Red hair.

Last year our local library hosted the most precious tea party for young girls… it was called Tea With Samantha.  Now most of you with young daughters will immediately know who “Samantha” is… and if you don’t let me fill you in.  She is one of the wonderful historical American Girl dolls.  I think these dolls have done more for encouraging young girls to have a love for history than anything in our time.  Each doll’s character has six books written about the life and times of the era in which she lived and also comes with all sorts of clothes and accessories true to the historical period. 

Back to the tea… our daughters were encouraged to bring their American Girl doll to the tea, and it was suggested that they might dress like their doll.   My daughter actually has Felicity, which is the doll who “lived” in 1776 in Williamsburg, Virginia.  This was very special for me in one way, in particular.  You see my daughter had just gotten to the size that she could wear my dress from the Bicentennial Celebration of 1976.  Yes, my mother handmade this dress for me when I was eleven to wear for my hometown Bicentennial Pageant.  And wouldn’t you know that it was a perfect fit for her to wear and look like her doll, Felicity. 

I carefully rolled her hair, put on her mob cap, and tied her velvet sash… tearfully, of course… because it’s not every day you get to see your daughter wear the dress you wore as an eleven year-old.  It was also special for her because she knew that and knew the dress was handmade for her mom by her beloved Nonnie.  I took many pictures, and she was all too happy to oblige for the photo shoot.  She looked a lot like I did at her age… except for one thing… she got the red hair!

I have a new blog which you can find here:

You may be wondering why I have started a new blog. There are several reasons.  Since the Charm & Grace web magazine is published seasonally, it isn’t updated frequently and isn’t a great place to put new and fresh content. This blog is greatly personal in nature… featuring my artwork, my travel snippets, and my personal feelings about this or that… the posts here can tend toward wordiness, lengthiness, or complication. I wanted to have a place to share little bite sized flourishes of loveliness about all sorts of things and to be able to post even more frequently than I would post them here on my more personal blog. I also wanted to “test drive” the features of a “ready made” blog from one of the major blog hosts. So Charm & Grace Cottage — via Blogger — was my answer. I am hoping to have something short and simple, yet fresh and new each day to inspire and promote creativity.   So if you enjoy those kinds of things, drop over for a visit.  The door to the cozy Charm & Grace Cottage is always open, the tea kettle is on and waiting for you.

In honor of Mother’s Day I thought I would share about a wonderful outing my mother and I attended together recently.  Our local library sponsored an event they called “Afternoon with Jane.” They advertised it as a time for tea with Jane Austen and asked us to bring our own teacups.  My mother had been given a lovely floral tea set by her stepson who had found it and thought of her.  Being very delicate and beautifully decorated, they were just perfect for the event.  She used one with rose petals, and I used one with dogwood blossoms.  We walked into the room at the library to see many people of all different ages… both men and women, young and old… and all with such interesting and varied teacups.  We were treated to our choice of loose teas which consisted of Earl Grey Creme tea, a Caribbean tea flavored with coconut and strawberry guava, and English Breakfast.  Along with tea we were treated to  apricot scones accompanied by clotted creme, fresh lemon curd, and strawberry preserves.  After we had all filled our teacups, gotten our scones and made our way to our places, the lady who runs a local tea room talked to us about the history and heritage of tea.  It was a very interesting and informative talk, and she even told us how to naturally decaffienate our own tea!  We also learned about loose tea as compared with bagged teas.  And she discussed the differences between green tea, white tea, and black tea. 

Once she was finished, the local president of the Jane Austen Society talked to us about the traditions and practices of Jane Austen’s era.  He was very well read and knowledgable about all manner of things relating to Austen and her era, and he even took the time for discussion and to answer a few questions.  It was a really lovely afternoon, but even more so because I got to have a tea party with my mother.  

:)  I love you, Mama.

I received the loveliest surprise in my mailbox today, the March/April issue of Victoria magazine… which I am sure they intended as an early birthday present (as mine falls a week from tomorrow.)  The third offering of Victoria by Hoffman, this one is resplendent with beauty… definitely their best effort.

With gorgeous images of gardens, flowers, a Scottish-style manor house in British Columbia, fashion, and more, this issue delights the eye from cover to cover.  I am all the more encouraged that the magazine will again be what she once was… the rightful Queen of Magazines. 

 

My heart is full to see this magazine come in all its glorious springtime splendor. My spirits are buoyed by what I have seen from this issue and my hopes even higher for the ones to follow.  Thank you, Victoria, for your early birthday present to me and for ushering in our vernal equinox in the proper fashion.

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