"It's Always Tea-Time" *

* From Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll


Thanks to Kari telling me about Angela McRae's Tea With Friends blog http://teawithfriends.blogspot.com, I have been starting each day reading and thinking about tea. It is one of my earliest and most favored drinks. Before moving, I had a small collection of teapots. Three made the move with me to my new home.


Pictured above is a "Gibsons England" teapot. I got it at Grace Dory's sale in Corning for two reasons: 1) I liked Grace and thought it would be nice to have something to remember her by. 2) I liked the idea of having an "English" teapot.


I saved it from selling at our auction because I love the color and the size. When I looked online to see if I could learn a little more about it, I found that Gibsons made a whole lot of teapots in all kinds of colors, patterns, sizes - but did not find one exactly like mine - just one similar.


In the picture with the teapot is one of my favourite mugs given me by my brother, Les during my pig collecting days. I love this mug - it reminds me of Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. Les also brought me the Harrod's Tea Tin from London. I accidentally sent him on a wild goose chase on his Ireland-England trip by asking him to bring me back some.......


English Tea No. 1 by Ahmad Tea. This became my very favourite tea after friends brought some back for me from one of their trips to London. Because they also gave me a Harrod's bookmark at the same time, I assumed the tea also came from there.

I understand Harrod's is a very large department store. After searching all through it and not finding Ahmad Tea, Les did the next best thing and bought me the Harrod's Tea. (He did later find me some English Tea No. 1 in a small gift shop. [And he got a good story to tell friends about his hunt through Harrod's.])


The celadon green Ahmad tea pot is one I found at a T J Maxx in Louisville, KY. I had learned from chance finds of Ahmad tea at the West Des Moines T J Maxx to always look there for tea. I was so surprised to find my favourite tea packed inside an Ahmad teapot. A very happy find.


This Royal Tara teapot (made in Galway, Ireland) was a fiftieth birthday gift from my brother, Ron, and his wife, Ruth. It is so very special to me. (The matching tea cups were a Christmas gift from my thoughtful husband that same year.)

This teapot is so special I have yet to use it. On my list of things to do while Kari was visiting in May was to get this set down and use it for tea on her birthday. Somehow we managed to let her time here pass without making a pot of tea. Maybe next time. When I do make tea in it, it will be English Tea No. 1 - Kari's favourite tea, also.



"How about a nice cup of tea?" (Mad Hatter - Alice in Wonderland)