Valentine's Day With Juliet

This year I decided to set a Valentine's Day table with our wedding china, because even though I chose it many years ago, I still love it (just like my husband). 💘💟💕 The last two days here have been totally gloomy with very little sunshine, so the lighting isn't the best for these pictures.  In spite of that, I really enjoyed putting this table together, and I hope you enjoy the pictures.   

      

A Winter Tablescape

Hello there!  Happy February to you. 😊  I set a winter tablescape this January, thinking that I would try to set more pretty tables this year.  I really would have liked to get some pretty winter flowers at the grocery store for my centerpiece, but it just didn't happen.  Instead, I went with my standby of a pillar candle and hurricane globe.     

   

Easter Tablescape

Hello all!  Today I'm sharing some images of my Easter table from April.  Yes, this post is a little late.  😏  I had the table set up before Easter, but since we left town the day after, I just got the pictures made this week.  Last week, it was cloudy and overcast here all week, which doesn't make for good pictures.  With the lighting in our dining room, I struggle to get good pictures even on sunny days.

   

Thistle Tablescape

I remember the first time I saw a wild thistle growing along the roadside in the mountains.  I did a double-take -- surely I was mistaken.  I thought they only grew in the Scottish Highlands.  I was wrong; they do grow around here at the higher elevations, but we haven't been able to spot any the last year or two, so I wonder if the farmers or the state park rangers are trying to kill them off.  I've heard they can be invasive, and I know from experience they sport some seriously wicked thorns.      I meant to set up this table some time ago, but I was waiting to find the right dishes (at the right price) for it.  A few years ago, my sweet husband gave me a beautiful table runner with embroidered thistles, along with some coordinating doilies.  He ordered them from the Gretna Green website, where we both like to shop for gifts.  I already had the napkins, thinking I would set a Mardi Gras table, and they were perfect with the other linens.  Then a few months ago, I finally found the dishes on e-Bay.  I would have loved to buy the teacups and saucers, too, but I didn't want to spend the extra money.     

   

Butterflies and Bees Tablescape

Back when it was still spring of this year -- before the heat descended in a big, moist, hot blanket, I set up a table in the dining room using my Butterfly Meadow dishes.  I do a table with these most years because I think they're just so pretty in the spring (and summer).  If you are a regular reader here, you know we went to the beach twice in close succession, had a death in my family, and then Hal and I both caught Covid.  The table just sat there languishing -- dishes in place, but no centerpiece.  I thought about just putting the dishes away because I'd lost the initial spark to take pictures and write a post.  But then, our new butterfly bush bloomed and my limelight hydrangea has about three times as many blossoms as last year, so I decided to make a centerpiece for the table and take pictures.     

   

   

Easter Tablescape 2021

Hi folks!  Today I'm sharing a little tablescape fun and joining in for Susan's "Tablescape Thursday" party at Between Naps on the Porch.  I got my Easter table put together end of last week, but I've just now had a chance to write the post.   

   

   

The Everyday Dishes

About 25 years ago, my sweet mom and I were shopping in our local Reading China -- oh how I still miss that store.  You could find just about anything there, and it was usually good quality at a good price, too.  Anyway, I happened to spot these boxed sets of dishes on an endcap, and I was immediately hooked.  For our entire married life (which at that time was only about eight years) I had used the cheap modest stoneware dishes that I bought at K-Mart when I first moved out into my own apartment.  I don't have any pictures of those dishes, but I thought they were very pretty at the time.  We also had some dinner plates passed down from Hal's mom that came from the potteries in Seagrove, North Carolina.                

      

   

Lenox "Holiday" Tablescape

I set a Christmas table this year, even though my family got together at my mom's house.  I made some pictures since I'll shortly be taking this down and putting everything away until next Christmas.  These were the dishes I inherited last year when Hal's great-aunt, Dorothy, passed away.  My sister-in-law will be getting a set, as well.  I feel so fortunate to have received these dishes; they really do set such a pretty table.   

A Pastel Spring Tablescape

Happy Wednesday dear Friends!  My husband brought me a bouquet of tulips on Sunday, and I thought they deserved a tablescape in their honor.  😊  I haven't done a tablescape just for spring (other than Easter and St. Patrick's Day) in years, so this was fun to do.     

  

A Thanksgiving Tablescape

I don't think I've ever put together a Thanksgiving table in October -- at least, not in recent years.  I'm always too far behind schedule to do that.  This year, things are a little different.  I've offered committed to having my family's Christmas Day gathering at our house, so I'm going to start decorating for Christmas earlier than ever before.  It will feel strange, but I need to get as much of a head start on things as possible.   Our Thanksgiving tables in previous years have always featured my Johnson Brothers "His Majesty" dishes, and my centerpiece was always a cornucopia overflowing with the bounty of a harvest season.  I enjoyed using these pieces, because the "horn of plenty" has always been a big symbol of Thanksgiving to me.  This year, I was in the mood to do something different.  

Belated Easter Tablescape

Happy Wednesday to you!  I hope your week is going well.  I didn't get a chance to get photos of our table before Easter, so I'm sharing them now.  I decided to go ahead and post this tablescape because this is a table that would convert easily to an any-occasion Spring table.

Our Christmas Dining Room and a Tablescape

Hi everyone!  Have you all been busy as bees?  I've been absent once again -- trying to get Christmas done here at Forest Manor.  Whew!  I still have so much left to do, but I wanted to share a bit of our home with you today.

I have several tablescapes in mind for Christmas this year, but this may be the only one I have time to do.  It's not a typical look for Christmas, but I really love it.  Last year, I saw two or three pretty blue and white Christmas tables, and I fell in love with the look.  I had honestly never thought of using blue and white for Christmas.  There was a really lovely one in my Southern Lady magazine last December.  That table featured blue and white Christmas dishes.  I don't have any blue and white Christmas dishes, but I decided I could use my Staffordshire "Liberty Blue" ironstone dishes.

A Nautical Tablescape

I've been fascinated with the ocean and all things nautical for as long as I can remember.  Today, I'm sharing a tablescape with you, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Mom's Easter Table

Hi everyone!  I'm sort of on a tablescaping kick at the moment.  Do you know, that's originally why I started blogging?  I liked setting pretty tables, and I wanted to participate in the various link parties for tablescapes.  I kind of knew when I started that I would want to expand and write about more than just dishes and such.  Sure enough, last year I wrote about travel, books, decorating, etc., but I only did one tablescape all year.  In 2012, we were having our kitchen remodeled, and I think I only did two tablescapes that entire year.  Now I'm in the mood to play with the dishes again.  ;)

This tablescape was actually not done by me; my mom put this Easter table together back in 2011.  Hal took pictures and we put them on the computer, and then I forgot we had them.  I came across them this past weekend and realized I needed to put them in a post.

St. Patrick's Day Table 2016

It's almost time for the wearin' of the green -- are you ready?  :-D  It's St. Patrick's Eve, and I've set an Irish-themed table so I can participate in Kathleen's Annual St. Paddy's Day Blog Crawl.  If you'd like to join in the fun, head over to Cuisine Kathleen's blog and prepare to be Irish for the evening.

McGee's Pub

Once Upon A Time in a place called North Carolina, there lived a husband, a wife and son, a dog, a cat, and two sets of grandparents.  The husband was working on a big computer software installation at his company's Ireland facility in Kilkeel, Northern Ireland.  

A Silver and Red Christmas Tablescape

Hello to you all.  I haven't posted anything in almost a week -- I've been deep into Christmas preparations, which are basically going pretty well.  I still have quite a bit left to do, but I'm doing much better than last year.  We also celebrated Mr. Forest Manor's birthday earlier this week.  I told him I was really glad he was born.  :)

I'm aware that I owe all of my blog friends a visit.  I have had very little spare time to do any blogging.  My husband is home on vacation right now, and we're staying busy.  But, I have been looking at your blog posts as time allows, and it's so much fun to see what all of you are doing during this Christmas season.

I've done another Christmas tablescape, and I felt kind of self-indulgent for doing that with just a week left until Christmas day.  But I did it anyway.  :-D  The main reason is that my mom gave me these reindeer a few years ago, and I wanted to feature them so she could see them on our table.  I spotted them when we were shopping together; they were already marked down to half-price, and my mom got them for me for Christmas that year.

A Woodland Christmas Tablescape

Hi folks!  I'm so excited to join Kathleen, who blogs at Cuisine Kathleen for her Copycat Christmas Challenge.

An Italian Tablescape and a Giveaway

Pfaltzgraff is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its "Villa Della Luna" pattern of dishes this year.  I was contacted by Lifetime Brands and asked to do a tablescape for fall featuring these dishes, and I was happy to oblige.  :)

Lemon-Poppy Seed Scones

Last week, I celebrated another birthday.  What a fast year this has been!  I went to dinner at a favorite restaurant with my husband and son and had a wonderful meal.  The next day, I had lunch with my parents in their sun room and afterwards made scones with my mom.