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.