Peonies on the Terrace

Well, this table came together in a flash.  A quick stop at Trader Joe's and a chat with a friend in the frozen food aisle lead to an impulsive invitation for dinner.  Almost all the food came from those very aisles, and so did the flowers.

Oh!  The flowers!!!!  Aren't they smart to put them right at the front door?  You see these beauties and right away you put some in your cart and begin to make plans for a special night. 

Peonies!!!!  A very special flower in our family!  They are elegant and fragrant, and beautiful, and magnificent.  I just had to grab some.

Since our border flowers are looking pretty good, and the weather was delightful, I decided to set our table outside on the lower terrace.  I also thought the pink petunias would compliment the pink peonies.

In the spirit of making things easy and quick, I grabbed these pink toile melamine dishes that I haven't used in quite a while.  They were made by Swell, which was sold by Target years ago.

The glassware was a high/low mix of this hot pink bubble glass and clear Juliska stems that I used for wine.

The napkins are from the Palm restaurant line, and these soup bowls were also from Target.  I served visychoise in them, as Mr. Pressed Pants has been asking for it.

This plastic flatware is a cute, vibrant knock-off of some ornate silverplate. 

This French salt and pepper holder is the only serving accessory I used.

I love the way this all came together. 

Can you see the lake through the trees?  The Canadian geese were pretty noisy, but, they were not nearly as noisy as the bullfrogs!!!

It was a mosquito-free night, though.

This is a little bit of heaven, and it's even better with friends to share it.

Try the lemon piccata chicken from Trader Joe's refrigerator case!  We  all loved it.

Here's the view from the upper terrace. 

This is what happens when you don't stop to think about things, and just blurt out an invitation.  What the heck!  The house was pretty clean, the landscapers had been there, and the food was almost ready.  When the friends are that good, it's almost a "Come-as-you-are" party.  We even ate leftover lemon cheesecake from a luncheon that I gave on Tuesday!!!! Capture the moment and make a memory!

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Sundays at Home

Well, Hello Sunshine

Look what we've got here!!!  Sunshine!!!  After living in Cleveland, Ohio three times, you'd think that I'd be used to dreary skies during the winter, but I've been sorely missing our Georgia sunshine this winter.  I can't remember such a grey, grey stretch.

This was a cheerful bunch of Kroger flowers and they begged to come home and replace some of these darned poinsettias that just won't give up.  I have such a hard time throwing good plants out, but I'm so over them.

Here's this morning's cheerful breakfast table.  Since today is MLK day, Mr. Pressed Pants slept in and my mom, who is visiting, ALWAYS sleeps in, I had time to greet them with a bright and sunny table in the breakfast room.

These exuberant plates from Target set the tone.  What's better than a shot of pink and green?

The table accessories were fun, too.  The s/p set and the cow creamer are both from Pierre Deux years ago.  The majolica leaf dish is a good choice to hold sugar packets, both full and then empty.  The French butter dish and twig spreader finish it off. 

The pink napkins are from the Palm restaurant line of linens, the knot napkin ring from Old Time Pottery, and the flatware is from Cost Plus World Market.  Nothing precious here but the guests!

This glass stoppered bottle and Ikea green glasses both held the oj.

Just a cozy three for homemade French toast and strawberries.  (You can tell it's a holiday when I make French toast, and not use frozen.)

My soul must have needed some pink, because it sure makes me smile. 

See the sunshine out there? 

"Bartholomew" is enjoying it, too.  Now, if this holds, there's a round of golf for me this afternoon.

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Moonlight and Mason Jars (Wed.)

Bird Cage Fabric

Here's the table I set for dinner tonight.  We have been so busy and I have cooked so little lately, that I thought I would fix a nice dinner and set a pretty table for the two of us.

This cheerful fabric was the inspiration, and I knew I had lots of turquoise and pink to go with it.  I thought about doing a bird theme, but decided to just let these clear, pretty colors shine.

And this was the inspiration for the location.  This is on our lower stone terrace and the beds here are filling in so nicely.  Of course, like most of the country, we are ahead of the game seasonally, so I decided to use this space which we almost tend to forget about.

These dishes picked up the turquoise and the strong pink. The flower shaped plate is plastic and came from Target a couple of years ago.

This is the back of the china.  I picked it up many years ago at a consignment shop in Cleveland, Ohio and it has a ton of serving pieces.  I think I got a treasure here.

Our peonies are getting close to the end.  I wish I knew what variety these are, because I would love to plant more.  The pink has a touch of salmon in it and is almost shocking.  This is an old McCoy vase.

I was willing to let the peonies be the only flowers on the table, but then I spied these blue hydrangeas in the fabric.

I simply turned to my left and picked matching flowers to tuck into the napkins.  How often does that happen?

The glassware consists of Waterford Lismore stems for water, and turquoise Martha Stewart (for Macy's) tumblers that I was going to use for wine.

Mis-matched silverplate with a mother-of-pearl handled knife worked fine for flatware.

Just for a bit of earthiness, I added old oak barley twist wooden candlesticks.

It made such a fresh, pretty but unfussy table.

I forgot to take two chairs away before I was snapping pictures.

Here's the long view.

Here's the view taken from the upper terrace.

And this angle shows you a bit of the lake.  Those yellow things you see are kayaks on the dock.

As I was loading these photos, I remembered that I did a very similar table in this same area last spring when our peonies were at their peak.  Here's a picture of it.  These same colors were on this table, but have a very different feel.  You can see that whole post here.  If you go to that post, notice how much difference there is in the maturity of the flower beds this year compared to last.

Here's irony for you.  Last year, after I set that table, I heard the weather channel say that bad weather was heading in and I reluctantly brought the whole thing inside when it began to look threatening.  It turns out that it was a devastating tornado that went through the area and we could never have eaten outside without being blown to Kansas.  And today.....I had to bring everything inside again, as it began to rain about four p.m.  It just wasn't the same in the breakfast room, but we were dry and safe. My heart still goes out to those who suffered such terrible loss last year.  Many are still re-building and many lost so much more than material things.  How do you heal?

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Garden Club Party III

I'm making a few changes, but if this post looks familiar, most of these pictures were posted a few weeks ago when my garden club came.  Some things are done by now, and some things are blooming that weren't quite ready then, but there's not enough difference to re-shoot and re-post.  I'm excited to see everyone else's entries to Alison's Favorites On the First party at The Polohouse.  This month's theme is "Share Your Garden".  Thanks, Alison!  Your beautiful blog will always be one of my favorites.

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Jennifer Rizzo's

Garden Tour Linky Party

Here's my entry!!!

This week, my garden club came to my house for lunch.  I offered anyone who was interested to go into the cutting garden and see how it was coming for the season.  (I also asked for any suggestions they might have.)    I thought you might like to see what they saw on their tour.  Here's the pathway, with the stones newly cemented into place.  For over a year, we had the base of crushed granite and sand, but they were only placed on top.  Mr. Pressed Pants and I had a little difference of opinion on the next step, so we had a Mexican stand-off.

Getting a little closer.  Do you see the five knock-out roses on the outside of the fence?  No???  THAT'S BECAUSE THE DANG DEER HAVE EATEN THEM!!!!!  Yes they ate the roses.

I just love this rusty old gate.  We usually have to keep it closed with a bungee cord to keep the dang deer out.  Yep!  They actually open it with their noses and stroll in.  They are still known to jump the fence, but at least it is a bit of a deterrent. (You may notice that the term "dang deer" is used as one word around here.)

Ok, I'm done with my rant and now you are right inside the gate.  Notice that the hydrangeas are just starting to bloom.  Yea!  I love them.

Here's the sitting area without the cushions.  Because we irrigate the garden with overhead sprinklers, we keep the cushions in the potting shed so they don't stay wet.  We designed this sitting area to hold four chairs and a round table if we want to dine out here.  I keep the table in the potting shed.  

Now I have the cushions out.  I chose to use the blue ones today.  I seem to have a wardrobe of choices.  Do you remember the Ikat fabric on these pillows?  I used it for a tablecloth here.

Here's the other side.

I've used this zinc barrel for an end table here and planted succulents for it.  There is some difference of opinion in blogland whether this is a French laundry tub or English. Care to chime in?

This table is interesting and I've used succulents here too.  I hope they don't get too much water from the overhead sprinklers.  The rock is kept here because it seems I always need to weigh down a stack of napkins.

This is the orange part of the garden, and it's mostly annuals like zinnias and dalhias, so they are not too far along.

The begonias that line the walkway are doing pretty well, and the pink zinnia in the corner is very happy.  Hosta line the walkway on the other side.

This is the Wms. Sonoma fire pit that I gave Mr. Pressed Pants for Fathers' Day one year.  I don't plant too close to it, because thing would get trampled when adding logs, or roasting marshmallows.  :-) 

You can see the yellow hibiscus here, a hard color to find.  The peonies are across the pathway and they are much more vibrant than they photograph here.

The yellow roses are blooming their heads off and the lower plants are blue balloon flowers that have not quite bloomed.

This is my newest peony.  Isn't it pretty?

You can just see the pink bleeding heart here with yellow tickweed across the path.

No, we don't have to leave yet....I just wanted to show you the hosta and the way I've planted around the forsythia and bottle brush plants.

And in one shady corner, I've just recently added these ferns and planted white/green caladiums in front.  That little speck of lime green on the right is a lady's mantle that I've moved around for years and it is never happy anywhere I put it.  Any thoughts?

I did open the potting shed for anyone to take a peek.  

I clipped a few ferns and hosta and ligustrum for the wicker bottle holder.

You can get a complete tour of the potting shed here.

Are you warm?  Help yourself to some water and, as they say in the South, "sit a spell".

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