Raven and Sparrow

New stuff

    After I posted my Christmas tablesetting I got an email from my Aunt Myrt complimenting me (thanks Aunt Myrt!) and mentioning how great it would be to have access to all the plates and stuff in a big store. I've been daydreaming in china departments for a long time and would indeed love to play with unlimited resources, but her comment reminded me that mostly people have to work with what they have. The dishes, tablecloths and other accessories needed to continually and totally reinvent the table are beyond the reach of most people, both financially and in time and effort expended. I've always reached for every new book on tablesettings, but usually feel disappointed because they are always (well, usually) gorgeous, but have nothing to do with anything I own or could put together without buying lots of expensive things. Most of the time when I am setting the table I must respond to the season and the occasion by drawing from what I have. At this stage of my life I have a lot more than I used to ...a personal vocabulary of items selected from stores both fancy and thrifty, inherited, given to me as gifts, and made by me. My collection makes tablesetting more fun and satisfying, but the process is the same as when I only had the cheap set of dishes I bought at Sears. It is always limited by something.

    Paradoxically, limits can be freeing, and in these days endless new stuff is excessive, not to mention impersonal. However, its amazing how some little new thing can reinvigorate my thinking and bring out new possibilities in the stuff I have. I now rarely add to my dish collection, but I am always thinking of new linens I would like to make. In the meantime, occasionally buying new decorative accessories can be as inspiring as a whole new set of plates. Just a little bit of new can keep the old fresh and flexible.

After the Wedding

Just before Christmas our dear friends Mark and Flora asked if they could be married at our house. We are delighted with the happiness they have found together and could only say yes to their request, Unfortunately we had fallen into post-move inertia and have been squatting amongst construction debris and unplaced belongings for several months. The house is liveable, but not finished and an event like a wedding makes you see everything afresh that needs to be done. The original plan was to hold the ceremony outdoors if at all possible, understanding that January is pretty iffy weatherwise. Mark and Flora chose a cliff setting overlooking the water not too far from the house, only partially clogged with unused wood scraps and overgrown with scotch broom. So there was outdoor work and indoor work to be done, and all after the hustle and fuss of Christmas. As soon as the decorations were stowed away we got to work on a variety of small improvements and clean-up projects. The tile was laid in the entry, the powder room got a door knob and tile backsplash, the windows and floors were washed, wood piles were moved, scotch broom was cut. The weekend before the wedding there was a forecast of snow, but at our house it was beautiful. The sun shone through dramatic cloud formations and sparkled on the water as we worked outdoors all day. It would have been a great day to be married outside. However, the snow did come...heavily. By the wedding day a week later it was gone, but the wind was howling and it was clear that the ceremony would be indoors. And so it was. There were twelve people in attendance, including the officiant. The bride was lovely, the groom was nervous. It was a beautiful, meaningful, heartfelt, intimate experience....just what a wedding ought to be. Not everything got done as I had hoped it would, but I think we made a setting worthy of the occasion and for that I feel pleased,

Now I'm trying to get back to my own projects, which seem to have been delayed forever. I always feel this way after Christmas, and the wedding preparations magnified the disconnect. I expect a few days will pass before I can bring any real energy to something new, but I'm looking forward to moving ahead. My new year is just beginning.