A Late Valentine's Tea.

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved. ~ Victor Hugo

Hello my dear friends and welcome once again to my humble little blog! I had meant to have a Valentine Tea on Monday but we had a holiday here and Hubby and I were busy putting away Christmas decorations. We kept our tree up for Valentine's Day. Then yesterday, we had an ice storm.

In winter we live a more inward life.

Our hearts are warm and cheery, like cottages under drifts. ~ Henry David Thoreau

So, today is a new day, and perhaps today would be better for a tea since I have a little more time.

My Valentines roses. I love creamy white roses!

My tea treats today.

I have brought out my etagere and arranged some tea sandwiches and sweets on it. For Valentine's Day of course I wanted to use my red transfer ware. So everything is set. Won't you join me?

I want to share with you a sweet little Mason's Vista mug a friend had gifted me with for my birthday before we have our tea. 

I do not have many pieces of Mason's as it is fairly scarce around these parts but the pieces I do have I enjoy using from time to time; especially at Christmas and Valentine's Day.

My friend had found three of these mugs and she gifted one each to me and another friend, and kept one herself. I love it!

It's not the tea that makes teatime special, it's the spirit of the tea party. ~ Emily Barnes

So, here we have some egg salad and chicken salad tea sandwiches, as well as Valentine cupcakes and chocolate raspberry truffles.

It is best to cut the crusts off your sandwiches as it makes a nicer presentation. Also, your sandwiches should be cut into smaller sizes. Tea sandwiches are meant to be dainty. 

 My favourite red transfer ware teapot. 

The pretty handmade heart was a gift from a blogger friend a while ago and I always have it on the tree, but today it is for the tea table.

I asked Hubby to get some Valentine treats from the bakery and this is what he brought home.

I would prefer this lovely cake I baked for one other Valentine's day but I'm not doing much baking these days.

My teacups are Burleigh Felicity and Mason's Vista.

The little creamer has the same mark on it as the teapot. I have another teapot with the same mark and it is Valencia. So, I presume these pieces are also Valencia.

It has been an unusual week. I had hoped to set up a tea/home party, but nothing has gone according to plan. I guess we all have weeks like that. The trick is to accept it and make the most of it. Go with the flow, as they say.

Thank you for visiting me today and I hope your week is going well. Stay safe, stay warm, and enjoy your day!

Whatever the shape of your teapot,

Whatever the flavour of your tea,

God can still mightily pour you out

To refresh another in need. ~ unknown

Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi

A Love Story for Valentine's Day

Love seems to be something that keeps filling up within us. The more we give away, the more we have to give. ~ Mr. Rogers

Welcome to Rose Chintz Cottage and a belated  Happy Valentine's Day to all my friends in Blogland! I hope your day was special.

Are you a soppy girl? You know, one of those girls who cries at weddings and love stories?

Well, I am, and I wanted to post something romantic today. So I decided to share our love story. Many of you have heard it before but many of you haven't. So pour yourself a cup of tea or coffee and join me for a trip down memory lane.

Let's take a little trip back in time to a cold day in January. It was a Saturday afternoon, and in those days, the record hop was the place to be.

Now picture if you will, a shy young man, sporting a cute Beatle haircut and an even shyer young lady with long hair and bangs, dressed in a turquoise velvet mini dress, that she had made in Home Ec, and high boots. Yes, I liked to dress in the latest fashion! I was a teenager after all!

I was just sitting there, enjoying the music with my friends, when this shy young man approached me and asked me to dance.  

As we headed out on to the dance floor, there was a little attraction there and we both felt it. If you were to ask us, yes, we do believe in love at first sight. Of course we know God had something to do with it too.

After we had been seeing one another for a few weeks at the Hop, he confessed to me that he had noticed me a few months before that but it took him all that time to get up the nerve to ask me to dance. Isn't he adorable?

We were both seventeen.

He asked me to dance three weeks in a row and then one day after the Hop, he followed my friends and me into a restaurant where we always went to grab a snack before heading home. 

Not much wonder we were all so fit in those days! We danced most of the afternoon and then walked the three miles home afterwards.

He looked so cute sitting on the other side of the restaurant all by himself, and then he got up and put some money into the juke box. He played three of my favourite songs. Coincidence? I don't think so! One of those songs was my absolute favourite. He didn't know it was my favourite, it just happened to be his too! 

"Words" by The Bee Gees is still our song today.

My friends finally talked me into joining him at his table where we sat and chatted before he walked me the three miles home. About halfway home, he took me by the hand, and ''it was magic!''

We arranged to meet the following Friday night at Eaton's department store. He had had his picture taken in one of those little cubicles before meeting me and afterwards, he asked me to get mine taken.  So I did. These are the photos from our first date.

That night we shared our first kiss. That date led to many others which eventually led to our marriage.

Everyone loved my new husband except my mother. She was not happy that I married this young man and she felt that way for many years. Unfortunately, it put a wall between my mother and me. That was her doing, not mine. Because of that, it also affected her relationship with my children which is very sad.

 
Almost from the beginning of our marriage, God was at the centre of it and we spent many years in the Ministry. Today Hubby is still very active in the church and our door is always open.

We raised three wonderful sons together and now we are delighted to have five grandchildren.

About five years before she passed, my mother told my hubby and me that she had been wrong and that I couldn't have married a finer man. 
Funny it took her so long to know what I knew all along. She had learned to love my hubby like her own son, and that made us both very happy! 

He was and still is my sweetheart, my hero, and my best friend! I always said when we met, he rescued me and I still feel that way. I feel very blessed to have him as my mate and if I could, I would marry him all over again.

Life is a journey, and love is what makes that journey worthwhile.~ author unknown

I hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day and I pray you were able to spend this special day with someone you love and treasure. God bless you, and I'll be back this week with another post!

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:13 

Words ~ Written and sung by Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, and Robin Gibb of The BeeGees



Sharing from my heart~ Sandi

February and Her Pretty Teacups

Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. ~ Helen Keller    

Happy February, and a Happy Birthday to all my February friends out there!

I have some violet teacups today. There are two Grace sets and two Royal Albert February sets. One RA was given to me by my hubby's late aunt for a house warming gift and the other belonged to my late mother-in-law whose birthday was in February. When my sister-in-law found out I had one, she gave her mother's to me as well which was very thoughtful of her.

Today's tea will be in a purple theme because of course, there are violets on teacups and pansies on the teapot and the plate. But there is also a touch of pink because of the tulips. My phone camera isn't showing the true colour of them. 

Looking out the windows behind the tulips is quite a different scene today. We have a snow storm going on.

Some of my silver teaspoons.

This is the true pink colour of the tulips. Aren't they pretty?

When asked if my cup is half-filled or half-empty; my only response is that I am thankful I have a cup. ~ unknown

 

Hubby and I are watching our diets for health reasons and I am doing very little baking these days. I must admit, I miss all those treats I used to make, but for now, I make the odd batch of bran muffins and that is about it. Fruit and veggies have become the norm here at our home. Every couple of months I may bake some cookies or a dessert of some kind but that is it. Sigh! I really miss making treats! 

This coming weekend we will be celebrating Valentine's Day and I hope to do a post centered around that special holiday. I may have another party just for that occasion. I will let you know. 

The snow storm has calmed down just a bit but the winds are supposed to pick up and then we will have a blizzard on our hands. The bird feeders are filled with packed snow and the poor birds can't get at their morning snack. The shepherd's hook is leaning a bit. I hope it doesn't fall over! The snow is like fluff right now so it is bound to make an awful mess once the winds blow. 

So, I am signing off, just in case. Take care everyone and have a lovely week!

Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi