Stopping By to Say Hi

The weather here remains hot, hot, hot and very humid.  The only one

who is happy is this little lizard.  Meanwhile Bentley and I are inside

staying cool and I am still working on the guest bathroom.  Don't have

anything to show you yet, but my goal is to finish up as much as I 

can before the end of the week.

Until then, I'll be spending every free moment painting and ordering

the rest of the accessories for this room.  Boy, will I ever be glad to

finish this project so that I can start the next one!

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

Back to School Splash Party

Yesterday our next door neighbors hosted a Back to School Splash Party with

the biggest slip and slide I have ever seen.  It came complete with two running 

lanes and palm trees.  We all laughed and said that thank goodness our

yards are big enough to hold something like this.

Isn't this cute ~  it's Lily explaining to CeCe how the slip and slide works.

You jump up onto the slide, run to the third palm tree and then slide into

the pool at the end.  

There is Catherine, our hostess on the far left.  I am so blessed to have

her as my neighbor and we have become such great friends.

We managed to get all the kids together for a group pic.  Such adorable and

well mannered kids.  Love them all!

This little group of four little girls have become BFF's.  

Hurry up kids ~ the ice cream truck has arrived!

Nelda, our other dear neighbor ~ she is wearing the turquoise top and

the white skirt ~ arranged for the ice cream truck to stop by so that all

all the kids, and parents too, could have a cool treat.

The kids were all so happy!

Our little group of BFF's stayed together the whole afternoon.  CeCe (the

little one on the right) lives across the street from us.  She and her parents

and little sister just moved in a few months ago.  It's great to see that she

already feels so at home here. 

Marshall was enjoying his ice cream while telling me all about his

favorite super heroes.

This little guy has the sweetest face.  It's easy to see that he will be

very handsome when he grows up.

This is our dear little neighbor Dodson.  He was just three years old when we

first moved into our house.  He is now in kindergarten.  He's starting to fade a bit here,

but he perked right up after his ice cream and got back on the slide with the other

kids.  He continued playing for a few more hours.  After all the little kids left,

Dodson and the bigger kids watched as Catherine and I took our turns on the

slip and slide.  We tried it about four times and oh my was it ever fun!

Here are our little BFF's again.  Such darling and sweet girls.

We are so blessed to have such wonderful neighbors.  I remember when

we first chose our house, the real estate agent told us that we would love

this neighborhood.  She was so right!  Our neighbors have become our

friends too.  Everyone is so supportive of one another and we all love

to get together and have parties.  

Even our dogs are BFF's.  After most of the kids had gone home, several of

us sat around outside and talked and laughed and had a great time while

our dogs Toby and Bella and Bentley all played together.  I feel so

blessed to live in such a great neighborhood with the best neighbors

ever!

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

Tea and Rye Bread Toast at 3 AM and Other Ramblings

I believe that I have told you before that sometimes I suffer from insomnia.

I have a list of remedies that I try which are often effective, but last night

nothing seemed to work.  I listened to Art Bell via my "tune-in" app on

my iPhone.  His guest was an anti-aging doctor and the show was quite

fascinating, but was finished at 2 am.  

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Art Bell.  I used to 

listen to his shows on the radio some years back.  I was addicted to 

his show.   It always came on in the wee hours of the morning and he

had all these fantastical topics ~ ghosts, ET's, Big Foot, Mel's Hole

and more.  Mel's hole was this supposed pit somewhere in Washington

state that seemed to have no bottom.  Mel claimed he tried to go 

down into the hole once.  He said you could toss an old broken

refrigerator down that hole and never hear it hit the bottom.  After

a few years, Art never heard from Mel anymore and that was the

end of that story.  However, David and I continued to tune in and fall

asleep in our darkened bedroom while listening to these fun topics.

But Art made the mistake of joining up with a big conglomerate

radio network and soon they were dictating what he could and 

could not air over the radio so he quit because it just was not

fun anymore.  But now he is back with a new show that is

streamed over the internet.  It's called Midnight in the Desert.

source

When Art's show was over, I started to think about my childhood growing up

in Chicago's North Shore suburbs.  My very first home was in Wilmette, Illinois.

I was blessed to live there.  It's consistently rated one of the best towns in 

the US for kids.  Bill Murray the comic is from Wilmette and so is Ann

Margret.  But of course in the wee hours of the morning my mind has a 

tendency to ramble from topic to topic and early this morning was no

exception.   Notice that Wilmette is right on Lake Michigan.  I love

that lake.  So many happy memories of it's waters, it's beaches and the

nearby ravines.  For me it is a magical place.  So I started looking at

pictures of the beach.  

source

Gilson Beach and Wilmette harbor.  In the fore front of this photo is the Bahai

Temple completed in 1953.  Such an imposingly beautiful landmark.  Of

course there is the beach and the harbor.  While I was thinking about the

beach and my youth, I also started thinking about my beloved lake.  It's

enormous size and how to me it always seemed like an ocean.  But, before

I move on, notice the city of Chicago off in the distance at the top of the

picture.  Looming ahead like an Oz.

So, because I was thinking about the size of the lake I found myself 

visiting a Facebook Group Page …. You Lived on Chicago's North

Shore if You Remember …. when I came to a wonderful article posted

that was written by Rich Cohen for the New York Times Travel

section.  Rich grew up in Glencoe, a neighboring suburb and loves

the lake as I do.  Here is a link to the article which you may enjoy

even if you have never been to Chicago or have seen Lake Michigan.

A Tour of Lake Michigan, My Inland Sea.  I will warn you, its a long

article, so grab a cup of tea or coffee before you dive in.  Oops, 

a pun just jumped out ;-)

In this wonderful article, Rich (who now lives back east) takes his young sons

on a long road trip circumnavigating the lake, beginning in Chicago and ending

in his childhood home of Glencoe (just up the road from Wilmette).  This was 

a lengthy trip because they drove from Chicago south, through the Indiana 

Sand Dunes, up the coast of Michigan and across the lake to Mackinac Island,

across another ferry to the Wisconsin side and all the way south to Rich's 

hometown of Glencoe.   

Rich was talking about a restaurant where he and his boys had dinner, and

that started me thinking of famous restaurants in the Chicagoland area and

that's how I landed here at Klas Restaurant.  I have never been here, but now 

I wish I had because the place is steeped in history and has been in business

since 1922.  If you want to read more about it's history you can read this

article.   Here is a link to the Klas Restaurant website so you can look 

at their menu, which is of course what I did.  Very heavy Czech cuisine,

but doesn't it all look so delicious!  Leave your bathroom scale outside the 

door and enjoy ;-)  I could not help but notice the Chicken Paprika on

the menu.  Suddenly my stomach was registering empty and I really

wanted to have some of that tasty dish.  However, at 3 am I was not

about to hunt for ingredients to make this tasty dish.  So I settled for a

cup of tea and a slice of rye bread toast.  

I warned you that my mind wanders all over the place in the early

morning hours.  

Bentley ~ now that it's mid day, lets see if we have all the

fixin's to cook up a pot of Chicken Paprika!

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

Tea With Honey

I want to show you the cutest thing my friend Sharon sent

me recently.  I was so surprised and happy to receive these

adorable cups with square saucers and the cutest little 

ceramic spoons to match.

They were all packaged in this precious little suitcase.

So I decided to set up a little teascape to share with y'all.

Notice my grandmother's porcelain cat in the background.

Sharon is a cat lover.

Thank you so much Sharon!  I love the this so much!!!

Tablescape Thursday

Home Sweet Home

Share Your Style

Feathered Nest Friday

Show and Tell

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

Happy National Dog Day from Bentley!

Bentley believes that every home that has a dog is a happier home.

Dogs love to be part of the family and go everywhere with the humans

they love.

Dogs love to participate in holidays and will even happily wear Mardi Gras beads.

Dogs lead the way to new adventures and encourage us to have fun.

Dogs are our faithful companions twenty~four seven.

Dogs are always allowed to sit at the table at grandma's house.

Dogs will happily share their toys.

And remind you to get out that bike and go for a ride around the 

neighborhood to get some exercise.

Hurry up mama, lets get this show on the road!

They let you know when they are in hot pursuit of other critters in the yard.

But most of them don't like baths :-(

And don't always like to be groomed so they may just run off with 

their hair brush :-)

Maybe I can hid this brush by the plant and mama won't notice ;-)

They will join you while you are gardening.

And let you tuck them in like a baby.

But most importantly, they bring the most profound unconditional love into

one's life.  

Happy National Dog Day to all the dogs out there!

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley

We Are Readers

We have several spots around our house where I like to read, but this spot is my

favorite.  We lovingly refer to this as our "library corner".   We also like to sit

here just before dinner with a cocktail or a glass of wine and chat for a bit and

catch up on each other's day.  

I have always loved to read.  Books have been collected over the years.  Some of

these on this shelf belonged to my Daddy.  He always shared his love of world

history and archaeology with me.  

One thing you will never see in my house are book spines turned toward the back.

Sorry to all the decorators out there who have followed this trend.  I am guessing

that for them books are only accessories and the content is of no importance.

That's fine for them, but not fine for me.  

On my shelves you will find the classics, many books on philosophy and

ancient thought.  Our copy of the Book of Common Prayer is tucked away

yet referred to often.

We were so saddened when Christopher Hitchens passed away a few years

ago.  What a brilliant mind he had.  I have been very fond of Flaubert since

my college days.  Oops ~ our copy of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter was

put back on the shelf upside down.  

We have the Wall Street Journal delivered to our home.  David likes to read

all the business articles, but the paper is very complete and there are lots

of other interesting articles to read besides business.

I still have all my French books from college.  

My dear friend Sharon who lives in Houston, surprised me recently with a 

box filled with wonderful goodies and one of the goodies was this

book ~ Lunch in Paris.  I just squealed in delight when I saw it and am

looking forward to beginning it tonight.  She also sent me the most adorable

little tea set which I will use in a tablescape later this week.

I love reading books about Paris despite the fact that I am a full fledged

Anglophile.  Here is a short list of books I have read that have Paris and

or France in general as their topic.  I highly recommend all of them:

Almost French ~ by Sarah Turnbull

Into a Paris Quarter ~ by Diane Johnson
C'est La Vie ~ by Suzy Gershman
Entre Nous ~ by Debra Ollivier
A Year in Provence ~ by Peter Mayle

and of course:
Appetite for Life ~ by Noel Riley Fitch
because Julia Child is one of my favorite people.

So there you have it.  I hope that since fall is on it's way
and kids are back at school, the idea of reaching out for a good
book to expand your mind and your horizons will be on your
schedule too.

Big Texas Hugs,
Susan and Bentley

Favorite Things Friday

Breakfast in bed ~ with a good book too.

Crafting in my studio.

Sitting on the back porch.

Celebrating holidays with good friends.

Vacations by the shore.

And at a charming cottage in the Texas Hill Country.

Shopping for antiques.

And especially up in Round Top!

The feedsack pillows on my breakfast room bench.

And the island in my kitchen.

Red Velvet mini cupcakes.

Blue and white transferware.

Staffordshire figurines

All the Yorkies I have loved.

And even their relatives.  This is Sugar, grandmama to Bitterman.

And of course this little guy.  Bentley!  Love him so much!

Sundays Down Under

Big Texas Hugs,

Susan and Bentley