Tea For Two, and Sunshine For All . . .

Finally, a brilliantly sunny day here at That Old House, after a Nor'Easter that nearly washed us off our little hill.

No Saint Patrick's Day decor here. The days have just gotten away from me!
Instead, I am sharing tea with you in my Parlor; won't you join me in a cuppa?

I hope my Irish friends will forgive me for featuring English china today; at least it's not orange!

Let's sit by a corner window, where the sun comes streaming in . . .

and points out all the winter spatter and schmutz on the window panes.
I am not proud.

Pull a wing chair up to the old barley twist table.

We are playing Princess today, using the Aynsley china
I got at a local hospital thrift shop last spring.

Britain's royals dine off Aynsley china.
So, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for you, my friend.

We'll delicately dab the corners of our mouths with soft old damask napkins, in faded aqua.

Our tea pot is a bit of a hoot. Howard and I bought it at the
gift shop at Windsor Castle on our first trip to England.

It's Queen Elizabeth. The First. And her various fellas.

When my girls were little, they loved having after-school tea out of this pot.
That it came from a real castle made the tea taste extra special.
Of course, tea does taste extra special with 637 spoonfuls of sugar in it . . . .

I think tea also tastes pretty special in an old room,
with an old (or a new!) friend, and the warm and welcome sun for company.

Now, if we were spiking our tea heavily with brandy, we might see this:

Today I am hopping into Lady Katherine's Tea Time Tuesday!
You can visit her blog, Lady Katherine Tea Parlor, for more tea time tables!

And speaking of tables, Marty at A Stroll Thru Life hosts
Tabletop Tuesday. Be there, or be square!

And since I used more than three vintage, Ebay or thrift shop,
items in my tabletop today, I'm popping in to Tam's blog,
The Gypsy's Corner, for her Three Or More Tuesday. You should, too!

And ... one more tea party for me today! At The Plumed Pen, Wanda Lee hosts
Tuesday Tea For Two! Join her there for charming vignettes. Thank you, Wanda!

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My prayers are with my friends and former neighbors, in our former town, who are struggling with rising rivers and flooding this week. I am spitting mad at municipalities and government organizations that are meant to protect us, and yet allow ever more building and paving on wetlands in northern New Jersey. Where is the water to go in the spring? Increasingly, it is going into people's homes, and that's a tragedy. Shame on the EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Passaic River Coalition, the State of New Jersey, and the local towns.

As I told a former neighbor of mine yesterday, "It's time for the villagers to grab torches, and storm City Hall!"

Tomorrow -- a neat trick to astound the kiddies on St. Pat's Day! -- Cass