The Tea Trolley: Keeping Warm

With the temperatures up about 60 degrees (F) from where they were on Monday and Tuesday, our snow is nearly gone! Green patches are spreading across the yards and the roads are mercifully clear again.

I feel very thankful to have considered this past week an extra vacation week as we have been able to actually enjoy being home and not be worried about broken pipes, no electricity, or sick children. And tea was certainly our remedy for the cold.

Here is a cozy scene from Thursday when I first ventured out of the house and down a few doors to my neighbor's. She had a fire blazing in the hearth and tea things set up on a tray. (Do I need to tell you she spent several years of her life living in England?)

The tea trolley has been living in front of our fireplace (since we don't have any more wood) and this makes it easy to pull out whenever we want tea in the living room.

Before the second snow hit last weekend another friend managed to drive over and enjoy the remains of the bridal shower food (next tea trolley post).

We tried some new Earl Grey and a Herbal Fennel mixture. The Earl Grey was so delicious that I'm going to hunt some down next time I go by our local health food store.

I substituted gluten free pancakes for gluten free scones. Perfect! All the better with strawberry preserves and leftover "clotted" cream.

Sunday was the day much of the snow fell. Church services were cancelled and we camped out in the living room all day for online church, reading, and sipping tea. Round after round of tea graced the trolley. I started with White Pear which is a luxury! It was also a luxury to be able to sit in my chair all afternoon and read good books.

Sunday rest time brought another round of tea and cute little Polly sitting on the sofa with her basket of books.

 When I bring my tea upstairs to my own special hidey-hole, I usually place is on this chest in front of the window. Bad idea this week! The draft in the window was ferocious and the tea would have been cold in no time!

Another afternoon the children were busy so I brought my lunch upstairs once again and lit one of my candles.

And here is a tea party for Dolly that Laura set up in the front room:

 The winter brings the most amazing skies. I can hardly get enough of them and photos never capture them in all their glory.

I suppose life will be back to its general hubbub next week! The tea trolley has four appointments to look forward to (and thus four occasions to report on!). Happy Weekend!