Replacements, Ltd., Part II

Back in December, before Christmas, Mr. Forest Manor and I took a little trip to Replacements, Ltd., which is about an hour from our house.  It was decorated beautifully for Christmas; we saw some spectacular Christmas tablescapes.  If you'd like to see those, you can read the post HERE.

We took a lot of pictures that day; the showroom at Replacements, Ltd. is fairly large, and it is positively loaded with all kinds of china, crystal, sterling and silverplate, as well as Christmas ornaments, Toby Jugs, and other collectibles.  In my December post, I just focused on the Christmas dishes and decor to go along with the season, but I wanted to show you some of the other things there are to see at this amazing store.

This first section I'm showing is their museum exhibit.  All these items are for display only; nothing for sale.  These items had no price tags -- maybe because they're priceless?  Anyway, here we go.

This is a collection of the "Rothschild Bird" dishes by Herend.  Again, these particular pieces are not for sale, but I believe you can buy some of the dishes in the "Rothschild Bird" pattern through Replacements, e-bay, etc.  They are quite expensive.  Susan at Between Naps on the Porch did a post about this pattern last year.  She has some of the salad plates, and they really are lovely.

I love the way they've created this display of the bird in a tree with a necklace to go along with the china.

Here are a few cases containing sterling coffee and tea sets.

And below, you see sterling flatware, candlesticks, and other miscellaneous pieces.

This is a case of Haviland china, including Haviland "Limoges".

The set below is called "Summer Glory" by Shelley-England.  I love the soft pink background. Those flowers look like lilacs to me -- so delicate looking.

I loved this George Washington Portrait Plate.  I'm assuming that must be Martha on the plate to the left of him.

These Royal Worcester plates depict famous cathedrals in England.

The writing on the inner rim of this plate reads "Queen Elizabeth at Old Moreton 1589".

The placard on the right of this shelf is hard to read; I had to use the zoom feature on Picasa to be able to read it.  I thought it was interesting; it explained about the provenance of these dishes. They're called Royal Doulton Series Ware, and the card reads:  "Starting with a line of tableware featuring images of the Eglinton Tournament(?), Royal Doulton began producing their popular series ware with scenes from literary, historical and everyday British life.  The Dickens series ware was probably the most popular of these.  Featured here are a variety of "Coaching Days", "Queen Elizabeth at Old Moreton Hall", "Under The Greenwood Tree", and Historic England series ware pieces."

Anybody recognize the scene depicted on the plates below?  It's Robin Hood and his Band of Merry Men -- the pattern is "Under The Greenwood Tree", c.1909.

This is the fun part where you get to look at the cases and see if your china, crystal, or flatware patterns are on display.

Does anyone recognize their crystal or flatware in here?  It's hard to tell anything about the flatware because we didn't get a really close-up picture.

Here's my crystal pattern below on the left, "French Cathedral" by Gorham.  I bet yours is somewhere in here too. ;-)

Here are some pretty Spode patterns.  I like the "Herring Hunt".

On the top row in this picture below, I see two of my Johnson Brothers patterns; "His Majesty" and "Old Britain Castles-Pink".  To the right of the "His Majesty" pattern, is my Mom's blue and white pattern, "Indies-Blue"  I also spotted my Mother-in-Law's "Runnymede-Blue" Wedgwood pattern.

Third from the right, top row, is my Royal Doulton "Juliet".

My husband's grandmother had a huge set of the "Blue Danube" with lots of pretty serving pieces.  It's a beautiful pattern.  The pattern beside it called "Grenadiers" by Bernardaud is one of my favorite Christmas patterns, but definitely out of my price range.

So, did you spot your dishes in there anywhere?  It's fun to look, huh?  Next are some beautiful Belleek pieces.

Purely whimsical...we love Charlie Brown and friends at our house.

Miniature teaset atop a bright pink hat box...

I really LOVE this Cameo pitcher and bowl set made by Minton China. I think the cameo and the garland with bows is so elegant.

  

Well, that's it for our tour.  I hope you saw some things that caught your fancy.  It's fun to look, but we don't buy here often because most of the things are too pricey for us.  I have, however, found some pieces for my patterns that I wasn't able to find elsewhere.  If you're ever in the area and you get a chance to stop at Replacements, Ltd., it's definitely worth a visit.

Thank you for your visit and have a great day!  I'm joining the following people this week:

Tablescape Thursday, hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch

Home and Garden Thursday, hosted by Kathy at A Delightsome Life

                                Pink Saturday, hosted by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound

Seasonal Sundays, hosted by The Tablescaper

Post of the Month Club, hosted by Laura at Happy Homemaker UK

Denise

For The Birds

Over the Christmas holidays, Mr. Forest Manor and I put out some new bird feeders.  (I published an updated post) on these feeders in February, with some good candid photos that Mr. Forest Manor took of the various birds visiting our feeders.  We haven't put any out in several years because it was hard to find a good place for them where we could watch the birds and the squirrels wouldn't bother them.  The squirrels pretty much ruined our last bird feeder.  Our solution (and it seems to be working well at the moment) was to hang the feeders from a long chain under the eaves of our screened porch.  We can watch them from our kitchen window and from the door in our den.  The chain is too long for the squirrels to hang over the roof and eat from the feeders, and so far, they haven't tried to climb down the chain...yet.  I'm just waiting for them to climb the screen on the porch to get to the feeders.  I sure hope they don't.

This is the feeder we bought several months ago, and just recently got around to hanging.

These are some of the different varieties of birds we've seen at the feeder so far.  NOTE* These pictures were all downloaded from the Internet because we keep scaring the birds away when we try to snap a picture.

The beloved Black Capped Chickadee...

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Carolina Wren...

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The feisty little Tufted Titmouse...

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Purple Finch...

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White Breasted Nuthatch...

Male Northern Cardinal...

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and female Northern Cardinal...

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and the Song Sparrow.

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How many times have you innocently Googled a particular subject with a picture in your mind of one thing, and then something completely different comes up?  This is a "Sparrow", too -- "Cap'n Jack" 

 ;-)

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Anyhoo ... back to the subject at hand. :)  Each level has its own separate feed container.  Of course, it took the birds a few days to discover the feeder, and then it took them awhile longer to feel comfortable and safe using it.  Now, it's really fun to watch, because more than one bird gets on there at a time.  The other day, there were three -- a male cardinal and a purple finch on the lower level and a chickadee on the upper level.

When we were shopping for a Christmas gift at our local Wild Birds Unlimited store, we discovered these...

This section of a tree limb (cedar), which is about three inches in diameter, has a metal eye hook screwed into the top so that you can hang it from a chain.  The limb has three holes; two holes on one side and one hole on the other.  My husband said it looks like they used a one-inch drill bit and drilled these three holes.  Then you fill the holes with a product called "Birdacious Bark Butter" :-), which they carry at the Wild Birds Unlimited stores.  The Bark Butter contains rendered beef, suet, roasted peanuts, peanut oil, corn and calcium carbonate.  You can find out more about the Birdacious Bark Butter HERE.  This fellow really likes the bark butter...

the Downy Woodpecker

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But we've also seen the Chickadees, the Wren, and the Tufted Titmouse feeding on the Bark Butter, as well.

I find feeding the birds to be a little addictive.  They have a really neat add-on feeder at the Wild Birds Unlimited called The Pole System.  The central pole has two curved arms that you can hang feeders on, and it has an auger at the base which allows you to screw the pole into the ground.  You then attach a stabilizer to hold the pole in place, and after that, there are all kinds of features you can add to the basic system, allowing you to feed lots and lots of birds.  I'd really like to put one of those in our back yard.  Maybe in the summer -- we'll just have to see.

Do you like to feed the birds?  What kind of wild birds do you get in your area?  Which ones are your favorites?

Our Nandina bush, loaded with bright, red berries.  The Cardinals like these.

Thanks for stopping by the House at Forest Manor.  As always, I welcome your visits and your comments.

Denise     

A Year of Tablescaping

Next week will mark my first full year of blogging.  I first became interested in tablescaping about two years ago, and I looked at other blogs for almost a whole year before I worked up the nerve to start my own blog.  I saw so many beautiful, creative tables every week on Tablescape Thursdays; I think, like everyone else, I just really wanted to join the party. :)

When I first Googled "tablescapes" one of the sites that popped up was a certain lady on the Food Network (not naming any names) who shows us how to go "from store-bought to homemade". ;)  Well, that wasn't the kind of tablescape I was interested in.  I didn't really want to coordinate my outfit of the day with my KitchenAid mixer, my window treatments, dishes, etc.

Then I saw Susan's blog, Between Naps on the Porch.  I was hooked.  But what exactly was a "blog"?  I had to ask my husband.  He said he could set one up for me if I wanted to.  I was intrigued, but intimidated.  In the meantime, I kept looking at more and more blogs, and it was fascinating.  Another blog that I loved to look at for tablescapes was, aptly named, The Tablescaper. 

I read Susan's FAQ section of her blog, where she answers all kinds of blog-related questions.  And we got a book, "Google Blogger For Dummies".  I'm not a dummy, but I felt like one when I first started blogging.  I used to joke about those "For Dummies" books, but I have to admit, that one was helpful for the initial stages of learning to blog.

Well, I definitely didn't set any records for the most tablescapes in 2011 -- far from it.  But I had fun learning and practicing.  I am grateful for Mr. Forest Manor's patience in photographing all the tables for me.  I think he's kinda' proud of my blog; he's certainly made a significant contribution.  I enjoy coming up with the ideas and doing the set-up, and I leave the photography to the expert.  I did take a photography class this past year, though, and I also took some photos for some of my outdoor posts.  I hope to get better at the indoor pics this year.

So here's a recap of my tablescapes over the past twelve months.  My first tablescape was a winter table last February.  Just click on the title link below the picture to see full tablescape.

"First Tablescape -- House at Forest Manor" 

"Shakespeare and Royal Doulton China"  

"Celebrating Spring" 

"Happy Easter" 

"Happy Mother's Day"  

"Happy Anniversary"  

"A Memorial Day Tribute Table"

"Let Freedom Ring"

"English Garden Tablescape"

"An Autumn Table"

  "The Warm Glow of Copper"

"Giving Thanks"

"Pretty In Plaid" 

So those were my efforts for this year.  I played with dishes, learned some things about setting pretty tables, and acquired a few more things to find storage for. :)  What could be more fun?

I'm linking to Susan's wonderful Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps On The Porch.  Thanks for hosting this party every week, Susan!!  I hope you'll join me there to see lots of talented folks display their pretty tables.  Also linking to Seasonal Sundays, hosted by The Tablescaper and Home and Garden Thursdays hosted by Kathy at A Delightsome Life.

As always, thanks for stopping by the House at Forest Manor.  I welcome your visits and your kind comments.

Denise

A Thoughtful Gesture Is Not Soon Forgotten

A coincidence happened to me last night that I'm sure wasn't really a coincidence.  God tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me that he is always here, and he did this through the kindness of a friend.  My father is scheduled to have open heart surgery tomorrow morning to replace a leaking valve.  Needless to say, our family has had this on our minds (and in our prayers) all through the holidays.

Last night, my son and husband were busy in the basement when our phone rang. I started not to answer because I was tired and didn't really feel like talking.  But I did answer, and it was my friend who lives in Arizona that I haven't talked with in about six months.  Her husband and son had gone skiing, and since she doesn't ski, she was home by herself and feeling a bit lonely.

This friendship goes way back; she was a bridesmaid in our wedding, and we worked together for two years at what I consider to be my first real, "grownup" job.  There were actually three of us "girls" from work who hung out together, and we became very close friends.  The other friend still lives nearby, but after Alisa married, she and her husband moved around a lot.  They lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Phoenix, Arizona; Dallas, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; and now, Arizona again.

I'm sorry to say we lost touch for several years, except for the occasional Christmas card or phone call.  But then, she called me this past summer, and we reconnected.  Last night, we talked for over an hour, about lots of things, and I was really glad she called.  As we were winding up our conversation, I told her that my dad is having open heart surgery tomorrow.  She was very kind and asked if she could call me Thursday night to see how he's doing.  It meant a lot to me.

This morning, I was having a late cup of coffee, and I heard a car in our driveway.  I looked out the window and saw someone heading towards our front door with a flower arrangement.  I put the dog up, and told my husband they probably had the wrong house number; we never get flowers.  It wasn't the wrong address; the flowers were for me.  I really couldn't imagine who they were from, and when I opened the card, I discovered they were from my friend in Arizona.  We just talked last night, and she sent these the very next day...

My heart is filled with gratitude.

Thank You, Alisa!

 I hope you are all still enjoying this Christmas season.  Thanks for stopping by.

Denise

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS US EVERYONE

I hope you are all making preparations to spend tomorrow (or tonight) with dearest friends and loved ones.  Among the many blessings I count this Christmas, I consider myself blessed to have shared with all of you through my blog, and to have enjoyed all the many things you have shared about yourselves, your families, and your homes this year.  Thanks to all of you who have taken time to visit my blog.

I'm sure it sounds funny to people who don't blog to hear us talk about our "friends" in blog land.  Nevertheless, I want to wish my friends whom I've gotten to know this past year, a Very Merry and Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.  This is by no means everyone, but these are the people who first spring to mind when I think about blogging, so "Merry Christmas" to Mary, a North Carolina blogger like me :)  (Home Is Where The Boat Is), Debbie (Words On Wheels) and Susan at Between Naps on the Porch, both in Georgia; Barbara (Two Birdies and a B.) in Staten Island; Kathleen (Cuisine Kathleen) and The Tablescaper, both on Long Island; Maggie in Normandy (Normandy Life); Laura in London, England, (Happy Homemaker UK); Marlis in Texas (Creative Journeys); Fabby in Ecuador (Fabby's Living); Alycia Nichols in Missouri (Tablescapes at Table Twenty-One); Sherry in Illinois (The Charm of Home); Cherry Kay In Oklahoma  (Entertaining Women); Bonnie in Alabama (Living With Thanksgiving); and Kathryn Ross in New Jersey (A Writer's Reverie), to name just a few.  Merry Christmas From Our House to Yours!!

And to all my Friends and Family, Merry Christmas and God Bless Us Everyone. 

Denise

Linking to Seasonal Sundays, hosted by The Tablescaper, for this very special Sunday --Christmas Day.