How many ways are there to say " Thank you"?


I'm full of gratitude to all of you out there, around the world, who took time to stop and write kind and encouraging words on my new-born blog.
I'm quite surprised how many new people I've met over the last three weeks and what a creative and inspiring community the blogging world is.
Thank you to all new and old friends for healing my wings, warming my heart, and slaking my craving soul.

It's a cold winter day, indeed, and I am welcoming you to a polite chatter over a cup of hot fragrant tea. I am announcing my own ''at -home'' afternoon tea. It's not going to be a grand affair, just a way to say "Thank you !"





''Getting out and about to pay afternoon calls on one's friends, the social connection was a pleasant duty for Victorians of leisure'' stays Kim Waller in her book "Victoria the Art of Taking Tea". Hostesses on their ''at-home day" were sure to proffer meringues or bread-and-butter sandwiches as thin as their teacups...
Nowadays, when we communicate through phones and e-mails, I tend to look back on those formalities with a little envy. So, I am getting out the pretty vintage china adorned with English roses and other flowers and together with the silver teaspoons and the linen napkins, I am trying to create an ease eclectic feel to the table.
I am putting on the kettle...









And I notice – when the tea is served to friends, something enchanting happens. Women's voices ring throughout the room. There are laughter and joy...
So warm,  
so mellow,  
so simple...   


  







charmingly beautiful ...








delicately precious...







"One sip of this will bathe the drooping spirits in delight, beyond the bliss of dreams''
- John Milton 


Today I brew a pot of a delicately spicy blend of lemongrass, red pepper, cloves, cinnamon, pineapple, orange peel, and coconut – my favorite, especially on a cold winter day as this. 








Intimate, simple to prepare,  a tea party is a party that brings pleasure and joy. It excites the senses, including one's taste for tea. Plus, you can certainly get creative with teatime foods.



The Menu:

Simple cucumber sandwiches with cream cheese

Plain Croissants

Cookies

&

An English boarding school dessert that mixes raspberries, strawberries, whipped cream, and meringue. Eton Mess!



            

ENJOY  Dear Friends!











"Take some more tea," The March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. ''I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone: "so I can't take more".









Taking tea gives us calm and time to stop and smell the roses. It can transform the simplest occasion into a moment worth savoring. It can deepen old friendships and develop new ones. Tea does have extraordinary power, doesn't it!

Thank you for being my guest!



I am so happy I found new friends,
and so miss being with my old ones...










 " My experience convinced me that tea was better than brandy "
   `Theodor Roosevelt





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         Happy Pink Saturday