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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 29 October 2020

Autumn Moments and Thinking on a Party

Just living is not enough...one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~ Hans Christian Andersen


Hello dear friends! Autumn is in full swing here on Prince Edward Island and our maple tree out front is now filled with bare branches. The leaves turned bright yellow but were gone in less than a week. I didn't really get to enjoy them because they were gone almost overnight. 

Alas, we get hit with the wind here more than anyone else on our street. Every tree in the neighbourhood is still filled with colour except ours. When we first moved into our house, we decorated outside for Christmas. We put lights in our bushes but we had to keep going out and fixing them because the wind would blow them off. So, after that first Christmas in our home, we never decorated them again. A wreath on the front door is all we do outside now. In a couple of weeks I will probably change out the Autumn wreath for the Christmas one.

Have any of you started decorating for Christmas yet? I know many people have. I think we are all craving a little Christmas earlier this year because it has been such a difficult year.

I have been mulling over the idea of having another HOME party this year between November and Christmas. Would any of you be interested? My HOME party would include all things home such as tea time, baking, crafting, decorating, collections, etc. Let me know what you think.

I don't have anything new to share this week so I set the table for tea. A jug of gorgeous sunflowers lends a bright spot of colour to my blue and white table today.



A field full of sunflowers is a sight to see, isn't it? Their bright heads always turn to face the sun.   



I brought out these blue and white pieces. They haven't been used in a while so I decided this week is a good time before Christmas shows up on my table. The teacup as well as the teapot and creamer are called Botanic Blue made by Port Meirion.


Some of the flowers on the tea set appear to be sunflowers. We will pretend they are!

Seeds from sunflowers are very beneficial to one's health as we all know. I always fill our feeders with sunflower seeds as the songbirds seem to prefer them, and I am happy to oblige them!



Blue and yellow are such complimentary colours and they look pretty on a tea table. 


 The teacup above is Royal Homes of Britain made by Enoch Wedgwood of England which I have shared many times. I love transferware. I think it is because each piece tells a story. I am old-fashioned like that.



I am having a Cream Tea today. 


Flaky tea biscuits are fresh out of the oven, homemade strawberry preserves, and clotted cream, or in this case, whipped cream, make for a wonderful tea time.



So please make yourself at home and enjoy a tea break!



For your interest~ I'm sure most of you know that there are two ways to have a Cream Tea
Devonshire cream is not made here in Canada so we make do with clotted cream or plain whipped cream. 
The Devonshire tea is applying your clotted cream first, followed by the jam.
The Cornish tea is applying the jam first, then the cream. As you can see by my photo I have used the Devonshire way of doing it. This eliminates the need for butter, so a few less calories if you are watching your waistline. 


I hope you are all enjoying the Autumn in your area. 


Reflect on your present blessings of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. ~ Charles Dickens 

There is an important election coming up next week for my family and friends in the US. I am praying that the right man will get voted in. Whoever that is will affect all of America as well as we Canadians and indeed, the world. This could very well be the most important election in American history. The Lord be with you all and give you wisdom as you go to the polls!

"There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven -" ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-2



Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi

12 comments :

  1. Your tea party sounds so inviting. I love sunflowers, they always make me think of summer and the warmth of the sun. I start decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving here in the US.

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  2. I love the idea of a home party. Give me plenty of warning and I will bake some scones and pies and we can have a very socially distanced party.

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  3. I love your blue and white tea set...very delicate and pretty! And your biscuits look light and delicious...never thought of using whipped cream with strawberry preserves before...what a nice treat! Can you share your recipe for your biscuits? You probably have before, but I wouldn't know where to begin to find it. Just wondering if it is something different than normal biscuits. Love your sunflowers! They truly brighten up the table and look so lovely. We do not decorate for Christmas until after our Thanksgiving here next month. I know it seems like my fall decorations have been up a long time already and I am already getting anxious for change, but I love Thanksgiving and want to keep it traditional. I usually start Christmas decorating the week after, and leave them up until at least January 6th, which was my mother's birthday and that was always our family tradition, (plus that is also Epiphany). Love the idea of your Home Party. Just let us know when! Thank you!

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  4. Thank you for your prayers. I would love to be a part of your HOME party again.

    Blessings, Jocelyn

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  5. I have started my Christmas shopping but no decorating for a bit. I do not do the tree until the day after Thanksgiving. I do get out nativities and other smaller things the week of Thanksgiving. It is just so hard to decorate everything at one time these days.

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  6. Sandi, your photos are gorgeous, as always. The sunflowers combined with your blue and white china is perfect. And I'm with you on the scones—cream first, definitely! (And if you want to make your own clotted cream, check out my tutorial post.) Your Home Party sounds like a lovely idea.

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  7. Thanks for your prayers! It is the most important election ever!

    Your tea table is lovely - the bright, cheery sunflowers with your blue and white!

    Oh, and I love a party so I'm in!

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  8. You have created a beautiful tea, Sandi. It is a respite for my tired eyes, thank you.

    Interesting to know about Devon vs Cornish way of doing up one's scone.....I was always taught to break off bites and add cream, then jam to my individual bites! Yikes! Oh well, there's no re-teaching this old dog I guess, haha.

    As for your party - always a wonderful idea to have a reason to set up a pretty tea versus a mug filled with tea and a napkin with a sweet as is usually my teatime break these days. I think we all need some inspiration to fuss a bit more, don't you?

    Thank you for your prayers regarding this election. GOD is the ONLY way any government can succeed. And frankly, I really cannot wait till it is over. What a year.

    At least the sun is again finally out and the nasty cold driving rain is behind us today. Have a wonderful weekend. Hugs. ♥

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  9. Awww Sandi, your pretty tea with the complimentary colors is so cheerful! Sunflowers 🌻 always make me smile. Thank you for explaining the two ways to have cream tea.
    Yes, I would love to join you for your Home party!! That would be something to look forward to.
    Thank you for praying for our election. I’ve been praying so much for this. May God’s will be done. πŸ™πŸ»πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ™πŸ»

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  10. Count me in for the weekly Home party!

    I'd love to join you for a cup of tea and scones. I've always admired your blue and white transferwares.

    I have a free preview of the W Network until mid-December so I can tune in to Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas movies. Hooray!

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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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