Relief Society High Tea

Every year, at the beginning of the summer, our Relief Society hosts a garden party of some sort. A few years ago, we had it at my house and the focus was on herbs.

This year, Heather and I decided to organize a High "Herbal" Tea...

In doing my research to make this an official "tea", I found out some interesting facts:

1. A High Tea is actually another word the British call dinner. During the Industrial Revolution, exhausted working families returning home from work would set the table with meats, bread, butter, cheese, pickles and tea. There were no dainty finger sandwiches, pastries or scones. Because this tea was taken at a dining table (high table) rather than a coffee or low table, it began to be called "high" tea.

2. Tea Time was created by Anna Maria, the seventh Duchess of Bedford (1783-1857). Now that customs had changed and the noon meal was getting smaller and smaller, the Duchess suffered from hunger and a lack of energy around four in the afternoon. Although in the beginning the duchess would have her servants sneak her a pot of tea and some breadstuffs, she eventually invited friends to join her for an additional afternoon meal at five o'clock in her rooms at Belvoir Castle. The menu centered around simple foods including small cakes, bread and butter sandwiches, assorted sweets and tea. This practice became so popular that the Duchess continued the practice by sending her friends cards asking them to join her for "tea and a walk in the fields". From there, the practice of inviting friends to afternoon tea became a popular practice by hostesses as a social gathering.

We borrowed an assortment of tea pots from various people in the ward and used them for a display...



Each table had a 3 tier stand with and assortment of scones (top layer); savory sandwiches (middle layer)--these included cream cheese/cucumber & watercress, chicken salad, and egg salad; and the sweets (bottom layer) which were cream puffs, lemon herb cookies, shortbread and almond flavored cookies.




Real clotted cream, lemon curd and raspberry jam were on each table as well...

We invited the Young Women to this event and even a few "Young Women in Training" came!

Is that the prettiest dress you ever did see, or what?!

The two Jennys...

(Jenny on the right made the fabulous scones! All 90 of them!! and not one of them was left!--I can't imagine how long she slaved over those!)

In addition to much of my grandmother's fostoria dishes, Roxanna (next to me) let us use her cute tea pots as well as glass platters for serving...

Being able to use real glass and china gave it a really special feel...

I was so glad my mom was feeling better to be here for this...she was such a major help!

That girl's a worker!

We gave everyone about 15 minutes or so to eat and then we started our program...

Rachel Anderson, who used to be one of my Young Women when I served in the Young Women's organization, did a cute presentation on the History of Tea.

Her family currently lives in England, and the sisters in her ward threw her a "Tea" when she graduated from college.

She e-mailed her brother with a list of questions to ask the women in the Billingham, England ward. ("What is your favorite scone recipe?"--"What is the fanciest tea you've ever attended?"

"How has the church adapted to the custom of afternoon tea?"--etc...) P.S. They HATE herbal tea! It was funny to see their reaction when asked if they like it...

Rachel's brother videoed the women responding and it was so cute to hear them explain in their English accents...

Hearing them speak felt like the authentic spice needed to make a recipe go from good to GREAT!

Last year, I asked my mom to be on the lookout for tea cups and saucers. I added that into last year's Relief Society budget so we wouldn't have to worry about it this year. It was so nice to let everyone go home with their own tea cup and saucer. I suggested that they regift it with some fresh flowers in it to a neighbor or friend in case they didn't want to keep it.

Here Heather and I are posing with our teacups after our last hoorah! She will be moving soon...and I just got released from Enrichment Leader and called as Primary Secretary.

She and I have had a blast working on this calling together. It doesn't hurt that she happens to be one of my dearest friends of all times, either...

sigh...

Have you ever been to an afternoon tea?

Flowers!

My mom drove up last Thursday to help me out with the busy week I had planned.

I was asked a few months ago by the mother of one of the young women (Brianna) that I used to teach in church to do the flowers for her open house/reception...

Her colors were pink and gray and at the time she told me, I knew that I'd come up with something, but didn't have any inspiration at that moment...

A few weeks later, I got a vision for what I wanted to do, and I was so pleased with the result.

Now this is what I call a celebration of the season!

The first day, my mom and I just worked the whole morning on getting all of the flowers cut and arranged in the vases...

Just look at those vibrant hot pink peonies, peachy pink spray roses, tulips, and gerbera's!

Could you just die?!

I ordered the flowers through a wholesaler as well as supplemented with my own shrub roses, peonies and English roses (that looked like miniature peonies)...

The next day, we went to the church and arranged all of the flowers on the tables...

We took a short break for lunch and drove down to Peace Valley's lavender farm.

It is such a peaceful, serene place...

Although the lavender wasn't quite in bloom, it was still beautiful...

I can almost smell the lavender-to-be in this picture...

Lake Galena is just beyond the trees in the distance..



We couldn't resist buying this lavender infused dark chocolate! Oh my!



My mom was a good sport and agreed to a self portrait even though she was getting sicker by the minute.



We headed back to the church and finished off the decorating...
Pictures simply can't do it justice, but the tables looked so fresh and lovely...
There's such a wonderful energy that is present around fresh flowers, much like being at the ocean...
I loved how different shades of pink blended together to create one shade...
Little compotes of lambs ear brought in the silver...



This was a shot of the main food table...

And here was an overall glimpse of the overall look...Once again, it just doesn't quite do it justice to see it in a picture...

I think Brianna was just as thrilled as I was with the result...

Every time I see pink, I'll think back to this night--

The Ultimate Chick Flick

This past week was just plain intense...

My mom was in town, and ended up getting sick, Reilly had her dress rehearsal and dance recital, I did the flowers for a wedding reception, and was working on coordinating a very detail oriented Relief Society social (that was supposed to be at my house but due to weather had to be changed at the last minute), and the show went on regarding piano lessons and soccer, planning dinners and other motherhood responsibilities.

In addition to all the craziness, I went to pick this box up at the 4-H leader's house...

Can you guess what's inside?!...

The chicks arrived! They hatched last Sunday and were sent out later on that afternoon.
Because of all the nutrients they receive when they are in their shell, they don't need to eat or drink for a minimum of 72 hours...this enables them to be shipped without much hassle...

The ones that we ordered were marked with a red dot on their heads...

We picked a Buff Orpington, Buff Laced Polish, Silver Polish, Buff Cochin, and a Black Cochin...

We had them all sexed, which means that we know that they are all female. I couldn't take the chance of getting too attached and then finding out one of them was a male. My neighbors would be so bugged being woken up to a rooster every morning...

One of the things that surprises me the most is how much less messy they are compared to ducklings! 10 chicks wouldn't equal 1 duckling when it comes to the poop factor!

Any thoughts on a name for this little Buff Laced Polish? Isn't she a hoot?

I love hearing these little guys peeping. I'm sure our neighbors think there's some kind of devil worshipping going on over here because the heat lamp is putting off a red glow through the windows...

They should be in our house for at least 4 more weeks...

Ahhh...good times...

***Any clever name ideas?

***Have you ever raised chicks?

Five for Friday--You take the good, you take the bad edition

1. I'm going to start of with my buzz kill news right away...

One of my female ducks died yesterday. I went out to their pen in the afternoon to clean it and noticed that she had never come out when Jake let the ducks out in the morning before school. It looks like she just died in her sleep, but I can't figure out what the cause was. the She was only about a year old. It makes me so sad. I've heard people say that they don't want to own pets because they worry about becoming too attached and then they have to deal with them dying, but I just find that my life is so much more enriched having animals in my life...

Case in point... Ellie wanted me to fill up the little kiddy pool the other day. I turned the hose on and went inside for a few minutes. This was the sight I saw when I came back out...

...and this was just moments later...cute, right?

Who wouldn't want to be a duck?! (except for the one that just died)

2. Ellie's end of the year picnic was on Wednesday...(93 degrees, people!) Imagine a day like this with 80 percent humidity! I looked like a wet mongrel by the time we left!

They had a mini "awards" cermony. The teachers told some personal characteristics about each child when they presented them with their certificate...Ellie was described as--

"Always inquisitive...and is everyone's friend"

She had a great time, in spite of the heat...
I can't believe that my youngest child will be going into kindergarten next year...
Wasn't it just yesterday that I was being induced?

3. Ice Cream...You scream...We all scream for icecream!
And indeed we all did when we heard crazy psychedelic music coming up our lane! Imagine the thrill! The icecream truck never takes a detour! This the royal treatment!
My mom had just arrived and she treated us all for icecream...

4. I helped my neighbor, Caroline, with a garden project a few weeks ago...
I've been secretly fantasizing about doing a makeover to the area by her back patio.
We planned a day to dig this area out...and dig we did! It was steaming hot and we worked our buns off (I wish that that expression were literal, because my buns are definitely still there).

This picture was before...

And THIS was after!
We filled it with some of the perennials that I divided, a few herbs and a miniature lilac bush...
This was so satisfying to be able to transform a space...

5. I've decided on a name for my little business...
Thank you to all my sweet friends and family for helping me with name ideas...
I decided on "Bloom"...(Amanda, did you hear me talk about it already? or was that just our spirits communing, as usual?)

My friend, Kelly, is a graphic designer and she's working on a business card for me...



Things are so crazy here right now...but I wanted to get something posted before I get so behind with documenting.
My mom and I are doing the flowers for a wedding reception/open house today...(we worked on them yesterday, but we're putting the finishing touches on today)
Next Thursday, I'm hosting a Relief Society Herbal High Tea at my house (50 + people), so there's lots to organize for that and my chicks should be arriving on Tuesday!

I'm running on adrenaline!

A penny ($25) for your thoughts...

I've been toying with the idea for quite some time now about starting a little flower arranging business on the side. In addition to helping Susan Taylor with silk flower arranging in her store, I want to have a business card printed up so when opportunities arise to do fresh arrangements, I can hand people something that has my contact information.

Here's where you come in...

If I choose the name that you propose, then you will receive a $25 Target gift card or if you are local, a flower arrangement from my garden...(whichever you prefer)...

I will be choosing the name on Friday...so if you are interested in participating, get those thinking caps on...

A day spent with Susan

One of Susan's clients whose home is on the local tour of homes circuit, hired Susan to do the flowers for each of the rooms in her house. (Including her daughter's closet--what the?!)

She asked me last Sunday if I would be available to help put some arrangements together...
I met her at her house this morning at 8am and was met with this glorious sight!...

So after a lot of this...(I should have taken a picture of the carnage before we got everything cleaned up)...

And a bit of this...(roast beef with spicy bleu cheese dressing on a ciabatta roll--crazy good!)

We ended up with THESE...

And THESE!!

And THESE!! (as well as several other arrangements not photographed)--we were scrambling towards the end because she still needed to get these delivered to Princeton, NJ and then drive tonight to NC for her granddaughter's birthday...(when does she ever sleep?)

I forgot to take pictures of these miniature arrangements that will go at each plate setting on her dining room table...(notice the cute little wild flocks (purple) that Susan dug out of the woods the night before...)

It was an amazing day to say the least...

It was so much fun spending time with Susan and learning a new way to arrange flowers...

I must admit that I was super nervous to help her out on these because I have a much more traditional arranging style, but I eventually caught onto her vision and all was well...

This was one of her lettuce arrangements (using different types of lettuce, cilantro, basil, hipernicum berries and tulips)...This never ceases to impress me...

I got to take home all of the overage flowers...

How bout those lisianthis, Susan? Not bad, eh?! (she calls those trash flowers and I must admit they're not my favorite, but I do like them in this arrangement...(the tall one).

My only regret today...not getting a self portrait together...dang!

And so ends a busy day...A hot bath awaits!

What's in bloom at 42 Anvil Lane

Spring, no doubt, is the busiest time of the year for me...

What you do or don't do in the garden now determines how things will look for the rest of the growing season...

In addition to pruning, fertilizing, edging, and mowing, Brian and I have managed to spread 15 yards of mulch as well as dig out for a new shade garden. (I've also helped a neighbor with a garden project--pictures of that to come in a few days)

"Through the dancing poppies stole, A breeze most softly lulling to my soul."--John Keats

Here is the view that I see from my kitchen sink...I feel like I'm standing right in the middle of my front garden...


This is the beginning stages of the front rose garden coming to life...

I always catch my breath when I see these yellow irises around the pond...

My neighbor tells me that all of these were the result of only a few iris bulbs being planted...

The line up for this year's vegetable garden is...3 varieties of tomatoes, sunflowers, corn (our first attempt), pickling cucumbers, spaghetti squash, basil, bak choy cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, yellow wax beans, green beans, asparagus beans, dill, peas, rhubarb, raspberries, strawberries, black berries, swiss chard, carrots, purple potatoes, yellow potatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers, and a small cutting garden in one of the beds...

This was another Saturday afternoon project...We got this coop from a kit, but didn't realize it was so dinky...I've got to be able to fit 5 chickens in this thing. We're going to expand it a bit with an outer yard connected to the back.

Our chickens are set to arrive at the end of this month (just in time for a wedding that I have been asked to do the flowers for as well as planning for a huge Herbal High Tea Relief Society Social that I'm hosting for 50 + people the following week...)

So there you have it...a quick "here's what's blooming" update...

I'm spending all day with Susan T. tomorrow arranging flowers for one of her clients, but I will be sure to take my camera to document....It makes me sad when I get behind on blogging....

What's growing at your house?