September Teatime In The Cottage

Happy Tuesday dear friends. It seems we just said hello to September and now it is half over. Fall officially begins one week from today!

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.””
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭91‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭(ESV‬)

It is the third Tuesday of the month and time to celebrate tea. I brought teatime inside the Sunshine Cottage, the garden is on its last leg and the heat and humidity have stolen my energy!

Thank you for joining me for tea. My friend Mary is taking a blogging break.

It was very cloudy and threatened rain on Friday when I planned to have teatime. Later in the day we received 1/8th inch of rain. Taking photos inside on a cloudy day is difficult, especially for this photographer!

I served a delicious tea…an organic ‘Secret Garden’ Cinnamon Spice Black Tea with cardamom, clove, black pepper, ginger, and cinnamon.

My inspiration came from the whimsical mushroom teapot. EM, our oldest grandchild was shopping with me at TJ Maxx when we both discovered the cute teapot. I was about to pass it up when she declared, “PJ you have to buy this teapot!” It didn’t take much convincing because I thought it was charming. The teapot is from Blue Sky Clayworks.

A favorite majolica pitcher was used to feature autumn fire sedum and zinnias cut from our garden.

Delightful mushroom salad plates were found hiding on shelves at Hobby Lobby. The teapot was happy to find she was not alone as more mushrooms had joined the fun!

The squirrel trinket box was invited to join our teatime. He was an ill-mannered guest and had the nerve to bring his acorns and even a half-chewed hickory nut to our tea party! Pesky and disrespectful squirrels chewed on our picnic table next to the woodlands. That table was moved down a trail and resides by the river. We purchased a new handmade picnic table to sit next to our woodlands. There is evidence that the impolite squirrels are already bringing their lunch and spreading it on top of the new table. They are messy eaters and do not clean up!

An April Cornell tablecloth and napkins are a returning Heritage Print from the archives named ‘Antique’ and is ideal for the autumn season!

Not the prettiest muffins, but moist and delicious! With little time, I used Krusteaz Cinnamon Swirl Muffin Mix!

Teatime gives me pause to enjoy long conversations with a friend or to sit quietly and read! However, my most favorite teatimes are with my granddaughters. I am planning a tea party with EM and EK for Friday!

With mushroom plates and a whimsical mushroom teapot, I felt sausage stuffed mushrooms would be an appropriate addition. I remember serving these mushrooms as a young bride. They were always a hit with our friends and so very simple and easy. I used baby bella mushroom caps filled with cooked sausage (Italian is best), mixed with cream cheese, sautéed onion and garlic, and parmesan cheese. I baked at 375 for 15 minutes.

When the Sunshine Cottage was built six years ago, EM was four and EK was one. My dream was that it would be a playhouse for the girls. It has been a place for us to play dolls, have tea parties, and for a couple of years, have spend the night parties on a blow up mattress on the floor. Special memories have been made by reading books to the girls, but they both now read to me. The stacked books are a beautifully illustrated version of John Bunyan’s ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ for children ages 2 to 10. Did you know, that next to the Bible (which is first), ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ is one of the most printed and translated books of all time.

The watercolor painting of a photo I made in our garden a few years ago was painted by a new friend that I have quickly grown to love. She is multi-talented and will be painting more watercolors that will eventually be framed for a wall grouping in the cottage.