Friday Foto Friends: Tea Party with "KING" Blackie and More

 Good Afternoon Friends!  It's Friday...and as of this morning I didn't have anything new to share with you, and I thought, "I can't let a Friday go by without sharing some kind of pictures of something!"

So this afternoon I was feeling like I needed a little tea break anyway, and why not make it a tea party?

You will notice the little Dutch Windmill cookie above...I really like to have one of those with a cup of tea. They aren't too sweet and have just enough of a cinnamon/ginger/molasses and almond flavor to make them a perfect cookie to have with tea.  

And then I thought, well, if I am going to have a Dutch Windmill cookie, why not make it a Dutch Tea party?  So I started looking around to see what I had that was Dutch in the way of tea ware?

I have that cute little teabag holder and the wooden shoes that were birthday gifts from my sister in law and brother in law, brought back from their recent trip to Germany and Europe. I also had that tiny little miniature tea set...

And you can see the little saucer has a windmill on it as well...

I started looking at all of the various kinds of tea cups and saucers that I have, but I didn't have anything from The Netherlands or Holland or Denmark, but this petite little blue and white cup and saucer came from Finland, which I thought was close enough...

Actually, when I looked Finland up on the map, it was quite far from The Netherlands, etc., and I would've been better off to have used one of many tea cups I have from Germany, which is closer, but this little cup and saucer was the right shade of blue, so that was my choice.

Also, I needed a tea pot, and if you see the pictures above you will see the pretty blue teapot that I chose. This particular teapot actually came from my paternal grandmother's collection, and it is a Hall Teapot, made in the U.S.A.  (I think Hall teapots came from Ohio).   I have a small collection of Hall teapots, but this one is special because it was my grandmother's.

So I sat down in my rocking chair that is in the kitchen and prepared to have my little tea party by myself, and prop my feet up on this little needlepoint footstool, that also came from my paternal grandmother's home, and I believe she actually did the needlepoint that is on it. Isn't it beautiful?

Well, about the time I sat down and started to relax with my cup of tea, hubby opened the back door and Blackie came running inside because it was getting close to his supper time. He saw me sitting in the rocking chair and headed right for me.

When he got to the footstool, he rubbed up against it and walked around it ,  and then he climbed right up on top of it, even though my feet were already there...

He looked at me with those sad eyes as if to say, "You're having a tea party without me? And you are putting your feet up on this nice little stool that looks like it was made just for me?  How dare you!!"

And he proceeded to sit himself down on stop of the stool, 

wiggling around to get his whole body on there even though he practically hung off the end...

He turned himself around, trying to find the most comfortable spot...

And looked up at me daring me to make him move...

I got up from my chair and walked around so I could get a picture of him and so you could see how things were set up...

He didn't budge...

And he proclaimed, "I am here for the tea party!  How dare you not invite me in the first place! So now I will just sit here and sulk on my royal throne until you HURRY UP and finish your cup of tea, and then you must feed ME!!"

I said, "Yes, King Blackie! I will do as you say since you are seated on your royal throne and I dare not disobey!" LOL.

And so I slurped down my cup of tea and went and prepared his supper before he started biting my legs lightly, (which he was already doing...to let me know that his needs were more important than mine). 

Some one of our blogging friends mentioned to me something about a video by a cat behavior specialist that I should probably watch.  I believe I will be looking it up and doing just that! LOL.

So,  in reality, I did feed Blackie his supper, and then we put him back outside so that we could leave because hubby and I had already decided that we were going to go out to eat for an early supper at the new "Backwoods County Kitchen".  They have recently added Pizza and other such dishes as Calzones and Stromboli to their menu, and we've been wanting to try it out.  We wanted to wait and go with Benton and Rose sometime, but their current work schedules are making that impossible, so we decided to go by ourselves and check it out and then we can go again someday with "the kids".  

We decided to order the Supreme Stromboli and split it between us, because it was less expensive than the pizza and was probably more than enough food for just the two of us.

Here's hubby and our stromboli!

And here's me with our stromboli...

And here's my half of the stromboli after we cut it in half. Actually, after we looked at it, we decided this was in reality a Calzone and not the stromboli, because we were told the Stromboli had pizza sauce inside, and the calzone had ricotta cheese inside.  This had the cheese and no pizza sauce, so someone mixed it up, but we decided we liked this better anyway, and we also had plenty of marinara sauce to add to it as needed. It was VERY good, and also very filling!!  I would definitely get this again.

So that was our day!!  Now I am stuffed and should probably go take a walk around the yard for a while.

BTW: Remember last week when I told you about hanging this wind spinner in the yard HERE? 

 Well, after looking at it more closely, I realized I was supposed to open it up and make it more three dimensional, like this:

And so I decided to go ahead and hang it from the Shepherd's Hook closer to the pond, where I can see it from my window in my "Room With a View". When the wind blows it spins around and looks so pretty! So I am glad I finally fixed it to reach its full potential and do what it is supposed to do!

There must be a lesson there somewhere.  Sometimes in life we feel like we are just "hanging on by a thread", maybe looking pretty on the outside, but feeling kind of empty or lost on the inside, and like we aren't really living the life God intended for us to live. We can become discouraged and perhaps even a bit afraid to reach out and do the things we feel like we are supposed to do but we don't really know how to go about it.

And then Jesus came along, and when we confessed our fears and lack of faith to Him, He forgave us for not trusting Him enough, and He set us free from our bondage to fear and turned us around and gave us a little push in the right direction, and soon we were spinning right along, more beautiful in our Spirit than ever before, and serving Him with gladness and joy.  All it took on our part was a step of faith...and yielding our will to do His will.

Perhaps someone needs a little boost out there in the right direction. Here's a few verses I discovered from God's Word that might be helpful:

• James 4:7: "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." 
Romans 12:2: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." 
Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." 
Luke 9:23: "Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.""


Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

These are just a few. God's Word is full of words of encouragement and hope. We just have to be willing to take that first step of faith, and to ask God to set us free from the things that bind us and are holding us back from following after Him.  He will not fail us...we just have to trust and obey!

Here's a great old hymn...I bet most of us know it...

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word

What a glory He sheds on our way!

While we do His good will, He abides with us still

And with all who will trust and obey

Trust and obey, for there's no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies

But His smile quickly drives it away

Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear

Can abide while we trust and obey

Oh, Trust and obey, for there's no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet

Or we'll walk by His side in the way

What He says we will do, where He sends we will go

Never fear, only trust and obey

Trust and obey, for there's no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey

Oh, Trust and obey, for there's no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey

And this is a good ending...

And 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus

Just to take Him at His Word

Just to rest upon His promise

Just to know, "Thus saith the Lord"

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!

How I've proved Him o'er and o'er

Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!

Oh, for grace to trust Him more

Lord oh, for grace to trust You more

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Donald Moen / Dp

Okay friends, that about sums it up for this Friday!  I hope that your weekend will find you enjoying the blessings that God has provided, and may we all be looking for ways to "trust Him more". Amen.