Mosaic Monday, Blue Monday and Porch Party

I have joined Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday. She takes wonderful pics. Please stop there and visit some of the other entries..
This is my first, and I don't have the hang of it yet..I wanted the sailboat in the middle..so picture it that way..:) And the title is..Summer Sails In..

I know what I am doing next week, so I will be ready, and my friend Debbie at Mountain Breaths told me how to get the pic I want in the middle..Thank you!



I am joining Sally for Blue Monday...there's a lot of blue in the mosaic, and add this Blueberry Cream Tart ...



Take a sheet of Puff pastry and press in to a square tart pan with removable bottom.
Mix some cream cheese, vanilla and sugar together till smooth and soft.
Spread on the puff pastry.
Top with fresh blueberries sweetened with sugar and a dash of cinnamon..
Bake till crust is golden...When cool dust with conf sugar, or not! I did..
Simple and blueberryie..( I know that's not a word, but I like it..)






I also love a Porch Party, and Rhondi is having one...please stop over and see some of the entries at Rhondi's Rose Colored glasses...

We are still under pollen fallout here, ie, everything is covered with green pollen, so I have to wait till next week to set up the porch..do the washing and spray painting of the wicker etc... So just one pic with a view of the back porch..I hope there will be another party to attend when I am all set up..



This isn't a porch, but a pavilion. You can sit here and have your breakfast or whatever, and at dusk watch the sun set...
You need no decorations, as Nature provides them...







It's very peaceful, you can look out and watch summer sail in!



Thanks for coming!
Please visit Sally, Mary and Rhondi..thanks for hosting , Ladies!

Tables, Food, Flashback and Red...

Quite a combination..

Late entry to Susan's Tablescapes on Between Naps on the Porch...please stop in and see the others, and there are LOTS of them!





Just a simple table tonight..
The runners were in the clearance at Marshalls a few years ago. 70 cents!
I sewed a pocket in some and used them as valances till I found the ones I wanted...

The white chargers are Noritake..2.00 a few years ago.I bought them to use as platters as I wasn't into tablescaping then.




The red beaded plates are WmSonoma, as are the white with red trim salad plates..They were 4 for 5.00


The little wagon is a mini Radio Flyer, I have a whole set that I got on ebay...filled with white flowers..





The napkins are Vera and I have had them a long time, they have apples on them..

And since I used a lot of Red in this table, I am linking up with the Flaunt your Red Party over at Poofing the Pillows..please stop in there and get RED eyes..:)Thanks for hosting, Stacey!



And here's a little more red, just so I qualify..



And this one from February..



I am also joining Gollum for Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum...lots to feast your eyes on there...

I call this Lucky Leftovers..
A bed of crisp Romaine lettuce, leftover sliced steak,(London Broil that I had done on the grill the other night) red onion and goat cheese discs...I have explained those in another post, click here...I love how the warm cheese oozes out over the warmed steak and crunchy greens...



For dessert...Apple crisp..kind of..I had bought a bag of those Sister Shubert rolls that a fellow blogger said were very good. And they were...but somehow as I jammed the bag back into the freezer, mine got smooshed.
So I made crumbs with the misshapen rolls. I took some of the crumbs and processed them with butter, sugar, cinnamon and walnuts, and I sprinkled them on top of sliced granny smith apples and baked...





My flashback is to a wonderful eggplant I found at the farm...I just had to bring him home! My little gkids got a kick out of him sunbathing in his beach chair...actually, I did too!



Suzy hosts Flashback Friday at Kitchen Bouquets...go see the delicious Apple strudel she made for the Daring Bakers challenge!

Good night...Thanks for coming...I took this pic today..just for you..:)

Outdoor Wednesday and The Worst Customer Service Award...

Happy Outdoor Wednesday!! For those who are working, you are half way through another week!



My H "whatever" Young clematis is blooming. I am new to growing clematis, and there are 1000's of varieties with wonderful names..that I can't remember. I put the little sticks next to them, but somehow many of them disappeared, so they will remain nameless...
When they bloom, I'll post a pic and you can tell me!



The Northern Lights azalea are starting to bloom, it is the only yellow one I have...






And the "you tell me" clematis are blooming on the arbor.....



I am sure next week I'll have more blooms to show, the iris are popping, and lilacs and rhodies too..
Please visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer for more Outdoor Wednesday posts...

Speaking of outdoors, we have a 12x12 wood lattice gazebo we got at Sams Club several years ago. Even though we take the cover off during the winter..2 yrs is all they survive...
Which brings me to the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARD...

In March, I contacted the company who makes the covers..Sams no longer sells the gazebo.
I was told they didn't have green, which is what I wanted, but they had natural...
send my check, they don't take credit cards...
So I think about it, but finally in April, send my check.

I don't hear anything, so I email them about my check...
They don't know anything about it..when did I send it??..
I tell them..
ask them to let me know if they get it..nothing..

The next week I get a phone call..
They are back ordered, they will mail it by the end of May...but no green..ok ..

Yesterday I email them, what date will it be shipped...
Email back ...what are you talking about?? Send your phone number..

So I send my phone number and tell them they must have it as they have called here...

Now the best..
tonight I get a phone call. Young woman says, they never called here..
I go through the whole thing and tell her the cover is supposed to be here by the end of May.
She tells me if I don't listen she will hang up.
Mind you I hadn't raised my voice, just explained the sequence of events! I couldn't believe it!

That it is a courtesy that they are selling the covers.
That everyone ( she says they have had 1000 calls) wants it right now and are being demanding..
I calmly say, I don't think ordering in April and expecting by the end of May is demanding...
OH NO!!! she yells, you will not get it till mid JUNE.
She tells me they are sending me GREEN...
"But you told me you had natural, and I said I would accept that so I wouldn't have to wait."
Now she tells me she doesn't have to sell it to me, they are just being kind to do so!!

So I have saved all my emails from her, and I send them to her, showing her what they did indeed tell me! Now she will probably be like the Soup Natzi in Seinfeld..
NO COVER FOR YOU!
So next time you buy something and plunk down your hard earned money..realize they are only selling it to you as a courtesy to be nice!!
The company ???located in Santa Ana, CA. PSI...they get the NO Customer Courtesy Award..

Dinner tonight..

Chicken Cordon Bleu, glazed carrots and baked potato..





Thanks for visiting..:)

Foodie Friday Memorial Day Weekend...

Memorial Day weekend is the start of the summer season here.
People come out and open their summer homes.

There is a parade in town, and a service at the park where a wreath is placed on the monument to all those in the armed forces who have died.

Across the US , it will be a familiar scene..a day to remember..as a blogger who commented yesterday said, it is not just a day off, or a BBQ..sometimes we forget..

This year our friend's son, Major Chris Meyers who served in Iraq as a Marine, will be speaking.
His brother, Michael, served in Iraq too, and they follow in the footsteps of their dad who served in Vietnam.
A Marine family..Semper Fi...and thank you to all who have served our country!

Foodie Friday...

My friend Marigene found me 2 more dinner plates and 4 salad plates to go with the Neiman Marcus dishes I have hunted down. She sent them to me along with some other lovely things I will show on another post...All the way from KS!! Thank you, Marigene!







We had a salad, and roast loin of pork with Hasselback potatoes and applesauce..





Please stop in at Gollum's to see the other Foodie Friday entries..
Thanks for visiting....

Happy Memorial Day**** Tablescape Thursday

Memorial Day is early this year, it snuck up on us! This is a table from last year, pre blogging, so new to you!




The star plates are Pfaltzgraff, as are the blue soup bowls The cloth is fabric from the dollar a yard bolts at Walmart. Little patriotic bears from AC Moore...





Another dinner..



Happy Memorial Day...
I am thankful for all the men and women who served this country to preserve our freedom.
May we always remember them and the sacrifice they made for us, as well as so many other countries too...
66,000 American soldiers are buried in Normandy, France. I found this very interesting.. But some might not..

My friend recently visited the cemetery there..She said it was very emotional to see all the graves of our service people who never made it back to the US..

From Wikipedia...

Why were the American soldiers killed on D-Day buried in Normandy and not brought back to the United States and buried on our soil?
In: World War 2


Answer

Many of those American soldiers, sailors & airmen KIA on D-Day were brought back to the US to be reburied here. This option was offered to the families in the late 1940's & early 1950"s. However, many families felt is was best to leave their sons where they fell, liberating France & ending NAZI tyranny.

Richard V. Horrell WW 2 Connections



Answer 2
This was typical of not just the Normandy cemetery at Collievielle-sur-Mer, but American cemeteries all over the world. After a battle, it was the duty of members of the Grave Registration Services to locate and identify the soldiers Killed In Action. The proper thing to do was to bury the dead as soon as possible and record and mark the graves. Later, maybe a few months after the front had moved further away or maybe after the war had ended, the bodies were moved to a central cemetery.
Then after the war, the Government offered to return them back to the US so their families could bury them at their hometown.
Some families accepted this offer and others did not.
For example; General George Patton expressed a wish to be buried in Europe with the soldiers he served with.
The current cemetery at Normandy was set-up as a temporary burial site on 8 June 1944, just 2 days after the Allies landed on near-by Omaha Beach. This was later selected as the permanent site by the ABMC.
All American cemeteries on foreign soil are considered sovereign property of the United States of America and as such, the Stars and Stripes flies over the rows of markers.

The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) was established by Congress in 1923 to commemorate the service, achievements, and sacrifice of U.S. armed forces where they have served overseas since 1917, and within the U.S. when directed by public law.

The Commission administers, operates, and maintains 24 permanent American burial grounds on foreign soil. Presently there are 124,913 U.S. war dead interred at these cemeteries, 30,921 of World War I, 93,242 of World War II and 750 of the Mexican War. Additionally 6,149 American veterans and others are interred in the Mexico City and Corozal American Cemeteries.

The ABMC website allows you to search for those who remain buried on foriegn soil. You can search for someone by Name or by Unit ID. It provides their name, rank, serial number, hometown, and date they were killed in action, along with the cemetery and the exact location of their headstone.

Link: www.abmc.gov

The Location of all cemeteries maintained by the ABMC, both WW1 and WW2, are as follows:

Cemeteries
Aisne-Marne, France
Ardennes, Belgium
Brittany, France
Brookwood, England
Cambridge, England
Corozal, Panama
Epinal, France
Flanders Field, Belgium
Florence, Italy
Henri-Chapelle, Belgium
Lorraine, France
Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Manila, Philippines
Meuse-Argonne, France
Mexico City, Mexico
Netherlands, Netherlands
Normandy, France
North Africa, Tunisia
Oise-Aisne, France
Rhone, France
Sicily-Rome, Italy
Somme, France
St. Mihiel, France
Suresnes, France

Don't forget to fly your flag...:)



Please visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch to see other Tablescape Thursday entries. Her table is absolutely beautiful...Thank you for hosting, Susan!

Outdoor Wednesday..Almost Finished and a Little History..

I am joining Susan from a Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday..




Last week I showed you the beginning of a mysterious outdoor structure...



I will show you another peek, but it is not totally finished..so I'll string it out one more week for the completed project...

Eight years ago we knocked down our summer home and built a new home. It was near retirement time for me, and we had decided to live year round in the town we had summered in since 1975.

My husband had built a lovely outdoor shower for us, but when the house was demolished there went my shower. It is a wonderful thing to have here by the beach, the sand stays outside!





All the finishing touches should be complete by next Wed..

Here's a pretty spot near here...





I took this pic on my walk today...I like the way the houses are reflected in the water.
Annie, if you are reading, see Marie's house?
This body of water flows into the Peconic Bay.



Thanks for coming, please visit Susan's blog to see the other Outdoor Wednesday entries..

So many MEMEs, so little time...

There's always a party to attend in Blogland...In fact you would wear out your dancing shoes it you went to all of them...

And new ones pop up every week..Last week I saw one called Fertilizer Friday, I don't know if it was for real or just a load of manure..:) And I forgot where I saw it, so I don't know the answer...

Monday there is Blue Monday at Smiling Sal's..I showed my blues in an earlier round...so what can I show...
We don't have many flowers in bloom yet, but I did buy myself this blue hydrangea...in about 6 weeks I will have many of them, but I couldn't wait..



I could show you 2 shelves of blue stemmed glasses from Dansk ( we used to have a little outlet store here in town, but sadly, it closed....talk about great deals!)



I am blue that it closed...but I have enough mementos to help me remember those shopping bonanzas!

But that's not very interesting..

I have a tray and set of place mats with the prettiest blue background with white wicker...And you could put a little blue cheese on these potato skins..:)



That's enough, blue, Sally doesn't like long posts...I remember that!

Then there's Mosaic Mon. My friends Debbie and Marsha joined that today...I haven't figured it out yet..maybe next week! But go see theirs..

So whatever Monday MEME you joined, hope you had fun..
And tomorrow is another day...as Scarlett said...

And there are so many Tuesday Memes!

And if you think this is long, go see Laurie's shameless ROAD TRIP pitch post...If you follow American Idol, you must look, I don't, but I did anyway..