Tea Time Tuesday

"Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company." ~ Author Unknown

Happy Memorial Day to all my American friends and welcome everyone to the last Tea Time Tuesday for the month of May! It has been a busy month filled with celebrations and wonderful memories. I hope your May has been as sweet.

I am very happy with how my pictures are turning out now! Have you noticed? When my boys were home, my youngest went into the bowels of my blog and set it up so that my pictures are larger and framed all the way around and I'm so very happy about that! There is just no way that I could have done this on my own. He also set me up on the Picasa program. Thank you, J!

Do you like chocolate and peanut butter? I don't ever remember a time when I didn't love them!

So, for today's tea, I will be serving Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars. 

This is the easiest recipe which I found at - Six Sisters Stuff

EASY NO BAKE Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
1 cup melted butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups icing sugar
1 cup + 4 tablespoons peanut butter
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, graham crumbs, icing sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended.
Press evenly into an ungreased 9X13 pan {I used  a 9X9 pan because I like them thicker}. In microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth.
Spread over the peanut butter layer. Refrigerate at least one hour before cutting into squares. Enjoy! These freeze well too.

Did you notice the pattern on the tray? It's another Skye McGhie Cream Lace piece.

Now, please make yourself at home as we partake of some rich dark Darjeeling tea in my paisley teapot.

My tea is set up on an olden quilt made by my Auntie P with the help of my late grandmother; two of the most beloved women in my life.

I am using my toile china mugs today. I have two of these; one for you and one for me.

Let's have a party,

Beginning at three.

You choose the teacups,

I'll pour the tea.

You pick the pastries,

Sweet as can be.

I'll toast to friendship

Between you and me.~ Unknown

These mugs are hand decorated bone china made in Staffordshire England. They are Royale Garden and I find the Victorian figures very charming on the ivory background.

Happiness is sharing tea with a friend.

"Spring had come once more ....lingering along through April and May in a succession of sweet, fresh, chilly days, with pink sunsets and miracles of resurrection and growth." ~ L.M. Montgomery, "Anne of Green Gables"



Tulips from my garden.

I am glad I got to enjoy these for a few days because the crows have once again desecrated my back garden and bitten all my beautiful tulips off! *sigh* Had I known they were going to do that, I would have brought every tulip inside for my bouquets!


I am planning another seasonal tea party which I will tell you more about next week. Hope to see you then!

I am happy to see all your tea things, whether you have shared them before or not. This tea party is all about sharing your joy of tea time and any thoughts you might have on the subject. And for the summer months, I would love to see your teacups and teapots indoors as well as out in the garden, at the beach, on a park bench, etc... Also I would enjoy seeing your teacup and teapot crafts as well as recipes and any stories you might have to share about tea time. So, let's have fun this summer with our teas. Get out there and be as creative, fancy, or as laid back as you wish!

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy." ~ Romans 15:13 

I am delighted you have stopped by for a visit today. Your presence always make my tea party that much more special! Do you have a favourite teacup/teapot or mug that you would like to share with us today? I would love to see it and I'm sure others would too!

If you wish, you may do coffee instead of tea or the following is acceptable too:
Hot apple cider
Hot chocolate
Lemonade
Iced tea or iced coffee
Punch in a lovely bowl. 
No alcoholic beverages please.

The Tea Time Tuesday button on my sidebar is available for you to use in your post or place on your sidebar if you wish. A poem, tea quote, or scripture verse would be more than welcome!
To be sure everyone has a visit, it would be nice if you visited the participant before and after your name.

Inlinkz is available below for you to sign up for my tea party.

As a courtesy, please link back to me so that your visitors may find their way here to visit with all my lovely participants.

I am joining the following parties as well~
Sherry's Home Sweet Home
REDnesday
Home Sweet Home
A Return to Loveliness
Table Top Tuesday
Teacup Tuesday
Teacup Tuesday
Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Tea in the Garden
Tea Cup Thursday


Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi

Happy Birthday Pink Saturday!

Hello everyone and welcome to Beverly's 4th Pink Saturday Birthday Party!

Pink roses for a special birthday!

Please come in and make yourself at home. This pink chair is waiting just for you.

And as with all birthday parties, one must have balloons, and for Beverly, they simply must be pink! 

Balloons from the Internet

There must be candles...

Source

There must be a pink cake for Pink Saturday....

Or perhaps you prefer a little something sweet like a pink cupcake! 

When you visit me, the teapot is always at the ready. Today I am serving tea in my pink rose inspired teapot, Rose Chintz. My little fairy friend Breena is here too dressed in her pink.

Breena enjoys being surrounded by pink especially on this very special occasion.

Maybe you would prefer sparkling pink lemonade instead of tea, I have some of that too....

Happy Birthday Pink Saturday!

Thank you Beverly for being our faithful hostess every week for the past 4 years. We appreciate all you do to bring us together. 
If you haven't met Beverly or you haven't participated in Pink Saturday, I invite you to stop by How Sweet the Sound and link up. We share the colour of pink every weekend for Breast Cancer Awareness!  And to all my American friends, Happy Memorial Day weekend!

 Sharing from my heart~ Sandi

Tea Time Tuesday

"Serenity is a solitary cup of tea; pleasure is sharing it with another." ~ Victoria magazine

Welcome my friends to Tea Time Tuesday!
I hope you all enjoyed a lovely weekend. We Canadians are celebrating Victoria Day today; our first long weekend of the Summer. Barbecuing and visiting the garden centers is always part of the long weekend for us as well as Hubby cleaning out the flower beds.

We are having such a nice turn-out every week here at Tea Time! You all have such lovely posts to share and it is always my pleasure to visit you. It's wonderful to find so many kindred spirits! Welcome to my new Followers too. I am so pleased to have you join me!

May has been a very busy month for us! We have been celebrating anniversaries, birthdays, and Mother's Day.

A couple of weeks ago, my sweet hubby celebrated a birthday so I made him his favourite apple pie because he doesn't much care for cake.

I used Granny Smith and Gala apples mixed with some brown  sugar, a wee bit of flour, cinnamon, and a dusting of nutmeg. I dotted it with butter before covering it with the top pie crust.

Mmm, fresh baked apple pie!

I set the table with my pretty Johnson Bros. Rose Chintz china and we enjoyed a slice of pie after our dinner.

An intimate table set for two.

I used the topiary I had made a few weeks ago as a centerpiece.

Spring water with a bit of lemon in pretty pink goblets which my aunt and uncle brought over to me on their last visit.

A closeup of the place setting... A dinner plate, salad plate, and bread and butter plate all sit on a rose coloured charger, pulling it altogether.  A pearl studded napkin ring adds a bit of charm to the cream coloured damask napkin.
I am so glad that my hubby doesn't mind florals and pink! He just cares about the food and the company! *smiles*

Johnson Bros. Rose Chintz is a design which celebrates the return of the vintage floral style. Don't you agree that this pretty pattern creates a feeling of nostalgia? I love the pink roses and periwinkles on the traditional ivory background!  
This romantic china conjures up images of beautiful tapestries and allows me to induge myself in a quintessentially English tea table.

I have used my mother's vintage silverware which was a wedding gift from my grandparents. Evening Star by Oneida. 

I love the Rose Chintz butter dish which my auntie gave me from her set.

Hubby likes his pie warm with vanilla ice cream and I prefer mine  plain or with cheese. Sometimes I like a dollop of whipped cream on the side.





Hubby loves his apple pie! The lighting made the crust appear darker than it really is. Would you like a slice?

And how about some tea? 

"May your life always be like a pot of tea...overflowing to warm the soul." ~ An Irish Blessing

Tea is ready in my Rose Chintz teapot. I am serving Bigelow Cranberry Apple.  Don't you love the spray of flowers inside the cup? There is a rosebud about to blossom and two wee periwinkles.

I always drink my tea black. How about you?

"There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love my Rose Chintz! It is such a romantic pattern.

I hope you don't get tired of seeing it. I try not to share it too often but oh, I love it so! If you have never read the story about how I acquired such a fondness for this china, you can read all about it here.


The first quote in my post today was taken from Victoria TeaTime Bliss magazine.

This magazine is a favourite of mine because it is simply filled with beautiful photos, recipes, and all of my favourite tea quotes. If you don't already have it then I strongly recommend you get one. I believe it is on display until the 28th of May.

"Rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you." ~ 2 Corinthians 13:11

I am happy to see all your tea things, whether you have shared them before or not. This tea party is all about sharing your joy of tea time and any thoughts you might have on the subject. And for the summer months, I would love to see your teacups and teapots indoors as well as out in the garden, at the beach, on a park bench, etc... Also I would enjoy seeing your teacup and teapot crafts as well as recipes and any stories you might have to share about tea time. So, let's have fun this summer with our teas. Get out there and be as creative, fancy, or as laid back as you wish!

I am delighted you have stopped by for a visit today. Your presence always make my tea party that much more special! Do you have a favourite teacup/teapot or mug that you would like to share with us today? I would love to see it and I'm sure others would too!

If you wish, you may do coffee instead of tea or the following is acceptable too:
Hot Apple Cider
Hot Chocolate
Lemonade
Iced tea or iced coffee
Punch in a lovely bowl.
No alcoholic beverages please.

The Tea Time Tuesday button on my sidebar is available for you to use in your post or place on your sidebar if you wish.
A poem, tea quote, or scripture verse would be more than welcome! To be sure everyone has a visit, it would be nice if you visited the participant before and after your name.

Inlinkz is available below for you to sign up for my tea party.

As a courtesy, please link back to me so your visitors may find their way here to visit with all my lovely participants.

I am joining the following parties as well~

Home Sweet Home
Heart and Home
A Return to Loveliness
Table Top Tuesday
Tea Cup Tuesday
Tea Cup Tuesday
Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Tea in the Garden
Tea Cup Thursday


Sharing from my heart~ Sandi

Victoria Day ~ Pink Saturday Weekend

Hello everyone~ This is our first long weekend of the Summer here in Canada. It's our Victoria Day weekend filled with barbeques and garden center hopping.

We celebrate Queen Victoria's as well as our reigning Queen Elizabeth's birthday this weekend although Queen Elizabeth's birthday is actually on April 21. 

So please come in and we'll sip some tea and talk about something pink for Beverly's Pink Saturday as well as Queen Victoria.


In Blogland, we meet up with some of the nicest folks! Many kindred spirits are just a click away. One such friend is Deb of Just Cats. She furbaby-sits her feline friends and I'm sure many of you are already familiar with her blog.

Deb often participates in my weekly tea parties and one week I had admired one of her pretty teacups which she had won at auction and guess what? She sent me the cup! Yes, she did.

Isn't it pretty?

The teacup is sitting next to my pink and white carnations and sipping tea from it is simply lovely. Thank you Deb. Every time I look at it, I will think of you!

FYI this is a vintage teacup made by Jason china of England and the number is J602. It's very sweet with what looks like blue and pink hydrangeas and a brushed on gold trim.

Cookie with your tea?

I'm sipping my tea from this pretty cup and reading about Queen Victoria. Victoria was the longest reigning female monarch in English history, from 1837-1901.

Queen Victoria in her pink.

Source

The Victorian era corresponds with the reign of Queen Victoria in England from 1837 to 1901. The period is beloved for its attention to high morals, modesty and proper decorum, as inspired by the Queen and her husband, Prince Albert. The Victorian era was also an optimistic time in which scientific and industrial invention thrived. Developments in printing produced a proliferation of Victorian scrap art, cards, and magazines. The importance placed on civic conscience and social responsibility engendered notable developments toward gender and racial equality, such as the legal abolishment of slavery in America. In addition, humanitarian and religious organizations such as the Salvation Army reflected the Victorian concern for the poor and needy of the period.

Many of us love anything pertaining to the Victorian era.

The dress of that period and mannerisms were second to none.

Source

It was during Victoria's reign that we were first introduced to the Christmas tree among many lovely things we still enjoy today.

I know what you're thinking! A Christmas tree in May? Well, not really, it's a photo of my tree from two years ago, decorated in shades of our favourite colour pink!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed my wee bit of pink and a little history about the beloved Queen Victoria.

Now, I'm going to sip my tea, peruse Victoria magazine, and visit you. Enjoy your weekend everyone. Hope it's filled with all things pink!

Sharing from my heart~ Sandi