Bees and Buttercup

My friend, Brenda was off and we have not seen her for a while, so we decided to have a get together luncheon at home. I have been so busy with yard work and taking care of the water damage inside the house so I could not set up the table ahead of time. Good thing my friends suggested we will do a potluck so all I had to make was a dessert, rice and hot tea.

I did not invite anybody else because I am a little shy about inviting people if it is potluck. Does anybody else feel this way? I would rather cook everything than ask guests to bring food too but today, I had no time to cook. The luncheon was a spur of the moment thingy.

I just set the table in the morning while baking my "cassava coconut" dessert. My Spode "Buttercup:" dishes were easily accessible. They were displayed in my open china cabinet in the kitchen so I decided to use them.

Then I went around the house and picked anything that would blend for a centerpiece and this is what I came up with.

I bought the yellow sheer lacy embroidered runner from the other vendor's booth in the store for $1.50

I really like these plates. I love the texture and the colors.

See how they are kindly ruffly and have a basket weave pattern?

Bee napkin rings were bought for $1.99 each on clearance at Sur La Table. The Napoleon Bee flatware are from Horchow or Neiman Marcus.

This hand painted lidded server is from Ebay. I thought it matched the plates perfectly. I served mango salsa in it, which goes so well with the fried fish.

The pineapple goblets are from TJ Maxx from a long time ago.

The yellow and brown bird S & P shakers blended in too. I sliced hot peppers from my vegetable garden for the people who likes hot salsa like me. I could not add them ahead of time because John does not like spicy food. He came home for lunch to join us 3 ladies for a little while.

I served hot tea from my Bee teapot into the Spode "Buttercup" teacups and saucers.

My friends brought fried fish, baked beans and a raspberry drink while I baked this coconut cassava dessert you see below. I also made rice and mango salsa and hot tea.



If you want to see some really good tablescapes, go visit Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/.

To see some lovely vintage things, go to Vintage Thingie Thurs.
http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

Thank you for hosting, ladies, and thanks for stopping by, y'all!

Tree Trimming, Adventurous Ride and Birds' Eye View of Property

We just had our trees trimmed and groomed. We knew they would use an aerial bucket truck to reach the tall trees. I asked the guy who was going up if he could take pictures of the property for me. He did better than agree. He gave me the option to go up myself and take the pictures. That really got me excited. I am afraid of heights but my love for photography made me overcome it. I told him I would be afraid to go by myself but if my friend agreed to go up with me, I would love too. And so the planning started.

There we are! Actually this was the second time I went up. Silas, the tree guy, took me up earlier but I did not go too high because I was nervous. We just went up to the roof top of the house. But I wanted to go up again so I asked Debjani, to come over and accompany me. Besides, no one took my picture the first time. I gave one of the workers a camera and showed him to

use it but he was unable to do it. I wanted proof that I was actually up there, lol. This time, John was home and he was the designated photographer.

I am linking with Susan for Outdoor Wednesday at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

Kim's Wow Us Wednesday at http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

and for Watery Wednesday at http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

Bunny's Blog Hop Wed at http://bunnyjeansdecorandmore.blogspot.com/

Sherry's Home Sweet Home at http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

This is the aerial bucket truck that was mainly used.

John wanted me to watch the guys while they worked but I couldn't just be standing out there doing nothing so I started cleaning the garden too. I saw this poison ivy (last pic in the mosaic) climbing up on the maple tree and pulled it out. I did put on some gloves first, lol.

Can you spot us on top of the truck pole? We were so high that we looked like little ants.

Going up!

Higher!

Do you see John taking the picture? There he is wearing his favorite shirt again, lol. I do wash it regularly:-)

and higher!

the left side of the backyard showing the arbor, gazebo and wet deck. There is a bluff and creek right back there but the trees are so dense making them invisible.

front yard

top of the roof




Our neighborhood is really wooded. The house on top is the house right in front of us, the next photo shows the house right next to it, almost diagonally from us. Behind them are all trees all the way to where you can see. Our house is located on top of a hill in a corner lot. The house in the 3rd pic of the mosaic below is across the street on the right side of the house. You can see that it's all trees behind it too. And of course the trees you see in the foreground are in our property.


Here are panoramic views of the neighborhood.

We can really see the whole pool from up there. This photo even shows the secret garden behind it and the wet deck on its left side. See the tree debris and shavings down there?



We were really high here. The post was almost vertical and it goes all the way up to 75 ft.

After the men were done on the left side of the backyard, they worked on the side yard.

Lots of pine trees here, a magnolia and more oaks.

Then, they moved to the right side of the backyard. You can see the guy on top of the umbrella, slightly to the left.

It got dark and with 5 men working all day, they did not get done. They came back and finished up the next morning. It was a mess but the guys really cleaned up well. In fact, they did such good work and so accomodating and we were so happy with their performance that we paid them $200 above what they quoted us, plus gave them each a $20 tip.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks to our hostesses.

Tea Table Using Philippine Handicrafts

My cousin sent me a tea box and a table topper from the Philippines. They are both made out of natural fibers and are hand made. I really like them so they serve as my inspiration for this week's tea table.

Isn't that a pretty tea box? Looks like the bottom part was weaved out of palm leaves. I like them so much that I ordered a lot to sell in my shop. I think they will make perfect Christmas presents because they are unusual. In fact, I ordered enough so I can give tea boxes to the referring doctors for Christmas. Do you think they will like them?

I used the same topper for my tablescape last Thursday.

The Bavarian teaset is made by Tirschenreuth.

I really love the textures, both of the box and the topper.

I am linking with:

Marty for Tablestop Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

Lady Katherine for Teatime Tuesday at http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/

Wanda Lee and Pam for their Tea Tuesday memes at http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/

Sandi for TeatimeTtuesday at http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/

Martha and Terri for Teacup Tuesday at http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

Trish for Tea Party Tuesday at http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/

Many thanks to our hostesses and to you all for stopping by!

Sanford

We moved to MS from Florida more than 4 years ago. John used to work in Sanford on locum tenens in between jobs. Sanford is about a half hour drive from Orlando and about 2 hrs. away from where I lived. I worked full time then but John was on call 24/7 so he could not go anywhere far. Every weekend, AJ and I (and my mom when she was with me), would drive there and spend the weekend with John. The company he worked for put him in a hotel suite which was surrounded by a shopping center. Amongst the stores were Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Ross, Jo Ann Fabrics, Pier One and a World Market. I was in shopping heaven for sure. My trunk would be full everytime we went back home on Sunday. And we always ate chicken at El Pollo Loco everytime we went there. I love their chicken and salsa and I miss it.

This is Sanford's Downtown. It is very quaint. I love the brick sidewalk steps. It's also my pink contribution for Beverly's Pink Saturday. Go over at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/ and see all the other lovely pinks.

The mall was very close to the hotel too and we used to take AJ to get her hair done at the kiddie hair place. Do you like her pink hair piece? LOL! How about the bling on her face? Oh how I miss her being younger. She is growing up too fast.

This is the familiar hotel corridor. We were there every single weekend for 6 months. And do you see the plaza outside the window? That's were the shops are including Toys R Us which John and AJ frequented. They did not want to bring me there because I always tried to stop John from buying too many things for AJ and spoiling her, so the 2 of them always went by themselves. They always dropped me off at Ross, they knew I wouldn't mind that.

Christmas time came and I decorated the room. John's daughters and sister visited and we rented the room across the hall with a jacuzzi. I put up a Christmas tree there too.



We also went to the zoo a lot. John bought a family season pass.



See this big bull frog? He was huge!




Snakes...yikes!

A baby alligator

Don't you think AJ is terrified of spiders? LOL! Look at her facial expression!

We even took AJ for weekly guitar lessons there. She has this very cute pink Hello Kitty electric guitar. I had to sit with her during the lessons so I could help her practice. I used to play the guitar when I was younger but I am out of practice now, so I needed the review also.

I know I took more pictures in Sanford but I cannot find them. They might have crashed when my old desktop crashed, but I hope you enjoyed the short tour.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks to Beverly for another fun Pink Saturday!