A Spring Festival

Oh hello..I'm so glad that you have arrived..you're just in time for tea.

Did you manage to find a pretty dress?

No..what about one of these then?

Aren't they lovely! via tumblr

 Do come in & take a seat. I have so much to tell you about. I am dying to share these thoughts with you from my lovely book "If Tea Cups Could Talk.. sharing a cup of kindness. An invitation to tea." by Emily Barnes.
Even the chapter titles tell you all you really need to know to be inspired & enriched by this wonderful book.

1) Fill me with serenity~ Islands of calm in an ocean of chaos.
2) Fill me with friendship~ The art of being with one another.
3) Fill me with tradition~ A short history of tea & sympathy.
4) Fill me with memories~ The legacy of the tea cup.
5) Fill me with courage & comfort~ The vulnerable lessons of porcelain.
6) Fill me with beauty~ Creating & experiencing loveliness.
7) Fill me with celebration~ A perfect excuse for a party.

Can you believe that fly!!?

Emily says in her chapter
Fill me with beauty....
"The spirit of the tea party is, at least in part, the spirit of beauty.
 And I am fully convinced that we humans need beauty in order to live rich & fulfilling lives.
People wither when their lives are deprived of beauty."
Isn't that the most amazing statement!! If only someone had told me that when I was a girl.. so much more about my life would have made sense a long time ago.
"People grow & flourish when they are able to respond to the beauty around them & create their own forms of beauty. And the ritual of teatime allows room for both receiving & giving loveliness. The very act of preparing for tea is an act of creating beauty."
And I don't think she means boiling the jug, finding a teabag in the cupboard & plopping it in a mug!
"There is an art to placing tea cakes just so on a platter, adding the perfect touch of a garnish, arranging fresh flowers in a sparkling crystal vase & polishing silver until it gleams.

Our 30th Wedding anniversary Tea Party last December

...I also find that being involved in making things beautiful increases my sensitivity to the lovely things around me. Or more likely, it is the other way round. How can I possibly create a thing of beauty if I have not first experienced the beautiful? 
....Beauty is all around us, of course. Our world with all it's sordid problems, still brims with breathtaking loveliness. And one of the benefits of the teatime ritual is that of slowing us down enough to notice what is beautiful around us."
Would you like to choose a cup?

Which tea pot shall we use today?

The camelia is Spring Festival : )

 So many pretty combinations we could choose.

I thought you might like to help me go through my doilies & tray cloths..here they are in my hat box.

We could pop some serviettes in to a pretty jug perhaps.

Flowers..they could be a single bud,

 a small posy

or something more exuberant..all will bring grace & sweetness to our tea party.

The most profound sentence in the whole book for me:
"Being surrounded by beauty opens little windows that allow our souls to breathe"

via Pinterest

Emily goes on to tell the most beautiful story to complete this chapter, she says "My heart still sings when I remember the beauty of that perfect summer's day" Emily had planned a tea party so that her friend Toni could meet her family & friends. She goes on to describe the day "The garden area near our pond was the chosen spot for our tea that day. I felt that little thrill of anticipation as I set out small tables & covered them with white cloths. I carried out my silver tea set, my delicate china plates, & of course my teacups...dish by dish the food table was filled- a lovely carrot cake, dainty cucumber sandwiches, tempting chocolate mints & lemon squares, dishes of clotted cream & homemade jam from Great-Grandma Gertie's kitchen. The intoxicating fragrance of raspberry tea floated over it all.
Four generations of woman in our family gathered that day to celebrate Toni's visit. My mother-in-law Gertie Barnes came. So did my daughter Jenny & my "daughter-in-love" Maria & of course my granddaughter Christine. Each brought her dearest friend, so there was 9 of us who sat down to tea in our flowing dresses & flower-trimmed bonnets. A lovely soft breeze swept the skirts of our dresses: I felt almost like Scarlett O'Hara serving tea on the grounds.
That day gave us all a gift...the gift of beauty.
....You see the most beautiful part of any tea party are the faces of friends...the sounds of their voices...the touch of their hands...& the fragrance of friendship mingling with the lovely aroma of the tea.
I really do believe:
The beauty I see
over tea
is thee." 
Hat anyone?
I suspect it could be tea party season..hope to see you again soon.

from lauraleeburch.com

MUCH

 ♥♥♥♥♥

The Tui Cherry And A Tea Party Or Two

There is something truly divine..reverential about watching those first plump spring buds burst out of their hiding places & unfurl towards the sun, momentarily pausing.. offering thanks for their return to life.

 This glorious prunus campanulata superba radiates the glory of early spring.

 What a delightful contrast against a radiant blue sky. I'm not quite certain who felt inspired to line the Countdown car park down the road with them as they grow quite large, but gloriously so in an urban setting, even if for a brief week or two each year.

 Unfortunately they are unlikely to attract our native Tui birds who adore their nectar like this one out in Havelock North..just up from one of my gardens.

 A little further up the road.

 Plum blossoms are amongst the earliest to grace our land.

 A darling wee spring picture I found recently at The Mart for a dollar or two.

 I've had this old picture for sometime now. It lives out in the potting shed as it's is past it's best.

 I am amazed by the detail. I can't see an artist name. I'd love to know who originally painted it.

 Walking through town recently we passed a Playcentre information display. At first I noticed the easel & the chair & then I spotted this little darling poppet.

 I've always loved these sculptures right in the centre of town under the shadow of the clock tower.

 A gifted local artist Liz Earth made them.

 Do you ever feel that no matter how much you do you just never quite come to the end of things? We've been feeling like that quite a lot lately. So on Tuesday Rob decided that we were going to stop & have afternoon tea in our garden. I had managed to use up some well past it bananas & make a wholemeal banana loaf (recipe here)

 Earl Grey Superior for the occasion..loose leaf.

 I do love lily of the valley bushes..so pretty in pink. They don't like my garden very much but seem to thrive at Ethel's around the corner.

 I think that this is my favourite magnolia..but then again. We have been scheming as to what we could remove or push aside to make room for one.

 What a sunny little fellow.

 On Thursday I was invited to another tea party by my dear friend Ruth. A celebration of spring & friendship. A vintage afternoon tea dress was required & a brooch, but goodness me aren't shoes a hassle!.

 We did quite well I thought for two muddly old things, Ruth & Me : )

I made my prune & ginger loaf this time & Ruth made a turkish orange cake with ground almonds (no flour)

 Ruth is the one wearing the daffodil ; )

 The photo was taken in the middle of a plum orchard.

 What perfect timing all this tea party business, I must say, as I have been so enjoying reading my Emily Barnes book "If Teacups Could Talk" just recently.."sharing a cup of kindness with treasured friends".
I'd love to share a little of this book with you my sweet friends. I have just the chapter in mind:

"Fill me with beauty..creating & experiencing loveliness"

  I'd love to see you next week for tea with me.
Wishing you blue skies & some loveliness.
MUCH

 ♥♥♥♥♥

A Perfect Day and a Surprise

 Every once in a while, a day comes along that is just perfect in every way....this was one of those days.
Well the teacosie was a little wild & made us giggle

but when I looked up & saw a friend I just knew it was going to be an especially blessed day.

 A day with no hurry, no worry...just sweetness & being together in the sunshine & watching planes go by..

and finding more planes in the Antique Centre.

 Door open..there's the hostess (well she would have been back then!)

 door shut & there are all the passengers, moustaches & all (they let me take pictures to show you..nice eh!)

 I found this wonderful depression glass pedestal cake plate.

And sold an old watch of my grandmothers for scrap gold (truly wasn't salvageable) & the return went a long way to buying this beautiful, pristine double marcella. I've never seen one with lily of the valley before. It is so perfect on our bed.

 My dear friend Cheryl told us about The Kitchen Table in Tennyson Street (Napier)..a photographers gallery & cafe incorporating lots of quirky retro/vintage elements & best of all the coffee's great!

 These signs line the outside wall.

 This huge mural hangs in the main cafe area.

 This was my favourite corner with the homogeneous milk finish on the furniture. It has the feel of my early childhood.

I found a mangosteen (imported)..funny fruit..quite beautiful in appearance.

The kiwana card "Perfect Holiday" came from Aroha Lamour & was created by artist Leanne Culy

 Heralds of spring..tangerine tulips outside Madisons.

and giant amaryllis,

 a few steps more & we looked down this startlingly light & bright European style passageway.

 There are still some grand buildings in Napier.

 and lovely vistas.

 We later made our way round past the Port to Ahuriri..

 Right by the sea.

 Here we checked into the Crown Hotel...4th floor. Sea views, delightful & so marvelously, kindly made possible by my brother & his darling wife, who realizing that they wouldn't be able to make use of their Chamber of Commerce prize of a night at the hotel... gave the opportunity to us!!

After desperately cold temperatures & snow the week before who would have thought it possible for us to the have the gift of this sparkling day?

 Without a breath of wind to ruffle our hair we wandered around the water front..

 celebrated on our balcony,

 read Country living magazines,

 watched the day draw in & the light haze & mellow

 until eventually the sun went down

  in a blaze of glory..

The next morning, about the time of a nice cup of tea, there was a telephone call. Rob's colleagues were calling from Wellington..oh dear he should have been with them attending the annual New Zealand Nurses Organization conference. The dear man had booked his flight a day late. I had been whispering interesting comments only last week of possible symptoms of over intelligence ; 0

We managed to get him to Wellington in time to attend the afternoon sessions & I, well I returned to Ahuriri to have my hair trimmed & visit Port'o'Call . It seems I may have said that I'll help out on a Sunday afternoon for a bit (we'll see how we go). So I went home to wash my best pinnies.

Hope you're having a lovely week. 

MUCH

 ♥♥♥♥♥