Lawd, have mercy…where’s my funeral home fan??? I don’t know about you guys, but I’m about “summer’d” out!🥵 It has been hotter than a jalapeño‘s armpit with humid, icky conditions here in the Kansas City, MO area all summer…except for the times it was pouring near record buckets of rain. While I’m in no particular hurry for winter’s chill, I am ready for something different. So as the Labor Day weekend approaches, I’m anticipating and celebrating summer’s last hurrah.
Summer’s Last Hurrah – Alycia Nichols, Tablescapes at Table Twenty-One
And if you prefer still shots to video…⬇️
Each place setting is grounded with a one-two punch of a red, white & blue striped placemat topped with an easy, reedy woven brown one.
I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with this year’s Dolly Parton line at Hobby Lobby! For a citified country-adjacent gal like me, it’s right on target! Dishes boasting deep red poppies with blue & white accents, these sweet floral napkins…Yes, please! The blue-rimmed chargers and flashy red pedestal bowls are also Hobby Lobby finds.
Poppy napkin rings from Bed Bath & Beyond many moons ago.
Ya ain’t really country unless ya like your Mason jar of tea sweetened with half a pound of sugar. Or at least that’s what my Kentucky born and bred great-Grandmother used to tell me. Hence the “country adjacent” description I’ve assigned myself as I defiantly stir in my Splenda.🤣🤣🤣
Somebody come get Dorothy and Toto out of the poppy field!
I can sit down with a whole pie and a quart of vanilla ice cream and just GO. TO. TOWN!!! (Again, as my great-Grandmother would say!)
All the usual country picnic fixins including peanut oil-fried chicken (seriously…is there any other way?), and the juxtaposition of heavenly biscuits and deviled eggs.
Now y’all KNOW I have to have my “adult beverage” of the Kentucky bourbon variety to help make suburban life bearable!🥃 I love it here in the heartland, but a “little nip” every now and then sure helps me love it even more! A napkin from the Dolly Parton line at Hobby Lobby pairs nicely with a placemat to line my bar cart.
Whatever you do this Labor Day weekend, please be safe! If you would like to see more ideas for picnics, check these out:
Have you ever tried the grownup version of an orange Dreamsicle? The one with whipped cream vodka, orange juice, triple sec or Cointreau, and cream or half & half? To beat this ongoing heat to a pulp (See what I did there? Pulp? Get it?😉), I whipped one up…at breakfast. Don’t judge me. It contained 2 of the 5 food groups.😜
Here’s a fun luncheon or dinner tablescape where a grownup Dreamsicle might be more appropriately enjoyed! (Faux flowers used here, but real ones would kick it up a BIG ol’ notch for guests!)
I first used these fun open tulip salad plates in 2010 for a Mothers Day tablescape, “Tulips in the iHop Hour”, referring to my Mom’s penchant for eating so early on Sundays. I’d not used them since, so this is as good a time as any. I’ve set them with plain white dinner plates and juicy orange Bormioli Rocco “Inca” glass chargers. My Mom’s Towle “Calypso” flatware and recently acquired orange stemware from Home Goods add a nice finishing touch.
Red-orange and white (faux) ranunculus in a curvy white ceramic vase.
Bright orange (faux) tulips are prominently used across the table.
Brilliant orange (faux) poppies add color and texture.
What’s a meal without dessert?🍰
Reticulated dessert plates look almost like old-fashioned doilies.
The pièce de résistance…Dreamsicle cocktails by the pitcher! Here’s the Pinterest recipe I most often use: Dreamsicle Martini
Do you love the color orange as much as I do? Here are a few more posts featuring this energetic color!🧡
If you’ve not seen the latest Julian Fellowes installment, “Downton Abbey: A New Era”, don’t worry…no spoilers here. I waited until it came out on Peacock this week to watch myself and would have been grievously disappointed if the surprises had been tarnished.
This is just my way of once again paying homage to the sublime series and subsequent movies that have been so entertaining as I binge-watched in the comfort of air conditioning throughout this blistering hot summer.
The Crawley family may have (often reluctantly) transitioned from the blithely unrestrained indulgences of the Edwardian era to the slightly less buttoned-up/pre-Stock Market Crash Roaring Twenties, but they still dine in a refined manner. I tried to capture the essence of that poised manner with gleaming silver chargers and flatware, fine white china, cut crystal stemware, and crisply starched hemstitch napkins.
This silver epergne is perfect for a lush centerpiece of fruit and flowers.
The vitrine holds all the service pieces including an inherited butter server. With an army of footmen no longer en vogue, who on earth will bring it all to the table?🤷🏽♀️
Obsessed? Maybe.🤔 Entertained? Absolutely!😀
If you’re into formal table settings, you might like these:
Tablescapes at Table /Twenty-One 