Dining In a Potpourri of Lavender and Blue (T)

Greetings and thank you for joining me for my 

Dining In A Potpourri Of Lavender And Blue! 

I chose a mix of blues and lavender colors for this tablescape. 

You'll also notice my Thanksgivng Cactus is blooming in the background.  This is the third time it's bloomed since I brought it back inside last fall.  I think it likes being outdoors through the summer!

I got this vase from Holland, Michigan and since spring is arriving soon I thought I'd jump into that theme.

A trip to Costco netted me this lovely bouquet of flowers.  I love the roses, gerber daisies and mums!  I do hope the roses will open up a bit more!

For my dish stack I have some Ralph Lauren Mandarin Blue dishes and a galvanized plate charger.  Dishes came from TJMaxx and chargers from Michael's.

These solid lavender dishes are called French Perle by Lenox,

and these dishes are called Delemare Bouquet by Spode.

Napkins came from Williams Sonoma a few years ago.

I do love a good paisley and this one is called Laveen Paisley by Ralph Lauren.  Found at Home Goods a few years back.

The stemware is called Trestle by Fitz & Floyd found at T.J.Maxx a while back.  One of my favorites!

I chose the antique pewer metal napkin ring because it goes well with the pewter Sophia (Neiman Marcus) handle on the flatware.  They used to carry these in a variety of colors and they were pretty reasonable.

Love these antique roses sourrounded by the lavender button mums.

These are called white football mums.  Love 'em!

So there you have it!  I hope you enjoyed this and please ignore the snow outside!

I will be joining:

Love Your Creativity Link Party #35

Let's Go To Holland!

Holland, Michigan

that is!

Last week we made a trip and visited Windmill Island.

First before we actually head over to the island here are some pictures around the visitors center area.

This is a picture heavy post!

Probably the most popular color combo in tulips!

Ann odd angle but I wanted to capture all of these beautiful pink tulips.

I'm in love with orange this year!

Let's head over to the little island area.  Technically this was a peninsula but a canal was created around it with a bridge to cross over giving it a more authentic feel.  

Not my image but it's a great view.

I wish I could have caught her from the front.  Many of the employees are dressed in traditional Dutch clothing.  She doesn't have her wood shoes on but they do wear them (probably in one of her bags).  

The windmill is now over 250 years old and is known as "De Zwaan" (which means the swan or graceful bird) and was purchased from the Netherlands in 1964.  It was brought over by boat and reconstructed on the island.  A guided tour of the inside is offered but we didn't go in this time since we had done it previously.  I included two interior pictures below but they aren't one's I took.  There is more to the story about the windmill and how it was was acquired which you can read about it "here".

Wheat is ground using wind to power the mill.

These are called "snowdrops" (Galanthus)

The island hosts wedding and other events.  There is a bride being photographed off in the distance.  

Replicas of historic buildings found in the Netherlands 

Of course I had to visit the little shops.  I've been wanting to purchase some kind of Delft pottery so I wasn't leaving here empty handed!

My new Delft pottery vase with flowers from last week's tablescape.

While waiting in line to make my purchase I captured a picture of this young lady.  Both of these girls were the sweetest and though it was extremely busy they were very accommodating.

Well- we're on our way off the island now.

A little setting in a courtyard.  I liked how that one orange tulip was standing there being the center of attention!

Okay one last photo before we get to the parking lot!

Before we left Holland we stopped at Centennial Park.  I'll just share a few pictures.

I love this house!

Thanks for sticking through this long post and I hope you enjoyed it!

Goodbye for now from Dan and I!

Don't forget to join us this coming Friday May 25th with a garden post!

I've been busy potting and cleaning up in my gardens- can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to!

Joining:

Dishing It & Digging It

Celebrate & Decorate 

Tuesdays At Our Home 

Little Red...

I guess I forgot to show you my

new little red garden scoot!

Yep...

I asked for it and I got it!

I plan on riding it around the back patio when I'm planting all my flats of flowers!

Okay it's not a sports car- but hopefully it will save my back a few aches and pains!

The back sports a "removable" basket for a bucket and under the "swivel" and "adjustable height" seat is a tray for tools or whatever you like!

It has an adjustable length handle with a little built in stop so it won't crash to the ground!  P.S. it holds up to 400 lbs! I think I'm ok yet!!  

I think it's a very well thought out product!

Just in case you are wondering where this "rare" find came from here is the link !

Yesterday we had warm temps but

threatening rain.

One of my garden areas heavily laden with oak leaves and compressed mulch...

I raked and raked and raked and

got it cleaned up...and the sun came out!

(I used my iPhone for the pictures so they are good but not great)

This is my pile and my first efforts

outdoors with my gardens.

This was my 2nd target area but it

wasn't nearly as bad.  My new boxwoods

I planted last spring are doing great!

There are hostas coming up, tulips, daffodils,

coral bells and before long the topiary lilac will be blooming!

This is my my other workhorse...

our GardenWay cart (probably 25 years old now) that company doesn't sell them by themselves any longer but now you can order from the same place we got the garden scoot from and get the new version 
I loaded up the pile to take out back.

The sun disappeared quickly and I barely got my tools put away and it was raining.

We need it so no complaints!

I need to take some pictures of the

tulips!  It's tulip time!!

Speaking of that- we are going to 

head to Holland, Michigan for the

tulip festival soon!