For the last year or so Mike and I have been entertaining much less frequently, but this weekend we hosted a dinner party for eight people who haven't been to our house before. There is always a slightly sharper edge to planning for "new" people and I wanted the table to be especially attractive. Seating eight means putting in the table leaf which automatically restricts my choices because I have many fewer tablecloths that will fit. I do have a large gray blue undercloth that I thought would look good with my old brown cotton maple leaf square. I remembered seeing blue pumpkins (or squashes, actually, but they look like pumpkins) in years past and all of a sudden I envisioned a fall table with an unusual color scheme of brown and gray blue. I assembled my cloths, dishes and napkins and Mike and I sallied forth into the valley of the Skagit River in search of blue pumpkins. It was the most perfect fall day for a drive out into the beautiful farmlands of the valley, stopping at produce stands and nurseries. We weren't the only ones on the same quest, but the families out in the pumpkin fields seeking just the right prospective jack o'lantern made the day more fun. Finding blue pumpkins of the right size and "pumpkiness" (the blue Hubbard squashes are not always like pumpkins in shape) was a little challenging but a couple of mid size and some smaller ones finally made their way into our trunk.
What a disappointment when I put the pumpkins with the tablecloths! Too much blue gray! It went beyond autumnal to lugubrious. To lighten it up I replaced the blue gray undercloth with an off-white one and added white pumpkins and spider mums from the grocery store. Still, it didn't come to life until I thought of a funky orange and brown pumpkin garland languishing in my cupboard. The complementary orange sparked the blues in the pumpkins and the tablecloth and the setting was made.
I would like to say that the dinner party was a roaring success, but I don't think it was. Mixing people who don't know each other well is always a bit of a gamble. Sometimes having unfamiliar guests can spark an ordinary party into something memorable, partly because of that "edge" that comes into play when you are meeting someone new, but not this time. Very nice people conversed politely, ate dinner and then went home. The setting seemed to oppress the occasion instead of helping it. Was it too elaborate? Was it just the combination of personalities? Did burning the broccoli make a difference? I'm not sure.