Lacy Party Plates

It feels like party time again. Maybe just because I have new party dishes!

I like to have pretty things that can also hold up to a good time. That means glass needs to be heavy. And my new plates and bowls fit that bill.

They're quite small. More like snack dishes. And they seem vintage to me, but probably aren't. Have you seen them before anywhere?

Inexpensive dishes can be dressed up and made special with table linens. Here I'm using vintage tea napkins and a lacy cloth.

I have the party all set up in the middle of the room on my pop up card table. It's easy to be impromptu with a table like this.

All you need are a few simple foods, something to drink, and your pretty table things do the rest.

Vintage silverplate flatware completes the buffet setting.

The vintage bistro glass is heavy too. I prefer it to delicate crystal. And there are also newer versions.  

Now I'm off to pick up the cake!

Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

I'm linking up to

Between Naps on the Porch

for Tablescape Thursday!

No Minimalist Here

for Open House!

Common Ground

where I was featured this week!

THANK YOU Debra!

French Country Cottage

The Charm of Home

Something Old, Something New

My silver post of a couple of days ago got me thinking about weddings. I mentioned the old custom of lining invitations up on the mantel. The very next day I received yet another beautiful invitation and I decided to show it to you.

Weddings are bigger than ever. And fabulous invitations are definitely a part of it. But conventions have changed.

A good friend recently confided her disappointment at not being mentioned on the invitation as parent of the groom. Not at all meant to be a slight, it's apparently a recent development in new style weddings.

Sure enough, my niece's lovely invitation mentions neither set of parents. But when I opened it, I was charmed to find a monogrammed seal closing the inner envelope, sort of reminiscent of the antiquated wax seal that I also referred to in my post. 

Attached to ribbon, it opens like a little gift.

It was a delight to open. Mail doesn't usually do that for me. :o)

I'll RSVP right away. In the meantime, my mantel is beginning to look wonderfully old fashioned!

I hope you get some pretty mail today too!

Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

Feeling Lazy

I might as well face what a bad case of spring fever I have going on. All I want to do is sit in the sun and look at my herbs and flowers.

But it's not really a day off. So I can't linger in the lilacs all that long.

The sun is so strong in New Mexico, and today it reminds me of being five again and falling asleep in a sunny window of the play house.

But it can't be a lazy day for me. And it's probably back to business for you too...

So have a great week!

Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

I'm linked to

A Stroll Thru Life

and A Beach Cottage

Silver Spoons

Remember all those Merchant Ivory and Jane Austen films where the heroine unfolds a continuous flourish of elegant wax sealed envelopes, and props their elegant script up on her even more elegant mantel?? 

We're getting invitations to weddings, mostly. Reminders to save the date. But then there are assorted graduation parties, and hopefully, a few teas and cotillions thrown in for good measure. :o)   It's time for the silver polish!

Of course you don't have to do that anymore. Rumpled linens and tarnished silver are all de rigeur at present. But yes! Mais oui! By all means dig it all out.

For I am here to tell you, if you haven't discovered it yet, that silver is one of the ways to happiness.

It's the sun you can stare into forever without going blind! All moonlit by candlelight! An etched garden than never fades!

If you use it every day you NEVER have to polish it. 

 Splatter a bit of glint around a simple supper and see how high the pleasure quotient rises. It needn't be a holiday.

But if you need an incentive, we have a holiday right around the corner. 

And if your mantel isn't overloaded with invitations yet, there's still time. Send a few invites out on the social tide and see what comes sailing back again!

My ivory handled pen knife ready for a quick Respondez s'il vous plait.

Happy White Wednesday!

Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

 Gypsy Fish Journal

And White Wednesday

@Faded Charm

The Lilac Season

Weathered oak and zinc are the perfect foil for my lilac blooms. The delicate color and constitution of the petals intensifies against the gray.

The flowers have reached the perfect stage for cutting. And they have such a heavenly scent! I don't have a lush flower garden, and so these few blooms over such a short season feel like a spring holiday to me.

I can look out onto this east patio from the heart of the house, so I'll enjoy the few stems I've cut for as long as they last.

The mornings are already warm. It's the best part of the day since our spring winds have started up and drive us all crazy by afternoon.

There are just these few moments to savor a cup of coffee and peruse a pretty magazine before the daily rush begins. So much for a spring holiday!

I hope you get blooming holiday too!

Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

I'm linking to

House in the Roses

Between Naps on the Porch

Savvy Southern Style