The weekend

This past weekend was an interesting one for hubby and me.  On Saturday hubby decided he would make use of the beer making kit we bought him for Fathers Day and started a batch of beer.  It's brewing away in our study/craft room, exuding strange smells and bubbling away.   Hubby has been collecting stubby bottles from everywhere so he has something to put the beer into when it is ready to bottle.

While hubby was making beer, I decided to make Christmas cards.  After the third design attempt, I came up with something very simple as I was fast running out of patience.  My sister is a much better card maker than me.

Sunday was wet and miserable and as hubby and I had a severe case of cabin fever, we decided to get out even though it was wet.  We started off with a bakery lunch in a local town and drove on down to Tooradin, a little town on Western Port Bay.   "The town's name is an Aboriginal term for a monster which the local Aborigines reputedly believed resided in a waterhole at this location.   It has the southernmost mangroves in the southern hemisphere."  http://www.townsinaustralia.com/Tooradin.1662.htm

Google images.  Tooradin is north of French Island, just above the word Gippsland.

 We first visited Tooradin when Genevieve was a baby and I had post natal depression.  Hubby would find somewhere different for us to visit each weekend to get me out of the house and to have something to look forward too.   I find water very soothing and peaceful so Tooradin is still one of my favourite places to visit.

Google images

Google images

We parked our car at the end of this road and looked at gulls and pelicans being buffeted about by the wind and the choppy high tide water.  We were warm and cozy in our car sipping on our coffee and eating a delicious sweet morsel from the bakery.  There were showers of rain about every ten minutes and when there was a break in the rain we went for a walk to the boat ramp which was invigorating in the blustery wind.

Google images

This was our view from the car window.

Through these trees and on the way to the boat ramp, we saw this camper van, complete with t.v. aerial and towing a covered trailer for extra camping bits and pieces.  I didn't consider it a very pleasant spot to camp with no shelter and very exposed, but each to his own.

Hubby and I spent a couple hours relaxing, talking about our trip to Europe next year and making plans.  I did some crochet on my giant granny square blanket and hubby read the paper and did the puzzles.  I suppose this might sound very boring to some, but we relished the time spent together without the interruptions that happen at home.  It's pretty amazing being married to your best friend.  We are both looking forward to the next time we can tootle off for a couple of hours by ourselves.

Thank you for all your comments on the Tea Party.  Sadly the sponge cake is all gone now and the biscuits going fast.


Anne  xx

Vintage Tea Party

When the idea of a virtual Vintage Tea Party was suggested by Mum's Simply Living

blog, I added my name to the list to join in.  I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to make a strawberry cream sponge cake which I haven't made for ages and show some of the beautiful vintage china my Mum has given me.  Here is the table set for a tea party.

We needed more than sponge cake so I made peanut butter crinkle biscuits.  They melt in your mouth.

The sponge cake was delicious as was my cup of tea being sipped from a beautiful teacup.

I used a white tablecloth with beautiful crosstitch.  It belonged to my maternal Grandmother and was given to me by my Mum a few years ago.  It graced our table for both Charlotte's 21st and Genevieve's 18th birthdays this year.  Isn't the detail pretty?

The tea set was given to my parents as a wedding gift and as my Mum doesn't use it anymore, she gave it to me.  Aren't I lucky?  The set consists of six cups and saucers, six cake plates, a milk jug and sugar bowl.  Look at the detail.

Detail inside the cup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Markings on the back.

 Also on the table was another piece given tome by my Mum, a gorgeous plate that I love.

Also used were silver cake forks and teaspoons found very inexpensively in an antique shop a few years ago.  The cake pedestal was a wedding present hubby and I received and the BIG teapot one I bought a few years ago for when we have family get togethers.  

Have a look at this beautiful silver tea strainer which was purchased from the same antique shop the forks and teaspoons were bought from.  From memory I paid $10.00 dollars each for the tea strainer, fork and teaspoons sets.

Thank you for visiting my Tea Party and bearing with this photo heavy post.  I had so much fun, I just didn't want to stop taking photos.  This has been a most enjoyable way to spend Melbourne Cup Day.  Not only has the Vintage Tea Party been fun, we now have leftover sponge cake for dessert and biscuits for the family for the next week, or I should say next few days.

  I'm just off to join the other ladies at their Vintage Tea Parties.  The link at the beginning of this post lists the other ladies participating.  Have a lovely day/evening everyone.

Anne  xx