It was a day

But this is more the reality.

'It was colder, as the woman said. The wind came in little gusts. It was a day to be inside somewhere, cosseted and loved; by a warm fireside, with the clatter of friendly cups and saucers, a sleepy cat licking its paws, a cyclamen in a pot on the windowsill putting forth new buds.' Daphne Du Maurier The Parasites

cupsandsaucers

hot and shimmering with candles

The prompt for #shareadvent today is. 'Light a candle. Remember. Give Thanks.'

'Audrey stood and looked at the Christmas tree. She had had a good tea, though not as good as she would have liked, or could have managed. Now there was this new and shining thing. The little spindling thuya which she had seen, dusty and lonely, in its pot, stood translated. Its spiky boughs stood out stiffly. bright with red, yellow and pink butterflies, hot and shimmering with candles. 
The point of the flames strained upwards, there was a smell of warm wax. she was too happy to shout or sing. She was so happy that she had a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. It hurt, yet she wished that this minute could go on forever. The wonderful tree was true.' Elizabeth Cambridge Hostages to fortune.

candle

#shareadvent

The coffee had disappeared

On Saturday I went with a friend, before she leaves the country to Fortnum&Mason for afternoon tea in their new Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon.

"The coffee had disappeared and its place was taken by a silver tray with a lace cloth on it. There was a silver tea-pot, and a silver kettle with a little spirit-lamp underneath, and a silver cream jug and a covered silver dish full of muffins. There was also hot buttered toast and honey and gentleman's relish and a chocolate cake, a cherry cake, a seed cake and a fruit cake and some tomato sandwiches and pepper and salt and currant bread and butter." Evelyn Waugh Vile Bodies

afternoontea

The sandwiches were delightful, especially the cucumber, we had our own pots of jam and lemon curd for the scones, the cakes were oh so delicate especially the pistachio, raspberry and white chocolate. I wasn't so sure about the addition of peach to the early grey and chocolate. We didn't even make it onto the large slices of cake. All washed down with copious amounts of earl grey.

 It's sad saying 'au revoir' to friends but good to make excuses for afternoon tea.

The Tea Table Waited

In honour of the final GBBO and finishing South Riding. A post dedicated to South Riding cake moments, and there were quite a few.

'...where, before a leaping cheerful fire, the tea table waited, silver kettle bubbling and shining teapot already warmed, caddy of Earl Grey mixture a covered hot-plate of buttered anchovy toast, an angel cake like a snowdrift.'

'Tea was tea at Willow Lodge... the plates were piled high with bread and butter, currant loaf and queen cakes; the cheese cakes and lemon tarts lay on frilled netted d'oylies; the spice-bread was rich as buttered cold plum pudding;'
'Up on the first floor Lily could see ladies in green arm-chairs eating muffins...The tea was good. The toast was hot dripping with butter.'

'And even the so-called plain teas included cheese-cakes, tarts, scones, spiced bread, currant tea-cakes.' 1,2,3,4
Will you be watching The Great British Bake Off?

Quiet Days

September 15th. - This is the month of quiet days, crimson creepers, and blackberries; of mellow afternoons in the ripening garden; of tea under acacias instead of too shady beeches; of wood fires in the library in chilly evenings. Elizabeth von Arnim Elizabeth and her German Garden

blackberries

How will you be spending these September days and evenings?

The Month of June

Started beautifully, well I was on half term....
Meeting Ma and Pops in town. A sunny lunch in Embankment Gradens, off to a matinee of Flarepath, with Sienna Miller no less. Amazed as Ma tried to order tea for the interval and then preceded to say "When one used to order tea at matinees intervals it was brought to you on a tray at your seat." Followed by Early Supper at Gilbert and Scott. The restautarant at St. Pancras hotel. My it's an amazing place. All in all it felt as if I should be wearing a neat hat with a small veil, a clip close handbag, and perfect red lipstick.
A sunny supper on The Southbank... So sunny that I merrily walked to London bridge rather than tubing it.

Birthday Days....
Warmth had the day off. We bought my iphone yippeee!!
A very small birthday gathering this year. Drinks at The Gherkin and then supper at Rocket City.
Continuing with Twin, Blessings and parents on the Saturday at The Red House. A glorious picnic in glorious gardens. The sun shone.
Such lovely gifts. My first Barbara Pym (Excellent Women) in the Orla Kiely edition, a much needed gardening book for when we finally have a garden, a Macaron cookbook and a box of delicious Yauatcha macarons. Cath Kidston disposable picnic set - I'd admired from afar. Twin knows me well.Some Katherine Mansfield short stories and Deborah Mitford Wait for me! Very fitting as I'm reading Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire at the moment.

Supper and drinks in town with friends - a repeat visit to The Wine Wharf.
Enjoying going to The Summer Exhibition on a very soggy Sunday with Warmth. More tempted by a cup of tea than a glass of Pimms.
Rain, rain and more rain...
Meeting a dear friend for supper we hurried to the nearest restaurant and thankfully it was good.
Exploring Marylebone Summer Fair - on a dry day....
Discovering a Mulberry bag I'd been idly coveting in the sale and now affordable. Reader, I bought it.
A walk along The Southbank with Warmth.
Exploring more of St. Pancras this time the Bookings Bar. Delicious rose, bar snacks, talking and laughing with a dear friend.
Attending the retirement party for a former head teacher, of a school I taught at. So lovely to see parents of children I taught there, former colleagues, relive memories and hear more of her memories since teaching there since 1972. In true British style it was planned to be outside and we continued for much of it under gazebos and umbrellas before finally taking refuge in the school hall.
Attending Mortlake Summer Fair with friends. Then sitting in a pub garden with view of the Thames, drinking Pimms, eating, wearing sunglasses and generally enjoying a lovely British Saturday in summer.
A beautiful sunday mooching along Lorship Lane and delicious tea and cake at Le Chandelier.
A summer supper in Angel. Sitting sipping a peach Bellini in Browns with the wide windows flung open. Then meandering along for a delicious turkish supper with lots to catch up on.

Baking Hummingbird Peanut Butter biscuits for our Birthday picnic. Baking cakes for work - Early Grey Tea Loaf, Hummingbird Bakery Banana Loaf and Nigella's Quadruple Chocolate Loaf. A repeat baking of the Peanut Butter (with added currants) Biscuits on a wet Sunday afternoon. After all that cake it was time for healthy eating.

Books read. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym. One Day by David Nicholls, read in one day. Reading it straight after Excellent Women I think Barbara Pym would have said Emma Morley was an Excellent Woman. Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman.
On a technical note getting very frustrated with blogger. I can't do any editing in compose mode, only in Edit Html. This means no centering of words and makes it look a little unsightly and is also a bit if a faff. Do any of you lovely bloggers have the same experience or can offer any help on how to resolve it.
How was your June?

That first cup of tea

Thank you to everyone who has blogged so eloquently and passionately about Dorothy Whipple. I absolutely loved High Wages. It was a perfect book to sink into just after Granny died as a travelled by train through Kentish fields.

"Oh, the comfort of that first cup of tea! The warmth and life it put into you! They held their hands round the cups to warm them and their eyes looked less heavily on the bleak kitchen.
'What do we do now?' asked Jane
'We have another cup of tea' said Maggie
Dorothy Whipple High Wages

a beautiful world

Where do you have your first cup of tea?

Six O'clock Feeling

I've just finished reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

'and there was suddenly a six-o'clock feeling in the house.' Muriel Spark The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

What's the six o'clock feeling in your house today?

Skipping in the door?

To sink into a hot bath?

Dressing up to go out?

Getting ready to eat with friends?

A cup of tea from a stylish yet hearty cup and saucer?

skipping, bath time,dressing , eating cornish red

I can be alone

I'm not sure if always being with Twin when growing up meant that I wasn't used to being alone. I know as a young adult that I didn't need to have much time by myself. We change though. Now I need time to be just me, alone. I need silence too. I think when I first read this poem I couldn't understand it, and didn't think I would ever understand it, but now I do.

Intimacy

I can be alone,
I know how to be alone.

There is a tacit understanding between my pencils
and the trees outside;
between the rain
and my luminous hair.

The tea is boiling:
my golden zone,
my pure burning amber.

I can be alone,
I know how to be alone.
By tea-light
I write.

Nina Cassian
(Tr from Romanian by
Eva Feiler and nina Cassian)

@

How about you?

RefuTEA

I'm posting today about something that will happen tomorrow. Maybe by reading this today if you see this out and about tomorrow you'll know a little more about it. The Refugee Council are organising this as a fund raising event.

Why your RefuTEA matters
Everyday we meet asylum seekers and refugees who have fled the most unimaginable situations, including war, torture and persecution. They are simply looking for a place of safety, as any of us would. They want to rebuild their lives - to work and contribute to society.
In the UK, the vast majority of asylum seekers are not allowed to work and are forced to rely on government support, typically around £5 a day. As a result, many live in poverty and have poor health.
Flaws in the decision-making process mean too many people who genuinely need protection here are turned down. They then live in limbo – unable to return home safely, forbidden from working and reliant on very limited financial support, or left destitute and homeless. Recent estimates suggest there are around 300,000 destitute, refused asylum seekers living in Britain.
The Refugee Council helps these asylum seekers and refugees in the UK and is campaigning for a fairer, more humane asylum system. Your RefuTEA will help us raise the vital funds we need to continue our life-saving and life-changing work. We can’t think of a better reason to put the kettle on.
Thank you!


And why did they choose tea? because 'Tea is supportive, warm and welcoming - that’s just how we want refugees to feel in the UK.'

Right off to bake my cake.

Tea

We haven't had a poem for a while. So today it's my favourite lines from

Tea by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

I like pouring your tea, lifting

the heavy pot, and tipping it up,

so the fragrant liquid steams in your china cup.

I like the questions - sugar? milk? -
and the answers I don't know by heart, yet,

Jasmine, Gunpowder, Assam, Earl Grey, Ceylon,

I love tea's names. Which tea would you like? I say,

but it's any tea, for you, please, any time of day,

and I am your lover, smitten, straining your tea.

My favourite line?
and the answers I don't know by heart, yet,
And I think it's the word 'yet' the confidence that we will know our lovers answers to that and so many other questions.

source

source

Dressing for Tea

'I can't think of any occasion – a tea party even – without seeing an exact picture of how I shall look at it, down to shoes and stockings. I often wonder how social life –or life at all – can be pleasure to people who don't care about dress. I'd hardly get myself out of bed in the morning if I hadn't something pretty and rather new to put on, and never get myself to a party.' Nancy Mitford The Blessings
Albertine to Juliette after she'd missed the ball as her new dress wasn't ready. (I wouldn't miss a party for not having something to wear now that's just silly) How much time do you spend thinking about what to wear? I spend lots of time, probably too much time but I do enjoy it, especially when I'm going to a wedding – which I am tomorrow. Off to have my nails painted.

pretty dress

Chocolate Cake

As I walked to work this morning I thought I could now post my Mitford quotation about blossom. However now I'm home - it's cold and I'd like tea and chocolate cake and so this quote seems more apt for my feelings.

'Unfortunately, it never seemed to be chocolate cake and silver teapot day when Lady Montdore came.'
Nancy Mitford Love in a Cold Climate
Newly married Fanny in Oxford. When are your silver teapot days?

Ode to a Teapot

Now, I love a mocha - it's my signature milky drink - it makes the coffee sweeter.... But today in Pret I chose good old Earl Grey - and it came in a teapot. It was so lovely pouring from a pot and then the milk jug - a calming ritual. It made me think I must use mine more often (and I have three to choose from). If I were to add to my collection this would be it.

Thank you Pret for reminding me about the glories of a pot of tea.

Joan Hunter Dunn

A very long poem - so it's the first and last verse only and a few favourite lines inbetween. It reminds me of summer - oh hurry up summer pleeeeese.

John Betjeman A Subaltern's Love Song

Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Miss J. Hunter Dunn, Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun, What strenuous singles we played after tea, We in the tournament - you against me! To the six-o'clock news and a lime-juice and gin. On the floor of her bedroom lie blazer and shorts, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, I can hear from the car park the dance has begun, And here on my right is the girl of my choice, With the tilt of her nose and the chime of her voice. And the scent of her wrap, and the words never said, And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead. We sat in the car park till twenty to one And now I'm engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.