A Message from Ruth at Antiques And Teacups

Welcome to the blog of Antiques And Teacups! Let's share a cup of tea and talk about the things we love...like teacups, antiques, collectibles, visiting England, antiquing and learning about victoriana and quirky gadgets. Fun!

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Tuesday Cuppa Tea Break....Carpal Tunnel


Hello gear friends...Tuesday Cuppa Tea will be on break, as I am ordered off the computer as much as possible due to a carpal tunnel episode.  I have been online with my business since 2002, for about 6 hours a day minimum, but while dealing this spring with the blog piracy,  it was closer to 10 hours per day. That, unfortunately, has caught up with me. So the blog is temporarily suspended. I still have to keep my business going...we augment social security with that...but the blog was a personal joy for me, but not essential. 

I have ordered an ergonomic mouse that was recommended, which I hope will help. So enjoy your summer, and hopefully I will heal enough to resume soon. I will be reading your wonderful posts, but not posting or commenting much.

Hugs and kisses....
Ruth

Monday, July 15, 2013

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Gray's Mullberry Luster, Tall Ships In Town

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! I have been looking forward to being with all my dear blogging friends! A bit of unexpected company...joyfully received...delayed the posting...




Tea makes you feel wiser, braver and more optimistic after drinking it.
By George Orwell, A Nice Cup Of Tea

I really felt, after reading that, it was apropos to the post today...you'll see why....My teacup today is a gorgeous mulberry luster teacup in a sailing ship design that was made by Gray's Pottery, England in the 1934-1961. The ship on the cup isn't identified, but I take it to be another tea clipper...like the one I shared recently HERE.  But I couldn't resist another ship themed teacup....you'll see why....


Grays Pottery was pretty short lived, from only 1934-1961, and developed by A. E. Gray, who had been a china decorator at Royal Worcester. Many of the wares the pottery made hearkened back to earlier techniques and times. The luster decoration...can you see the sheen of the copper luster on the saucer? was a popular design feature in the 18th to mid 19th century in England, with copper luster being especially popular, although silver and gold luster were also used.


The color mulberry was one of the least popular transferware colors used, but one of my favorites, and the spatter pattern used on this cup and saucer are like water color, which I find very pleasing.


I also think it's interesting that the body, or blank, as it's called of the cup and saucer, looks to have been bought from another company and then decorated and marked by Grays. Can you see the faint blue marks under the black on the mark? That does happen. I always hope I can decipher the under mark...to see where the china came from. I can figure this one out. Many companies sold blanks, in fact all the French potteries in Limoges, France were famous for that, and you will find many pieces with 2 marks...one for the actual manufacturer of the item, and a second mark for the pottery who decorated it! Makes a kind of forensic china-pology!  For more info on this teacup at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

And now...I thought a lot about being brave last week...hence the George Orwell tea quote above, as we had 2 wooden tall ships visit our waters. They actually come every year, sometimes with others. But last week it was the Lady Washington, official state Tall Ship...we are coastal after all! And her often companion the Hawaiian Chieftan.


Being a lover of cruises, I am always astounded by the way brave sailors in these tiny wooden corks, discovered the world and plied the great oceans transporting goods like tea. Amazing! They were made of sterner stuff than I...I NEVER could! I like my ships about 950 feet long, and these are 65 and 93 feet long, with 89 foot masts. You have actually probably seen these ships already and didn't know it!


This is the stern of the Hawaiian Chieftain...you can see how small in relation to the dinghy...


The stern of the Lady Washington. The ships have appeared as the HMS Interceptor in Pirates Of The Carribean, the USS Enterprise in Star Trek Generations and recently in the music video "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, to name a few.


This is Nettie, figurehead of the Lady Washington.  We arrived early in the day...don't like crowds...but tours were given later, and there was a mock sea battle between the two later in the afternoon. You really can see how brave you had to be to be an explorer or seaman in the early days when you see how small these ships were. Brings a whole new appreciation of our early ancestors! I have had 25 ft seas in a large ship that was daunting...can't imagine that in one of these!

So if you have a chance ever to see the tall ships in a port nearby...go! We have been to a tall ships festival in Vancouver, BC harbor with about 50. Fabulous experience!

So thanks for visiting me here at Tuesday Cuppa Tea! I am still trying to get the blog tweaked since the piracy...apropos word to use today...and please have patience! If the linky or comments don't work at first or immediately, please click on the blog post title first, then try again...that sometimes helps.

Next week  am joining with Sandi of Rose Chintz with her Christmas In July Tea Party on July 22, so see you there...


Here is a list of other blogs and the linky. I love to hear from you, and thanks so much for all the wonderful comments and emails! Have a great week! It's the pre Sequim Lavender Festival week here, so lots going on! Cool!

Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday
Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday
Teatime Tuesday
Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness
Tea On Tuesday
Miss Kathy ~http://thewritersreverie.blogspot.com/
Tuesday Tea       
Tea On Tuesday
Tea Tuesday
Tea On Tuesday
Bernideen’s ~ http://blog.bernideens.com/
Tea In The Garden Tuesday
Lavender Cottage  Tea Time
Playing With My Camera Teatime           
Tuesday Blog Shop
Poetry In A Pot Of Tea
What’s It Wednesday                                           

Home On Wednesday

Monday, July 8, 2013

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Royal News

Welcome dear friends!  Wonder of wonders...my blog is again up and running....I hope! I am going to try posting this Tuesday Cuppa Tea post and hope it and the linky works!



I will not be as organized as usual as I really thought this week's post was impossible, so haven't done my usual planning...this is really set-of-my-pants, so to speak.



 I chose a teacup today, that was brought to mind by the wild pink roses blooming around here.



Although looking really closely, the leaves don't look quite right....I know the many gardeners among you will know!





The pretty bone china teacup was made by Royal Vale, a division of Ridgways, England in the 1950s. Ridgways is another of the potteries in Staffordshire that gobbled up, and was gobbled up by other potteries, and is currently a legal part of Royal Doulton, but not being manufactured at the moment.  For more info on the cup and saucer at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.




I have been posting stuff on my facebook pages, as I couldn't blog, but it's a pretty exciting time for the Royal family. Prince William and Kate's child is due sometime in the next 2 weeks. The bookies in England will bet on anything, and the best odds were for the baby being born this last weekend, but that didn't happen. The due date was set for July 17th, but has been moved forward to July 12th or 13th and Kate is planning for natural childbirth.



One of the fun bits of trivia is that the Royal Mint has struck 2,013 silver commemorative coins that will be distributed to the children who will also be born on the same day as the royal baby. That'll be a neat entry in their baby books!

Parents have to register their baby (which will be verified) within 60 days on the facebook page: facebook.com/theroyalmint.



The bookies in England have said: 
1 to 3 the baby will be a girl
5 to 2 the baby will be a boy

So we will just have to see!  

So there you have a rather short...but to me unexpected post!  Here is the linky...which I hope works. I would love to have you link your tea related posts. And a list of some of the blogs I'll be visiting. Hope you enjoyed your holidays last week and are loving summer!

Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday
Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday
Teatime Tuesday
Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness
Tea On Tuesday
Miss Kathy ~http://thewritersreverie.blogspot.com/
Tuesday Tea       
Tea On Tuesday
Tea Tuesday
Tea On Tuesday
Bernideen’s ~ http://blog.bernideens.com/
Tea In The Garden Tuesday
Lavender Cottage  Tea Time
Playing With My Camera Teatime           
Tuesday Blog Shop
Poetry In A Pot Of Tea
What’s It Wednesday                                           

Home On Wednesday

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Blog acting up...will be offline until it's fixed

Hi dear friends...if it's not one thing it's another with the blog. It has started acting up by putting the right sidebar over the text after you are on the blog for a few seconds. Have emailed a tech, but that was early last week after I started getting emails and comments about the proble. Thanks, ladies for telling me!

Haven't heard back, but intend to look for a Blogger specialist to get this fixed! I am so sorry, but I will be offline until it's fixed.
BooHoo!!!!!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Canada Day, 4th Of July, Wedgwood Flying Cloud

Hello everyone, and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea and it's summer!



It's a mixed bag today, indeed! But first of all...I want to wish all my Canadian friends Happy Canada Day!!!



I hope it's a wonderful day for you! We expect to see the fireworks from Victoria, BC tonight...just across the Strait of Juan DeFuca. Always fun!!!

And also....Happy 4th of July to the USA! We are blessed...and may God continue to shed His grace on us...whether we deserve it or not! I am glad He is a God of mercy!



For my Tuesday Cuppa Tea, I looked for something thematic...and had some trouble! Until I remembered this Early American themed cup and saucer by Wedgwood, England that also has a tea theme!



This is the creamware pattern called Flying Cloud that was made made in the 1960s to commemorate the tea clippers that brought prosperity to both England and the fledgling USA.  The clippers were called Flying Clouds because of their many white sails as they drifted along on the horizon. The ship on this teacup is the Game Cock from 1850. There were 6 ships in the series. The ship designs were also done, but on a different shape in a series called Early American Transportation in the 1980s which include trains, and other forms of transportation. For more info on the cup and saucer at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos!




Now to change topics....I am sure everyone knows that Prince William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their first child around July 17th....my daughter's birthday.



The above photo is from Getty Images and was taken on June 15th, Queen Elizabeth II's official birthday after the Trooping Of The Colour ceremony. Will is iin the uniform of the Irish Guards and rode in the procession. For my post about that....go HERE

...and you may remember that I blogged about Kensington Palace...a favorite place for us to visit while we are in London, which you can see HERE.





Kensington Palace has become the London home of Will and Kate, and is currently undergoing renovations in anticipation of the new baby. 



  The photos are from an article in The Mail Online about it, which you can read HERE. The renovation is extensive and will be in the neighbourhood of 1 million pounds!

Lastly, I want to put in a plug for reading. We had an amazing thing happen this week. As some of you may know, my husband had Parkinson's Disease, and also a few assorted heart problems. He had a new heart problem arise in late April when we were on a cruise...still haven't gotten my photos off the camera....sigh...soon...We were able with the help of a wonderful doctor onboard to be able to tweak a med and have it stabilized and notified the cardiologist and had tests when we returned. They were not obviously worried, as it took them several weeks after the tests to get back to us. ANYWAY...



One of the meds my husband takes for his atrial fibrillation is a low dose of digitalis, called Digoxin that is one of the oldest know medications and comes from the floxglove plant. He has been taking this successfully for about 15+ years.  His atrial fib is called a "nuisance" by the cardiologist.




I am a reader, and got this book, Dreaming Of The Bones by Deborah Crombie on my Kindle to read on the cruise. I love English murder mysteries. Anyway, it came in EXTREMELY handy with the new heart condition...another primarily a nuisance called PVC (like a pipe!). At the same time, the Restless Leg Syndrome which is a part of Parkinson's Disease, and often a precursor of PD, kicked up and my husband was looking for non-medication ways to alleviate it at night, and someone suggested tonic water because it had Quinine in it.   

WELL....I suddenly remembered that a murder in the book was done by giving tonic water to someone taking Digoxin for atrial fibrillation,, because it causes the Digoxin to metabolize into digitoxin and can be fatal. Whoa!!! The next day, we had...finally...his cardiology appointment and asked her about it. She said she seemed to remember a reprot recently, and right there pulled up an AMA article saying that it is toxic and should be avoided...has indeed been banned in supplement form and can only be used for malaria. Wheww!!! All because I read Englsih mysteries....so keep reading folks! I always credit God's timing, so I give Him the glory for the whole timing.

Well, I told you it was a mixed bag! Lastly, we had our first 80 degree day this year yesterday...got to 82. Those of you in Texas, California, Nevada and other states basically all over the US...don't laugh!!! But it's warm for here. Felt kinda nice! Our natural air condition, a morning marine layer of mist is in this morning, so another lovely day!

Finally, we are having a Christmas In July sale...starting today! At both venues of  Antiques And Teacups...see the tabs at the top of the page above for more info....15% off....



I hope you Canada Day and 4th Of July are marvelous...take time for some tea...iced for us today...and enjoy the summer week ahead!  Below please find the linky for Tuesday Cuppa Tea and a list of some of the wonderful blogs I'm visiting.
Cheers!
Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday
Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday
Teatime Tuesday
Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness
Tea On Tuesday
Miss Kathy ~http://thewritersreverie.blogspot.com/
Tuesday Tea       
Tea On Tuesday
Tea Tuesday
Tea On Tuesday
Bernideen’s ~ http://blog.bernideens.com/
Tea In The Garden Tuesday
Lavender Cottage  Tea Time
Playing With My Camera Teatime           


Tuesday Blog Shop

Poetry In A Pot Of Tea
What’s It Wednesday                                           
Home On Wednesday




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