Throwback Thrifty Tables

I considered doing a brand-new tablescape today,

but . . . I am bone lazy.

Actually, I'm not really ready to do all the toting

and moving of dishes and glassware and

centerpiece stuff . . . my knee is still sore and cranky,

and still under those "rest it" doc's orders.  Bor-ing.

But the ghosts of Fall table settings past

are plentiful in the pictures archives.

2009:  Lunch for one in the Parlor.

Dollar Tree, TJ Maxx, a free lantern, a few gifts,

and of course -- more Dollar Tree. 

 Got the rooster plate in Los Angeles, at a TJ Maxx.  Just like home ....

The lantern was liberated from a country club by my daughter Alida,

when she waitressed at a wedding there.  The lanterns were abandoned and up for grabs.

Free is my favorite price. The fabulous tea pot is a gift, years ago, from my daughters.

2009:  Lunch, in the Conservatory.

Walmart, Dollar Tree, Ebay, and more Dollar Tree.

Seeing a pattern here?

 Dollar Tree well represented here.  I love a store where everything is a buck.

So, this table may have a bit of a pumpkin overload going on. Hey, the tables can't all be winners.

2009:  Dining Room casual dinner for two.

Looks like a pasta night, doesn't it? 

 Plates from Dollar Tree.  Bowls from a discount drugstore.
Plaid linen napkins, vintage, eBay, cheap.

It's hard to see with my clumsy pictures, but the blue in the plates does match the blues in the bowls.

Trust me.

 Hand blown turquoise wine glasses from my favorite charity thrift shop.

 2009: Dining Room again.  For two.

Soup lunch!  Yes, with beer, hence the Pilseners.

 Goodwill candle holder, Dollar tree plates, TJ Maxx bowls, Dollar Tree bird votives,

my Mom's pewter S & P, eBay vintage silverplate flatware, Dollar Tree placemats.

 Home Goods napkins.  They have the best prices on new napkins.

 Goodwill had two of these mercury glass candleholders.

Ask me why I bought only one?  I cannot answer you.  Stupid.

Frenchy-looking tin cachepot holding the ivy?

From a decorators' sample sale in NYC, many moons ago.

And that wraps up the Tablescape and Thrift parts of

our Thursday blog post, ladies and gentlemen.  :-) 

Because it is Throwback Thursday, here's a picture of our

Dion DiPoochy, also in 2009, wondering why I have draped him

in a pumpkin garland.  He was always so patient.

Confused sometimes, but always patient.

And with that, it's Goodbye time.

I think there are chairs in my future, on Craigslist,

and on tomorrow's blog post.  
And hopefully in our dining room.  Be well! -- Cass

LINK PARTIES!

Tablescape Thursday, at Between Naps On The Porch.  Click!

Treasure Hunt Thursday, at From My Front Porch to Yours.  Click!

Goodbye, Chlorophyll, It's Been Good To Know Ya

Autumn has its charms:  apples, pumpkins, brilliant color, 
cool clear days, stupid-easy seasonal decorating
(just plop a pumpkin or a mum anywhere) . . . .

But I am not a total fan of watching Summer shrivel up.

Perhaps it makes me think of the skin on my neck, now that I'm past 60.

Oops.  Sorry about the trash can full of weeds.  Not a staged picture!

 Leaves are frisbee-ing themselves off the trees,
most flowering plants have retired for the year,

but our tomatoes are still grunting out babies, trying to outrun Jack Frost.

These guys are doing their best to beat the coming frost.

Yes, we added a mum and a pumpkin to the sunroom doorway.

The Rieger Begonia that was blooming so beautifully there

totally gave up the ghost -- folded like a cheap suit, the coward.

An occasional Knockout is still outing itself.

The Russian Sage is soldiering on.

The bees are all over it, bless their little pollen-spreading hearts.

But Fall is winning.

In the sunroom border, the portulaca is kaput.

Thank you, wax begonias, for hanging on.

I've never much liked you, but you are tough buggers.  Respect.

Hmmm... okay.  A fresh mum does bring new color to the fading garden, doesn't it?

Although a glance down, and the very dead cosmos stalks

make an interesting, Addams Family display.  :-P 
Yes, weeds everywhere.

(Bad back the past few weeks. No weeding.)

But Autumn brings many blessings, as I try and remind myself.

It is pretty.

It brings families together for Thanksgiving ....

And ... then ... there's Christmas.  :-)

Thanksgiving.

Don't panic, my friends,

but it's fewer than 50 days to Turkey Day!

And I am still working on making my TBDBT List.

(To Be Done By Thanksgiving List.  Always made.  Never finished.)

I wish you a happy Thursday.

-- Cass

Dear Autumn, I Hate Your Guts, And It's My Blogiversary!

Wow.  
I almost can't remember how to write a blog post.  I began this blog on October 1, 2008, and 840+ posts later, I have sputtered to a very slow crawl.

For that very first little attempt at blogging, click here.

Me and That Old House took separate Summer vacations.  All I've written since June are some goofy Facebook posts, and most of those were written by my dog Dylan DiPoochy.

Yes, he is that talented.

While I was being a happy summertime layabout,

poor ol' Summer was KO'd by . . .

 

It sneaks up on me every year.

I never see it coming.

Even displays like this one fly right by me;

I don't even see them.

 What is this called, again?  Oh yeah.  
Denial.

It ain't just a river in Egypt, is it? 

A picture from October 2013, our side yard.  And its leaves.  Lots and lots of leaves, and more to fall.

I am very, very grateful that I do not have to rake all those leaves.  Bless the landscape guys.

I do hate to see Summer fold its tent and take a hike.
And leave all those leaves on the ground.
(Haha ... see what I did?)

Yes, there are compensations.

Fall's colors are crazy-pants -- wild and brilliant. 

Seasonal veggies look like aliens, wacky and warty.

Mother Nature's last crazy fling before winter.

And Fall decorating is stupid easy.  You can't go wrong.

Put a mum or a pumpkin pretty much anywhere,
and POOF! instant Autumn bling.

Fall is both an end -- of warm weather, bountiful crops

and flowers, a life outdoors -- and a beginning.

It's the start of the holiday season, with Hallowe'en kicking off

the parade that won't end until it is 2015.  Yikes.

It was a long and beautiful summer. 

Look . . . Can you spot our Dylan DiPoochy in this picture?  :-)

There have been a few changes here at That Old House.  

Those can wait for another post.

Meanwhile, I wish That Old House a Happy Blog Anniversary.

Six years.  That's a lot of chit-chat under the bridge, isn't it?

-- Cass

Hey, October . . . Who Invited You?

Without my noticing,
the month of October muscled its way onto my
calendar, and pretty much KO'd Summer.

See the little guy, below?

That's Rudy, our ghostest with the mostest.

Rudy tells me to get over it, to gracefully relinquish the long days

and soft nights of Summer, and accept the flamboyant decay of Fall.

Okay.

In a few short weeks, our yard will look like this - 

colorful, and messy:

It's not all bad; I do have my favorites in the Fall.

Like, pumpkins.

 I'm looking forward to another pumpkin carving smackdown with

my daughter Anne, in which we will each take a round orange orb,

scoop out its guts, and turn it into an artistic masterpiece.

 I'll do something like this:

And . . . Anne will do something like this,

totally humbling me.

 These were our 2012 initial attempts.  Anne just got better with practice.

I got more ambitious, and more disastrous.  And, okay - ridiculous.

Then, there are the tomatoes.

What is it about tomato plants, that as frost approaches,

they just start pooping out more and more of their product?

Even at That Old House, our hardscrabble tomato plants

are still pumping out the goods, 

although I'm leaving most for the local critters now.

Cold weather coming; they need to EAT.

I do love me a good farm stand in October.

Who doesn't like piles of warty, ugly gourds?

And, inside the house, it's time to break out the orange.

Vintage lustre cream jug and sugar bowl,
hand-painted, Japan. So cute. I found them at Somerville
Center Antiques, before I had a booth there.

Including linens, like this big tablecloth.

Hand embroidered pure vintage cotton,
also found at Somerville Center Antiques.

And dishes like Johnson Brothers Fresh Fruit pattern,

a Craigslist bargain from 2 years ago.

(I'd tell you how little I paid for service for 8, with lots of extras,

in mint condition, but I'm almost embarrassed.  Almost.  Okay, since you're my friend: $20.)

 Fall does have its good side.

Fall decorating is crazy easy, because pumpkins and mums

and cornstalks and hay bales and orange and yellow and

gold and brown and red and purple - yes, purple - are so photogenic.

You kind of can't miss.

Which means that tomorrow I probably should get

those boxes marked "Autumn" up from the dungeon cellar,

and start falling for Fall.

But I'll still miss Summer,

and I'll never get used to the days shrinking up.

Wow, I am really stubborn, aren't I?

I hope your Thursday is a good one,

and maybe I'll see you here tomorrow; I've got some furniture to feature.

Best wishes to you all -- Cass

Autumn actually used to be my favorite season.

Now, it signals the end of another year,

and I guess the older I get,

the less I like that.
Paging Doctor Freud . . . .