Decorative china coffee or tea set made in Japan drips with gold and pink design

I've put this little tea or coffee pot set up on Ebay again to see if I can sell it.  It's a very decorative piece but basically it's a vintage reproduction Made in Japan as a copy of other vintage or antique tea or coffee services.  This has the little classic French medallion of rustic courtesans playing outside and the whole thing is painted in very bright rosy magenta tone and gold splashes of paint making it light up a lot in a cabinet case.

It has six cups and saucers, each cup about 3 inches high and saucer almost 4 inches across.  The tea pot or coffee server stands about 7 inches high and the creamer and sugar bowl are equally well proportioned and equally well gilded and painted. There's nothing wrong with this set except it says "For Decorative Use Only" stamped on the bottom in gold print, leading me to think that the paints have metallic or other elements in them that might leach into real coffee and tea.  So the set is for decoration only!

It's a shame really as it would be rather nice to have one's coffee served in this over-the-top antique copy coffee service!

At any rate I have partitioned it into two lots and put them up on Ebay for sale. One listing is for the six teacups with saucers and the other is the pot with creamer and sugar bowl.   I've written about them in social media before saying these may be useful for crafts purposes or for decorative uses.  I'm thinking of the people who make bird feeders out of coffee cups by glueing them to wooden posts or who make artful arrangements of coffee pots into water fountains and things.  I suppose I might do something like that myself if I don't sell them first!
Follow up Note:  No one wanted this after two years up on Ebay, so I donated it to a thrift shop, hoping someone would find it. 

National Building Museum and Legos

Ever once in a while I get a chance to visit the National Building Museum and each time I am very impressed by how grand it is inside and how decorative it is on the outside. We went there and had coffee one weekday afternoon when we took a staycation last year. While the coffee wasn't that great, sitting at the cafe tables in the vast hall near the fountains was a terrific experience. And very restful as the space is quiet and airy.  And there's always something to see in this building. During our staycation we also played miniature golf there as they had that set up in one room with some rather corny golf holes. Then we also saw an exhibit of buildings made out of Legos, including someone who'd made models of famous buildings in New York City. We also got a chance to make some models out of Legos too, along with all the other children. Such fun!

Fried Chicken a la WMATA

Munching on fried chicken leg

WMATA bus

People drinking coffee, sodas, water and other slurpable items on the bus always annoy me but this fried chicken eater is over the top.  What was amazing was that this person got on the WMATA bus with the bag of hot fried chicken open, the greasy seared smell of it wafting into the bus and right under the nose of the driver who said nothing and did nothing. There are plenty of signs on the bus that say No Eating or No Drinking but apparently these mean nothing. By the time I got my cell phone camera lined up -- and I've finally figured out how to set it so it does not "click" when it takes a photograph, thus avoiding dirty looks from fellow passengers -- a second drumstick was wafting its oily rancid smell into the chilled air of the bus.  Traffic was moving quickly and my bus stop was next, so I got off, my nausea arrested. Thank God for small things!

Coca Cola, Starbucks, Dasani: Drinks of Choice on #WMATA Buses

Coca Cola, Starbucks and Dasani water were the drinks of choice by passengers on the G2 metrobus coming home one evening recently. The morning's bus passengers enjoyed iced coffees, water and one rather foul-looking green grassy looking liquid (something very healthful no doubt). These passengers get on the bus openly carrying their big girl sippy cups and enjoy their rides sucking down their drinks of choice. Several of them are regulars (the lass carrying the green-filled glass, for instance, gets on the bus each day with this breakfast drink) and most of them look like they are quite literate -- as in able to read the sign at the front of the bus that says "no food or drinks."  When I see these beverages passing by me I tend to lean away and desperately hope the passenger with the soupy, sugary slurpee doesn't drip it or drop it near me as the bus lurches its way through construction, potholes and sudden stops brought on by those idiots who insist on turning right from the left lane passing across the front of the bus at various intersections. You know when it happens as the bus driver gasps or cusses or otherwise expresses indignation at being put in such a spot.  But rarely, actually never, do I see a bus driver say to the passenger with the drink "don't get on" or "throw it away" or "put it away."   Does the bus driver expect other passengers to admonish these scoff laws?  Am I supposed to bare the glare of youth who think they are entitled to a cold drink on the bus the same way they got a nice sippy cold cup from mum in the family mobile when she picked them up from school? Just what is this expectation that one can eat and drink at will on a public bus?  Is that what freedom means?  Due to this laxity in the regulations, the lovely cloth-covered seats in the newer buses are getting stained with the remains of either these drinks or food or snacks.  More and more often I pass by a seat with something suspicious-looking on the seat and try and find another spot.  I expect I'll end up being a real little old lady and having to bring a little cloth with me to sit on so my work clothes don't get all dirtied up. Really, when are the bus drivers going to start acting like the authority figures they want us to be when an emergency occurs.  It is hard to respect them now when they can't even enforce this simple law. Do they really think anyone will listen when they really try to take control of the bus in some sort of emergency situation?