Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style #354!We have lots of great features to share with you.
This link party is for home decor, DIY, crafts, recipes and the like, but you are more than welcome to share any of your family-friendly posts with us all. Please feel free to share this post too and join my small but loyal band of friends. I appreciate you! I appreciate your subscribing, also. As always, I am glad that you are here…💜
I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too. Thank you!💜
Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style! What a cool mix of link-ups we had this past week! All kinds of great ideas!! We had a post using oven cleaner as a stripper on furniture (find that below!), repurposing vintage pillow cases, baked cheddar sliders, casseroles, front entry decor, sunflower posts, fashions, board game organization, upcycled tin can ideas, and loads more!
If you haven’t wandered over to visit other friends when you come to link up, do check out what your friends share. 🙂
And now let’s check out this week’s featured posts (and it was sooo tough to choose!)…
Here’s what I shared this past week atFrench Ethereal…
Chimichurri Flank Steak is what’s on the menu from Newcomer Estelle from Homemade on a Weeknight. Welcome, Estelle, and what a great recipe!
Newcomer Sally from Within a World of My Own shared this cool fashion idea called 30 Wears: Fish Charm Necklace. Definitely stop by and check out what all Sally wore with her fun necklace!! Welcome, Sally!
And from our third newcomer Jan from J-East of Eden, a Thursday Bible Study and Coffee: Galatians Chapter 5. Excited to share this with y’all!! Welcome to you, Jan! (Jan may have linked up before and I missed her post, but still I want to welcome her again if so.) 😀
And lastly from Jan at Aging With Ardor a post about Indifference and how we need to NOT accept it. Very thought provoking!
Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜
If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards.💜 Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.
Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style #354!We have lots of great features to share with you.
This link party is for home decor, DIY, crafts, recipes and the like, but you are more than welcome to share any of your family-friendly posts with us all. Please feel free to share this post too and join my small but loyal band of friends. I appreciate you! I appreciate your subscribing, also. As always, I am glad that you are here…💜
I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too. Thank you!💜
Happy Wednesday, y’all! Would you believe… We have been having rain showers yesterday and today?!! Such a treat after 50+ days of over 100 degrees of heat! I actually woke up to 75 degrees this morning; it was soooo nice!
Well, I’ve posted up a little more of our trip to France for you this week, but onward from that post, I’ll take a break for a week or so just so you won’t get bored with so many travel photos. I am working in the garden shed this week, getting ready for August’s Pinterest Challenge. And I am ready for a little fall cleaning indoors so expect a living room post soon!
Well, let’s get on to this week’s features and my share for you…
Here’s what I shared this past week atFrench Ethereal…
We are beginning this week’s featured posts with this fun one from Debra from Common Ground. She is sharing a collection of Christmas ideas for you to kick-start your thoughts on how you will decorate this upcoming holiday season ~ Christmas in July Ideas and Inspiration.
Niki from Life as a Leo Wife shared this fun tutorial for a DIY Chapstick Holder. Perfect project to make any time of the year!
Sandra from Dinner at Eight shares her gorgeous summer tablescape with us in this post ~ A Wisteria Garden Table. Love the purples and blues!!! Soooo pretty!
I HAD to include this sweet creative crafting idea with you especially since school is starting up…Cheryl from Sew Can Do shared how she created all these totally cute “toys” for her kids to play with ~ DIY Post Office Play Fun for Preschoolers. Just precious! Definitely one to share, pin and save!!!
DIY Window Valance is this unique post by Libbie at A Life Unfolding. Love these sweet plant vases hung this way!!
And that’s it for this week’s features! A nice diverse grouping to share with you. 🙂
Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜
If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards.💜 Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.
Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style #354!We have lots of great features to share with you.
This link party is for home decor, DIY, crafts, recipes and the like, but you are more than welcome to share any of your family-friendly posts with us all. Please feel free to share this post too and join my small but loyal band of friends. I appreciate you! I appreciate your subscribing, also. As always, I am glad that you are here…💜
I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too. Thank you!💜
Friends, I am sorry about last week! I got home late last Wednesday afternoon from flying in from Paris, and because of the time zone changes, I just had no energy to get Share Your Style up. But, I am back and feel mostly back to normal so this week is a go. 🙂
Paris was a lot of fun! Everywhere you look within the city, it’s like watching a movie!! I started back to school today and I think it is going to be a great year, of which I am grateful. <3
A young lady who has a presence on YouTube shared this film crew’s actors in period costume (1930’s/1940’s). I am guessing it is the same group since they were in front of the the same building!
Amy and I did actually see a film company’s lighting crew walking around with equipment and vans parked here, across the street (Rue du Rivoli, I think) from the mayor’s office building.
If you were part of your local city council, wouldn’t you want to work here?!
I’ll try and find that photo and add it here to this post for you… (That’s it, above).
Now, let’s get to this week’s features!
Here’s what I shared this past week atFrench Ethereal…
Bonjour de Paris! ~ a first look around the city on the first day we were there. So beautiful!
I have to share Jeanie from The Marmelade Gypsy’s post (since it is all about Paris!!!) ~ Paris in July: My Favorite Guidebooks! Yep… Got a few books while we were there. ;),
Jean from Delightful Repast shared this mouthwatering recipe for Salisbury Steak… OMGosh! I’m making it for Mr. Ethereal this weekend!!! Heaven on a plate!
Jennifer from Curated by Jennifer shared her super comfy collection of Sustainable Summer Dresses ~ very cool and perfect since this year is wickedly hot…
DeeDee from (Our) Clover House shared easy tips for The Easiest Way to Hang a Shelf. Good stuff! And isn’t this dining room just the cutest?!!
Our second newcomer Steph from Steph Creates (Things DIY Home & Crafts) shared this beautiful DIY Wood Crate Floral Design! Love how she styled it with roses… Yes! Welcome, Steph!!! 🙂
From K’Mich and her Wedding Soiree by K’Mich blog, this very cool DIY post totally Repurpose Sewing Machines. Wait until you see all the cool things she found!
What’s In Your Curio? Part 2 is this week’s feature from Debbie at Debbie-Dabble Blog. Gorgeous pieces!!!
Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜
If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards.💜 Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.
Thinking what it was going to be like to go to The Louvre in Paris, I never in my wildest imagination thought how magnificent everything would be…
Hang on to your hats, grab something cool to drink and let’s take a tour! I promise not to share all 300+ photos today but just some highlights. I’ll share more later but just the outside of the museum is enough for just one post!
The inner courtyard of the Musée du Louvre
The Louvre palace was begun by King Francis I in 1546 on the site of a 12th-century fortress built by King Philip II. Francis was a great art collector, and the Louvre was to serve as his royal residence. “
The sheer immensity of the buildings which make up the Louvre just doesn’t show in anyone’s photographs! You really need to experience it…
One of the reasons I am sooooo glad I was able to finally visit Paris and to see it with my daughter Amy. This was her big bucket list item to see while we were there in France and it just kept on giving…
My desire was to see the Tulleries out back, and I had walked a bit through them the night we tried to go up into the Eiffel Tower (didn’t happen, long story!).
Looking left
Looking forward as we walked more forward
We tried to get tickets but they were sold out. I had paid for as much of our trip in cash as I could before we left, setting up our hotels/AirBnB’s. I just had no more money to set up our two big sightseeing trips to Versailles and the Louvre, so we just walked over and “took a chance” on getting in…
Incredible statues of famous people from Roman, Greek, and French cultures surround the courtyard.
Correct me if I am wrong, but most of these statues are to show the citizens of the time who these famous figures were. We decided not to pay for the headphones and went on our own guided tour just taking our time and browsing through the rooms we really wanted to see.
Amy had read on the Louvre website that upwards of 30,000 visitors come through the entrance here underneath the pyramid to tour each day.
Covid be damned! We were going!! Some people wore masks but it was a good 90+ degrees and we just decided to forego masks; too hot. We never wore masks after the airplane ride. Very few people coughed. Paris was having an increase in Covid cases but those were locals, from what we learned from a waitress at one of the cafés we ate at.
While visiting the Louvre, we met a lot of nice people and enjoyed visiting with staff members who sit in each room. They are there for you to ask questions and by doing this, we kept them from total boredom. 🙂 Okay, and they make sure you don’t sneak off with “some souvenir,” too!
An iconic view… Reminds me of a shot from one of Tom Hanks’ movies ~ The Da Vinci Code. Fun movie if you haven’t seen it!
We only waited about an hour as the security staff who checked bags and let tour groups inside were gracious enough to NOT just let in tour groups. They would go back and forth letting people queue up to enter.
It took about an hour, which we thought wasn’t bad. Better than Disneyland!
I was blown away by the incredible detail on the outsides of each building… This roof was de rigueur in its time ~ a masterpiece made of lead. We noticed that several chimneys had to be supported with cables to prevent them falling off. Wise decision!
Let’s go inside!
Our first stop was the restrooms (of course) followed by a trip to the counters for a map. Amy guided us through each floor and we began with the Greek and Roman section.
This was some kind of list of grain sales, I believe. Amy read out the description.
We took our time but moved quickly since we wanted to see most of the museum. My goal was to see Napoleon’s quarters, and Amy wanted to study all the Roman antiquities.
Really cool statuettes and bronze mirror!
I am not good with Roman and Greek mythology but my daughter amazed me with all of her knowledge and happily was my personal tour guide! She knows a massive amount about what was going on during each time period; she could be a commentator on a historical program.
If you haven’t seen any old episodes of Odyssey – Ancient History Documentaries and the original name Time Team on YouTube, you should check it out! Off the air since 2012, the British archeologists on the show’s 20-year run are brilliant at finding and sharing archeological finds and often very funny! Great show for seeing how people used to live back in Neolithic, Medieval and other times through digs all within the “three-days-to-do-it” motto. Filmed all within the United Kingdom with a few specials across Europe.
Look up!
The ceilings within the museum were massive and entire rooms were moved and reset within the museum or were there since the time of the Louises and Napoleon and later up to Louis XVIII.
The paintings, many for propaganda purposes to impress visitors, were scenes of famous mythological battles. I think it was in 1789, after the French Revolution was over and life had settled down, the Louvre became the place to house France’s treasures. Much of what was held within all six museums in Paris, the best was brought to the Louvre to become the main museum of France and one of the finest in the world.
Thankfully, not everything was destroyed during the fires and stripping of France’s castles during that time period. Some pieces were taken as souvenirs, some were taken by royalists to preserve and protect them.
After Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lost their heads, Napoleon added a lot of treasures to the Louvre from his travels to Egypt and beyond.
Venus de Milo
Same lady from the rear. 😉
Venus de Milo was really one of the few super famous pieces we saw last Monday (just a week ago now). We couldn’t get near the Mona Lisa… We snapped from afar.
Venus with different hair styles.
Amazing detail in each statue! The stone just sparkles in the sunlight and some statues were luminescent!!
We were blown away by the musculature which shows through many of the statues. How did the carvers “see” this within each piece of stone?
Another of Venus’ gorgeous hairstyles!
Monsieur Paris ~ Many of the male figures were missing an important part of their anatomy… We guessed that perhaps that these statues were broken during shipping from wherever they found.
After a while, we knew we needed the tags with each statue or piece we photographed so we could identify them when we got home. So here is Paris’ info.!
“Off with her head!”
We learned from hearing some guides that often statues were made in pieces and pieced together. This woman’s upper body (head cavity) showed how the head bust would have been added on after the main body was in situ. Her arm was also missing but I didn’t get a close-up of that area.
Well, I would love to keep going with this post but I think this is a good place to stop for now. I will get more ready for the weekend for you.
Amy and I enjoyed a good six hours there at the Louvre wandering up and down the long corridors. We ate lunch at a cute restaurant and met another Amy (Emi) at our table. We also visited the gift shops and brought home some loot!
Thank you for pinning! 🙂
I hope you have enjoyed this post and please leave a comment about what you enjoyed when you toured the Louvre!
Bonjour, mes amies! Je técris de Paris… Welcome to this month’s scrumptious Pinterest Challenge where we are making our favorite peach recipes for you!
How do we say “peach” in French?
Les pêches…
If you are just coming over from Lynne at My Family Time for the first time, welcome! Lynne’s recipe looks totally delicious, doesn’t it?!! These challenges are so much fun and we have a great line up of goodies for your gastronomic pleasure.
The summer dessert I’ve chosen to make is super easy, takes just a few ingredients, and my version is mostly sugar free ~ perfect for anyone watching their sugars. It is a Peach Cobbler, similar to Lynne’s, but of course, mine is made in the microwave. Every recipe, even if similar, is always a different treat!
OrganicFacts.net
Cindy from County Road 407 has found the perfect photo for us to use as our inspiration. It comes from Organic Facts.net where Author Meenakshi Nagdeve in her article Health Benefits and Nutrition of Peach touts a ton of facts about why peaches are so good for us.
I won’t bore you with all those facts but a couple of important ones are that peaches provide us with anti-oxidants and beta-carotene for good eye health. As soon as I saw our inspiration photo, I knew right away that I would make this super easy Peach Cobbler Recipe using my now-vintage Tupperware Stack Cooker.
For this recipe I used only the top cover and middle sections of the stacker. It’s nice as this Tupperware set can be used in several different ways plus you can bake microwave cakes in it, too!
It is a simple summertime favorite ~ Peach Cobbler baked in the microwave! What could be easier AND not heat up the house?
As I begin writing this post, it was 107 degrees outside yesterday (7/18/22 and it is supposed to 100 F today (7/19/22). Way too hot to be turning on an oven indoors!
***North Texas has been up over 100 degrees since mid-June. Even here in Paris, France (where I currently am), this past week they had sweltering days of 106 F/41.1 C degrees on the day I was flying out from DFW. Europe is experiencing some of the worst heat they have ever had, and in countries where only a very few homes have air conditioning, but I digress… 😉
Here are the ingredients (my notes)
3 peaches cut up, the hard inside pith area cut off, and then cut into chunks
Substitute Monks Fruit sugar for the brown sugar; it is non-glycemic.
Add the rest like it says.
I added a little more oats and it helped absorb some of the water from the cooked peaches.
Btw, the scent from the peaches was heavenly!
And here is the recipe
Super easy to just cut up the peaches (I left my skins on as they were soft)
toss on the honey and water mixture, blend to coat.
dot with small pats of butter
cook 5 – 7 min. on High in microwave. I cooked mine for only 5 minutes and it was perfect (using two soft and one hard peach).
In a separate bowl, add oats, Monks Fruit sugar substitute (1:1 ratio), and All-spice
Soften remaining butter in microwave (if hard like mine was from frig.; can’t leave on counter in summer… ants!) and add to dry ingredients. Smoosh in with the back of a fork (yep, smoosh! It’s a Southern thing. ;))
Stir in chopped nuts (pecans!!!)
Spoon over 2/3 of the oat mixture on top of the peaches
Dish the peach mixture into pretty serving bowls and top with the rest of the oat and nut crumble ~ dig in!!!
I totally wish I had grabbed more peaches as I took the leftovers to our Rebekah’s meeting later that evening after I made the cobbler. There was really only enough for everyone to just have a taste ~ 1/4 to 1/2 cup each. This included a friend who is in his 70’s with Type 1 diabetes.
Well, friends, that’s it! I hope you will pin my photos and/or this Pinterest pin to your boards, thank you!! And thank you to Cindy, as always, for hosting!!
Next up is Laura from Everyday Edits whose recipe I am sure is going to add to your subliminal desire to just run right out to the store for these delicious fruits!
Enjoy visiting everyone on this month’s peach recipe tour!!
Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style #351! We have a lot of great features to share…
This link party is for home decor, DIY, crafts, recipes and the like, but you are more than welcome to share any of your family-friendly posts with us all. Please feel free to share this post too and join my small but loyal band of friends. I appreciate you! I appreciate your subscribing, also. As always, I am glad that you are here…💜
I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too. Thank you!💜
Bonsoir du Paris, my friends!!! Amy and I made it to the City of Light (La Ville-Lumière) flying all night and landing early this afternoon on French time. We are seven hours ahead so I will check on the party early Thursday morning your time when I wake up ~ about midnight for you. 😉
I have a reservation for us to walk up the Eiffel Tower stairs on Wednesday evening as part of a small guided tour. I am really looking forward to seeing the tower all lit up and twinkling! A YouTuber shared that the lights twinkle at 5 minutes past the hour every hour, so pretty!!! We hope to go to Versailles on Thursday but might just bum around the city instead, saving Versailles for the following week. No reservations yet so we will just see what’s what.
So, let’s catch up on some 4th of July posts along with this week’s features, shall we?
Here’s what I shared this past week atFrench Ethereal…
Soooo into the bright colors of summertime! Amber from Follow the Yellow Brick Home shared a Simple and Sunny Summer Kitchen Refresh look in her home’s newly renovated kitchen. Love it!!!
Rita from Panoply brings us treasures from storage in this post ~ Purse Collections Excavated from Storage. Aren’t these fantastic?!! Do check out her post for a whole lot more…
Summer Garden Updates is a bountiful post full of the fruits of her labor ~ from MaryJo at Master “Pieces” of My Life.
Jeanie from The Marmelade Gypsy brings us wonderful history and insights about this artist and his family during Nazi-occupied France during WWII in her post ~ Paris in July: Marc Chagall.
A hysterically funny post (okay, it’s all the sidebar Pinterest pins) as part of Amber from The Hungry Mountaineer‘s yummy post ~ Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins. Amber writes a lot of hiking posts from state parks and from around her home in California.
Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜
If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards.💜 Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.
Welcome to Share Your Style #352, friends!! Boy, it has been a couple of hot weeks across the country, and for sure here in North Texas! I’m glad to get Share Your Style up for you today.
This link party is for home decor, DIY, crafts, recipes and the like, but you are more than welcome to share any of your family-friendly posts with us all. Please feel free to share this post too and join my small but loyal band of friends. I appreciate you! I appreciate your subscribing, also. As always, I am glad that you are here…💜
I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too. Thank you!💜
Well, I made it home with the new computer in tow! As I type, it feels good to have this project checked off my list!! 🙂 Mr. Ethereal actually bought me a new MacBook Pro for Christmas but I wasn’t comfortable transferring all the data and applications myself. So… I waited until our summer break!
Unfortunately, the problem I had with the other computer a couple of months ago (not able to pull up the “block pop-up” to add photos… 🙁 I’ll have to contact WordPress again and have them link up to figure out WHY this essential button doesn’t just automatically turn on.
So… with that, SYS is now up but I can’t share any features, including my own.
As I get this fixed, I’ll come back and add in the features, so please do check back!
Happy mid-July, dear friends!! It’s almost time for that once-in-a-lifetime-trip to France and my daughter and I are busy getting all of our stuff together for the trip. But while we have a week to go, let’s check out what I’ve seen on my daily walks, and check out what’s going on in the garden!
Love this home’s wrought iron and brick fencing! This is what I’d really like for ours, but of course it costs a small fortune…
So what’s going on?
Summertime Texas heat, that’s what’s going on! I’ve killed a few more plants yet again from not watering enough or overwatering. No wonder my neighbors plant very little each year… It seems we get about two seasons for hydrangeas and then poof! they are toast. One is for sure gone and the other is holding on. The extreme heat is just so tough on plants. I guess I will have to look at Zone 9 plants when looking at heat tolerance, then Zone 6 for cold. And winters I have figured out now ~ one good thing! 😉
Protection from the sun
At present, I am trying to save this arborvitae but I think it will probably be too late. The pumpkin planted itself when I used some compost from the compost pile and maybe it stole all of the water, but I just think it’s the intense heat index of 105-109 everyday for the last two weeks.
But, with all that, I did mount some large staples and tie up part of this garden shade cloth/wrap that I’ve been using the past two winters. Maybe it will recover!
So far, so good! It pulled off the staples the first couple of days until I got them in the correct place along the fence. I put a couple of slits into the fabric, too, which helps when it billows with wind.
Check your garden for bad plants…
Ever heard of nightshade?? Well, there’s good nightshade, which has clusters along a single stem of small black berries. It does grow here in Texas… But this ISN’T it.
Bittersweet nightshade
Then there are the poisonous nightshades… Of which I seemed to have two lovely plants growing in a wooden planter and here in the ground right next to a small rose bush! The poisonous ones have single red or black berries which grow individually and produce white flowers.
I was suspicious of this plant for quite a while but didn’t know what to look up. Then I googled “bad plants growing in Texas” and lovely photos and a great video by a woman back East who totally gave all the parts to look for when identifying both the good and the bad types.
Why I looked up poisonous plants up in the first place
Because of Yoda, who was really disoriented, having a lot of diarrhea and maybe some vomiting (not sure), I looked up any bad wildflowers! I thought he had heat exhaustion, which he may have had, but it very well could have been accidental poisoning from washing himself after brushing up against these guys!
Needless to say, once I realized what they were (and taking Yoda to the vet’s office in the mean time for a check-up; he’s okay and is back to “normal dog Alzheimers”), I pulled up anything suspect (including nettles, which were making me itchy) from the new garden beds. To think I had been lovingly watering these monsters!!!
Tristan and Isolde
On a happy note, I charged my old iPad and re-found this cute photograph of my kids and Skeeter, our Golden Retriever, from back in the late 1990’s. This photograph was taken in a little side garden I had created right outside our dining room and living room windows.
I named this section Tristan and Isolde after a book I read for my Medieval Culture history class in college. The significance is that when both of these lovers died, a red rose was planted over Isolde’s grave inside the churchyard by her husband the king. A white rose was then put in outside the churchyard where Tristan’s grave was.
Though the two had committed adultery, the king still loved both and felt that Tristan still was a friend. Sad ending for all, but not entirely… The canes of these two climbing roses, one red, one white, grew upwards over the church to forever entwine their florific branches.
I loved this 900+ year old story so much and probably had just reread it. So on this arbor I planted one red and one white rose. They did indeed intertwine… and also cross-pollinated! 🥀
The cement pathway you see below was poured by Mr. Ethereal and myself using a large stencil-type thing which we found at Home Depot back then. I think we still have that, too…
Amy was probably 4 years old going on 5, and Peter was 2 1/2.
This was probably the year our little son went pee outside (he might kill me for telling this story, lol!) and I asked him why he hadn’t run inside to use the toilet?
His answer: “Well, Skeeter goes outside.”
My reply: “Honey, Skeeter is a dog and can’t use a toilet like you can.”
The funny thing kids say and do! 💜
A new Japanese maple
On another happy note, I’ve replaced one of the dead plants with a small Japanese maple tree. It was in the clearance section at Lowe’s for 50% off ($37.00) so I brought it home. I’ve been trying to only buy new plants at clearance prices since they are all more like annuals here.
It needed to have its branches wrapped to encourage it to grow the correct way, but other than that, it was in good shape.
So far, so good! I have been watering it every other day, even in the super heat and it hasn’t lost many leaves. 🙂
And that’s what’s been going on here. I’ve been pulling out some of the things I need to bring and to not forget to pack.
Also, I’ve finally really unboxed my new computer and am with Apple trying to get data transferred. 😊
IF for some reason this takes too long, I may have to push off Share Your Style as I won’t have a way to import the features. But hopefully not.
Let’s hope for the best and enjoy this post until then!
Happy weekend to y’all, dear friends!All of the patriotic decorating posts I am seeing out on your sites has inspired me to redo my mantel!! A trip last week with my mother-in-law to her appointment with the Texas DPS in Gainesville to get her driver’s license (about 30 minutes north of us) had me out thrifting and antique browsing… And guess what I found?
While she waited for her turn, I went out to look around town’s shops and found a consignment antiques/thrift store just catty corner across the main street from where the Department of Public Services’ building is.
We had just stopped for lunch at Braum’s for burgers (they have great ice cream, too!), after touring the historical Medal of Honor outdoor park sites over the course of an hour-plus, and this little store was nice and cool on a hot 95 degree day…
Henry Hunt is a novel which was given to my husband by his mother who met the author at somewhere (B&N?). The book is signed. The blue textbook is one from my Political Science class in college. Really enjoyed that class!
The shop owners were very nice and I met a lady adding items to her section of the consignment shop. There were three floors inside and I was good and didn’t buy any more dishware (though I could have; always!).
What I found is this patriotic couple which are stamped Occupied Japan ( from the late 1940’s/early 1950’s is my guess) along their bases. Gini was excited about this little couple’s beginnings!! Of course she would be, she lived through that time right after World War II when Japan was occupied by the United States military and later as the Japanese military and people began rebuilding their country.
This man and lady in their 1776 costumes are a welcome addition to my small but growing collection of figurines! They go quite well with the French Sweethearts which I found in Denton a couple of years ago.
“L’homme et la femme parlent.” I have been busy studying French in both Duolingo and Rosetta Stone. Moving along and my pronunciation is getting better! I played with the chroma here. Our walls really look more this tan color, but it’s hard to catch it without “browning” everything else, lol!Here is another look. I like this photograph better as the French couple’s colors are more true to life.
They also go equally well with the pair which Mr. Ethereal has had since forever…
Bluish-grey book on left: Of Plymouth Plantation ~ 1620-1647 by William Bradford, edited by S.E. Morison and found at Half Price Books, Austin, TX. That location has a massive older book section with a nice variety of used and signed books.
Hubby says that this couple (pictured above left, and another pair that are over at my MIL’s house) have always been in the Chapman family. It wasn’t something that they picked up when they toured Independence Hall in Pennsylvania during one of the summers when they traveled cross-country. Every summer for years they would drive to visit family and visiting historical sites over a two week period. I’ll have to ask Gini where they came from.
Sorry this is kinda blurry! I had to really lighten it up and pull out the blacks since the sun comes in through this westerly window late in the afternoon. Summer is really dark inside this house; winter photographs much better as the sun moves around more North-West in the late afternoon with the Earth’s rotation.
Our 4th of July mantel
Books ~ History and poli-sci books from school, that one Plymouth Plantation/Colonial history book, and a children’s book I picked up at our Scholastic Book Fair this spring are what I used as our mantel books this year.
Patriotic transferware plate ~ bringing in one blue dinner plate with Independence Hall on it as a central focal point was all that was needed. *
Colonial French and American figurines added the final touches with their red, white and blue.
*This set is Liberty Blue – Independence Hall made in England, Staffordshire Ironstone and says that it is “detergent and dishwasher safe.” I found some on Replacements Ltd. but there seems to be quite a few sites which carry them from anywhere from $10.80/plate to $23.00 (Replacements, Ltd.)
Back in 2019 I went with this on our mantel ~ sharing American Civil War and anything military since Hubby was a Marine. We have several sections of our big bookcases in the living room which hold a bunch of great tomes covering United States military campaigns and our country’s history, in general.
This second patriotic post was part of a Pinterest Challenge back in 2020, I believe. I need to redecorate our coffee table again but I’m in the middle of carpet cleaning and moving furniture around. I’ll share the new look as I get things finished!
More books up on the right side of our fireplace mantel. Really interesting reads!
Favorite Movies
Oh!!! If you haven’t seen the HBO mini-series John Adams, you should! It’s good!!
I really liked Paul Giamatti’s portrayal as Adams. Laura Linney does a nice job of showing us Abigail Adams in much of their early married lives as the “harried housewife.” Mrs. Adams was busy raising kids in the late 1700’s, running a farm, and dealing with being a single mom much of the time while John Adams was away running the country.
At least that’s part of my take on the movie and the Adams’ lives! I recommend watching it over the 4th of July long weekend since it’s going to be super hot anyway… 😉
My inlaws introduced me to the musical 1776 back when Mr. Ethereal and I were first married and I instantly fell in-love with this film! It is based on the play of the same title by Peter Stone. Released in 1972 (I was 10 years old then.), I’m sure we saw it on reruns once a year on television, since my parents loved musicals, but I was probably too busy playing outside then and might not have been interested back then. 🙂
And that’s a wrap on our Patriotic Mantel (and a bit more) for this summer! I hope you have enjoyed this post and learned about some new books to check out at the library. I added the movies since you might be looking for copies of them, too. We actually don’t have 1776 so I think I will order. We’ve always just sat down and watched Gramma’s grainy video copy, though I think she has since updated to DVD or Blu-Ray. The old video is kinda nostalgic, I have to say. 😉
Welcome to this week’s Share Your Style #351! We have a lot of great features to share…
This link party is for home decor, DIY, crafts, recipes and the like, but you are more than welcome to share any of your family-friendly posts with us all. Please feel free to share this post too and join my small but loyal band of friends. I appreciate you! I appreciate your subscribing, also. As always, I am glad that you are here…💜
I am Barbara Chapman and I’d love it if you’d follow me here on my blog and on any of my other social media sites, too. Thank you!💜
Welcome everyone! Can you believe tomorrow is the end of June already??! Well, with that, next week is the 4th of July!!!! Our lovely Independence Day and we have lots of wonderful patriotic posts for you with bold tablescapes to fun craft ideas to make with family and friends!
So, let’s get to our features, shall we? I’ve added a few of my old posts in the links, too, for more inspiration. 🙂
Here’s what I shared this past week atFrench Ethereal…
Spruce Up Your Front Porch with Bunting for the 4th of July ~ I totally forgot to write into my post that I have never used bunting before over a doorway (or ever, really), which would have made more sense with the title, lol! I’ll have to go add that in… 😉
Do you like to paint? It’s usually a summertime thing for me. This week Jeanie from The Marmelade Gypsy has a wonderful post sharing all of her recent works of art. Do stop by and check them out! From the Paint Box.
Beth over at Whispers of the Heart shared her lovely Lady Liberty on a 4th of July Tablescape. Wouldn’t this be fun right after attending the 4th of July parade?? So festive!!!
Carol from The Scribbling Boomer (love that blog name!) shared what’s she’s been up to this summer in this post ~ My Garden Art Retirement Hobby. Love garden art!!!
Thank You so much to everyone who linked up this past week. A special thank you to everyone for always promoting Share Your Style on your blog and on your social media channels! I do see it when I stop by and I appreciate the love. 💜
If you’d like to follow my Share Your Style board on Pinterest I’d appreciate it, thank you! I do post all of the featured posts from each week’s SYS there plus usually other photos from those posts to my boards.💜 Thanks so much!!! If you are new to French Ethereal, I hope you will think about subscribing to my blog.
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