Tuesdays With Tracy: Summertime and Seashells

Hello Friends

Happy July! We are enjoying sitting on the deck in the mornings, and eating on the patio in the evenings. The Pelicans and Ducks are still hanging out on the pond.

I’m loving the Hollyhocks and Hydrangeas that are blooming in the garden. Last year was my first time growing Hollyhocks and I’m loving them.

Have you ever planted Endless Summer Bloom Hydrangeas in your garden??? I had three of them for about fifteen years and sometimes they would produce a couple of blooms, or none. I fertilized and that didn’t even help, ugh. Why on earth did I wait fifteen years to yank them out of the garden? I replaced them with Annabelle Hydrangeas and I’m here to tell you… winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Summertime, seashells, and the 4th

In the summertime I love to deck out our home with seashells, American flags, and lots of red, white, and blue.

I went for a festive Americana look by placing my vintage red and white quilt on the dining room table.

I think the old pew is smiling with this vintage red, white, and blue quilt. I thoroughly enjoy the five vintage and antique quilts that I have picked up at flea markets and shows. Some of them are tattered and worn but I love them anyway.

The small red quilt under my bowl of seashells in the photo below, was hand stitched by a woman who has been rescued from human trafficking.

seashells in blue and white bowl on red block print throw

The tray on the coffee table holds seashells and a stack of plates under a cloche. Sitting on the plates is a Margaret Furlong shell ornament that belonged to my mother.

“Every seashell is a work of art, molded by the sea, and the hand of God.”

In front of the window in the living room I have a large bowl full of shells and Japanese fishing floats.

My favorite uncle managed Wake Island in the 1960’s. He and my aunt gathered the floats on the beaches while they lived there. They are hand blown and signed by those who made them for the fishermen, as a way of identifying their nets.

In June while we were in Hawaii we ate at a Monkey Pod Restaurant that had this huge display of reproduction floats over their bar.

So that prompted me to look for other ideas to display fishing floats…

What’s your go-to color palette for summer rooms—do you lean bright and cheerful, or calm and coastal?

Summertime Fun

This past weekend my daughter Lindsey was out of town for work so we hosted our son-in-law and granddaughters for a cookout and Mexican Train dominoes. We love eating on the patio in the summer.

Have you been following the FIFA World Cup matches? We have seen a bit of it, but it has surely been fun to see the reactions of the foreign visitors to all things American. Especially as they try food. I saw one person’s reaction to Ranch dressing and it was a hoot.

Our youngest granddaughter brought her own Ranch dressing to our cookout. We had a different kind of Ranch but she insisted on eating the brand she brought.

So, my husband, Larry, decided to do a blind test insisting that she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Well, she definitely could tell and she selected her brand…Hidden Valley Ranch.

Speaking of games, what games do you enjoy? Lately we have been playing Mexican Train dominoes and Five Crowns, a card game.

“Everything Good, everything magical,

happens between the months of June and August.” – Jenny Han