High Summer at the Manse

My daughter, granddaughter and I recently hosted an indoor/outdoor high summer tea and singing here at The Manse. 

This was a good time to let other people have some of the things we needed to pass on,

 ...so here is the giveaway table, along with a sign gently suggesting they take more:

Inside were 6 tables all set up:

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We made a sample platter of some of the food, for the table of six,  to see how all the tea food would fit,  including the delicious shredded carrot tea sandwiches. I will try to remember to post the recipe at the end. Other ladies contributed some savories to this platter, so this was not complete. We prepared all the platters according to how many seats there were at each table, one platter per table, and refrigerated the platters until everyone was seated with their first cup of tea. Each table had a pot of tea and they served themselves.

I used black and white printed paper plates and napkins to go with the chalkboards.

Next, the food:

There were also small dessert platters, which I did not get pictures of.

Chalkboards were placed where they could be seen, containing phrases from hymns. The ladies tried to think of the song the phrase came from, and we did sing some of the songs together after tea.

Some of the phrases from the songs:  Sing on Ye Joyful Pilgrims

Sing on O Blissful Music, In Heaven They're Singing a Wonderful Song,

 Singing Redemption's Song,

Glorified Millions Are Singing It Now,

Sing on, oh blissful music,

My heart is filled with rapture, my soul is lost in praise,

They're Singing the Songs of Salvation,

Yes, I'll sing (the wondrous story),

Sing on ye joyful pilgrims,

Let ev'ry heart rejoice and sing,

I found some of the chalkboards at Hobby Lobby when they were half price, but I found more song phrases and wondered what I was going to do with all those chalkboards after the event. I bought black  card stock for 25c and wrote extra song phrases on them:

All songs were from Songs of the Church published in 1975. (Howard Publishers) We don't want to forget those songs because they contain good teaching  and also enrich us so much with their lovely, happy tunes. The younger ladies especially liked these songs, which are new to them!

 After lunch, 20 of us sat on the lawn furniture and  sang all verses of these four songs, which contained the phrases on the chalkboards. It was enjoyable to hear the ladies comment on where those phrases came from:

The Great Physician (Sweetest carol ever sung)

Sing on Ye Joyful Pilgrims (sing on oh blissful music)

I Will Sing of My Redeemer (sing oh sing)

In Heaven They're Singing a Wonderful Song (and glorified millions are singing it now)

Let Ev'ry Heart Rejoice and Sing (let choral anthems ring)

I cannot go long without hearing the ladies of the church sing. Their voices are so exquisite, especially those who like to sing the harmony and the parts, including some invented parts that sound really nice.  We tried to sing the songs between the noise of harvest trucks and tractors going by. Although everyone liked the chalkboard decor and the food, I thought the singing was the highlight of the day.

 I had invited a lady to  give a good lesson about handling discouragement and how to remain faithful in good times and bad times.

Our little gathering began at 12 noon and everyone had departed by about 2:30 although there were some stragglers that got the big idea to clean the tables and stack the dishes up. We refused to let anyone wash dishes because I had carefully chosen cups and saucers that were dishwasher safe, although I hand-washed the teapots.

Of all the tea foods that were sampled, the one that got the most comments was the carrot-chive sandwich, so I'll include the recipe here.

Carrot-Chive Tea Sandwiches

1 cup grated, shredded carrots. 

1/4 cup fresh chopped chives

8 tablespoons mayonnaise or cream cheese. 

16 slices bread  or less, depending on the thickness of filling you use on each.

In medium bowl mix grated carrots, chives and filling. Use  more cream cheese to spread on all bread slices. Cut into desired shapes.  I do not slice off the crusts, because these days the crusts are not that tough or unattractive.

I do not use the pre-grated packages of carrots from the produce dept. because they are not soft enough and lack flavor...however if you want to try it, you might prefer it especially since they are more dry. Fresh grated carrots have a lot of water in them and so you have to be careful not to add too much mayonnaise or other ingredient. Some people prefer sour cream, or yogurt,  or cream cheese. I found cream cheese works wonderfully with grated carrots.

To find out how you like these sandwiches, try grating a little carrot, enough for one sandwich, and mixing it with less of the other ingredients, just to try out the recipe.

Please let me know in the comments how you liked the sandwiches.