Start Where You Are

Hello dear blogging friends! I am wondering how you all are doing. You may know that I have been scarce here on the blog in recent months. It has been a couple of worrisome years for me, and I find that the worry part of my brain uses up all the creative space.

I went through the motions yesterday of finally finding my new camera wherever it had last been laid. (These are the simple tasks that are more challenging these stress filled days.) When I finally got to where I felt I could put together a post, I turned on the camera and it said "change battery pack." The manual shows that my Canon loses its charge even when not in use. Sounds about right in my case too!

So for today, in the spirit of, Start where you are, Use what you have, Do what you can, I am using older photos.

 

I brought my computer, magazines, books, and stuff out under the trees. It's seventy degrees today and no wind. And I am tired of being inside so much. It's soft and green now out here, and I can hear a few cheery goldfinches and feel a lovely breeze even if it is still a tad chilly. I can already feel my blood pressure dropping.

No sooner did I start writing than my computer started talking to me too and politely informed me, "Your battery is running low. You might want to plug in your PC." 

So that's where I am for now. Trying to recharge. I still quite enjoy the pretty images on blogs and Pinterest, but I find I am looking more to seeing how you all are doing in these stressful times. I have spent a lot of time online, purging old broken links and sometimes wondering where so many former bloggers have gone. I am ten years into blogging now and still enjoy looking over the old comments and posts. And of course, I am that many years older now too.

So I will start where I am and use what I have. I am already finding that easier. I need blogging therapy more than ever at this stage and hope that I can be more regular. Because I really do want to do all I can to keep level.

Like many of you, I have loved ones all over the country. And I pray for all of us, and hope we are all doing all we can to stay safe at home.

So glad you came by!

Jacqueline

I'm joining Pink Saturday today!
 Visit here.


P.S. Sorry not all comments are posting. Try CHROME.

Christmas Tea

As much as I enjoy tradition, I enjoy adding something new to the celebration every year, don't you? One of those things for me this season is this darling alabaster cherub. I made new wings for it, and it sits on the sitting room hearth for now.

On a table nearby are wings of a different kind just in time for a Christmas tea. A new little birdie teapot! 

The details are full of charm. I have since learned that there are a few more related products available. The little brown birdie and berries are now bringing cheer to our holidays, . . .

You may be familiar with the traditional New Mexico Christmas cookies called biscochitsos that I am serving wih tea. Flavored with anise seed and with the texture of a sable cookie, they are available everywhere in Albuquerque this time of year.

They are perfect with hot chocolate, so my new little teapot may be doing double duty! 

Hedge Rose by Wedgewood.

Adagio by Noritake.

Vintage cut glass compotes make for a sparkly centerpiece and stand ready to hold decorations or more treats.

Finally, a few Rose Point teacups by Pope Gosser show their luscious embossed pattern. 

 Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit!

I hope it is turning into a beautiful season for you!

Jacqueline

Join me at

Confessions of a Plate Addict~The Scoop

Coastal Charm~Show & Share

Savvy Southern Style~Wow Us Wednesdays

Rose Chintz Cottage~Tea Time Tuesday

Bernideen's Tea Time~Friends Sharing Tea

Ivy & Elephants~What's It Wednesday

Between Naps on the Porch~Tablescape Thursday

My Romantic Home~Show &Tell

Dining Room White

Our dining room takes on less importance this time of year even though it sits right in the middle of the house.

In fact, the room is also a passageway. So even if we are taking more meals outside, the space is something of a foyer.
It's a two-edged sword. Either it makes a wonderful area to showcase some fine display or someone drops by the minute you have unloaded the car onto the table.
One way or the other there's usually something of interest accumulating at this 'command central' location.
My chippy iron candelabra is very versatile and able to stand alone or hold fruit, flowers, or what have you, in a mostly overstated way.
Ditto, this commodious tea pot, which holds flowers as often as anything else.


I really enjoy covering my table with the texture of a white quilt. I also like the thick foundation for the tableware.
I have a motley collection of kind of busted up transfer-ware taking up space all the time. In her former home my mom-in-law kept a blue transfer-ware tureen on her kitchen table at all times which she referred to as her 'office'. (It's mine now.) It corralled stamps and a letter opener and such, and I have copied that here.
An empty platter asking the existential question... With what will I be filled?
A decorative tureen perhaps. Candles, shells. Even something edible.


Smooth and delectable white shells.

The dining room also showcases my habit of overdoing the hanging of plates.

Details, details.


What is more delightful in the universe?
My tureen keeping its contents hidden in plain sight!

This tiny vessel was surely part of a pitcher and bowl set in some past life and is my newest little treasure. Cost-- $1.50. Cheer factor--priceless.Unflinching under scrutiny.
Dining room ablaze.

A calm and serene sea of stitching.


"She looked up... and saw the room, saw the chairs, thought them fearfully shabby.... Never mind, the rent was precisely twopence halfpenny; the children loved it;... and there was room for visitors. Mats, camp beds, crazy ghosts of chairs and tables whose London life of service was done--they did well enough here; and a photograph or two, and books. Books, she thought, grew of themselves. She never had time to read them... At a certain moment, she supposed, the house would become so shabby that something must be done... things got shabbier and got shabbier summer after summer."

Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

Ciao! Thanks for stopping by!
Jacqueline

Please visit Faded Charm for more WHITE WEDNESDAY!