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.

Thursday, 24 August 2017

Some of My Summer Highlights

Like roses in a garden, kindess fills the air with a certain bit of sweetness as it touches everywhere. ~ Helen Steiner Rice


Hello my lovely friends! I have been away for a while and having a fabulous Summer. I hope your Summer has been lovely as well. Can you believe August is winding down?



Seems like summer just started but what a summer we have had! Hubby and I have had a very busy one with our boys all home and because our youngest just got married, there was a big family get together to celebrate that. His visit home was quite productive this year because he has been researching the family tree and he learned much including where his great great great grandparents are laid to rest. They emigrated from England in the seventeen hundreds.



We all spent time at the beach and savoured food at several restaurants as well as did some sight seeing. Hubby and I also went over to Moncton and Shediac, NB, to visit my beloved Auntie P and some other relatives.

My pictures will tell the story.


This is one of our favourite beaches; Watts Beach.


The Beach... the only place where salt lowers your blood pressure. ~ unknown

We all went for breakfast one morning in the tea room at the Prince Edward Island Preserve Co. Isn't it charming? The windows look out on to the gardens and the river.



A pleasant spot to sit and enjoy the view of the river.


Hubby and me in the gardens behind the tea room.



My middle guy.

This is what I treated myself to from the Prince Edward Island Preserve Co. I have a couple of two tiered cake stands but I have always wanted a three tiered stand. I love the pattern on this one because it's so whimsical. And it's pink!


After our guys left, Hubby and I took a short trip to New Brunswick to visit some of my family. This is my cousin's beautiful home overlooking the bay.


For my tea loving friends, a peek at some of her treasures. As you can see, she collects blue china. That teacup pattern is featured on the front of Laura Childs' tea shop mystery, "Devonshire Scream," which I found interesting because I am re-reading the book at the moment.



A close up of the tea set.



The pattern is St. Petersburg, Russia.



The plate is Royal Stafford and the blue is beautiful!



This is a peek at her garden where she has a family of pheasants making themselves at home.



I love her clock!



Chatting on the back deck on a lovely summer afternoon was bliss!



Back home on the Island, some of the sights one might see is a cruise ship, the Holland America, passing beneath the Confederation Bridge which links the Island to New Brunswick. This picture is courtesy of Trish Jacobs.




At the western end of the Island is Thunder Cove where the ocean has sculpted some rather interesting shapes from the rock. This formation is called the Teapot. The handle and spout have been worn away but you can see the top of the rock still resembles the top of a teapot. 



This is the Teacup Rock. This photo was taken by Carrie Gregory.



I will end this post with a few photos from one of our favourite places this time of year; Victoria Park.







Alas, Hubby is back to work and so ends another summer vacation. However it has been a lovely summer with new memories made and time spent with our loved ones. 

Thank you for visiting and I will be back again soon. Have a wonderful weekend and God bless you, dear friends!

Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi

Monday, 17 July 2017

A Charming Tea Time

Hello my lovely friends! I hope you are all enjoying your summer. We are having such beautiful weather these days. I'm so grateful for sunny days and birdsong in the trees behind our home. Some days it just feels like paradise outside my window.

There is a smiling summer here, which causes the birds to sing, and sets the bees in motion. ~ Emily Dickinson 1858



While I was in between surgeries, my dear friend Bernideen who blogs at Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden, sent me a lovely gift package. She thought I could use a treat and she was so right!

There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others. ~ Mandy Hale

She sent me a number of things and I was so excited when I opened her package and saw all the goodies, I felt like it was Christmas! The lovely item I want to share with you today is this charming, old-fashioned tablecloth that she fashioned herself. I made a collage of some of the work that is featured on it. The pink posies in the upper left corner remind me of the intoxicating pink wild roses that grow along our banks by the seashore.


I think this tablecloth is just darling with its lace, needle work, and doilies sewn on. I have long admired her tablecloths and she blessed me with this one. I just love it and I will always treasure it. Thank you, Bernideen!

Now, to have such a pretty tablecloth on the table one has to have pretty china too.



It has been warm and breezey here lately but I had my hubby help me set up my tea table out on the deck. It was a quick photo shoot because of the wind. I like the juxtaposition between the weathered wood of the deck and the fine china. 

The very sight of a teapot puts a smile on the face of most people. One cannot help but think of more serene and genteel times. ~ Barbara Roberts


Royal Albert - New Country Roses

No easy feat with the wind and alas, my pink depression glass looks orange in the photos!


Aynsley


I love roses, whether they are growing wild, lovingly cultivated, arranged in a vase, or captured forever under a glaze on pretty china.

"After all, the only real roses are pink ones. They are the flowers of love and faith." ~ Anne of Green Gables




Royal Albert - Lady Carlyle

My tea is one that my sweet friend Deborah, who blogs at the Beautiful Matters, sent me. Victorian Rose tea is packaged by Eastern Shore Company and it was in a lovely package that she had sent me and the tea was tied up with a sweet pink ribbon. I can't wait to try it because it was packaged so prettily. 



Somehow presentation means everything when you're hoping to bless someone with a little something special. Thank you Deborah!

Walk as if you were kissing the earth with your feet. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh { a quote from a lovely little book of quotes that Deborah also included}



This week Hubby started his holidays and most of my family will be home in a couple of weeks so I feel it is a good time to come away from the computer and just enjoy this time with my loved ones. I have had a rather difficult year as most of you know so I am taking a break from blogging until about mid August.

I am going to end my post with a picture taken by one of our Island photographers; Paul Baglole. This is a beautiful sunset at Thunder Cove Beach. Isn't this just amazing?



Thank you for joining me for tea today and have a fabulous summer. God bless you, dear friends! I'll be back soon.

There is Beauty to be found in every Moment. ~ unknown



I am joining the following parties as well~

Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Tea in the Garden
Share Your Cup Thursday
Home Sweet Home

 Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi