Tuesday Cuppa Tea for Memorial Day - Remembering Those Who served and are Serving

Hello and welcome to tuesday Cuppa Tea for Memorial Day 2017. The post is a mix of old and new...we had a major wind storm and power/internet outages, so will save my other tea post for next week.

Memorial Day was also called Decoration Day...when graves were decorated as signs of respect and remembrance...

Needless to say, finding a suitable teacup for today was difficult...but I have a US Zone Bayereuther, Germany from my archives that I hope will qualify...as it was made during the aftermath and re building of Germany after World War II. The partitiion took place from 1945-1949, and this was made in the zone assigned to the US...as you can see from this map...from wikipedia

So, it really I consider the teacup to be an historical reminder of that period...

The teacup is in a demitasse, or after dinner coffee size, and is such a sweet floral!  It has a lot of hand painted gold detailing too.

As you can see, the cup and saucer is clearly marked US Zone, and the pottery is Bayreuther in Bavaria, Germany...a newer version of the older Bayreuth established in 1713 and closed in 1852 that began in the 1890s and was also called Bayreuth, although the official name is Erste Bayreuther Porzellanfabrik Walkure Seigmund Paul Meyer. After surviving the war, they reinvented themselves with help from the allies and by 2008 were considered one of the best quality potters 10 ten suppliers of hotel china. This is their current mark...which I saw on some china in Canada recently and a nice restaurant...

I just want to thank all who have served over the years. Who gave so much to guarantee we can live in a free country.

These are antique postcards for Memorial Day.

Memorial Day 1890s California Civil War Veterans

World War I

This dates to around the 1930s. The sentiment reads:

That we might enjoy liberty in a United Republic

Those bodies whose bodies lie buried here have died.

Their devotion to Country and Posterity 

was a noble sacrifice.

And an Eleanor Clapsaddle design from 1904:

Nor shall their story be forgot

While fame her record keeps

Tutorial to make at OakieDoodle

But...this is my hopeful sentiment....

Thanks for joining me today, and I hape you are having a lovely family weekend filled with remebering those that gave us the freedoms we enjoy...filled with prayer, food, friendship and a few cups of tea...iced or otherwise...depending on where you are!

I am joining...

 Tea Cup Tuesday 
 Bernideen’s Teatime, Cottage and Garden
Home Sweet Home

Thanks so much for joining me for tea!  Here is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there!  I am so looking forward to visiting you!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, A Self Pouring Teapot - Victorian Gadget

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea! First of all, to my Canadian neighbors... Happy Victoria Day!!!

When I turned the page on my Collectible Teapot calendar, I found this wonderful Victorian invention... the self-pouring teapot...which I had forgotten about.

The calendar,  The Collectible Teapot and Tea Calendar is by Shay Riegler with photos by Martin Brigdale, and is an annual staple in my office...and I keep the, for thir gorgeous photos. I have about 12 I think, on the book shelf.

The teapot in the calendar, although the mark isn't shown, is probably by Doulton and is a flow blue Peony pattern self pouring teapot. What, you say??? Yep! The vacumn pump lid forces tea out of the spout without having to pick up the pot to pour out the tea. 

The above 2 photos are from Roisin Cox in England, a friend a collector, and part of the British Ceramics group I belong to, who gave me permission to post them. This is a wonderful Doulton, Burslem...later Royal Doulton, self poring teapot with an 1886 pattern date...and was marketed through A. J Royle in Manchester.

Steve Osborne, a friend and collector from a British pottery group I belong to, also gave me permission to share these...he has a collection of them, as seen above...

The teapot works by a pumping mechanism. The lid is raised then depressed with the finger covering the small hole in the top generating pressure within the teapot to expel tea out of the spout. The curved spout meant the teapot did not have to be lifted. The water was forced through the tea leaves in the bottom of the pot which was thought to improve the flavor. Those clever Victorians! Invented by industrialist John J Royle in 1886.

The above chintz version is one that I have had in the past and sold...I think over 30 years I have had about a dozen of them in differest colors and patterns. Some folks in the trade have called them Staffordshire droopers, and a few other unmentionable names, but I love them for their quirkiness. They didn't last longer really, that the 1920-1930s.

Some of the self pourers in Steve's collection, another is seen above...this time in the Aesthetic style.  Queen Alexandra had one, and the calendar states that Queen Victoria used one as well...

If you want to see how one actually works, here is a link to a Facebook video made and posted by Steve Osborn demonstrating it's use with a teapot from his collection.

   He is a member of British Pottery And Porcelain group on Facebook which I am a long time member of...

https://www.facebook.com/steve.osborn.940/videos/vb.587329549/10152347183619550/?type=3&theater

A bit different this week, but It was such fun being reminded of a fun Victorian invention. Thanks for joining me for tea from a self pouring teapot!

I am joining:

 Tea Cup Tuesday 
 Bernideen’s Teatime, Cottage and Garden
Home Sweet Home

Thanks so much for joining me for tea!  Here is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there!  I am so looking forward to visiting you!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, A Rhododendron Tea Time

Hi and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea. Spring has sprung here...and I have the flowers to prove it!!!

Our Rhododendrons are starting to bloom finally...they took a beating this winter, and the heavy unusual cold and frosts we had nearly killed 2 of them, but they are coming back!

It was cold enough, fast enough, and long enough, that our glazed pottery birdbath filled, froze and split...so that's a project for this summer....

But back to my Rhododendron tea!

So I decided to put together a Rhododendron tea...

especially because I remembered my wonderful The Country Flowers Of A Victorian Lady book by Fanny Robinson...sort of an earlier version of my beloved Country Diary Of An Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden.

The author made wonderful drawings, records what she sees around her and things that catch her mind, eye and heart...and Rhododendrons are among those pictured...

she includes a poem in gorgeous calligraphy, and the interesting tidbit that in the language of the flowers, red Rhododendrons said the contemporary  of Fanny Robinson, author Anna Christian Burke, had declared the Rhododendron was a signal of Danger and conveyed the warning Beware...well!

This blossom had blown off, so I brought it in. Beautiful! I don't often bring in flowers because I am allergic to most, but this was perfect for tea! I'll show you the winds we had....

My Tulips were as straight as a guardsman until a wind from the west, where our storms come from, blew for 2 days...they were totally bent horizontal...Poor things!

I managed to find a red teacup for tea.. I don't have a lot. This is an Aynsley from the 1930s...I put it on a stand so you can see it better...it is filled with my green tea in the photo above...

I hope you like green tea... this is our current favorite...Harney and Sons Tropical green. It makes a straw colored brew fragrant with a pineapple scent that is mouthwatering! We love it! 

And for a back drop I used a transferware plate by Grimwades in the Genoa Italian scenery design...I liked the colors....

This is the same Grimwades more famous for it's use of the Royal Winton Grimwades name and chintz patterns...Royal Winton evolved after a royal visit to the Winton Pottery run by Grimwades....

And...a teapot! This is a Royal Patrician, England from around 2004 if I remember. I kept this one because I loved the shape of the teapot, and of course the red rhododendron. I have some teapots on the website left with mauve flowers or white, but this one was damaged in shipment and has a small base rim chip so I thought I'd keep it. It has turned out to be a perfect 2 person teapot for our daily cup of green tea with a metal infuser I have.

And to scoop the tea... a Victorian brass tea caddy spoon with an Anne Hathaway's cottage finial. I have a bit of a collection of tea caddy spoons, and they live in most my loose tea canisters for scooping...

I know you know I love antique postcards, and this was the closest I had to a Rhododrendron...metallic gold with a pink flower. LOVE these little 

windows on the past...

More of my recovering Rhodies....

Thanks so much for having tea with me! am excited to have friends visiting this next week, so will be in and out. But I look forward to visiting, and hope to be able to join these blog parties:

 Tea Cup Tuesday 
 Bernideen’s Teatime, Cottage and Garden
Home Sweet Home

Here is the linky for your tea related posts...please remember that it is SSSLLLOOOOOOWWWW but if you are patient...it's there!  I am so looking forward to visiting you!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Cuppa Tea Mother's Day Tea Battenburg Cake

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea for Mother's Day here in the US.

Mother's Day is not only for celebrating Mothers, but to celebrate anyone who was and is a nuturing prescence in our lives. In my life until 1980 when I lost her to Leukemia, it was my aunt who was a comfort, confidant and friend. Musch more so than more than my mother who was a troubled and difficult woman. So a broader application has always been my definition. 

My tea time this week was done on a cloudy day...the sunroom was the lightest room, and right between the windows on my tray on my antique trunk...

Can you tell I love blue??? And blue and white is always my favorite. I set my white tray with one of the several Victorian hand made tray cloths I collected in England...I just love the workmanship, that few do today...

I am using a Shelley China, England 1930s teacup trio in the Phlox pattern...

I love the hand colored on grey transferware pattern, the deco ring handle and the square plate...and of course, blue and white!

The teacup has a design registry date for 1936-1937...that's what is meant by Rd. No. Not a pattern number but a number assigned when the pattern was registered that indicates a date. The nmbering started in 1884.

My teapot is an Ellgreave by Woods & Sons, England from the 1950s and a nice size. Love the blue and white! But you knew that, didn't you? Lol!

My cream and sugar are another of my favorite hand colored on transfer patterns from the 1930s... this time from Royal Albert, England in their older Crwon China days.

The pattern is called Wild Rose. I love the enamel accents and the mottled blue handle...

 I have used a pair of 1920s English Apostle sugar tongs for my Demerara sugar cubes...

And my tea today is Harney & Sons Vanilla Comorro which is a decaf vanilla flavored black tea I have taken to drinking in the evening...delicious...but a boring, drab tin...

I found this cute little tea book at the back of my bookcase...and it was blue! So I put it on my tray...I picked it up in the UK a few years ago from somewhere, I don't remember where. The title is Time For Tea, a Helen Exley Giftbook...

The sweet little book includes tea artwork, poetry and tea sayings. This page is:

The Tea Hour

As an institution the tea hour is kindly,

as an incident it is stimulating. It conveys

at one end the same sense of tradition

and a sense of intimacy.

Agnes Keppler (1855-1950)

from "To Think Of Tea"

and then...we have Battenburg cakes for tea!

I dearly love Battenburg cakes...I guess ecause of the marzipan outer layer. My grandmother used to make them, but I am not patient enough, but...there is...Mr. Kipling!!!

One a year or so if I haven't found one at a tearoom, I buy a package of Mr. Kipling Battenburg cakes. They have apricot jam between the cake sections and are covered in sugared marzipan.  The following photo is from Tea Time magazine that they just posted...perfect timing...and I have included the link to their recipe in case you are feeling adventurous...

 Battenburg Cake was created in 1884 to celebrate the marriage of Princess Victoria, one of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters to Prince Louis of Battenberg and represents the four Battenberg princes. The name refers to the town of Battenberg, Hesse in central Germany and is the seat of the aristocratic family known in Britain as Mountbatten. In the United States, there is a related confection called a checkerboard cake, although I have only ever had the English version, so I don't know the difference if there is any.

Tea Time magazine's Battenburg Cake recipe HERE

They also have one for a Chocolate and Vanilla Battenburg Cake recipe HERE

So thanks for joining me for my Mather's Day Tuesday Cuppa Tea. Have a wonderful week, enjoy time and tea with a friend and Happy Mothers Day to every mother or those who nuture among my dear blogging froiends...which I suspect covers you all!

I am joining:

 Tea Cup Tuesday 
 Bernideen’s Teatime, Cottage and Garden
Home Sweet Home

An InLinkz Link-up