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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Remembering a tea-cup

How to spend a rainy, miserably cold and windy Octobrrrrrr day.
Poor Lily, she just can't face it
After caring for five gorgeous cats today, I headed back home to finish a little house-cleaning. I wanted to walk Kane but the weather was not fit for man or beast. 
Audrey waited for her treat in her tea-cup.
(when she's not making faces she's quite stunning, isn't she?)
She doesn't drink tea but likes her freeze-dried chicken bits in a fancy cup.
She helped me clean the dining-room today.
She's no slouch, ya know.

This is the cup the kitties share but Audrey has requested her own.
"It must have a dragon on it."

  "Don't you mean a little devil, Audrey?"
So now I'm on the hunt.


Actually, I have been on the hunt for a black dragon on a red tea-cup for years now. 
When I was a child and spent part of my summer holidays at my grandmothers' farm, it was customary for each of the cousins to pick out their favorite tea-cup from the big wall cupboard in granny's summer kitchen. The cupboard stood tall, from floor to ceiling, and the top half held all of her tea-cups and glass-ware. It was wood, painted green inside and the doors creaked a little when they opened. Even at a young age I loved that cupboard. It may have had something to do with the cookies that waited for our greedy little hands that sat on the bottom shelf but I think now that it was the tea-cups and all their fine colours that attracted me the most.  I picked a red tea-cup with a gold rim and a black dragon on the side. The saucer was red with a similar gold rim.  I think over the years I must have drank hundreds of cups of tea in that tea-cup.
As the cousins and I grew older we were also served coffee in those tea-cups. My grandmother was half Irish and half Scots so her drink of choice was always tea. She was a hard-working woman but whenever I think of her, she is sitting in her kitchen with her tabby-cat, Maggie, in her apron, and a cup of tea nearby. She took her time to show us how to pour our tea and coffee and enhance the flavor with milk and sugar. 
We would toast bread on her wood-stove and spread her home-made jams on top.
These are great memories.

Sadly, my grandmother's old clapboard house burned to the ground in the '70's while she was staying with my aunt. Little was saved. Somehow, I ended up with an old granite cup that I treasure now.
So, when I am junkin' I always look for a similar tea-cup to the one that stays etched in my memory.
Now I guess I'll look for one with a little devil on it, too. ;-)

Remember...Drink tea...just for the health of it.

hugs, Deb



14 comments:

  1. what a wonderful memory and now i know you are a dragon lover, too! ;) memories like yours make us feel so warm and loved -- important to keep those memories going -- just like you do. i did not let my fur babes read this post ... they would want their own china cup, too. !!!

    xx

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  2. What wonderful memories of your Grandmother! Hope you find that tea cup! Audrey is a beauty and such a DIVA!

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  3. Deb, I will check Teavania (I think that's the name of the tea shop around here) for dragon teacups. I have seen a dragon teapot there. My cats drink out of my teacups too... but if I'm not careful, it still has my tea in it. Since I drink my tea with cream, I suspect they are after the cream.

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  4. That's a great memory--I fell in love with coffee drinking it at my grandparents' house.

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  5. What a charming post. I hope my cats don't see yours drinking out of tea cups!
    I wish you success with your tea cup to replace the one from your memory! I'll be looking too!

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  6. What lovely memories, Deb! I hope you can find the cup you're looking for and I got such a giggle out of seeing Audrey with that cup! Hope your new week is off to a good start.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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  7. What wonderful memories...good luck on your hunt for the red tea cup!!! A worthy endeavor for any antiquing excursion!!!

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  8. It's much more tolerable out there today.

    Audrey's striking her epic heroic pose, I see...

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  9. It's so nice to have sweet memories to keep us warm on chilly days... Enjoy yours!
    Love,
    Lily, WA, USA

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  10. How sad to read about the fire... I hope you find your teacup one day. Have you tried searching eBay? You can do a search and save it to email you when listings include your search words... you might luck out. Hope you do. Great photos of your kitties!

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  11. Yes, Audrey is a real beauty but it is her facial expressions that make her extraordinary! Live when you caption her photos; they never fail to brighten even the grumpiest days.
    When it comes to warming hearts though Ed and his Lily are the
    champs. Love them beyond words!
    Good luck on the tea cup hunt. Wouldn't it be marvellous to find one?

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  12. I love the photo of Audrey sitting on your fabulous old cupboard waiting for her treat. And her little toy car with the cats in it is adorable!

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  13. Audrey is so so beautiful! She has the same majestic bearing as my mom´s cat Federico. Any time my mother in law cames home and looks at Fede she says: "QuĂ© porte tiene ese gato!"
    Loving tribute to your grandmother´s memory... I can see her with her tabby-cat sorrounded by dear grandlitlles enjoying the ritual of tea in her cozy kitchen♥
    I love the Holloween postcard, it´s cute!

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