Tabletop Tuesday: Memorial Day Breakfast

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday weekend! We didn't do too much here at Le Beau Paon. My father-in-law was in town visiting for the weekend, we went to a movie with my mother-in-law and Erik's stepfather and we had a cookout and poolside party at my mother's house with my sisters, brothers-in-law and my niece and nephews.
Because I had a house guest, I used it as an opportunity to try out new recipes and also play around with table settings. (LOL!!! )
I made a lovely breakfast for us all on Sunday morning and even managed to make a simple table with a patriotic flavor, which I will be linking with Marty at A Stroll Through Life's Tabletop Tuesday!

I remembered that I had some appetizer plates in the shape of red stars that were a Christmas gift a few years ago, which I paired with my Spode blue transferware, white vintage linen place mats and my white Pottery Barn napkins with a red monogram.

We had yogurt parfaits in clear footed dessert bowls; vanilla yogurt with raspberries and granola and just a little bit of honey on top.

I had also made this yummy breakfast casserole. Diced ham, egg, green onions and Roma tomatoes on a hash brown bottom; with lots of cheese! This was a Pampered Chef recipe I got from a booklet I received at a party.  Yummmmmyyy!!

I also made cinnamon buns and served them on my vintage Fenton hobnail milk glass cake pedestal. These were so easy to make and delicious! They are made using ready-made breadstick dough. I got this recipe also from Yvonne at Stone Gable. You can click HERE to get the recipe.

Thanks for stopping by!

Memorial Day

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. — General George S. Patton ...


Memorial Day, once known as "Decoration Day" commemorates U.S. soliders who died while in military service. It was first enacted to honor Union Soliders of the American Civil War; it was expanded to honor all dead American soliders from all wars after World War I.


Originally, starting in the 1860s, Memorial Day was observed primarily by small northern towns and cities as a sacred day when the war dead are mourned. The name 'Memorial Day' had been used as an alternative name as early as 1882 but was not declared the official name by the federal government until 1967 and the date was fixed on by Congress in 1971 to occur on the last Monday of May.


Many people observe this holiday by visiting cemetaries and memorials; a national moment of remembrance usually takes place at 3 pm local time and The National Memorial Day Concert takes place at the United States Capitol. There are usually a wide variety of other holiday and patriotic events such as parades and memorial ceremonies also. Flags are usually placed on the graves of the military dead in cemetaries across the nation.


As a girl, my parents often took us to a parade or a picnic, but always saved time out of the busy day to visit a cemetary that was old and often overlooked. I grew up in a very rural area and there were small old cemetaries throughout the countryside; some of them only contained a handful of burials and some of them hadn't been used for many years, but there were, occasionally, one or two graves of a veteran. We didn't always have flowers or flags to place on these graves; sometimes a few wildflowers from an obliging field served the purpose, but we felt that a visit and a thank you was what was most important.

This and That: New Treasures

My wonderful mother-in-law recently gave me a couple of "new" treasures for future tablescapes!

Look at this sweet creamer pitcher with pink roses! I've lately become obsessed with creamer pitchers, but I often pass them up when I see them because they are usually with a matching sugar bowl and I feel bad about breaking up a set! I keep envisioning a lovely shelf full of creamer pitchers displayed in my kitchen. Erik tells me that I'll just have to collect sugar bowls too! Ha!

She also gave me these darling bunny napkin rings. Recently when we went to Columbus, WI on a 'treasure-hunting' trip to the large antique mall there, I saw a set of 4 bunny napkin rings that I was contemplating buying, but she told me not to buy them, because she had some that she never used and I could have them. And there's 8 of these; which is WAY better than 4! I can hardly wait until next Easter to use these on a spring/Easter tablescape!

Thanks for stopping by!

Garden Goods: Flower Love

My foxgloves are blooming! Yay! I'm so excited. I didn't know what color they were; they were just labeled as 'mixed'. I have another on the other side of the porch but it's not blooming right now.

I have a second bouquet of white peonies that I put on the fireplace mantel in the front entry hall.

These are actually the same peonies as mine, but I got them from my mother's house; even though she only lives about 30 miles away from me, her peonies just started blooming and mine are done, so she gave me some of hers to make another bouquet for my house! She also added some yellow bearded iris that she had transplanted some years ago from my grandfather's house.

I thought this was a fun picture showing the staircase railing reflected in the mirror!

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend!
Thanks for stopping by!

Tablescape Thursday: Blue and Pink Perfection

Welcome back to another Tablescape Thursday!; once again, hosted by Susan at her incredible blog, Between Naps on the Porch.

On a recent antiquing trip, I bought some vintage linens, including two vintage tablecloths.  This blue and pink tablecloth was very striking and I imagined how I would put together a tablescape using it and my Spode blue transferware. I wasn't sure how it would look, but when it was done, I was in love with the result.

I just thought the colors and the design were so interesting!

It's actually not long enough for my dining room table, but I didn't let that stop me. I kind of like how you can see the border along the edges this way, instead of them hanging off the end of the table, out of sight.

You may recognize the centerpiece; it's the same fresh flower arrangement that I made for my Queen Victoria Tea party (click HERE).

With the exception of the white viburnum and pink spray roses (which are all wilted now) the rest of the flowers are still going strong on my dining room table!

Pink and blue; it's not just for baby showers!

Some pink spray roses even found their way into the wine glasses............

I found the sweet salad/dessert plates during the same antiquing trip; I got two of these for $1.00!

This is one of the other patterns of Spode blue transferware I have. I think it's called "Scenes of Rome".

I decided not to use place mats again. The tablecloth is just too interesting to cover up! 

Because I could only find two of the other plates with the pink roses, I also am using these for the other two place settings. These were also 2 for $1.00, but I managed to find six of these.

I didn't do one of my fancy folds this time for the napkins. They look lovely as they are as a backdrop for my gorgeous silverplate flatware.

A silver sauce boat adds elegant shine to the table.

Erik's favorite part of the whole table are these sweet vintage salts (or salt dips). I'm on the hunt for tiny spoons to go with them.

Bird's eye view!

Candles lit!

Thanks for stopping by!

Outdoor Wednesday: Flower Power Part 2

We've had some unusually warm weather here in Wisconsin this last week; or should I say unusually hot weather. It's been in the high 80s all week and very humid. We don't usually see these temps until July and August!
We also had a very warm and early spring, which would account for why all my flowers are about 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule blooming this year. I came home from work today to discover that during the day while I was gone, there was a flower explosion in my yard. I was frankly astonished!
And even though I'm a little late getting this posted, I am going to link up with Susan at A Southern Daydreamer for her Outdoor Wednesday!

I used this picture earlier this week for Mosaic Monday; it's one of  my white double peonies. This peony has blooms that are almost the size of dinner plates!

These pink peonies usually bloom right after the white ones are getting to be done; this is the first year since they were transplanted that I have blooms. I transplanted both the white and pink from my mother's house two years ago. It takes several years for peonies to get "going" after planting or transplanting divided tubers.

One of my climbing rosebushes has blooms starting to open. Pretty soon this bush will be covered.

I think this is a William Baffin rose. It is massively large and has evidently been here for many years. We need to add more trellis for it to climb, since it has run out of room.

My foxgloves are getting ready to bloom very soon. I'm excited. I've had trouble with my foxglove plants not surviving through our harsh winters, even though they are supposed to be hardy enough for our zone. These, however, made it!

I love the contrast of the Maiden Pinks against the bright green of my Lady's Mantle. These usually bloom at the same time and make a lovely display.

I have more Maiden Pinks and Lady's Mantle in another flower bed nearby.

These are near some Heuchera, which are named "Plum Pudding". I have several of these and another one called "Creme Brulee", but that one ,for some reason, is not looking too good this year.

My annuals planted in containers are looking nice.

I also planted some fuschia in this pot on the porch. This year I went with some very bright colors in my containers. Last year, I had a 'color scheme' going and had mostly yellow, green and purple flowers in all my pots.

My Adirondack chairs, made for me by my dad, got a fresh coat of paint last weekend. I also painted the small table which was also made by my dad some years ago. I had left it au natural and let the cedar wood age and color naturally, but I decided to paint it this year to match my chairs. The bushes behind these are weigela. There are three of them and they were here when we bought the house. I forgot to prune these this spring; there's always a fair amount of dead branches after every winter, which I chop off with big giant shears. We are hoping to begin some of the landscaping of the back yard next summer; this is where we want to put a patio. I'm not sure how we're going to be able to move these huge weigelas!

I 'm really loving this color combination!

I planted this pot right after Mother's Day; the earliest I ever planted annuals in my life!

I have this border of Asiatic Lilies along the front of my "sun garden". These were called "Red Storm". My sun garden is comprised of bold, bright colors; reds, oranges and purples.

There's one orange lily in the bunch. They must have accidentally packed an orange bulb in with the reds at the nursery!

Thanks for joining me!