Mosaic Monday - Irish Roots

My Irishness comes to the fore in March
especially on the 17th March
Saint Patrick's Day.

If you are a regular follower
 by now you will be familiar with my occasional
Irish posts which recognise my Irish roots.

My darling father was an Irish lad who
came to New Zealand with his family for a new and better life.
In 2015 my husband and I spent a wonderful week in Ireland
and I immediately felt a strong connection
with the landscape and the people.
I love their sense of fun
and appreciate
the history that has made the Irish 
who they are today.

Irish Tea Brack is a fruit loaf
and in the Christmas Pudding tradition
various things are wrapped in greaseproof and added to the mixture....
a coin for wealth
a pea for plenty
a button for a bachelor
a thimble for a spinster
makes for an interesting loaf I think!

Guinness Cake and a glass of Guinness anyone?

I have these recipes if you would like them
just mention in your comment or email me!

I'm joining Maggie for
Mosaic Monday
thank you Maggie for hosting.

Take care and

be kind to one another

à bientôt

Shane (an Irish lass)

My Favourite Tea Cups

If you are visiting from Vicki's Grow Your Blog party
my post and giveaway are here
My giveaway (see the side bar) is open to everyone
even if you aren't involved in the party
you are very welcome to enter - no strings attached!
Please click on the link above and leave your comment
on that post, thank you!

Today I'm sharing my beautiful blue

Spode Camille tea set 

handed down to me by my mother

you can see a previous post here

I'm joining Sandi's tea party at

Rose Chintz Cottage

to celebrate her five years of

Tea Time Tuesday!

I'm also joining my dear friend Stephanie
for her Tuesday party
Roses of Inspiration

and Jes for
The Art of Home Making Mondays

This is my favourite tea cup
because it holds so many

precious family memories of

time spent when friends popped in...

to enjoy a good old chin wag (chat)

catching up on each family's news

while sipping tea.

What could be nicer?!

Mother used these sweet cups every day

for both tea and coffee.

I've always loved the simple little flowers

that make up the pattern.

I can't remember what they are called...

maybe you can remind me!

A tea party wouldn't be any fun

without some friends to share

now would it?

I baked a gingerbread cake

and added crystallised ginger to the icing

which the bears love!

Do please pop over to
Sandi, Stephanie and Jes's blogs
and see what everyone is posting

it's fun!

 Thank you for visiting and I so

appreciate your kind comments!

Welcome

to my new followers.

Take care and

 be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Beauty to lift the Spirits

Another beautiful cup that belonged to my

darling mother

sadly this one is an orphan

I don't know what happened to the saucer!

I won the beautiful decorated burlap sac

in a giveaway by

Marie of Lost Bird Studio

Merci mon ami!

By pairing the sweet cup with my

Spode Camille saucer and plate

I think I have a match made in Heaven

what do you think?

Our family still feels anxious with 

the recent happenings in Paris

so I felt the need for some beauty

to lift my heart and spirits today

I am focusing on the beauty in the world

....my beautiful family and my love for them

....focusing too on our amazing planet

made for us by our Creator

Who has an unending abundance of love for

each and every one of us.

Focus

On

The

Beauty

Thank you all for your recent encouraging comments

Welcome

to my lovely new followers

it is so good  to have you here

thank you for being part of my blog

I'm linking to 

Stephanie for Roses of Inspiration

Ruth for Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Bernideen for Friends Sharing Tea

Sandi for Tea Time Tuesday

Take care and

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Tea cups and a Magazine Swap

I'm so grateful my dear mother lived in the days of

Tea Parties

this was the time of gracious living.

She gave me her precious china which she loved so much.

There is only one cup left in this particular set

along with four saucers and plates.

I have the plates on the wall in a bedroom!

But I use the cup quite often

it is such fine china and lovely to drink from.

The gold is fading in parts

this adds to the aged patina that I love.

It shows that it has been used

and not locked away in a cupboard.

This cup and saucer were made by
Hammersley & Co. Longton, England.

It's at least 80 years old, maybe even more.

I would love to know the name of the pattern,

 if anyone is able to enlighten me.

I googled Hammersley, but this particular pattern didn't come up....

 Now for some other tea time treasures....

Back in September

Judith of Lavender Cottage

Yes... Mosaic Monday Judith

and I had a magazine swap!

I initiated the swap after drooling over the gorgeous

photos of tea related magazines on her blog!

I've read the two lovely magazines from cover to cover

several times - thank you so much Judith!

We don't see these magazines in New Zealand.

You can read Judith's post about our swap

here

I'm joining

Judith of Mosaic Monday

Sandi for Tea Time Tuesday

Ruth for Tuesday Cuppa Tea

and

Bernideen for Friends Sharing Tea

Take care and

be kind to one another

...oh just before I go it's Giveaway time

come back in a couple of days

and I'll tell you all about it!

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Pretty Vintage Finds

Last week I popped into our local Hospice shop

and I found two pretty cups.

Sadly, there were no saucers - only two cups.
I would love to find two matching saucers!

Meantime I've teamed them up with two floral saucers.

There is a stamp on the bottom of the cups

Royal Winchester English Bone China.

Can anyone enlighten me on the name of the design please?

I googled it, but couldn't find a match.

This pretty bowl belonged to my Mother

she used it almost every day and

it has very fond memories for me.

I'm joining

Judith for Mosaic Monday

Sandi for Tea Time Tuesday

Ruth for Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Bernideen for Tea in the Garden

I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing weekend

and wishing you a happy new week.

Sweet Wendy of Apple and Apricot
has created this darling heart as part of her
GIVEAWAY
beneath it is a dutch magazine 
"Petite Brocante"
and part of the giveaway too, it looks fabulous!
Just visit her blog and become a follower to enter!
Bonne Chance dear friends!

~~~~~

Oh and don't forget Marie's
GIVEAWAY HERE!

Take care and

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Stephanie's Tea Cup/Mug Exchange

Have you met Stephanie of the delightful blog

The Enchanting Rose?

I would love you to pop in and become 

acquainted with her gorgeous blog

as she does so many interesting things!

For the past few years Stephanie has hosted

The Tea Cup/Mug Exchange

which has become very popular among 

tea loving bloggers!

I heard about this swap last year through another of my

dear bloggy friends Kitty of Kitty's Kozy Kitchen

(you must check out her blog - she has great recipes)! 

This time Kitty dropped me an email to tell me

that Stephanie was hosting another

teacup and mug exchange!

Thank you dear Kitty for keeping me in the loop!

Bloggers are such lovely people!

My 'giving' partner was Belle

who lives in Australia.

Belle doesn't have a blog yet but she tells me

she is creating one, so I'll let you all know when that happens!

I received such a beautiful parcel from Belle

with this gorgeous tea cup called 

'Christiana'

it is the softest pink bone china with a delicate

green criss-cross pattern around the edge.

She included more goodies in the parcel

some yummy Italian hazelnut chocolate biscuits

perfect to enjoy with a cup of tea.

Talking of tea, Belle treated me to a selection of 

Twinings tea in a pretty organza bag.

 There was also a sweet card with a note telling 

me about herself which was nice.

Thank you so much Belle, I'm totally

"over the moon"

with all your kind gifts!

The receiver of my tea cup gift parcel is

Alice who lives in Italy.

Maybe she hasn't received my parcel yet as there are

no photographs of what I sent her on Stephanie's blog post.

Unfortunately, Alice doesn't have a blog either, 

so I can't ask you to visit her

however, maybe I can encourage her

to get started as she obviously enjoys the interaction

with other bloggers!

Alice, if you are reading this post

please don't let language be a barrier to blogging.

I have two other Italian blog friends

plus Dutch, German, French, Finnish, Danish,

Swedish, Bulgarian, Polish and Russian bloggy pals!!!

Thank you dear Stephanie for hosting your

Tea Cup/Mug Exchange again this year.

I can see it is a huge undertaking.

Your communication was amazing - thank you.

I have been involved in other swaps where

the communication was not so good.

It's my first time joining the

Tea Cup/Mug Exchange

I will definitely do it again

 and I can recommend it to

anyone interested in all things tea!

If you would like me to tell you when the

next one is on, let me know in a comment or 

email me.

I am linking this post to
Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose
please click on the above link and you can see 
what others have received/given in their exchanges!
I'm also linking to
Diane for Beautiful Sunday
 Judith for Mosaic Monday

Sandi for Tea Time Tuesday

Ruth for Tuesday Cuppa Tea

and

Bernideen for Tea in the Garden

Thank you all for your visits and your caring comments. 

Work has been easier this week!

Take care and 

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane