Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Tea Parties Monday September 10th











I enjoy looking at the Make Mine Pink Sites and blogs http://makeminepink.com/ because they are all about the home! Furnishing it, painting it, eating in it, supplies for the home and much more, abound in these sites. I admire the fact that many families have little businesses from home to add to their income.


"Spring Tea" by Susan Rios


It is always interesting to see those pieces that most people do not think they have any use for, used in a beautiful way, even making it more valuable.



On Monday September the 10th, they are hosting a tea party. You just post pictures of your own tea party on your blog. Go to the site and click on the MMP Blog and read more about it. I hope to post one also on that day. JUst click on the pink invitation and see what is going on.
I often wish there were Tea Gardens at the local fairs and festivals instead of those awful, stinking beer gardens that one is forced to walk past witht their children. Tea Gardens would welcome little children and teen agers and all those people that need a nice, soothing place to sit. Whatever ideas you have to encourage such a trend, please let us know!!

The thing I like most as a hostess, about an Afternoon Tea, is that the preparation is usually refrigerated, and the only thing you have to keep hot is the tea pots. I think a meal is wonderful, but if guests are late, or it sits on the stove too long, it is not as good. Tea foods seem so fresh and good and even when we are in a hurry, there are always gourmet cookies or sliced fruits and vegetables.










The paintings are from the Susan Rios Gallery at



























Among Friends" by Susan Rios




I remember when I first moved to this location. A woman and her three daughters brought us a portable tea party. They even brought a folding round table with table cloth, and tea pots. They created a tea buffet for us with little bits of foods--cheeses, meats, gourmet crackers, vegetables, fruits, scones and desserts and of course pots and pots of hot tea. I was so lifted up by it that I jotted it down in my memory as something to do for my neighbor, who cannot get around much anymore, due to her health.


Please check back again this afternoon, as we are trying to post a video of some simple cleaning and decorating tips to show those people who need a little boost in their homemaking. Even a one minute show seems to take so much time to set up!
Also my daughter and I are considering posting "Room of the Week" just to motivate us to get some long awaited improvements finished. In the meantime, I am absorbed in the usual things that make a house a home. While I was washing dishes today a thought struck me about the incredible freedom that homemakers have, compared to those who work for another employer every day. Our schedules are whatever we chose that suits us best. Our surroundings and decor are also up to us. Our time and our money are managed by us, and we can choose what kind of music we want to listen to, which is quite the opposite when in a place of business that is not your own. If we do not feel well, we rest. If we need to have a friend to tea, we do so. If we want to write a letter, we do. There are crafts and hobbies and sewing, house keeping and decorating, and every lovely thing that makes being the guide and keeper of the home attractive.


7 comments:

Mrs. Anna T said...

... There's nothing I like quite as much as setting a table for tea. It just feels so nice and homey.

Anonymous said...

Lydia~ Thank you for visiting. I hope you have fun posting your virtual tea on Sept 10. No need to be a memebr of MMP~ in fact invite all of you friends~ the more the merrier. Feel free to copy and paste the invite from the MMP blog to you own blog~ Best~Sharon@ MakeMinePink.blogspt

Anonymous said...

Oh, I would love to see your video. I am struggling a bit with my health issues right now and can't seem to feel better of late. I so appreciate you thinking of all the different kinds of women that are out there. I feel just as important in my different season of life when I come to read your blog & I thank you for that. God bless.

Anonymous said...

Mrs. Sherman, your mention of a "Tea Garden" at a local fair really caught my interest. Have you written about those in the past, or were you planning to? It sounds very exciting!

Lydia said...

The ladies at Make Mine Pink are able to make things look differently--things that I didn't appreciate as treasures become more valuable when viewed on these sites. I have owned some of those treasures and have not known how to use them or what to do with them. It makes me appreciate what I have, when I see what they do with them and how they make money from things like old photo frames, little shelves, wooden candlesticks, etc.

I did write about the beer gardens vs. Tea Gardens years ago on one of the Lady Lydia Speaks articles on tea parties, at www.ladiesagainstfeminism.org but I would never be able to find it. Perhaps I will write a new one here. Families that lived near the area where the beer gardens (a drinking place like a park) created such a stench for the week of the festival, were given money by the festival so they could go somewhere else that week. It is such an interference. It disturbs the peace. It attracks the baser elements of our people. No good comes of it. It is selfish to go and sit and drink and make the place smell so bad for everyone else. Tea gardens would smell of scones and spiced tea!!

Kimberline said...

My children love tea parties and so do I! I wish there were more places to go that were just as you described Lady Lydia. When I was a girl I wanted to have a book store with areas to sit and browse the books and enjoy a cup of tea. I pictured the room as airy, well lit and all done in white wicker. I imagined I would only sell certain types of books that had to do with flowers, decorating or how to be content. My mother teased me and said no one would buy anything because they would dawdle over tea and read all they cared to and that would leave me broke and cleaning up the tea things. She said I would be trying to shoo them out the door to make room for other customers to come in. Maybe so, but maybe the living wage could be made on selling the tea, scones and cookies? ~smile~

I have a large foyer just inside my front door which I couldn't think of a thing to with decorating wise. I finally made a round table out of a cheap table top and screwed it to an old tallish kitchen stool. I had a pair of old metal ice cream chairs out in the garage. Some inexpensive table cloths and an ever changing "tea setting" on the table is a very welcome sight when we open the door. I've had people look at it and say it makes them want to come right in and sit for tea. I probably should keep some cookies frozen but ready to slip into the microwave and a tea pot right at the ready. Then in the future, I could go ahead and have them in for tea, right in the foyer.

I love changing the looks of this little table for the seasons. What is it about a table set for tea that just welcomes us so completely?

I will have to relocate the tea table for the holidays though. The foyer tree stands in that spot through December and part of January. Maybe the table can pretty up a different area of the house? I will have to think about where I might be able to use it and enjoy it right on through Dec and Jan.

Kimberline

Lydia said...

Do not forget to look at this lady's tea party pages

http://gracioushospitality.blogspot.com/