A Garden Party

It started with the dishes. I saw them at Winners/Marshalls back in March and walked past them as the last thing I need is another set of dishes when I already have so many, (and now I have all of my mother’s too.) And since the pandemic I hardly ever entertain anymore….but they were plastic, perfect for the patio and they were so pretty I was envisioning a garden party with the hydrangeas all in bloom, even if we were still dealing with late winter snow storms. The next day I went back and bought them, because Winners is like that – it’s hit or miss, and if you dither whatever you had your eye on is usually gone, scooped up by some more decisive soul. The next week they had two big matching bowls which I thought would be perfect for salad or watermelon. I was sick of winter by then.

Fast forward to summer…..the actual party took over a month to organize because it involved five people with varying schedules of appointments, activities and emergencies. As I alluded to in my last blog about wanting to hold my own book club, just try asking a group of retired people what day is good for them – there are doctors appointments, grandchildren, golf, pickleball, bowling, theatre tickets etc and after we had settled on a date there was a basement flood and a cat requiring emergency dental surgery. As for me – I don’t own a cat and my life isn’t that exciting. Plus the weather had to be good, or at least not raining – it was hard to find a week here in July without rain or heat warnings, so it was impossible to plan too far ahead.

Anyway, eventually it happened, and the hydrangeas were at their peak.

Hydrangeas are no-fuss plants. These are repeat bloomers. They’re pink, but you can get blue ones by adding aluminum sulfate to acidify the soil. If you don’t add enough you get a lilac color, but they’re all nice. The lime green ones have become popular lately, but I prefer some color.

Look who dropped in for the party…

The first monarch I’ve seen in my yard in years! One of the neighbours must have planted some milkweed.

I have five hydrangea bushes but one has not done well this year, maybe because someone pruned it at the wrong time? It’s usually covered with blue flowers due to the neighbours overhanging cedar trees which help to acidify the soil, but this year it decided to be pink. There’s no figuring out plants sometimes – they have a mind of their own. There are many varieties of hydrangeas but most tolerate partial shade.

The day dawned sunny….it looked like a perfect day, if a bit hot and humid. I put all the cushions out.

I enjoy all the decorating party prep as I have so many placemats and tablecloths and things that I have accumulated over the years and never use. I’m too old now to be saving the good dishes and the guests seem to appreciate the extra effort. Everyone likes to be spoiled once in awhile.

Decorating doesn’t have to be expensive – these napkins and lady bugs are from the dollar store. The lady bugs were just for fun, because who doesn’t like ladybugs? These have adhesive backings so you can stick them on things. I stole the idea from a display at the library – ‘Bee a summer reader!’ which had bees stuck all over it. I bought a package of those too for September when the real bees spoil the dining alfresco.

Speaking of dining alfresco I was so excited to finally get to use my Tuscany table! The table was a curbside find during the pandemic which I painted with exterior paint to match American Decor’s chalk paint in Serene Blue. I painted a wooden chair same color, and the week before the party I found two chairs outside the St. Vincent de Paul store when I was donating clothes, and bought those for $5 each. Mismatched chairs are good with a rustic outdoor table like that, and if they’re recycled you don’t mind leaving them outside in the rain. The idea was to take advantage of the lovely southwest breezes under the trees -my deck can get too hot as it faces north and the houses block the breeze.

We had afternoon snacks under the trees and red and white peach sangria (the non-alcoholic kind), a grocery store find which was surprisingly good. I never took any photos of the food because I was so busy I forgot! The snacks were watermelon in one of the big new bowls, some perfectly ripe cherries, and a bag of Fritos, which was a big hit! There’s something about craving salt on a hot summer day, and Fritos taste salty but are not too high in salt. (The medical person in me worries about electrolytes and fluid intake and balanced nutrition.)

The main course was pizza. While I may like to entertain and bake, I do not like to cook that much, and it can be difficult these days with everyone’s food allergies/intolerances and low fat, low cholesterol diets. Not that pizza is hearty healthy but my small town has the world’s best pizza place. They’ve been in business forty years and served authentic wood smoked pizza long before it was even a thing. When they first opened, no one spoke English so what you ordered and what you got were sometimes different, but it’s everyone’s favourite choice, especially since our local Chinese restaurant closed down recently after 40 years. It was excellent too, but the owner couldn’t get anyone to buy it, and none of his kids wanted it. So pizza was the general consensus, however there was major disagreement about what toppings should go on the pizza (see section about trying to get five people to agree), so we ended up with everyone ordering their own baby pizza so they could take the leftovers home. Fine with me, as I do not think ground hamburger belongs on a pizza, and I’m not fussy on pepperoni either.

While we were waiting for the pizza I made them work for their supper…..what, you didn’t think it was going to be all fun and games! One planted the iris bulbs he had thinned out and brought with him (did I mention they were all horticultural society members, so I got some good suggestions as to what to plant around the back deck to replace the dying rose bushes – hydrangeas!) while we ladies went through the rest of the stuff from my mothers house which had been sitting in the garage taking up space for months. Only one item was left after it was all divvied up, a French press coffee maker which I decided to keep myself – no one wants a French press because it’s a pain to clean up the grounds. It’s always nice to give things away to people who want and can use them, and they had helped me out a lot last year when I was cleaning out mom’s house.

Note the party favours….

I had already set the table inside, as I knew rain was in the forecast, and by then we had lost the sun and it had become quite humid, so we moved inside and enjoyed the A/C for a couple of hours.

I made party favours out of hydrangea soap and stripped paper bags from the dollar store. Adults like to receive goody bags too!

leftover salad

As I still had lettuce growing (third crop) I made a big mandarin salad in the pretty big bowl, layering the three kinds of lettuce (Romaine, red leaf and ?) with the raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and mandarin orange slices, so the fruit didn’t all sink to the bottom. Served with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. (That was the nutrition course – it’s important to have a nutrition course.)

I like to thrift shop and had found a set of four light blue plates and an assortment of blue glasses a few years ago, which coordinated perfectly with the new hydrangea plates.

They could be used as salad plates, but we used them for dessert and moved outside to the deck table this time. The rain had held off and although humid there was a delightful evening breeze. We had key lime pie and coffee and talked until it got dark and the fireflies came out. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many fireflies in the back yard, but then I don’t usually sit out after dark due to the mosquitos. It was quite magical, and reminds me of that song, what I call the firefly song.

After they left, and I was cleaning up, I realized I hadn’t taken any pictures of the food so I snapped a photo of the bowl of wilted lettuce! I could have left the dishes until the next day but I was wide awake so I went to bed all talked out but with a clean kitchen. The next day I got an email thanking me for the party and how much they had all enjoyed it. They must have as they stayed 8 hours (2-10pm) but that’s the way it is with old friends – time flies in good company.

28 thoughts on “A Garden Party”

  2. Anne says:
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    Anne's avatar

    What a happy surprise this post is! Despite the time taken to agree on a time, all your preparations helped to make this a memorable party: what fun to get together a while away a few hours enjoying conversation and good food!

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Ally Bean says:
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    Ally Bean's avatar

    Beautiful! I love it. Your tablescape is perfect as is that butterfly adding a dot of color to your bushes. I’m glad your event well. I’ve never heard of Singria— clever name. How did you like it?

    Liked by 2 people

    • Joni says:
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      Joni's avatar

      I think it was just the grocery store’s brand name for sangria? Trying to make it sound Spanish maybe? I’ve only had red sangria once in Mexico a long time ago, served in a pitcher with fruit, and remember it as being bitter but one of my guests had it in Portugal and said it was sweet. I found it too sweet. The white peach sangria had only the faintest taste of peach, more like white grapes.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Kate Crimmins says:
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    Kate Crimmins's avatar

    Sounds like a lovely day! Love your hydrangeas. They are hit and miss here, sometimes blooming and sometimes not. I try to stick to the panicle variety but the deer like those too. There is nothing as beautiful as a row of Nikko blue hydrangeas!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Joni says:
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      Joni's avatar

      A row of blue hydrangeas is my ultimate garden wish! I couldn’t even find aluminum sulfate this year, it seemed to be in short supply, so used what I had leftover from last year which may be why the one bush turned out pink, despite the cedars. No deer here thank god.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. ruthsoaper says:
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    ruthsoaper's avatar

    Joni, your yard is beautiful, and you set a lovely table. How nice of you to host a garden party. I’ve not planted hydrangeas as I have heard they are deer candy so probably a waste of money for me. I do agree – no ground beef on pizza. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Eilene Lyon says:
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    Eilene Lyon's avatar

    How wonderful that all your planning came to an excellent conclusion. Sounds like all had a wonderful time. You are talented at decorating and hosting for a gathering. Love your hydrangeas. They won’t grow outdoors here. My grandmother had some and I’ve always liked them.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Linda Schaub says:
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    Linda Schaub's avatar

    Joni, what a beautiful post, from your flowers to the tableware and decorations – how did you get the Monarch butterfly to make an appearance as well? I think you could have a second career, should you choose to have one, as a professional party planner, because it seems you were the “hostess with the mostess” here!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Joni says:
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      Joni's avatar

      Thanks Linda! I didn’t even know I had captured the butterfly until I uploaded the photos. I enjoy the decorating and entertaining, and the snacks and baking, but not cooking a main course, thus the pizza. Sometimes I put a frozen lasagna in the oven and pretend it’s my own! I have enough linens and stuff I’ve collected over the years to be a professional party planner and enough china to run a B&B! But I use my china – some people collect that blue and white stuff and it just sits in a china cabinet. I see tonight there was no trade deal with the US, so that’s not good, but I knew there wouldn’t be. Carney won’t submit like the EU did. The things with the EU is although they say they agreed in principal, all 27 countries will have to sign off, and that will never happen. They’ll just bid their time until he’s out of office. And then tonight I heard there is a US court challenge is he even legally allowed to impose tariffs as an emergency measure without Congress approval? If that goes to the Supreme Court it will be interesting to see what they do? Carney is just playing a waiting game, as the CUSMO agreement is in effect until 2026 anyway, and maybe he’ll be dead by then. He’s looking very unwell these days and that leg swelling is a bad sign. I’m way behind in Reader but think I’ll call it a night. It’s a long weekend for us this weekend, and with these bites I won’t be going out in the sun….as the sun sensitivity makes them worse.

      Liked by 1 person

      • Linda Schaub says:
        Linda Schaub's avatar

        Well I think it was very beautiful and good for you using your good tableware and putting on such a nice event in a backyard filled with flowers that you spend so much time taking care of. Pizza works and is less bother and tastes good! The “good dishes” here are up in the cupboard and we only used them a few times for company – same for the good glasses. I can’t remember the last time I saw them. They take up space and when my Mom and I did our Spring and Fall cleaning, she wanted every dish and glass taken down, washed/dried and put back. I said “no” in the end. I even convinced her to do only ONE deep cleaning of the house a year which we started in the first weekend of August, culminating in the kitchen, which took all of Labor Day weekend. That’s probably why I am no fan of housework now. I worry about everything that is going on right now and as predicted stocks tumbled badly today – I guess it will be like that on the 7th with more tariffs going into effect. I was behind in Reader and caught up last night plus I have a few fellow bloggers who post frequently and had not responded to any comments until today so I am still getting through them and am doubtful I’ll get to Reader. I had plans for today, but the wildfire smoke dashed them and likely this weekend as well. Then we get back to the heat/humidity/rain mid-week. I understand we have another big heat wave on the way – if this is the Summer for the future, there is nothing to look forward to.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. J P says:
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    J P's avatar

    I am impressed with all the preparation, and it resulted in a beautiful setting!

    Pizza is the answer to almost every question, in my book. In a group, my favorite method is to ask what people don’t like on Pizza, and then order one with whatever has not been voted down. At least it usually works, but your solution may have been even better.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Joni says:
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      Joni's avatar

      That’s a great idea! This pizza is so good that it has spoiled me for all other pizzas (although I’ve heard the pizza in Italy is pretty good). A baby is 6 slices and people always want leftovers.

      Liked by 1 person

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