Tea on Tuesday in April

I have a headache today - so this will be an odd assortment of pix!!!Fortunately, I preposted most of this!!

I am sipping my mugicha barley tea, in hopes of spring and summer actually showing up at some time!!!



If you have never visited Robyn Gordon's Blog- it is a MUST!!!  This link  is a recent post of hers- that is just perfectly suited to today!!! Make sure you check her other posts - she is an accomplished carver, and always has wonderful artists and links to explore.

My recent hrift store finds: this is a cool 1920's pot, the top finial pulls up with the tea strainer attached.

 Definitely a keeper, altho I wouldn't use it!!! A bit too much age and wear on it!

Here is another aluminum vintage, even mini-er, teapot/coffee pot, with a tiny red handle to remove the strainer.

I am going to have to start hanging these teapots from the ceiling!! Alot of them are turned into wind chimes, but these are too cute- I'm leaving them just the way they are.

Some tea related stuff I made for gifts and for Julieanna's shop - business card cases, chalkboard trays, and some tea drip catchers. The drip catchers are a great way to use up left over fabric scraps! I wrote about these in an earlier post- Donna makes some adorable ones for sale- see her blog.
I bought some from her, and played around to make a couple for myself (I gifted away the ones I got from her!) I've been making my with 3 half circles instead of 4- so far, it seems to work since I have smaller scraps to work with!!!
  The chalkboards are made from vintage, tarnished silverplate trays. The one pictured is an old pewter tray.

The business card cases are all different- can be found at Julieanna's or ordered thru me.

And for some non- tea photos - here is a soon to be new member of our equine family:

His given name is Forrest Creek - he is a one year old mini donkey- his every day name will be Yoshi.  He is tooooo cute!!!!


Please drop by any Tuesday for tea - visit Patty or Kimmie for a list of other tea partiers

Tea on Tuesday

 I'm enjoying a cup of yerba mate (pronounced MA-TAE) tea. Supposedly very healthy, with more antioxidants  than green tea, it has a slightly different flavor. Real yerba mate is not a tea, but an infusion made from a South American holly plant. Who knew?????

It is sipped out of a hollowed gourd, with a straw (called a bombilla).

Mate leaves apparently never wear out, because traditionally, the gourd is refilled over and over with hot water, and shared among friends!
My yerba mate is by The Mate Factor- and is a blend of organic yerba mate, green tea, ginseng root, echinacea leaves and root.
For the real thing, check out these links- ma-tea.com, guayaki.com, and yerba-mate.com 
I may have to get myself a gourd and bombilla!!!

With my tea, I am enjoying the Trader Joe's goodies my brother sent from California! He mailed them in my mother's old suitcase! It still has her initials on the front - and was a gift to her from her mother, when she graduated high school, which would have been around 1945! It is filled with boxes of chocolate covered edamame and pomegranate seeds, pfeffernuse, truffles, and more!!! YUM!

I will finish off today's post with a peek at my vintage display cabinet- ALMOST in order - kind of a work in progress!

My teacup collection is taking it over, with some of my pottery teapots on top. I really think I need another cabinet!!!The bottom two shelves have some of my dolls and hunt collectibles- they are going to need their own display!!
I love this cabinet - it has the original wavy glass and door lock. Back when I used to make window treatments for a living- a client traded this to me for some balloon shades - she thought it was ugly and was going to throw it out!!! Best trade I ever made!!! And, knock on wood, the wavy glass has survived my kids growing up, dogs wagging tails and several moves!!!

You might want to visit  this blog - Teapots, teapots, teapots    with fabulous links to wonderful, creative, and off the wall teapots. There are Baltimore pottery teapots, raku teapots, and industrial metal teapots. You could spend a day checking out the links!!

Please drop by for tea on any Tuesday and visit Patty and Kimmie for a list of other tea participants!

Tea on Tuesday

Well, here we are again, for another episode of "Tea on Tuesday"! A week really does fly by!!!

My tea this week is a matcha latte. I was reminded that I had this jar of matcha in the pantry (sent to me from Teresa, who builds up frequent flyer miles going to Japan!) by an article in Sept/Oct's Tea Time Magazine.

Matcha is green tea that is ground into a powder - similar to iced tea, but  a finer consistency. Kiley Holliday, the youngest certified Tea master in the country, mentioned( in an interview in Tea Time Magazine) a chai she loves to drink Indian style. She uses matcha tea, adds almond milk and a sweetener. 

I have been using almond milk lately in other things, in place of regular milk - and love it. So, I put 2 little spoonfuls of matcha in a mug, added hot water, a tablespoon of almond milk, and a smidge of dark honey. Delicious!!

I usually take my tea straight up,  sometimes with honey , and maybe lemon, but NEVER milk. This matcha latte was a nice change.
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In keeping with the tea theme - here are some recent thrift store scores- below, a trio of English ironstone cups- Hunt Club, 2 different raised hunt scenes on the cup. Guess how much???? 25 cents for the trio!!!! Missing saucers, but who cares!!!

Next, is another little teapot with infuser, and a copper coil to put on the burner, so you can actually heat this one on the stove. I probably won't do that, but it's nice to know you can- I forget how much that was, but it probably wasn't more the $2 or $3.

Next to it, is a lovely orphan teacup- no markings, but very similar to some Homer Laughlin that I own.

Last, altho not tea related, is my favorite thrift find of that day!!! Let me preface this by saying - I have always been averse to wearing fur of any kind. My children were raised with this thought in mind, altho we do eat meat from time to time, and wear leather shoes, sooo....

As a result of their upbringing, when I showed them the coat, they both read me the riot act, "but MOM, it's FUR!!!!!! "
Being a fan of things vintage, I could NOT pass up this lovely vintage custom made jacket, circa 1940's/ 50's, I'm guessing.Made in a shop in Johnstown, PA, that no longer exists.
Since no other animals will be killed to replace this jacket, and I hope there are no PETA activists hiding behind a tree with a can of red paint, I am wearing  and just love this little coat! I am not an expert on fur, unless I have handled it while on the live animal(!), but am thinking this is either a dyed chinchilla, or a sheared dyed beaver. It is sooo soft, the craftsmanship that went into making it is something you don't see often today- the clip closures, ruffled edges in the lining, inner pockets- and it was just being reduced - so it was $21.50!!!! And, it is warm!!!

When I went out in it, my daughter said, Mom, you are wearing a fur, looking like a rich lady (ha!), we live in the boonies, you are driving a mini van,that is covered in mud and missing two hubcaps!!! What can I say, I am a contradiction in terms, an anomaly,a dichotomy....and definitely never been rich!!!!

These are before and after photos- my daughter was taking the pix, and said I never smile and always look so serious, so when I acted like a fool, she snapped a shot!!LOL

Please feel free to join us each Tuesday for tea- drop by Kimmie and Patty, for a list of other tea participants.



Thought for the day:

Our homes are our cocoons, our sanctuary, and our safety nets......

Tea on a Rainy Tuesday

It is finally raining!!!YAY!!!! Not a torrential downpour, mind you, but rain, nonetheless. Hopefully enough to soggy up the parched grounds around here. Puffs of dust float up with every footstep, and the grass crunches underfoot. Weeds grow quite well, hardy little things- my lavender loves this weather - but that is about it!!!


So, rain, and lower temps call for a hot cup of tea this morning - English Breakfast it is!!!
Instead of showing you my cuppa - I'll "bore" you with some of my yard sale finds from over the weekend- it was a banner day on Saturday!!!

The first one - and one of my favs - is appropriate for Tea on Tuesday - it is a square of handpainted silk. It came a bit wrinkled, so it may be hard to see the picture- it took me a few minutes to realize this was not just an abstract splashing of paint on silk. It is actually a teapot!!!! Once I get around to pressing it - I will have to take another photo, so you can really see it!!

The next fabric is a rather odd one - little headless girls in each corner - with the head in the center of the fabric - not quite sure what to make of this!!!LOL You can click on it for a closer look.

Above is a delicate English teacup, with a hairline crack - probably will become a pin cushion. It is sitting atop a vintage Roseville pottery bowl,still usable, even tho it has a tiny chip on the rim. The littel squash pitcher was just too cute to resist!!!
Below, from a local Goodwill, another English bone china teacup, some vintage Glasbake molds, teal Melamine cups and bowl, a vintage Limoges hand painted bowl, a stamp for my collection, all sitting on a like new lazy susan for the studio!!!

Above - a ton of miscellaneous treasures - a Reed & Barton coffee (tea?) pot, a brass teapot, and a cute FTD morning glory teapot- none can be used for their original purposes due to slight damages, so they will be turned into planters and wind chimes.

Next post, more fabulous finds from the Saturday sales!!

Enjoy your tea, please feel free to join us on any Tea on Tuesday!! We love new participants. Please visit Patty and Kimmie for a list of the others who come to tea each week!!

Tea on Tuesday

Late to the party again......
Here are two tea related gifts I got in the mail (just love goodies in the mail!)
A Republic of Tea cd from my brother. Don't have a cd player in the house, so I have to take this with me, next time I am in the car!!!
The other is a calendar,including 12 postcards- one for each month!!! I already sent the first one off - to thank the friend who sent me the calendar!!!!
And, lots of tea today, to ward off the chill, and yet another impending snow storm!! the brew pictured is one of my fav's P&G, in the triangular teabag!
Stop by to visit Patty, Judy, and Kimmie for a list of our other ToT players!!!

Tea on Tuesday...........

......even tho today feels like the PERFECT day for a pumpkin latte!!!!! More about those next week!!!!

Today I am just starting the day with a traditional Earl Grey English Breakfast, nothing new or exciting here on this dreary, foggy, chilly morn!!!

But, I did find some great tea related blogs for you to visit: Today's post in this first one has a picture of a "must have" a little teapot clock by Brighton - soooo cute!!!

The other blog is ALL about teapots- called (what else?) teapotsteapotsteapots

Waaaay down at the bottom, there was a post about "Living Life One Cup at a Time":

1-Have you had tea in an unusual place?
2-Have you had tea in unusual circumstances?
3-Was one of life's important decisions made over a cup of tea?
4-Do you have a memory of sharing a cup of tea with someone special?

Feel free to comment here and answer one of these questions!!!

I'll answer #4- my memories of tea w/someone(s) special are when my friends and I used to meet for tea, before I moved out here to the boonies. Montte, Evan and I, and for a while, Carol, til she moved to Pa, would meet on a weekday morning to have tea. Sometimes it was Starbucks, sometimes The Wired Monkey, for some really fancy loose leaf teas suspended over the cup by a bamboo skewer. There weren't alot of tea places where we lived, but Borders Books, Barnes and Noble, Panera's, and a place with "moose" in the name come to mind!!

It was always a nice relaxing time to catch up, commiserate, brag about our kids' latest accomplishment, or cry about their latest downfall. It was girls' time out, to discuss whatever was on our minds. Sometimes we'd bring a "guest", but it always boiled down to me, Montte, and Evan.
I miss those times. I know Montte and Evan still continue the tradition in the old neighborhood, and when they come down my way, we find a way to make tea part of the visit........................
Now, my tea "partner" is my daughter- usually plopped in front of the tv,commiserating, bragging, crying, sharing a hot cup of whatever is in the pantry!!!

Be sure to visit my previous post, to read about a wonderful upcoming show in Maryland- artisan teapots - UNbelievable!!!!!

Please join us, for Tea on Tuesdays - Kimmie, Patty, Judy, and more. Link up, and tell us what's in YOUR cup this morning!!!