Hello all, and welcome to My Place to Yours. This week's Tablescape Thursday post is not at all my usual kind of post, but it's where I am this week. If you've been reading my last couple of posts, you know I've been in Brazil; we just returned yesterday. But the day before leaving for South America, a dear friend died of cancer. It was one of those "she did everything right" cases. Over the past few years she'd worked hard to move from slightly overweight to "fit and trim." She had regular checkups. But last January she was diagnosed with an invasive and aggressive cancer that managed to evade the best of tests for too long, and her efforts to find a cure weren't realized. She died at the very young age of 50 and left behind a ... Keep Reading...
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Sweet Freedom’s Song
I'm very proud to be an American, but sometimes I wonder "what if..." We didn't get to choose the country where we'd be born, but we do get to choose what kind of countrymen we'll be. I consider myself blessed to have been born in America, and I treasure the hard-won freedoms I enjoy. I don't ever want to take them for granted. Perhaps you feel the same. Or perhaps you're reading this blog and you were born elsewhere. I hope you love your country as I love mine. I hope you try to make your world -- our world -- a better place for everyone. But just as no person or family is perfect, no country is perfect either. Not yours. Not mine. Before I started this blog, I could only call a handful of people in other countries by their first ... Keep Reading...
Resurrection Power … Still Happens
Happy Easter! If, like me, you've been celebrating Jesus' victory over death, then resurrection power has been on your mind. Last week, while in Brazil, I got to experience resurrection power firsthand. No, I didn't see a person raised from the dead, but I witnessed the hand of God as something virtually dead was given new life. I want to tell you about it. Some of you may think that's a really strange thing to say, but ... if I'm going to be authentic and have integrity with you, I have to be who I am -- viewing things through the lens of my own life experience. The reality is that one of the "puzzle pieces" of yours truly is shaped like Brazil. If you're new to my blog and are wondering What's up with Brazil?, then I encourage ... Keep Reading...
Tiptoeing Through The Tulips En Route to Brazil
As I write today's post, I'm sitting in the Chicago airport next to Renaissance Man -- waiting on our flight to Brazil. As my oh-so-kind regular readers already know, we're going to see the children and staff of Hope Unlimited for Children. I've told you about them in two of my favorite posts; favorites because they stretched me to share for the first time in Blogland some of my deepest thoughts and emotions. You can read them HERE and HERE if you like. When we left home several hours ago, I wanted so badly to cut a huge bunch of tulips and take pictures, but there was no time. Today's tablescape was done last week when red, yellow, and orange were the predominant colors in the tulip bed. This morning, the tulips in bloom were ... Keep Reading...
Another Festival of Tables
Tablescaping events hosted by church or civic groups have become common in the South over the past decade. (How about you Northern friends -- and friends from other countries? Do you do anything like this?) In past posts I've showed you: the 2010 Festival of Tables put together by the ladies of my church; a Winter Warm-Up held at my sister's church; and the Precious in His Sight table I did for my church's 2008 Festival of Tables. Because this has been a wild and crazy week here at my house -- and I haven't had much time for tablescaping -- I'm going to show you the rest of the tables from the 2008 Festival of Tables. Unfortunately, I don't remember what most of the table hostesses named their tables, so I'm just going to give ... Keep Reading...
Precious!
Last week when I did THIS "every place setting is different" tablescape ... ... I started thinking about the only other time I ever remember doing a tablescape with mismatched place settings. (Not mismatched DISHES, mind you, but every place setting different.) The event was the 2008 Festival of Tables at my church. (I posted about the 2010 event HERE.) Since I was also the speaker for the evening, sharing about Renaissance Man's and my involvement with Hope Unlimited for Children (which I told you about HERE and HERE), I decided to do my table using the theme of children around the world. My table was called Precious In His Sight. Unfortunately, I wasn't blogging then and hadn't learned tricks like ... Keep Reading...
Family Linens
This week I had the privilege of writing a guest post for Leslie at goodbye house! HELLO, HOME! I hope you'll stop by HERE to read it. If, however, you're stopping by from over there, WELCOME to My Place to Yours! Whether you're a new visitor or a familiar face, I'm glad you're here ... and I hope you'll come back often! Click pic to read a post about these linens. Since Leslie and I both love vintage linens, I thought it would be fun to write my guest post about family linens. So I did -- and included lots of pics for her to share with her readers. But guess what? With one exception, I didn't include any of my own family linens. I saved those to show you here. There's nothing wrong with a little special treatment for ... Keep Reading...
Field Trip to Replacements Ltd. (Greensboro, NC)
Three weeks go, Renaissance Man and I drove to North Carolina to attend a Duke University sorority's charity ball benefiting Hope Unlimited for Children. I told you recently about our involvement with that organization -- HERE (the best tablescape ever) and HERE (why I blog). I was waking up from a nap in the car when Renaissance Man said something that made me wonder if I was REALLY awake or not... Renaissance Man: What is Replacements, Ltd.? Me: Huh? Where did THAT question come from? Replacements, Ltd. is only the world's largest retailer of old and new china, crystal, silver and collectibles!) It's the big online company where I check china prices when we're at auction. Why? Renaissance Man: Just ... Keep Reading...
Why I Blog: Still Morphing …
I have a list of posts I hope to write ... someday. This one wasn't on the list. When I posted last week's BEST tablescape ever (click HERE if you missed it, because this post won't make much sense otherwise), I really didn't intend to write anything else -- at least for quite awhile -- about the kids at Hope Unlimited for Children in Brazil. But your comments and private emails have caused me to think perhaps one more post is needed. Before I say anything else, let me thank those of you who blessed me (and Renaissance Man) with your encouraging and supportive comments. Many of you have said you prayed for us and for the children -- and that you'll continue to do so. I hope you will ... every time the kids cross your ... Keep Reading...
Winter Memory
Thank you to everyone who left a comment or birthday wish in response to last week's Tablescape Thursday tribute to Renaissance Man. (Click here if you don't know who that is.) Your thoughtful kindnesses truly blessed us both! Many of us have snow at our houses this week -- some of you for the first time in a very long time! Are you enjoying it from inside–where it's warm–like I am? Hopefully this poem and tablescape will help you keep the memory of its beauty alive a little longer. A Winter Memory by Joan Adams Burchell (www.alongpoetryroad.com) Fresh-fallen snow, untouched by man, tops bushes fence and tree; Click any picture to enlarge. The strong, gusty ... Keep Reading...
A New Husband
To my return blog readers, today is a departure from my "usual" Tablescape Thursday post, but I hope you'll indulge me this once. (Tablescapes are still included!) Of course, you should feel free to "move on" as well ... To first-time visitors, welcome -- and if my tablescapes catch your eye, I hope you'll check them out! I need a new husband. Actually, my current husband needs a new name -- on my blog. I realized not long ago that almost every time I've referred to him here, I've used the words, "my sweet husband." While he IS that, I started thinking that maybe that was too ... well ... "sweet" for my manly-man, so I decided to ask him about it. Our conversation went like this: ME: You know, Babe, when I ... Keep Reading...
Taper Candles 101
Do you avoid using taper candles? If so, is it because they wobble ... or melt all over your candlesticks ... or you're afraid you'll burn something -- besides the wick? Let's talk about it ... Sometimes a candlestick's opening is simply too large for the taper candle I want to use. That was the case recently when I did this tablescape. See the extra space? This candle is guaranteed to wobble! When that happens, I pull out my candle snuggers. Do you know about those? They're flexible foam discs that wrap around the base of your taper candle and fill the extra space. They usually come in packages of 8-10 discs -- and they're reuseable. Like I said ... reuseable! I wonder how many times this one's been used -- ... Keep Reading...
Ironing Vintage Linens
I once received an email from a blog reader who asked this question: If I may ask, what iron do you use? My iron doesn't seem to work very well for getting the wrinkles out of linen. Maybe it doesn't get hot enough? When I'm ironing just a few small pieces at a time, I use a Rowenta PowerGlide2 steam iron that I've had for years. When I have a lot of ironing - or large tablecloths - I use a 1940s Ironrite ironer. Source I suspected, however, that the iron really wasn't my blog friend's problem. Let me show you the basic steps I take when ironing linens. Start with a clean iron! That may seem obvious, but you just might be surprised ... Your iron needs to be clean both inside and out. ... Keep Reading...
