Me on Monday

You already know about my relationship with tea. Yeah, I love it! And, I love tea foods. 

Well, my friend, Diane from Nottingham made this tea for our book club meeting. Or rather, I should say, she's made this tea "for me" EVERY time she has hosted book club since she joined--more than 10 years ago! 

There are--like--a kazillion things here! All hand made! So. much. WORK!

I love the British flag plates and napkins. I always take a napkin home to use in my scrapbook.

Those scones with the clotted cream (or Devonshire cream--same thing) and strawberry preserves are my most favorite. I could have just those and be happy. I had two of them! (And probably one of everything else.) Oh my! Can you spell g*l*u*t*t*o*n???

It's too much! For me? Really too much. 

She tells me that she makes it for me. Now think about that. She makes ALL of this---from scratch---for me! For me! That makes me feel so special! 

I wouldn't do it!

Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE my friends, but this is soooo much work! I wouldn't do it for them! I'm all about ease and convenience. I love that Diane goes to all this trouble for me, but it really is too much. I keep telling her to stop, but she doesn't. I guess, I'll stop worrying about that and just be happy that she does! 

On the other hand, if I have her here for tea, this is what it will be:

One simple, tiered tray, with ALL store-bought--really good, but store bought! And, of course, English tea served in my English teapots! Loose--no bags!

From the top: frosted sugar cookies, strawberries, schones, lemon-poppyseem muffins, pimento cheese and chicken salad sandwiches. All storebought. I don't feel bad about that. It's good. Trust me.

This was my coronation tea for the family: from front--clockwise around: blueberry scones--storebought, poppyseed bread--Puffy Muffin, toffee chip cookies--Puffy Muffin, Devonshire cream--Puffy Muffin, coronatin plates and napkins--Amazon, broccoli, ham & cheese quiche--Puffy Muffin, spinach cheese quiche--Puffy Muffin, cranberry orange congealed salad (or as we say in the Mid-west--jello salad)--Puffy Muffin, pimento cheese sandwiches--The Picnic, chicken salad sandwiches--The Picnic, grapes--storebought (duh, I can't make grapes anyway). 

See what I mean? Good food, but super simple. Still, I love that Diane goes to so much trouble. Maybe next time, I should at least offer to go over and help her. Or, maybe not. 

We'll see how good of a friend I am to her!!

Something for Sunday

September by the Numbers:

It was a busy month!!

Pool Parties: 2

Movies Seen: 3

*****Reagan

*****It Ends with Us

*****Lee

Books Read: 10

Of those 10, these are five stars and definitely worth the read:

The Girl From Berlin by Liam Taggart and Catherine Lockhart

Listen For the Lie by Amy Tinterra

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Kindred by Octavia Butler

What a Fool Believes by Michael McDonald

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Podcasts: 6

Lunch Out: 7

Dinner Out: 5

Documentaries/Movies/Series--Streamed 

Hulu:

*****Bon Jovi documentary Thank you and Goodnight

Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (1 episode--kind of trashy, so I won't be watching it)

Max

*****Brandy Melville (documentary fast fashion)--sooo good.

Netflix 

*****The Perfect Couple (6 episodes)

Worst Roommate Ever (9 episodes)

Alone (8 episodes)

Arrested Development (2 episodes)

*****Your Honor (13 episodes)

A Family Affair

Into the Fire—The Lost Daughter (documentary)

Queen Bees

*****Tell me Who I Am (documentary)

Black Mass (Johnny Depp)

*****The Accident (10 episode)

Paramount +

*****A Gentleman in Moscow

Apartment 7A

Prime

Jasper Mall (documentary)

YouTube

*****(So good I watched it twice): America’s Last Little Italy: The Hill in S. Louis (this is also on Amazon Prime, but you have to pay for it.)

Regular TV:

*****Found (3 episode)

*****High Potential (1 episode)

Trips: 3

Butch—Colombia

Barb—Scrapbooking

B+ & B- —Cleveland & Detroit

Scrapbook Pages Completed: 9

Scrapbook Saturday

As you are reading this, I am actually on our fall scrapbook retreat at Kentucky Lake. I'll have plenty to share soon. But for now, just a little something.

I wish this were true!

Sadly, there are few scrapbook stores left.

Friday Funnies

Ten Things Thursday

This week, it's just beautiful houses set amidst fall leaves. 

What I Buy Wednesday

When we got home from our trip, the bulbs that Stephanie and I ordered from the Kukenhoff Garden in Amsterdam had been delivered.

Well, there is one problem. I have the paperwork, so I know who gets what of the nearly 500 bulbs. But, now we don't remember the colors and types of the bulbs. I tried looking them up and found a few. I guess it's just going to be a surprise when they bloom. 

Here are a few reminders of how gorgeous that place was.

Below are some of the bulbs we ordered.

 I guess it doesn't really matter, they will be pretty however they come up.

From this trip, we only bought a couple things.

I got my Starbucks mug for Ohio. It's a new series now and this is my first one. I'm happy that they have kept the same size and shape. 

Butch got this:

This pin is for his backpack. He gets one from every place he travels to.

Then, there's this:

I'm always taking a chance when I send Butch to the grocery store. He came home with these ginormous lemons. You can tell how large they are next to the regular-sized limes. I asked him why he bought so many. He said that was what I put on the list. I said I didn't put 4, so he pulled out the list:

I get that the "g" in grape extended into the number for the lemon. But if you look closely, you can tell it's "1"! Plus, the "lemon" should have been a dead give-away. If I wanted 4, I would have written "lemonS!" Case closed!

Now what to do with 3 extra lemons? I decided to make lemon bars for my scrapbook retreat at Kentucky Lake--which is where I'm headed as you are reading this. 

Anyway, I made the bars, but the lemon was so big, I got 1/2 cup of juice from just one lemon! The recipe called for 3 to make that much fresh lemon juice. Now, what to do with 2 more lemons? Maybe I'll have fresh lemonade next week. 

Oh well.

Travel Tuesday

Last week, we had a great time in Ohio and Michigan. I'm including just a few highlight pictures of the week--trying to keep it short and sweet!

This was our second time in Ohio for sightseeing. The first time was years ago when we went to the Wright-Patton Air museum and went to a football game at Ohio State. This time, we went in a different direction.

We flew into Cleveland and visited the "Christmas Story" house. We had an interesting guided tour--well except for the obnoxious kid who was touching and climbing on everything. I don't understand young parents now-a-days. Many do not seem to have a handle on their kids.

We couldn't get a very good picture of the leg lamp due to the glare. It was a cute town with a museum and, of course, The Bumpus House--which is just a rental.

We had a fabulous--fancy dinner here--tablecloths and all! I love a tablecloth. And, I loved my lobster pasta dish--chock full of lobster! 

The next day, we had 10 a.m. reservations for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

I was a little disappointed because my organized, logical mind did not feel like it was laid out well. Luckily, the Bon Jovi exhibit on the top floor made up for it! Plus, we just about had the place to ourselves. I just love Bon Jovi!

Afterwards, we stopped at the "world's largest rubber stamp."

We had lunch at a local brewery--we shared a cheeseburger and fries. I thought it was really good--Butch thought it was average.

After lunch we went to the Lakeview Cemetery. There were so many important people buried there: Chester Garfield, Elliot Ness, and John D. Rockefeller. But this is the one we mainly went for: 

Alan Freed is the guy who coined the term "rock and roll."

His gravestone is a jukebox! So cool.

The next day, we had tickets for the Cuyahoga Railroad through the national park.

All the cars are 80+ years old and have been refurbished.

It was a drizzly day, so riding the train sounded like a good idea. The first half of the trip was pretty interesting. But the return was the exactly the same. Butch and I have been disappointed by too many train rides, so we've decided that this is our last. 

After the ride, we headed to Detroit--or more specifically, Ann Arbor. Butch quickly dressed for his meeting and dinner with The Walker Company. I was left to my own devices and had a nice dinner and evening to myself. 

The next day while Butch was at more meetings, I did my own thing. After he got back, we ended up going in to the city of Ann Arbor. He surprised me with one of the cutest geo-caches I've ever seen.

Fairy Houses! There are 7 of them left. We found 4 of them that were within walking distance. They are so darn cute! People leave coins or anything shiny for the fairies.

Afterwards, we went to dinner at a really good German restaurant.

We shared a schnitzel, spaetzle, red cabbage and German potato salad. It was so much that even sharing, we couldn't eat it all! The owner stopped by to talk to us. She said that the 5th generation was ready to start working in the restaurant--her teen grandson. 

The next day, we started with 10 a.m. reservations at Motown.

This was my favorite tour. The young man--who was probably born in the '90's was quite the character with a really good singing voice. The tour was well-organized and took us through the history--chronologically! Music to my organized mind!

Michael Jackson's iconic hat and glove.

From there, we went to the Henry Ford Museum. I think this might have been the largest museum I've ever been in.

There was a row of presidential limousines. This is the one that Kennedy was riding in on 11/22/63. 

They also has life size marquis of iconic fast food.

I don't even know if A&W is still around. I used to love their hot tamales with chili! And White Castle--we don't have any left in Nashville.

The we went inside the famous bus where Rosa Parkes was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to move to the back of the bus.

I'm sitting in the exact seat she refused to move from.

We had lunch at the museum and then went out to the Greenfield Village. We looked at all of the special and authentic buildings--like Henry Ford's childhood home and The Wright Brothers Bike Shop. We strolled through and then called it a day. After a brief rest at the hotel, we had a nice dinner at the Mexican restaurant where I took myself the first night. They had the best homemade sangria. 

We had an early and uneventful flight home--for a change! It was a fun week and we crammed a lot in--as usual. 

Our next trip is to Richmond, Virginia at the end of the month. I don't think I've ever been there before. You can bet there will be some Civil War sights on the itinerary!