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Posts Tagged ‘England’

If you have ever traveled to England or Ireland, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “…time for a cuppa”.  The British and Irish know how restorative a hot bracing cup of tea can be.  They start the day with English or Irish Breafast Tea and then indulge later in the afternoon with an Earl Gray, Chinese Oolong, Lapsang Souchong or Darjeeling.  The list of teas available in the United States is huge!  You can have Green Tea, White Tea, Black Tea, Herbal Tea, and exotic teas such as Assam, Prince of Wales, not to mention flavored teas ranging from Orange Spice to Lemon Verbena.

Tea is the perfect beverage for many occasions;  Served at ladies’ luncheons, bridal and baby showers, tea parties for kids and often is best when you can finally sit down during the day and sip a piping hot cup of tea – time to reflect and rest.

Well, I’ve seen this nifty new Alessi product on several sites and wanted to add to our countdown list.  The spoon forms a three-sided tunnel through which you draw the teabag.  No more burnt fingers, no more squeezing the tea bag and Ooops, it broke and now your tea cup has tea leaves in it.  This is a smooth and efficient way to remove the tea bag from your brewed cup.

Alessi Teaspoon

Alessi Teaspoon

The Alessi teaspoon is available online through many sites including Amazon.  You should be able to purchase for about$20.

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Busted in rust

Dear Diary:

Oh God, I’m going to be sick.  I’m sure I’m gonna throw up!

I hate that school; I hate my parents for making us move.  They don’t care about me.   Making me go to that snotty school.  I don’t fit in.  I’m not pretty.

Oh God, I can’t go back, they can’t make me!  I can’t bear to see that boy again. I’ll run away!

What if his locker is near mine? I’ll die.  He was right, I AM ugly.  And they all laughed and snickered when I walked by and he said “Hey YOU- You’re SO BUSTED”.

This a blog hop: http://www.velvetverbosity.com

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Mothers' Day Cake crop

Mothers’ Day Cake crop (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well that’s what they call it in England and other parts of Europe and they’ve been celebrating the holiday since the 16th Century!

Our own American Mother’s Day is fairly recent.  In 1912, a woman named Anna Jarvis from Grafton, West Virginia declared the first Mother’s Day in the United States.

Well here it is, Mother’s Day 2012 and it’s just after 2pm.  I haven’t heard from my daughter yet or my grandchildren (who would be part of my daughter’s phone call).  I was going to be included in some Mother’s Day event being organized by my son-in-law but I had to be out of state today. The phone just rang and guess who called? Chiara and Finley! It was very sweet to hear Happy Mother’s Day from both of them!  However after a few sentences, Finley pushed the mute button and that was it for Gigi!  S0 five minutes later my son-in-law called back to wish me a Happy Mother’s Day too.

The day started off nicely…I had no desire to go out for breakfast, so I made eggs for Peter and I and while I was cooking, my second cousin who is slightly older than my own daughter called to tell me how much she loved me.  Christine is like another daughter to Peter and I and over the years has spent considerable time living and visiting with us in NYC.

I got an email from my son two days ago telling me he loved me, wishing me a Happy Mother’s Day and suggesting that we drop all these other holidays except for Christmas, Halloween and Easter.  Sort of cynical, don’t you think?  Well I wrote back and informed him that superfluous or not, I kind of liked this holiday so if he could, I thought it would be nice if he called.

It has been a very sunny and beautiful day here at the shore and we have been working in the yard.  It is never ever finished around here.  Peter mowed the lawn, washed the front of the cottage and washed the porch while I planted my window box for the front porch, transplanted a Hosta and planted some Purple Puffs which are supposed to spread.

Well of course by this paragraph, you realize that this post had been started over a week ago! Oh but I have been busy, so busy that I am either dead tired with no brain cells left to write or actually working well into the night and then going to bed.  I considered just omitting this blog post, but then desired, oh why not?

The day ended on such a delightful note – we joined our friend Alice and her daughter Heather for an early dinner at The Breakers in Spring Lake.   They were spending the weekend there and invited us to join them.  It was very elegant and the four of laughed and chatted away for a couple of hours.  My salmon was delicious and even though we all shared some tartufo…on the way home, I insisted we make an ice cream run to Day’s for my Mother’s Day fix!. 

Oh the world becomes such a better place after Mother’s Day in Ocean Grove.  Dave and the gang are back in town scooping up scrumptious ice cream in exotic and not so exotic but ooooohhhh so good!  I had Mission Fig and Toasted Coconut.

Hope to get back in the groove of writing consistently… hang in there with me.

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Once upon a time…this is how most fairy tales begin but not so with this one.  A few days after The Wedding of Prince William and his beloved Kate, my friend Gail called me with an interesting idea.  I can’t remember whether or not she read about it or if  someone she knew told her about a British tradition associated with a royal wedding.  Apparently, it’s a custom for the Queen to reply to well-wishers who send a note of congratulations to her on the occasion of her grandson’s wedding.  One of the Queen’s Ladies in Waiting will send a thank-you note.  As Gail said, “this is right up your alley”!

And she was right;  not only did I decide to write a note in my name, I also wrote one in Finley’s name.   I thought it would be a wonderful keepsake for her.  I had my doubts that we would ever receive a reply and a couple of times I meant to mention it to Chiara because I was afraid she might toss the envelope out as junk mail.   Well weeks went by and I forgot about the letters. 

Today my daughter called and said, “Have you seen Facebook“? I hadn’t so I  got on the computer while Chiara was telling me how amazing it was that Finley Ray had received a Thank-you note from the Queen of England!  I screamed!!!  Chiara had posted the letter on Facebook thinking that maybe Finley’s dad, Tom, had a hand in this.   “No, it was me”! I was so happy it had actually arrived and on Facebook, it’s  getting a lot comments.

Well I can’t wait to see if my response has arrived.  I have a week’s worth of mail to go through when I get home.  And I better tell Peter so he doesn’t think it’s some junk mail!

Here is the letter, I hope they frame it and save it for Finny;  direct from Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace, Ladies in Waiting, Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth Thanks Finley Ray

Thank you Queen Elizabeth!

Thank you Gail!

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OBSCURE ORIGINS of COMMON PHRASES

Did you ever read your kids or your husband the riot act and they didn’t understand a word you meant?  To read someone the riot act is to yell, shout, command and demand that the ruckus or misbehavior stop!!!

King George I, England, edict,

The Riot Act

This is how it came about:  In 1716, King George I of England issued a proclamation that if 12 or more people engaged in a demonstration, his officers were told to read the group this specific ACT and send those rioters home.  Only a few continued to be disruptive after the edict was read because you could be sent to prison for life for not obeying this order.  Usually once The RIOT ACT was read, people calmed down!!!

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