Garden Party

I decided this weekend to have an impromptu dinner party to welcome back some neighbors who moved away 9 months ago and missed the neighborhood so much they moved back!  (Please excuse the wrinkley tablecloths.  I DONT iron my linens)

The weather was great.......my Muskoka chairs freshly painted in a color inspired by my favourite OPI nail polish color "An Affair in Red Square"...........

The flowers were blooming and vibrant.....  I put out the word there was to be a garden party.... and pronto, we had 15 confirmed guests.....By 5 pm, they had all bought wonderful wines and thrown together cheeses trays, pasta salads, proccuito wrapped breadsticks and I had bought burgers and sausage and made potato salad and a couple of cakes.  It's not hard to throw together a last minute party if you keep it simple.  I always accept offers to bring something and I buy pre-cut veggies and hummus and pitas for appetizers. I bought the burgers already made into patties and sliced up big wedges of tomatoes and onions and cheese to go on top.

We have a long thin patio that is far better suited to entertaining than my dining room.  I can easily seat 25-30 people along here..

We hauled out the fold down tables........

I "decorated" with pots of geraniums, my vintage silverware and pink cotton napkins.....

I used purple veronica and chartreuse hosta in old milk bottles for centerpieces.....

.........The locust tree in the yard drops little green buds when the weather gets hot......it looked like I had sprinkled green confetti over the table. People thought I had done it on purpose until they left with their hair full.   I had to invert the wine glasses so we didn't drink the bits....

We put up the hammock for those who needed to lounge..... 

 I use old sugar bags for pillow cases on the hammock pillows. 

 My Gracie girl just wouldn't get out of the picture....she knows when those tables come out that food will be dropping all night.....(that map isn't usually on the fence...it was a gift from our neighbor...a garage sale find and map of our cottage area)

 

I picked some "Sum and Substance" hosta leaves and petunias from the garden...no need to buy flowers when the garden is bursting..... 

I decorated the cake with pansies from the garden..... This is a favourite cake of my friends and neighbors. It is the Cupcake Cafe Vanilla cake and I posted the recipe here.  We all just call it Ky's birthday cake as it is my daughter's favourite cake.  It makes a huge cake.  I served it with a bowl of fresh raspberries, strawberries and blueberries lightly sprinkled with organic sugar to extract the juices and bring out the flavours.   All you need for these 2 deserts is flour, sugar, vanilla, chocolate, buttermilk and about 5 lbs of butter......

 I also served this dense gorgeous chocolate cake.  You can find the recipe here.  I often keep to the same recipes, the ones I know will work every time and are easy to do.

 Our friend always wears his garden party shirt when invited over here....

It great when a large group gather on short notice.  Everyone springs into action and tosses together their favourite dishes, music and enjoys the start of the summer party season.......