I’ve been gone for a week visiting my granddaughter, et al. and cooking for them, mostly things already on this blog, like poached chicken, pasta with chicken and bacon, chicken tacos, spicy braised beef, and then there was an impromptu Mickey Mouse cake, cobbled together with a boxed cake mix, a few small round pans, and those cans of prepared frosting. A few candy eyeballs and some black edible paper helped to make it look enough like Mickey to please the little Mickey aficionado. I know, I should have taken pictures of all the cooking, but it was a vacation of sorts, so use your imagination. I did try one new thing—using a modern pressure cooker for the spicy beef—which saved having to turn on the oven. It looks like an interesting tool for busy cooks, but I don’t think I need one.

Now I’m back home resting from the vacation—isn’t that always how vacations end, with a needed rest? But I didn’t return alone. I brought back my mother’s dining room table and chairs, which had gone to my daughter back in 2009, but has since been replaced with something more in line with her style. The set is from some time in the 1950s—it’s the only table I remember—and I wish there were some markings on it to indicate its origins. It’s what I would call Danish modern in style with light wood, a curved apron, and tapered, metal-tipped legs. The chairs have low backs that barely peek over the edge of the table, and that’s just what I like. I had reupholstered the seats long ago with a pale green fabric with embroidered dragonflies, but a couple of the seats have some spots that may not clean up, so I may have to recover them again. I had refinished the table top with one of those mild refinishing products that mostly just clean up the original finish without stripping, and then I waxed it, but it has had some water and cat damage (chairs, too), so it will need more work. In the end, it won’t be perfect, but it’s my favorite style of furniture, and it will be fine for our everyday dining.

Now that it’s getting cold for fall and winter, I will probably just cover it with a tablecloth until warmer spring weather allows me to work on it out on the patio. Cold and rain are not good conditions for refinishing wood.

Small 38″ x 56″ footprint

Curved apron and tapered legs with metal tips

Low chair height

Upholstered seats

Water and cat damage