As we draw near the anniversary date of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in the icy waters of Lake Superior we always take time to remember those lost on that cold November night.
November 10, 1975
Everything in my nautical room has been designed around the Great Lakes. After we visited the Whitefish Point Shipwreck Museum in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan we became even more enthralled with the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
I decided this evening's table would be designed with a nautical flavor...
Welcome to my nautical room...It's small and cozy!
I've set the table on my Ships Wheel coffee table
I even went out and cut some dried grass, a barely surviving hydrangea and a rose bud (that's hiding by the grass) from my yard. These reflect the environment of our area these days.
I've got a lantern lit and I borrowed a couple of props from my curio cabinet.
We'll pretend the old bottle is filled with rum!
You know the sailors loved their rum!
This evening we will share some tea with our dinner. Later on we'll have some
sweet port wine along some cheese and crackers while we watch tv.
I even have a nice video about the Edmund Fitzgerald we'll watch.
This blue crab dish is new to me and while it's not in keeping with the
Great Lakes theme I just had to use it!
My thoughts rambled as to how a dinner might be served on a ship for the captain.
I imagined fine china- (perhaps this is more of an English tradition than one found at a
Great Lakes Captain's table) but we can pretend!
My square rattan chargers anchored this design picking up on the soft
brown edge on the blue and white china. The fleur-de-lis plates were chosen
once I realized the plates set nicely in the well of the ivory white dish. They will
actually be used as a 2nd charger and will act as a frame for these smaller sized dinner plates.
The straight edge of these plates mimicked the square chargers. I love this pattern and think blue & white are a classic for a nautical look
These dishes were an Ebay purchase- I found them after searching for some "Bombay" items...I was actually looking for things from the old Bombay stores that closed in the US several years ago.
These small nautical dishes (222 Fifth Avenue) will be used for the cheese and crackers later on. We're having some sweet and sour chicken, rice, salad and egg rolls.
My seagull watches us for leftovers! They are such scavengers
and yes we have Seagulls on the lakes here!
I'll be using my white Union Jack teapot to steep the tea...We'll use the Small bowls for the rice.
These pictures of the Edmund Fitzgerald were issued in limited signed copies...this is called
Passage in Moonlight
I had the brass bell added as an extra when I had them framed. Do you know the story about the brass bell they retrieved from the Edmund Fitzgerald? They replaced it with another brass bell that is engraved with the names of the 29 men that died that night. The original ships bell is on display at the museum.
This depicts a much more violent raging scene
and it's called "Every Man knew"
The artist David Conklin signed these along with
Gordon Lightfoot who wrote the famous song
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Thank-you for joining me!
I'll do another post on my nautical room soon!
I'll be joining a couple of parties this week!
and
Between Naps on the Porch for
