Loving Spring In

This poem expresses the perspective of a person encountering much rain, but looking past any inconvenience to the joy of spring flowers.

It is not raining rain to me,
It’s raining daffodils;
In every dimpled drop I see
Wildflowers on the hills.
April Rain [1901] st. 1

A health unto the happy!
A fig for him who frets!—
It is not raining rain to me,
It’s raining violets.
Ib. st. 4
--Robert Loveman (1864-1923)

If spring flowers have not yet sprung up in your area, I hope you are looking forward to the delights which increasing warm weather will surely bring. Have a great day!

Note on Illustrations: The Mayflower oil painting is in my dining room. The embroidery is in my guest room.

More Litera-Tea

La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality is hosting a Tea Blog-a-Thon from March 16 until May 31. She has a different theme for each week and you may participate as much or as little as you like. The theme for the second week, March 23-29 is Litera-Tea: "Share tea from the perspective of literature. Post a tea quote, a verse or poem, or story. Tell about a favorite tea book. This would be a good time to share how you use tea to encourage others. Do you minister to others by sending them tea themed cards to friends and shut-ins? Or another way you use 'tea' to share joy with others?"


TEA MINISTRY

As some may be aware, I've had my 89 year-old mother staying with me this month. She had quite a bad cold for a time. My sister and brother in law came from Florida to see her. Before their arrival a beautiful bouquet of flowers arrived for my mother.

We had planned to have an afternoon tea during their stay. My sister brought a tea party kit for my mother. It was presented in a beautiful gift bag with this tag:

The tea items included:
Cinnamon Flavor Green Tea
Melville’s All Natural Tupelo Honey Flavoring Spoons
Walker’s Pure Butter Shortbread Petticoat Tails
Guava Cake (Panetela de Guayaba)
DeBeukelaen Pirouline Cookies
Harry & David Truffles

Here are a few photos on these items.

Each day I serve my mother a hot drink first thing in the morning, often to her in bed. This is usually in Churchill "Bermuda" pattern mug, which is my everyday china pattern.

Later in the day we usually have some herb tea together. Right now the tea cup she uses is Portmeiron "Harvest Blue."



I am using Royal Worcester "Hanbury." Both teacups are lovely in design, sturdy in shape, and each holds eight ounces. My mother enjoys the variety of wares I use throughout the week.


I have received tea-themed cards from my mother, a good friend and a co-worker. They are displayed on the glass doors of the pine hutch in the kitchen.

Please visit La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality for links to other participants. http://gracioushospitality.blogspot.com/

Litera-Tea

La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality is hosting a Tea Blog-a-Thon from March 16 until May 31. There a different theme for each week and you may participate as much or as little as you like. The theme for the second week, March 23-29 is Litera-Tea: "Share tea from the perspective of literature. Post a tea quote, a verse or poem, or story. Tell about a favorite tea book. This would be a good time to share how you use tea to encourage others. Do you minister to others by sending them tea themed cards to friends and shut-ins? Or another way you use 'tea' to share joy with others?"

My January 28 post shared a number of my tea-themed books.

In Metropolitan Museum of Art Teatime Tales & Rhymes , I found two poems which express the joys of tea.


A Cup of Tea
When the world is all at odds
And the mind is all at sea
Then cease the useless tedium
And brew a cup of tea.
There is magic in its fragrance,
There is solace in its taste;
And the laden moments vanish
Somehow into space.
And the world becomes a lovely thing!
There’s beauty as you’ll see;
All because you briefly stopped
To brew a cup of tea."
--Traditional

The Tea Party
In the pleasant green garden
We sat down to tea:
"Do you take sugar?" and
"Do you take milk?"
She’d got a new gown on—
A smart one of silk.
We all were so happy
As happy could be.
On that bright summer’s day
When she asked us to tea.
--Kate Greenaway

One of my favorite tea-related stories is A Cup of Christmas Tea by Tom Hegg, illustrated with watercolors by Warren Hanson. A nephew’s obligatory visit to his elderly aunt results in new insights into family memories.

The sequel, A Memory of Christmas Tea reveals the importance of special times for reflection about what matters most.

One of my favorite authors on various aspects of tea is Emily Barnes. I have been inspired by If Teacups Could Talk and recently got The Twelve Teas of Christmas from my book swap.
See La Tea Dah’s excellent reviews of four Emily Barnes tea books.

Please visit La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality for links to other participants in the Tea Blog-a-Thon.

Color Green in the Home

In honor of spring Angela at Cottage Magpie is doing a roundup of posts about the color green in the home or garden.


This is fun challenge. I love the color green for its links to nature – green leaves, grass, trees. It is one of my favorite colors and is found in small doses in almost every room. Here is a sampling.

In the living room on top of the desk cabinet are a pair of celadon green ceramic pots with peach roses.


Across the room in the curio cabinet are fruit and vegetable pitchers

On the shelf above is a lettuce plate

The dining room has a group of an Asian screen flanked by an embroidered piece with green fabric mat and an etching and oil painting.

Like the embroidery, the Asian picture is matted in green fabric.

The new drapes in the dining room are in aqua green and pick up the nearby wall art.

This wall group in the study is composed of two Spode green plates and a framed print


Check Angela’s for a round-up of all the participating blogs. Thank you for your visit and do come again.

Easter Joy

The Savior’s death between two thieves
enables us to see
That He comes to us right where we are,
Not where we’d like to be.


“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

Jesus, Savior…
Thank you for becoming like us
That you might become for us
The perfect sacrifice,
The one true Savior
And eternal Lord.

Happy Easter!

A Good Friday Show and Tell - Fish Bank

There is no show and tell hosted today at Kelli's, so this is a special edition.

In my kitchen, where the dominant theme is blue and white, is a blue and white ceramic fish that I would like to tell you about.

It is a vase in the form of a carp fish that I acquired years ago at one of the discount stores, probably Marshalls. Remembering the story about Christ sending a disciple to find a fish with a coin for the tax money, I decided to use the fish as a special bank.
"But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours." Matt. 17:27 NIV

Whenever I find a coin anywhere, or have some unexpected small change, it is placed in this vase.


After some time has passed, when I need a small sum for something, I count up what is in the fish. I then set aside the tithes on it, and use the remaining 90% for my own needs.

From time to time family and friends have contributed coins to the vase, including this past week.

Thank you for coming by. Please leave a comment and do come again soon.

Thankful Thursday - Easter's Gift

My grateful list today includes thankfulness for:

• The glad assurance that…
  "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
  For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." 1Pet. 2:24-25 NIV
• Physical recovery from the activities of the past couple of weeks. My life has changed significantly since I’ve taken on care of my 89½ year old mother, who came for a one week visit while my sister and brother-in-law were vacationing. However, she decided to stay here instead of returning to my sister’s house. Last week my brother, another sister and her husband, our aunt and I worked to clear her belongings from her senior citizen’s apartment, which she had not occupied for many months.
• A better understanding of my own tendencies to get stressed instead of relying on Christ’s power to maintain a positive attitude. Also, more frequent correction to a more positive perspective.
• Stopping during this time leading up to Easter Sunday to reflect that,
  

"Christ was treated as we deserve,
that we might be treated as He deserves.
He was condemned for our sins,
in which He had no share,
that we might be justified by His righteousness,
in which we had no share.
He suffered the death which was ours,
that we might receive the life which was His."
—The Desire of Ages, p. 25

For more Thankful Thursday posts, visit Iris here.

A Second Teacup Story

A second current ‘favorite’ teacup is one I found last Monday when my sister and I were looking at a display of teacups and saucers at the consignment shop.

I had never found a teacup and saucer of milkglass before, so I gladly snapped it up. It has its label which reads "Westmoreland Glass/ Authentic Milkglass/ Hand Made"



The pattern is named "Paneled Grape" and is embossed with a grape pattern on both the cup and the scalloped-edge saucer.


This cup and saucer is a welcome addition to my milk glass collection.

For links to other Tea Blog-a-Thon participants, please visit La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality.

Tea Cup-a-Story

La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality is hosting a Tea Blog-a-Thon from March 16 until May 31. She has a different theme for each week and you may participate as much or as little as you like. The first one is Tea Cup-a-Story for the week of March 16-22: "Share a picture of your favorite teacup and saucer; describe it and tell it's history (or make up a story about it's past). Why is it meaningful to you? This would be a good place to share about the details of your teacup collection if you have one."

When I read about the Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-Thon I was very glad and decided to participate. As it is, I enjoy drinking hot tea, and have many matching tea cups and saucers with my china patterns, plus a separate blue and white collection with each cup representing a different pattern. The manufacturers are from England, United States, Germany, France, Japan, and Denmark. I showed the collection in my Jan. 15, 2008 post and in the Jan. 25 post.

Choosing a favorite is difficult since I like different ones for various reasons. I thought I’d share both one of my own favorite teacups and my mother’s favorite from among my Blue and White Teacup Collection.
Here is one favorite of mine:

It is a teacup and saucer that I got last September at a local antique shop, as told in my Oct. 21, 2007 post. It was made in Limoges, France. It is delicate and has a floral pattern in a pale blue on a white ground. The handle forms a small circle, called a ring handle.

The cup is so light and lovely, with an interior in a soft blue.

My blue and white collection is mostly cobalt blue with few of the softer blues. I am especially glad to have the Limoges cup and saucer since I would have missed it if it had not been pointed out to me. I also got it at a good price.

Here is my mother’s favorite. It is the teacup I use daily for her hot herb tea. She especially loves the design of the cup handle, which is divided handle.

The pattern is "Blue Danube" and is made in Japan. The design is actually based on the "Blue Onion" pattern first produced by Meissen in Germany.

Please visit La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality for links to other participants.