!
You know, Alycia, I think I enjoy both places more because I’m not there all the time. We are very lucky to have such good friends in both places.
Linda, we are going through the same thing! We are just back from Omaha and the older I get, the more that takes it out of me. And getting ready for what I call “the great migration.” Since I refuse to buy two of everything, that means packing up all the clothes I’ll want out there, plus assorted electronics, plus all the odds and ends that I buy through the year to take to AZ. And in the meantime, I want to spend as much time with friends and family as I can before we go, so we have a full house half the time and a full calendar the other half. We are immensely grateful for such a full, satisfying, happy life. And, because of my work with Hospitality House, acutely aware of how many don’t have the same luck/conditions/karma in their lives. Anyway, that’s a topic for another time. So travel safe, come see us in Arizona, and be well. And, OMG, India! Post tons of photos, please? xxxs, Micki
Michaela Colquhoun PO Box A Camden ME 04843 Cell: 207 592-5992 mickicol@aol.com
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Living in two places is more of a pleasure even with all its challenges. I know how lucky we are.
Love your arrangement of PLATES on the wall of your dining room!
Reminds me of my mother who did the same thing in our breakfast room.
Thanks. Arranging them took some doing!!!
Love the table setting…the napkins almost look like a Pendleton design..so warm and cozy.
Thanks you. I felt that warm and cozy was the way the table finally turned out.
No pictas of the lobstahs?
No lobsters this time around. Today I did have my fill of fried clams which should last me until next summer.