Fish and Frogs and Fruit and Fur . . .

Mother Nature is experiencing an identity crisis today -- sunny, then cloudy, then windy, then sunny, then cloudy . . .

it is enough to exhaust a good dog:

Especially a good dog, like our Dion, who is sharing his home
with his sister Nina for the next few weeks.

That is Nina, whose big girl name is Kilbrook Lorna Doone.

Nina is a darling dog, as sweet as can be, and one of Dion's 3 sisters
who together were known as "The Belmonts."
You either get that reference or you don't.

Annie took Nina for a little stroll
and I got this shot through the sink window:

Can't you just hear her thinking, "Hey, who's the paparazzo at the window?"

Enough of dogs! Time for dishes!

*************************************************************************************

Nina must think we are quite strange indeed, setting the table in the conservatory and not putting food on the plates. To a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, the only possible reason to have dishes at all is to keep your food from wandering off to where another dog can grab it.

But back to playing with dishes . . . last weekend I got 4 hand painted dinner plates,
Italian, in a funky splashy primitive fruit design.

So today I did a funky splashy tablesetting.
Or, as my daughter Anne commented, "Wow, Mom, you have a lot of cr*p on that table."

And so I do.

Pictures first, then a list of what I used:

In the picture above, the hydrangea blossoms are nestled into
two handpainted candlestick holders -- and that was Anne's idea.
Very clever; she likes to play with dishes, too.

Dinner plates -- half price at Goodwill.
Flocked and silvered fish printed votives -- Dollar Tree.
Large printed woven napkins -- Dollar Tree.
Small orange napkins -- from my Mom.
Silver plate flatware -- eBay.
Handpainted fish candlesticks -- Some cheap-o store in NYC.
Squiggly-stemmed martini glasses -- Dollar Tree
Small gilt-leaved glasses -- from my Mom. 1950s chic; I swear I can still smell the Scotch.
Round woven placemats -- Kohl's.
Napkin rings -- Dollar Tree.
Wooden condiment set -- gift from Anne, from Guam in '09.
Hydrangea blossoms -- our own bushes.
and ... the Majolica frogs-holding-shell centerpiece -- Goodwill.

Anne: "Mom, didn't you say no candles before 5 in the evening?"
Me: "Shut up."

Have a lovely Thursday! The sun is shining again here . . . wait, no it isn't. Yes, it is . . . No, it's not. But at least it's not snowing! Happy dishes to all -- Cass




Visit Leigh at Tales from Bloggeritaville
for Thrifty Thursday.








And at Between Naps On The Porch,
Susan hosts Tablescape Thursday.