Christmas Open House continued...

Been one of those weeks, as I have been blogging, my mother in law hasn't been well, gone into a nursing home and starting to do great, when her oldest son died, Tuesday morning, he was buried today, so been a very stressful week. He is with God and out of pain. Isn't it amazing though you start out a week and it can be minutes or seconds and your whole world turns upside down.

Tuesday I blogged my Christmas Open House Demo, I showed two trees and will show the rest
now, saved them for Pink Saturday, come on in...

Will start with the Christmas Strawberry Santas for the Holiday treats on Beverlys blog
I showed these last week and Ruth from Antiques and Teacups showed them on her facebook page. Quite an honour...

made with cream cheese and icing sugar, the eyes I had from a cake decorating store, you can use anything. They are delicious

 

 

small Black Christmas tree for the kitchen,
Santa is sleeping under the tree on the skirt, matching blanket on the back of the

bench...

in golds, and coppers

dining room again, purple, jade and black

 

 

wanted to show my napkins that are an elf shoe, will do that next week

 

 

railing going upstairs, pictures I have been working on,
have empty spaces and have been looking for 3 x 5 frames and not having any luck

below is the top of upstairs, need a better picture

not a clear picture but Franks great great grandparents

 

Below this tree is purple and pink, my shoe/purse/femine tree

 

shoes/purses/bathtub, shoe tree, even some cupcakes,

 

below the hallway looking at the tree, red blob on it is a feathered negligee, I think, have to check it out. To the right is a computer station that my grandson used when he lived with us, wicker sewing basket that sits where the tree is.

 

the railing again and gr. greats

that's it for this week, will show two large trees and four more small ones,
joining Beverly at Pink Saturday

 

Christmas Open House

Thursday evening of last week, I held a Christmas Open house demo, my daughter sells Grace Adele, another girl Lia Sophia and my cousin makes her own soaps out of natural ingredients.
Welcome to my Open House

 

It took me four weeks to get my house decorated, with visits daily to the hospital to see the mother in law, she is doing great in a home and the decorations are finished.

Fireplace mantle, nutcracker no longer there. Usually a mirror instead of the painting, but time again got away, I may get it changed, but will have to see. The stockings will be put up later, worry about the fireplace with them. The two santas are by Jacqueline Kent, she is a well known designer in our area, but is branching out to other areas.

Dining room without the lights on

the lights on, will show more at a later date, of the table setting and the elve shoes using the serviettes (showed them last year too)

Main tree, our family tree, each ornament is a story from our three children to our four grandchildren

 

 

the strawberry Santa Claus that I served, aren't they cute?
but better yet, they were delicious...

a vegetable Christmas tree, that I use to make when our kids were small

and it was sent to me on facebook. Only problem, the ladies wouldn't take
the vegetables off the tree. I ended up sending it to a school Christmas concert

the next night and they had no problem attacking it...

the ladies watching the demo, used a large teapot, saves jumping up and down

 

 

roses that added to the atmosphere

 

will show more on the weekend for the Pink Saturday, have four more trees

thank you for joining me for my Christmas Open House, it was lots of fun,

pretty jewellery to add to the bling and the purses and the soaps were also a great hit.

 

 

 

I am joining these ladies at

Tea Time Tuesday
Tea Cup Tuesday
Tea Cup Tuesday
Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Tea in the Garden
Heart and Home
A Return to Loveliness
Table Top Tuesday
Tea Cup Thursday

 

 

 

 

 

Pembroke Tea at the Victorian Rose Tea Room

Wow, I thought it was a couple of weeks that I had last posted but I think I saw my last one was October 22nd, a month? I can't believe it. My mother in law has been in the hospital and every
spare moment we have had, has been with her, Wednesday she is going to a nursing home, new experience, she is okay with it.
On the weekend we spent our time in Pembroke Ontario, north of Ottawa -our grandson was playing in a silver stick tournament. Last time there, was two years ago, saw a tea room there then, but no
 one would go with me and ran out of time, but this time-I made it, and it was wonderful, beyond.
I was so excited, it is called Victoria Rose Tea Room and Fine Dining, Brenda was the owners name and she was so charming, this was a real tea room...

white table cloths, with white squares on top, all the tables are set up

with cups n saucers, forks, napkins

an old cabinet, two different stories with it, one it was from a ship and the

other out of a store. Samovar on top

this is what was so exciting-is that the right word, I was excited to see it, Frank not so much, now if it was full of old b/a gas memorabilia he would be

such a cute idea for these tea cups

this is the upstairs room, wouldn't want to be serving people here

the picture on the wall is Mr. Munro, the owner of the  building, and I'm pretty sure he built it too,

the door behind the settee leads to the vault

our teapot

a little vignette

another in the hallway, leading to the washrooms

we started with delicious carrot soup, then this is the Lady Carlisle tea

speaking of Lady Carlisle, love them, they are so pretty

little blurry and I didn't get the name on the bottom

the backpiece is a candleabra-tea oriented naturally

view of the downstairs area, plates all around the top

standing back looking at the upstairs and downsrairs area

the outside view of the building. loved, loved the tea room, it was a pleasure to

visit, so if you're in Pembroke be sure to stop and see Brenda, you won't be disappointed.

 

 

 

 

Tea Time Tuesday
Tea Cup Tuesday
Tea Cup Tuesday
Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Tea in the Garden
Heart and Home
A Return to Loveliness
Table Top Tuesday
Tea Cup Thursday

 

 

 

Ireland/England teas

Home from our amazing trip, visited 5 different family members, B&B, travelled from one en of Ireland, and England same, so enjoyed it. Our third time and we will be back...
Disappointed with the tea rooms, I guess you would say they are all commercialized, our tea blogs are better. But then having said that- I loved them. Below our first tea room

this was in Kinsale, Ireland, Garden Gift Shop and Tea Room, so excited-closed until the Friday, we were flying to England on the Thursday...

 

Friday at Ripon England

 

 

called Chimes

 

it was delicious, a scone, with clotted cream and jam

below tea with a cousin who I had met online,

china cups n saucers, delicious treats and great family

in Walton-upon-Trent

a perfect tea, day all around

 

Oatland Park Hotel, in Weybridge, Surrey, England

drapes were out of this world, the whole place is amazing,

we stopped in to have a cup of tea, while we were waiting to meet
another cousin

 

we were too early for high tea, but this tea

was grand, cream of asparagus soup and

tea, I loved these teapots and was going to

try and find them-I know not flowerey,

but their was something about them, that I liked.

I guess the shape

Frank saying grace,

 

following this, we had a beautiful tea and cookies with

another online cousin, but no pictures, Earl Grey tea leaves in Royal Albert teacups.

From here we headed to Bath looking for Sally Lunn tea room. Sally Lunn is mentioned in the Great Tea Rooms of Britain by Bruce Richardson, which I had read from one end to another. We passed the Tollgate tea room that I have featured before and we were there, four years ago.

We arrived in Bath, parked our car and went on a big walk, found the tea room

very charming, packed, you had to wait to get in, and very old

guess what? forgot to take a picture of my scones, jam and cream. Frank had soup and the Sally Lunn famous bun, followed by pie and ice cream. Our tea was Earl Grey tea leaves, it was delicious, but not what I was expecting. Tea pots were stainless and realize with the crowd they have, they have to go that way...

what a gorgeous city Bath is.

when we got back to our car, we had a 25 pound fine on the window, that was

an expensive cup of tea...

 

On to Marlborough, another tea room suggested by Bruce Richardson...

to the Polly Tea Rooms

 

teapot on a shelf

Frank had a plate of ham and different cheeses, looked great and he said it was

I naturally had a scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam, it also was good,

the atmosphere was relaxing, didn't feel like we had to move along. All around the room, their was teapots, and different china pieces...

this is the end of our tea room excursions. Have to thank Frank, he drove me around and sampled all the teas and desserts with me, but then he likes to eat like I do.

Need to get home and stop eating these scones-back to the Atkins.

 

Going to finish up with my last tea in the garden,  today was a glorious day,

sun shining, leaves are breathtaking, so glad they hadn't all fallen off before we got home from England, join me for a cuppa

 

such a pretty delicate tea cup n saucer, with the white rose inside

a Paragon, beige color, which Iam not fond of, but do like this one,

below is a Royal Albert Teapot, I got a couple of months ago, I have shown it before

no more scones for awhile

this teacup I also love, soft pink, no roses, but dainty and elegant.

I love them all

I did buy a couple of tea cozys while in Ireland,

keeping my green tea, nice and hot

so pretty, you can see the white rose, through the tea.

below is my Japanese maple, such a pretty colour

 

Finally finished, thank you for travelling along with us through, Ireland and England, I do have to go back and take in the other tea rooms, or maybe we should to the Great Tea Rooms of America, it would be cheaper...

 

 

 I am joining the following teas

 

Tea Time Tuesday
Tea Cup Tuesday
Tea Cup Tuesday
Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Tea in the Garden
Heart and Home
A Return to Loveliness
Table Top Tuesday
Tea Cup Thursday