A Labor Day by the Lake

Labor Day weekend kicks off the beginning of dove hunting season.  My hubby and his friends excitedly await the arrival, not so much for the hunting part, but the camaraderie and the communing with nature. Someone recently said that my hubby can't sit still long enough to hunt, and this is probably true, but he loves the whole idea of it.  We invited the wives to come down to the lake Sunday evening to meet up with the hunters and share a meal out in the wild.

 We recently added string lights, and an outdoor kitchen to our outdoor setting by the lake.

 Setting a square table has its challenges.  Since I didn't know exactly how many were coming too far in advance, I had to come up with something fairly quick.  So to keep it simple, I just used white plates, gray napkins, and inexpensive crystal and wines.

 The table and chairs have a contemporary flair, so I didn't want to add too many embellishments.

I did bring silver flatware, tied with a ribbon, and embellished with my mom's old costume jewelry.

 Some were earrings, and some were brooches.  

 They were all different.

The men remarked that the table looked quite different than the one from the night before!

 The crystal glasses are Cristal D'arques Longchamp and nice quality as well as reasonably priced.

 Another issue is decorating around an umbrella pole.  Again, not much time to get too creative, so I just used three cylinder vases, with grocery store flowers and solomon's seal from my garden.

 Wine glasses were from the dollar store!!

 Two contemporary-style votive holders, and done.

 It turned out quite nice, considering I had to transport everything from home.

 Mother Nature provides most of the eye candy here!

 Our meal consisted of steak and salmon, caprese salad, sauteed squash and zucchini, fried okra, corn cooked on the grill, and homemade cookies and brownies.

 Of course, cocktails and appetizers were shared at the beginning of the evening.

We had a fun time being together and cooking together outside.  It was a mutual effort!  We left the men, and drove an hour to get back home.  Time seemed to slip away from us, and we had no idea it was so late when we got home at 1:30 am!  I spent the next morning, cleaning up dishes and utensils, and putting everything away.  So the rest of the Labor Day was spent in a chaise lounge by the pool!

Hope your Labor Day was relaxing.  A Labor Day celebration was held in my hometown and the guest speaker paid homage to my father and uncles who served in World War II, as well as other local hometown heroes.  Wish I had known about it in advance.  It was a wonderful tribute to my family and I was honored.

Thank you for visiting!  Come back soon!

--Betsy