Tablescape Tuesday – Four Sisters Club Afternoon Tea

Tablescape Tuesday is sponsored by Susan of Between Naps on the Porch.

This was a big family weekend as we celebrated our mother's 90th birthday. Sunday Sept. 21 was for the Four Sisters Club. My three sisters, one niece, and I were having so much fun at the Lancaster Marketplace, a large regional flea market, that we ran late in getting home to prepare the afternoon tea. Once back to Oak Rise Cottage, we each pitched in to get the table ready. We had to truncate my tablesetting and menu, but still had a great time together. My mother and aunt joined the party. Three brothers-in-law were in the kitchen having supper, but one of them asked for a pretty teacup so he could have some tea also!

We had Earl Grey decaffeinated, Mint Medley, Apple Cranberry and Blueberry teas. Honey stirrers served as sweeteners.

The tea setting included trios of two different patterns of pink dishes
Royal Albert "Lady Carlyle" from England

and one from Heinrich and Co., of Bavaria Germany

Gilt teaspoons were handy for a sip

Multigrain bread tuna fish sandwiches in shape of teapot, cup and heart.


To save time, other sandwiches were just cut in squares or triangles. The two types of sandwiches were egg salad and tuna salad.

Sweets were served from a three-tier silverplated server – lemon tarts, pirouline, ginger snaps, light Maria cookies from Spain, and guava bars

Amidst the tea food were tea related accessories to give the mood of a tea room



By definition a cream tea includes some type of cream – not for the tea, but to spread on the scones. So this was not a cream tea since to accompany the scones we did not have Devon cream as I had planned. Instead we had strawberry All-Fruit.


Thank you for your visit today. For more table settings see the list of participants at Susan’s blog.

Links to Tea Books

For the convenience of readers who might wish more information on the tea books, this post has links to most of the titles mentioned in my post, "French Tea and Other Tea Books." The links are to Amazon.com. I trust you will find something of interest to you.

Hot Tea and Teacup Collection

While visiting Katherine at Yellow Rose Arbor I learned that January is National Hot Tea Month. Her posts have included fascinating teapots and tin containers for tea.

First to post about the January celebration, La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality has been featuring various posts on nice array of tea topics. Tea lovers will enjoy the visit to Dame Agatha Twigs Tea Room in Port Townsend, WA.

Here is a website with more information on the January celebration.

With all the snow we have around here, hot is a welcome beverage. At a luncheon on Sunday January 6 the hostess gave each guest some organically grown dried herbs from her garden. This included some peppermint to steep for a hot drink. I love peppermint tea and always find it soothing and delightful to drink.

As I took out the Christmas china from my pine hutch in the kitchen I wondered what I would display next. Hearing about January as Hot Tea Month reminded me of my blue and white teacup collection which was stored over a year ago when the kitchen was being painted. I readily located the saucers in the kitchen cupboards, but forgot that the teacups were under the bed in the guest room. There are two dozen teacups and saucers in the collection. They each represent one vintage or current pattern by English, American, Danish, French, Japanese and German manufacturers.

Once I have it all well-placed in the cupboard, I will take and post photos.

Thank you for visiting Oak Rise Cottage. I hope you will return soon. Your comment is much appreciated.

Tagged!

I just read Prairie Dreams blog and found out that Anita has tagged me to tell seven things you might not know about me. Reading about other people being tagged, I should have prepared for this. Any way, here goes …
1. I lived and worked and studied in Texas in the 1970’s. First, in the Rio Grande Valley, then in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area.
2. Before that, I did graduate work in California. I really didn’t want to leave, but when a job offer came to go to Texas I felt that was where God wanted me to be. I was able to grow and to learn so much in my work. When I did leave Texas for Massachusetts it was hard to leave all that I had grown to love in the six years I was there.
3. Having graduated with majors in English and Spanish and a minor in Library Science, I taught English the first year in Texas, then both English and Spanish the following year. Wealthy ranchers’ daughters from just over the border came to study English, so they were all four placed in my English and Spanish classes. Sometimes I actually had to have class time with them after school hours, since it was often problematic to try to teach English-speaking students, while trying to involve the language learners.
4. I am from a family of seven children. I was third born, and the first daughter. So two brothers before me, one more brother after me – and then three sisters in a row, each two years apart.
5. While working full-time at a college in Massachusetts, I took classes in interior design, since it is a subject that interested me since I was about 15. I took three years of coursework, but as a full-time worker could not find enough free time to do the required interior design fieldwork.
6. My interest in tea and gracious entertaining had an outlet at work, when I set up a Poetry Lecture Series. The fall semester’s the after-lecture reception was Sunday Brunch, and in the Spring it was a mid-week Afternoon Tea. It so happened that the honoree for the lecture series owned a collection of tea cups – most of them English bone china. Each was a different pattern and each was a delight to behold. Best of all, we were able to use them for the Afternoon Tea each spring. To make up the needed number, I would supplement with some of my own teacups and saucers.
7. Due to severe back ailment and accompanying complications, my life took a drastic change right at the turn of the century. No longer employed full-time, I opened a small boutique and gallery called Carola Cachet Design. It was located on the lower level of my raised ranch house. But after about two years, I had to discontinue due to health reasons.

Well, I hope these details gave you a better idea who Carrie is. Thanks for reading.

[Clipart from antiqueclipart.com]