tablemat photos on Flickr

It was a long, exhausting day—but it was fun! We got up at 4:45 and left the house at 5:20, arriving at Great Falls sometime around 6:30, and starting our hike after a scenic overlook muffin.

We hiked for three and a half hours and saw deer, herons, turtles, egrets, turkey vultures (thinking of jen), and lots of doggies; alas, they were brought by people.

After the hike, at around 11:30, we went to Bethesda to some place that thinks its the "original" pancake house, and I had an absolutely amazingly delicious omelet that I should've stopped picking at, because I nearly choked. And then I spent twenty minutes coughing a lung and embarrassing my tablemates.

We got home, and everyone snoozed, except me; I fiddled with processing.

Then I drank some wine. Then I dyed my hair. Then I drank some beer. Now it's time for dinner.

By the way, I've been dying my hair since I was 16. I used to dye it bright red; that's the color it was when I sang in Question 47 and met my future husband. It's never been anything odd. I have died it almost black. I have highlighted it blond. Mostly, I make it lighter brown.

I have lots of friends with gray in their hair, and it's fine for them. That I dye my hair in no way makes any judgment about what they should do with theirs.

(Also for 365 Days. This is Day 325.)

Onyx Coupe Plate by Didriks

Featuring Simon Pearce Woodbury glassware, Libeco table linen, Chilewich Kono placemats, and Heath Ceramics Coupe dinnerware.

Woodbury Glassware by Didriks

Read about this setting on the Dinner Series blog: Glass on Black.

Featuring: Chilewich Tuxedo Stripe Placemats , Coupe Dinnerware by Heath Ceramics and Simon Pearce Woodbury Glassware.

Chilewich Mat by Didriks

Heath Coupe Dinner Plate in Linen: www.didriks.com/Coupe-Dinner-Plate-by-Heath-Ceramics.html

Heath Coupe Cereal Bowl in Peridot/Linen: www.didriks.com/Coupe-Cereal-Bowl-by-Heath-Ceramics.html

Heath Coupe Bread Plate in Mist: www.didriks.com/Coupe-Bread-Plate-by-Heath-Ceramics.html

iittala Citterio Flatware: www.didriks.com/iittala/iittala-Citterio-Collection/

Chilewich Bamboo Rectangular Placemat in Celadon: www.didriks.com/Chilewich-Bamboo-Tablemats-Rectangular.html

Simon Pearce Hampton Chardonnay/Pinot Grigio Glass: www.didriks.com/Simon-Pearce-Hampton-Chardonnay-Pinot-Gri...

Libeco Home Tribeca Linen Napkin in Sea Water: www.didriks.com/Tribeca-Napkin.html

table runner handquilted by ompompali Claudia

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Finished by Didriks

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Libeco Vermont napkin and Heath Ceramics ramekin on a Heath Ceramics Plaza dinner plate with an iittala Aalto tumbler, Piano Workshop flatware, and Tapio cocktail glass. The tablecloth is a Libeco Polylin in champagne, accented with Orrefors Raspberry votives. The placemats are Chilewich Basketweave Rounds in red

Rose Wine Pour by Didriks

Featuring Simon Pearce Woodbury glassware, Libeco table linen, Chilewich Kono placemats, and Heath Ceramics Coupe dinnerware.

Simon Pearce Glass Bowl by Didriks

Featuring Simon Pearce Woodbury glassware, Libeco table linen, Chilewich Kono placemats, and Heath Ceramics Coupe dinnerware.

David Mellor London Flatware by Didriks

Featuring Libeco table linen, Chilewich Kono placemats, Heath Ceramics Coupe dinnerware, and Libeco Home Vence napkins.

Crochet Doily - Pretty Flower by sophiecat91

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Water and Wine in Simon Pearce Glass by Didriks

Featuring Simon Pearce Woodbury glassware, and Libeco table linen, and Chilewich Kono placemats, and Heath Ceramics Coupe dinnerware.

18 Pennys On Cotton 1 by Jean

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Chilewich Tuxedo Placemat by Didriks

Read about this setting on the Dinner Series blog: Glass on Black.

Featuring: Chilewich Tuxedo Stripe Placemats , Coupe Dinnerware by Heath Ceramics and Simon Pearce Woodbury Glassware.

Schott Zwiesel Glassware by Didriks

Featuring Brasserie dinnerware by Pillivuyt, Alessi Dressed tray, Chilewich basketweave placemats, Libeco Home table linen, David Mellor Embassy flatware, and Schott Zwiesel glassware.

Tablescape by Didriks

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Pillivuyt Quartet plates on Chilewhich smoke Bamboo rectangular and

silver coral tablemats with red Libeco Home Polylin napkins, David Mellor Embassy flatware, and Kosta Boda Eclipse tumblers and red wine glasses

steel gray Libeco Home Vence tablerunner, Simon Pearce Evergreens, Orrefors Discus votives, and ruby red Heath Ceramics bud vases

I am a First Aider, can I help you? by Heather Watts

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Got my First Aid certification today, barfed after the Heimlich, wept on several occasions on account of all the heart-rending rescue descriptions, but I got it! Haha. Really though. My tablemates were winking at me in encouragement, and patting me on the shoulder, all sweet.

All my life I've wanted to be someone who knew exactly what to do in an emergency, a person who knew CPR and had the potential to save the day for reals. Simultaneously, half-consciously, I was also pretty sure that if I did get certified, suddenly accidents would spring up in my path and I, by virtue of my magic training, would be obligated to lead the first response and get it right because people's lives would literally be in my hands, not to mention being liable if someone didn't actually want that digit back on, or would have rather not been resuscitated, thanks, or something similarly unforeseeable and serious.

My previous First Aid training was theoretical and acquired online. I was good with this, I think because God doesn't know you're certified to give first aid if it's not done through St. John Ambulance.

Getting the best job ever and wanting to keep it made me drop this block (in a very grown up and sensible kind of way), and naturally, less than a minute after leaving the parking lot, I hear a cracking crunch and see that an SUV has hit the back of a dump truck.

It begins.

Mentally rehearsing my schpiel, alternating "I am a First Aider, everybody ok?" with, "I'm a First Aider, can I help you?" (First Aider is my instructor's term and it doesn't sit right, she did have a tendency to make up words while reading from the manual, "mottled" becomes "mouldled" etc) feeling a little bit like an imposter (and a little bit more like running in the other direction), I brazenly walk up to the SUV.

One of the St. John Ambulance instructors from another room, the guy I had to track my misplaced certificate down from, who had needlessly touched my back and made a joke I didn't hear til after I laughed, which I regretted, was the driver with the chewed bumper.

I said my thing, sans First Aider part because he already knew. He said he was totally fine. Dump truck was too.

Relieved, got the hell out of there. All was well. That was weird.

for the record by Summ....

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people have gotten the wrong idea about my breakfasts (www.flickr.com/photos/19211803@N00/6772626939/in/photostream); i'm no health nut and would have gone with the sausage were i not also a cheapskate

iittala Dinnerware by Didriks

Featuring iittala Origo and Kartio dinnerware, Tapio glassware, Chilewich Basketweave placemats, Sabre Basic flatware, and iittala candleholders.

Heath Coupe Setting by Didriks

Heath Coupe Dinner Plate in Linen: www.didriks.com/Coupe-Dinner-Plate-by-Heath-Ceramics.html

Heath Coupe Cereal Bowl in Peridot/Linen: www.didriks.com/Coupe-Cereal-Bowl-by-Heath-Ceramics.html

Heath Coupe Bread Plate in Mist: www.didriks.com/Coupe-Bread-Plate-by-Heath-Ceramics.html

iittala Citterio Flatware: www.didriks.com/iittala/iittala-Citterio-Collection/

Chilewich Bamboo Rectangular Placemat in Celadon: www.didriks.com/Chilewich-Bamboo-Tablemats-Rectangular.html

Simon Pearce Hampton Chardonnay/Pinot Grigio Glass: www.didriks.com/Simon-Pearce-Hampton-Chardonnay-Pinot-Gri...

Libeco Home Tribeca Linen Napkin in Sea Water: www.didriks.com/Tribeca-Napkin.html

Libeco Home Placemat by Didriks

Featuring Simon Pearce Woodbury glassware, Libeco table linen, Chilewich Kono placemats, and Heath Ceramics Coupe dinnerware.

take your victories where you can by susan myrland

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I found the cloisonne ring! And the white beads!

The beads were stuffed in a sock, which was then wrapped in another sock. Of course, why didn't I think to look there? The ring was in her jewelry box. I know I looked and it wasn't there before, so it's just been hiding in an alternate universe for a few weeks. The gold wedding ring is gone forever. It disappeared during a period when she'd lost a lot of weight. My guess is that it slipped off her finger and lives in the garden or in another resident's room. Or it was thrown out in a kleenex. Whatever, it's gone.

Still, I'm feeling better about things than I have been. I've been thinking a lot about my "miserable environment" comment last week.

It IS a miserable environment, in some ways. How many of us could eat 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, in a dining room where your tablemates wail and moan and smell like pee? And you never really know where you are, where your room is, what happened to your dog, when you last saw someone you know or when you might see them again? That part of it is miserable, no doubt about it. It is gut-punching, soul-breaking, cry yourself to sleep at night painful.

But I also think of the staff who try so hard to see that Mom is bathed, fed, comforted, hugged, entertained, and healthy. They do everything they can to mitigate the miserableness. They can't make it all go away, but they sure try to lessen it. And I don't want to lump them into the same "it's all bad" perspective. No-one can do what they do. They make Ginny's life better every single day. That's a victory worth cheering for.

Table topper by milliemorgan

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18 Pennys On Cotton 2 by Jean

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Sabre Hibiscus Spoon Breaks Sugar by Didriks

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Scraps tablemates by helena

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Christmas Runner by bztraining

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One of my favorites.

120 Pictures in 2020 - #103. Tableclothes / tablemats

Bachelor Hill Farm Pork Trio by Didriks

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Mustard Crusted Loin with Pear Chutney

House Made Apple and Pecan Sausage

Cider Braised Shoulder

served on a Pillivuyt Quartet plate and Chilewhich smoke bamboo rectangular and silver coral tablemats with David Mellor Embassy flatware

Table Mats in Prague by steve.gombocz

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Table Mats in Prague (78)

18 Pennys On Cotton 3 by Jean

8780 Bamboo Table Mats Xylopyrography by Anna the onion seller

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Four Ivy Xylopyrography table mats, that when put together make one picture.

The mats are made of Bamboo strips. Bamboo is difficult to draw on as it’s resistance to heat, so the Xylopyrography nibs have to be much hotter than other woods need.

The artist was Graham Fear.

Taken using camera flash, but the colour was inaccurate, so the picture has been ‘warmed’ with iPhoto.

Jars Ceramics Plate by Didriks