Time Out for Tea

What a lovely surprise today when I discovered a new friend who loves tea-time possibly more than I.  Actually, she has a lovely blog totally devoted to tea time savored with other blogging friends... My friend Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage is someone I'd love to meet in person someday! She lives way up in Prince Edward Island...Anne of Green Gables country...and that is definitely a location on my most desired places to visit list.  You may ask why? Well, I refer you to a story I wrote some time ago entitled "A Kindred Spirit", which will fill you in on the history of my interest in Anne of Green Gables.

All that aside, I realize that I am a couple of days late for the "Savor the Summer Tea" at Rose Chintz Cottage, but perhaps I can "crash" the party just this once.  It's a little late in the evening here to set out my tea party things, so I will add a few pictures that might be appropriate for the occasion.  Next time I will try to be better prepared. 

To properly set the mood, why don't you "Come into my kitchen and chat with me while I prepare a pot of tea?"....I love this needlepoint picture created by my Grandma Mursch and given to me after her death. My grandmother and I always shared the love of a good cup of tea together, so I was thrilled when I was able to receive this from her home.  It now graces my kitchen and invites all who enter to sit and visit over a pot of tea.

I have chosen for my cup of tea this delightful bone china teacup that fittingly enough is named

"June Bouquet", and is a Duchess Bone China teacup from England. And guess what else makes this cup extra special?  It was a gift from my Grandma! I know she is smiling up in heaven right now knowing that I am treasuring her gifts to me in this way and sharing them with you.

Remember...click on the pictures to enlarge and enjoy!

I love the delicate little rosebuds that grace the saucer and the cup.
Roses are my favorite flower anyway...so that makes this even sweeter.

Now I suppose I need to also find just the right teapot to go with this little cup.  Let me see....Oh, here's the perfect teapot... one of my Hall Teapot collection...a rose colored teapot...and guess what else? You are getting good at this...you guessed it!  Yes, this also once belonged to my Grandma! You know, I really didn't plan this at all...it just happened this way...or maybe I just needed to remember my Grandma today.  She was such a dear sweet lady.  But then again, aren't all Grandmas sweet?

My Grandma Mursch's Hall Rose Teapot and my June Bouquet Teacup, a gift from my Grandma when I was a young lady...   To see a few more of my teapots I refer you to the page  entitled "A Few of My Favorite Things" . Be sure to scroll down to see the china closet and a few of the special treasures in my home that I cherish.  Another good place to visit is "I Come By It Honestly", which shows some other of my favorite collections.

So now, since you are joining me for tea, perhaps I'd better get another teacup for you! 

This lovely little tea set actually didn't come from my grandmother...it was a gift from a dear friend. I just love the whimsical style of this, don't you?  The pattern is called "Chintz Charming" by Julia Bullmore. It certainly fits its name.

I just thought of another teacup that you might like to use...

My Grandma Tedlie's Haviland Limoges China tea cup and saucer and luncheon plate.
"The Princess" design...perfect for a couple of princesses having a tea party,
don't you agree?

This is a very special teacup that came from my other Grandma...Grandma Tedlie...and I just recently received it from my Mother's home after we settled my parent's estate this past year.  Yes, this is a lovely teacup, and I just happen to have two of them, one for me and one for you!  We could do what my sister and I did this past September for my birthday...we had a little impromptu tea party, using these cups in memory of my mother (and Grandmother too)....

Can you tell we were having fun in our little impromptu tea party? Two sisters, doing what we enjoyed doing as little girls growing up together.

So now, I've given you several choices...and they are all uniquely lovely.  You know, a tea party should be something that is designed to bring out the best in each of us...it doesn't matter if we use my Grandma Tedlie's Haviland Limoges china, or my Grandma Mursch's June Bouquet Duchess Bone China ...or the newer "Chintz Charming" set.  The important thing is to just do it...have the tea party...you may only have ironstone mugs made in China...that's okay too (although it'd be better if they were made in the USA)...it doesn't matter.  Invite your friend(s), sister, mother, grandmother, the little old lady next door, or a couple of young teenagers who need to feel special...and do just that...make them feel special.  Share yourself with them...whatever God leads you to do...

"Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.  Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."  I Timothy 6:17-19.

We are so blessed with such treasures...let us use whatever we have to honor and glorify our Lord...and who knows...by opening our homes to share what we have with others, we may even be entertaining angels!

Hebrews 13:2 says,

"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels."

This little angel is tuning up the violin to serenade us while we have our tea!

She is standing in front of that beautiful antique flow blue china platter that belonged to my mother.

Now THAT'S a group of Angels! What a tea party that would be!

 Y'all Come!

Dust and Bugs? Who cares?

One of my kitchen windowsills...after I cleaned it!  You don't think I'd take a picture of it dirty, do you?
Notice the birds on the bird feeder outside my window? That's what I look at...not the dust and bugs.

As I was washing up the dishes following our leisurely (thank you, Lord) Memorial Day breakfast this morning, I noticed that the windowsill above the kitchen sink was rather dusty and had a few love bug carcasses in the corners.  It's unfortunate that I didn't take care of that before we had a house full of company for a holiday indoor picnic a couple of days ago.  Actually, I have to admit that I had noticed the dust, etc. prior to our gathering, but it wasn't high enough on the priority list to get it cleaned up in time for company. I mean, having enough food to eat, tables and chairs set for everyone to have a place to sit, clean bathrooms with extra toilet paper and hand towels, etc....those are the priorities for a crowd! When you work outside of the home all week and don't have a housekeeper (except for my husband, who is still learning to be a wonderful house-husband and I don't want to push TOO hard), well, some things just don't make it to the absolute must-do list!

The tomatoes are ripe and juicy too!

So this morning, being a holiday and a lovely rainy, cloudy day with no particular place to go or any pressing urgencies, I decided to clean the windowsills.  After the fact as far as having them perfect for our party, but guess what? Not one of our guests mentioned the fact to me that those windowsills needed cleaning while they were helping me get the food ready for the dinner, nor did the wonderful ladies who assisted in washing the dishes after the dinner complain that my windowsills were dusty and buggy.  No one refused to eat at my table because I had dusty, buggy windowsills...no one pulled away from giving me a hug and laughing and smiling and sharing happy stories and sweet memories together because my windowsills were not tidy.  If anyone noticed them at all, I don't think they really cared.

My point is this...so often we put so much pressure on ourselves to have the picture-perfect house, like something out of House Beautiful or Country Living, before we will even dare to invite people into our home.  We tell ourselves that unless we can cook like Martha Stewart or Paula Deene or decorate like some decorating diva (I don't know any names for this one since I'm really not into that...) we can't possibly consider having a dinner party or picnic at our house. And so we don't ever open our homes to family, friends and especially not strangers.  We hide within our safe haven, where our immediate family doesn't really care if there are dust bunnies under the furniture or if the food isn't gourmet...and we never even try to practice hospitality because "it just isn't my gift." 

I could do that too, and I have done that...my last house was too small in which to do any entertaining, or at least that's what I told myself, and so we never made any friends in that community.  We had very few gatherings in that house, and it just never felt like home to me. Yes, it held all my "treasures", and our family had space to live and eat and breathe, but we never allowed ourselves to experience much laughter and fun with friends and extended family because I didn't think I could do it in that house. That was a lie.  I could've done it, but I convinced myself that no one would want to come there, so I didn't even try.

When we moved to this house in the forest, I determined that we were really going to live in this house, but we were not going to keep it just for ourselves.  This home was meant to be shared with others. Yes, it is bigger than the last house, but it isn't newer, or cleaner, and it certainly isn't close to any real city.  But my spirit is better here...my heart wants to reach out and make friends and entertain strangers...

"Let brotherly love continue.  Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels."  Hebrews 13:1-2

Who knows?  The next person we meet here could be an angel in disguise!  I wonder if an angel would care if there was dust and dead love bugs on my windowsill?  Probably not.

So now, who wants to come be the next party at our house? I will warn you, the windowsills may be dusty and buggy again by then. I keep opening them every morning to let in the fresh cool morning air and to listen to the birdies singing while they eat their breakfast at my birdfeeders while I fix our breakfast before heading off to work. So the dust blows in and sometimes some bugs work their way in around the screens too. Also, when I throw a party, I usually ask our guests to bring a dish to share, because I don't want to do all the cooking! I like to sample your cooking too and it is so much more fun to have a pot luck than to try to eat my cooking alone.  Trust me on that one.  And you may get stuck helping to wash the dishes or put the leftovers away...and maybe even get to take some home with you.  This past weekend we had a lot of coleslaw left over thanks to a wonderful friend who brought enough for an army...I'd love to share some with you now!  We also forgot to cut the huge watermelon before everyone left because we had already had too much to eat!  So now we are eating watermelon and coleslaw for days...but the memories are so sweet. The laughter is still ringing in our ears...and we feel SO blessed. 

Again I say, "Dust and Bugs? Who cares?"  My final word is: "Mi Casa Es Su Casa"....My house is your house...so come on over!

This is the watermelon we forgot to eat! It's juicy and ripe!

Happy Memorial Day!

Thank you Lord, for those who have given their lives so that we may live in freedom and peace.
Amen.