{Our 2016 Double Orange Daylily or Hemerocallis}

In 2013 I already did post about our Double Orange Daylily or Hemerocallis that suddenly appeared in our garden. 

A gift from a bird...?

Perfect for my Dutch Heritage, as a salute to The Kingdom of the House of Orange...

It is a stunner and beautifully double with ruffled edges.

Placed it in a round Baccarat crystal vase...

Love those stamens and the pollen already fell off...

Hope you enjoyed this happy color Daylily and thanks for your visit!

Related link:

{Our Double Orange Daylily or Hemerocallis} | my previous 2013 post showing it in the garden... very lush!

{Daylily Hemerocallis WHITE TUXEDO + SAD Feline & CanineLove Story} | previous post by me

{Dark Days Before Christmas}

We are having some really DARK & RAINY days before Christmas, complete with THUNDER!

Not easy for making any photos...

Around 4:00 PM in the afternoon...

Lit all candles in our green wooden Christmas tree.

The idea for using a candle with empty escargot shells I got from a blogger friend.

You can see on my CANDLES Pinterest board

This Baccarat crystal caviar bowl is missing its top insert so it is perfect for filling it up with shells.

The Hardanger Christmas table topper is from Bad Münstereifel in Germany.

Holly berries are from our garden...

Thunder for now but on Christmas day the sun is peaking and it will be 82°F, like on Thursday.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!


My posts are not showing up on the Blog List for some reason... still an old one showing.

{Blossoms in December with Sunshine}

So far our December month is bringing us lots of sunshine.

Let me show you some of our December Blossoms...

One of our climbing roses still was yielding us such beauties.

Shown in a French crystal Baccarat perfume bottle.

Of course, our Camellias are also blooming...

Shown inside a Baccarat perfume bottle.

These white Verbena's happily continue blooming alongside the driveway.

From our garden we yielded 7 stems with white Paperwhites, that perfectly filled this tablet with fixed vases (7).

It was a gift that I received for doing a program about Indonesia, for a Women's Study Club here in Dublin, GA.

They presented me with this precious gift box!

Love the snow crystals...

Are you also having high 60s, 70s and low 80s in your area?

We LOVE this type of weather!

That's our weather forecast, up till almost Christmas.

{Rosebuds After Heavy Rain...}

Just on our 32nd Wedding Anniversary we had two cute Rosebuds After Heavy Rain for days!

And yes, we did have sunshine as well as you can see from the shade in the final photos.

Just placed them inside a French Baccarat Crystal Perfume Bottle...

With us, also our felines were so happy that the heavy rains stopped!

Even the small rosebud to the left is showing some damage from the pounding rain.

Roses + Sunshine for Happiness!

On November 12, the browning from the rain on the white rose is worse.
This actually is my precious 'Oma Rose' from a cutting of my Paternal Grandmother's Rose in The Netherlands. A Queen Elizabeth, Floribunda Rose.

Related link:

{Mistery Oma Rose Resolved!} | previous post by me

{Heavenly Jardins de Bagatelle Rose}

Even though the HOT summer heat here in Georgia/USA is not very suitable for roses or any flowers for that matter, we did yield some Heavenly Jardins de Bagatelle Roses from the new supply via Roses Unlimited, planted on May 2nd of this year.

Tender leaves have been burned from the hot July 8 sun...

But still, this heavenly perfumed rose is such a joy to have!

We also harvested two perfect Jasminum Sambac - Jasmine Grand Duke of Tuscany buds.

The first, and larger flower on May 5, when it was not yet that hot...

A Baccarat perfume bottle is perfect as a vase.

Such soft pink touches...

Wish we could have them more often in bloom but it is really hard here in the Southeast.

These Jasmines were perfect!

Hope you enjoyed our treasures...

Related link:
{Jasminum Sambac - Jasmine Grand Duke of Tuscany} | previous post, showing you the jasmine

{Won-Ton Wrapper Shells + Strawberry Rose Petal Cream Recipe}

Home grown fragrant roses are perfect for using in this favorite dessert!
Important is that you got pesticide free rose petals!

Won-Ton Wrapper Shells + Strawberry Rose Petal Cream (Recipe below post)...
In this photo I did use Perfume Delight Rose petals.
~
Our Chrysler Imperial Rose below is such a large size red beauty and perfect with strawberries!

We had two blossoms to place on this little Baccarat vase (actually a perfume bottle without stopper!).

In comparison with my hand.

Again this is the very fine hand crocheted table topper from blogger friend Susan from: Ava Grace's Closet

Fully opened up...

Such highly fragrant rose petals are perfect for use in the above Won-ton-wrappers with rose petal strawberry cream.

RECIPE:

Romantic Rose Petals and Strawberry slices in home baked shells.
 Using won-ton-wrappers and brushing them with melted butter; than dusting with a mixture of (Coconut Palm) sugar and cinnamon, then place the wrappers, sugared side up, into a muffin pan.
Only about 5 min. in the oven on 200°C or 400°F and voilà.
Take out of the oven and let completely cool.

Next you whip up some whipped cream with a few drops of Rose Water (Eau de Rose) and add carefully the pesticide free Rose Petals and sliced Strawberries... Dust with powdered sugar.

Instead of Whipped Cream, you may want to use Coconut Cream instead.
Place a can of Coconut Cream in the fridge, overnight.
Carefully open up and scoop out the hardened top layer and all creamy substance, leaving the liquid for other uses like in smoothies. Just whip it with the Rose Water drops and proceed like above.

Oh, from the same won-ton-wrappers I did cut out hearts for decoration...

Using a Muffineer or a Sugar Sifter Spoon to dust off with powdered sugar! See in link below.

Related link:

{Antique French 19th Century 950/1000 Silver & Crystal Muffineer, Sugar Shaker, Caster Sifter} | previous post by me

{Fragrant Chrysler Imperial Rose}

Several years ago, we lost all our roses due to drought...
Finally we have found our highly fragrant Chrysler Imperial Rose back!
It is such a lovely Hybrid Tea Rose.

Chrysler Imperial was a 1953 AARS winner. (All American Rose Society)
A dream in a tiny Baccarat crystal vase.

It is a stunning and also a rather large rose...

My Rheinpfalz Hartporzellan cake plates from Germany also have red roses... They still are from my original trousseau. Yes, I did start quite young with gathering some nice pieces; several of which I still possess!

My home baked Amaretti cookies are on the cake plate...

Guess I always have loved roses.
That's also why we do have our {New Rose Arbor on High Heels} and it is visible from our bay window area as you can see here.

The teacups and teapot are by Seltmann Weiden Bavaria in then W. Germany in the Mirabell pattern.

The tablecloth is hand crocheted and was a gift from my dear friend Ellie.
Does any of you have this highly fragrant Chrysler Imperial Rose?

{Angel Candle Snuffer Gift}

My dear friend Mariëlle, from The Netherlands, did stay with us from May 2 till May 9. A brief vacation for her, but she had to be back at her Kandinsky College Malderburchtstraat for dealing with the exam week, before the summer vacation would start. 

Mariëlle also lost her dear Mom, on January 3, and I lost my Mom on January 27...

So it is obvious that both of us had Angels on our minds.

Mariëlle actually did create one for me!

A very unique Angel Candle Snuffer...
Angel's head and handle are made out of wood. The body, halo and extension to wooden handle are made out of Alpaca, or nickle silver, and spray coated with a heat resistant paint in matte silver.

LOVE the ergonomics of it, as it feels so perfect inside my hand.

Super cute Angel!

The hand crocheted table cloth is a gift from my Dutch friend Ellie...

Candle and Chrysler Imperial fragrant rose are in Baccarat crystal.

More up close... 

Candle is from Point A La Ligne France, the Rolls Royce of candles.

Don't you love Mariëlle's sweet Angel design?

Related link:

{Point A La Ligne the Rolls Royce of Candles} | previous post by me

{Roses and Tea}

We did have some lovely looking roses in our garden. With the emphasis on 'looking' because for handling them they were not lovely! Very sharp thorns and thus rather prickly for arranging them inside this crystal Baccarat vase.

Looks lovely though; or not?

A healthy living snack... home baked almond cookies; my version of Amaretti cookies.

Tea and some fresh fruit.

You can see the many thorns on those stems!

Grapes are seedless...

Husband Pieter LOVES my home baked Amaretti cookies!

Sad thing is that Trader Joe's discontinued the Organic Coconut Sugar... Whole Foods Market does have it too, but they're far more expensive!

Are you also using the low glycemic index Coconut Sugar?

Related link:

{Coconut Palm Sugar with Glycemic Index 35} | previous post by me
{Antique French Gilt Metal & Glass Biscuit Box with Handle} | previous post by me

{Orange Tulips compliments of Cut Flower Wholesale - Atlanta}

When we did go to the Dutch King's Birthday Celebration, we all received a lovely bouquet of Orange Tulips at the end of the evening. So I want to share these lovelies with you here.

In our veranda in a Baccarat crystal jug.

There were many business sponsors for the wonderful event and one of them was:

Cut Flower Wholesale Atlanta ←just click the link

We came home next day after one night at the

Hyatt Place Atlanta - Perimeter Center 

It was a lovely time, even though we went three days in a row back and forth to Atlanta.
To Naylor Hall, it was a one-way trip of 155 miles or some 250 km.

Next day we did go back for picking up a dear friend at the Atlanta Airport International Terminal

That was another round trip of 400 km or 250 miles!

Blissful time we had... Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Related links:
{Dutch King's Birthday Celebration in Atlanta, Georgia} | previous post by me
{HM King Willem Alexander by Elske Wilton, Portrait Artist} | previous post by me

{Crocheted Table Topper}

Crocheted Table Topper for layering with linen table cloth...

Yes, that is one more item I did hand crochet. My Mom had used to have a stash of Dutch, Durable cotton and I did purchase quite some skeins from her.

You see it right; there is a PEACH in that fruit bowl with some Bosc pears... even in mid-winter!

A nice table setting for three.

Crocheted from an Aarlan magazine, with obviously nicer thread that had a pretty sheen...

Funny that I could almost copy-cat everything in the above photo...

My white octagonal Seltmann Weiden Mirabell china from Germany.

French Baccarat Piccadilly, narrow and somewhat wider champagne flutes.

Dutch Gero Zilmeta Menuet 528 flatware.

Creamware Fluted Salad bowl made in Leeds, England by Hartley Greens & Co., famous since 1770.

Available at: Williamsburg Marketplace

The Evil Eye from Turkey is adding some blue...

Just a simple star pattern...

Added the  crochet pattern for those that would like to copy it...