Jonesing For The Beach

Maybe because the beach means carefree days and lazy evenings.
Maybe because the beach means the tang of salt air, which both energizes and relaxes.
Maybe because the beach means leaving real life behind . . . .

Whatever the reason -- and it is probably all of the above -- I have been jonesing for the beach lately. Real life is a bit stressful just now, so I am hearkening back to last summer, and a Tablescape that conjures up a carefree beach scene for me.

Please forgive the repeat table setting; if you've seen it, skip it and move on!

I had good intentions of using the dishes I bought on Sunday
in a tablescape this week, but I just plain ran out of time.

Thanks to Susan of Between Naps On The Porch for Tablescape Thursday.


And thanks also to Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville for her Thrifty Thursday.


Both of these blog parties have grown to be so popular, and I am always late to them!

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Now it's dishes, with a beachy mood.
Clean, simple, with watery colors.

Using Dollar Tree plates and bowls, an old sand-colored cotton tablecloth,
some vintage restaurant ware, and a few bits and bobs, I did a thrifty water-sand-shell-and-stone table:

The blue and aqua plates and bowls are from Dollar Tree.
I love their matte finish; they almost look handmade. For a buck apiece.

The smaller plates are old Syracuse restaurant china, and were my Mom's.
She loved restaurant dishes, bought scads at yard sales.

My friend Betsy gave me these little shell patterned dishes; they are white with touches
of aqua. They can hold a wee dinner roll and a pat of butter!

She also gave me this creamer and sugar,

bought along with the little dishes in Bethany Beach, Delaware:

Love the soft colors and sea creatures.

The big hurricane is full of beach stones, and a big ivory candle...

and the little blue votive holders, from Dollar Tree,

are glitzy, fun, and a tad tacky -- one is at every place setting:

They are flocked and silvered, and my daughter Anne classifies them as "cheesetastic."

Mr. Fish is guarding the table, trying to look fierce:

My friend Mardi and I found him more than 30 years ago
at a street fair in Greenport, on Long Island, and bought him for my parents.

Be careful what you buy for your parents -- it may end up in your house someday!

The flatware is old hotel silverplate. A thrifty find at the big Visiting Nurses Association Sale.

The big wineglasses -- also Dollar Tree!

The napkins are old damask luncheon napkins, in a soft green.

(I know I also have them in soft blue, but they seem to have gone AWOL.)

Soon we'll be stealing weekends at the family beach house, 'way out on eastern Long Island.

View from the dock.

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Thanks for visiting! I will try and get to as many of your blogs as possible, and I almost always leave a comment -- but my computer time is limited lately, so please understand if I don't around as much as I like. -- Cass

P.S. Did you notice my corny play on words in the title? Jonesing for the Beach? Jones Beach! Well, if you are from New York, you understand . . . .