Beatrix Potter Tea at Kellogg Manor House

On Tuesday [6/13] I took two girlfriends, Lori and Linda, to tea at W.K. Kellogg Manor House in Hickory Corners, MI [located between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, MI on the western side of the state].  127 miles one way is a bit farther than we normally travel for tea, but it was SO worth it, and as the saying goes, "Have tea will travel!" ;-)  We chatted all the way there and back, so travel time flew by.

This past February when I attended a tea hosted by the Northville Historical Society, I sat across from a lovely couple named, Mike and Sue, who traveled from the Kalamazoo area. Sue told me about The Tale of Beatrix Potter Tea at Kellogg Manor and I made a mental note to check into it, and then a couple of weeks later a blog follower named, Susan, [an entirely different lady from the one I met at Northville] e-mailed to tell me about the same Beatrix Potter tea.  I concluded it was meant to be, and promptly went online and made reservations. Thanks, ladies!

This was the second tea I've attended at Kellogg Manor.  Back in April 2002 [amazing how quickly 15 years pass!] when my parents were living near Kalamazoo, I drove over to take my mother to Afternoon Tea there.  That was before my blogging days, but I did blog about the tea in February 2013 [with pre-digital photos].  Since I shared some of the history of Kellogg Manor in that post, you can read it here, and I won't repeat.   My mom was 81 at the time, and we spent a lovely afternoon together at Kellogg Manor.  She has since passed away.

We had beautiful traveling weather this past Tuesday, and arrived shortly before 2:00 p.m. A guided tour of the house preceding the tea at 3:00 p.m. is included in the price [which is now $36 per person and a real bargain].  I didn't remember taking the house tour with my mom, but my blog post stated we did.  I have no photos of it.

The W.K. Kellogg Manor House is pictured below.  Mr. Kellogg called it Eagle Heights since it was built on the highest point of land overlooking Gull Lake.  The architecture is Tudor Revival.

We waited in the entry for the 2:00 o'clock house tour to begin, and took some pictures.  The tea was my birthday gift to Linda and Lori.  Aren't they pretty "birthday girls"?

[Linda, Me, and Lori]

Below is Sue, the lovely lady I met at the Northville Tea, and who first told me about the Beatrix Potter Tea.  I always say, "You meet the nicest people over tea!"

Below is Brynda Filkins who portrayed Beatrix Potter at the program that followed the tea.

I'm going to reverse the order of happenings on my blog and share the tea first.  Tomorrow's post will be about the tour, so ya'll come back! 

The tea was held in the living room, and I believe 11 tables were set up.

~ Beatrix Potter props ~

This was the tablescape at our table.  Our favors were a package of Shasta Daisy seeds, a card of Beatrix Potter characters, and three coloring pages of Beatrix Potter's drawings all tied together.

~ Menu ~

~ First course freshly baked Scones with fresh Berries and Cream ~

Here's to Beatrix Potter and good friends!

Second course was roasted Chicken Wraps with fresh garden Vegetable Slaw [Peter Rabbit and his friends would have whole-heartedly approved of the menu! ;-)]  It was delicious!

~ Beet Soup with Lemon and Thyme ~ 

Dessert was Chocolate Mint Dirt Pudding with a Chocolate dipped Strawberry resembling a carrot in a garden patch.  So cute!

[Sue and Me]

After our tasty, creative and visually appealing meal, it was time for Brynda Filkins to share the life of Beatrix Potter.  Brynda has a B.A. in Education, and a Master of Library Science degree. She was an excellent presenter.  She not only knew Beatrix Potter's life very well, but she presented it in such an expressive and engaging way.  She began by using an authentic British accent just as Beatrix would have had.  Her presentation was divided into three parts: First, Beatrix's childhood years...  [Notice how she changed her appearance a bit with each phase of life.]

Her mid-life and productive years...

And her later years in England's Lake District as Mrs. William Heelis and her involvement with Herdwick Sheep.

At the end of her presentation she gave away a Beatrix Potter children's book to a lady with the birth date closest to Beatrix's - July 28th.  Beatrix was born in 1866 and died in 1943.

She also had some candies to give to the two cute and well behaved little girls who were in attendance.

It was a fabulous program and a wonderful afternoon [the tea and program was from 3:00-5:00 p.m.].  Thank you to everyone involved who made all of it possible!

In 2001 my hubby and I went on a Globus tour of England, Wales and Scotland.  One of our stops was Grasmere in the Lake District, Cumbria, England.  We were only 11 miles away from Sawrey where Beatrix Potter's Hill Top Farm House is located, but it was not included in the tour - something I've always lamented. Grasmere is where Dove Cottage is located, the home of poet William Wordsworth, so the tour planners must have felt that was more worthy of seeing than Hill Top Farm House. Can you imagine?! One of the shops in Grasmere did give a nod to Beatrix Potter though, and I bought some of her things to bring back to my oldest grandson and granddaughter [the only grandchildren I had at that time].  

My friend, Linda, did a Beatrix Potter tea in 2010, and I blogged about it here.  I followed-up that post with Beatrix Potter's life in pictures, which you can view here.

Since those posts were written I've acquired a few Beatrix Potter figurines, a teapot and some books.  Do you collect Beatrix Potter memorabilia?

On April 3rd of this year, Cristy Bennett did a lovely Beatrix Potter Easter Parade Tea in East Lansing.  If you'd like to see pictures from that tea they can be seen by clicking here.

Isn't it amazing that 74 years after Beatrix Potter's death she's just as popular [or probably even more popular] than when she was alive.  She truly was a talented and fascinating woman.

51st Wedding Anniversary

It hardly seems possible that a year has passed since we celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary, but it has and today marks #51!

After church our son, Steve, treated us to dinner at a favorite Italian family restaurant - Ferlito's, in Grosse Pointe.  When we finished eating, our waitress took our picture.

[L: Brianna, Sharon and Me.  R: Steve and Jerry]

We drove around beautiful Grosse Pointe before stopping at Sanders for an ice cream dessert.

~ Granddaughter Brianna ~

Clock near the Sanders confectionery.  At 6:00 o'clock in 1966 we were married.  Time marches on! Thanks Steve and Sharon for a very nice afternoon!

La Belle Antiques Garage Sale

My favorite antique store, La Belle Antiques, is having their annual garage sale today, tomorrow, and Sunday.  It opened at 9:00 a.m. this morning [at the store owner's home] and my hubby and I went.   Fortunately it wasn't crowded when we arrived, but it was by the time we left.  I don't need anymore "stuff" so I was very selective about my purchases, but it's always fun to look.

A huge back yard tent plus two separate garages were full of stuff treasures to look at.

I saw two Shirley Temple dolls, but passed them up.

After a lot of looking, I only ended up with a few things totaling $10.00.  Everything was priced to move quickly.  There were a lot of totes and boxes still full of items that I didn't rummage through. As things sell and space is freed up, they will unpack everything.  

So what did I purchase?   A turquoise turban hat for $3.00 with a J.L. Hudson label.  It's in excellent condition and different from all the other Hudson head wear I've acquired.  Since it was from The Woodward Shop, it had to be pricey when originally purchased.

A pair of brand new elbow-length pair of Aris gloves [also for $3] that I can use in a presentation.

And four books on fashions from different time periods for $1 each.  They're actually paper dolls but I won't use them for that.   I had just remarked to a friend in an e-mail recently that I had no idea what I would do for the July tea presentation at the assisted living facility, and when I saw this book I got my theme - "Prominent women from the Guilded Age Era in Newport, Rhode Island." Their names as well as gowns they wore are in the book.  I was so grateful for the inspiration for an interesting July  program.

I couldn't pass up a book about the Royal children.  

What a fun and perfect way to begin the morning.  When I came home to write this post I sipped a cup of Harney's Paris Blend tea.   Friday mornings don't get any better!

Bible Study Luncheon and More

Yesterday four of us met in my home for Bible study where Zippora [Moses' wife] and Miriam [his sister] were the subjects. Even though Miriam's attitude and actions evoked God's punishment, it was just for a short time and He forgave and restored her, as He always does when we seek forgiveness. I'm grateful the Bible shows us the imperfections in its characters as well as the beauty. If they were all perfect and never sinned, it would be difficult for us to relate to them.  The next time we meet we'll be studying Rahab.

After Bible study we had a simple Mexican themed lunch - hearty Tortilla Soup, with Creamed Corn Cornbread and Herbed Butter. Dessert was a Fried Ice Cream Ball in a baked Tortilla Bowl with Hot Fudge Sauce topping.  The ice cream really wasn't fried - it's rolled in crushed cornflakes so it tastes crunchy as though it was fried.

One of my faithful blog readers wrote after reading this post asking if I had ever posted the recipe for Tortilla Soup on my blog.  I hadn't, but I remembered that my friend, Linda J., at Friendship Tea blog, had a guest post about a Mexican Dinner I hosted back in 2010.  It took a bit of searching, but I found it [and enjoyed re-reading several of Linda's past blog posts in the process]. You can find the recipe by clicking here.

After the ladies went home, Jerry and I scooted off to Chelsea to attend granddaughter Isabella's last 6th grade band concert. Seated next to me in the photo below is daughter-in-law Samantha, her mother, Roxanne, and Ellie.

Izzy's the one standing facing the camera.  I typed her name above her head but it's hard to see.

She's not visible in the photo below, but she was the second chair in the clarinet section. She has a countdown going until the end of school - 8 days!  ;-)

Birthday wishes are in order since today is my daughter-in-law's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Sharon!  May God grant you many more.

Cristy Bennett's Swan Tea

Last Saturday my girlfriend, Lori, and I traveled to East Lansing for another of Cristy Bennett's phenomenal teas.  This tea was themed after Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake Ballet.  Like all the others, it was beautiful, but since everything was blue, I especially loved it.

~ Antique Buffet ~

~ Fireplace Mantel ~

~ Beautiful Tablescape ~

Personalized menu to take home along with a bag of chocolates!

Fresh flowers to take home too!

The three-course high tea began at 1:00 o'clock.   Our tea was Blissful Blueberry - a black and green tea from Tealightful Teas.

~ We toasted with Chardonnay White Grape Juice ~

The first course was a chilled Blueberry Soup with a Blueberry-Lemon Pinwheel Scone and Luscious Lemon Curd.

Second course was Herbed Chicken Salad, Blueberry-Feta-Almond Lettuce Salad, and Pimento Cheese Campari Tomato.  

The Dessert Course was White Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake.

As always, everything was delicious.  There was the sweetest baby girl at her first tea party, dressed in a darling tu-tu.  Several got pictures of her, but I wasn't seated close enough to take one.  I did get a picture of Cristy and her husband, David, and their poodle, Soapy, in the dining room though.

~ A couple of other dining room pictures. ~

Thanks, Cristy, for another delightful tea!

~ Lori and Me ~

Meeting Evelyn Rose

We had the blessing and privilege of meeting our great-granddaughter yesterday.  What a special day!  

When we arrived our daughter-in-law, Samantha, and granddaughters, Isabella and Ellie, were there for their first meeting too.  Evie had just been feed, so she was awake and alert. We all happily took our turns holding her.

[Izzy, Samantha, and Ellie]

Ellie was so happy to hold Evie!

And great-nana and great-papa were too!

She was passed around a lot, but was still happy and contented. 

God has blessed our family with four generations.  What a perfect day!

Below are a couple of pictures that Tiffany took the day before we visited.

Ollie loves Evie too! 

I promise my blog will return to tea related material.  Tomorrow my girlfriend and I are going to one of Cristy Bennett's teas in East Lansing, so next week's posts will have tea content again. There's not a lot in life that preempts tea, but a new great-granddaughter is definitely one that does.  She's just too wonderful not to share!