Summer Strawberries

Hello Dear Tea Friends,

I hope you had a fun 4th of July weekend. We hosted a dessert party with friends. Swimming and sweets were a good combination. It's such a fun holiday...no gifts- just good times, parades, fireworks and celebrating with others. 
Last week I traveled to Portland, Oregon to visit my brother. I had many wonderful tea experiences there that I will share in future posts. 


For now, it's all about the fabulous summer fruit-strawberries! It's hard pressed to find someone that doesn't like strawberries. Just the shape of a strawberry, the tiny seeds, smell and color is a joyful sight to see.  
That is why this teacup on ebay caught my eye. 

It's an English bone china produced by Hammersley and Co. which was part of the Spode Company. Hammersley was first manufactured in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent.

The pattern is called Strawberry Ripe.

In 1989 the trade name of Hammersley ceased and the factory was demolished. Anysley china bought the trade name that same year.

Love the details in the polychrome transfer.

The teacup was produced in the mid to late 1970s.

During our camping trip which I mentioned in the post Tea in the Redwoods we had the opportunity to go strawberry picking.

Swanton Berry Farm in located on the coast in Davenport, California. 

The setting is beautiful as the blue along the horizon is the Pacific Ocean.

I love that the fruit is organic.

We picked seven pounds of strawberries.

I would like to say that I made an extraordinary dessert with the strawberries, but I ended up making strawberry jam (already down half a jar).

And for the 4th I simply made a fruit salad. I sliced and froze many strawberries for future smoothies.

As always thank you for visiting! I look forward to catching up with your sweet comments and blogs. I do apologize for not responding and visiting many of you last week. This summer is busier than I anticipated. 

Have a wonderful week of tea and friendship,

Nora