Saturday Adventures

Busy day.... we went out for lunch today with V & S, and their friends who were at V's Christmas dinner-party last weekend. V had found a Bed & Breakfast over in Seabrook, a beautiful vintage-looking Victorian house that you would think is 100 years old, but was built less than ten years ago.

"The Palm Lodge" is filled with antique stained-glass windows, carved woodwork, old wood floors, Victorian furniture.... no matter where you look, there is something beautiful to see. My husband took a look around and whispered to me: "Well, finally.... you have met your match!" The B&B is owned by a husband and wife, with the wife's sister helping out with meals and entertaining. Very nice people, all three of them, and you can see how much they love what they do just by looking at all the unique accessories they've found for the house.

Lunch was fine.... nothing way over the top, but just the atmosphere of the Victorian house made the meal delicious. First course was fresh fruit salad served in a martini glass (the rim of which had been dipped in sugar). Main course was chicken in cranberry-vinegar sauce, wild rice with nuts, and fresh green beans with yellow peppers. (I'm not a fan of chicken, but at $38.00 per person (which is extremely high for this area), I ate three-quarters of that piece of chicken.) They also had delicious hot bread with the main course... a very soft pastry-type of bread. For dessert... squares of Italian cream cake with butter-cream frosting, each serving topped with a chocolate-dipped strawberry. Everything was very elegantly served.... and the table had a beautiful centerpiece.... but as I said--- for that money, I think we all expected more than chicken for the main course. We all agreed that we were paying more for the ambiance than for the meal. (One of the men said "But you can't eat ambiance.")

V and I kept pointing out different items and decorating ideas while we were in the house, and V kept saying: "You will see that again." Such as the centerpiece on the coffee table in the sitting room of the house.... they took four or five wooden Santas and stood them up in a very large old wooden bowl, then surrounded them with pine cones and gold glass tree ornaments. It was simple, and simply beautiful. V and I will both do that, since we both collect Santas.... and my husband has already come home with a bag of pine cones-- he picked them up while he was walking Gracie this afternoon. (What a guy!)

For the napkin rings... they took wire-edged ribbon (Christmas design, of course) and just wrapped each of the napkins up in the ribbon and tied it in a simple bow--- looked like a little gift at each place setting. V was ready to keep her ribbon (she saves every bit of pretty ribbon, just as I do).... but they collected the ribbons after we had the fruit cups. (I guess they've had other guests taking the ribbons before.)

On the way back from the lunch, V asked me to go out to Alvin with her, to pick up a wood mantel that she was buying at one of the antique shops out there. So off we went, after she went home to check on her dog, and I came back here to check on the cats. (The guys stayed home... each at their respective computers.)

I thought we were going to just pick up V's mantel, but as soon as we got into the antique mall out there, V said we really needed to look around some, being that we drove all the way out there. We both found some Christmas bargains.... I bought two more small Santas to add to my collection, and V bought a set of glasses to go with her Christmas china, and she found amber glass goblets at just one dollar each, to use for her Thanksgiving dinners.

Before leaving Alvin, we stopped at Joe's Barbeque for some take-out ribs.... I'm not a beef rib fan either, but my husband likes them, so I came home with two to-go orders. Saves me from cooking for a couple of days... and it was a nice "thank-you" to him for getting me that bag of pine cones.

As I said... a busy day, but a very nice one. The weather is still warm and summery, as it should be. And the fire trucks are driving around the communities.... the trucks all decked-out in lights, and one of the firemen dressed up as Santa. Jingle Bells! And right now... I'm about to put together a centerpiece with Santas and pine cones.