{Guest post today! Enjoy!}

Today we take the table outside to blue skies and fresh air. Ah-h-h!

The hardest part about putting together this outdoor table was waiting for a tornado-free morning.

Yesterday I was running errands from 11:00AM to Noon, 8 miles south of our home in Kansas City, when the sirens went off. Four separate ‘vortexes’ were bearing down upon downtown Kansas City, the Plaza, and the home I had just left. So I drove around for an hour, battling through winds and sheeting rain, steering west and south of the Dorothy-sky, looking for a safe haven. We were fortunate, none of the cyclones dropped down. (My aunt Stella, who is 98, told me that no one used to call these wind machines ‘tornadoes,’ that everyone used to call them cyclones).

A-n-yways, this morning I was ecstatic to see sunshine!

This table demonstrates a new trend, one I really like, using non-matching plates. This trend allows for creativity and a few less dollars, as it is often more expensive to buy a complete set of eight to twelve dishes, and…if your cousin breaks one…well, with a matching set, one must find another.

So, to set the theme of Roses, I gathered six different floral plates. Two show a detailed rose painting, two show a rose with gold filigree edges, and two are simply floral with pinks, greens, and golds. TIP: go to your nearby thrift store, especially first thing in the morning if you can, and there will always be at least six floral china plates of some bygone era. Buy the two or three floral plates that really appeal to you. It may take 2 or 3 separate shopping trips to obtain the six to eight ‘flower’ plates, but you will have them, and they will only set you back TWO DOLLARS each max.

You can also switch it up and go for graphics, or a color theme – plates with orange edges or brown mushrooms; believe me, they are all there. However, you will never find a complete set, so give up on this quest.

To complete our May table, I added six green napkins, a floral glass pitcher, a tiny ceramic bunny toothpick holder, and, for a WOW! a two and a half-foot tall green metal candelabra.

The candelabra I purchased at an antique store for $20 – a lot for me – and it was black iron, so I painted it green, using several different shades. This candelabra was part of Lauren’s bridal shower table WAY BACK when she was married 3 and 1/2 years ago!

Next I picked roses from the garden, and stashed them into cocktail glasses.

I left the table set, all day, daring the winds! I am ready for a mimosa.

Cheers!

Geri Wurth
www.kcthistle.com