Teacup Tuesday August 24, 2010.

Happy Teacup Tuesday!

 Once again, I am joining Martha at
  http://www.marthasfavorites.com/
 and Terri at
 http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/
  for their weekly show of teacups.
 I am also joining Wanda Lee for 'Tuesday And Wednesday Teatime In Blogland'! at
  http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/
and Pam at Teapots and Tea Things Tuesday
http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com/

Today has been a bit of a dreary day with the skies being overcast and the occasional spattering of rain. I decided to spend some time in my bedroom (the MASTER bedroom! LOL!) and tidy, vacuum, dust and polish furniture.

With that out of the way, I made myself a small pot of tea and sat down to enjoy it and pen a short note to a new friend.

The teacup I am using was given to me by my beautiful Momma, Nancy. She died from lung cancer just a little over three years ago now on June 2nd, 2007.  I miss her so much every day ( wiping tears away) but I am so lucky that I have so many mementos of her surrounding me.

Here is a small French Ivory frame with a picture of her. "Hello Momma".

The cup and saucer were made by Royal Albert and the pattern is "Serena". I think it is from the 1950s. When I was growing up Mom would often make us a cup of tea in the afternoon and I would always use this cup and saucer. I loved the allover pink roses and little blue flowers.

It is just an exquiste set!

While I wait for the tea to steep a bit more, I look at some more treasures on my writing desk. Here is a picture of Timothy and me on our wedding day, August 27th, 1983. It was soo hot that day, almost 100 degrees in the church, sweat was pouring off of Reverand Buchanan's forehead.  Timothy's, too, I might add!!! LOL!!

Tim gave me the Willow Tree "Together" figurine a couple of years ago for our 25th Anniversary. I love it!

On the left is a vintage silver bachelor tea set that I bought at a thrift store a few years ago. I normally have it polished and sparkly, but I thought I would leave it for a change. It is the perfect size for "just a spot of tea"! The cottage white box on the right is something I put together the spring that Mom was ill. I found the old wooden box in the drive house at Mom and Dad's. It had a half-hazard green paint covering it and was full of old nails. The appliques were rescued by Mom for me from my old piano. My brother, Gord, had been keeping the piano and using it for a number of years. It was a glorious mahogany upright grand piano manufactured by the Martin-Orme Company. One night when Gord let his dog, Teddy, out for his evening walk, out went Teddy and in came a skunk!! The "blasted" animal proceeded to spray just about everything in Gord's kitchen, but the piano sustained the most damage. The skunk did make his exit, finally. Poor Gord and his family had a terrible time and spent weeks trying to get the smell out of everything. The piano had to be put onto the porch where it got drenched during a storm. The beautiful appliques peeled back and the veneer lifted. The poor thing was a goner. BUT, Momma used a paring knife and lifted all the appliques and gave them to me one day a few months after the skunk happening. I saved them until I knew where I wanted them. I glued them to the old wooden box and painted it a creamy white. Mom used it at her bedside when she was ill. She kept her nail file, glasses, mints and other little necessaries close by. I now use it for my collection of greeting cards and writing paper.

I think the tea is ready. I use a bit of sugar and milk! The sugar shell has a square scoop. It belonged to Laura Mulligan, my maternal grandmothers best friend. She is one of the women I am named after. (I am also named after my Father's mother; she was a Laura, too.)

While I was polishing the wood on my desk, I moved everything onto our bed. Of course, when you move things around, you can get distracted (I always do!). I started looking through the cards in the white box. I rediscovered some lovely vintage get well cards I had. So...lightbulb moment!!!.....I thought I would send a note to a new friend.....her pup, actually!!! Can you see who it is addressed to?? 

Now can you see??? 

I'll pop it into the mail tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.

Thank you for visiting me on this lovely day.

God bless!

Love and warm hugs, Laura