Faith Family Friends

Celebrating the Joy of Living & Home Making ~

Baking, Cooking, Decorating, Tea Time, and taking Inspiration from those I love and the world around me...

A sharing of my heart and my home from a Christian perspective

...with a wee bit of whimsy added.

Friday 1 April 2016

Beau-tea-ful Blue Hydrangeas and a Wonderful Win

Welcome my dear friends to my first post in April! I am delirious that April is here! The polar vortex is coming to visit us next week but hopefully after that it will begin to warm up a little. 

Let your joy burst forth like the flowers in the spring. ~ unknown


I have some luscious shades of blue to share with you today. The hydrangea was from my dear hubby for Easter. Isn't it simply gorgeous! I love the petals as delicate as butterfly wings in varying shades of blue.


I have tucked my little bird's nest into it, just because. The little twigs accompanied the nest when my son found it for me. 


This bird's nest was once home to a red-eyed vireo.


I am still miserable with a head cold. I have been housebound for over a week and our lovely Easter weekend found me mostly bed ridden because I was so sick. So again, my tea today is with lemon. I've been drinking gallons of lemon water and lemon ginger tea.

Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book. ~ Bill Watterson

It is raining here today although it is mild. It's a good day to stay put and nurse this cold of mine. 



I am happy to have won Laura Childs' new tea shop mystery, Devonshire Scream! Linda @ Friendship Tea had a giveaway a few weeks ago and I won. Thank you, Linda!



It is a hard covered book and it came directly from the author herself. It is autographed by her to me. 



I have the entire tea shop mystery series and I have read them all several times. I am really enjoying this new read so far. Some claim it is her best tea mystery book yet. I will let you know what I think of it when I am finished reading it.



Flowers, books and tea, what could be better when one is down with a head cold!

When you have flowers, books and tea, you are never alone. ~ Alexandra Stoddard



My Churchill Blue Willow teapot and Johnson Brothers Blue Willow teacup are being put to use today as well as this Enoch Wedgwood teacup which depicts Royal Homes of Britain.





I made some peaches and cream Danish for our tea. I got this idea from Martha @ Lines From Linderhof. Thank you, Martha!



The pretty plate is Devon Cottage by Johnson Brothers.

I made the Danish just a little bit differently but Martha still gets the credit for sharing the recipe. If you like, I can share mine tomorrow.

Thank you for your visit today and I hope you all have a weekend filled with joy!

When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness...all the good things. ~ Maya Angelou



I am sharing this post with the following parties as well~ 

Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Bernideen's BTTCG Blog Party
Tea Cup Tuesday
Share Your Cup Thursday~ http://jannolson.blogspot.com/ 
Home Sweet Home~ http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/ 


Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi

20 comments :

  1. What a sweetheart your hubby is, Sandi. The hydrangea is such a beauty and using your pretty blue and white dishes, complements it so perfectly. The Danishes look scrumptious for your tea. I sure hope you get over this terrible head cold soon!

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  2. Hi Sandi,
    Hope you are able to fight off that cold soon. My daughter and her
    family went to Florida and all came down with that miserable cold/flu~
    no fun!
    I love your blues today and the hydrangea is so pretty.
    Take care,
    Carolyn

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  3. All so pretty and YUMMY to Oh my lucky you to ahve a book sent and singed by the author . Thanks for sharing , have a good weekend !

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  4. Dear Sandi:
    What a beautiful post and so many lovely blue pieces. I am so glad you won the new Laura Child's book and know you will enjoy. I got behind in reading the last 3 as my life began to go into high moving gear. I hope I can catch up down the line - maybe this next winter when we are back inside more. I hope you can do the same!

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  5. I am so sorry you are still under the weather, dear one - hoping and praying for you to be up and at 'em very soon. In the meantime - truly - beautiful gifted flowers from your hubs, lovely china, good tea and a great book gifted from a tea sister-friend signed by the author? Nope, it doesn't get better than that.

    So get well soon - in style! : - )

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  6. Love the blue transferwares, Sandi! The Blue Willow teapot is on my wish list!

    Congratulations on winning the autographed Laura Childs mystery, Sandi. I'm on queue for the book at the library and I hope to get it soon. I hope that April will bring improvements to your health so that you can start enjoying the spring weather!

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  7. So many beautiful blues - my favourite. I hope you soon feel better, Sandi. A cold is a miserable thing when spring is in the air, which it definitely WILL be once the polar vortex has passed on.

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  8. Oh sweetie, I sure don't want to be in your shoes, as I just got better from an awful cold and accompanied with terrible coughing spells! Hope you get better soon. Stay in bed.
    I love your blue and white cups, I so wish I could find some in blue and white too and the Blue Willow teapot is gorgeous! I simply love it, although I have the red ones too.
    Yes, congrats on winning the L.Childs mystery too, wow! Very exciting.
    Have a very restful weekend my friend.
    FABBY

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  9. I'm so sorry to hear you are not feeling well, prayers on the way. Drinking lots of tea can only help. I have not read any of L.Childs books but after reading reviews I will have to start. Hope this week is a much better week for you.

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  10. Sandi,
    Hope that you are feeling better soon, my friend!! Love your beautiful blue and white dishes!! And the blue hydrangeas are stunning!! We had temps. in the 70's yesterday and on Sunday, we will have temps. in the 20's with a dusting of snow!!! Crazy!!
    Have a great weekend!!

    Hugs,
    Debbie

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  11. Hi Sandi, I'm sorry you are fighting the cold right now. I hear it is quite a bad dose and thankfully, have been spared from it so far. Your hydrangea is so pretty. I love the blue ones and have an Endless Summer Blue in the yard that has bloomed really well the past 3 summers. I'm not looking forward to the cold snap this week. Just when we get the snow all gone too. At least it will be warming up soon after. Take care and I hope you are feeling better soon. Blessings, Pam

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  12. Dear Sandi,
    oh, I am so excited about your wonderful tea party - Alexandra Stoddard is so right! Your ensemble with tea, lovely dishes, flowers, delicious biscutits and a Laura-Childs-novel is perfect enjoyment!
    I wish you that you will get well soon!
    Blessings and best wishes, Siret

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  13. Beautiful Blue Willow dishes comfort me. Love 'em. Very sorry about that rotten ole head cold. They can sure make one miserable. Vitamin C all the way. Blessings to you,
    d

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  14. Love all your blue and white, Sandi! And the Hydrangeas are gorgeous!!! I just love blue Hydrangeas. Hmm, that book sounds very interesting, and I will have to check into that author and series, especially hearing that you've read them all. Must be that they're good, then! Hope you're better real soon.

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  15. What a sweet and lovely post Sandi! I love the hydrangeas. I am growing some but they look nothing like yours! Love, Mimi xxx

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  16. I dearly love Hydrangeas, Royal Homes china and Laura Child's books! So...what else can I say...perfect post! How wonderful you won the book, and I haven't read it, so will be looking for it. Fabulous! And thanks for linking to Tuesday Cuppa Tea!
    Ruth

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  17. Love,love love this post, Sandi! How absolutely breathtaking. Feel better!

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  18. Sandi, so sorry to hear that you have had a terrible cold! Hope you are feeling better. Love your gorgeous Hydrangea! I had a pretty one last year and I sat it in the garage over winter. Last month I noticed green leaves starting to bud. I brought it in and started watering it. It now is getting blooms. Yahoo! Keep drinking that lemon tea. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
    hugs,
    Jann

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  19. I am so happy that you had the fun win after being sick and housebound.

    Thanks for sharing at SYC.

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  20. Delightful post! Congratulations on the win. I will look for this author's books. Hope you feel better soon.

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I am delighted to have you visit me and I read every comment. Please forgive me for not being able to visit you all as there are so many of you lovely bloggy friends now. I will visit as much as possible. I wish you a day filled with JOY!

Also, due to the amount of spam I've been getting, I have had to set Comment Moderation. ~ Sandi

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