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Sunday, September 27, 2015

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Shelley Crabapple Cup And Saucer, Trip Report



Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea!   We got back Thursday afternoon from our visits and travels. Had a marvelous time with friends, and missed another group but had a surprise hook-up too! More about the trip later...haven't even downloaded the photos yet. Unfortunately my Honey has had his first ever severe allergy reaction...to rag weed, I guess, so I am behind on everything but caring for him. Parkinson's means if you get anything, it's magnified! But please forgive the sketchiness of this week's link up party.


I relaxed with a cup of tea this afternoon and my new Victoria magazine issue and loved this poem by George Cooper:
October threw a party,
The leaves by hundreds came,
The Chestnuts, Oaks and Maples,
And leaves of every name.

That helped me to decide what teacup to share...a wonderful Shelley China, England Mocha shaped demitasse cup and saucer....


The pattern is number 11684 and the art deco design is called Crabtree...you can see why, with the twisted old tree...don't know about the blue apples, but I guess that's artist's license...




The design was made between 1929-1940 and was also made on the Queen Anne shape and a few others. I just love the raised enamel fruit!   The 31 after the main number denotes the color of the saucer, as it also was made in green. After dinner coffee or tea with liqueurs was the thing during the art deco era. And it really has had a renaissance with espresso's popularity! A lot of folks collect demitasse cups not only to use, but because they take up less space than regular sized teacups. For more info at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.




This is from the book Delectables For All Seasons by artist Margie Koch...her rendering of an teapot made of mushrooms for fall...




Before our friends arrived, I did manage to get out a few fall items...so the runner and pumpkins are out on the buffet...



My fall themed Fruit Of The Spirit cross stitch is up...



The fall magazines are out to peruse with a cup of tea in hand...



The fall garland is up around the antique mirror in the dining room...



And the wreath is on the door!  Welcome to Fall...I love it's crispness and colors! Don't you?  Thanks for visiting. I apologize for not responding to comments while gone...I was on my iPad, and could not get the thing to post comments or link to other linky parties...don't know what I am doing wrong, but...I'll leave you with our local organic market farm store Sunny Farms....




Below is the list of some of the blog parties I will be part of and there is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there! And I love to read your comments, and can find you to visit!


Sunday, September 20, 2015

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Antique Shopping in England

Hi and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! This is a bit of a different one, because we are out of town with friends and I didn't have much time to do a post. But here it is, such as it is! Lol!


As we were talking with the kids, I was looking for a family photo and came across some photos of  one of our annual antiquing trips to England we did until my husband was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease a few years ago and could no longer tolerate the long flights...from the West Coast to England or to the East coast to catch ships back and forth. We do miss them...not only for the business, and our love of England...we spent a month each year...but also being able to spend to time with our English families. Sigh..life changes and reinvents itself, doesn't it? Anyway, I found these of an antiques faire in Bingley in Staffordshire, by Stoke-on-Trent, and thought you might enjoy seeing them...My teacups this week are the ones on display by the vendors....




The antiques Faire was at the Stone Leisure Centre...a huge barn of a place...





We spent about 4 hours there, and probably didn't see but half...the mezzanine held a tea area, so that's where the last few were taken to get a better views of the faire....amazing! And we were loaded down when we left! 


We then went a few miles up the road to a favorite town in Staffordshire, just outside of Stoke-on-Trent called Stone where it was market day down the high street, although that was allsorts, not antiques...scenes from Stone...

Actually, this is in Bingley where the antique fair was...the Old School House on the Longton Road...


The Crown And Anchor pub in the center of Stone...we have had many meals and teas there...

Joules Ales on the Trent & Mersey Canal which runs through town...canals were essential for the potteries in and around Stoke-on-Trent. The Dunoon pottery is based here in Stone, and as we carried their mugs for years, we used to visit each year and put in our order when we had our bricks and mortar antiques and tea items shop...

Antiquer favorite pub, the Star, which is right by the canal...we've had quite a few meals and teas there too! Lovely!

As this isn't a regular Tuesday Cuppa Tea, I'm not adding a linky this week, but hopefully will be back with a normal post for next week. I hope you didn't mind a change of scenery! Have a wonderful week and thanks so much for visiting!

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Shelley Fruit Center, Fall Victoria Magazine

Hello and welcome to another Tuesday Cuppa Tea with the fine tea related blogs whose links are at the bottom of the post plus many others! I LOVE Teacup Tuesdays and a chance to share a favorite Victoria Magazine as well!



This week's teacup is a Shelley China Fruit Center tea cup in the Boston shape...





I guess I have fruit on the brain, because we have had THE BEST peaches, nectarines and plums this year...absolutely succulent! And as we have been wandering around the last 2 weeks with family and friends to various places we have brought home a lot of small organic farms, which this area has in abundance.





Doesn't the fruit look luscious? Love it! The teacup was made between 1963 and 1966 when the pottery closed. There were lots of Fruit Center versions made by Shelley in different shapes, colors and fruit. They are all wonderful!

For more info on the Shelley Fruit Center fall teacup at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

I wanted to share some of my favorite fall photos from the September/October 2008 issue of Victoria Magazine, my most favorite subscription.









I have pumpkins on the brain...because I am planning some pumpkin cashew coconut curry from a recipe in Sunset magazine!

This next photo I found is so fun because the cat is exactly like my Tinker...must be his twin...even down to the white whiskers! I didn't know he had previously been a model before we adopted him...or really, before he adopted us! He is known as the ghost cat...no one else has ever seen him...not even the cat sitter.



Well that's it for this edition of Tuesday Cuppa Tea.  I am out of town most of this week, so will be slow responding, but will be reading posts and comments at odd moments...when everyone else is otherwise occupied! LOL!!!

Below is the list of some of the blog parties I will be part of and there is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there! And I love to read your comments, and can find you to visit!

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Queen Elizabeth II Longest Reign

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! This week is a royal theme, because on September 9, 2015, Queen Elizabeth becomes England's longest reigning monarch, surpassing the record of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria around 5:30 pm on September 9 after 23,226 days, 16 hours and roughly 30 minutes on the throne. Cool!


This is a Cecil Beaton official coronation photo from 1953....now on to Tuesday Cuppa Tea!




My Royal tea in the sunroom in honour of HRH Queen Elizabeth with some reign landmark royal commemorative china items from Antiques And Teacups...




2 teacups and 2 mugs in her honour....the first teacup is a coronation design made by Shelley China in 1953 in the late Dorothy shape. The design is a photo by photographer Lord Snowdon, Anthony Armstrong-Jones, and is one of my favorite designs from the coronation. I think I've shared a mug with this design before.

The next royal commemorative item is a Coalport, England loving cup made for the Silver Jubilee in 1977. We were there for our usual month that year, and jubilee things were everywhere, and cheer was rampant!


The next is a Golden Jubilee mug from 2002 commemorating 50 years of reign by Royal Burlngton which is the trade name of a small pottery that has few records...I can't even find out if it is still in business...and my friends in Stoke-on-Trent who work in the potteries have never heard of it, and think the trade name was only used for the Jubilee by another pottery. We were again in England and it was festive again...


The last is a tea cup and saucer made for the Diamond Jubilee of 60 years on the throne in 2013 by Heriloom China, who has only been around since 1998.


There are few planned official activities for the 9th...the Queen will be at work as usual...even on holiday in Scotland...and is opening a bridge in Edinburgh...not like the street parties and huge celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee in 2013.  There is a new book coming out about the Queens reign and I found this quote from Prince William from an article by Country Living magazine.



Country Living quote: When given the chance to write the preface for a new biography, Elizabeth II: The Steadfast, the Duke of Cambridge didn't just deliver —he honored Queen Elizabeth with a sweet yet rare public appreciation of both her reign and her role in their family, as well.
"The Queen's kindness and sense of humor, her innate sense of calm and perspective, and her love of family and home are all attributes I experience first-hand," he writes. "All of us who will inherit the legacy of my grandmother's reign and generation need to do all we can to celebrate and learn from her story. Speaking for myself, I am privileged to have the Queen as a model for a life of service to the public."

These are some of the commemorative china being produced for the Royal Collection for this new milestone...beautiful!



Royal Collection china

To read more about the milestone and see some great photos of the reign of Queen Elizabeth...click this link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3202053/Stunning-photos-chart-Queen-s-63-years-throne-prepares-overtake-Victoria-UK-s-longest-reigning-monarch.html


Thanks for joining me for a royal Tuesday Cuppa Tea! I am in and out with company and sightseeing with them, but love to hear from you! I Hope you're ready for a bit of a respite as school is back in and Labor Day becomes a curve in the road to the end of the year. Amazing!! Where did the time go!

Below is the list of some of the blog parties I will be part of and there is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there! And I love to read your comments, and can find you to visit!