Peach Blossom Time

I know many of you are experiencing cold winter weather, but here in the clouds it's unseasonably warm and the fruit trees are budding out. The peach tree is ahead of the others - in full bloom.

This poor old gnarly tree has had a tough time of it with a bad case of peach leaf curl, which causes it to drop its fruit prematurely.  Last year for the first time  it looked like the latest chemical treatment had cured it and the peaches would be brought to fruition. (hehe, is that a pun?)   We patiently watched and waited as the fruit grew larger and the leaves remained healthy with no sign of disease.  And then we experienced the attack of the killer squirrels.  Overnight they stole every peach from the tree.    The squirrels still stalk the yard daily, so I'm not real confident there will be peaches this year, either .  We might as well enjoy a few blossoms on the table.

We'll just pretend they are cherry blossoms and go with a calming Japanese theme, complete with a running fountain.

Guarded by Mr Helpful's clay warriors, purchased in Japan.

I put a leaf in the table because I had a grandiose plan involving a riverbed running from one end of the table to the other.  But in print it looked horrible - more like a gravel quarry than a Zen garden.  Sometimes less is more.

Please forgive the view out the windows. Potted plants and furniture are up against the house because of recent wind storms.  I hate having to retrieve the glider from the neighbor's roof.   Usually it's so sunny that my photos just show a whiteout at the windows, but it was a rainy day when I took these.

The wine glasses came from Marshall's, brand unknown.  They're a heavy, rather rustic hand-blown glass.  It needs a water glass but nothing I have looked right with it, so y'all will just have to drink wine.  Of course with all that wine and the running water sound from the fountain you may need to excuse yourself a few times.

The napkins and reed place mats came from Amazon.  The salad plates are Mikasa Dynasty Black and are sitting on Mikasa Italian Countryside dinner plates.  This week I learned black is very hard to photograph.

The chargers are by Arda Glassware from Pier 1.

A little overhead  lighting.

And candles.

Edit: Thursday afternoon.  The larger table was bugging me so I shrunk it back.  Then I remembered I had the Italian countryside teapot so I added the pot and cups.

For those who are wondering... yes, I did catch the flowers on fire with the candles. 

I'll be joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch  for Tablescape Thursday.