Final Patriotic Table, Series 4

Thanks to Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com for hosting Tablescape Thursday. It gives a lot of us dishaholics a place to play with our dishes. Be sure to visit her and her participants to see many creative ways of setting a table.

I am also linking with Michael Lee at http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

We should all visit her and her participants too. You can find many great recipes there. Thanks Michael!

Today will be the end of my series of patriotic tablescapes.

I had this done when my stepdaughter with her 3 tiny tots were visiting. AJ was also here for a visit.

The kids wanted to have a lunch tea party so I made various sandwiches: peanut butter and jelly, egg salad and turkey. I also baked some chocolate chip cookies. Then I cut up some mangoes which I served with cherries.

I used mostly Polish pottery dishes. I tend to use these a lot for casual meals because they are very practical and can easily be mixed and matched.

I served the cookies in a domed white pedestal tray.

I love tea warmers and I thought this one, with stars and stripes, shows patriotism. It matches the tea light candle holder, also a Polish pottery.

I know this was lunch and it was noon but I like the effect of the candle lights.

The blue and white striped table cloth was given to me by my sister.

I used 2 types of teapot napkin rings.

See how young my guests were?

And no matter how young they are, they enjoyed the tea party and they showed their appreciation. They kept telling me the next day how much fun the tea party was.

I hope you enjoyed my last patriotic table for this year. Thank you all for coming by and I am wishing you all a

Happy Independence Day!!!!

Tea Party for AJ and Me

It's Tuesday party time! Come join our lovely and gracious hostesses. Links are at the bottom.

I baked some chocolate chip cookies and AJ and I enjoyed them with some Whittard of Chelsea "Summertime Fruit" tea while watching TV.

I bought the teapot from London. I thought the size is just perfect for 2 people. The Kosta Boda glass tulip is from Stockholm, Sweden.
Just for fun, I decided to add the little Disney figure that I bought for AJ for her bedroom in FL. She has an underwater theme for her BR decor.

The tea towel has a hand painted bird on it.

The cookies were good and the tea had a wonderful aroma and taste.

I bought the bird tea candle holder from Crate and Barrel in Chicago.

And there's my little (actually not so little anymore) granddaughter enjoying a sip of her tea.

Thanks to our wonderful hostesses for these fun parties:

Marty of http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

Lady Katherine of http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/

Wanda Lee at http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/

Martha and Terri at http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

Thanks to all of you for coming by.

Summer Means Taking Granddaughter on Vacation

We just came back from a cruise and I took this picture of the boat sailing right by us. I liked how its shadow was reflected on the water so I would like to link with Hey Harriet's Shadow Sunday at http://heyharriet.blogspot.com to share the photo with you.


I am also joining Summer Sunday.

Summer Sunday is brought to us by the Tablescaper. Check out others' summer fun pics at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/.

I am also linking with Sally at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ for my blue pictures especially the blue water and blue skies.

Summer Sunday is brought to us by the Tablescaper. Check out others' summer fun pics at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/.

Summer is children's vacation time from school so it means taking our oldest grandkid on a trip. We have done this since she was 5 when we took her on a 10 day trip to Hawaii and now she is 11. She has been to lots of states in America, Caribbean coasts, countries in Europe and we plan to start taking her to Asia next year. I still cannot forget when we went to Pompeii and she said that she could not wait to tell her teacher about it since they were just studying about the excavations in Social Studies in school. We are hoping these trips really expand her educational and geographical knowledge.

This time, we took her on a cruise to Cozumel and Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.




We showed her the Dzibilchaltun Mayan Ruins. I will show you more of it on Sightseeing Saturday.


Then we took her to Discover Mexico Park, to learn more about Mexican history and culture. We always try to mix education with fun everytime we take her on a trip.

Eeeek! I wouldn't touch that Boa constrictor for anything, but AJ is fearless.

The park had models of different Mayan structures to help us envision how they used to be.

We went to the Chankanaab Resort, which was recommended by my classmate from HS, and I am so glad she did because it was absolutely breathtaking and a lot of fun.

I will show you more of this resort in one of future Sightseeing Saturdays.

She watched the dolphins jump up and down.

and went snorkeling

Thanks to the Tablescaper for allowing us to share some summer pictures.

Thank you all for your visits! They are always appreciated.

St. Mary's Basilica

It's Pink and Sightseeing Saturday time and I won't take you too far away because I still have to pack. I am posting this in advance. Go over at Beverly at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/ and look at all the pretty pinks that she and her participants posted. This is St. Mary's Basilica in Natchez. I did not know it was blue hour when I took this picture. I was surprised to see how blue the sky was. Isn't it gorgeous?

The construction of the church started in 1841.

It is located downtown where the streets are lined with pink and white crape myrtles.

Behind it is a park with this cannon.


Behind the cannon is a beautiful fountain.

Another pink contribution is Zoe's pink outfit.






To the right of the cannon is this tall monument erected in memory of the Confederate dead soldiers from Natchez and Adams County.

To the right of the church is a marble Armed forces memorial.

Well, I better go packing so that's it for now. Thank you so much for coming by. I'll catch up reading your blogs when I get back.

Thanks to Beverly for hosting this meme.