A Cup of Tea and Thee, Dear Novel!!!

I ran across this photo on Face Book posted by
The Queen's English
"Tea pot is on, the cups are waiting,
Favourite chairs anticipating,
No matter what I have to do,
My friend(s) there’s always time for you. "

For me, today , my friends are my books... what a delicious day to fall into a great book!!!!!And I was already inspired to prepare a lovely October tea for us!!!

I would have really enjoying curling up for tea beside a roaring fire, but alas, that wasn't to be!!!

Yesterday in celebration of Hub's birthday I mixed up the  delightfully easy muffins using only   a spice cake mix and a small can of pureed pumpkin..

These are  scrumptious with a cup of pumpkin Spice tea....by Bigelow.  Today I enjoyed it in  one of my favorite mugs..  this one picked up  at one of  most memorable  B and B's,, The Bufflehead Cove Inn in Kennebunk , Me!

Soon, I was kicking back with  my  muffins and tea to read  a great book,  I've been trying to  spend time with  this month.. so many interruptions!!!  None today!!!!

 I'm in the midst of reading  Debbie Macomber's  Rose Harbor series!!!  Real page turners!

 To make these muffins a bit more special I mixed up a  tad of  powdered sugar, cinnamon, and  a few drops of water  to  create a simple spicy glaze..

 
Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden Blog Party

Friends Sharing Tea 

Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Share Your Cup Thursday 
 Home Sweet Home

Springy Get Together and Plan

Last week I posted about  an Easter party   I, along  with a group of friends from church, are planning for  the Friendship  House that serves  the inner city,  including  many  displaced  refugee families in our  city....  I am looking  so forward to this...   our church has  come along side this ministry for several years and being on the Benevolent Committee of my church has  shown me the great need to  get involved  more personally.

So   I am hosting a ladie's luncheon this week  to  go over the plans  and  prepare  some of the items we will need.  So I    springifying  the house.....

 I  shopped around each room looking for bunnies  who find new homes   other seasons of the year!It is so cold and rainy out today,  I am just using a small arrangement  I found on the hutch from last week,  but hopefully, I will have fresh flowers   on lunch-eon day!

Since this will be   a simple    spring  affair, I am just using the salad plates.

I love to use Lynn's mother's  china  in spring  with their  sweet bouquets..

 Syracuse,   pattern, Portland.

The gentle curves of the teacup  makes  supping tea or coffee  pure delight...

my menu Thursday   will include

Sesame Ginger Chicken

 this dish reminds me exactly of the scrumptious lunch I ordered at Ming Tsai's  Blue Ginger in  Wellesley.

Blue Ginger Chicken Lettuce Cups - 14

soy stir-fry chicken with jicama, crispy vermicelli 

and green leaf lettuce

 There  we rolled the  delicious chicken  bits into the lettuce leaves and ate the rolls with our fingers....  so  yummy!

I will also  serve  deviled eggs and asparagus...

then  

recipe here

Just perfect  with  a    lovely cup of freshly  ground  coffee!

I still need to freshly iron the napkins and   to find my yellow placemats.....      still a work in progress,   but   it will all come  together! 

Make it Pretty 

A Return to Loveliness

Martha’s Favorites 

Tea Time Tuesday 

 Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Teacup Tuesday 

Friends Sharing Tea 

Share Your Cup Thursday

Thursday Favorite Things

Suits me to a Tea

It feels  so  great to have the  Christmas decorations down and put away.... to  start out  the new year, I am thinking  fresh....  and  that makes me think  yellow and blue!

  

I see from this photo  from a few years ago, I was in a yellow and  blue mood as well,   but   this year I am changing it up a bit...the challenge  is always,  how I can  make it  really speak to my inner sensibilities!

My sensibilities  this  new year  are  strained from one end of the spectrum to the other....  dealing with death of a parent  on one extreme, and the  birth of my first grandchild on the other...so  it's no telling   how I will  bring yellow  for the   excitement of   new life together with the "blues"  of  loss and  memories....  it is a work in progress...  so   I'll finish  this post   in a few hours!

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The table is set for tomorrow's   mini  brunch    with my  Prayer Sista's

I think it  looks   casually cheerful!

I  really   love the  soft creamery yellow   against the  various blues for January..   it still  recalls the  crispness of  a  winter's day with the  promise of  a Southern  sun  shining through the window panes..

I never got my snowmen out for the holidays,

so  this handsome fellow  will keep us smiling  ! 

The blue transferware patterns  have been my last one to  start  adding to my collection,  probably, because they seem to be  so  prevalent, at least around here...  so  my collection is rather limited...I   love   searching  through   antique and consignment shops  looking for  various   items  ...  mix and match suits me to a tea!  This first plate, Im not   so   enticed by  for its story  is  pretty one-dimensional.. 

Most of the rest  are  English   countryside themes... 

I   was  fortunate to find a  set of 3  of these   in my favorite consignment shop last winter. 

But this is my favorite... I always   am drawn  to the castle patterns  first and foremost! 

I have now collected   the black, red, and blue....  but my available storage limits me to these three without a doubt!

So  now in the morning all I will have to do is  bake my Impossible Quiche and  perk the coffee, steep the tea, and  look forward to sharing with  my very best friends! 

I am  sharing on Seasonal Sundays..

A Return to Loveliness@ A Delightsome Life

Martha’s Favorites @ Martha’s Favorites

Tea Time Tuesday @ Rose Chintz Cottage

Teacup Tuesday @ Artful Affirmations

Friends Sharing Tea @ Bernideen's Tea Time Blog

Share Your Cup Thursday@ http://jannolson.blogspot.com

Cottage Style Linky Party@ http://lavendergardencottage.blogspot.com