The Tea Drinkers…

A tea table would not be fun without guests sitting around it so I’m showing you my guests before I show all the tables. On Wednesday I’ll be posting all about my table for Kathleen’s Let’s Dish Challenge.

 

The theme for our Friendship Tea this year was Snapshots. The church lobby had some great backdrops for photo opportunities.

 

Behind every snapshot there’s a story.

2014 NSB Tea 124Our daughter Katie came early and was able to take some snapshots before the crowds came.

2014-04-05 2014 NSB Tea3

2014-04-05 2014 NSB Tea4 Our daughter in law, her mom and grandmother were able to come and share a place at my table, too.

2014-04-05 2014 NSB Tea5Sisters by marriage and Laura’s dear friend, Shavonne.

2014 NSB Tea 140

2014 NSB Tea 139Pat, Wilma, Laura, Katie, Susan (Shavonne’s mom), and Shavonne.

2014 NSB Tea 131Me and Katie

2014-04-05 2014 NSB Tea2All my guests at my table Susan, Shavonne, Laura, Wilma, Pat, Andra, Judy, Katy and Katie.

More to come from the tea…

Today we had a glorious sunny day and Katie and I took the opportunity to head north to the tulip fields in Mt. Vernon and then to have lunch in LaConner. We even got a little sunburned. Soon I’ll be sharing my photos from the fields, too. Here’s a little tease…

Tulips 037That wasn’t nice was it? Here’s a different view…

Tulips 190Hope your week is starting well…

Tea for Two…

…or a few hundred!

Tomorrow is our Friendship Tea at church. Today was table setting time and it was so much fun to see all the creativity being pulled together under one roof. There will be 36 tables all set and ready to go by 10:45 tomorrow morning. I got some shots of some of the tables in progress.

2014-04-04 Tea 2014

I will walk about tomorrow morning before our guests arrive to take more photos of the tables all set and ready to go.

I was exhausted by the time I was done and Dear, Katie and I went out to dinner which I was thankful for. Do you have any plans for the weekend?

 

Escaping the Chaos…

All is good at this old house in the midst of the chaos. Dear had a minor injury during the work over the weekend so he’s taking the next couple days off to recuperate which means happily for me he’ll be here to supervise the work as the new floors go in on Tuesday. Josh and Laura rescued us and especially Dear bringing food and helping put the new patio door in. I washed all the window inside and out in the family room and washed the mini blinds. Now I really understand people having them professionally cleaned. What a job!

On Saturday I had another escape to a fun tea sponsored by a Girl Scout friend’s troop to raise money. She and her troop did a wonderful job of serving all of us and also making conversation as we sipped our tea. The 3 girls who were on the Tea Committee earned their Social Butterfly badges. How cute is that!

Sarah's Tea1Here’s my DIL Laura with our little friend Sarah. Sarah was on the Tea Committee so she earned her badge. Sarah’s older sister Anna is in the top right photo. This last photo is of the views from the home where the tea was held. Such a beautiful day in the Puget Sound area of Washington.

Sarah's Tea2I zoomed in on the Ferry doing the Edmonds/Kingston voyage.

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

She Scores…

My trips to my favorite Goodwill store in the area have been very infrequent the last couple of years. Lately I need to have something specific that I’m looking for to hit the thrifts or be right in the neighborhood doing something else. This last week I was looking for a book by a certain author and saw this in the collectibles section.

P1040310

This is Lomonosov Golden Garden china made in Russia.

Lomanosov

Lomanosov2I bought these pieces for $29.95. When I looked online for prices just the cup and saucer was going for $75.00.

I need another tea set like a hole in the head but since this was a Russian set I wanted it.  I am going to release one of my other sets for this one. I figure that’s a good trade off.

We had a productive weekend at this old house. I’m looking forward to a week where I’ll not be confused on what day it is. Holidays in the middle of the week throw my day compass off.

I’m joining in with Mary at Little Red House for her weekly meme, Mosaic Monday.

Happy Birthday President Washington!

These were taken inside the Washington National Cathedral. Beautiful rays of light were cast on this statue of George Washington.

Katie and I are leaving on any early ferry to cross the Puget Sound to the Kitsap Peninsula. After we pick up our good friend Beth we’ll cross the Hood Canal and keep going West to the George Washington Inn for High Tea. Stay tuned for photos of our time…

Have a great Wednesday….

Friday Was…

…a great day to brew a pot of tea and read a Tea Shop Murder Mystery. See my great old Tea Cozy from the early 70’s? A friend of ours in England made that for us as a wedding gift. It really does keep my tea pot nice and cozy. Today was not a hot day in the Northwest so Katie and I enjoyed our nice hot tea and sitting in a comfy chair with our throws and reading the day away…

I also managed to cook up a pot of Polenta Sausage Soup which I’ll post in the future on MGCC. The weather has never been a factor in when I enjoy soup. I like soup on a hot summer day as well as a brisk Fall day. How about you?

Speaking of Mennonite Girls Can Cook head over and get the 2 ingredient recipe I posted for a nice fruit dip to have with all that wonderful fresh fruit this time of year!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and photobucket stamped versions. They are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Hot Tea Month Blog-A-Thon ~ Week 4

Click on over to the Hot Tea Month Blog to join in. The answer to this weeks question could take a few posts but I’m going to keep it short and sweet…

Week 4: January 24-30
Whom have you met because of something related to tea? Share something about this person and how your relationship began and blossomed.

Tea has brought Ruth at Scrabblequeen into my cyber world. It’s been fun to get to know about her through some of her interesting outings and travels. It’s fun to see how knitting and tea are paired in her life and my friend Willow’s life. I love to see more of the world through my bloggy friends experiences…

I met Willow through blogging and we have shared many a cup of tea together. It’s been good to be friends in person with a fellow blogger. Our friendship has blossomed through our walks, our chats over cups of tea , praying for each other, and sharing the blogging experience together. We met the lovely lady that owns Tranquility Tea Room on one of our tea outings…

I was introduced to Cori G’s blog Brambleberry Cottage (although her blog used to be called Gingerbread Crumbs & Co.) during  LaTeaDah’s Tea blogathon. Cori and I were able to meet over a cup of tea at the Corner Bakery in Brea. I have enjoyed Cori’s sweet spirit through her blog. Here’s a post about our meeting. Cori’s graphics are very impressive!

My sister and I really enjoyed getting to know the owner of Madame Fifi’s Tea Room in Bothell ,Christine, just a little bit. She really was a gracious hostess. Unfortunately she had to leave this business behind… We were able to enjoy a few tea outings there before she closed shop…

I mentioned LaTeaDah from Gracious Hospitality and I’ve enjoyed reading her blog over the last couple of years. She has been to some fun tea rooms that she shares about on her blog along with hosting some great tea experiences.

Tea alone is good therapy but tea with someone else is wonderful therapy and I’m old enough and honest enough to admit I need therapy~

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.


Hot Tea Month Blog-a-thon ~ Week 3

Click on the image to get to the Hot tea Month blog…

Week Three: January 17th-23rd
Our topic for week three of the blog-a-thon is:

“If I could have my own Tea House this is how I would run things…..”

If I ran my own tea room I would want it to be a wonderful experience for anyone who walked through the door. I would not want my guests to feel hurried or ignored so I would limit my tea room to one seating a day. That seating would be for a group of 6 to 12. I might consider two groups of 4 or 2 groups of 6. It would only be open on Saturday. Hey since we’re being hypothetical I have the freedom to plan unrealistically. My tea room would not make any money but I would be happy at the end of the day. Everything would be fresh and made to order. The food would be something that people would remember. Everyone’s tea would be served hot for every cup they sip. Cups would not be dry for longer then a few seconds. My guests would be treated well and their experience would put a smile on their face.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.


Hot Tea Month ~ Favorite Teas

This is week two of Hot Tea Month blog-a-thon. Click on over to the hot tea month site to join in the fun. A big thank you to Scrabblequeen for hosting the event!

Week Two: January 10th-16th

Tell us about your favorite teas. Do you prefer black, green, white, red, or “herbal”? Do you like added flavors such as fruit, flowers, vanilla, chocolate, or spices, or are you a “purist”?

For a quick cup of tea I generally enjoy tea steeped with a tea bag. If I am going to steep loose tea I enjoy a good Earl Grey or English Breakfast Tea or a Russian black tea called Czars tea.

I always have to make sure I have good ole Lipton tea bags around for my family especially my brother Leonard. Some of my sisters have moved on to herbal teas. When I was younger I put lots of sugar and milk in my tea. These days I drink most of my hot beverages black with no sweeteners.

I found this really good tea in these cool muslin bags at a local grocery store at a close-out price. A Russian blend of China, Ceylon, and India teas with natural scents of bergamot, lemon, lime, orange, mandarin and flowers. What a description :0)

 

This is my daughter in a flat we rented in Scotland enjoying our welcome tea tray that was left for us.

I very rarely go for more fruity teas but I do experiment once in a while. This tea cup and tea was a gift from my son and his wife and I’ve enjoyed the variety of teas from this box.

If I want something hot at night I generally will go for the herbals. My first choice is usually Chamomile.

When we go out for tea in a larger group we will usually get a pot of Earl Grey, a pot of some fruity tea like Peach, and choose something different like lavender or anything we haven’t tried before that is different from our usual. It’s fun to experiment with the group.

I’ve developed a nagging cough that hopefully will depart in the next day or two in the meantime as I write this post I’m enjoying a hot cuppa Lady Grey to soothe my throat. It’s interesting that if I’m ever sick I always think of hot tea not hot coffee. Of course if things get really bad there’s that other British remedy…

Have a good week enjoying your tea, whatever flavor or variety you choose!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.