Pumpkins

I recently bought these pumpkin dishes at Walmart. They are by Better Homes & Gardens.

They are great for a soup dinner or soup and salad dinner. I've used them several times in the last month for homemade soups that I've served to company.

They are microwave, dishwasher, & oven safe. So colorful and cute. I had the little leaf dishes from last year. They're from Old Time Pottery.

Napkins from Penny's and napkin rings from HG.

Even though the centerpiece is actually a cookie jar, it makes a great tureen to serve soup. It is microwavable as well.

Salt and Pepper shakers are from Steinmart.

Small pumpkins from Old Time Pottery. Little acorn jewels from Michaels.

It's Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch. Susan is the lovely host of this event. Be sure to visit the other tablescapes and get inspired.

Thanks for stopping by and for all your comments!

Enjoy your week!

Bush's Baked Beans

When we left the little cabin in the woods a few weeks ago it was 6:00 in the morning. My brother and sis-in-law had a long ride back to MI and wanted an early start. I was a little bummed because we were thinking about spending the day in Gatlinburgh. The key to the cabin had to be turned in and I didn't want to hang around 4 hrs. till stores opened so we headed home, as well.


On our way home we passed the Bush Baked Bean manufacturing plant. ( We noticed it on the way to the cabin but didn't take the time to stop for a tour.)


It was now 6:30 a.m. as we passed it and hubby pulled in the lot so I could get a picture of the front and the Cafe sign. We had just ate some of their beans the night before when we cooked out at the cabin. lol

It was just getting light outside when we pulled in. Hubby saw a man down at the end of this veranda and headed down to talk to him.

All of you have probably seen the commercials with Jay and Duke ( the dog) concerning the "family recipe". They have the cutest commercials.

Jay is the great-grandson of the founders of the company and the company spokesperson.

The gentleman at the end of the veranda happened to be married to Jay's first cousin. He felt really bad that it was too early for us to tour the facility.

BUT---he had something else in mind for us. He asked us if we noticed the old homestead across the street. Actually I hadn't.

Well, he wanted to take us through the house. It is NEVER on a tour. They remodeled it to house the board members we they come into town for their meetings rather than put them in hotels.

Here's the nice man who led us on our private tour. Cans of beans were stacked everywhere. lol

The house was built around 1900. It is much larger on the inside than it appears on the outside.

This tour happened so quickly, I grabbed my camera out of the car and didn't take the time to !check all the settings. I should have had the flash on for some of these pics. Sorry.

When you walk in the front door the foyer is being used for their meetings. The decorator put a round table with leather chairs, beautiful chandy, and silk checked drapes.

So much prettier in person.

The living room is off the foyer to the right. Every room has a fireplace, including the 5 bedrooms.

Beautiful furniture, carpets, drapes and another gorgeous chandy.

This room and the dining room have wallpapered ceilings.

This is the only downstairs bedroom, off the foyer. Each bedroom has it's own bathroom, as well as fireplace.

Another cabinet displaying beans.

This room was being used as an office.

Bathroom off the office.

This is a picture of the Bush family with 4 of their children. There would be two more born after this photo was taken.

The dining room. Love that ceiling!

Another angle.

The other side of the room. Now remember it's 6:30 a.m. I was planning on traveling not having a photo-op. lol

The fireplace in ther kitchen.

A bedroom upstairs. Look ate the birds carved on the headboard.

The fireplace in this bedroom.

Another adorable guest room. They used twin beds for the board members.

Fireplace in this room.

Bathroom. Notice the co-ordinating wallpaper,bedskirts and drapes.

Another guest bathroom.

I took this picture of the ceiling at the top of the stairs.

This is the founder of the company.

Beautiful furniture throughout the home.

The stairway.

On a hillside outside the home, black angus cattle are grazing. They belong to Jay and are quite sought after by many restaurant chains.

I hope you enjoyed the tour. I wish you could have taken it with me in person.

I hope you are off to a great start to your week.

Our temperatures finally dropped and we got much needed rain.

Miss Janice @Etiquette with Miss Janice has a fabulous giveaway right now. Be sure to stop over and check it out.

Till next time!

Outdoors

The grass is starting to show signs of Fall. The growth is slowing down and some leaves on the trees are just starting to turn a little here in the deep south.

We put out a few Fall decorations in the back along the fence. The flowers are still pretty to look at and enjoy.

We were babysitting our 22 month old grand daughter yesterday and decided to take her out back to see the flowers and fountain. Hubby wanted to get a pic of her by my Coleus plants.

She was more than willing to pose. lol

She loves to play by the water.

She's touching a turtle statue wondering if it's real or not.

Looking at Papa with that look of what should I do. Is it safe?

Of course she got her little tootsies wet. Babies with chubby feet are so cute.

She thought she would see if the flowers smelled nice. lol

The outdoors is so soothing when the temperature is nice and you can sit and watch children, birds, chipmunks or squirrels playing. We are enjoying lots of butterflies and hummingbirds right now.

What have you been up to?

Thanks for stopping by. I am linking to Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer Be sure to pop over to see other posts.

Fall Decor

Marty @ http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/ is hosting Tabletop Tuesday. Be sure to stop over and see beautiful tables full of inspiration.

It was time to get all the pumpkins out at our house. It's a tiring job, but so much fun to have all the Fall decoration out to enjoy. After all it's the longest season to enjoy the "fruits" of our labors ( no pun intended). lol

We purchased the large pumpkins in Boone, NC last year, at a drug store, no less.
When you have a tall large room, it always helps to get items are a larger scale.
A picture from the Cat Walk looking down.

This is an entrance table by our front door. I put together the floral arrangement this year.

This Bombay chest sits in the same foyer on another wall. My sister just sent me the cornucopia a week ago. I had the glass fruit already and added some pumpkin crystals and flowers. The picture is a painting of the Ingall's family that I purchased when I visited Laura Ingall's homestead last year. Pa is playing his fiddle while the girls dance and Ma holds a baby on her lap.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a fun looking at the other tabletops today!

Cabin in the Woods

CAUTION: You are about to enter the PICTURE zone!
I have a lot of pics in this post. You may want to grab a cup of Joe. lol

We arrived in Gatlinburgh to stay a couple of nights in this cabin in the woods. My brother rented it from the Internet..site unseen. My sis-in-law told me not to fear if it wasn't clean they would not be staying. They arrived a few days before us.

There are references to foxes or bears everywhere. Oh MY!

Beautiful streams and scenery!

Plenty of little critters as well as big critters. This is a friendly one.

This one not so much! lol

We enjoyed the relaxed pace and sat on the porch for hours.

This is the road that led to the cabin.

It was very nice and well stocked with dishes and utensils.

Notice the french doors in this next pic. It made my hubby nervous at night because the bears were right outside at times in our garbage. Notice the grill right outside the doors. We used it one night. Talk about luring the bears right to you. Yikes! lol

The cabin had two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, wrap around porch and a jacuzzi outside. I passed on that one! I didn't want to be out there where I couldn't escape a bear approaching.

We drove through Cade's Cove one day. It's very scenic. You'll see horses roaming, deer walking around, people hiking and yes, bears!

This is an old church at the Cove.

A park ranger riding her bike. I wouldn't be able to handle that job because the BEARS are walking around. It doesn't bother her--she's a happy camper.

Speaking of......we spotted a bear way up in the tree eating berries of some sort. Enlarge pic and right in the center you will see a black blob. lol

We watched" her", it- for a while. I guess she was full and decided to take a nap because she just flopped on the branch and let her arms and legs hang down. I felt the same way after a big meal. lol She was drawing a crowd and everyone was snapping pics.

We were driving down this road and hubs spotted a bear leisurely walking in the woods.

Hubs jumps out, against my advice of course, camera aiming for the next two pics.

I yelled, "I'm glad the life insurance is paid up!" lol

He got pretty close.

One night we went to Dixie Stampede! Have you ever been there? It has an amazing show, fantastic food, and great servers.

Here's a pic of the arena. We could only take pics before the show.

They use beautiful horses, cattle and covered wagons for part of the show. It's unique for sure.

You face the arena with a ledge in front of you for your food. You eat while enjoying the show. They serve a large Cornish hen, barbecue pork, corn, homemade rolls, soup, baked potato and apple turnover. I had to bring half home with me. lol

Oh, I forgot, they serve plenty of iced tea in mason jars, of course.

They have rodeo relays and many other events in the show.

If you survived to the end, I want to thank you for staying and for each comment you leave.

I hope you all have a safe & great weekend! Till next time!