Breakfast Tea in the Garden Room

My sweet niece stayed with me last week

 and we had a pretty outdoor breakfast in my garden room.

We were nestled among the flowers and shrubs

and the birds, butterflies and bees.

I can think of nothing better than to wake up

and remember she is sleeping upstairs...

and to gleefully plan our little tea time together.

This time she did so much of the work because of my
 dumb-ole-foot-in-a-boot.

Just call me Hop-a-Long Cassidy!

Our menu was simple:

Eggs in a Cup - soft-boiled eggs w/ butter and freshly cracked pepper

Raspberry Scones with homemade "clotted" cream 

Fresh cut nectarines

Toast

Blueberry Tea

Our sweet and pretty breakfast made us very happy.

Just look at her precious smile of anticipation!

Aren't these the most beautiful paper napkins you've ever seen?

I've had them since Easter - I seldom use paper ones,

so I still had this pack - and they looked perfect with our pink/green/lilac color scheme, so we used them!

I wonder how well they'd decoupage?

They're so beautiful.

Have any of you ever decoupaged with paper napkins?

By the time we got everything all set up

 we'd worked up a big appetite

and ate every bit!

The night before the two of us had gone to see

the new Pixar movie "Inside Out."
I highly recommend it. 
It is very different than the other Pixar films

After the movie we went to a delish Chinese restaurant for dinner.
(Her favorite and I seldom go because hubs doesn't like it.)

I had to run to the pharmacy so I let her pick out
 a new nail polish there.

When we returned I gave her a fancy manicure.

(I also needed some sitting down quiet time after our running around!)

That pretty sky blue color on her nails in the pic below
is the polish she picked.

 : - )

After our breakfast I had her run up to my special girlie library

in our loft area and pick out any book for us to read out here.

I have a lifetime collection of special tea books and such.

She chose the one called "Thank You, Friend."

It was given to me a few years ago by a friend Sandra
when she visited from out of town for tea.

We took turns reading this sweet book

 full of Scripture, quotes, wisdom, poetry

 and basic feel-good thoughts. 

She was hesitant about reading the old fashioned script Cursive pages.

Do you all realize that hand writing & teaching Cursive is GONE?

The children don't learn how to write it or read it in schools anymore.

CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE:

 THEY CAN NO LONG READ JANE AUSTEN MANUSCRIPTS

 OR EVEN THE CONSTITUTION OF THE US?????!!!???

I shudder at this. Just yikes. Ok, I'm done now. 

~~~~~*~~~~~

We discussed many of the pages -

I wanted to make sure she understood the selections

and had time to disgest her food and her thoughts.

I am trying to teach her in our world of "crazy rat-race fast"

that savoring things like meals and tea and good books

is worth the time and effort to do.

I think she got into it, as she got super comfortable.

Oh, I should also point out that it was super sunny when we began

and by the time we finished it had begun raining.

That's why the last pics are dark.

I sure love my little garden covered patio zen room.

The rain didn't even bother us!

Indeed, I do believe we savored our time together quite nicely!

As always, thank you for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Mosaic Monday  *  Make it Pretty   *   Amaze Me Monday   *   Teatime Tues   *  Tea in Garden   *  Tuesday Cuppa Tea  * Tues. at Our Home
Return to Loveliness   *  Roses of Inspiration  

Red White and Blues

Here are a few of my favorite pics of past posts

RED, WHITE and BLUE!

Some years we go all out -

this year our eldest daughter is in Montreal

and our youngest just returned from vacation

so she needs to just catch up and work, work, work.

And my sister who lives near me

 (who has all the children I always blog about)

 is at her lake home with her family...

plus with my boot thing on I am not feeling like

doing hosting much of anything.

                             So we're just gonna "chillax" for a change.

We're attending an evening wedding tomorrow

~~~Friday July 3rd~~~

so that keeps us home bound this year.

And we've been really looking forward to it.

I've even shared some red white and blue  

from my store with Blog Shop linky party on Wednesdays.

If you haven't yet seen the series called

 JOHN ADAMS

 you have really missed something special.

It is absolutely a must see

 for those with Patriotic appreciation

 for our beloved nation's beginnings.

It's not on Netflix but it is on Amazon Prime Instant Video

if you are a Prime member. Sorry to tease you.

I wish you all a very happy,

 safe holiday weekend.

But in the midst of your traditions and merry-making,

please take a moment to remember

OUR FOUNDING FATHERS

whose blood and courage,

 along with their un-failing and un-dimming

 love of freedom and

The Flag For Which It Stands.

[source]

Love it. Honor it. Always.

Proud folks bravely died

so that it would forever wave

for all the ages to come.

Linking:

As always, thank you for your visit.

♥

~Michele

Giveaway Winner - BIG Spinach + Das Boot

The winner of my giveaway was Cindy from the blog
CONSIDER IT ALL JOY

Thanks to everyone who participated.

We have had the greatest harvest of spinach recently!

Our youngest daughter is a big time gardener and had extra startings
she gave us this year - and wow did it ever take off!

The spinach really took a shine to our big vegetable garden.

(I call it the "Back 40" as they do down at the Ranch in Gunsmoke.)

    

You really cannot tell how large these spinach leaves are
but to give you an idea:
this sink is extra large and extra deep

and it is plumb full of spinach!   

I just grabbed one of the medium leaves fast and had a yogurt*

I was about to eat and sat it down on the leaf so you could see

how huge each leaf was!

*Which, incidentally is my all-time favorite brand of yogurt.

It's all natural and mmmmmm good. Try it!

And no I am not compensated, just opinionated.

I had such high hopes to actually doing foodie post showing

my delicious chicken and spinach dish I made a little later that day

but, well, you know I never remember the foodie stuff.

We cook, eat, clean up - business done.

Then I recall my intentions and get that "Ah crap" moment

 when one says to oneself

"I get an A for sincerity and and an epic fail for foodie pics.

~~~~~*~~~~~

For those who didn't know, I am not wearing one of those

really ugly Big Black Boot things due to some small stress fractures

in my foot, advanced tendonitis and arthritis for the cherry on top.

I started my physical therapy for it yesterday;

3x a week for a month, then we'll see how it's healing up.

I've been trying to weed around the garden in this thing-
not getting good at maneuvering yet - yikes.

(Weebles Wobble But They Don't Fall Down!)

I am not happy about any of this, but want to float gracefully

down the aisle in August when our youngest daughter 

gets married - so praying for fast healing.

Just got word my sister's health needs some prayer-
for her privacy I won't delve details 
but it is becoming much more serious.

Also my sister's sister-in-law is in ICU and needs prayer.


So - a giveaway winner, some huge spinach
 and some prayer requests is what I am all about today.


What fun weekend plans do you all have coming up?
Whatever you do, may you enjoy peace and safety!


As always, thank you for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

WOW Us Wednesday  *   Foodie Friday

Tea! Tea! - Easy as 1.2.3

Oh, I just adore my sweet little toddler niece Madeline!

Her Momma Jenn, my dear sister-in-law, 

 sent me the CUTEST phone pics the other day!

Maddy having her pretty pink play teatime -

 does it get cuter?!?

                               Can you see her cute pink play kitchen
                                 with the adorable pink & white appliances?

One must double check the cups are clean!

I wonder if I should offer Mommy a cup?

             

Nah, I think I'll just drink them both!

               

Reminder:

If you haven't signed up for my giveaway

Click HERE for more details!

As always, thank you for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

Pink Saturday   *   Mosaic Monday   *   Teatime Tuesday

Red White Blue Wares & Giveaway!

I am having a Patriotic giveaway!

It's also been some time now since I have joined in on Bev's 
Blog Shop linky party post

over at How Sweet The Sound.

It's a wonderful way to show off things you may have for sale!

Remember; you needn't have a store, shop, Etsy or Ebay.....

just need to share what you may wish to sell!

I have had an ebay shop for almost 16 years 

and I promise you this is a wonderful way to get some exposure

that you may not otherwise have had! (Thanks, Bev!)

I have purchased quite a few things from those participating too-

so it is a win-win any way one looks at it!

A cute hand painted salad sized serving/decorative plate!

Today I am sharing a few wares in my little store  

RED WHITE BLUE THEMES all on sale

and perfect for your outdoor holiday entertaining!

Set of 4 of the cutest "bandana" painted napkin rings!

Big lot of new white plastic spoons and forks!

4 cute dinner stoneware dinner plates 

4 matching mugs!

4 salad plates in the Fiesta style by HOME

Lidded cooling crock for dips or butter

Cute lighthouse and candle gift set

Large white artisan pitcher hand made in Portugal





And for those more "formal" minded, I am offering up for sale
this stunning blue white and gilded artisan hand painted teapot!

You know I must show at least one teapot, right?  : - )

Of course I would love you to check out my store
and do some shopping - I am sure there is something
there you would love to have.

You can always find my store by clicking my logo
on the right side bar of my blog all year long.


But my motivation TODAY is to ALSO prompt you all to take a look at
BLOG SHOP LINKY PARTY to also look at other's wares for sale....
and to get you to join in and sell something yourselves too!

EVERYONE WINS WINS WINS!


My giveaway ends 10pm EST Monday June 29th so I can get 
the package out Tuesday in time for July 4th!

No requirements except be in the USA, and to leave a comment
stating you'd love to enter.

If you don't have a blog please send a private email also
telling me your snail mail addy so I can get it posted for you!

As always, thank you for your visit!

♥

~Michele

Linking:

How Sweet The Sound   *   What's it Wednesday   *   Anything Blue

Blue Monday