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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.

Monday 25 October 2021

Tea Time

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. ~ LM Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables

Hello my dear friends! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with my NB family a couple of weeks ago. 

My son worked on my computer and I never have to worry about running out of picture space again. Next time he comes over he will set up a new program for me to edit my pictures. I am still using Picasa and I am limited to what I can do. I haven't been able to make collages for quite some time now so he will take care of that for me too. Thank goodness we have children who are more techie than we are!

I just finished making a big pot of Chili for supper tonight. It is quite cool on the Island now so a nice bowl of Chili and rice will be welcome. Do you call the evening meal, dinner or supper? Here in the Maritimes, it is supper.

Today, I am sharing a little tea time. Those beautiful dried hydrangeas came from a friend and they are arranged in my grandmother's pancake jug which is over one hundred years old. The jug has travelled a long way and once belonged to my great-grandmother.

When were you introduced to tea? When I was a very young teenager, perhaps thirteen or fourteen, we lived across the road from a wonderful farm. The farmer lived there with his family and his mother. Everyone called his mother, Aunt Sue, and she was a dear old soul! She and my mother were such good friends and every once in a while, maybe once or twice a month, I would make my way up their long driveway to visit her in their beautiful farm house. 

She had the top floor to herself which had been turned into an apartment just for her so she would entertain up there. This is where I enjoyed my first tea time. 
She would bring out her lovely teapot and fine china cups and saucers and served me tea. But she also served tiny finger sandwiches on a pretty plate. Sometimes she would use her tiered plate stand with a variety of lovely sandwiches and sweets. She would offer cherry and cheese, which I loved, egg salad, chicken salad, asparagus, and peanut butter and banana pinwheels. I had never eaten asparagus sandwiches before and I rather liked them. I felt quite special when I sipped tea with her in her apartment, just the two of us.
 
She would talk to me and I shared with her all that was going on in my life at the time. She was very keen to listen and offer advice when I asked. I will never forget her or those special tea times I spent with her in her parlour. Do you have a memory to share?




I had made my grandmother's war cake, or boiled fruit cake, as my mother called it, as well as other goodies, for Thanksgiving. I sent half of the cake home with my son and his family, so there are only a few pieces left. This cake is so good and the recipe makes a long cake. 


You can find the recipe on my sidebar when you print in "search this blog."

It is October, so my Flower of the Month teacup is being used as well as my Old English Rose teacup which came from my Auntie P when she downsized. The cake is served on a Lavender Rose tray which came from my mother. All of these pretty pieces are made by Royal Albert and they are pink which I'm sharing in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and all those fighting this terrible affliction

There probably isn't a lady out there who hasn't been affected in one way or another by breast cancer. Most of you know I lost my best friend to this disease and the loss has been life-changing for me and all those who loved her. Please get your mammogram regularly and be sure to do self examinations often.


Sometimes we need the salt of tears to remind us how to savour the sweetness of life. ~ Lysa TerKerust

I hope you are enjoying the Autumn season and looking forward to Christmas. I know I am! If everything goes as planned, it will be the first Christmas in many, many years that our family will be celebrating the Holidays together. It is very nice to have this to look forward to.

Thank you for visiting and have a lovely week!

Time is like a river. You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again. Enjoy every moment in life. ~ unknown


Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi

15 comments :

  1. What a sweet post from you, Sandi! Your memories of the dear Aunt Sue and having your special tea with her, was so heartwarming. I could picture the whole teatime with the two of you. When I was little, my mom and I would visit a restaurant called The Tea Room. That was a special time for me.
    I’m so glad that your son helped you with your computer issues. We are grateful to get their help!
    You sure will have a wonderful Christmas time this year! Blessings to you, Sandi.

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  2. I call my evening meal dinner!

    Growing up, my parents had green and black teas from the Chinese stores. But I only got into tea when I was in my early 20s and had chai at an Indian restaurant. That was my gateway to the flavoured teas and English-style afternoon teas!

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  3. Such a lovely post, Sandi, with your memories of tea with your Aunt Sue.
    We call our evening meal supper, unless we're having guests, then it's dinner. And on Sunday, if we have our big meal at noon, that's dinner, which was confusing to our daughter-in-law until we clarified "lunch dinner".

    How wonderful to anticipate Christmas together as a family.

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  4. Every young girl/woman needs an Aunt Sue! How special.

    I have the same October tea cup as you have. I adore it, as I have an October birthday!

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  5. Sandi descubro tu blog ¡me encanta! con tu permiso me quedo para seguirte. Tengo esta taza, bueno tengo los doce meses, mi cuñada Cruz me regalo una por mi cumpleaños durante 12 años. Saludos

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  6. Such a wonderful post and lovely photos! Glad you are doing better and those hydrangeas are really beautiful in the vase!

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  7. Wonderful post as ever...Love your sweet remembrances,those gorgeous teacups,the stunning hydrangeas in that precious blue pitcher!The cake looks delicious.Blessings.

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  8. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Sandi! Have a beautiful week! I still use Picasa too. I have another program but, I still find that one handy. I have a stockpile of over 100 phots I have been taking for when I get back to blogging. I still love to look at things through the lens!

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    1. Sherry, it is so lovely to hear from you! You have been missed here in Blogland and I hope to see you on here again soon sharing your wonderful posts and photos with us. Thanks for your visit and take care!

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  9. I enjoyed this so much, Sandi. I am wracking my brain to remember when I was first introduced to tea time. Of course my sister and I used have little tea parties when we were very little, using special tea sets our grandmothers had. But I honestly don't remember a real tea party with an adult until I was an adult. My paternal grandmother enjoyed tea and had nice tea cups and teapots, and I inherited a couple of the teapots and she actually gave me a lovely tea cup and saucer when I was a young woman. But I still don't remember a formal tea time with her. Sad. I've tried to make up for that as an adult, and your influence here has given me many happy ideas and examples to try. Thank you. I love tea time and everything about it, but just don't know exactly how that came to be! Enjoy your autumn and early winter, and anticipation of that wonderful Christmas with your whole family together. So very happy for you. I know you will love that so much. Be sure to take lots of pictures.
    God bless you, Sandi...Oh, why is that pitcher called a pancake pitcher? Just curious.

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  10. Hi Pamela! The pitcher is called a pancake pitcher because that is what my grandmother mixed up her pancake batter in. Every Saturday night she served the family baked beans and buckwheat pancakes for supper. The pitcher dates back to the early 1900s and when my grandmother left the community she grew up in to go work for a family in another community, she brought the pitcher with her. It had been her mother's. When Granny passed, my Auntie P took the pitcher and kept it in her home with dried flowers in it. A few years ago, she gave it to me and I am so pleased to have it. Thanks for your visit.

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    1. Thank you for this explanation. I love the history of this lovely pitcher! That makes it extra extra special indeed! What pleasant memories...I'm so glad you have it and cherish it. Thank you!

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  11. Sandi, thank you for sharing this beautiful story of your first teatime. I cannot recall mine...other than to reminisce upon “mock” teatimes shared with my sister. Yours sounds splendid. Conversation is such a wonderful thing, especially when someone lends a great listening ear. So sorry to hear of your loss. I know you will rely on God’s comfort and grace in this time. <3

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  12. Sandi, your cake looks lovely. I'll have to check out the recipe. I finally got around to making a malt loaf. Hadn't made one in many years, then they did it on Great British Bake Off at the beginning. Took all these 10 weeks, though, for it to get to the top of my queue! I was introduced to tea practically from birth, I think. I still have the teapot my mother and grandmother bought on the occasion of my birth.

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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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