Props and Tablescapes

This is one of the tablescapes I set up for Hubby's 50th birthday Jeeves & Wooster/Downton Abbey Party. One of the games I planned was for guests to find as many nods to the books/shows as they could and write them down on a card. These are all things we already had, with the exception of the round cigar box, which was one of Hubby's presents.

There are artifacts from my husbands great-grandfather, which fit the time period perfectly, so I included them in the tablescapes. I could have gotten even more detailed, but I simply ran out of time and found that most people could just take in what I'd already set up! Lesson learned, there! Simplicity is a good thing! I think any show enthusiast would have loved spending extra time pouring over the possibilities. The globes and trunk are a nod to Jeeves & Wooster's trip to America (Season Three). The banjo, well, is the closest thing I could get to the banjolele, which makes its appearance in several J & W episodes.

 

We have the complete set of Jeeves & Wooster done by Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. One Christmas, Hubby and I each got the other this set. Our own version of "The Gift of the Magi!" :-)

The toy car was Hubby's Grandfathers. The old photo is of Hubby's great grandfather.

Below, I included another family toy car and great grandfather's cufflinks, cufflink container, and compass. The "W" hanky is a nod to Bertie Wooster. No 1910-1920's British tablescape is complete without some vintage British tomes.

 

 

More: Around the Tea Table, Tennyson's complete works, and Charles Kingsley's Westward, Ho! (Illustrated by N.C. Wyeth)

 

 

Kiplings poems, Georg Eliot's Romola, two by Lamb, Samuel Johnson's Rasselas, Lord Byron, another Charles Kingsley, a book of minor Victorian poets, and a book of selected British essays. To the far right, you can see The Gentleman's Companion, which is a two-volume set for gentlemen about culinary arts and spirits.

 

 

It's a little dark, but I placed a copy of turn-of-the-century sheet music on an old music stand that belonged to hubby's Grandmother. It is a nod to the banjo-playing minstrels in some of the Jeeves & Wooster episodes.

  

 

 

 

 Here was another nod to the era and the costumes: Leslie Thrasher was a rival of Norman Rockwell, and this is in the collection titled The Rivals of (Norman) Rockwell. Interesting book!

 

 

In my next post, I'll show and explain some of the decorations that are nods to Downton Abbey.

I hope you have enjoyed our interpretation of the era for a very special birthday celebration!


Cheerio, Jeeves!

Javamom

A Jeeves & Wooster meets Downton Abbey Garden Birthday Party

We've been a bit busy. Not only have we entered that "end-of-schoolyear" craziness, BUT we also have multiple family birthdays to celebrate. This includes hubby's big 50th.

I decided to throw a Jeeves & Wooster meets Downton Abbey garden party. Both British shows overlap a historic time period AND some sets. Highclere castle is Downton Abbey and Totleigh Towers in Jeeves & Wooster. I love to see the differences in lighting choices between the two shows.

But, more about the party...

There had to be bunting/banners ~

I used my rotary cutter, jute twine, and some felt that I already had onhand from Christmas crafts.

 

 

 

My daughter and I wore dresses made by my mother in the early 80's. They were perfect for the party!

We also added ribbons and homemade felt flowers to attach to our hats.

 

 

 

 

 My shoes were from modcloth online. They shipped quickly, and I added soft insoles to help make them more comfy.

 

We made sure to serve finger sandwiches, both cucumber (added dill and left out the garlic) and chicken salad (basic recipe with chopped sweet onions added). We also served orange marmalade on artisan bread, fruit trifle, grapes, and British cheeses of farmhouse cheddar, apricot stilton, and some brie. No garden party menu is complete without tea and biscuits!

 

Notice the finer details of the table decor. The toy period car was Hubs's grandfather's toy. The phone was Hubs's grandmother's phone. Tea tins were used to hold toothpicks. You can also see a close-up of the felt flowers the girls and I made.

Helping Hubs cut the birthday cake. I made sure to use our good china at the serving table, along with our coffee/tea cups and saucers (how often do we do that, ladies and gents??) for this special occasion.

Outdoors ~

We set up a cricket court, bocce ball, and a coconut shy

Hubs made the bat himself, as well as the wickets.

 

 

The second birthday boy - our youngest is 18 now.

 

The Coconut Shy was a big hit!

 

 

 

 

Bocce ball

 

 

We took some time to get group shots

 

 

Old-timey fun

 

 

 

The family

The whole party group of "viewers" and Jeeves & Wooster or Downton Abbey folks

candids of our friends at the garden party

 

 

There were a few modern conveniences at the party ~ everyone was taking photos.

Hubs n me

 and a funny pose ~

 Lady Mary and Lady Lisa :-)

Our oldest two ~

The drinks table: plenty of peach tea, water, port and sherry, and coffee in a carafe.

 

 

I found "battenburg lace" vinyl tablecloths at our local grocery store for the outdoor tables. They worked great!

 

 

 

Taking time to read a good book

I am so glad my favorite author of the last decade is so prolific. Alexander McCall Smith has five or six ongoing series from which to choose.

I started with the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series. Next came The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency Series. Then I began the Isabel Dalhousie Sunday Philosophy Club series. Lately, I jumped into the 44 Scotland Street books.

There are just some truly warming, light, fun moments in these books, but every series includes the best life philosophy quotes. I love the way the author looks at the world through the eyes of all his different characters: young and old, male and female.

Here is my latest underlined quote:

"How about some chocolate?" Nobody had ever said that to Bertie before. It was not a complex phrase, but its power, its sheer, overwhelming sense of gift and possibility filled Bertie with awe. Well might more of us say these words to others, and more frequently - how healing would that prove to be. "Look, we've had our differences, but how about some chocolate?" Or: "I'm so sorry, how about some chocolate?" Or simply: "Great to see you! How about some chocolate?" ~ from The Importance of Being Seven (pg. 244) by Alexander McCall Smith

Isn't that delightful?

I am a strong believer in daily reading that delights and feeds the soul. We should have other books going, yes. Books that challenge us and make us think. I like sharing with you all books that are light and warm that also happen to challenge and make us think, as well as warm our hearts.


What books are you reading as we wrap up winter and head toward Daylight Savings Time in just about a week?


Happy Spring! (Meteorological spring, anyway :-)

Javamom

late winter birding

American Goldfinch

These babies came back to our yard about a month ago, just in time for the Great Backyard Bird Count. We have 6-8 of them coming in regularly to feed.

I truly wish I had offered more entries on birding over the last year, but I find it more and more difficult to blog. It is so much easier to post photos to facebook and get more responses there! :::sigh::: to the changing face of social networking...


More later. I really do wish to write and publish more backyard birding confessions and photos. Maybe now that things have settled down somewhat. Well, with the exception of our last child's May graduation from high school and leap into more responsibililty.

Did any of my readers participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count?

Sincerely,

Javamom

Happy New Year! I bet some of you have been wondering if I'd ever blog again. This being my last year (well, my last semester, now) of homeschooling after some 21 years, I find myself as busy (in slightly different ways) as I used to be when all four children were still home and I was enjoying/juggling four levels of schooling at once, along with serving as our first and oldest secretary and e-mail communications lady for our local homeschool group. Those were busy times, indeed.


As I wind down my homeschooling years, I continue to participate in a local fine arts co-op and teach Spanish to other homeschoolers. This is how I am still pretty busy while homeschooling only one now.

In the spirit of those earlier years, I decided to mostly take off the whole month of December to prepare for Christmas. We did meet twice for Spanish, but that was necessary. Absence makes the brain forgetful when it comes to certain things!

I really desire to get back to sharing more of my backyard birding adventures this year. The time is coming when I should really be able to focus on the project a lot more. We have Hubby's 50th birthday party to plan and execute in April, and final son's graduation in May, but that shouldn't keep me off the blog too much.

I'd love to hear from you, readers, if you have a little time. What are you up to? How are your children? Have you observed any wonderful things in nature study, poetry, art, or literature since Thanksgiving? DO share!



p.s. What has blogger done to their photo uploads??

Sincerely,


Javamom

Beguiling and Beautiful Autumn this year

Backyard at the Cottage ~ at my favorite time of year

 

 The most beautiful setting for reading today

 

 

 

And plenty to distract me from grading and lesson planning. That is okay...I can do that after dark. After I photograph the moon

 

 

These are a few of the joys for which I am thankful during this season of thanksgiving!

 

Javamom

 

At the feeders :-)

 It has been a busy schoolyear, and I have noted my short quips and photos on FB and Twitter instead of the blog :-(. My apologies for neglecting this site! I think this is the first time since I began my online journal of sorts that I went so long without posting here.

So to make up for it, I will share today's visitor to the feeders. Our resident Coopers Hawk, looking for a pre-Thanksgiving meal.

 

(shot with a Canon using a 75-300mm lens and hand held. It would be even clearer, but we had the screen door on the patio at the time. Any opening of doors would have jolted this pretty away.
So you get this, which really is not so bad, considering!

 

Enjoy!

 

What Nature Study critters have you all observed lately, with the changing of the seasons? I have noticed more of the migratory birds returning from the north, as well as seeing more hawks around and about this past week. This includes a female red-shouldered hawk on my in-laws pond bridge rail, two American Kestrels on the phone lines down the road, other red-shouldered hawks in our neighborhood trees, and our little sharp-shinned hawk that visits the yard from time to time. (probably more often than I see him!)

 

 

Javamom

Yellow Headed Blackbird

I was surprised by this treat as I grabbed my camera to photograph the huge number of (slightly annoying) cowbirds at our fountain and feeders yesterday.

 

 

 

Oddly enough, I see him ever late summer/early fall. It makes me wonder if it is the same one. He doesn't stay long.

But you know that I am glad that I just happened to be at the door when he flew in this year!

He is so big.

Glad I didn't miss him.


Javamom

Sir Walter Scott Novels Preserved

I've been working on this set for a very long time. I take that back...I have had this set to restore for a couple of years. When my Mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in late 2010, all work on this ceased for more than a year. Now that Mom has been enjoying a more normal year after cancer treatments, I was able to get re-focused on things in my own home and studio. I cannot tell you all how thrilled I am with how these turned out! I was not so sure there for a while, because the leather is so brittle on the spines. My deduction is that these were stored on a shelf by a sunny window, as the spines are much more faded than the rest of the parts of each book.

It's too bad that one of the books was already missing its spine when my client bought them. Since I don't have a nice, old letter press, complete with an interesting set of letters and shapes, I just had to leave it blank.

Onward and forward! I have more books to restore, and so little time...but I sure do love the work of my hands!


Grateful,

Javamom

Last First Day of 'School'

(Our youngest, upon his first day of his Senior year)

We have had an eventful Summer as a family, transitioning yet again since the spring, really. Our grown kids, even a foster daughter, all came to visit from out of state, empty country fields are filling with homes, and hopefully new friends and walking partners. We sold older vehicles and replaced them with newer, more reliable ones. Gone is the navy blue, extended-cargo-space, Mom van!

It honestly was difficult to let her go when we first began talking about it last year. With just one son left in our homeschool, why keep the van around? Well, it is the most reliable van we'd ever had. It is large enough to carry wallboard, tiles, lots of dirt, and plants home from the home and garden store. It was great for transporting family and gear for many and many a hiking and camping trip from Colorado and New Mexico to New England and Maine.

But it was time. Tough transitions need to be marked by something victorious and happy. No, that is not why Hubby and I both got newer cars this year. That was already in the plan. But that it came during the summer of massive transition just seemed to punctuate our new chapter of life. We all put serious disappointments-deaths of relationships-behind us and are grateful and thrilled to have healthy kids (or siblings), both grown and those still at home. Not many things are more important than that. Loss stinks. But life, health, and boundaries are important. Making plans, encouraging and cherising one another, setting goals, and putting family, not self, first...fighting for and fighting alongside the one(s) you love, as if you were fighting for life against the minotaur itself, is important.

So here we are, our last first day...our last first week of homeschooling our last young man. Long has he been taller than I, but I have a little more time to teach and to pass on words of inspiration and wisdom, when he seeks them. I pray that I finish this job well, by the grace of God.

I'll post more on our last first week very soon! It has been pretty amazing!


My handful of readers, tell me about your first day or first week back to school!


Sincerely,

Javamom