Thursday Tea Things And Talk, Tea Strainers,Dressed Up Guard Dogs

Hello and welcome to Thursday Tea Things And Talk. It's been a busy week with one thing and another, and suddenly the time to post is here again! 

Today, I thought I would talk about an item that was indispensible to the tea table, almost disappeared and is making a comeback....the tea strainer.

In this photo from the Tea Time magazine you see 3 very luxe examples. But when tea was first introduced to western society from China in the 16th century, the tea leaves were strainer with simple woven baskets or pieces of cloth in a frame. But with a penchant for decoration and the wealth to do it, tea strainers were formed out of almost every type of material, and the Victorians led the continent during the Victorian era by embellishing them to within an inch of their lives. As the Victorian arbiter of taste William Morris put it:

 " Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, 

or believe to be beautiful"

a phrase that is the motto of my shop at Etsy. The styles and shapes are myriad, from strainers spoons, single handles strainers, double handled strainers, pivoting strainers, strainer that were held or sat over the cup, and more. The materials go from brass, copper, silver plate, EPNS, sterling silver, tin, enamel, tin mesh and chrome. They were also created by the Victorians to commemorate almost anything, or be a souvenir of almost anywhere.  Here are a few current available from Antiques And Teacups representing several eras :

a double handled 1920-1930s EPNS tea strainer

a 1950s chrome handled tea strainer

1890-1910 fancy heraldic lion brass tea strainer

1950s souvenir Manor Ware and chrome tea strainer

The coin silver fishing man tea strainer is a favorite from archives. It is so fu! The tea strainer was made around 1910

And this art deco beauty from the archives was made in the 1920-1930s in Argentina and was 2 pieces with a toothed rim.

There are lots more, but I didn't want to make the post too photo heavy. One of the reasons I applaud the their come back, is the elegance as well as convenience they add to the tea table. And some are truly works of art. There is basically one for every budget. So great a selection and a fun tea table item!

Changing the subject, we live in a city that is surrounded with the rural small American farm landscape we love. We went looking for lambs, but didn't see any this time. It's an area of all sorts of animals, farms, lavender field, organic gardens and guard dogs in places. There have always been a fun thing to see, and these are favorites on the Old Olympic Highway. A farm has had these cement German Shepherds in place on each side of his driveway for years, and they are decked out seasonally.

They have been chained the last few years as they were constantly been targeted by pranksters and would turn up all over town, in gardens, on the high school roof, in Santa's sleigh in the community Christmas display. So now they are chained. But I thought I'd share them with you.

They have their mufflers on...a few weeks ago they also sported knit hats, but those are gone....Oh well. I look forward to seeing them every time we go past!

I am so excited!!! We are going to Victoria for the Victoria Tea Festival in Victoria, BC Canada this weekend! Hope I'll have lots of fun things to show you! To see past year's photos, check out the slide show on my left sidebar or search the blog for previous visits to the Victoria Tea Festival.

Here is a list of a few blogs I am joining as well as the linky for your tea realated post. I love to hear from you and am so honored you have chosen to visit my blog. Have a great week end!

Coloradolady  ~ http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

Vintage Thingie Thursday

 Mrs. Olson ~  http://jannolson.blogspot.com/

Share Your Cup Thursday

Beverley ~ http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

Pink Saturday