Mosaic Monday - Thanksgiving Dinner

Our Thanksgiving dinner was fabulous - family and good food, who could ask for more?

I tested several table settings before I settled on the final one - it was fun to see the differences.

 First were white soup pots and the centerpiece of cinnamon stick covered candles with individual pumpkin soup tureens, vegetable salt and pepper and autumn leaves

 Tablecloth from ebay - like one we had when I was a kid

 Next - leaf bowls for the soup - the rest is the same as the first setting.  Yellow handled flatware

With leaf placemats 

 And without leaf placemats 

I couldn't make up my mind

To make the candles I used a hot glue gun to attach the cinnamon sticks - the tied raffia around each one, with a bow in the front. I had to search for cinnamon sticks in the bulk section of several stores.  A bottle of approximately 5 cinnamon sticks was  $9.59 and I needed dozens of them.  Finally found them in bulk at Winco for $3.82 a pound - and a pound of cinnamon sticks is a LOT of cinnamon sticks.

I tried first with a low melt glue gun - but if the cinnamon stick had to be adjusted after the initial placement it popped right off - so out came the old "hot" glue gun - that did the trick - and I only burned my fingers 4 times - but it got the job done.

 Glasses with grape design - bought at a yard sale at a full sized thatched roof house that a farmer had built for his kids for their playhouse.

 Water goblets in palest green - placemats are velour autumn leaves

 The dinner plates - and salad plates - are Ye Old Curiosity Shop - Currier and Ives.  Each set of plates, bowls, etc. has different scene

 The salad plate has a mantle clock.  These dishes were given out as premiums at grocery stores in the 50s - for each set amount that you spent you would get a free dish - different dishes were featured each month so you could collect a complete set.

 The third setting I tried was with the individual pumpkin tureens for the soup.  Our daughter brought spiced pumpkin soup - perfect combination.

 The salt and pepper sets are cabbages and celery.  Napkins are autumn leaves 

I made them last year

 At each place setting was a turkey with vegetable "feathers", made from plastic cups, felt, rafia and googly eyes.  Plus the grandsons each got a turkey cup filled with candy corn - gobble gobble.

 The final decision - pumpkin tureens

 The weekend before Thanksgiving we found the china cabinet I had been hunting for.  It was advertised on craigslist, from a new store in Lynden, WA - named Picket Fences.  I got the leaf dishes there also.  Wonderful shop.  Our son-in-law Jay delivered it in time for Thanksgiving.  In the summer I am going to paint it white - then I will finally have my white dining room.

Three different table settings

 As everyone started to arrive - bringing more food with them - we realized that we needed to set the table buffet style in order to accommodate all the food and people - our grandson Jahn did a fabulous job of arranging the buffet table.

 Delicious Spiced Pumpkin soup in a glass pumpkin - served in individual pumpkin tureens.

 Our son-in-law Jason always brings his famous cheese ball - this year it was shaped like a volcano - delicious!!!

Just some of the side dishes - everyone had a great time - and plenty of food.  I forgot to take pictures of the turkey and the desserts - pumpkin pie, mince meat pie and pumpkin cheesecake.

For my U.S. friends - I hope your Thanksgiving was as grand as ours with family, friends and good times.

Mosaics are made with fotor.com and ipiccy.com

Mosaic Monday
No Place Like Home

Fun Friday Favorites

A little late - but still favorites.

 Horses running - what could be better?  How about horses running and Trumpeter Swans in the field behind them?  Some day I hope to see wild horses running free.

 An interesting apple orchard

 The trees have been trained with curves in the trunks, and espaliered along wires to make picking easier

 Multi-purpose farm stand - though no one was selling anything on this chilly autumn day

 Crabapple tree with a barn behind

The sun lit up a few of the branches 

 And what would be a post about favorites without some pictures of Mt. Baker?

Fun Friday Favorites

Photo Friday

The Barn Collective

More barns from last week on River Road - a quiet farming area - some fields are still covered in flood waters from the recent rains.

With Trumpeter Swans swimming in the flooded fields

A well kept barn - flooded field strewn with swan feathers in the foreground

Reflections

A new fence

A silo - left alone in the field

Still in use - a nice red barn

The Barn Collective

Saturday's Critters

Our weather has been absolutely gorgeous - sunny and brilliantly clear - and COLD.  This kind of weather is perfect for taking photos. So off we go on jaunts around the countryside.

First - a Bald Eagle high in a tree above its nest, even though nesting season is far away

 Next - a Redtail Hawk - sitting patiently atop a power pole

 This hawk landed in a  brush pile near a bird feeder.  I think it is a Cooper's Hawk

 I was lucky that it was in a small opening in the brush pile

 It then flew up into a tree but there were too many small branches to get a clear photo

 In a green field, a Great Blue Heron

 And nearby, Trumpeter Swans.  We are seeing many more flocks of them this year than in the past years.  This small group was chattering in the field

 Two flew off over a nearby barn

 It was definitely cold.  Many of the harvested corn fields still have water from the recent flooding and it was still frozen in many areas at mid-day

 This family didn't mind the cold - one was grubbing about for something to eat - making a sound like a waterfall in the mud and water - the other standing watch

 Two parents - two young swans

As the swan got out of the water I said, "Flap your wings please" - and so he did.  It was a grand day.

Saturday's Critters