Tea In The Garden ~ From The Porch

 Today ( Tuesday) is Tea In The Garden  time hosted by Terri * and I am so excited to be able to participate in this. I marked this event on my calendar as soon as she announced it. I had big ideas I'd already begun putting into action when events in my life decided against my plans. I had thought to set a romantic tea table near the new fountain my husband & I bought as a gift to each other in celebration of our 40th wedding anniversary coming up very soon. Oh what plans I had...

 ....but the pounding summer rains and life-demands not anticipated dashed those plans. The gardens are squishy wet and the trees, bushes, and flowers are drooping with the weight of the raindrops. Priorities needed to be honored in right order. Thusly, tea-time diminished but did not disappear.  

 I settled for Tea In The Garden ~ From The Porch. This is our table in a corner of the front porch where my husband and I sit in the mornings drinking our coffee and watching the birds at the feeders. We have our bird books here, the binoculars, a notebook to record the birds we see, writing paper & pen for me, gardening magazines to read, space to eat meals together, a place we love to rest and reflect on God's bounty. Perfect for tea don't you think ?

 I chose to make a simple dinner to accompany tea. Freshly gathered from my hens , these eggs will be tasty scrambled with chives from my herb garden.

 Asiago cheese bagels with cream cheese & chives ( I love chives ) with the scrambled eggs and grapes...yum.

 The binoculars are always on the table because you never know when the antics of the squirrels or a new bird at the feeder will need closer examination. My home-sewn black toile tea-cozy keeps the tea in the pot hot, and the issue of Tea Time magazine I picked up at the post office today sits nearby ,just waiting to be read. Can you believe it ? Here I set a blue & white tea table and this issue is all about blue & white teacups & settings , I can't wait to read the magazine !

 But first, there is dessert. Ah, dessert !

Tea in the garden from the porch !

 

I hope you join Terri today to enjoy Tea In The Garden* !

 

 

Spot on My Toile

Toile, pronounced "twall", y'all. I really, really like toile fabric, a lot.Especially the toile showing farm and country scenes in blue and white.

See. Here are toile boxes that were gifts from family, a toile covered sewing box from my husband, a few yards of toile from my fabric stash , and a book entitled Toiles Of Joy, by Judith Straeten, that was a gift from my friend Lanny and her family. "Toiles have a fascinating history, originally from Jouy-en-Josas, a little town near Versailles, southwest of Paris, in the seventtenth through nineteenth centuries. Each design had a name, and many represented stories from mythology or told of village life." From 'Toiles Of Jouy'

I have collected toile fabric for years, and here are some pillows and a quilt I have made from toile . The quilt is backed with toile. I wonder how my friends and family know I like toile so much?

Candy Cat likes it too.