Teacup Tales

 “Count the roses, not the thorns.”  ― Matshona Dhliwayo I thought this quote is a fitting way to welcome myself back to the blogging world. I'm not going to focus on the "thorns" of having not been an active blogger for a while but instead focus on my happiness of wanting and actually needing to being a part of the tea blogging community again. Communities whether online or in person offer respites of self care. Tea times via Zoom during the pandemic lockdown offered me a chance to connect with others and now outdoor tea times seem like a huge celebration.  Tea remains my elixir for my weekend down time-a good book and a pot of tea! Such a simply joy! Tea continues to be one way to strengthen friendships. It  seems to slow down life's pace and provide opportunity for long chats with friends.  I always look forward to hosting afternoon and cream teas with friends. Trying new recipes and collecting "new" vintage cups are hobbies of mine.  Speaking of collect...

"Love planted a rose, and the world turned sweet." ~Katherine Lee Bates Hello Tea Friends, Last week we had a bit of a warm spell which my roses, flowers and budding vegetables gladly welcomed. The yellow "Mellow Yellow" rose tree became so top heavy that I really had to cut it back as it was almost ready to fall over. So alas, no photos of those pretty roses- just miniature pink ones. Since the sun is shining and not too hot, please join me in the backyard for a rose tea. I have been so excited to share my first teacup trio! While on a recent trip, I found this "Orleans Rose" trio. It's in wonderful condition with most of the gold trim intact. I've been looking for (an affordable) trio for quite a while. The almost three dimensional paintings of the roses is quite lovely. This is my first Royal Standard teaware in my collection. It was produced circa 1950's. Have a slice of cherry cobbler fr...

Welcome Tea Friends, I hope this post finds you happy and healthy. The 100+ temps have begun to weigh me down and my flowers. I'm starting to yearn for autumn even though I'll miss the warm evenings. Well, the garden has certainly suffered from the drought. It's not enjoyable looking out onto brown grass and dry foliage, but all of us are doing our part to conserve water. At the start of summer I purchased some drought resistant plants and two pots of colorful moss roses. The garden desperately needed some color. I was not familiar with these flowers and thought they would add the perfect amount of color to one of my pots.  I have really enjoyed these tiny pom poms of color and they have done remarkably well in the heat. There is such a variety of color between the two plants. I've learned moss roses originate from South America and their seeds are edible raw or cooked. After I bought the these little roses, I realized I had a Royal Albert dessert pla...

"Won't you come into my garden? I would like my roses to see you."                                                                                               ~Richard Brinsley Sheridan The rose is the classic garden flower as well as this month's birth flower. I love garden roses and their wonderful scents. Our garden has two rose bushes: Blue Girl (featured on the left) and Fiesta. Our rose tree is Mellow Yellow. Right now there are just buds on it so I didn't include a photograph. When it comes to teacups, many feature rose designs. This Mother's Day I was gifted by my own mom with a Shelley teacup in the Rosebud pattern. Needless to say I was thrilled! She knows that I'm always looking for Shelleys. I appreciate her effo...