National Sunflower Day!

I hope you're enjoying the beginning days of August.  I discovered today is National Sunflower Day.   That's my favorite flower.  It's normally the first Saturday of August, but it's on a Sunday this year.

Sunflowers are such a happy flower.  Their bright golden faces evoke feelings of warmth and joy. They symbolize happiness, positivity, and adoration, and represent loyalty, vitality and longevity.

North and South Dakota are the top sunflower producing states in the world, and August is their peak season.  I remember seeing fields and fields of them on our 2020 vacation out west with our son Jeremy and family.

Before I became smitten with tea, I had a sunflower themed kitchen, which I loved.  Below is the only photo I could find quickly.  It was many moons ago on my 54th birthday with four of my grandchildren [there are now eight and these four have grown into adulthood].

A local orchard has a sunflower festival every year. The photo below was taken in 2021 when my hubby and I went.

One year [2007], I did an informal tea for the ladies of our church district at our campgrounds and used sunflowers as the decorating theme.   

I've had fun using sunflowers as a centerpiece at teas and luncheons in my home.  They're perfect with a Mexican fiesta theme.

 I received a sunflower floral arrangement for my birthday one year.

My granddaughter, Brianna [fourth in birth order], loves sunflowers too and I love this photo of her.

And last, but certainly not least, there are sunflower teas - some herbal and some made with green tea leaves as well as black tea leaves.

Sunflower seeds are very healthy too.  I like to toss them in garden salads.

And I can't end this post without saying it's also National Watermelon Day.   I've been buying a lot of 'personal size' watermelons while I've been weight watching.  They're very healthy and one cup of cubed watermelon is only 46 calories.  Since they have a natural sweetness they satisfy cravings for something sweet, and they're good at breakfast, lunch or dinner.  I posted the photo below recently of one of my breakfasts while trying to shed some pounds.  I'm going to try a watermelon smoothie this week and will report back.  

 Are you enjoying watermelon this summer?

A Brief Visit and Breakfast

Our youngest son, Jeremy, his wife, Samantha, and their youngest daughter, Ellie, came to the eastern side of the state this weekend for a wedding and birthday party with Sam's family. Jeremy had a speaking engagement this afternoon with some high school football coaches, so he called and wanted us to go to breakfast with them before his commitment.

We went to a restaurant none of us had been to before on the way to where Jeremy had to speak.  House of Pancakes didn't disappoint.

~ Jeremy, Samantha & Ellie ~

Since I'm trying to eat healthy and shed some pounds I ordered a vegetable omelet with a small bowl of fruit and one piece of sourdough toast.  It was yummy.  I had my tea when we got back home.

My seat was facing the window, so I couldn't help noticing a very elderly man who pulled up close to the front door.   When he got out of his car, he was bent over with age and required a walker, so my hubby held the door open for him.  He told us he was 99 years old.  When we got outside the restaurant Ellie noticed his license plate had World War II Veteran printed on it.  Not many of those men are still alive.  God bless him for still having a healthy mind and keeping active even if his body is wearing out, but maybe it's time for someone to start chauffeuring him around.  ;-)  

Our granddaughter, Brooke, has had aspirations of becoming a beautician even before she went off to college to get her degree in early childhood development.  So a few months ago she enrolled at a Cosmetology school and is thoroughly enjoying it.  Today while Jeremy was at his speaking engagement, Samantha took Ellie over to the school so Brooke could give her a haircut.  She did a great job and Ellie loved it.  Sam took some pictures to share with me and I'm sharing them on the blog.  

 

~ Two of six beautiful granddaughters ~

Hmmm, my beautician is having knee replacement surgery soon and won't be doing hair for awhile, maybe I'll go to Brooke for my hair too.   

We had torrential rain and thunder storms in my area today with lots of flooding.  Such catastrophic weather patterns all across our country these days.  Hope you're safe where you live.

All In a Day

Most people stay home in their air conditioned house on a day when it's 96 degrees and feels like 103 degrees outside, but I had things to do and places to go!

To fortify myself before leaving home, I had a yummy breakfast that was both healthy and calorie conservative.   Of course, it included a cup of green tea.

I had seen in an e-mail last night that there was an estate sale nearby with teacups, so I decided to go.  I wasn't there when the sale opened at 10:00 a.m. so someone else beat me to some of them, but five of the 14 pictured were still there, and the price was an amazing $2 each!  I couldn't believe it since it was the first day of the sale and they were bone china.

  I will take them to The Whitney tomorrow.

I had $30 Kohl's Cash that needed to be spent before expiration, so my next stop was Kohl's. New bath towels was on my list, but I got sidelined by a Napier jewelry display before I made it to linens.  I'm not trying to rush summer, but I couldn't help purchasing a cute fall pumpkin brooch.  It was 20% off so only cost me $15.25.

Eventually I purchased the bath towels, then went to Bath & Body Works [in the same mall] and got fragrance refills on sale 5 for $28.  

It was a productive afternoon, then I made my way back home to my air conditioned house.  I poured myself a cup of refreshing Gazpacho [also calorie conservative].  Can you tell I'm trying to shed some pounds?  ;-)  Fish Tacos are on the menu for dinner.

How was your day?

Summertime in July

Summer didn't officially begin until June 20th so a full month hasn't lapsed yet, and it won't end until September 22nd, which means we have two months left but you wouldn't know it if you walked into stores.  Yesterday I went to two stores - Hobby Lobby and At Home.   Hobby Lobby was all decorated for fall...

 

...and At Home was a Halloween Lovers paradise.   Halloween is now ranked the second-largest commercial holiday in the United States after Christmas - higher than Easter, Valentine's Day, 4th of July, and Mother's and Father's Day.  Apparently I'm outnumbered, because as an adult, it's my least favorite holiday even though I do have some Halloween dishware.

Our summers are so short, I hate to start thinking about fall even though it's a beautiful season.

The City of Detroit will celebrate its 324th birthday on July 24th with several festivities planned.  The Whitney will be featuring a Detroit Classics menu July 7-25 and a Birthday Party in the garden on July 23rd co-sponsored by Detroit's iconic American Coney Island.  Detroit's Greatest Hits will be played and there'll be dancing under the stars.

We celebrated three family birthdays in July - granddaughters Ellie and Tiffany and daughter-in-law, Samantha.  Jeremy took the lovely photo of Sam [below] when he took her out to dinner for her birthday.

Tea times have slowed down at The Whitney during July.  Guests are enjoying summer vacations, beaches, and boating.  The guest count for tomorrow is only 47.  I can't remember when it was that low on a Saturday, but my knees aren't complaining.  

Almost all of the teas at The Whitney are custom blended for us by a lady at Eastern Market but she doesn't package the tea.  It comes in half lb. bags and I package it for our urns and 6 cup teapots.  Recently, however, we've started purchasing individual teabags from Bigelow Tea for guests who only want a cup instead of a teapot.  They've been very well received. A case arrived today and I'll take them to work tomorrow.

Hubby took this impromptu picture of me about a week ago when I was mating and organizing the teacups in the Music Room at The Whitney.  The shelves were once used to hold music when the Whitney's lived in the mansion, and we use them for teacups now. The pic is awful of me but it's a  glimpse of how beautiful the Music Room is.

Not much else has been happening with me which is why my blog has been rather quiet lately.  I hope you've been enjoying your summer.

July 4th Birthday Celebrations

I hope you had an enjoyable 4th of July.  As I mentioned a few posts back, our youngest granddaughter, Ellie, was born on the 4th of July and she became a teenager this year.  In the blink of an eye 13 years have passed.

Her aunt and uncle hosted the birthday celebration because Ellie's twin cousins turned 13 on July 5th.  The weather was nice until around 4:00 o'clock, then it rained for a half hour or so and cleared up again.  

Below is our birthday girl...

With 22 first cousins [ranging from 22 years old to 7 mos. old], plus all the adults, there was lots of activity - pool fun, trampoline fun [for the younger kids], cornhole fun [two sets of cornhole boards], basketball, and for those of us who were less energetic, we sat and visited or watched the Detroit Tiger ballgame on the patio TV until it was time to eat, and what a huge array of food there was.   My contribution was a pan of macaroni and cheese.

~ Landon and Izzy ~

~ Izzy with the youngest cousin, Baker ~

But the most exciting activity - at least for the three birthday girls - was opening presents.

The birthday girls - Ellie, CeCe and Carmela

They made a wish and blew out the candles!

~ Daughter-in-law, Samantha, and Izzy ~

There were fireworks later that night, but since I had to get up for work on Saturday morning, we left around 8:00 o'clock.  It was a great family fun day, but sadly, following all the 4th celebrations, tragedy struck Kerrville, Texas when the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes and took the lives of many and destroyed homes. Our prayers are with all those who lost children and loved ones.  I can't begin to imagine their grief and the anxiety for those who are still missing relatives.

Happy 4th of July!

 Happy 249th Birthday America!

I took the photo below in 2017 and wanted to share it again today.  Wishing you a wonderful 4th of July however you may be celebrating.

The End of June

Just checking in on this last day of June.   It was a busy weekend... after work on Saturday my hubby and I attended our daughter-in-law's parent's surprise 50th Wedding Anniversary Party.  I managed to get a few pictures but only one of the honored couple as they were escorted into the party by three of their 23 grandchildren.  I was hoping one of their five children would post some pictures, but so far none of them have. 

~ Jeremy and Sam at the party ~

~ Izzy at her grandparent's party ~

The four Theisen sisters - Hannah, Samantha, Sarah and Sylvia.  They have one brother but I didn't get his picture.

  

Granddaughter, Ellie, [center] with two of her cousins.  She has a birthday coming up on July 4th and will be a teenager!

It doesn't seem possible that nine years have passed since we celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary.  Next year is the big 60!

After church yesterday we went out to eat with four other couples [no pictures] and afterwards made a stop at Maria's Antiques.  I normally don't do any shopping on the Sabbath, but while riding to church yesterday morning a Facebook post came through my feed stating yesterday was the last day Maria would be open at her present location.  All merchandise was 70% off.  Since we're always in need of teacups at The Whitney I decided to stop to see if she had any. I was able to get 13 bone china teacups for $38.  What a bargain!

I've been spending a lot of time organizing the photos on my desktop in preparation for getting a new computer.   Last Saturday I received a coupon from Shutterfly for unlimited pages and 40% off everything else, so I spent almost all of today working on another Shutterfly album.  The offer ends July 13th, so there's no time to waste.

Tomorrow ushers in a new month.  Wishing you a happy July!

Clara J's Tearoom

The month of June is rolling by quickly.  Yesterday was the first day of summer and today it's 95 degrees in southeastern, Michigan and feels like 104 degrees.  The Detroit tri-county area is under an extreme heat warning.  Last Wednesday a tornado touched down less than 2 miles from my house which is very unusual.  

Yesterday was a busy day at The Whitney serving tea to 155 guests, and one lovely young lady received a marriage proposal.  The groom-to-be arranged ahead of time to have the beautiful engagement ring [displayed in its case], positioned on the top tier of the serving stand when the server took it to their table.  Both sets of parents quietly slipped in to watch the happy occasion and, of course, the young lady said yes!   All the guests in the Drawing Room erupted with a heartfelt congratulatory applause.

Thursday I traveled 38 miles south of where I live to pick up my girlfriend, Sandy, to go to Clara J's tearoom in Maumee, Ohio [9 miles south of Toledo].  Our reservations were for 11:00 a.m.  The weather was drizzly, but it didn't dampen our enthusiasm for sharing teatime together.  The last time I was at Clara J's was in 2019 for a Downton Abbey tea with my girlfriend, Lori, so a return visit was long overdue.

The tearoom is named for Clara Jaessing Keller who was a lifelong resident of Maumee and restaurant owner. Sadly she only lived to the age of 59, but in 2005 her niece, Rebecca Jaessing, founded the tearoom in her honor.  In 2018 she sold the tearoom to Gretchen Fayerweather, a chef and culinary instructor who remains the current owner.  The upstairs is a Bed & Breakfast.

Several first floor rooms are devoted to guest seating.  The room we were in appeared to be part of a newer addition to the house.  I liked that aprons were used as a valance window treatment.

The food was beautifully presented and very tasty.   When we arrived only a couple other guests were there, but when we left the tearoom was full.  

We each got to select our own pot of tea, and I chose Lemon Meringue green tea.  

Next came two warm Blueberry Scones neatly wrapped in a napkin to ensure they stayed warm.  A dish of Lemon Curd, Devonshire Cream and Strawberry Jam accompanied the scones.

The three-tiered server was laden with delicious teatime food selections.

The top tier contained three savories:  A Radicchio leaf stuffed with zesty Cilantro Slaw; Watermelon & Feta squares; and a Sundried Tomato Palmier.

The middle tier contained the tea sandwiches:  Clara J's signature Ribbon Sandwich with house-made white & wheat breads layered with Chicken Salad, Red Pepper & Spinach spreads and frosted with seasoned Cream Cheese and garnished with a Pimento stuffed Olive; traditional Cucumber sandwich on white bread with Cream Cheese, Dill & Lemon Zest; and Avocado Toast with a slice of Hard Boiled Egg, Pickled Onion and Radish.

The bottom tier held the desserts:  Their signature Lemon Sugar Cookie Sandwich with Lemon Buttercream; Triple Berry Shortcake [raspberries, strawberries & blueberries] with White Chocolate Mousse on a house made biscuit; and a S'more Bundt Cake made with Lapsang Souchong Tea, Marshmallow Cream and Graham Crackers.  Fresh fruit garnished each plate.

When we finished eating we drove the short distance to the Maumee Antique Mall.  We spent a couple of hours looking around the mall, but nothing called our name so we left empty-handed and made our journey back home.

It was a wonderful day spent with a very good life-long [since 7th grade] friend!