Tea Time - Bird Theme

 I began sorting through all our Christmas bins and such

 over the weekend, mindfully choosing what to keep out.

I am decorating much earlier and differently this year,

 so it's a bit more challenging - but in a good way.

(More on that to follow in the days to come.)

We are going to follow our governor's mandate

 and not going to have any company in for Thanksgiving this year.

Our girls felt this way first, then we followed their leads.

So instead of being very sad, I am choosing to be busy!

(Thoughtful gift years ago from a dear blogger friend.)

Perhaps that is why so many of us are starting

 to decorate much more early this year....because 

We need a little Christmas,  right this very minute! 

Click on "We need a little Christmas" above and really listen-

these words never hit me like they did this past weekend.

~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~

This weary world needs to rejoice in its joyful hope

 of the coming of our Lord and Savior.

 Now more than ever.

 I think we all can agree that this year

 has been an absolute nightmare. 

 

I am making a promise to myself:

 to stay positive and focus on what's is happy and good.

(I guess I will just fake it till I make it!)

So what better way to start it all out than tea-for-one?

In the middle of what looks like Saint Nick's workroom

 with boxes and bits and baubles and all Christmas-y goodness

 strewn about, I made myself a pretty tea respite. 

I needed a quick easy nosh and a cuppa. 

 I put together a pretty little bird-themed Christmas tea.

I filled a pot and wrapped it with my beautiful cozy

made by blogger friend Bernideen.

She has an Etsy shop here. 

 I rested my mind, my back, my feet and my soul near a fire. 

And counted my blessings in prayer.

Then again got back to happy busy!

If you haven't yet checked out my artisan soap giveaway-

please check out a special web site filled with great gift ideas!

Just click here. 

Another great gift idea from another dear blogger friend

Angela from Tea With Friends.

You can find it on Amazon.

And last but not least, please join in the fun at

Rose Chintz Cottage's

NO PLACE LIKE HOME link party!

And as always, thank you for your visit + sweet comments!

Big happy hugs,

~Michele

Linking:

All About Home   *   Inspire Me Tuesday

Letter "T" and Telling Time Tea Party!

To celebrate learning the letter "T" and Telling Time

 I hosted a little tea party luncheon for my preschooler grand,

and for both of my daughters early last month.

♥

It was a perfect time to use my clock teapot for a centerpiece.

It was a good day for using my Gracie china.

I only have 4 teacups and saucers in this pattern

 so it worked out well.

I was asked to teach some basic table and tea party manners.

(FYI - Katie asked Vivi a few days later about what she learned, 

and she remembered all she was taught!)

Pink velvet dress, cute tea hat, a sweet smile -

 yep, I believe she was ready for her tea time!

I used these heavier stoneware teacups for the soup.

I used these sweet fall napkins my tea sister/friend Pam D. sent

 in the mail - love random acts of kindness getting happy mail!

Paper napkins always best when there is a 4 year old at the table.

I really can't believe none of us even thought of 

taking pictures of any of the beautiful foods.

*Sigh*

Where is my Mary D. when I needed her the most????

♥

I am happy to report that Vivi liked almost everything!

(And these were rather mature foods, too!)

I was so happy she liked the curry soup!

About the only thing she didn't care for was the ham salad.

BTW- the pumpernickel was homemade by my hubs!

He is an amazing bread baker, and he nailed it perfectly.

It was the first time he'd ever made it, too. 

The cello-wrapped favor was to be a fun painting

of  an autumn pumpkin craft for us to do, 

 but we ran out of time so we weren't able to do it together.

Here they are in learning mode as I was in kitchen brewing the tea!

A play clock, a making a paper clock craft - such fun!

I absolutely love her happy pose!!

She left her very special pink shiny tea party

 princess shoes at the front door.

BTW- these cute wooly toys her Aunt Ezza

 hand made her and gifted her that day

 for doing so well in her learning!

Cute, aren't they?

I love the "cutie marks" on them!

Vivi's auntie makes her the cutest things.

I could do several posts on them alone.

The pink caterpillar with hearts was a very special request

 made by Vivi.  If anyone wants to know more about it please 

write me privately and I will share.

As always, thanks for your visit!

Stay safe, stay well, please!

Linking:

Tablescape Thursday

Lovely October Birthday Tea

Ah, Autumn, how I love thee!

 This past Saturday we had a perfect autumn day 

 so I headed outdoors for a perfect little tea for one.

I grabbed a few essentials and went out to my garden room

to enjoy a quiet and leisurely tea time.

Sipping and reading and bird watching was the order of the day!

This past weekend was also my birthday, so

I thought I would celebrate in style and use the beautiful

Royal Albert teacup set that my sweet blogging friend

Margie from Tea in the Valley gifted me a few years ago.

I surrounded myself on this quickly put-together tea time 

with gifts from wonderful and caring friends.

First thing I did was to clip a few lovely blossoms from the

 limelight hydrangeas in front of our house.

They are beginning to turn, and are just so Autumn-y!

(Thank YOU, Heavenly Father for the beautiful gift of these flowers!)

I placed them in a Lenox china vessel my women's club friend Melinda

gave me as a hostess gift when visiting a few years ago.

It's the perfect size for hydrangea and peony cuttings.

I placed an antique glass frog that fits perfectly on the bottom

 to keep those floppy blooms in place.

My dear friend Kitty from Kitty's Kozy Kitchen 

made me the beautiful crocheted doily.

The bird-themed napkin is from my tea society friend Karen.

She collects the most gorgeous paper napkins.

Needless to say I spent some time thinking

 about each of these precious ladies,

 and what a true blessing their friendship is to me.

And the REAL star of the tea show:

My neighbor Tiffany and her sweet daughter made us 

a huge box of wonderful Polish pastries called Kolachi.

They were so good, and made a wonderful teatime snack!

The little cake plate came from a great thrift find of my older sister.

A couple of years ago she texted me because she had found

 a set of 8 signed and dated hand gilt-painted beauties

 at a secondhand place near where she lives for a GREAT price,

 and asked if I wanted to buy them?

My answer was an emphatic and resounding "YES, PLEASE!"

They are in perfect condition, and are over 70 years old!

After my tea I walked around the gardens and took this pic-

which is just so perfect for October!

Funny, we never planted these Japanese Lanterns - nature did.

We have had them for about 5 years now.

They are waning, but still so awesome looking.

And on the subject of flowers and such -

 my daughter divided her Purple Aster

 and gave me a beautiful nice sized plant!

October's Party

by G. Cooper

October gave a party

The leaves by hundreds came.

The chestnuts, oaks and maples,

And leaves of every name.

The sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand,

Miss Weather lead the dancing,

Professor Wind, the band.

As always, thank you for your visit.

Please stay well.

Hugs,

~Michele

Linking:

All About Home   *   Inspire Me Tuesday   *   

   

It Is Still Summer! (Outdoor Luncheon)

 

Before summer is just a pleasant memory and our worlds become filled with pumpkins and cinnamon and apples and leaves...

I wanted to share a recent summertime outdoor afternoon tea luncheon I hosted for my daughters and my sweet grand daughter.

 

 

I kept it simple so I had more time to be with them. 

My heart was full of joy!

           I picked some daisies that were blooming in my garden

       and placed in an old crystal vase for our centerpiece.

 

 

I used my Laura Ashley "Lidia" pattern for our dishes,

 and since it was hot we had iced tea in my pink depression

 water glasses, and the cups and saucers for the soup.

I simply grilled up some cheese sandwiches.

 My homemade vegetable beef soup

 I made the night before and just had to heat up. 

For extra yummy toasted cheese sammies

add cream cheese in with your normal cheese.

I made homemade real vanilla bean custard the night before

 and just added a few blueberries on top just prior to serving. 

 

It was a big hit with everyone - especially this little cutie!

 

After our long chatty lunch we sat in the Zen Room

         and Grandpa was able to finish his work in time

 to have a nice visit with them, too.

 (He's been working from home since first week of March.)

Those two get pretty goofy sometimes,

 always thinking up fun things to do!

(Such as zipping up the grand girl in a folding camp chair canvas bag!)

And walking around the backyard with her

with her squealing with delight. 

Goofs, I tell ya!

Love that face he's giving me!!

I can hear what he is thinking:

"This is a perfectly normal thing to be doing, Shell!"

"Hey, Aga! You look just like Mickey Mouse!"

Just around the corner Autumn will set in 

and our hummers will be gone for another year....

It's hot out today, though, and it's not ready to end just yet!

We are hanging onto it as long as we are able!

I hope you all enjoy these last glorious weeks of summer.

As always thank you for your visit.

♥

~Michele

Linking:

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Pink Saturday

The Traveling Teacup

Oh, how I have looked forward to this new friend's visit!

Welcome Tessa Rose, a lovely teacup

 that has been a very busy traveler!

This pretty teacup belongs to our sweet host

Barbara from the blog Mantle and Table.

If you've never visited her blog

 you are truly missing out.

It is filled with so much beauty!

I am sincerely honored that her lovely teacup visited me.

♥

Tessa Rose is a "morphed" name given to this pretty teacup.

She's been Tessa, and Rosie - so I put the two together.

She has arrived from a wonderful visit with Julie 

at the blog My Wee Abode. 

Because of her travels TR was a wee bit tired,

 so she politely asked that we simply share a

 pleasant cool respite...

away from crowds and worries-

to just have a quiet and peaceful visit.

So we spent some time in my shady "Zen Room,"

(my DIY backyard-facing covered patio.)

It is my very own special oasis for tea time,

reading, praying and bird watching.

And I LOVE when friends visit here with me!

Even in the unbearable summer heat

I do enjoy my tea hot at tea time. 

Truth be told it wasn't even necessary 

to use my pretty tea cozy though!

(It just wanted to be part of the action.)

Tessa Rose kept me in good company as our tea was steeping 

and I picked some pink hydrangeas from the garden for us.

What a blessing they bloomed just in time for her visit.

She said floral teacups feel right at home near gardens, 

and sitting upon antique white wicker

 feels "just right," to her, too.

I only left a few blooms on the branches.

Next is to fill a vase of daisies!

Prior to Tessa's visit I picked some zukes

 from our vegetable garden and baked some

zucchini bread for our teatime visit.

I have baked a LOT of zucchini bread

 in the last two weeks.

Our garden is yielding 4-5 large zukes

 every other day.

I think I will be baking much more!

(I put my own zucchini bread recipe at end of this post.)

Try it and let me know if you think it is the best, too!

After our teatime and garden visit

she asked to go inside and hear me play piano for her.

I told her my piano was made the same year I was born.

I guess that makes us both very old classics. 

She told me that her owner Barbara

plays and sings quite beautifully. ♫ 

Tessa had a request for me to play "Tea for Two."

As she was my guest, I had to oblige her.

♫ ♪ ♫

We both giggled when I played her "Chopsticks"

on my grand daughter's wee toy piano.

We both agreed it was painfully out of tune!

The day Tessa Rose was here I received some happy mail

from a dear tea society sister-friend from the South;

a beautiful and thoughtfully hand-made card with flowers.

That sweet visiting teacup approved whole-heartedly!

(As did I!)

Isn't getting happy mail so meaningful and special

 during these difficult and lonely times?

As we were on the subject of flowers,

TR mentioned she really admired my most recent painting,

the one with all the colorful flowers.

I told her that I appreciated her flattery,

but I am only a beginner painter and still just learning.

If you have an iPhone and don't have the WATERLOGUE app

you are really missing out.

Look what IT can do:

I showed Tessa Rose my cute little light purple

antique bottle from the Grand Union Tea Company.

It's the perfect size for a single cut Hydrangea bloom.

And the perfect bottle for a teacup to sit near.

I haven't figured out what may have originally been

in the bottle though - possibly a tea elixir of sorts?

Here is a little history about Grand Union.

(credit: Old Main Artifacts)

So as our wonderful day together was coming to an end

we went out back one last time

 to water the hydrangea and daisies-

 so they continue to bless us with beautiful blooms

 a little while longer!

Tessa liked the deep shadow she made

 towards the end of the day

just before the sun went down.

We were relieved once the day ended,

 as it finally cooled off a bit.

I adore you, sweet and beautiful little teacup.

Thank you so much for your visit.

I hope your next trip

 to visit Linda in Gladstone, Oregon

 is a safe one!

Don't forget to visit our host Mantle and Table

to read about all the other visits of this little teacup!

Her blog is chalk full of beauty:

tablescapes, floral arrangements,

tea-scapes, and even has a shop of beautiful items.

♥

Michele's Zucchini Bread

(Makes two large loaves)

3 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. clove

3 eggs (room temp performs better)

1 cup vegetable oil

2 1/4 cups sugar

3 tsp. vanilla

1 cup chopped walnuts

4 cups grated zucchini

1.) Mix all dry ingredients in large bowl with a whisk or sifter, set aside.

2.) Grate one clean medium zucchini, skins ON

 to get approx 4 cups of shredded zucchini.

3.) Place on sieve / colander with a fine screen over a bowl

 so it can drip/ drain while you do the next steps.

4.) Prepare your pans - two loaf pans or one loaf pan and

mini loaves or muffins. 

I use Pam spray but oil/butter and a sprinkling of flour

will work just as well.

5.) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

6.) Mix eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla in a mixer on medium till well incorporated. 

7.) Now mash your zuke gratings into the sieve (or squeeze by handfuls)

till you get most of the water out. Set aside.

8.) Now SLOWLY on lowest speed of mixer - or by hand - add the

flour dry ingredients little by little and gently moisten. Do NOT

over mix!

Once you have it all mixed, hand fold the zucchini and the nuts in.

Mix gently but well. Spoon half mixture into one loaf pan, then the other.

Bake loaves on middle rack - approx. 45-60 mins depending on your oven.

I have found muffins and mini loaves to bake much faster -

so check around 30 minutes.

Done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Thank you for coming to visit, too!

Hugs,

Michele

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