Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Savoring The Summer, June Things

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea, the first of the official summer!!

Saturday was June 21st, the day of the Summer Solstice...the longest day of the year...

Summer is really only starting here in the Pacific Northwest, but the longer daylight is quite nice.  June 21st is also the reason for my teacup choice today...as it's Prince William, the Duke Of Cambridge, who was born 32 years ago on June 21, 1982 to Prince Charles & Princess Diana...


And my teacup is a commemorative of that day...

The teacup is made by Duchess, England...

Notice that it only says the birth of their first child, with no name. This was one of the first teacups released, before the name was announced. But Duchess wanted to be first to the market.  Not many birth teacups were made at all. The design itself, slightly altered, was one of the approved designs first used for the wedding of Charles & Diana in 1981, in case you thought it looked familiar.

Duchess was a mark of A.F. Finney, named after the pottery building in Longton it took over from the Blyth(e) pottery founded in 1905. Duchess survived until 1969 when it was submerged in the Toms Investor group, which was then acquired by Grimwades in 1990. At the moment, the works are not use.


And now William and Kate have their own prince George!  And for his 32nd birthday, his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth has gifted him with his own helicopter, which he can fly himself if necessary, to use for the couple's official engagements...

The British press have dubbed the helicopter "Heirforce One"... LOL!

And today, I am joining Sandi for her Savour The Summer tea at Rose Chintz Cottage...

I had tea in the sunroom today thinking of Sandi's tea party, and in honour of that had sunny lemon cookies and a my tea in a Shelley China, England yellow Celandine patterned teacup in the Lincoln shape...

And I am having a cup of Assam black tea given my by our son and daughter in law made by Nottingham Tea. It was nice but a bit strong, so I needed some sugar, and I don't take milk. But I raised my teacup to toast Sandi and summer!

So please visit Sandi and savour the summer! For more info on the commemorative teacup at Antiques And Teacups, just click on the photos above . And be sure to link your tea related post with the linky below, but please be patient as it is sometimes very SLOW!

An InLinkz Link-up

Royal Wedding Wednesday Unusual Wedding Memorabilia surfacing

It's Royal Wedding Wednesday with Decor To Adore which is always fun.
I posted a Royal Wedding Wednesday post on my other blog, Time Was Antiques Family Blog covering various Royal Wedding hotel packages in the UK & US at Royal Wedding Hotel Packages.


Here, I want to share a few of the fun Royal Wedding memorabilia that I have thought were fun.

I included this in a blog a few weeks ago, but had to revisit...you still have time if you're a fast knitter!!!

Get the kids involved...HappyLand Royal Wedding from Early Learning, UK. How cute is that!  It works...I had a plastic model of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation coach & horses I put together with my father when I was 5 and remember sitting up with my English grandmother in my plaid wool robe and a cup of tea in one hand and the model clutched in the other watching the coronation in the middle of the night.

The Royal Wedding fridge cover for a place we visit often....TOO often!

Monarchist garden gnomes...reportedly selling well in the UK...will have to check with Travelocity on that!

My personal favorites...Royal Wedding teabags...already posted on this blog a few weeks ago...Will & Kate in a hot tub of tea. Apparently an English friend saw them & chortled, came home, read my blog & went back to get them 2 days later planning to send me a set and they were sold out. Sigh...BUT can be ordered apparently at Donkey-products.com.

Yep...someone had to do it! Kiss Me Kate ale from Nottingham's Castle Rock Brewery.

Life size stand up cut outs...unfortunately sold only in the UK & they won't ship to the us...I know, I emailed for a friend having a Royal Wedding tea party...from Starstills.com

And I can really eat this one up...from a pie maker, a Kate & Wills commemorative pie. The website says the pie contains British beef, wine, bacon, pearl onions, mushrooms and a dash of brandy. Sounds good!

Also a Royal Pear sweet pie with poached pears, rum and FairTrade chocolate. Drool!!!

For more on the pies, visit the Pieminister's Website.

This is not an unusual Royal Wedding item, but a neat Birth Of William plate from Wedgwood, England issued in 1982 when William was born to Prince Charles and Princess Diana. For more info about the plate at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photo.




So there you go...if you find any fun souvenirs, let me know. I have left out the sick bags, condoms & ashtrays.....