November sails away!

I don’t know what happened to November!  It’s as though it sailed away in a brisk storm.   It’s a little bleak now but with the leaves gone now I can see more open sky and some beautiful sunrises.  I am reminded to look up more often as I was at the kitchen table tap tap tapping on my iPad and looked up to see this fantastic sky.

We had a great Thanksgiving Day- enjoyed good food and being with each other.  It’s a precious time since our visits with the kids are limited as we live a long ways apart.  Angela brought a homemade squash soup and it was delicious!

This is Dan’s rocker from his childhood in the early 1950’s.  Over 30 years ago when our son was a baby he stripped and stained it for the kids to use.  Unfortunately the old finish wasn’t safe with it’s peeling paint though it was sweet in it’s original light blue paint with little decals.

And the circle of life continues.  Dan posing next to our grandson at the same chair some 65 years later 😊

One of Ryan’s friends that also grew up here was in town and brought his three sons.  We had a good time and my living room became a romper room!  This was a first for all of them to be together.

We had just put out some garland and wreaths to get ready for the kids to visit.  So far the outside is the only thing that has any Christmas decorating.  

A few weeks ago we stopped at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan.  I’ll have to show another picture later on in the December once we have some accumulated snow!  Right now all we have are oak leaves that are falling from the sky.  I’m in no hurry for snow though as I’m enjoying this warmer weather we’ve been having. 

I also found the red sleds there.  

These cute aluminum ornaments came from Ace Hardware.  

I found these ornaments at Target.  They’re plastic with a plastic wrapped design on them- I thought they were the perfect design for this tree.

A dusting of snow one evening.  Everything is covered and put away in storage as we prepare for the inevitable snowy winter that we get here. 

Our cats were glad to have their bed back on the sofa and snuggled up again.  Having company is work!  They hid most of the time.  🙀

Addicted To Growing Flowers!

I was a little late this year getting some Amaryllis bulbs to plant.  I was inspired when I saw a bulb shown in an email from Terrain and then I found myself searching the internet for it (for less money).

I fell in love with this bright and expressive bulb called Santiago.

These bulbs came in a small burlap bag with green ties so you could offer it as a gift.

I had this potting soil in the garage so I decided to give it a try.  Amaryllis don’t like to be kept too wet so this soil should offer a light and not too compact texture. 

I used this galvanized planter Turing the summer and decided the amaryllis would look good growing in it. 

I put them in the kitchen window and hope they’ll do well. 

I have definitely been thinking about Christmas and chose an angel for the tree topper.  

She came today and is perfect.   I know a lot of bloggers are done with their holiday decorating but i’m Still only dreaming about it.  Have you made any progress yet? 

Dining for Thanksgiving (T)

 Mr. Tom Turkey presides over this table waiting to be replaced with a turkey platter full of the real thing!

I put a light under the brown glass for added illumination.

I love how the antlers add rustic elegance.

I chosethe green and brown placemats to add some additional color and break up the predominant rusty orange tones.  They worked out well since the the dishes have all the same colors.  The green stemware came from Pier 1 a few years ago- they seem to come in handy during the holiday period.

I had the napkins and they offer just the right tone found in the dinner plates and the green napkin rings are from Bed Bath and Beyond a good while back. 

There will only be 4 of us plus our grandson so I kept the table settings to a minimum.

I can dissect this quickly if we chose to.  The leaves and pumpkins at the base of the brown candle holders are actually small wreaths so it's easy to disassemble and reassemble.

Thank you for visiting and I wish everyone a blessed Thanksgiving holiday.

We will be very thankful that our son, daughter in-law and grandson will join us this year.  We don't often get company for this holiday!  

Gobble gobble!!

I’m joining the following blog parties:

Between Naps On The Porch

for

Tablescape Thursday 

Cyclamen and Thanksgiving Deco Cont’d!

Earlier last week I noticed this Cyclamen plant was still blooming even after a couple of frosts had occurred.  I hadn't yet emptied the container it was in along with a fern that I planted in the ground.  Someone I know says she waters hers from the bottom and it does well- I'll have to give that a try because I usually overwater these and kill them!

I potted it up in a wide but short clay pot, set it on the table in a pie tin with one of those pie carriers that look like wicker.  I lined the pie tin with foil so there would be no contact between the pot and the actual tin since it's used for food.

This picture is from 2010 when we visited at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.  They had many displays with cyclamen around and I enjoyed seeing them.  I was chatting with one of the attendants about the cyclamen and he said that before the Poinsettia plant became popular for the Christmas holiday the Cyclamen was the plant of choice.  It's a fantastic place to visit- if you ever get a chance go there it's worth it.  They have a giant conservatory and a large outdoor area to walk around so it's a very enjoyable place to see inside and out.  This is a link to our visit in 2012 "here"

The winter storm turned out to be much milder than they warned but still we received about 2" of snow which is a little more than normal for this area so early in November. 

I put a few things out for Thanksgiving around the kitchen area.

I found a pair of Pilgrim turkey salt and pepper shakers I set out on the first shelf and the whimsical turkey tea light holder I got a Pier 1 a couple of years ago.

I replaced my fall dishes with these turkey plates and left the other blue and white ones there along with the pumpkin mugs.  

The ceramic Polish Pottery pumpkin has a carved out face on the other side.  I just turned it around so I could still use it through  Thanksgiving.

I found another turkey in my stash so it went on top of the etagere and I moved the MC pumpkin over there too.  I am going to move the etagere back to the corner it was in before to make things easier for the holidays.  That'll be my little chore for today!  Of course that means vacuuming and mopping and a little chore turns into a big one!

Sorry I haven't visited your blogs much lately.  I have a sciatica issue and sitting for long gets to me so I am encouraged to keep on my feet!

Have a great weekend!

Joining:
Dish It & Digging It 

Celebrate & Decorate 

Centerpiece for Thanksgiving Dining (T)

                   

Last week when I did a little decorating for Thanksgiving I created a centerpiece arrangement and set out some dishes.

                    

The Tom Turkey is a new piece.  It came complete with the little pumpkins and greens at the base.  The top edge seems to be covered in foil that has some brown stain on it to mellow it’s color.

                         

I found a multi-colored table runner made of leaves at Bed Bath and Beyond (comes in two lengths- good value) and set it on the Williams Sonoma tablecloth I bought a few years ago.  I re-used the gold antlers that have been on the table more than once along with a candle ring at the base of a glass candle holder that I turned upside down for a fuller look.  The pumpkins have been with me a couple of years.

                    

The chargers came from Pier 1 a while back and some of you have already seen the dinner plate that is adorned with wheat.  The Heritage Turkey plates are from from Pottery Barn last year.  I had to shoot on an angle because of the lights.  I don’t like taking pictures with inside lighting but that’s how it worked out the day I took the pics.

                         

I didn’t do a full tablescape- just wanted to enjoy looking at the turkey plates with the centerpiece.  I’ll finish it up and take pictures next week!  

We are getting our first winter storm today.  It’s always pretty to see but the weatherman also thinks this snow will stick around a while since the temps are going to stay pretty cold.  I hope this is just a brief start towards winter because I’m not ready!

I’m joining:
Tablescape Thursday 
Between Naps On The porch

Dishing It & Digging It