Easter Dinner 2011

We went to my parents' house for dinner this year, like most years. The difference this year is that I tried to take pictures for this blog. I've discovered how difficult it is to document (in artistic pictures) a family dinner. But, I will share what I did manage to capture.

I did most of the table setting, with my husband lending a very welcome hand. We used my mother's set "Petit Point" by Royal Albert and her silverplate "Lady Stuart". I brought my cranberry tablecloth and vintage linen napkins.

My mother couldn't find her Easter decorations, they've been put away where they can't be found. So we improvised with dishes of brightly wrapped chocolate eggs and flowers.

It was a lovely meal. My mother is very good in the cooking area, and the rest of us excel at eating. :)  I apologize for how few pictures I took but there really wasn't much time.

Spring

I've mentioned before how much I struggle with posting, what I haven't mentioned is that I have even more trouble with self control. I know I will never be a good, efficient blogger if I don't stop reading everyone else's blog and get down to writing my own. But what's a girl to do with so many interesting blogs out there? Of course, that is a retorical question. :)

Today I'm going to try, once again, to put the pictures in where I want them with some sort of text around them. Good luck to me.

Here is what one of my flower beds looked like April 2. Lots of snow had already melted, but lots more to go.

Here's my poor lion who lives at the end of the driveway.

There was one flower out that day, in an abandoned flower bed. One little crocus. This flower bed is out by the highway and is quite exposed to the elements. Very dry most of the summer. I'm thinking about reclaiming it, but that's another story.

The day after these pictures were taken, we had snow. Now, fast forward to yesterday, April 9.

The crocus were beginning to pop up everywhere.

Today it's rained all day. We even had our first
thunderstorm. You can actually watch the snow
recede.

Putting spring into my table tops

With the snow melting and the spring bulbs poking up out of the ground, I felt the need to change the displays in my dining room.

Time to get a lighter look in the room.

I "shopped the house" (what a wonderful term) and came up with a few things. The red roses were a bit heavy, but not too bad as long as there was still lots of white stuff right outside the window.

I put away all the silver that was on the sideboard and started looking for something to replace it. I took the opportunity to display my "Dimity Rose" soup tureen. And it went from there.

But I didn't really like the colour of the Limoges tureens with the Royal Albert white colour. So, I pulled out more Dimity Rose.

Better, but now I thought there was too much pink, so I replaced the sugar and cream with a glass fruit bowl.

I'm now content with it. My husband really likes it, so I'll leave it as is for the season. :) Suddenly, though, the red roses looked way too bright. I found a couple of  beautiful flowers that blend in so much better.