Wreaths for the Porch, and vintage English Christmas Towel

Hello! And a rainy day it is on the Olympic peninsula, but that's normal! I am joining the wonderful blog party Pink Saturday with Beverley which I hope you will visit. Thanks for the kind words, prayer and suggestions as I was dealing with an allergic reaction to a piece of furniture...or at least the scents onit...which forced me to run for my inhalers & get it out in the garage fast where my dear sweetie is working it over with lemon juice, baking soda and scrubbing. He was even affected, and he doesn't really have allergies. Thanks you!

The theme for Pink Saturday was On The Porch...and here is my wreath. It has seen a number of Christmases, but I love it, and the color goes so well with my blue and white home. But we haven't gotten much else up, with the health issues, so here are some favorites from Coastal Living magazine, a favorite publication, as I live by the Pacific Ocean...and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

This is my favorite, a boxwood wreath on a dutch bead board door. Love it!

I liked the mixed greens and shell decoration with knotted rope bow...

And this magnolia leaf wreath reminds of the time we lived in an area with lots of magnolias...

I thought this was a neat porch design job, with the square door wreath...

And this was great with the luminarias flanking the welcoming stairs. I loved the seashell wreath on the door as well.

I wanted to also share this fun 1970s vintage English tea towel with the stylized angel. I picked it up on Christmas in England. So fun! Available at Antiques And Teacups, just click on the photo.

So have a wonderful time visiting the wonderful blog below. I am continually amazed at the creative ladies! They are awesome!!! If I can't do it myself because of limits...I can live vicariously with their wonderful posts! Awesome!

Beverley ~ http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

Pink Saturday

Musing on Breathing, Aynsley Teacup

Did you ever notice that when something is working fine you loose sight of it...forget it? Well breathing is a big one for me. Having had allergies and allergy induced asthma since birth, I love it when I am having a good period and forget about my respiratory system.

That was the case until yesterday. We had gone to our first ever Black Friday (actually Thursday night) sale to get a flat screen tv to replace our 1995 behemoth. Hey folks...we use things up! 

Anyway, got one (our son told us to go...they had a price he'd never seen that low) and then had to get something to stand it on because it didn't fit. So, we went to a thrift/recycling store and found an oak cabinet that would work. Got it home, and 30 minutes later, I am having breathing problems. Someone had stored perfume in it, scented candles or it was next to one of the new plug in room deodorizers that is lethal for me.  BTW, they contain (candles, febreeze, room deodorizers, etc, phthalates, which are toxic, cause cancer and are banned in the rest of the world...just not here in the USA according to the allergist...go figure.  So...am heavily medicated, and so this is a short post for which I apologize.

You see what I mean about taking something for granted...breathing! It is such a blessing when you can forget about the mechanism!

I know you have seen this cup and saucer before, but my brain isn't working too well, and it;s a favorite. It's an Aynsley with a gorgeous blue and wonderful gold lace overlay that I just love. It is so elegant!

So I hope you are breathing well, enjoying your week and getting geared up to prepare for the holidays.

All I have done is the wreath on the door! But today...that's an accomplishment! Here are the blogs I am joining. Have a lovely day and have a cup of tea with a friend!

Miss Spenser ~ http://missspensersblog.blogspot.com/

Teacup Thursday

Coloradolady  ~ http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

Vintage Thingie Thursday

 Mrs. Olson ~  http://jannolson.blogspot.com/

Share Your Cup Thursday

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Red teacup and Bourbon Balls

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was lovely...quiet and satisfying. And now, it's time to take the fall decorations down and look toward my favorite time of the year...Christmas! 

The antique postcard says it all.....

GFor my teacup today, I had to choose something red!

This is an Aynsley, England cup and saucer dating to the 1950s with an elegant shape and a classic holiday color scheme of red, white and gold. Just like a lovely party dress! I love the gold overlay and the fancy handle! Aynsley made such wonderful china. There workmanship is always superb.  For more info on the teacup at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

I had decided to make cookies, and I always start the holiday season out with Bourbon Balls...a tradition from growing up...because they are really best when they have mellowed for several weeks. I am not a fan of liquor, but after they sit, the alcohol disappears and a mellow, interesting flavor remains. I couldn't find my family recipe, but found this recipe in an old Coastal Living magazine from 2008, and it's exactly like my family one...I finally did find it and compared them. So here it is...we always packed them in a waxed paper lined cookie tin to mellow.

Bourbon Balls

Ingredients

• 3 cups crushed vanilla wafers
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans 
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1/2 cup bourbon 
• Powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir in corn syrup and bourbon. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls; roll in powdered sugar. Store in an airtight container.

Note: Beware--these little morsels pack a punch. The bourbon flavor gets mellower with time, so make these at least one week ahead.

There are always a few family recipes that you have to have for the holidays, and this is one. The other is eggnog scones, which I am making later in the week and will share.

Take some time and visit the wonderful blogs listed below, and link up to the Tuesday Cuppa Tea linky with your one tea related post. I'd love to hear from you if you have time to comment.  Have a great week, and as the season speeds up, don't forget to have a cup of tea with someone or something you love, and don't lose the attitude of thankfulness Thanksgiving always focuses our lives to observe.

Common Ground ~ http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com

Monday Marketplace

Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday

Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Teatime Tuesday

Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness

Martha~  http://www.marthasfavorites.com/ 

Tea On Tuesday
Miss Kathy ~ http://thewritersreverie.blogspot.com/

Tuesday Tea       

Michelle ~ http://www.finchrest.com

Tea On Tuesday

Betty ~ http://teacoziecottage.blogspot.ca/

Tea Tuesday

Phyllis ~ http://www.relevanttealeaf.blogspot.com/

Tea On Tuesday

Shawn ~ http://poetryinapotoftea.blogspot.com/

Poetry In A Pot Of Tea

Bernideen’s ~ http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com/

Friends Sharing Tea Wednesday

 Ivy And Elephants ~http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

What’s It Wednesday

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Home On Wednesday

 A Tea Lover     ~http://the-teaist.blogspot.com/

Tea Talk Wednesday

Happy Thanksgiving! Teacup And Railroad Bridge Park

I hope you are having a lovely Thanksgiving Day. We are just the 2 of us, kids are with inlaws, but that's okay. If you are in business, retail at least, this is the one chance for a breather before the Christmas season arrives in force! The calm before the storm! So we will have a quiet day, with lots of time to reflect on the many things we are thankful for.

But...this is also a a Thursday in blogland, so I am joining the blogs at the end of the post. Please visit some if you have the chance, they are so much fun...I am continually amazed at the creativity of my blogging friends!

The cup and saucer I have today is another of my favorite hand colored on transfer art deco designs from the 1923-1938. The maker is Embassy Ware, England and the pattern is called Fondeville, named for a French garden. Embassy Ware was a line made by Samuel Radford in Staffordshire only until 1938, and the company closed in 1957. I love the sepia transfer design with the hand coloring on bone china. Sweet! For more info on the teacup at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

When our son and daughter in law were here last month, we went to a favorite place in town for a walk, the Railroad Bridge Park. There used to be a branch line railroad from what is now Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest here, bringing timber to Dungeness Spit on Sequim Bay. It was rescued from dereliction and became a land trust and has been renovated to include a wonderful park incorporated into the Olympic Discovery Trail, and also houses the Audubon Society headquarters, the Dungeness River Audubon Center.

The fall foliage of the heavy vegetation here by the Dungeness River was lovely. It was overcast, with a few showers, but lovely for a post lunch walk...

One of our favorite areas is the park namesake, the Railroad Bridge, an old railroad trestle bridge converted to a bridge for foot and bike traffic, and a part of the Olympic Discovery Trail, that covers 130 miles across the top of the Olympic Peninsula from Port Townsend to the coast by Forks.

We pretty well had the place to ourselves, but it was a week day. Weekends are very busy with bikers, Olympic Trail visitors and dog walkers. While we were there, we watched a Blue Heron fishing from the bridge in the Dungeness River. It is hard to spot, as the dullness of the day and the gravel background camouflaged  it well. Hope you can see it...

So we spent a lovely day, and got home in time for a cuppa tea! Of course!

I'm off for one right now...time for elevenses. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and don't get trampled shopping tomorrow! Hope you have time to visit the blogs below:

Miss Spenser ~ http://missspensersblog.blogspot.com/

Teacup Thursday

Coloradolady  ~ http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

Vintage Thingie Thursday

 Mrs. Olson ~  http://jannolson.blogspot.com/

Share Your Cup Thursday

Beverley ~ http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/ 

Pink Saturday

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Imari Trio, Pumpkin Surprise Loaf Cake

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! The last few days have been low key, with an annual bout with allergies. Yechch! BUT...I am feeling much better and want to thank you for your thoughts, prayer and kind messages and emails. But I missed my 2 favorite Christmas bazaars! Rats!!! Ah well...there will be more next weekend!

I have the linky and the list of some of the blogs I link to at the bottom of the post, so please link one post of something related to tea, and visit the other wonderful blogs!

For those of you familiar with this blog, you know I love Imari cup and saucers. The name Imari is generically given to china with the colors of rust, cobalt blue and green that developed in the early 1800s with the trade with the Imari region of Japan. They continued to be popular into the 1940s when they began to wane, and the last version seems to have ended in the early 1950s. But I love the sepia transferware and the hand painted bright colors. This particular set of Imari cup and saucer with matching plate was made by Doric China, England between 1926-1935. It has some gold trim wear, but I love the floral vignettes as well as the colors. Imari was very popular during the late Victorian and Edwardian era. If you watch seasons 1 & 2 of Downton Abbey, you will often spy an imari teacup in use.  For more info on the teacup trio at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

I was going to share another recipe today, but a member, Valerie, of my Brunch, Tea Scones Yahoo group sent us a link for this and I decided to post the wonderful cake idea from Sheknows.com (to go there and see step by step photos, click on the cake photo) called:

Peekaboo pumpkin pound cake with brown butter pecan icing

Ingredients:

For the pound cake

• 1 (14-ounce) box pumpkin bread mix
• 1 (16-ounce) box pound cake mix
• Orange food coloring

For the icing

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
• 3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

Prepare pumpkin bread

Mix up pumpkin bread ingredients according to the directions on the box. Add orange food coloring to make it more "pumpkin-y" looking (less brown).

Bake and cut

Bake in a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan according to directions. Remove from oven before completely done, about 8-10 minutes less than instructed. Let cool, remove from pan and refrigerate for up to four hours. Cut cold pumpkin bread into large slices. Cut pumpkin shapes from slices.

Align them down the center of a lightly greased and floured 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Make pound cake

Mix up your pound cake batter according to the directions on the box. Pour over your pumpkin bread cutouts in the pan, making sure to cover the tops of the pumpkins. You may have more pound cake batter than you need. Try not to overfill the pan. Bake according to the directions on the box. Let cool when done.

Prepare icing

Meanwhile, prepare the brown butter pecan icing.
Put powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan, melt butter and boil, stirring until it starts to brown and form dark flecks on the sides and bottom.

Remove from heat. Pour the melted brown butter and flecks over the powdered sugar. Add the evaporated milk and vanilla. Stir until combined and creamy. Add more powdered sugar if it appears too runny or more evaporated milk if it seems too stiff.

Ice cake

Remove baked and cooled pound cake from pan and top with brown butter icing. Add chopped pecans, if desired. Cut into slices and delight your guests with the pumpkin-shaped surprise that peeks out from inside!

As we all in the group thought, a little extra work, yes, but what fun! And think of all the other holiday shapes you could make with this! Terrific!

So...there you have it for today. Please link your tea related post with the linky and visit the other wonderful blogs. I hope you are all not too harried with Thanksgiving preparations to be too busy to take time to refect on how much we do have to be thankful for. No matter what problems or challenges you are facing, there are always so overlooked gifts in our lives that we pass by when we are in a hurry, that need to be found and cherished.  Have a cup of tea and look for them...they're usually right there so close and familiar we have missed them!

I don't know why the blog list is showing up in different colors...beyond me...I'm not techie!!!

Common Ground ~ http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com

Monday Marketplace

Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday

Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Teatime Tuesday

Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness

Martha~  http://www.marthasfavorites.com/ 

Tea On Tuesday
Miss Kathy ~ http://thewritersreverie.blogspot.com/

Tuesday Tea       

Michelle ~ http://www.finchrest.com

Tea On Tuesday

Betty ~ http://teacoziecottage.blogspot.ca/

Tea Tuesday

Phyllis ~ http://www.relevanttealeaf.blogspot.com/

Tea On Tuesday

Shawn ~ http://poetryinapotoftea.blogspot.com/

Poetry In A Pot Of Tea

Bernideen’s ~ http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com/

Friends Sharing Tea Wednesday

 Ivy And Elephants ~http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

What’s It Wednesday

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Home On Wednesday

 A Tea Lover     ~http://the-teaist.blogspot.com/

Tea Talk Wednesday

Johnson Brother Transferware Teacup, Sea air for Breathing

I am snuffling...allergies have hit. Fall seems to be worst in this area for me.  So I am in a low key mode today. I have have a teacup for Teacup Thursday and then will be taking a nap because sneezing kept me from sleeping well last night. Ah well...it will pass.

It's a fall brown transferware type day. Here is a Johnson Brothers vintage design called Olde English Countryside. It feels like the English countryside in fall today here...cold and high fog or marine layer. The cup and saucer dates to the 1930s, and is one of the hand colored transferware designs I love. They are really timeless, and so very decorative. For more info on the teacup at Antiques And Teacups, just click on the photos.

This is what it's like today. We drove to the coast...about 3 miles... after buying produce at the organic farm store so I could just sit there and breathe the ocean air. Very good for my sinuses. Not as picturesque as on a sunny day, but...

I hope you are having a great day! Here are the blogs I am joining today. I am drinking a cup of Constant Comment Green Tea...I drink lots of tea when I have sinus problems...or even when I'm not, come to think of it!!!  And I will check in with you all later...time for a nap!

Miss Spenser ~ http://missspensersblog.blogspot.com/

 Teacup Thursday

Coloradolady  ~ http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

Vintage Thingie Thursday

 Mrs. Olson ~  http://jannolson.blogspot.com/

Share Your Cup Thursday