Tea Outdoors With Niece

I had the pleasure of having my 10 year old niece for two days.

Early today she asked to have a tea party, so we got busy!

We did have to have our tea under the Zen Room canopy

 because it has rained most of the day

and things were pretty soggy outside. 

Yesterday we went to the movies and saw Despicable Me 2.

If you haven't yet seen the first one I highly recommend it -

 I had to rent it from Amazon instant downloads

 because Netflix didn't have it.

We watched that together the night before

 and then saw the sequel to it yesterday.

It's just so darned cute.

(And not just for children!)

~~~~~*~~~~~~

Afterwards we visited my favorite secondhand store 

and hit the motherlode of tea cup sets!

We found some real beauties!

I am so excited about it!

Some of them you will be seeing in the emporium soon!

This morning we picked a fresh zucchini from our veggie garden

and made bread.  She is very helpful in the kitchen.

I kept calling her my "minion," if you saw the movie you would

understand why. They're adorable helpers!

After the bread was done baking and was cooling 

I had her pick out what china she wanted us to use

from some we found yesterday.

I washed them well and the above sets is what she chose.

She chose blueberry tea, and like most children likes it sweet -

so she filled an egg cup with sugar cubes. 

We used pretty rose chintz egg cups earlier 

for our soft boiled egg breakfast.

I like her choices, don't you?

~~~~~*~~~~~~

If  you look carefully at the first pic you will see 

a last minute addition of ICE CUBES to cool her tea.

She asked how adults can stand drinking super hot tea.

I told her I actually remember asking that question

myself when I was a child.

Time flies. Seems like yesterday.

Our menu:

Curry Chicken  Salad Fingers

Egg Salad Triangles on Wheat

Ham and Cheese with Honey Mustard

(on honey buns)

Sweet Lemon Bread

Zucchini Bread with Butter

Walker's Shortbread Cookies

Neither of us "dressed" properly for tea,

 as this was put together rather quickly and unplanned-

so she and I were quite casual.

She initially asked I not show her picture,

 then changed her mind and posted for this one.

With her permission I am sharing it.

She recently started wearing contacts.

She's been through a lot with her eyes,

so we're all pretty excited for her.

Isn't she a sweetheart?

As always, thank you for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Tea Time Tuesday  *  Teacup Tuesday (Ter) TT (Martha)

Share Your Cup   *  Home and Garden  *   Tea in the Garden

Homework Wednesday  * Time Travel  * Tablescape Thursday

Thrifty Things Friday  *  Cottage Garden Party

Creative Home Expression

The Nest Outdoors

Loving this cooler weather and blue skies!

Gives one a chance to get fresh air in the house and in the lungs!

Here's some recent pics of some nature around here!

                                             Brown eyed Susans:

Knock-Out Roses:

Pink Hydrangea:

Odd huge Hummingbird sized moth:

Bright Yellow Finch:

Hummingbird:

Japanese Beetle:

And.... introducing our latest new freshly planted tree!

This is a Dawn Redwood - a deciduous evergreen

that LOVES wet earth and grows fast and tall!

We planted it in the low part of the lawn
 hoping it "sops up" some ofthe excess water
 that tends to just hang around there

when it rains too much!

Pls. excuse all our trampled grass -

 it was truly only in the ground a few minutes

 when I took this snap -

 already the grass has popped back

into place since then!

Anyway, that's life around here.

Darned perfect weather, that's a nice rare thing!

As always, thank you for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Fresh Cut Friday  *  Home and Garden  *  Open House  * Outdoor W

Pink Rose Chintz

Thinking of you today.....

and wishing you a truly beautiful day!

As always, thank you for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Pink Saturday

House Tour - Part 1 - DINING / MUSIC ROOM (Summer)

This is a really big week in blogdom for home tours, so

 I thought it was a fine time to begin 
 slowly sharing my nest with you all as well.

(I won't be sharing it all or this entire week, but as time allows.)

Today I begin by showing
 the current summer design

in the dining room/music room.


WARNING: HEAVY PIC & COMMENTARY POST!

The ceiling in the dining room is quite high

then slopes to normal height by the piano.

(a bit of piano showing on the left in this pic)


The Chestnut hardwood flooring we chose
 has a gently distressed matte finish
and we absolutely love it.


~~~~~*~~~~~


This faux painting was done by my pro painter who has painted nearly
every room in this house, but just finished her degree (with honors!) and
has given up her painting business now. Boo Hoo - Margie was an awesome painter and great person, I wish her well!

We were going for the look of old, worn leather-
 and she nailed it perfectly for what I tried to describe!

 You can spot just a tiny bit of the kitchen dining 
table chair off to the right in the background.

I know they say to never have lights on in pictures
 but I wanted to show how bright this one can get.

Hubs put it on a dimmer on the light switch for
both the chandy and pot lights-
nice for providing soft romantic dinner ambiance.

A lightly sculpted wool rug underneath the table is new.

We had hardwood installed in early spring 

and needed to ground and soften that area better.

I didn't want the rug to compete with the pattern
 on the Persian rug underneath the piano.

They play nicely together.

We did not get hardwood for the stairs - too noisy.

We like things very quiet here at our nest.

: - )    We left the berber.

Long simple ivory voile panel sheers 

allow for soft dappled glare-free light.

I wanted in the worst way to puddle them on the floor-
but you all met our extremely hairy beastie boy, right?

Not an option a wise choice to puddle drapes with all his fur!

Even with that bad haircut he's currently sporting
 dealing with all his long, thick fur is a losing & constant battle.

(Awl.... he's so danged cute!) 

I am sharing different pics of this space
 to show bright day/ lights on
and ready for dinner and also
dark rainy day with no lights on, no dinner pending
to show the differences.

These unique candle sconces on the wall were a fun
gift from hubs the first year we moved here.

They are made of clay. Note that the tops are smaller than the
bottoms and they are each slightly different.

That is because they are hand made in Italy
from wet clay mud formed on a person's leg
 till it dries in the sun.

Wisteria had them about 10 years ago. 

Fun bit of trivia for dinner conversation.


~~~~~*~~~~~


Here is the angle while standing in the kitchen.

Next to the dining table is my painted chippy buffet.
It holds our huge antique Bavarian china collection.

Look closely to what is anchoring
 these skinny wooden twig branches: little fragrant "rocks."

They came years ago as a hostess gift
from my sweet friend Rosann.

When one walks past there is a very pleasant whiff of perfume.

This old leather-wrapped glass decanter belonged to my father.

 His name was Leo, and was given this bottle with a lion on it from my sweet cousin Carol many years ago.

My father was named after HIS father
 and my little brother named his youngest Leo too,
 so this bottle will one day be HIS.


The tall glass oil burner bottle in front of the mirror
has a neat brass metal crest stamped on the front of it.

~~~~~*~~~~~



Over just to the left of the dining table is my antique wooden tea cart.

This is always changing, almost weekly.

I have a simple vignette showing some rare colour around here.

The floral arrangement I just made a few weeks ago.

Next to it is another of my father's leather-covered bottles.

In the corner to the right of the dining table 
we have a large tall rusty domed metal etagiere.

Here are a few of the displays right now:

A wood-cut M hanging around a topiary wreath.

Our monogram is three Ms!
(As in mmm)

: - )


Antique wooden carved horse
embellished with metal and saddle is made up of
small Mother of Pearl pieces.

The antique silver inlay bottle was a gift 
from my father about 20 years ago.

And over near the piano (which btw I play every day) is a treasured
thrifty find - our antique cherry china cabinet!

I have lighter pieces displayed in it for this time of year.

It changes as often as the mood strikes.

Oh, how I adore the original hardware.
Who doesn't love classic Laurel wreath oval pulls?

I originally intended to paint/treat the wood cabinet
 to lighten it up a bit but I don't know if I am able!

Still undecided, though.


 What are your thoughts on that?

The red of the cherry doesn't really match anything in that
room - was thinking black could look really neat, or perhaps even
a brown stain with no red undertones - ?

OK, this post is getting much too long. 

More to come. 

Stay tuned!

As always, your visits and comments
 are appreciated and welcomed.


Thanks for stopping by!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Metamorph Monday  *  Make it Pretty   *  Amaze Me Monday  

You're Gonna Love It   *  Inspire Me Tuesday  *  The Scoop 

 Tweak It Tuesday  * WOW US  * Centerpiece Wednesday  *  HOME

Open House  *  Tidbits  *  What's It Wednesday  *  Be Inspired

Show and Tell 

Wishing You Joy

Today I simply wish you joy;

I wish you good health and some calm quiet time.

I wish you kind glances and security in knowing you are loved.

I wish for you to enjoy the beauty that surrounds you, 

even in the smallest of things.

           I wish you a hearty laugh along with a tummy full of nutricious food. 

I wish for your stresses to abate long enough to remember 

what a precious gift is this day of life you've been given.

I wish you deep understanding that your time

 is your most valuable commodity. 

Spend it in tranquility and beauty, making your time well spent. 

Yes, today - and always- I wish for you much peace.

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you,

 live at peace with everyone. 

                                                           ~~Romans 12:18

~~~~~*~~~~~

As always, thank you so much

 for taking time out of your busy day

to visit me at my little nest in the world.

♥

Have a blessed weekend!

Linking: 

Spiritual Sunday

Card Party - June

It's time for Vee's Monthly CARD PARTY!

I have three I made from recent pictures,

 as I had a computer snafu and think I may have 
lost all my old blog pictures.

(OK, I am ok with it now. I wasn't for a while. It forces me to clean up
pics I was hesitant to delete now!)

 Going forward we're doing things

 a little different around here -
too many beautiful and special blog pics.

All the other pics were saved in a different area - I moved
my BLOG pics to a different place and didn't mention it to
my very pc savvy hubs who saves everything once a week at least.

He thought blog pics were included in the save.

My bad.

I cannot look back but only forward,

 so these are pics unfortunately you have seen recently

but not made info fabulous new cards!

: - )

Don't miss the party - it's a fun one!

As always, thanks for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Magnolia Mint Tea in the Garden

Please join me for tea today in my garden.

We'll be all nestled under the shade of the trees

on floral padded chairs to keep us comfy.

We can sip and listen to the birds

 and watch them bathe in their birdbaths.

~~~~~~*~~~~~

We shall watch butterflies 

and the fluffy white clouds go by -

and just enjoy one another's company.

We'll nibble on brownie bites, caramel bars and

lemon blueberry bread.

The tea tastes great with fresh mint 
from the garden.

I love how our embroidered table topper 

mimics the magnolias on the china.

My eldest daughter and her husband
found this pretty china at an auction
for me last summer.

I am so excited to finally share it with you!


It is a big full service set with all sorts of plates
 and small bowls and serving bowls and platters, etc.

Remember this pretty little rose spoon
my tea society friend Mary D 
 gave me for my birthday last year?

It looks rather perfect in a garden tea setting!

I am so glad you could join me today in the garden!

To read about my little covered patio room in the background read my last post here

We haven't seen many blue skies lately, either!

What a blessed gift - what a lovely view
from our little spot in the garden!

Linking:

Tea Time Tuesday  *  Tuesday Cuppa Tea    *   Inspire Me

Teacups Tuesday - Martha  *  A Return to Loveliness

Tea in the Garden  *  Anything Blue    *  Outdoor Wednesday

Centerpiece Wednesday  *  Let's Dish  *  Share Your Cup

Tablescape Thursday  *  Cottage Garden Party