Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Pleasures of Teatime (and Puppies)


One of my favorite books on the subject of tea is "If Teacups Could Talk" by Emilie Barnes. It's filled with pretty drawings, stories of teatime traditions and yummy recipes. One of the chapters captures my sentiments on teatime exactly:

"The spirit of the tea party is, at least in part, the spirit of beauty. And I am fully convinced that we humans need beauty in order to live rich and fulfilling lives.
People wither when their lives are deprived of beauty.
People grow and flourish when they are able to respond to the beauty around them and create their own forms of beauty.
And the ritual of teatime allows room for both receiving and giving loveliness."

I think this is why I love to create knitted tea cozies. They add such beauty to the lovely ritual of teatime. My love for flowers, especially roses, comes together with my love for tea things when I design a cozy. They just don't look complete to me unless they're blooming!
"If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft
And from thy slender store
Two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole
Buy hyacinths to feed the soul." Persian Poet c.1300

Flowers in any form, be they fresh, silk, embroidered, knitted or crocheted, definitely feed my soul! I just can't resist filling as many of the nooks and cranny's of my life with them as possible.


Another favorite table top book I have is a gorgeous copy of "Victoria: At Home With Roses".
It was put out by the makers of Victoria magazine several years ago and is loaded with breathtaking pictures, recipes and all kinds of tidbits about roses. A quote from it states how I feel about roses and why the rooms in my house overflow with them!
"The rose as theme draws everything in a house into harmony, not only visually but spiritually. Opening the door to a house where roses reign is like opening the door on a dream."

The tea cozy pictured at the top of the page is a special order for a customer in Myrtle Beach, where it will be flying off to by the end of the week.

Phoebe update:
We LOVE her more each day. (Jose DOESN'T ~ not yet, anyway!)
Sophie still mother's her but is not as frantic about it as she was at first.
She follows me around the house whenever she's awake crying for me to hold her.
I did get a little more sleep finally last night. We were up only once. However, she still doesn't understand about the whole sleeping in thing! Early morning seems to be her favorite time of day ~ it's NOT mine!

And just like Gabby, she apparently likes a bedtime story.

11 comments:

Becky said...

What lovely words to describe the charm and coziness and comfort found in the simple task of teatime. I had a wonderful time last night. I always feel so warm and welcome and loved with your family! Hugs to all!

Danette said...

That's because we love you so!

Kathy said...

I need to apologize for calling Phoebe Sophie yesterday. I try to steal a minute every day to check out the blog, most times I am in a hurry(story of my life), so I mess up from time to time, sorry to all especially Phoebe! Oh you girls and your tea time it all sounds so yummy and relaxing. I need to switch from coffee time to tea time! my coffe time is drink and rush around, then rush around while drinking, yall get the picture. Although I have lived in the South for 26 years so of course I drink sweet iced tea from time to time. Any one out there from the South will know that if you do not drink sweet tea,in the South you could be part of a public hanging. Believe me when I say that the first drink of Georgia sweet tea will defiantly send your body in to sugar shock!! So yalls hot tea, all prettied up sounds so elegant and proper. Becky next time you visit Danette's home would you give her a big hug from me? Oh what a girl you have in Gabby, she wins the race with potty training with Ryan to! He just turned 3 and does not really care to master this task! Boys can be very creative while learning to use the bathroom(if you know what I mean). Just another reason I rush to drink coffee! All of you get in a group hug and keep warm!!

Becky said...

Oh, Kathy, I sure will give Danette a big hug for you! I hope you get to come back to IL so all of us blog readers can meet you! I bet you're not missing IL too much with our 6.5 inches of snow from last night -- and more falling by the minute! :-D

Danette said...

Kathy~
Thanks for the hug by proxy! I'll take it, but I'm still waiting for the day you deliver it yourself. I'll make you any kind of tea you want. I've had good old Southern Sweet Tea. My mother-in-law is from Kentucky and still a southerner at heart.
As for the potty training, girls are almost always easier than boys.
Ryan will get the hang of it eventually. They do keep us on the run don't they?!
And I won't tell Sophie & Phoebe about the mix up. You should hear me around here going through the whole list of names trying to remember who exactly I'm talking to. The girls get called by the dogs names and the dogs get called Gabby a lot! I'm a mess.
Oh well, they all know who the Mama & Grammy is. That's the main thing I guess.

Kathy said...

you girls make me want to pack up the van and boogie to Illinois! I will deliver a hug to both of you, Scarlett and I pray every morning before school and snow is in our prayers until spring! My kids love it when I make flubbers and call one by another name, they are very quick to point out I could possibly be loosing my mind. I will enlighten them!

Danette said...

Kathy!
I love your picture!!!:)
My kids also love the fact that I'm losing MY mind.
Sometimes Sophie & Phoebe are just "Weenie" and "Teenie Weenie" and Jose is "Bittyness Man". Besides being a master at the flubbers, I AM the QUEEN of babytalk. Even my pets have "pet" names! It gags my family, especially my mother who loves to make fun of me for it.
And one more thing-
You just throw your bags in the car, pile those kids & hubby too in and head for Illinois!

Becky said...

Yes, do come to IL! I can already tell we're all going to have to have one heck of a tea party, sweetened or not!

La Tea Dah said...

I am totally in love with the tea cozy --- it is amazing!!!!!

Teatime --- the perfect thing to fit into any day. I love the Emilie Barnes quote --- she has always been a favorite author of mine and has so much influence upon my life.

Thanks for sharing this great post!

Enjoy a lovely day!
LaTeaDah

Danette said...

Miss La Tea Dah~
Thanks for all your lovely comments! Your blog is an absolute FEAST for this tea lovers eye!!:)
Have a gracious & lovely tea sipping kind of day!

*All of you out there check her out at Gracious Hospitality.
---You can click on to her blog from my list of "blogs I love".

Kathy said...

Ok, Danette, I am officially envious of your talent! I would so love to have one of those tea cozies. It is just so cute! Maybe I will have to get out my needles and try to learn some more...is the one you've shown in this post with the blossom difficult for a beginner?
xo...Kathy