Happy Birthday Jane Austen, The Boston Tea Party & Teacup Thursday!!

 

       Happy birthday to Jane Austen...235 years old today! One of my all-time favorite authors! I have a large omnibus volume of all of her novels and reread it once a year.  The recent crop of novels that have been dramatized on film or TV have been wonderful...I remember my husband seeing the first televised version of Pride and Prejudice in a B&B as we traveled. He had mildly scoffed at my love for the novels but was very impressed by the story and characters and has willingly seen all the versions...including all the remakes & repeats on PBS. We loved the recent Lost In Austen series as well.


This Birthday blog party was started on the Jane Austen For Today blog and please visit there for more great participating blogs and for more info on the life and works of the birthday girl!

   
   Today is the anniversary also of the famous Boston Tea Party...The Boston Tea Party was a protest by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea coming into the colonies. And we all know how important tea can be!  On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor.  A date and act that has indeed acquired a life of it's own.   


   But I always think...what a waste of tea...was it assam? Darjeeling? Lapsang souchong?.....

   For Teacup Thursday today, I chose a pretty Queen's China by Rosina English bone china cup and saucer in the Christmas Rose pattern,  which is a bit different than the usual red and green we traditionally think of as Christmas designs.  
    The Christmas Rose is actually not a rose but a member of the Ranuncula family called Hellebore but do resemble many wild roses. The Christmas Rose blooms in the winter, hence the association with Christmas and are used in England much more than here in the USA for seasonal decorations. Very pretty. 
You can find out  more about the Christmas Rose cup and saucer at Antiques And Teacups here:
Christmas Rose Cup And Saucer


   I'll be back a bit later today with my Christmas postcard for the day! See you soon!