Eight Days Into October

Fall is in the air... the days are cooler, nighttime comes earlier, and the trees are turning beautiful colors.   I'm enjoying October even though I hated to say goodbye to summer.

I'm enjoying decorating the house for the season...

I don't remember where I bought these figurines several years ago, but they're an annual favorite.

A few years ago when my teacup collecting started getting maxed out, I decided to switch to black teacups only.  I store them in a tote and yesterday decided to bring them out to arrange on the tea cart.  About halfway through I asked myself, "What were you thinking?".   It was a bit of a chore, but fun getting "reacquainted" again.  

I've started thinking about fall foods too, thanks to the recent tea that focused on pumpkins.  I saw online that Kroger was carrying a limited edition pumpkin ice cream.  After four stores I finally found a pint.  That's all the manager said he had left.  It was worth the search.  If you have a Kroger store near you, look for it.  They also have a limited edition Pumpkin Spice tea that I haven't been able to locate yet.

A trip to the Cider Mill is next on my list of things to do.   My daughter-in-law's family has a yearly tradition of going apple picking together in fall and they went last week.  

Samantha [in the burgundy top] with her mom [on the right] and three sisters and one sister-in-law.

Making memories...

~ Samantha's brother and her little nephew - the youngest of the clan ~

~ Grandson Landon [right] with two cousins ~

~ Granddaughter Ellie [far left] with her maternal grandma and three cousins ~

What a fun tradition!  The "matriarch" [Sam's mom] posted the pics on Facebook and I copied them for this post. [Thanks, Roxanne.] Seeing the apples makes me wish I had a glass of apple cider right now!  Maybe I'll make myself a cup of Apple Cinnamon tea instead.

Hope you are enjoying the beginning of October.
 

2026 Ladies' Fall Tea

As promised, here are pictures from the 2026 Ladies' Fall Tea at church.  It was held last Saturday, September 26, 2026 on a picture perfect day weatherwise.

Good friends Lori and Donna, helped me set-up on Thursday afternoon after I got off work.  It was a simplier tablescape, but made set-up and tear-down much easier.  The theme was Fall Homecoming Harvest, and the emphasis was on pumpkins.

Attendance was less that previous teas [45] and I'm seriously considering revamping the structure.  It might be time for a change.

~ Seating Board ~

~ Place Setting ~

 Donna, who stepped in to be my right-hand helper that day.

Pamela's Catering provided the tea meal again, and as always it was delicious.

I took this picture before the top plate of miniature quiches were added to the three-tiered servers.

Servers from Pamela's Catering, pictured with the dessert plates.

Granddaughter, Brooke, and her boyfriend's mom and grandmother.

~ Daughter-in-law, Sharon, and Daughter, Lori ~

I shared some brief trivia about pumpkins... They're a significant specialty crop in Michigan, consistently ranking in the top five states nationwide for pumpkin production and bringing in over $13 million annually for Michigan farmers.

I discovered when doing my research that botanically speaking, pumpkins are actually a fruit - and to be specific a berry!  Nutritionists consider it a vegetable for culinary purposes.  From a culinary perspective they are extremely versatile and are the main ingredient in numerous recipes from breads, to cakes, pies, cookies and other delicious desserts, and soups and casseroles.  I put 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree in my oatmeal every morning while it's cooking.  They're very nutritious containing Beta-carotene [which converts to vitamin A], Vitamin C, potassium, as well as dietary fiber and other essential minerals.  In an of itself, pumpkin is fat free.

One lady at the tea said she makes pumpkin cannolis every Thanksgiving and they're delicious.  I looked up a recipe online when I got home and am very anxious to try them.

Below is one inspirational thought I shared to close my talk that I found online.

With that, the 2026 Ladies' Fall Tea was in the books.  But before I close this post and September ends, I want to share some pics from my grandaughter Isabella's 21st birthday and my son Jeremy's 47th birthday yesterday [September 29th].  How special that they share birthdays.

A Fun Day With Our Son

Last week was a busy week between work and the ladies' tea at church, but not too busy to spend time with Jeremy while he was on this side of the state.

He spoke to the Romeo High School football team on Thursday night, then Friday after I got off work I met him and my hubby at Mike's on the Water restaurant on the Nautical Mile in St. Clair Shores.  None of us had been there before and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was a bit stressed when I got to work and discovered I left my iPhone at home on the charger. I was planning on using Google Maps to get to the restaurant.  iPhones make us really lazy when it comes to memorizing phone numbers and other important things.  Thankfully, I had written my hubby's phone number down in my wallet so I was able to call him from the Whitney phone and ask him to bring my iPhone when he came to the restaurant [for picture taking].  The Whitney's computer provided directions to the resturant so all ended well.  

It was a beautiful day for dining on the deck that overlooks the marina and Lake St. Clair.

I had my first lobster roll and it was SO good.  Our server said the lobster was fresh from Maine.  

After we ate we toured the Snoopy Museum that's attached to the restaurant and saw the huge collection [over 16,000 Snoopy and Peanuts items gathered from around the world] belonging to the restaurant owner.   He began collecting in 1965.

[Internet photo of the owner and his massive collection] 

Shortly after lunch Jerry and Jeremy left for Comerica Park to see the Detroit Tigers play the Pittsburg Pirates.  The Tiger's haven't played well this season but they won Friday night's game 8-7.

~ The Barkey patriarch ~

It was a good day!  Next post, the Ladies' Church Tea.

Did Someone Say Christmas?

Today is the last full day of summer and when I went into Hobby Lobby today it looked like Christmas is only a couple of weeks away with aisle after aisle of Christmas decorations.  They did, however, have some nice smaller fall displays.  

I love the Christmas holidays, but I'm not quite ready to purchase Christmas decorations yet even though everything was 50% off.

The ladies' fall tea at my church is this Saturday [the 26th] so this is a busy week of preparation. I will be sure to post pictures. The theme is Harvest Homecoming and the tablescape is pumpkins.  I was able to purchase some nice fall mugs for the ladies at $ Tree for $1.50 each. They're larger than I'd like [and not a true teacup] but they go nicely with the other tablescape decor and the price was right.  The ladies will take them home at the conclusion of the tea.  I washed all of them today and got them ready to take to set-up on Thursday afternoon.

Sometime ago I posted a teacup tattoo that a co-worker at The Whitney got.  Yesterday I saw on the Facebook page of a friend another teacup tattoo that by far surpassed my co-worker's. A replication of a Belleek teacup.  It brought a smile to my face.  [And no, I'm not getting one!] I don't know anything about tattoos, but I'm guessing it's a custom one.  Very creative and appropriate for a tea drinker.

This is a short post but I just wanted to check in and let you know I'm alive and well.

Happy Labor Day!

Labor Day is unofficially the end of summer, and Mother Nature gave us a beautiful day to enjoy.  Clear skies with a high of 78 degrees.  It was nice to turn off the air conditioning and open all the windows.  Maybe Mother Nature was trying to make up for the three toronados that touched down in Southeastern Michigan last Thursday, Sept. 3rd.  Around 3:00 a.m. there was intense, loud thunder and lightening like I've never seen or heard before, then around 4:30 in the afternoon our cell phones alerted us to take cover for a possible toronade while sirens wailed. The sky was dark and rain came down in torrents but all was well in our neighborhood.  We didn't lose power, but over 300,000 residents did and there was lots of damage.   

This is the first year we haven't gone to the Romeo Peach Festival on Labor Day in a long time.  It was a quiet, leisure day at my house and I worked on my favorite recipes cookbook for Tiffany.

For some Michigan kids, tomorrow will be the first day back to school, and others went back last week.  Daughter-in-law Samantha sent pictures of the 'grands' on their first day back last week in Zeeland.

~ Ellie, 9th Grade ~

~ Landon, 11th Grade ~

  

Izzy, Senior Year [last semester] at Michigan State University.

Last Saturday was the Autumn & Apples Tea at The Whitney.  Attendance was low this year compared to previous years.  

The chef was supposed to send me some food pics to share, but he either forgot or was too busy to take any.

Sign-up has started for the Ladies' Fall Tea at church that will be held on September 26th. That will keep me occupied.  

That's the latest news from my corner of the world, so I'll close this post by saying Take Care, and I hope you had an enjoyable Labor Day!

Happy September and Other News

It hardly seems possible that we've entered the month of September already and the official beginning of fall is just 21 days away.  I'll be very sad to see summer go with its long, sunny days, but fall is a beautiful season too.

It was a busy weekend at my house.  My daughter celebrated her birthday on Aug. 28th and we had her and her husband along with our son, Steve, and his family for dinner on Sunday to celebrate. Steve sent Jeremy pictures [below] at the dinner table saying, "Those who move to the western side of the state don't get to enjoy mama's cooking!"  ;-)

Some time ago I got a cookbook from the Wild Plum tearoom in Gatlinburg, TN.  I was privileged to visit the tearoom as well.  Their signature beverage is Wild Plum Tea and one of the ingredients was 5 Alive frozen drink, made by Minute Maid, which was phased out in the U.S. market in the mid-1990's.  I wanted to serve it Sunday but wondered what the Wild Plum tearoom substituted for the frozen drink.  I texted them to ask and they graciously responded saying it was Tang powdered drink mix [marketed in 1959].  I didn't know the mix was still available, but it is. Even though summer is almost over I'm sharing the recipe with you.  It's a great cold drink.

Wild Plum Tea

4 family-sized tea bags [I used Luzianne brand]

2 cups sugar

2 cups prepared Tang Powdered Mix

1/2 cup Lemon Juice

Directions:  In a 1 gallon pitcher, steep tea bags in 1 quart of boiling water for 10 minutes.  In a small saucepan combine sugar with 2 cups of water and boil until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove the tea bags from the pitcher and add the sugar water, prepared tang and lemon juice.  Fill the pitcher with cold water to make 1 gallon of tea.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  10 minutes is a long time to steep black tea and defies the 3-5 minute rule for preventing bitter tea, but Wild Plum tea is not bitter.

On another subject, this coming weekend The Whitney will celebrate it's annual Autumn & Apples Tea, so that means I've been busy putting together 65 favors.

I ordered red plastic apples from Oriental Trading Co. again this year and filled them with a 1.5 oz. jar of Apple Butter from Kitchen Kettle, and some Werther's Caramel Apple candies.  I wanted an apple spreader too but they were all sold out.  

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of the newly designed and expanded issue of Tea Time Magazine.  It was supposed to be available on newsstands today and I'm not sure when subscriberes will receive theirs by mail.

I was saddened to learn of Dolly Parton's death a week ago today.  I've watched many Facebook reels and TV programs about her life since her passing. She co-authored a cookbook with her sister that I'm seriously considering ordering.  Her favorite food was potatoes.  She said every diet she ever fell off of was due to potatoes, because she never met a spud she didn't like!  

Have you tried her cake mixes?

Jeremy and family just visited Sevierville, TN [the closest town where Dolly grew up and went to high school] last month and took a picture in front of her statue, never thinking she would die few days later and the whole area would be strewn with flowers from bereaved fans.

Happy September to all!

Wedding at The Whitney

There are weddings at The Whitney almost every weekend, but yesterday was the first time it was someone I knew.

Alecia attends my church and is a tea lover.  She's attended almost all of the teas I've coordinated with her mom.

Her wedding ceremony took place in The Whitney gardens at 4:00 p.m. and the small intimate reception was in the receiving and drawing rooms.  It rained in early afternoon and I wondered if they'd have to move the ceremony indoors, but Mother Nature cooperated and it was held outdoors as planned.

~ Steve & Sharon at Alecia's Wedding ~

Drawing Room waiting for all the guests to be seated.

~ Entree Choices ~

Doesn't the Surf and Turf  look yummy?

Congratulations to the happy couple!