Mother's Day 2025

Mother's Day 2025 has come and gone, but the happiness and great memories are still with me.  Yesterday was a wonderful day with my family - just 4 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren were missing.

I couldn't resist posting a picture taken at church yesterday with my 'bestie'.

 Brooke and another girl handed out roses to all ladies at the end of the morning worship service.

A photo outside church with my daughter, Lori, and granddaughter, Brooke, before we went to the restaurant.

The family at Ike's restaurant - Lori & Dave, and Jerry & Me [below].  

Everybody ordered something different, but Jerry and I got Chicken Shawarma, and had more than enough for a take-out for lunch today.

Jeremy, Samantha & Landon

Sharon, Brooke, Izzy, and Ellie

Steve and Jerry 

The family always humors me with my picture taking, so more were taken outside.  ;-)

My three babies all grown up with families of their own. Where have the years gone???

Lori and Dave

Steve, Sharon, and Brooke [Brianna, their oldest lives in Nashville, TN]

Jeremy, Samantha, Landon, Ellie & Izzy

'The Cousins'

Jerry, the kids and grands were very good to me in addition to spending the day with me.

Candy and money for shopping

I loved the tea-themed gift bag filled with...

Granola and Blueberry Muffin Mix.  I had the yummy granola for breakfast this morning.

A sweet lady from church gave me a lovely tea-themed pin.  The center teacup says 'fill me with kindness' in keeping with our recent ladies' spring tea, If Teacups Could Talk.

Lori is coming over later today to plant flowers in my front porch planter for Mother's Day.  God has blessed me beyond measure with wonderful children/spouses and grand and great-grand children.  

Jeremy's family headed back to Zeeland yesterday, but Jeremy spent the night with us as he had meetings on this side of the state today.  It was such a beautiful day, so we sat on the patio visiting for awhile when we got home from the restaurant.  And eventually we enjoyed some tea together! 

Did you have a good Mother's Day celebrating your mother, or your own motherhood?

Generations Tea at The Whitney

Yesterday, at 11:00 a.m. was the Generations Tea at The Whitney celebrating Mothers.   55 ladies attended.  A soloist sang in the Grand Hall throughout the tea meal.

Guests were seated in the 1st floor Receiving and Drawing Room, the Formal Dining Room, and Mr. Whitney's study.   The photo below are guests in the Drawing Room.

Our regular afternoon Mansion Tea began at 12:00 noon on the second and third floors serving 58 guests, so it was a busy day for me. 

One of the servers came to me and said a table of two guests seated in the Drawing Room requested to see me.  When I went in, it was Lisa Kokko and her mother, Jo.  Lisa is the administrator of the Facebook group, Christian Tea Time & Hospitality that I belong to.

~ Lisa and Me ~

Lisa photographed her favor from The Whitney.  The window they were seated by has a Woodward Avenue view.

Today was almost as busy as yesterday serving 103 guests on the second and third floors [a wedding reception was on the first floor]. The passenger and dumb waiter were both inoperable today so I made countless trips up and down the stairs.  To say I'm a bit tired tonight is an understatement!

Earlier in the week when I was looking through estate sale photos, I saw a brass Southern Lady tea bell at a home not far from where I live.  I had already made plans to go to The Pink House for tea with my girlfriend so my hubby said he'd go and see if it was worth buying.  He bought it for $20.  So I'm now the owner of a tea bell.  The photo below is the one that was on the estate sale website.  I'm too tired to take a better photo right now.  ;-)

Wishing you a Happy Mother's Day tomorrow, whether you're a mother or celebrating your mother.   I will be going to church with my family and out to dinner afterwards and will try to post photos.

Below is a cute Mother's Day card I received from my girlfriend.  The inside says... they're friends like you.  Happy Mother's Day.  The two of us have shared many cups of tea together over the years.

 

The Pink House Tearoom

Everyone needs a 'bestie' they can count on for support and help whenever it's needed and my 'bestie' is my girlfriend, Lori.  She is my right hand at every tea I do at church.  To help express my gratitude, I took her to the Pink House Tearoom in New Baltimore, MI yesterday.  It was a picture perfect day.

Jennifer, the owner, used to own the Royal Treat Tearoom in Roseville [which I've blogged about several times] but she closed it to focus on the Pink House.

~ Lori ~

We ordered a slice of quiche with the 'queens greens'.  It also came with a pair of petit cucumber tea sandwiches, three assorted scones, and a pot of tea.  We chose Wild Berry Hibiscus.  

We see each other at church every Sunday, but don't get to enjoy a lengthy visit like we had over tea yesterday.  It was a very enjoyable afternoon and I thank the Lord for the gift of friendship.

Purchases and Other News

I know it's past Easter but I have to show you two cute bunnies I acquired after the holiday to be carefully packed away for next year.   My friend, Angela McRae, writer of Tea With Friends blog, wrote a Facebook post displaying a beautiful yellow rose from her garden.  But it was what was behind the rose that caught my attention - an Easter bunny holding a teacup in one hand and macarons in the other.  In the comment section I asked her to tell me about the rabbit and she responded saying it was a TJ Maxx find several years ago, but she thought she saw him at Marshalls this year.  With Easter being just three days away, I was almost certain he wouldn't still be around, but I tried Googling him anyway.  I didn't immediately find that bunny but Bunny Tabletop Decor by Ashland showed up in a Michaels ad.  He was $49.99 reduced to $24.99 so I ordered him online for store pick-up.  I didn't get him until the day after Easter as they were closed on Easter Sunday [a very good thing].

On a whim I decided to check Poshmark and I found Angela's bunny by Cottontail Lane.  I decided to get him too, and I'm pleased with both of them.  The bunny from Michael's is smaller but still very cute.  He had a female ballerina partner that was reduced to $14.99 after Easter, but I didn't feel like driving several miles to a Michael's store where she was available. I'll have to keep an eye out next year.

I frequently read Facebook posts about great houseware items people find at Salvation Army and Goodwill stores, but I seldom shop at either of them.  After my girlfriend and I finished setting up for the ladies tea at my church, on my drive home I saw a Salvation Army store and decided to stop to see if they had any sugar and creamer sets for use at the tea.  To my delight they had two sets for $3.99 each.  What a bargain!

You know I couldn't leave the dishware department without checking out what else might be lurking. Wouldn't you know I found a cute tea-themed trio by Department 56.  The pattern, Tea Leaves, was a complete dishware set that I saw many years ago posted on the Internet.  For $5.99 I couldn't pass it up either.  Stops like this could become addicting, so I'll have to exercise willpower to drive right past them unless there's a specific item I'm looking for. 

After I ordered all the favors from Michael's for the Generations Tea at The Whitney this coming Friday, made the 20 Easter baskets for Tea with the Easter Bunny, and assembled 56 teapot favors for the ladies attending the tea party at church, I thought I was going to be all done with favors for a long time.  But last Sunday on my way home from church I received an email from the event planner at The Whitney asking if I would make 24 favors for The Association for Women in Communications, Detroit Chapter, who were coming to Mansion Tea yesterday.  So I was back at it again, but it was a simple favor - a half oz. package of our Peach Apricot black tea, with a package of 2 Walker's Shortbread cookies.

Most all the vendors selling the shortbread cookies online, couldn't deliver them in time for me to include them in the favors [even Amazon with Prime was unable], but surprisingly Staples [of all places] would ship them to one of their specified stores.  I drove over to Grosse Pointe last Thursday to pick them up.  Imagine my delight when directly across the street I saw a tea room.  How did I not know about Miss Rebecca's?  It wasn't opened, so I quickly Googled it and found it's permanently closed.  How disappointing!   But not to worry, my girlfriend and I have reservations for tea this Wednesday at The Pink House and I will be sure to blog about it.

In closing a friend from church Instant Messaged me with a picture of the perfect Mother's Day gift - a Chintz teacup bathtub.  The plants and candles might be a bit overkill, but the chintz teacup tub sure is nice!

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo - a great day for planning a Mexican menu.  I'm still thinking about what I'm going to make.  

Have a great week!

Church Ladies' Spring Tea

The tea I've been working on for the past couple of weeks for the ladies at my church took place yesterday [Saturday, April 26th].  

My girlfriend and I went over on Thursday to set up, since I had to work at The Whitney on Friday.  You may recall me blogging about the teapot candy box favors my girlfriend and I filled and tied with a bow.

The theme was If Teacups Could Talk based on Emilie Barnes book of the same name published in 1994.  I thought several of the 54 ladies who attended would be familiar with the book, but to my surprise they weren't.  Do you have the book?  If not, are you familiar with it? It's a great book and available on Amazon.  Since its publication it has sold over 260,000 copies.  I highly recommend it for every tea lover's library.

~ Seating Chart ~

Arrival time was 12:00 noon and serving began at 12:30 p.m.  

The meal was catered by local Pamela's Catering.  Instead of having one individual ask the blessing, I printed out a blessing from Emilie's book and placed a copy at each place setting so we could all say it together.

I served two teas we serve at The Whitney - Peach Apricot black tea and Garden Blend [a herbal tea with hibiscus, cinnamon, ginger and peppermint].  It not only tastes good but it's a beautiful rose color.

Blueberry Scone with Mock Devonshire Cream

Top Tier:  Cucumber Sandwiches

Middle Tier:  Cranberry Chicken Salad Croissants

Bottom Tier:  Radish Open Faced Sandwiches

I never thought I'd like radish sandwiches, but these were really good.  The spread that held  them in place really added deliciousness.

Desserts were assorted and all were yummy.

After the meal, one of the ladies read a poem she wrote in keeping with the theme. 

Some of the ladies brought their favorite teacup and the story behind it to share.  Below is my sweet girlfriend, Lori, with her Sandy Clough Hope teacup.

Another friend shared her bridge or tennis snack set.

I told the ladies several things a teacup might say including, Fill Me With Memories.  I held up a Shamrock teacup that I used to host two St. Patrick's tea parties for my mom and her younger sister of Irish descent.  Those tea parties are a special memory for me now as both my mom and aunt have passed on.  

A good time was had by all and we dismissed around 1:45 p.m.  Our next tea will be a Christmas Tea on Saturday, December 6th and the ladies all seemed excited about that.  I hate to say it, but it'll be here before we know it!

After every tea party comes the clean-up.  It's when you wish you had a magic wand that would produce a fairy to wash up all the totes filled with dishware and tea equipage and carry them back down to the basement until the next tea.  But since I don't have a wand, my hubby unloaded his car Saturday afternoon and put everything in the garage where it will wait for us to get the job done (((big sigh))).