Amazing Tablescapes 2025

This week four members of the Take Joy Society, Carol, Cindy, Chris, and Cathy, went out to lunch at Brooke's House cafe before attending this year's Amazing Tablescapes at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts.  A new Curator came on board since last year's Tablescapes, changed the date, and gave it a theme.  Several people who had signed up to contribute to this year's table designs had already started their project.  Cindy was one of them (#8), but you will see it is as clever as always.  The Museum is featuring a collection of photos of Frida Kahlo in conjunction with Tablescapes.

Amazing Tablescapes 2024

The Take Joy Society (in attendance were Cathy, Chris, Carol, Marilyn, and Cindy) met at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts to view this year's Amazing Tablescapes 2024 Fundraiser.  There were 17 tablescapes this year.  Our Cindy contributed once again.  To better see the details of each exhibit click on each photo to enlarge it.

The tables are set up in the museum's atrium. . .

Amazing Tablescapes 2023

Several members of the Take Joy Society met at the Washington County Fine Arts Museum for their annual fundraising event called Amazing Tablescapes.  

Click on the name of the table for more photos on the museum's website.  Carol is viewing Buzz Worthy. . . .

Christmas Tea at Cindy's

🎶O Come All Ye Faithful🎶

Cindy, Chris, Carol, and Cathy gathered at Cindy's house for this year's Christmas Tea.  Edie, unfortunately, was unable to join us because her husband was in the hospital recovering from surgery.  

Cindy's house was decorated for Christmas. . . .

Christmas Tea at Carol's

🎶We Wish You a Merry Christmas🎶 

The Take Joy Society got together yesterday for a Christmas Tea at Carol's house.  Here is her lovely table set for our festivities.....

Amazing Tablescapes 2019

The ladies of the Take Joy Society got together this week to once again visit Washington County Fine Arts Museum's fundraiser "Amazing Tablescapes" in Hagerstown, Maryland.  Last year TJS member, Cindy Downs, entered her welded sculptures and was awarded this trophy for raising the most money through "votes" of $1 each placed in jars.  You can view last year's HERE. 

Taking Joy in Tea

When friends get together it's always fun to visit a favorite tea room where we can take our time to catch up on what is happening in each others' lives and talk about things that are important to us.  At Christmas time it's an opportunity to exchange gifts, too!  So that is what we did today at Dollies Tea Room in Clear Spring, Maryland. . . .

Winchester Get-Together - August 2018

The Take Joy Society's August get-together was in Old Town Winchester, VA today.  First we did the requisite shopping.  Our first stop was Peacock Antiques. . . .

Williamsport Get-Together - June 2018

Today the Take Joy Society visited Williamsport, Maryland, a small town at the confluence of the Potomac River and Conococheague Creek.  Williamsport grew up along the Great Wagon Road, that ran from New York to the Carolinas, where a ferry was established in 1744 to carry settlers heading West across the Potomac.  By 1834 the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal passed through Williamsport to transport coal and other supplies between Cumberland, Maryland and Washington, D.C. and was why we visited the town today so we could take a ride on a replica launch boat which were used around 1900 for leisure and business on the canal.

Our first stop was the Canal View Candles & Barrel Company where you could find innovative handcrafted items made from barrels.

Then it was across the street for lunch at Desert Rose Cafe, named after the owner. . . .

Mercersburg Get-Together - April 2018

The Take Joy Society outing yesterday started in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania with lunch at Flannery's. . . .

Berkeley Springs Get-Together - March 2018

George Washington bathed here!  But that is not why the Take Joy Society visited Berkeley Springs, West Virginia today. . . .

Chambersburg IceFest Get-Together - January 2018

We arrived in Chambersburg just after 10:00 while the temperatures were still at the freezing mark.  It was a good day to tour the IceFest in downtown Chambersburg, PA. . . .

Leesburg Oatlands Get-Together - December

All six of the Take Joy Society members were able to get together to celebrate Christmas in Leesburg, Virginia.  Edie, who had started off her married life here in 1972 showed us the downtown area.  

Leesburg was dressed up for Christmas. . . .

Frederick Get-Together - November

The Take Joy Society's third town to explore is familiar to three of us since we live on the outskirts of Frederick.  But we made some new discoveries as we parked the car and took to the sidewalk.  Our first stop was the public library.  Debra took us to the Children's Department to see a fun mural in a room I'd not been in. . . .

Waterford Fair Get-Together- October

This month, on the 6th, the Take Joy Society attended this year's Waterford Fair in Waterford, VA .  Click on music link to hear Donna Nomick, one of the vendors at the Fair, play "Si Bean Locha Lein" and come back here to read along with the music.

♫Hammered Dulcimer♫

Only Cindy and I were able to make this get-together so we brought our husbands along and met at the Fair.  Ken and I took the back roads whenever we could for the 35-minute drive, passing lovely farm scenes like these. . . .

Hagerstown Get-Together

The Take Joy Society begins its third year this month.  We had a gorgeous day to begin our theme this year of exploring different nearby towns.  Four of the six members got together to check out a new project recently completed in Hagerstown, MD called the Cultural Trail.  We met at the Washington County Fine Arts Museum, which I featured last year in our January get-together, to view the art pieces by member Cindy in the exhibit "The Art of Life:  Celebrating 85 Years of Art Education". . . .

Norwegian Get-Together

Yesterday we met at member Chris's home to get a taste of Norway--a country she has visited several times and from which her ancestors migrated.  We started the afternoon with cold cantaloupe soup--especially refreshing since the temperature was in the 90s. . . .

Surreybrooke House/Garden Tour Get-Together

This month's Take Joy Society get-together was to tour Ron and Nancy Walz's  civil-war-era house and personal garden at Surreybrooke on the Open Days Tour sponsored by the Garden Conservancy.  Open Days features private gardens throughout the country.  There may be one in your area, so check the Garden Conservancy link above.  Unfortunate for the others, Cindy and I were the only one's able to make it today.  We got to see the modern addition as well as the original part of the house. This is looking back down the walk we came up to get to the new addition.  In the distance is the mountain range I live on.  You will see Catoctin Mountain in the background in many of the photos. . . .

Northern Neck Virginia House & Garden Get-Together

Edie invited the Take Joy Society members to her vacation home on the Northern Neck of Virginia so that we could go on the Northumberland County House & Garden tour during Virginia's Historic Garden Week.  There were four of us in all who were able to get away for three days and two nights.  Unfortunately photos were not permitted inside the houses, but I will be telling you a bit of their history.

We set out in the rain mid-morning on Tuesday. . . .

Shoe Cutting Party Get-Together

The Take Joy Society members attended a Shoe Cutting Party at member Carol's house today to do our part for Sole Hope. . . .

Sole Hope