The demise of the White Tablecloth

i knew it was only a matter of time, but, nevertheless, i was disheartened with the recent announcement
by Hilton Hotels worldwide  that they were eliminating all white tablecloth dining in  their hotels.
The feeling is that guests will patronize the more casual, sometimes waiter-less, choices of dining
within their hotels over the more traditional, formal seated, served dinner.
Along with the loss of the white tablecloths i fear will be the loss of graciousness, of manners.
Look around you in your every day life and see where this more casual attitude has reached
all levels ~ people dress as they want and many times inappropriately for the event or, even,
disrespectfully (if i go to one more wedding and see a guest wearing jeans I will scream!); displays of affection are no longer sacred to the privacy of many couples but,
woefully to most of us, are "in your face" to all who happen by, regardless of viewers'
age; the loud music blaring from cars, with no regard for others......
'Downton Abbey' is must~see viewing for most of us and isn't it ironic how proper all the
characters are and we all just cannot get enough of it!  Perhaps we are all a bit disillusioned with
all the changes in our society,  even if subconciously.  People my age were privy to the ways of
our parents (and some of their grandparents) and we are now experiencing the loss of their era
as well as our own.

Our New Home ~ a work in progress

We have purchased a new home.  Well, new to us.  It is a twenty year old townhome in a planned
community.  It is an end unit, has an oversized two car garage (we have never had a garage!), two
full bathrooms on the second floor and a powder room on the first floor.
We decided to gut the kitchen and also to remove carpeting on the first floor and install hardwood
floors in the living and dining areas.  The kitchen and breakfast room already have hardwood floors
that need refinished.  That is scheduled for next week.
We worked with a kitchen designer at Just Cabinets.  The cabinets are all custom and will go all the way to the ceiling with no "dust-catcher" space.  Our counter will be quartz and our island, actually
a peninsula, will be granite.  We are also creating a butlers' pantry on the one wall of the breakfast
room.  (This all sounds rather grand but it is a very small area).
The cabinets have arrived and Bob is set to start installing next Monday, after the floors are refinished and painting of the kitchen and breakfast room are completed.
I am going to try to post photos of our progress.