~ Wine and Cheese In The Library ~

Hi, and welcome to a little wine and cheese party set up in the library for Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan at Between Naps On The Porch.

The acrylic and stone ice bucket, plate, and permanently tarnished little spreader are by Temptations By Maggie. We used to carry her line in the store. They are fun pieces that come in several color combinations. The pink and green, and blue and white were our most popular colors.

The pea pod Deruta plates are Italian. Out of a set of four there are only three left, but they come in handy any way for a small setting.

You all know how much I love ruffles and scalloped edging, so when I spotted these little scalloped edge, linen cocktail napkins in a shop in Harbor Spring they had to come home with me.

We are loving these wine glasses by Schott Zwiesel. They were recommended in an article in Wine Spectator magazine for their durability. They can go into the dishwasher and come out clean as a whistle and so far I have not broken one, which is a minor miracle.

~

Susan has links to other Tablescapes on here blog Between Naps On The Porch.

Thanks you Susan for all the work that you put in every week to put together this party for all of us and for your beautiful inspiration to set a pretty table.

~

Thanks for coming by today.

Hugs,

Sue

Fall Festivities

Good morning lovelies, hope you had a good weekend and your week is going well.

We had a good time with the family celebrating birthdays.

Saturday was Kyle's birthday. Here is the birthday boy out in the yard with his dog Beans.

Grampa with the Cannoli (Nolan's nick name).

He looked so cute in his pink v-neck sweater and big boy shirt.



Brothers and sister.

The in-laws.

Cakes for the birthday people.

Sisters in-law.

The kid's table.

Birthday people and Bridged.

The Cannoli and his Dad.

Kyle & Carrie.

Mom & Dad

Aaron & Ang.

Bernie & Cathy

A good time was had by all.

~

We ate way to much at the Baked Potato Bar but had fun sharing a beautiful fall weekend together in Central Michigan.

~

Thanks for coming by.

Hugs,

Sue

Baked Potato Bar Birthday Party

Photo via Rookie Cookie

~

We are up north today getting ready to celebrate fall birthdays. Kyle requested steak and a baked potato bar for the meal. Everybody likes steak and baked potatoes, well almost everybody. I suppose it sounds repulsive to a vegetarian but we don't have any of those in our family. Not sure that is good or bad but it is what it is.

~

A Baked Potato Bar sounded like a fun simple idea for the party. The few days that I was home last week was spent hunting and gathering party preps. Gifts were finalized, presents wrapped, cards were signed, food was purchased, cake was ordered and picked up, bar was restocked, extra plates, utensils and linens were located, 8' folding table and 8 chairs were schlepped up from the basement, food was put on ice for the trip, and then all was placed oh so carefully into the SUV.

~

Although not as simple as it first sounded, with the major effort behind us it is time to unload it all and let the celebration begin.

~

Happy birthday Kyle. Today is his actual birthday.

Happy belated or pre birthday also to:

Dad

Angie

&

Taylor

~

Hugs,

Sue

A Bookish Breakfast For One

Good morning Tablescaper's and Visitor's. Welcome to Tablescape Thursday hosted by Susan at Between Naps On The Porch.
A plaid placemat and napkin by Ralph Lauren that came from Marshall's last year for my Christmas tablescape inspired this bookish arrangement.

An old bamboo grapefruit spoon is poised to dig into a fresh grapefruit.

My favorite cobalt blue glasses for skim milk and juice fit in alright.

The cream pitcher and sugar bowl are setting on a book box that I won, along with the black candle stick shade on the barley twist candle stick, from Rhoda at Southern Hospitality in a give-away last year.

The little herringbone blue and white spreader goes with the Spode, Blue Italian dishes that I used here for you today and are a nod to the RL placemat and napkin.

~

Happy Tablescape Thursday everyone. Thanks for visiting today. I really enjoy our Thursday visits.

Hugs,

Sue

Unpacking

Greetings from the Guest house. Blake and Nolan have moved in with me here for a couple of days. Blake is over helping Great Grampa F take down the Frankenstein that was in their front yard.
Nolan and I are unpacking their bags.

Friday night we stayed in and had take-out Fish & Chips from Demetrie's, our favorite neighborhood Greek restaurant.

Saturday was spent Halloweening with Bernie and the family.

~

The rolling suitcases above are from The Pottery Barn outlet.
~

~Storage~

I am not real sure that these pictures are Show & Tell worthy but I always like to have a look at peoples service areas in their houses so I thought you might too.

These beat up old painted cupboards have traveled with us from house to house and are loved for the cozy country style storage space they provide. In one house they were by the back door and held kitchen things that didn't fit in our limited cupboards. In the next house they were in the garage holding gardening implements, pots and potting soil.

In this house they are in the basement and now hold fake flowers not in use right now and extra dishes.
~
Thanks for coming by for Show & Tell Friday and thank you Cindy at
My Romantic Home
~
Bernie, Cathy and the kids will be here to trick or treat and spend the night Saturday. Sunday I will be heading up north to watch Dana's boys for a few days at the guest house so I will blog from there the first of next week.
~
Hope you all have a happy halloween. Try not to eat tooooo much candy.
Hugs,
Sue

Halloween Tablescape For Two

This week I set up the kitchen table for two on my faded place mats and napkins. They are old but only get used during Halloween so they have held up pretty well. The pumpkin on the black pedestal came from the Hobby Lobby this year.
The leaf plates are from Big Lot's in Mt. Pleasant before they closed a few years ago. The green base plate if from Pier 1 last year. We got the little all bees wax votive candles this year at the Victorian Festival in Novi. They are sitting in my old little green depression glass cups that hold syrup in them when I make pancakes for the kids or raisins when I make them oatmeal.

The three tiered stand came from The Basket Tree, a cute little shop in Mt. Pleasant. Last year I bought two of them, one for me and one for Dana for Christmas. They have really come in handy for creating height in seasonal decorating. I think the fruit topiary also came from Big Lots along with the leaf plates. The amber glasses you have seen before.

~

The flat ware is what we use every day and has been in many of my tablescapes but I do not think I ever said what kind it was. It is Reed & Barton's, Francis 1st. My Mother started buying it for us, a place setting at a time, for Christmas many years ago. Over the years I have added different serving pieces to the collection and now have a nice set. I have a set of Ice Tea spoons on my wish list if anybody is interested ,).

~

Thanks for coming by. Susan at Between Naps On The Porch is the lovely hostess for this weekly event.

~

Happy Tablescape Thursday,

Hugs,

Sue

Happy Birthday Angie

This is Angie, one of our daughter-in loves. Today she is celebrating her birthday. In this picture she is holding baby Nolan. It is hard to find a picture of Ang where she is not holding a baby. Angie and our son Aaron met in college and have been married now for over 10 years. They have three beautiful children that keep Ang busy full time. When their second baby came along she retired from school teaching to devote herself to her family full time.

~

If you have been a reader of Life At Home for a long time you will remember what a wonderful job she did devoting all of her attention to Aaron when he was going through his battle with Steven-Johnson's syndrome. She is one amazing angel.

~

Happy Birthday Angie, we love you with all our hearts.

~ A Flair for Living ~

A stack of books in my living room ready for reading.
One of the books in the stack is just like one of my favorite decorators.

Charlotte Moss has this same book in her stack too. This picture is from her book:

~ Charlotte Moss ~ A Flair for Living.

Weekend Recap

To get ready for the busy weekend I dismantled the Tablescape Thursday kitchen table and moved the bunny with my Sweetest Day roses into the foyer.
Dana and the boys came down to go to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon down here. Between the main event the boys watched a 3-D movie

and Dana fluffed up the mantel.

~

We did a little outdoor seasonal decorating, worked on Dana's computer generated house of the moment, and did a whole lot of Christmas shopping.

~

After a full day of Christmas shopping Dana and the boys headed home and John and I fought traffic jams and went across town to watch Luke play hockey. It was a very full weekend that I thought would leave me exhausted but surprisingly it did not and I am ready to go today. Oh, I even stayed up long enough to watch Mad Men in real time which is rare, I usually watch it via Direct TV on Monday afternoon.

Hope you all had a good weekend.

Hugs,

Sue

~ MacKenzie-Child's Lamp ~

Thank you Cindy at My Romantic Home for hosting another fun Show & Tell Friday.

Today I thought you might like to see this table lamp in our living room. The crazy color of the lamp shade dictated the wild wall color of this room. This whimsical, novelty lamp by MacKenzie-Childs is a good size to fit between two chairs in our bay window.
This is the base that has four fantastically painted dogs supporting the lamp. We like the whimsical nature of this lamp with the juxtaposition against our mostly traditional furniture and accessories to personalize our home and give it a more casual fun feel. The grandchildren love it and have had many a tea party on it using my Mother's old pewter tea set for their toy.

Don't you love Cindy's picture that she uses to tag participants in her Show and Tell Friday party? I just think it is so pretty. It reminds me of photos by Toshi Otsuki in the old Victoria magazine.
So, to see more of Show and Tell Friday or join in you might want to stop by My Romantic Home and take a look around.

Thanks for coming by and visiting, it is always good to hear from you.

Hugs,
Sue

Majolica Morning ~ Happy Birthday Sheryl

Welcome to another Tablescape Thursday sponsored by Susan at Between Naps On The Porch.
In honor of my friend Sheryl at Friendship Cottage who is celebrating her birthday today I set up this breakfast table pretending that she and the girls were here celebrating after a sleep over.

Just a simple breakfast of some fruit, toast with jelly, juice, coffee and maybe some scrambled eggs if anybody is up to fixing them.

Ooops, I forgot the napkins! We are going to need them if we attempt cracking open that juicy pomegranate at the table.

To see more Tablescapes or join in on the fun you can visit Susan at Between Naps On The Porch.

~

Happy Tablescape Thursday and Happy Birthday Sheryl.

~

Hugs,

Sue

Something Is Not Right

While packing to go up north a couple of weeks ago it was a struggle to find shirts to take for John that were not frayed around the edges. That five o'clock shadow wreaks havoc on the collar of his shirts. During the summer he wears polo or golf shirts but when the weather starts to cool off he switches to oxford cloth all cotton button-down shirts. ~
After inventorying the shirts that could be salvaged I placed an order for a fresh batch of shirts to fill in the gaps. The shirts arrived last Thursday so I unpacked the box, took off the tags and gave them a quick press before hanging them in his closet.
~
Something is not right. Can you tell what it is?

~ MAC in Lillyland (Lilly Pulitzer) Collection ~

Good morning ladies. Thought I would share some pretty pink and green with you all this morning.

~

MAC cosmetics have been a favorite of mine for years. The only thing I use from the foundation or skin care line is their StudioFix foundation in a compact. The NW25 color matches my pasty skin tone perfectly and is so easy to slap on for a quick fix.

Their color line though is fabulous. It has a broad range of colors in eyeshadow, eye kohl, lipstick, lipliners and blush that is highly pigmented, blendable and long wearing for a fairly reasonable price.
January 7, 2010 is the launch date in the U.S. for the new:
~
MAC in Lillyland (Lilly Pulitzer) Collection
~ Looks like the perfect complement of colors for all the Lilly lovers out there and the launch will be just in time for the resort season.
~
Hugs,
Sue

~
Photos from http://www.temptalia.com/mac-in-lillyland-lilly-pulitzer-collection

Time To Get Busy

Hope you all had a good weekend. I never really think about Sweetest Day so I was very pleasantly surprised when John came home from work Friday with these pretty roses, a sweet card and tickets to see the play Legally Blonde downtown Saturday night for Sweetest Day. We worked around the house Saturday and then friends joined us for dinner and the play Saturday night. We had a very nice quiet weekend.
Now it is time to get my feather duster flying.

When I get behind with my house work I revert back to The FlyLady for guidance.

Today the plan is to complete the Monday: Home Blessing Hour.
Cull/toss old Magazines

Change sheets.

Empty all the trash.

Vacuum all rooms.

Mop kitchen and bath.

Clean mirrors and doors.

Feather Dust furniture.

Have y'all heard of The FlyLady? Any FlyLadie's around here?

~

If you are overcome with C H A O S (Can't Have Anybody Over Syndrome) you might want to check out her website.

~

I have used routines most of my life but around 2003 The FlyLady came into my life with her daily email reminders of BabySteps to help reduce and remove the CHAOS and disorganization in our homes. When I get side tracked I go back to basics with the FlyLady and before I know it I'm back on track. So, this morning I'm pulling out my Control Journal and getting busy.

Happy Monday!

~Show and Tell Friday~

Yesterday when I was around visiting, Cindy's post with her fall decor caught my eye. I love the way she uses blue and white and the way she used it in her fall decor had me in a swoon. Anyway, I went back today to look at it again and saw that she hosts a Show and Tell Friday. Since I did not have time today to post the post I have been working on I decided to join in the Show and Tell fun. I hope you enjoy my blurry little offering.
When I had the store we carried the Halcyon Day Enamel
line of boxes. They are precious little boxes that The Queen of England has commissioned from the company and sometimes gives out as gifts.

Well, they were a little high end for my tiny shop so when I closed the store they became part of my private personal collection. I know, I know if I had not bought these high end little treasures and a few things like them I would probably not have had to close the store. Be that as it may, these little boxes are sweet little reminders of a lesson learned and on the other hand many fond memories that were created along the way.

As my husband reminds me I am not the Queen of England.

When the urge strikes me to venture back into retail I look at my little boxes, some of which have been given to me, and I remind myself that even the beloved Charlotte Moss closed her shop.

I hope you enjoyed this little Show and Tell 'All' Friday. To see other Show and Teller's or to join in go to Cindy's at My Romantic Home and look around or sign up.

~

Enjoy the weekend blogger's. I will talk to you next week.

~

Hugs,

Sue

~ Dinner In The Kitchen ~

Hi Tablescaper's and visitor's. We are having take out Chicken Parmesan and a green salad tonight for dinner so I thought I would set the table early to join in Tablescape Thursday that Susan at Between Naps On The Porch so graciously hosts each week.

Earlier this fall after having our usual Friday night dinner at Brio on the porch in the Partridge Creek Mall near our house John wanted to look at surround sounds at Bose so I ran into Sur La Table that is right next door. My mission was to pick up some steak knives but these pretty Italian, Deruta Earthenware dishes caught my eye and some how ended up coming home with me.

They seem to look nice with this dried flower arrangement.


I like the natural flowers mixed with dried pods. They add nice texture to the tablescape.

A little candle light and the table is all set for dinner.

Thanks for coming by and be sure to check out the other tablescapers at Between Naps On The Porch.

Happy Thursday,

Hugs,

Sue

~ Kaffe Fassett ~

Last Mother's Day Dana, Angie and I celebrated the occasion with a weekend trip to Mackinac Island and a stay at The Grand Hotel.
A copy of this picture had been in my idea folder forever just because it had so many of my favorite things incorporated into it. Rose printed chintz, pitchers, blue and white, a green background and the fact that they were all beautifully combined, what's not to love. Who created this beauty never really even crossed my mind.

We were enjoying our getaway and a lot of laughs. The girls wanted to have spa treatments so I walked down with them to the spa at The Grand to arrange the appointments. It was then that I spotted a poster with my beloved picture on it announcing a seminar in the Grand Ballroom by the artist.

Off I went to sign up. Well, did I get an unexpected treat. The artist, Kaffe Fassett, is amazing. He is a multi-media artist that creates off the cuff art using paint, needlepoint, ceramic, stone, yarn and a number of other mediums.

His lecture had me spellbound. I couldn't wait to meet up with the girls and fill them in on my new discovery. After sharing the news we headed into the area they had set up to sell some of his wares.

A lovely lady in the yarn shop hooked us up with three skeins of yarn and three sets of knitting needles and a promise to meet us in the parlor after dinner and teach us how to knit. I used to knit a little and got the girls started a bit but by the time the knitting teachers showed up we were ripping up our teaching pieces and starting over the correct way.

The yarn that we were using is yarn created by Kaffe Fassett. It is a variegated color yarn that has flecks of other colors incorporated in it, kind of like a Harris Tweed type thing.

We sat in the parlor of The Grand knitting away that night until our fingers were sore. We knitted and talked about the amazing Kaffe Fassett. As it turned out the hotel was full of Fassett groupies that had assembled from all over the country to hear the Master speak. We just fell into the whole scene and loved every minute of it.

The thing that I took away from Fassett's lecture the most was his decree to just jump in and do it. Kind of like the Nike slogan on steroids. Since hearing him I have picked up my needlepoint projects that have languished in drawers and have started to just do it. They are not perfect but I'm doing it.

I still haven't finished anything and my knitting project with the beautiful yarn has been untouched since last May, but I am inspired.

Dana did finish her knitting project. If you go to her blog you can see pictures of the fruits of her labor snuggling around the sweet little neck of Nolan.

Here is some background from the jacket of Fassett's book "Glorious Interiors":

Kaffe Fassett is world renowned for his knitting and needlepoint. His work is included in many important textile collections and was exhibited in an extraordinarily successful retrospective in l988 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He was born in San Francisco and studied painting at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston before picking up his first pair of knitting needles on a train trip through rural England. He now lives in London, where he does design and commissioned needlework. He is the author of six books on knitting and needlepoint: Kaffe's Classics, Glorious Knits, Glorious Needlepoint, Kaffe Fasset at the V&A, Family Album and Glorious Inspiration.

Recently Kaffe has branched out into other areas of textile design. After having much success with his collections of upholstery fabrics and wallpapers, he has gone on to design five major tapestries for the Edinburg Tapestry Weavers in Scotland. These tapestries are now being exhibited along with his other work in a worldwide art tour. Kaffe has also begun experimenting with larger projects, such as set and costume design, and he has already completed the work for his first ballet, D'Ensemble, where he has flooded the set and costumes with the vibrant colors that are his hallmark. Kaffe also spends a great deal of time traveling the world, lecturing and giving workshops with his assistant and fellow designer, Brandon Mably.

~

The girls did not get to go to the lecture but as luck would have it, on Sunday morning as we were waiting for the carriage to take us down to the boat Mr. Fassett came strolling out onto the porch and was most gracious with his time. We spent that time taking in his awsome willingness to share of himself and his talents. He was wearing a scarf made out of the very same wool that we had tucked in our bags in hope of one day completing. Kaffe Fassett is a very dear man.

Trying To Get Moving

A few days ago someone asked to see a picture from farther away of this tablescape. I don't take pictures of this area because it backs up to my yellow oak stained staircase that I can't stand. Here is the best shot I could get and it only has a tiny bit of the offending staircase trim in it. The tall green pieces are sitting in white saucers so that they don't scratch the sideboard that they are on, not the best look but it does protect the surface.
Hopefully today I will get some ambition to get busy around here. When we are away for the weekend it takes me at least a full day to recover. Seems like the older I get the more exhausting it is to be away from home for any length of time.

Hope you all have a productive day.

Hugs,
Sue

CMU Homecoming Part ll

We started the day in our friend's Dave and Cindi's home and yard.
Sheryl enjoying a fresh cup of coffee

John overseeing the back yard.

Taylor, Riley and Aidan enjoying their brunch on the porch are dressed for the chilly parade weather.

Carter in the parade going by too fast to get a clear picture.

Tay, Ri, Em & Aid waiting for more candy to be thrown from the floats.

After the parade we headed to the suite's in the stadium to watch CMU win the game by a landslide.

More food.

Pretty Mom dressed for the festivities.

Friends all in smiles.

A good time was had by all.

After a long day of celebration a little Sunday brunch table set up for the family.

Hope you all had a fun fall weekend.

CMU Homecoming

This morning I am packing to head to Mt. Pleasant for Homecoming at Central Michigan University.
Hope you all have a good weekend.

Go, fire up Chips!

An Autumn Tablescape

The mellow tones of Autumn inspired this tablescape. Our mallard and drake Italian soup tureen takes center stage. During the spring and summer it rests in storage but come fall and cooler weather it becomes the centerpiece of our table.

I retrieved my amber goblets from a box in the basement, they came from a junktique shop years ago. The modern majolica asparagus and artichoke are Fitz and Floyd Classics.

The place mat, napkin and solid green plate are from Pier 1. The salad plate is by Mottahedeh and is a reproduction of an English plate circa 1765, in the collection of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Here is a closer look at the amber goblets. I like these heavy thumbprint goblets that you can still find in amber, cobalt blue and red. We have the cobalt blue tumblers and juice glasses that we use everyday but I would like to find some red ones for Christmas. My Mother and Dana have some of the red ones, we all seem to gravitate to many of the same things.

These majolica pieces were designed as cream and sugar vessels but they get use more often around here for holding little bunches of flowers or serving jam. The little artichoke has a ceramic spoon that is handy for spreading the jam on a nice warm piece of toast.

Even though this tureen seldom serves its original purpose of holding hot soup, because it is really to big to be functional, it brings back fond, warm memories of fall when the children were small and enjoyed seeing the ducks back for the season.

A lovingly set table is such a welcoming sight to see for family and friends when they come in from a hard days work or after a busy week of meeting the needs of others. What a pleasant tradition that Susan at Between Naps on the Porch has brought back into focus here in the blog world. Thank you Susan for all your effort that goes into providing this venue for us bloggers to help keep the tradition of setting pretty tables for our loved ones alive. Her invitation to join in or just view others creations is a Thursday treat that you might want to take advantage of by clicking over to:

Between Naps On The Porch

Natural Elements

This summer during my travels I acquired these natural looking pieces for the side table in the great room. I'm kind of liking the way it turned out so I thought I would share it with y'all.

The fall winds are really whistling here this morning. The umbrella that covers our Tiki Bar in the back yard is about to land in the pool. Hopefully the winds will calm down before it takes flight and rips up the pool cover. The whole thing is too big for one person to fix or I would try to take care of it myself.

It is good to be back blogging and visiting with all of you. For some reason blogger is not allowing me to moderate comments since last night so if you don't see your comment posted it is because of blogger not me, hee hee. I love hearing from all of you and am slowly getting back around to visiting you.

Baby It's Cold Outside

There is a chill in the air so it is time to get out the fall clothes.
Sweaters, turtlenecks and jackets are ready to go.

Keep warm my friends if you are in the northern part of the country.

Welcome Home

Good morning ladies. Hope you all had a good weekend and are ready to start this new week refreshed and ready to go.

The oldest of our clan his wife and four children moved into their lovely new home a couple of weeks ago. They had been living in Denver but have wanted to get back to Michigan and close to family for a while now. When the opportunity arose this last summer they took it. Things moved faster than any of us anticipated. With in a matter of weeks a new job became available, they sold their house in Denver and headed east.

The first of August, with all their belonging in storage, they moved in with us. Their search for a place to live began immediately and the house above is the fruit of their effort. Six weeks after they landed in Michigan the moving van arrived and they began settling in their new digs and we are again empty nester's.

We are so glad to have them back! Welcome home Bernie, Cathy and the kids.

Spooky House Tablescape

Welcome to tablescape Thursday.
I set up a little simple tablescape for lunch.

The centerpiece will stay here throughout the fall.

Not traditional fall colors, but the MacKenzie-Child's stemware & Honeymoon plates in different colors seems to work with my spooky house.

Fuzzy picture with a big ol' box in the background, but you can get a peak at the back of the spooky house just the same ;)

Ditto, this side shot.

I tried to make it look like a house on a hill.

To see more Tablescape Thursday go to Susan's at Between Naps On The Porch. Thanks for stopping by, it is good to be back.

Hugs,

Sue

Happy Fall

Happy fall y'all!
I have been around reading and enjoying some of your blogs but haven't taken the time to blog myself. A lot of reasons for it but I won't boar you with them. Anyway, I'm back, decorated for fall and ready to blog away.

When I decorate seasonally there are only a few spots that I focus on. First are the centerpieces for the kitchen and dining room tables. Next come the kitchen counter tops and surrounding areas. The mantle, the space on the entertainment center, a couple of tables in the great room, and the buffet in the dining room get some fluff. A wreath on the front door and that is pretty much it.

In some of my older posts people have asked about where we store all these decorations. Each season our holidays trimmings, other than Christmas, are kept in no more than two storage bins per event. Some bins like fall are bigger than, say, the 4th of July. The bins go on the deep shelves John built in the basement when we first moved in here. There is only so much space so if I add something I have to then get rid of something else to make more room.

The collection of seasonal decorative accessories that we have are the result of years of gathering them and are pretty much edited down to the things that adorn a specific spot. Most of them have some kind of meaning to me and our family. Some are chosen for their height or shape to fill out a display. All are a delight to revisit with the changing of the seasons.

Enjoy this day that the Lord has made.

Stop by Rhoda's today at Southern Hospitality to see more fall decor at her "It's Fall Y'all" party.

Hugs,

Sue

Bloom Where You Are Planted

I hope every one had a good Independence Day weekend.
I hope your flowers are blooming,

and you are finding shade when you need it.

A Little Summer Decorating

Good morning Ladies. Did you all have a good weekend? I have been putting out a bit of the red, white and blue around here and thought I would share it with you. I got these white seed geraniums from our local nursery and they are doing pretty well here in the house. This is the first time I have heard of seed geraniums but I will be looking for them again next year, they are really hardy.
Here is a picture of John's handsome Father in this shadowbox that his cousin Peggy had made commemorating his service to our country in WW ll.

We usually go up north for the 4Th of July but this year we will be staying home because of John's work schedule. I'm disappointed but in these trying times when there is work available you count your blessings for having it so that is what I am trying to do. A little summer decorating always helps lift my spirits and hopefully it will yours too.

Hugs,

Sue

Wine Pairing at Buck's Run

Last night daughter-in-law Carrie and friends held a wine and food pairing event at Buck's Run.
It was a lovely night on the porch.

The ladies from Fabiano Bros. featured 4 different wines and explained how they accompanied each course. I wish I would have taken notes so I could share the names of the wine they presented, but alas the food and wine were so good that they could only be enjoyed in the moment. If more information becomes available I will provide it.

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This is the first course. Brie cheese, carmelized apples and pecans wrapped in a puff pastry went perfectly with the light white sipping wine.

Thank you Carrie, Melissa, Fabiano Brothers and Buck's Run for a beautiful early summer evening of friends, food and fun.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. I finally got my camera up and running again so hope to blog more again soon. I have missed you all.

Hugs,

Sue

~ Ruffels and Reading ~

What a beautiful morning it is here. I hope the sun is shining on you too this morning where ever you are. The flowers are so abundant here this spring that they beg to be harvested.
All the stalks on these iris are so loaded with blooms that they were falling over on to the sidewalk around the pool. John takes great pride in his pristine concrete so this morning I cut them back before their beautiful indigo stained his pride and joy.

Now his sidewalk is free of wandering flora and my sofa table is graced with armfuls of ruffled indigo iris.

One of these days I hope to get time to settle in and read the books that I picked up on the Island.

John Is Home ~ Thank You For All Your Prayers

Thanks everyone for all of your prayers. John is home now safe and sound. He had very minor damage to his heart so he should not have any further problems. We so appreciate all of your thoughtfulness.

Tonight we went and got plants for all the planters. Tomorrow I'm heading up north for a baby shower and John and Matt will do the planting. Thanks to Matt for the heavy lifting. John will be doing the supervising.

Have a good weekend and thank you again for all your kindness.

Hugs,

Sue

Prayers Please

We were supposed to be in Denver right now but at 4:30 am John woke me up and told me he was having chest pains and that he needed to go to the hospital. When we got there he was immediately diagnosed as having a heart attack. They took him right to the cardiac catherization lab and began a procedure to stop the attack. They were successful at opening the 100% clogged artery and put in a stint to keep it open. Thank God we did not get on that airplane. No telling what the outcome would have been if we did.

He will be in the hospital for another 3 days at least. They need to go back in and open another clogged artery but wanted to wait until he was over the initial attack to attempt it. So, probably on Monday they will to the other procedure.

He is resting comfortably now and when I left the hospital he had eaten dinner, wanted a snack, and was sitting up in a chair watching the Tiger's on TV.

Please join me in praying for his speedy recovery.

Hugs,

Sue