Hello sweet friends. Are you experiencing oppressive heat and humidity in your area? It is definitely summer in the South! Interestingly though, the last couple of days have been completely overcast with not a cloud in the sky. Our skies have been filled with smoke from fires, and the sun has been amazingly filtered, which has helped keep the temp down a bit. What is more interesting is that the smoke has traveled several thousand miles in the upper atmosphere from western Canada. The fires are in Alberta and Saskatchewan! This particular condition might be a first for us!
“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
Psalm 119:11
It is always a pleasure to share tea with Mary on the third Tuesday of the month! I am so happy you have joined us.
We welcome our special guest Bonnie, from Living With Thanksgiving. Bonnie isn’t a newcomer to Tea On Tuesdays. She is a fellow Alabamian and a precious friend. You will find Mary’s and Bonnie’s links for their beautiful teatimes at the bottom of this post.
A watermelon-colored teapot is a new purchase. I love its summery color!
Most often when setting a table, I find inspiration from table linens, dishware, or what might be blooming in my garden. A favorite summertime flower is abundantly blooming. Zinnias with their rich colors make me happy!!! They are also in bloom on the watercolor April Cornell zinnia breakfast cloth that has been in my linen collection for a few years.
I am serving up Pomegranate Green Tea from the Spice & Tea Exchange!
It is a herbaceous and lively green tea accented with bright pomegranate and black currant to deliver a super fruit boost. Pomegranate adds mild sweetness and vibrancy, while tart hibiscus lends a deep color. This is a delicious hot tea and also iced!
It was late afternoon and very hot, so sparkling water was a welcome relief!
Sweet offerings of raspberry jam macarons from the bakery and fruit topped sugar cookies made from a dear friend’s recipe. You can use your favorite sugar cookie recipe or Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough. When cookies are baked and cooled add cream cheese icing and top with fresh fruit. I used raspberries, blueberries, kiwi, and mandarin oranges with a sprig of chocolate mint. Quick and delicious!!
Often used Majolica dinner plates are paired with oval watermelon salad/dessert plates that had been put away and forgotten. I am glad I found them!
For a simple no fuss flower arrangement, a caddy (I think from Hobby Lobby) was loaded with bottles filled with zinnias to complement the tablecloth. If you check the background you will see zinnias in the cottage garden. We also have them in two raised beds. I will be featuring them in an upcoming post!
You may have noticed the individually wrapped honey spoons on the saucers. While shopping at TJ Maxx a few weeks ago, I spotted hand-made Melville Tupelo Honey spoons made with real honey…perfect for a cup of tea or a sweet treat right from the bag.
Afternoon tea normally has sweet and savory offerings. Egg salad is often served at teatime and is a favorite at our house. Our son keeps us supplied with eggs. If you’ve never had fresh eggs, you must try them. There is a noticeable difference in taste!
The festive stemware was a gift from a friend many years ago. It has long since been discontinued.
My tables often tell stories. The dragonfly napkin rings were a Christmas gift from my son while he was in college at the University of Alabama. He went shopping at Pier 1 in Tuscaloosa, and chose this wonderful gift that I will always treasure!
The beautiful hydrangea pillow in the chair is from my friend Jenna’s Society 6 shop. Jenna is a talented artist and blogger at The Painted Apron. Several years ago (2017), she painted my limelight hydrangeas from a photo posted on my blog and then gifted me the original acrylic 14” x 14” painting! I was so excited to have a true artist paint flowers from my garden!! Last Friday she re-shared the painting and all the steps she used in the process. You can see the post here. I have a couple of pillows and a tote with the hydrangea image. Not only are there pillows and a tote, there are 26 different items with Pam’s Hydrangeas in Jenna’s shop. You can view all those items here. I have always wished I could paint!!
“July is hot afternoons and sultry nights and morning when its joy just to be alive. July is a picnic and a red canoe and a sunburned neck and a softball game and ice tinkling in a tall glass. July is a blind date with summer.”
~Hal Borland
“I drifted into a summer-nap under the hot shade of July, serenaded by a cicada lullaby, to drowsy-warm dreams of distant thunder.”
~Terri Guillemets
You will love your visits with Mary and Bonnie as they have prepared teatimes for your enjoyment!
Mary ~ Home Is Where The Boat Is
Bonnie ~ Living With Thanksgiving
Be sure to join us next Tuesday as Mary and I will both feature a fabulous giveaway!
Thank you for your visit and gracious comments. Hopefully you are staying cool. I wish you a joy-filled day!
Linking with: Pieced Pastimes, Between Naps on the Porch, Katherines Corner, Follow The Yellow Brick Home,
Imparting Grace,Life and Linda
Pam, I love your summer table in your garden filled with of zinnias, watermelon plates and colorful stemware! Your new teapot is such a cheery color, perfect for serving Pomegranate Green Tea. I love the simplicity of the happy zinnias in your bottles to pair with your beautiful April Cornell zinnia breakfast cloth. Your garden looks so lush and beautiful with your flowers and hydrangeas blooming in the background. Love your pretty pillow from Jenna’s Society 6 Shop, I remember when she painted your garden hydrangeas. I’d love a raspberry jam macaron and pretty fruit topped sugar cookie this morning! It’s extremely hot, humid and hazy here too from the smoke from the fires. We’re looking temperatures in the triple digit temperatures this week with code orange air quality this week. Thanks so much the flower therapy this morning. It’s always a treat to have a seat at your table and join you for table. Happy Tuesday, stay cool. ♥
Thank you, Mary. We just had a terrible wind storm, but not a drop of a rain. It was too hot to be outside today. Stay cool, Mary 💛
Such beauty and grace for a relaxing afternoon tea. If it just wasn’t so hot! Love the honey spoons. I have some of Jenna’s gorgeous art on a couple of pillows as well from her shop, they are on the veranda bench every summer to add color and charm.
Thank you, Carole. Yes the heat has been oppressive and I can hardly stay outside for any length of time. My garden needs weeding, but it will have to wait!
Pam, Your garden is gorgeous and your table is so full of beautiful colors and pretty things. I love the idea of embellishing a sugar cookie with colorful fruit! So pretty and tempting.
I look forward to your zinnia post. They look so pretty on your table and in your garden. I have zinnia envy. I’m sure I’ve told you this before but when we lived in army quarters in Alaska I planted zinnias and with the midnight sun they were huge. They were as big as butter plates. Oh, how I wish I had a picture but that was way before cell phones.
You are an artist with your table designs. The use of color, texture, space, proportion, variety, all weave a design and you do it well. I know you love your pillow and picture Jenna painted. She is so talented. It looks perfect in your chair. You also are an artist with your camera. You have the eye for detail and style.
All your dishes, goblets, linens, and pretty tea treats frame a lovely picture of your inviting tea table. I enjoyed imagining tasting your pomegranate green tea, egg salad sandwiches,macaroons, and yummy fruit topped cookie. It was great to share tea with you and Mary. Thanks for inviting me to join you talented ladies.
How very encouraging you are, Bonnie. The sugar cookies with the icing and fruit are really delicious! I ate way too many. Stay in and stay cool!
Pam, this post is full of color and happiness! I would love to grow zinnias, but don’t have a good spot. A summer cutting garden would be such fun! I love the bright colors from your garden reflected on your table. You do it all with such style.
It’s without a doubt HOT here in Austin. Our summer temps have been relentless, and sadly the pain keeps on. I’m trying to keep containers watered morning and evening, but the stress of the heat takes a toll. I don’t know how any living thing that is outside is surviving in this heat. Soo very grateful for our AC!
Happy Tuesday!
Thank you, Sarah for your sweet comments. It is hot here but I know it doesn’t compare to Austin. Take care and stay cool!
Good Morning Pam. We are having those same smoke issues up here in Illinois from the smoke. Today is a good day most of it has moved south. Love seeing the pretty blue skies again. Your summer table is beautiful as always. I agree with you fresh eggs are so much tastier than store bought. Have a great week. Hugs. Kris
I am glad the smoke moved away from you. Thanks so much for your visits, Kris!
Oh my goodness Pam! Your table and garden is so pretty it’s impossible to express how lovely! I wouldn’t be able to sleep being in all that beauty. The colors! Oh my goodness ! The zinnias match your tea cloth and the little tea pot is my favorite color. I couldn’t have resisted buying that either. What you do for us in every post to brighten our day is immeasurable but this puts a cherry on the top. Thank you for sharing your memories. So precious. Today the pomegranate green tea would have to be iced for me. I love egg salad sandwiches and yes fresh country grown eggs taste much better than grocery boxed ones. You and Butch are truly blessed!
Alice, thank you for your sweet comments. They truly make my day. I wish that we could share iced tea and conversation. It would be a pleasure to meet you. Wishing you a wonderful week ♥️
I love this teatime with you! That new teapot is so colorful, and it works perfectly with all your accompaniments on the table.
I’m swooning over your Zinnias! Mine are coming along! The rabbit has not eaten them.
Jenna’s pillow is quite beautiful, and it’s from your garden! What a delight!
Those sugar cookies topped with fruit are quite lovely. And I would also enjoy the egg salad tea sandwiches.
We are experiencing the smoke from Canada yet again! It is super thick today.
Thank you for such a beautiful time in the garden.
Happy Tuesday, dear friend!
Thank you, Nancy. The sugar cookies were so easy and really delicious. I ate way too many of them. We have had the haze from the fires since Sunday. It hard to believe it has come this far south. Enjoy your week, dear one!
You can’t go wrong with Bonnie and Jenna. I’m a fan of both and tea with all of you would be relaxing and refreshing, no matter how hot outdoors!
Jenna and Bonnie are the best. Thank you, Leslie Anne!
This fellow color lover is oohing and aahing over your beautiful summertime tea table Pam! The tablecloth, the zinnias, your new watermelon colored teapot and the stripped stemware all make my heart sing! I can’t believe you are seeing smoke from the Canadian fires, awful~ Thank you so much for the shout out and all the links to my shop, so kind of you! Your pillow looks so pretty in the garden chair. All the tea time treats look wonderful, and what a great idea to top sugar cookies with icing and fruit, yum! Keep cool~
Thanks so much, Jenna. I am always thrilled that there are fellow color enthusiasts. We just had a terrible wind storm, but not a drop of rain. You keep cool!
Pam, I love your teapot! The watermelon red is such a nice shade. The oval plates are a perfect match with your majolica plates and the teapot. The cookies look delicious. That’s a beautiful tablecloth and you know I love the stemware. The dragonfly napkin rings are a nice compliment to the tablecloth and it has a wonderful memory with it as well. Your zinnias are so pretty. I must agree that nothing beats a fresh egg. Stay cool. Clara❤️
Thank you, Clara. The cookies were easy and really delicious. Take care and stay cool ♥️
I love how you set your zinnias in that charming box and individual vases. It’s striking and very flexible. Of course the table setting, as usual, is just lovely, Pam. So cheery and fun!
Thank you, Jeanie. The zinnia arrangement is so easy!
Beautiful, dear friend. Such a lovely post!
Thank you, my friend!
This is a summertime, watermelon delight! From the teapot, to the linens, to the zinnias and even the color of the tea, it exudes a summertime feel! Your egg salad and sugar cookie treats (always a dessert, no matter what season) are the kinds of foods I love for summer eating . My zinnias have been a very enthusiastic bloom around my garden beds this year, and entertainment while watching hummingbirds, goldfinches and moth butterflies (so far) on them. Looking forward to your feature on them (the Japanese beetles suddenly left mine alone, just as suddenly as they appeared). I love the memory of the gift of your dragonfly napkin rings.
The smoke from Canada has impacted us a few times already this summer, but I was surprised to read it’s impacting you too.. It reminds me of the late 60s and early 70s, when the chemical plants surrounding us used to freely emit their pollution. Sadly, it was a very common thing for us, but most of the plants are gone, and all are certainly more regulated by EPA. We have had so.much.rain already in July, and the storms briefly clear the air.
The summertime tea on Tuesday has been a lot of fun visiting – with all three of you!
Thank you, Rita! The sugar cookie treats were delicious. I don’t need them around because I can eat several at one sitting. We are so tired of the Japanese beetles, I wish they would suddenly leave. We also had plants that emitted pollution but they are now all gone. Wishing you a lovely week!
What fun and so much to take in. I would love to have tea in any of those gardens, We have heat but no humidity here. I love summer.
Thank you, Nonie. The humidity is what is so oppressive in the South. Enjoy your summer!
Stunning! I love how your bright and bold things coordinate so prettily with the zinnias. I love bright colors, and my favorite things on your table are the striped goblets. 😀
Ricki Jill, you are so sweet. I am glad you love bright colors! They make me happy!
Pam, your table looks like such a happy spot! I love your new teapot and the watermelon plates!! Later today I will be rummaging through my cabinets to see what I have in the way of bottles…your zinnia arrangement is beautiful and so clever. We are in the house with the blinds closed and glasses of sweet tea to escape the oppressive heat and smoke. It’s a scorcher again today!
Thank you, Roxanne. The zinnia arrangement is so easy. We are having a major wind storm right now, but no rain. Our heat index was triple digit today. Y’all stay inside and drink sweet tea 🥰
What a glorious Tea Party Pam The teapot is extra lovely and the glasses, who wouldn’t delight in drinking out of one. Thank you for the invitation.
Marilyn,Joan and Marion
You all are most welcome. Thank you sweet friends!
Pam, hi! It’s so oppressively humid that outside parties are out of the question right now. but from the comfort of my indoor air i love the palette of pinks and corals, greens and yellows that fill your table and landscape. i lift my icy glass of tea to you in appreciation for the beauty you bring our way!
Linda, you are so sweet and I am currently drinking a glass of iced tea!
Good morning, Pam. This tea setting is beautiful. All of the wonderful bright colors make such a happy summer display….perfect for July! I love all of the July quotes. I especially love the line about the cicada lullaby. I fall asleep every night to both the tree frogs and the cicadas song. I love your new watermelon teapot. Its gorgeous color caught my eye first thing. Your zinnias, breakfast cloth, and china are all so pretty. The egg salad sandwiches and sweet treats look delicious. Sweet friend, have a most wonderful day, and stay cool.
Thanks so much for joining me for tea, Shannon! I am trying to stay cool…it hit 100 today!
How exquisitely you coordinated the colors, Pam dear….bursts of beauty. I must say, better put
the watermelon dishes under lock and key when you clear the decks, or you just might find them gracing a table somewhere in TN. Today was such a special treat with you, Mary and Bonnie..
such talented ladies of discerning taste.
Thank you, dearest Mary. It is funny that I had long forgotten the watermelon plates and then discovered them. I am always happy to see you here!
Your summer teatime table setting is gorgeous and I especially love the watermelon colored teapot and watermelon plates. Those zinnias go so well with them. I’m pinning this post! Saw it on #TFT 618. My posts are 89, 90, and 91. Enjoy! Nancy Andres @ Colors 4 Health
Thanks so much, Nancy and I appreciate you pinning.
Besides all the lovely, dreamy, and creative tablescapes you had me with Melville Tupelo Honey! What a wonderful and sweet find!
Yes, and the honey spoon treat is delicious. Thank you, Mary!
Pam, this is such a fabulous summer table you have set in your beautiful garden. Everything goes together so perfectly! The AC zinnia tablecloth is so pretty and your zinnia flowers are gorgeous. Love the watermelon plates – what a great rediscovery – and your new teapot is the perfect shade for your table. The dragonfly napkin rings are so cute and such a wonderful memory. Sorry about the heat and humidity and lack of rain – we are gasping for rain here as well. Happy Thursday to you lovely lady!
Kim, thank you for all the sweet comments. So sorry you also need rain. It rained all around us this evening, but not a drop here. Wishing you a lovely weekend, my friend!
Pam, such a glorious tablescape. I love everything about from those beautiful striped goblets to the lovely zinnias. I have some dragonfly napkin rings too. The plates are so pretty, so glad you found them. The new teapot is so perfect for this table. The pomegranate tea sounds wonderful with egg salad sandwiches. I would be thrilled to sit down at this lunch.
What a beautiful tablscape in a magnificent garden Pam 🥰 I thoroughly enjoyed our Tea time today. And I had never heard of honey spoons before, only chocolate ones!
Blessings sweet friend, Jennifer
Thank you, Jennifer. It would be lovely to share teatime with you in person
How lovely that would be Pam ☺️
Beautiful teatime settings in the garden. I would love a garden and table setting like yours 🙂
How sweet, thank you Justine!
So, so pretty! I love the watermelon colored pitcher and the watermelon plates. And, of course, zinnias are one of my favorites. 🙂
Love those zinnias! They look so amazing adorning your beautiful tablescape. We’re in the 90’s here in Wisconsin this week…may hit 98, I’m told. I think my tea will be over ice from this point forward this week too. Have a lovely day, Pam.
Pam,
I love your table, especially that watermelon teapot.
Congratulations, you are being featured on Thursday Favorite Things. I hope you stop by. https://www.eclecticredbarn.com/2023/07/all-about-decorating-on-tft.html
Hugs,
Bev
Thanks so much!