August Country Diary And Poppies!

August

I have been remiss the last months not starting out the month with my favorite Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady, but...life happens! I had a birthday last week...so I am definitely vintage +++! But here it is...

The reason I try to share the book, is that I get it out at the first of every month...and urge you to find a copy! It is such a window into a bygone era, and I love seeing familiar places...albeit changed...because aout families did and still do live in this area of Warwickshire, England, at the top of the Cotswolds. What an amazing observer and artist Edith Holden was!

The book is full of poems, mottos, quotes, Bible verses and folk wisdom...a joy to revisit often...

And this page is my focus this week, because it features Poppies, and they are the chosen flower of the August Flower Of The Month series teacup from Royal Albert, England...

Pretty ponk poppies and blut cornflowers which are also called batchelor buttons, which I love because they are blue...

I always love finding a Flower of the Month teacups! So fun!

Poppies in the lavender fields at one of our local lavender farms we visited last year... didn't visit this year with all the isolating....

Not especially for a month, but there are lots of poppy themed china... here are a few we have...

Ambleside teacup by Roslyn, England from the 1950s... with pink poppies, daisies and lavender flowers...

a matching cake serving plate....

And poppies in red or orange...

1880s Antique Staffordshire teacup...

Circa 1900 artist painted Haviland. Limoges poppies serving plate...

or even blue poppues... although this plate by Shelley from 1900 in a pattern called Sprays Of Poppies is almost turquoise blue...

And as a blue lover, this is a variety I found which is amazing! Called a Himalayan Blue poppy... I need some for my garden!

I hope you have enjoyed a lovely week and that the poppies bring a bit of cheer to your eyes.
The hot weather is difficult for my husband's disease, and our county is spiking with covid-19 at the moment with new cases so have been unable to spend time with our kids.
But we are content, cocooned and grateful for everything we do have!

Ending with the joy of a lovely poppy collage from Collages My Passion on Facebook

Tuesday Cuppa Tea With A French Flavor

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea...this week with a French flavor!

We have been overwhelmed by the further destruction of the Nappa/Sonoma/Santa Rosa area fire...an area we know well. Having been raised on the SF Peninsula and spent many days and hours in the area, as well as our daughter and her family having lived there for 20 years raising their kids, so visiting often.

They moved about 8 years ago, and it has been devastating to them with friends and relatives still missing and massive proerty damage. It was a bit difficult to do a tea, but our daughter thought it a good idea, so...

My background is a Limoges Paris France souvenir plate, showing all the famous landmarks. I have been to Paris a number of times...with my Aunt when I was 20, when we stayed for a month on the Rue Honore' in a pensione. After I married, we spent a week in Paris with a nephew, and visited several other times while in conjunction with our annual month in England. 

As my husband's disease makes it impossible for him to travel that far anymore, we are so grateful for the time we spent there and the surrounding areas over the years.

The mark is one I can't identify. Limoges is often mistaken for the maker's name, but it is actually the town/area in France that has given it's generic name to all the potteries in the area. It's like some of English china says Made In Staffordshire...but that's a large are of many potteries. Because this was made in the 1950s it has the French Government La Seynie mark guaranteeing it was made in Limoges, and that is is fine porcelain. The C and crown is a potter, but not in any of my references....

  

My teacup is actually a teacup trio, made between 1900-1910. It is also from Limoges, France, but has additional information in the marks.

The marks indicate the pottery is Haviland, and it is one of the most beautiful Haviland patterns I have ever had.

Additional marks even tell me the designers of the pattern...GDA or Gerard, Dufraissiex and Abbot.

To hold our tea, we have something with a French accent, but from an English pottery made for Quebec, Canada...a Sadler Cube teapot, cream and sugar...

Sadler made the cube in several different sizes, from miniature to quite large. This is the 16 ounce size, so it holds 1-2 cups.

The other nice thing is it has a wonderful iridescent luster finish and comes with the matching sugar and cream too...

The teapot set was made in the 1950s. Sadler made a lot of souvenir items. Love them!

When you travel, you bring home small souvenirs...this is a miniature Arc de' Triompe I brought home...

And my miniature Eiffel Tower. My aunt and I walked all the way up to the top...it was amazing...and exhauting! They off for chocolate and croissants at a sidewalk cafe' in celebration....

For tea we have Harney & Sons aptly named Paris. I got a sample with my last order of Tropical green tea...which describe as:

A Fruity black tea with vanilla and caramel flavors, and a hint of lemon and bergamot.

Quite nice!

And for a French tea treat, madeleines! I have shared the recipe before, but here it is again from my post in 2016...they are so easy to mae, they appear in the cookie jar fairly frequently...

The recipe I used is from a smallish book titled The London Ritz Book Of  Afternoon Tea by Helen Simpson published in 1987...I picked it up at the Ritz as a souvenir after having tea there that year for my birthday....

I love the chapter title of the book which includes the Madeleines recipe...Foreign Cakes And Wicked Cakes...and says:

"Such cakes hold a frisson of wickedness to the English cook, as they glory in quantities of cream and chocolate and tooth-deep frosting. Sweet sirens of the cake world, they are as smooth and rich as film stars."

Little French sponge cakes Proust said were "richly sensual under it's severe religious folds"...well!

Ingredients

2 medium eggs

1/2 cup sugar

8 tbs or 1 stick unsalted butter, melted

finely grated rind of 1 lemon and juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup self rising flour

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Lightly butter 2 madeleine tins.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until thoroughly mixed but still bright yellow. Beat in the melted butter, lemon rind and juice, then sift the flour over the surface and fold in. Stir in egg whites with a fork; then beat them well into the mixture

Spoon a small amount of the mixture into each mould and bake in the center of the oven for 20 minutes. Cool slightly in the moulds before gently easing onto wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 24 madeleines

For more info on any of the china at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

Thank you for joining me for my French flavored tea today. I hope you will join me praying for the devastation in California...and so many other places in the country...

I will be joining:

 Tea Cup Tuesday 
 Bernideen’s Teatime, Cottage and Garden
Home Sweet Home

Share Your Cup

Here is the Tuesday Cuppa Tea linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there!  I am so looking forward to visiting you!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, My Grandmother And Me

I originally had this scheduled for last week while we were out of town with the kids & grandsons...but it never published!!! Don't know what I do incorrectly, but...anyway, here it is a week late!

Hello! It's time for Tuesday Cuppa Tea! Because I we are spending time with our son, daughter, their spouses and a grandson from each family this week, I am attempting to schedule this post. 

The post is a flash back to August of 2011. Many have asked how I started loving vintage things, and this explains it!

This is my grandmother, Emma Bridgewater, who began and fostered my love of antiques and Victoriana. Yep...her name really was Emma Bridgewater and she was born in Leicester, England in 1881. She was born Emma Rice (unlike the potter Emma Bridgewater who was born Bridgewater and married a Rice!) and remembers going in a carriage in 1897 when she was 16 to watch the village roasting oxen on the green to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. She couldn't attend because she was just recovering from scarlet fever.

The photo above is Emma participating in a play at age 18 as part of a dramatic society she belonged to.  I inherited her curly hair...and a few health problems as well, by that's by the by. ANYWAY, it was growing up listening to her memories of Victorian England while we had our afternoon tea that formed my love of the period. Then, when I was 16 she gave me her teapot and teacups. I have an older sister who was offered them first, but she was into Danish modern so I got all the family Victoriana. Yippee!!!

This is one of the teacups I received from my grandmother. The design is sn ethereal watercolor of swans and was made in Germany in the 1880s. It has a crack and a chip, but I treasure it!

This is another of my grandmother's teacups that I treasure. This is a Haviland, Limoges from the 1880s that is just beautiful and is a Victorian and Art Nouveau design, all hand painted.

In the top photo of the hair locket I inherited from my grandmother as well that is hand made and hand engraved and originally had a lock of hair in the back covered with an eisenglass window. After marrying George Bridgewater, another Englishman in Leicester, England, Emma became a nurse and decided that the hair was unsanitary and removed it. It is one of my favorite momentos of  her and I wear it often.

So there are my teacups. I do hope we survive the week with the 23 year old and 18 year old grandson...and our son who is usually referred to as the Activities Director! We have been phoning and texting around the family trying to set up what we are going to be doing...I guess he gets his organizing from me! Lol! 

Here is the linky. Please be PATIENT because it is SLOWWWW but it works. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Teacup Tuesday, My Grandmother Emma Bridgewater & Her Teacups

Hello! It's time for Teacup Tuesday in all it's variations as I join the ladies who are listed below and many others!

This is my grandmother, Emma Bridgewater, who began and fostered my love of antiques and Victoriana. Yep...her name really was Emma Bridgewater and she was born in Leicester, England in 1881. She was born Emma Rice (unlike the potter Emma Bridgewater who was born Bridgewater and married a Rice!) and remembers going in a carriage in 1897 when she was 16 to watch the village roasting oxen on the green to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. She couldn't attend because she was just recovering from scarlet fever.


The photo above is Emma participating in a play at age 18 as part of a dramatic society she belonged to.  I inherited her curly hair...and a few health problems as well, by that's by the bay. ANYWAY, it was growing up listening to her memories of Victorian England that formed my love of the period. Then, when I was 16 she gave me her teapot and teacups. I have an older sister who was offered them first, but she was into Danish modern so I got all the family Victoriana. Yippee!!!

This is one of the teacups I received from my grandmother. The design is sn ethereal watercolor of swans and was made in Germany in the 1880s. It has a crack and a chip, but I treasure it!

This is another of my grandmother's teacups that I treasure. This is a Haviland, Limoges from the 1880s that is just beautiful.


In the top photo of the hair locket I inherited from my grandmother as well that is hand made and hand engraved and originally had a lock of hair in the back covered with an eisenglass window. After marrying George Bridgewater, another Englishman from Leicester, England, Emma became a nurse and decided that the hair was unsanitary and removed it. It is one of my favorite momentoes of  her and I wear it often.


So there are my teacups. I'm now going to visit all the other teacups. One of my favorite days! I am joining the ladies below, and others. I have to figure out how to do the linky!!!!

Wanda Lee~ http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com/ 
Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Pam~ http://breathoffreshair-paperbutterfly.blogspot.com/ 
Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Wanda Lee~ http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com
Tea For Two and Wednesday Tea For Me and Thee 
Donna~  http://thehomemakingarts.blogspot.com/ 
Tuesday Tea 
Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/
Tea Party Tuesday 
Lady Katherine~ http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/
Teatime Tuesday 

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

Teacup Tuesday

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

Martha's Favorites

Pink Saturday - Limoges Butter Pats, Interviewed For Postmedia News, Fairmont Empress Celebrates the Royal Wedding

For Pink Saturday with How Sweet The Sound, I want to share these butter pats. I am absolutely in love with this Haviland, Limoges France butter pat. I found a set of six and have sold one, so have 5 left at Antiques And Teacups.  The pink flowers and blue ribbons are like a spring bridal wreath. Wonder what Kate is going to wear...probably a tiara. Anyway, what doesn't show up well in the photos is the center flower shape ring is made up of tiny green and gold daisies. This is one of the nicest quality butter pats I have had for awhile. I use them for teabag caddies, or pretty places to rest spoons at the tea table. They are a very affordable collectible. For more info, click on the photos.


Since Friday was April Fool's Day, I got a lot of folks emailing me about yesterday's post about my invite from ITV in England to be part of some TV shows the day before and after William & Kate's wedding...but it wasn't an April Fool's joke. I am still emailing back & forth to the UK on various things. But it was certainly the invitation of a lifetime. But too late to come up with affordable housing and a decent plane fare so I just gave up the idea and suggested a friend. Read yesterday's post for more info. I hope to have updates about things closer to.


I was also interviewed by the Canadian National newspaper chain POSTMEDIA/ News which includes the Vancouver Sun, Canada.com, The Post and more.
I was interviewed and should be in an article about Royal Wedding gifts in the week before the wedding. Shannon, the National Reporter, demographics and social trends with the paper will email me to let me know when the story will be published.  This is sort of cool!  Her editor wanted someone at the Royal Wedding in London and she just HAPPENED to be coming back through London 5 days before the wedding on her way back from her 3 week honeymoon in Turkey so they gave her the job! How cool is that!!!  All because of some blog posts about the wedding gifts Charles & Diana got in 1981,  which I have published on my other blog Time Was Antiques.

In honor of the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton the Fairmont Empress and Fairmont Hotel Vancouver in British Columbia, B. C. have special packages for viewing the wedding. Victoria is our back yard, so I took note. 

The Package is called Rise & Shine with the Royals" and starts with breakfast at 3am pacific time in your pjs or Fairmont robe in the Tea Lobby (really an elegant dining room where the afternoon tea is usually served) while watching the wedding on big screens. The cost of this (does not include the room rate) is $39.00 CAD. 

Later in the day there is the "Royal Subjects Picnic & Tea" on the lawn in front of the hotel. For $20.00 you get an afternoon tea basket to go which includes a cup of tea, scone with cream and jam, mini sandwiches, pastries and a flag to wave. A celebration will follow in Victoria including a Best-dressed-dog for the Wedding" contest.

The "Royal Empress Room Dinner" will be offered for 3 nights through May 1, and will be served on the Queen's china which has not been used since the Royal visit of Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI and later the Queen Mum and mother of Queen Elizabeth II to Victoria in 1939. Menu items will be inspired by the menu of that visit but no details have been given. The cost for the dinner is $150.00. 

Well, it sounds nice, anyway! BUT we can promise our 5 foot by 8 foot Union Jack flag will be flying here at home!