Teacup Thursday #21, Beach Garden Cottage and Lavender!

 

We had to say good bye summer vacation 2011 today but had a few extra hours to enjoy at the Olympic Lavender Garden and some more of the scenic sights around Sequim. The lavender plants all around the area are huge and just amazing! The white lavender was really pretty and the bees were going crazy.

The view at the wildlife reserve was just spectacular. The sun made an appearance just in time!

A very kind lady offered to take our picture.

Being at the beach so much, I decided to feature my Spode cup and saucer that has a ship on it...seems like a good choice for Miss Spenser's Teacup Thursday! I've had this cup for about 15 years...it is not old, but I love it-a very pretty color and classy.

I collected the shells and driftwood on the beach and had to add the lavender plants that I bought today!

I wanted to post some pictures of the darling little cottage we stayed at in Sequim. The cottage was once a hunting cabin on the property which was once a dairy farm. The delightful owner Judy remodeled the house and the cabin in the 1990's and they are just beautiful and it was a JOY to stay there. This is a picture of her home as it once was in 1930.

This is the family home as it looks today....the gardens are really pretty too and the birds loved the area.

This is our private beach!  Last night we just sat there and watched the water move in and out.

Judy had the cottage decorated so cute...here's a variety of pictures to show you how lovely it was.

Thanks to my husband for such a wonderful get-a-way! I'm so thankful for time to rest and relax. We met so many nice inn keepers, shoppe keepers and interesting and kind people. It's so nice to go away but it's also nice to be home!

Vacation B&B...The Blue Goose

  Jim and I have really enjoyed the places we've chosen for our lodging on this vacation. It's fun to look online an choose somewhere to stay, but you never know until you arrive if you've chosen wisely!

 

The Blue Goose B&B in Coupeville WA was just delightful. The owners Sue and Marty made our visit just wonderful. It was so comfortable and they served us delicious meals at breakfast. We met two couples in the mornings that we really enjoyed. I highly recommend their B&B and look forward to our return.

This is the organ in the parlor....wish I knew how to play it. This was a nice place to read in the evening.

 Beautiful stairway leading upstairs. Our room was downstairs...it's easier for us now to avoid the steps!

The breakfast room. It was fun to meet others and watch the mama deer and her twins having breakfast too!

A Tasha Tudor find on vacation!

Jim and I are having such a nice vacation. We're in a beautiful little cottage in Sequim by the water. I've gotten behind on posts from Coupeville and Langley, but will try to catch up later today. I wasn't sure if we'd have internet service here, but we do.

You can enjoy the water and a beautiful view, even from bed! Pretty special, heh? The ferry crossing was nice yesterday and coming back into Port Townsend is always a joy as it is one of my favorite cities.We'll spend a day there before we head home on Wednesday. This is lavender country, so will have to visit a farm or two.

We went to the store yesterday for a few groceries and had a shrimp salad, bread and a bottle of wine, sitting outside in the sunshine here at our little home away from home. The sun was out and it was perfect!

Jim is still snoozing. I've been enjoying a cup of coffee and reading a few magazines.

I am so thankful for such a trip as this...batteries are getting recharged and it's been nice to be away from things for awhile.

So here's my big score! We stopped at a thrift shoppe near Coupeville on the way home from Langley. It was close to their closing time, so didn't want to keep the clerks. I ran upstairs to check out the books and there was a Tasha Tudor first edition with a slip cover...can you see the price tag????? 45¢

Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Country Jim! Thanks for the 38 years of wonderful married life!

Here's to another fun day.

Teacup Thursday #20 and Port Gamble

Another day on vacation and a fun way to share Miss Spenser's Teacup Thursday.

I'm featuring a set of brown and white teacups I found in Kalama, WA. I love brown and white china, so I was excited to find these. They are marked Wedgewood and Company...one of the

companies that used the name, but not the original Josiah Wedgewood company that we think of when we hear the name Wedgewood. It doesn't matter to me as I was just excited to find four in this color. Yes, I do have fall on my mind.

What a most fun day we had! Clarice and Angie told us we should go to Port Gamble and we thought it would be just a side trip. Oh my....we loved it and stayed all day. A mill town, started in 1853 by Andrew Pope and Frederick Talbot, it has a New England charm and look as they were from East Machias, Maine.

We began at the country store which reminded me of The Vermont Country Store. The post office was darling. Having had a contract postal station in my shoppe for years, I'm always fascinated with post offices.How could I be so very lucky to find a historic charming town with a quilt shoppe and a tea shoppe?

We met a lovely guide at the museum, Pat, who shared so much with us and was just delightful. She had been a preschool teacher and when I was purchasing some postcards and a book,"Tea Cups to Teekalet" by Phyllis Wahlquist, I decided to ask her if she knew who Tasha Tudor was.

She said, oh yes and told me that she would visit her grandparents in Concord, NM and they would always go to Tasha's farm as her grandparents were neighbors! Unfortunately, she was a young girl and just didn't remember much about it. We were talking about the fact that many out here in the NW just don't know anything about her. How fun for me to meet someone who REALLY knew her!

The quilt shoppe was great. Found some hand dyed wool and embroidery thread for some fall projects, some fat quarters and a great book"Welcome Home" by Cheryl Wall.

We met a sweet shopkeeper who had the most wonderful greeting cards and featured gifts made by local artists.

We had eaten lunch at the general store, but ended our visit with dessert at the tea shoppe. Guess what we had? Fresh fruit with three kinds of melted chocolate plus a glass of wine! Not quite the usual tea time menu, but a fun summer tea time treat! Quite a nice way to say good bye to Port Gamble!

They have a Christmas event in December and we are hoping to visit again-sounds like a great way to celebrate my birthday.

Off to Coupeville tomorrow for a few days-a new location and a new adventure.

A Lovely Afternoon in Washington!

Jim and I are having such a nice trip! The weather has been perfect and it's great to be outside in such a beautiful place...we love Poulsbo.

I was invited to spend the afternoon at Angie's home today for tea and friendship! Just one more great thing about our Tasha Tudor group...friendship! Had so much fun with Clarice, her mom Linda, Auberne' and Chloe, and John and Elizabeth. Jim dropped me off and then came back to pick me up and he had a bit of time to visit with Angie and Linda for awhile. He did get to meet Clarice and her girls earlier too, so now he knows who I'm always talking about.

I am so blessed to have such sweet and giving friends who welcome me into their homes and fill me with yummy food! The company is more than words can express.

I did miss my dear friend LaVonne from Montana...she's with me so often when we get together, it was sad she wasn't with us today. We all missed her company and her laughter. I'm hoping she'll come out again this fall and we can have some more laughs!

You can see by these pictures that Jim is having lots of fun in the sun! He just loves to be outside after all those years being stuck in the back of a pharmacy. Ahhhh...retired life is good!

The town of Pouslbo is really a wonderful little town. Tomorrow we are heading up to Port Gamble....I hear there's a quilt shoppe there!

If you head on over to my Facebook page, you can see more pictures from today's tea time with Clarice and Angie! Thanks again to Clarice for setting today up and for opening your home up to me again Angie. You guys are the best!

Anniversary Adventure!

Just finishing up last minute things and packing today. Jim and I will be off to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary up north in Washington state. I hope to post some pix along the way. We'll be looking for antique shoppes and good restaurants and some beautiful scenic places....maybe a quilt shoppe or a tea shoppe too?

The weather promises to be quite nice and summery.