by Helen Kain | Nov 19, 2025 | Antique china, Fall Tablescapes, Recent, Thanksgiving, Vintage glassware
It’s late-November. Just a month from the shortest day of the year, and outside, the final fall clean-up has begun. The Japanese Maple has shed its brilliant red foliage; the oaks are the last to surrender their leaves. Canadian Thanksgiving is long past, American...
by Helen Kain | May 29, 2025 | Antique glassware, Makers Behind the Magic, Recent, The Hunt is On, Vintage glassware
During the Great Depression, when dinner tables were scanty and budgets tight, American glassmakers offered something extraordinary: a glimmer of beauty in the form of coloured glass. Whether it came free in a box of oats or as a treasured wedding gift from a...
by Helen Kain | Apr 1, 2020 | Amber, Blue, Brown, Fall Tablescapes, Spring Tablescapes, Summer Tablescapes, Vintage glassware
Let’s go to France this week and see the tulips. Wait … that’s wrong … tulips are Holland. And they’re supposed to come in the spring. But these tulips arrived last summer, at Trader Joe’s. It’s a mixed-up world right...
by Helen Kain | Dec 13, 2019 | Christmas, Green, Pink and Red, Vintage glassware, Winter Tablescapes
I call it cerise, which sounds a lot more appealing than hot pink. Fuschia has a nice ring, too. Whatever name you prefer, the roses in question make a bold statement. I’d been pondering a table with a lush garland for a couple of weeks. The colour...
by Helen Kain | Jul 31, 2019 | Antique china, Blue, Green, Pink and Red, Summer Tablescapes, Vintage glassware
Things are pretty crabby around here. Something smells fishy. In fact, some of the inhabitants are downright prickly. But with a little cooperation, it should be smooth sailing. Maybe a little food would help. Let’s go with a White Bean and Shrimp Salad...
by Helen Kain | Apr 4, 2019 | Antiques, Blue, Green, Spring Tablescapes, Vintage china, Vintage glassware, White
The Ingenious Gentleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha is the full title of the Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes, but most of us know it simply as Don Quixote, the story of a delusional knight-errant who tilted at windmills. His faithful squire, Sancho Panza,...
