Giveaway winner

 The giveaway winner is … Nancy in Northeast Iowa! Congrats!

"Drink My Morning Tea" as sung by "Bowlegs" in 1933

Boy, do I have some unique history to share today! You know how I'm always prowling the Library of Congress website for teatime images? I came across a new one this week, and I was quite puzzled by it at first. If you're in the vicinity of my age (61, to my utter amazement), you may be old enough to remember that pre-Google, there was this thing called "the card catalog" at the library, and that was where we used to look up all kinds of info. This card, with its little punch hole at the bottom, sure looks like something that was in a card catalog at one time. So "Drink my morning tea" (I noted that not all the words were capped here) was apparently sung by one "Bowlegs" at the state penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi, in August 1933. At that point, I wasn't sure who John A. Lomax was, but I was intrigued that this was a Works Progress Administration (WAP) Project.

Not having fast access to the card catalog, I turned to Google to see if I could learn more about Bowlegs, and that led me to a page about band leader Gene "Bowlegs" Miller, but that's not our tea-drinking Bowlegs, because Miller wasn't even born until 1933.

I wonder what Bowlegs, an African American man, did to end up at the state penitentiary and, considering the era, whether he was even guilty of it. Maybe he was, and maybe he wasn't. But I did learn that Lomax was the "recordist" who recorded Bowlegs singing in a genre known as "holler." You can click here to listen to this catchy one-minute-long recording yourself. Along with all the questions I have about Bowlegs, I'm also interested that he sang about tea yet also mentions coffee, which I would have assumed was the more common morning beverage back then. Obviously, I have more research to do, as the discovery of these recordings was like unearthing buried treasure!

A little bird told me …

The other day, it occurred to me that I’d never introduced my young neighbor friends to the fun of using a lemon bird to flavor their tea with fresh lemon juice. I couldn’t find my trusty old stainless steel model, so of course I headed to Amazon. And to my surprise, we now have acrylic models, so I had to order some!

This set of two arrived quickly, and they were just as easy to use as the old models. (The ones I ordered are here.) My little friends haven’t been over for tea yet this week, but next time they visit, I’ll be whipping these out to see what they think.

Meanwhile, look what turned up in the junk drawer!

A teatime giveaway!

It occurred to me that I haven't done a giveaway in a while, so on Saturday, I headed to my friend Nancy's shop in Senoia and picked up a few goodies that made me think of fall!

First, isn't this tea towel delightful? I love the saying, and I think most of us here would agree.

It comes with a cute little teapot cookie cutter too.

And since the tea towel itself is cranberry-colored, I decided this M2 Luxury Tea in the cranberry flavor would be a good one to go with this gift. So if you'd like to be entered to win, just leave an "Enter me" comment to this post (or on Facebook) by Friday, August 22, at 7 a.m. EST, making sure I have a way to contact you if you're the winner, and you'll be entered to win! (US residents only, please.)

Also, I thought you might enjoy seeing a picture of this charming shop. Do you notice anything in that display out front?

I sure did!

How to pick a bouquet of roses

Yesterday, I was at a breakfast meeting along with an antique-store-vendor friend when I told her, “Yes, I agree that our thrift stores around here are crappy.” And I kid you not, one hour later, I was killing time at Goodwill, the only store I found open while I was waiting on Barnes & Noble to open, and ended up buying four gorgeous vintage plates with roses on them, grand total $5.98!

This single pink-trimmed plate first caught my eye and was just $2.99.

This stack o’ plates was also $2.99. I absolutely hate when they tape these together and wish they’d stop it. A) The result is a mystery stack, and I had no idea whether I was getting a gilded plate that said “Happy 50th Anniversary” or a commemorative plate from who knows where. B) The tape can lift the gold from the plate. (Goodwill, are you listening?) But I figured the plate on top was worth the $2.99, so anything else was gravy.

And when I got home, I discovered I liked the gravy!

Aren’t these roses pretty?

And these?

The two plates on the bottom of the stack had old, old sticky spots on them—probably from price stickers of yesteryear—but rubbing a little baking soda on the spots quickly wiped that away, so that’s a neat tip to use with a teacup or plate or anything that has sticky residue on it. (And baking soda is much less abrasive than scouring powder.) And that’s how I picked a bouquet of roses yesterday! I’m planning to copy that “plate wall” trend very soon—my only question is which room—and these are perfect additions.

Country Living Vintage Home Issue 07

One day last week, I was on my way to visit a friend in the hospital when I decided to stop by Barnes & Noble to find her something new to read. She is a book and magazine addict like I am, and whenever we get together, we almost always end up talking about something we've read. I flipped through magazine after magazine, not really finding any great inspiration, then I came upon the latest issue of Country Living Vintage Home from the UK. I had bought the first issue of this bookazine years ago but had rarely seen it since. Do y'all know the term bookazine? It’s too big to be a regular magazine but not bound quite like a book, so … bookazine.

This one is about as thick as the old Sears Christmas catalog, and even though it was $29.95, I thought it was one of the loveliest publications I've come across in ages, so I got copies for both me and my friend, and I was glad I did because she has thoroughly enjoyed it. First, I loved how they "framed" old doilies in embroidery hoops. Wouldn’t that be fun (and thrifty) décor for a tea?

Photographs of stacks of dishes and teacups always intrigue me, and the colors here are so cheerful. I like to imagine the collector who found all of these pretty things.

In this spread, I first noticed the distinctive Emma Bridgewater teapot at left, then I noticed the artwork at top right. Wouldn't it be fun to collect colorful tea-themed artwork? Hmm… 

Finally, I absolutely love coming across a photo of a hodgepodge of collectibles. A teacup, bowls, dolls, glassware … What catches your eye?

A birthday tea with Beth

My dear friend Beth, featured on this blog quite a few times over the years, recently turned sixty. To celebrate, we went to tea at the Emerald Chandelier in Griffin on Saturday!

This time, we both ordered their Lunch Tea Experience, and for that, you get to choose which type of half sandwich you prefer. 

I ordered the chicken salad, shown here with their quiche and creamy wild rice soup (that soup quickly became a favorite on my first of three visits there last year!).

Beth ordered the apricot and pimento cheese sandwich, which she said was delicious. I don't believe I've ever had a pimento cheese in a sweet flavor, so I may have to look for a recipe and give this a try.

Our sweets included a house scone, served with cream and lemon curd, and a slice of Lemon Loaf Cake. The birthday girl got a special birthday cupcake, a thoughtful touch on the part of the tearoom!

As always, I enjoyed seeing the pretty place settings—those vintage green thumbprint goblets were particularly lovely—as well as the decor of the tearoom itself. The tea we chose this time was Emperor's Fog, a tea blend with pineapple, papaya, and guava. 

Beth reminded me that we first met in 1997, in the lobby of the newspaper office where I worked at the time (her brother was a coworker), and we were talking about the Titanic movie that had just come out. Beth is one of my "girly" girlfriends who is always up for a tearoom trip, and I hope you'll join me in wishing her a Happy Birthday!

Is it too soon?

Is it too soon for … pumpkin spice?

A friend of mine shared on Facebook that she'd purchased her first pumpkin spice creamer of the season, but it is still summer, people! (It's never too early for "everything nice," however.)

And it's never too early to pick up a little 5 x 6-inch cup-shaped shelf plaque from Ollie's when it's just $3.99! But I won't decorate with it until October. (Or maybe late September if it's starting to feel like fall!)

Picking up some T-Pick Teas

I was in our local Ollie's discount store the other day and ran across some tea bags I'd not seen before, these Black Tea Peach and Green Tea Strawberry Kiwi blends. They were only $1.99 a box, so I decided these two were worth a try, and I'm happy to report that they were great! I opened the peach tea first, and the peachy smell that greeted me was delightful. I was so pleased, because sometimes, things end up at the discount store for a reason, but other times, it's simply a matter of overstock of something that's perfectly good.

Then I tried this strawberry kiwi tea, and I liked it even better!

We have had much cooler temps here in Georgia this week (69 one day was a record low for a high), so I've been alternating between hot tea and iced tea throughout the day. I had this tea hot to begin with, then added the tea bag to a glass of water and placed it in the fridge. Voila, flavored iced tea! If I run across any other blends of T-Pick Tea, I'll sure be giving them a try.

Adventures in teakettle shopping

On Friday, I was making a cup of tea when I poured boiling water into my teacup and noticed a speck of something black. Maybe the teacup had gotten dusty inside the cabinet and I just hadn't noticed? I tossed the water, rinsed out my teacup and electric teakettle, and tried again. And again I got a black speck, which appeared to be a worn spot on the interior base of the five-year-old teakettle. So I settled on nuking my water in the microwave (carefully; I've heard the horror stories about exploding cups of water) and quickly headed to Amazon to order a new teakettle. (This qualified as an emergency, I think you'll agree.) I had some errands to run on Saturday, and when I got home, the new kettle was waiting for me. Whew!

I would have bought the same pretty white-with-a-pale-green-handle teakettle I had before, but it was no longer available. As with so many things these day, the choices were overwhelming. What size? What color? What features? Honestly, I didn't care that much. I just wanted something to quickly boil water. The pink ones I found were too "bubblegum pink," so I finally decided to go with white again and looked for the Amazon's Choice model, which usually works out well for me. But was I seeing things? The Ovente teakettle was just $10.98, is BPA free, and has auto shut-off and boil-dry protection features. Yippee and add to cart! 

When I opened the box, I thought the "STOP" warning was kind of hard to overlook. "We strongly recommend boiling your kettle a few times." Really?

Well, okay! (Not really, but ChatGPT was happy to illustrate the instructions as I read them.) I did, however, boil water in the interior of the new kettle a few times before I made my first cup of tea with it, and I'm happy to report that no black specks appeared this time! Ah. Life is good again.

Recommended Reading: "Flea Market Home & Garden Style"

This week, I came across the latest issue of Flea Market Home & Garden Style magazine, and I always love the vintage items they feature as well as new ideas for decorating with them.

This photo was taken at the famous Round Top flea market in Texas, and I'm itching to go there. I think the "Silver Sisters" from my cozy mystery series need to take a road trip, so in a year or so, I may need to do a research trip so I can (believably) write that book.

I've had plants in teacups before, but as much as I love artwork and decor of stacks of teacups, it just never dawned on me to plant something in more than one cup. A fun idea!

I thought it was interesting that they titled this article "Live with what you love." Over the years, I must have read the advice to "buy what you love" a hundred times. I've always wondered, "Are there folks out there who are buying what they hate?" Because I sure don't. And that's why my kitchen cabinets and dining room shelves look like the ones at right, where a "botanical" motif is featured on pretty tea wares.

And if you don't like "botanical," then perhaps the "traditional" motif will do it for you. There's plenty to love in this issue, and now I'm ready for the fall and Christmas magazines to start hitting the newsstand!