flow blue lunch tablescape

Summer is almost over so I thought I'd show you this summery tablescape in blue and white with green that speaks summer to me.

I used my 100 year old flow blue dishes for this summer table.

I found these placemats at HomeSense and thought I'd keep the table light without a tablecloth.

Soup and home made rolls are on the menu today. 

 The silver spoons and butter knives are ones we used everyday when I was growing up. 

 The napkins are April Cornell.

These dishes were my grandparents and are used often so they are chipped

and the gold is wearing off.  I like the shallow, wide rimmed soup bowls.

I love these bright lime green mums with the baby's breath in the ironstone pitcher.

Sweet napkin rings from Clair du Lune, a candle shop.

Thanks for stopping by for lunch on this late summer day.

I am joining Susan for Tablescape Thursday at

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

I hope you join the party too.

Blessings,

Pamela

safe and sound

We are safe and sound here after Irene blew through on Sunday night.  The wind howled all night and all Monday too.  There were over 500 'individual' power outages in the province and hundreds are still waiting for power to be restored.  We didn't lose our power and there were only branches and twigs of maples to be cleaned up. And the sun came out after lunch on Monday. We received about 60 mm  (6 inches) of rain here. We got off easy here when you consider all the terrible flooding in Vermont and Quebec and other areas.  The news video showing the devastation is heartbreaking to watch. 

It's a bit foggy again this morning with the promise of sunshine, warm temperatures

and light breezes. 

I'm preparing for my company - daughter Jennifer and grandson Ewan - who

will be flying in tonight from Alberta.

I can't wait to see them and give them lots of hugs.  It's been 8 months!

I hope to pop in now and then but I may be busy playing with an 11 month old.

In fact, I know I will be busy!  And Happy!

See you soon!

Blessings,

Pamela

a tropical storm

Hi my friends.  I thought I'd just check in and let you know the tropical storm Irene has arrived here.  It poured rain off and on all day and now the wind is blowing.  Apparently the storm has been downgraded but we will still receive a lot of rain and wind overnight.  There are storm surge warnings along the Bay of Fundy coast which touches New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  The storm is heading north through Quebec province but there is a wide swath of rain and wind - a bulb - that will spread out over the Maritimes.  It could be worse but we'll be fine.  Thanks so much for your concern and prayers.  We still have the night to go through which makes me nervous when I can't see what's going on outside. :-)  I expect by after noon tomorrow the sun will be coming out and the weather looks great for the rest of the week.

I told you about the concert we were going to last evening ~ All Together Worship 2011.  What a beautiful evening it was.  If you love contemporary Christian worship music and ever get a chance to hear Dan Bremnes or Paul Coleman don't miss it.  They were amazing!  Dan is from B.C. but travels all over Canada and Paul is formerly from Australia (from the group The Newsboys) and now lives in the U.S.  and travels all over.

This is what the skies looked like all evening.  Dark ominous clouds that seemed

to blow away with the warm southerly breeze, which also kept the mosquitoes at bay.

Apparently there were some heavy showers around the area but not in Keswick!

Richard Paul on the right, is from Fredericton and is accompanied by Evie Morrison on background vocals.

This is Tim Milner from Nova Scotia with his band.

Dan Bremnes and a local church band backing him up.

Paul Coleman, the Aussie, with his acoustic guitar.  Just him.  And God.

And the 'cathedral' of the open air.  Awesome!  What a time of worship.

The closing song ~ Amazing Grace ~ with Dan and Paul.

A part of the crowd ~ larger than last year's ~ all ages, all faiths worshipping together.

Amazing Grace

I hope and pray you who went through the wrath of Irene are safe.

I'm sure there will be a lot of mess to clean up tomorrow.

Take care and God Bless!

Hugs,

Pamela

the calm before the storm

As most of you know Hurricane Irene is barreling up the eastern seaboard of the United States and is going to pass over most of New Brunswick and southern Quebec.  These two provinces have already had a lot of rain this month and the rivers are very full.  The St. John River flows from northern Maine and down from northern N.B. through Fredericton and out the mouth at Saint John into the Bay of Fundy ~ 418 miles.  With all that rain flowing into all the brooks, streams and rivers that flow into the St. John River there's going to be a deluge all at once.  We may get over 100 mm of rain.  Not good.  My thoughts and prayers are wlth all who will be affected by this storm. 

But, for today I had to go out and take a few photos of the beautiful foggy morning that broke into a glorious hot and sunny day ~ the calm before the storm.

This could be frost but it's not - yet!

Tonight there is an outdoor worship concert we are attending.  We're praying the weather

will stay nice until 10:00 and after all the equipment is taken down.

Some of you may know of these worship leaders: Tim Milner from N.S.

Richard Paul from Fredericton, Paul Coleman from Australia (Newsboys!!),

and Dan Bremnes from Kelowna, B.C.

It's going to be an awesome time!

Last year there was over a thousand people at the concert.  It is held

in a green field near a small strip mall in the little community of Keswick, outside of Fredericton.

This is a part of the large crowd from last year.

I hope your weekend is happy and that if you're in the line of Irene that you stay safe.

Blessings to you!

Hugs,

Pamela

vintage laundry bags

Since our sweet grandson is coming to visit in next week I have to prepare

things for his bed.  We are borrowing a Pack & Play crib for him to sleep in.

I have saved all the sheets from when our children were babies.  I don't know if

they will fit this portable crib but I think we can make do.  The animal print quilt was

made for our daughter, Jennifer, by her Grammie.  I don't even think most babies use

blankets on top nowadays as they have such warm sleepers but I thought it would

look cute in the bed.

I love the pastel animal prints on the baby sheets don't you?  It was a nice sunny day to

get this laundry on the line and smelling fresh.

I have collected some vintage embroidered laundry bags.  This one hangs in the bathroom.

I also have 2 sets of sock stretchers hanging there.  These old cloth laundry bags

sure didn't hold much so I'm glad we have a nice wicker laundry basket today.

My laundry bag collection.

This one is embroidered and also painted.

This has appliqued clothes on the embroidered clothesline.

Such small stitches!

This poor girl is right on her knees washing on the river rocks!

I wonder why there were so many Dutch scenes for these laundry bags.

I am very glad I don't have to use one of these to iron my laundry!

Aren't you??

We've come a long way haven't we? 

I'll be thinking of my friends in blogland who may be affected by

Hurricane Irene.  I hope you are prepared and will be safe.

We will get some wind and a lot of rain here I expect. 

I'll fill some buckets with water to flush the toilets incase the power goes out.

Today I'm linking with

Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday

http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/

Have a safe and blessed weekend!

Pamela

what's new? I'll tell you

I've been busy this past week and can't even seem to sit down to do a blog post let alone catch up on all of your posts!  Some of you have been very busy blogging about so many interesting things.

I mentioned that I was going to a friends camp at the lake on Monday.  There were 5 of us chickies that gathered for a lovely lunch, lots of talk and laughter then supper before we went home.

It rained so hard all morning but by mid afternoon the sun shone and it was beautiful.

Yoho Lake

The chickies ~ that's me on the right.  Our hostess, Jan, is holding a copy of our

new study book called Boundaries. 

I hear it's a good study.  Has anyone heard of it or read the book?

I guess you all heard about the little earthquake in Virginia that was felt all the way up here in little old Fredericton.  It was shaky enough to cause 2 or 3 office towers to take a break in the afternoon and go out to the sidewalk. 

This is the Fredericton skyline.  Small city and small office towers.

Our office towers are not really towers.  The tallest is 9 floors.  I like small cities with small office towers.

I didn't feel a thing out here in the country.  We did have an earthquake here in 1983 I think, that shook our house badly.  We thought it was a chimney fire.  A few hairline cracks appeared in the sheetrock afterward but that's all.

Oh, I think we might just have us a bit of a storm on Sunday night into Monday too.  I guess Hurricane Irene 'might' make an appearance.  Then again she might not.  One never knows with these storms that seem to travel at will from left to right.  So, we could get about 100 mm of rain or maybe 30 mm.  And we'll no doubt get some strong winds and it will be warm and humid.  I will have to put all my hanging baskets and plant pots in the garage for protection.  I want them to keep blooming for another few weeks.

I am getting ready for the arrival of our daughter and grandson next week too.  And our son-in-law comes the following week.  I have a lot to do yet, lists to be scratched off, food to buy (got the diapers already), cleaning, scrubbing, laundry.  Some of the cleaning can't be done until the dog is removed from the premises.

Marshall

Sir sheds-a-lot can't be in the house with a crawling baby for almost 9 days!

  So, Marshall will be boarded at our son's

house where he can play with his buddy, Buckley.  I could get used to that.

Murray installed the new over-the-range microwave last night with a little help from 'moi'.

We celebrated by cooking a bag of popcorn!  Corny, I know.

But it was after 10:00 and we were tired.

The dishwasher is in place but not hooked up yet.

I really hope it can be hooked up and running on the weekend but...

I'll let you know.

Almost done.  Still the backsplash to do and some under cabinet lighting

and the dishwasher hooked up.

Did I mention that hubby has to go on a business trip on Monday

and Tuesday?  Oh yeah.  Just when there's a hurricane coming and I could

use some help with the cleaning.  And, we have company coming!

Did I mention that??

And I have to go to physio and grocery shop on Tuesday too and then

come home and clean and cook and mow lawn.  Just kidding!

I don't have to mow lawn.  But, I will be busy!

So, I may be scarce around here for a while.  I've got lists to scratch off.

And....

This little guy just might make it all worthwhile.  Don't you think so?

I love that smile. (he has 6 teeth now)

See you soon.  I hope.

I'm going to scratch off  'write blog post' on that list.

Blessings and hugs,

Pamela

aqua depression glass tea

                   Last week I showed you the pretty aqua blue depression glass tea set I bought recently,
                                          so, I thought I'd do a tablescape with it.
                              A couple of you wondered if it was blue or green glass.
                       It is really aqua in colour much like the aqua canning jars so popular now.
                   It's a very pretty shade and I did find a place for it in my new china cupboard!

A cup and saucer with an antique silver teaspoon.  This spoon has an "H" for Harris on it

and came from my grandmother's.

I had to polish these sweet teaspoons as they were very tarnished even in their felt case.

I set the table with my turquoise linen square table cloth overlayed with a vintage white eyelet square.

The white milkglass cream and sugar set was my mother's as was the pretty transferware plate.

Love the delicate pattern on the bowl rim and side.

This is another spoon with the "H" on it.  These are a bit larger and perhaps more

appropriate for this teacup and saucer.  The other ones, being smaller, might

be better for china cups.

The bowls are a good size and might be nice for fresh fruit with a shortbread on the side

or a nice strawberry shortcake.

Does anyone know if these dishes are safe to use?  Is it safe to pour hot tea into a cup

if I use a spoon in it?  Is there lead in this glass?

Summer aqua and white with a touch of silver.

Thanks for joining me today.  I hope you will also join

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage for Tea Time Tuesday

http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/2011/08/tea-time-tuesday_22.html

and

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

Enjoy your day!

Blessings,

Pamela

down by the river

I went down to the river at sunset Saturday evening. 

I took pictures and walked across the causeway to the other side to get

a better angle.  I noticed a familiar truck parked on the grass and then a

familiar black dog.  I knew it was our son, Mark.  And I figured he was fishing

though I couldn't see him.

Mark discovered fishing this summer and loves it.

His dog, Buckley, is a black lab/border collie cross and he LOVES the water!

He had so much fun playing with this driftwood log.  He'd push it out and around

and back to shore, then try to pick it up.  So cute!

I used Picnik on this photo to change it a bit. 

I noticed how much the sun has moved over in the sky since I took sunset

pictures in July and how early it sets now ~ 8:10!!

We had 4 days of beautiful sun and gorgeous temperatures in the mid to high

20's (high 70's) but it has ended.  It is raining and very windy but warm today.

I'm going to a friend's camp with some of our Bible study girls (the chickies)

for the day.  It won't be a very nice day on the lake but we'll share a lot of

laughs and good food anyway.

I hope you have a great day!

Blessings,

Pamela