Table For Two Beneath The Old Elm Tree

Happy Tablescape Thursdays! Please visit Between Naps On The Porch for more tablescapes.


Today's setting for 2 is set at our neighborhood park conveniently located across from our home.


Beginning next month, our neighborhood association sponsors our annual music in the park concert series.


The event attracts many neighbors and people from all over town. They bring picnic baskets and wine and have a good time. We usually stroll over the park early to stake out our traditional spot under this tree, open a bottle of wine with other delicious bites and enjoy the music with friends and neighbors.


I love the folding wagon to your left in this picture. It allowed me to carry everything here you see on a single trip. There was even room left for 2 more folding chairs and additional small table if the occassion called for 4 people. I purchased the wagon at Costco for $60.00 which was worth every cent. The cart folds conveniently and compactly for easy storage. I keep it in the back of our Jeep at all times. Great for shopping and hauling the beach gear.



The chocolate brown luncheon and paisley floral salad plates from Bed,Bath & Beyond. Linen napkin from Target. Stainless flatware by Mikasa.


The stemware are 2 of a set of 8 Murano glasses that were purchased by Dan's parents in Venice on a trip in the late 60's. The crystal glasses by Waterford.


The neighborhood park is a one mile oval shaped park ringed with trees framed by a decomposed granite walking/running path.


The park also includes, 2 tennis and basket ball courts, a playground,baseball diamond and several open spaces for festivals and sporting events.


Our Chow Chow Cocco and son Daniel love to chase each other in wide open areas of the park.

The picnic baskets were purchased from one of my favorite stores, William Glen. I love to bring the faux mink throw purchased from Target to add a bit of "luxe". Friends and neighbors laugh and call it my signature over the top presentation.


Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you enjoyed my contribution to this weeks Tablsecape Thursday hosted by Susan with Between Naps On The Porch. Click on the image to visit more creative table settings.

The Queen Of Soul Gets Lost Behind The Bow

Luke Song, the milliner credited for Aretha Franklin's hat worn at President Obama's inauguration filed a federal lawsuit against competitors in the fashion industry for creating knockoffs of his original design.

Mr. Song even went so far as to publicly state that his "lavish and ornate" creation "gained instantaneous fame and notoriety, attracting much more media attention than even Aretha Franklin's performance itself" as quoted in a smoking gun article which broke the news to the New York Times. I can only imagine the diva of soul reading the quote and then getting in the desinger's face singing "you better, think, think,think about what you're trying to do to me". Speaking of divas, if you haven't already seen this, it's a clever commercial featuring the queen of soul. It's a good thing she wasn't wearing one of Song's attention grabber or we would have never recognized Ms. Franklin in the back seat.

Kitchen Duty For The Little American

Photos taken of the little American doing his share of cleaning at his very close friend Mimi's home.

The adorable little apron was handmade by Mimi's mother for her when she was a child. I'm already searching the world wide web for one for the little American. The best news of yesterday is that he went to the potty several times all by himself successfully. Yay! Coincidentally, one of my favorite bloggers, Visual Vamp posted a similar image with a great message earlier today here. Happy Mothers Day!

Stop Spokeo.com in its Tracks and Protect Your Privacy - NOW

There's a site called Spokeo.com that's a new online phone book w/personal information: everything from pics you've posted on FB or web, your approx credit score, home value, income, age, etc. You can remove yourself by searching for yourself on their site to find the URL of your page, then finding the Privacy button at the bottom of page for instructions on removing yourself. please copy & repost.

Stop Spokeo.com in its Tracks and Protect Your Privacy - NOW

A Great Craigslist Find

A couple of weeks ago I was very fortunate to come across a local Craigslist ad for 8 traditional style dining chairs at $10.00 each. The chairs are actually a reproduction of the Adam shield back chair. They were in very bad condition because, as the previous owner indicated, they were used by a her 4 large sons who all played football through high school. Despite their condition, I purchased the set since we have Remarkable Refinishing in town that can pretty much fix anything. Mark, at Remarkable Refinishing, has worked on several furniture repairs and refinishing for me throughout the years and does outstanding work. The 2 in this photo are the only 2 that were usable.

I first sanded the original mahogany finish then painted them with a flat gray to resemble the oxidized weathered look you see in teak wood which I love. My next step is to embellish some of the details such as the urn and laurel leaves with gold leafing. The ivory cotton fabric was from a bolt of remnant that I applied to the chairs for now until I can afford a nicer fabric. I really like the color of the fabric but think a tone on tone pattern would look nicer.

(from Wikipedia)
Robert Adam (3 July 1728 – 3 March 1792) was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his older brother John, Robert took on the family business, which included lucrative work for the Board of Ordnance, after William's death.

In 1754 he left for Rome, spending nearly five years on the continent studying architecture under Charles-Louis Clérisseau and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. On his return to Britain he established a practice in London, where he was joined by his younger brother James. Here he developed the "Adam Style", and his theory of "movement" in architecture, based on his studies of antiquity and became one of the most successful and fashionable architects in the country. Adam held the post of Architect of the Kings Works from 1761 to 1769.

Robert Adam was leader of the first phase of the classical revival in England and Scotland from around 1760 until his death.^[2] He influenced the development of Western architecture, both in Europe and in North America. Adam was not content with providing houses for his clients but very ready to design the fittings and accessories as well.

[Continued on wikipedia)

Six In The City....San Francisco

Welcome to my table setting contribution to this week's Tablescape Thursdays which is hosted by Susan of Between Naps On The Porch.

Please visit BNOTP for more creative and unique table arrangements submitted by her readers and subscribers.

The location for this mocked (but at least with real flowers ;-) ) table setting for a party of 6 is on the balcony of the San Francisco 2 bedroom condo we're currently renting for the duration of my partner Dan's twin sister Dana's hospitalization at the UCSF Medical Center.


Since the time Dana was first admitted back on March 8th of this year, she has been doing and is continuing to progress remarkably well.

Both her physical and speech therapy show great improvement each week. Thank you to those that continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

The beautiful china in this setting belong to the condominium owners.
The collection is Viana by Vista Alegre, a porcelain manufacturer located in Portugal.

Awhile back I created another tablescape inside the condo but with dishes purchased from a nearby Ross store that I thought (or, perhaps I'm just unwilling to admit I couldn't figure out how to successfully incorporate this traditional classic pattern into the condo's very contemporary decor) would complement the contemporary space better.

I like this set quite a bit and its vibrant blue & yellow colors on the crisp white porcelain backdrop inspired me to arrange them outside on the balcony.

The silver gray tablecloth is actually a pair of the homeowner's drapery panels I borrowed from one of the bedrooms(yes, I often have behind the scenes improvisations) Hopefully, if they (homeowners) come across this post they wont be unhappy about my use of their window coverings.


Of course, this was a mocked setting so actual food and beverages never made it to the table.

My only personal addition to the table was the blue runner I picked up from the nearby Supermarket for $2.75 and the Hydrangeas & miniature mums from Costco for $18.00.

Because I underestimated the amount of flowers I actually needed, I ended up picking apart the few hydrangeas I had to help conceal the floral foam.

The porcelain tureen used for the floral centerpiece is by Lynn Chase Designs.

It's from the Costa Azzurra collection.

Well, that's it for this submission for Tablescape Thursdays. I hope you enjoyed the photos and thank you for stopping by. Please don't forget to stop by Between Naps On The Porch for more table settings.

Vibram Five Fingers....The Foot Glove

I'm writing this from an 8th floor waiting room at the UCSF hospital as the nursing staff attend to Dan's twin sister Dana. I found a February 2010 Time magazine with an article about the Vibram Five Fingers, a rubber foot glove.

Since first spotting a pair of these on the streets of San Francisco about 3 weeks ago, I cannot seem to go anywhere these days without seeing or reading about these gloves.

I ran into a neighbor walking the park with pair a week and a half ago. She just loves them. A student of Dan's showed up to class wearing a pair a week ago who says they are great for sports.

According to the Times article, the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico run ultra marathons barefoot or very thin rubber sandals. Apparently, this is their endorsement of this new glove sensation.

I will have to stop by a nearby REI store to try on a pair which costs from $85.00 to $110.00.

P.S. Dana is making remarkable progress. Last week she was moved from the ICU to the facility's step down unit and is currently undergoing physical therapy. A heartfelt thank you to everyone for your continued support and prayers.

An Inexpensive IKEA For A Room Makeover With Help From Martha

Several weeks ago, I started a weekend room makeover project which I haven't had a chance to photograph and share on my blog until now. This is an upstairs spare room that has served as our guest bedroom. Unfortunately, we usually only have guests spend a night or 2 maybe 3 times a year. So, naturally, I thought it made sense to redo the room to allow for daily use as well as continue to offer overnight accommodations for guests.

I got rid of the 4 poster queen size bed and replaced it with an IKEA sofa bed. We kept the Tempur-pedic mattress overlay for added comfort to the new sofa bed.

The child's chairs and coffee table were purchased from IKEA as well. The outdoor area rug from Ballard Designs is perfect for standing up to messy spills made during playtime.

The blackboard easel is yet another IKEA find. The storage benches are from the Martha Stewart Living Collection for Home Depot. I thought they were a great bargain at $68.87 each which included the cushion. The canvas storage bins were sold separately with up to 16 great color choices at $6.87 each. There are plenty of wicker boxes and storage bins in the room for all of little Daniel's toys.

The Little American's cooking corner also from IKEA.

Because this was also a spare guest room, I made an effort to minimize the numerous bold colors typically found in children s play rooms. Instead I opted for a more selected and coordinated color palette that I thought would appeal to guests of all ages.

Have a happy Easter holiday weekend!