A Rose, is a rose, is a rose is a rose… was written by Gertrude Stein as part of the 1913 poem Sacred Emily, which appeared in the 1922 book Geography and Plays. In that poem, the first “Rose” is the name of a person. Stein later used variations on the sentence in other writings, and “A rose is a rose is a rose” is probably her most famous quotation, often interpreted as meaning “things are what they are.”  

What they are for each is individual but for me my first rose would be yes a name, Rose Mockett my grandmother. My second Rose would be the middle name of my daughter Victoria Rose. My third rose is pleasurable but comes with many thorns, my “Grandma’s Tea Room.”

Give it up for a Rose

A Gifted Rose Tea Cup

Under sits a Saucer

Elegant Rose Cup & Saucer

My 3rd Rose, Anna-Grace

Rose Coloured Birthday Card marks a celebration

Rose Sea Glass Wire Wrapped Pendant

Wire Wrapped Rose Beads

Rose Sea Glass, Lovely isn’t it?

What are “The Thorns”? For me the thorns are not colourful, they are stressful and come from  something I enjoy the most in life and that is our Grandma’s Tea Room and Blogging.  I’m learning fast that the wonderful things I created in my life have become too much to handle as I’ve aged ten years in this past one, and so I need to cut back, just a little.  I’m taking a blog break. I’ll miss you my friends, but please don’t feel I’ve gone away for long, heavens no! but just long enough to compose for, A rose, is a rose, is a rose.

~Hugs Cindy   

…to most people

means following the path of teapots towards the tea room, walking through the perennial gardens past the Koi pond and onto the great room where we put on hats and sip tea at Grandma’s Afternoon Tea Room.

…but to these 4 girls

going to grandma’s house for tea means sitting in their North Carolina home on the webcam and watching grandma in her hat. The girls poured sweet tea into little china cups while grandma entertains the idea of their webcam tea party.  

…is it any wonder I don’t get any work done?

I love and miss you girls…  love grandma ~OO~

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Thank you for joining me in my afternoon Tea Time Tuesday. I joined up with Sandi over at Rose Chintz Cottage where friends gather for tea.  

Thank you Sandi for this tea opportunity. 

Thank you Sandi for this tea opportunity. 

During the summer months Grandpa and I are busy with guests in Grandma’s Tea Room and looking after our Wee Little Gift Shop.  Come the Winter months we like to busy ourselves with repairs, little jobs, updates, and grandchildren (our children plan right).

This past week Ana was over and she came to me wanting her tea set.  Ana is 2 and Grandpa is 52, so that makes 50 years of between them, you’d think. Especially Grandpa because I put him to work in the Tea Room all summer and so he has lots of experience making the tea for all you ladies, and he loves to entertain if you have been by you know this.  

Ana makes tea for Grandpa 

She will make a fantastic hostess in the Tea Room some day

All this help, what more could a Grandma ask for?

“More Tea”, says Ana

Ana pours Grandpa another cup of tea, (well just water)

Grandpa sits in the living room and pretends to be watching little Ana and each time I pass I see only one eye open.  So Ana is running back and forth bringing him tea (water) for his little cup.  I hear Grandpa tell Ana that he has had enough tea, for he is about to swim in his tea pea.  Not only a fantastic Grandpa and great baby sitter but also a comedian. 

Their little tea party was about the cutest thing ever, until…

Grandpa says, “Grandma, hey! enough with the tea unless you are going to bake us some cookies?”

I go into the living room to see what he’s going on about as Ana pours grandpa another cup of tea (water). I watched as he drinks his last cup of tea then I said to him, “Did it ever occur to you the only water she can reach to get, is in the toilet?”

Ana and Grandpa, and the wee little tea party.

_______

Life has it’s moments, Grandparents are great but may not always be the best choices for babysitters because sometimes they teach your children things you don’t want them to learn. 

Thanks for joining me in my tea time Tuesday’s wee little tea break.  Please leave me a note that you have been by and I’ll revisit you as soon as I have tidied up around here.  Enjoy your next cuppa tea today  

~cindy

Today the SeaGlass lamp is finished and you can visit the full blog over at my craft blog called scrapandwrap.

Visit  scrapandwrap and see the sea glass lamp light up.

~cindy

On my last visit to the restore I purchased two things

A new table for Grandma’s Tea Room

And a $2.00 lamp that needed a lot of help

This is what happened to the lamp

It’s been two days taking the glue off the hoop, hang tight, it will all be worth the wait in the long run.  I can’t wait to show you what I have done with this ReStore lamp besides pull it all apart.

Thanks for dropping by my post on  ReStore PEI & ReUse I almost can’t wait to see the lamp finished can you?

~ cindy

Welcome to my #8th tea time Tuesday.  I’ll be joining Sandi over at Rose Chintz Cottage as Tuesday is a great time for tea and friends.

First let me wish everyone a Happy New Year, may 2012 be filled with friends, happiness, bliss and wonderfuls. I’m not about New Year Resolutions so I waited until Jan 2 to step on the scale and make a promise to myself.  So no truffles, chocolates and cookies with my tea please, just soft music, candles and sea glass.  ”SeaGlass”  yup, that is what I said sea glass will fill my life this year as it brings bliss.

My tea cup is a blue forget-me-not, my treats are blue seaglass.

On January 6, I was collecting sea glass when I took the call from my brother that mom had passed away. Seaglass is what I wire wrap and sell in our little gift shop.  Sea glass is what I write about on my scrapandwrap blog.  As much as I love to bake, eat and treat others in the tea room, “no” I’m sticking to it you will only see seaglass beside my cup of tea for awhile.

Thanks for joining me in my tea time Tuesday’s short tea break.  Please leave me a note that you have been by and I’ll revisit you as soon as I have tidied up around here.  Enjoy your next cuppa tea today  ~cindy

I’m pretty proud of our Island community.  After reading the news I come to find out that there weren’t any tragedies on New Year’s Eve from people celebrating and bringing in the new year.  Perhaps people have become more sensible this year and decided to Just Have One Drink.

MLA offers safe New Year’s drives

It was a busy night for MLA Hal Perry who offered safe New Year’s Drives. He spent the evening in Tignish driving Islander’s home from their celebrations. I’n not sure I’d like to see the floor of his 7 passenger van today.

Happy New Year,

~cindy

Today I’d like to share a little Before and After with you. I have painted one of the dull bedrooms upstairs in our bed and breakfast and yesterday with the help of my master of all trades we were able to put a few finishing touches to what was a drably looking room.  I hope you enjoy my bed and breakfast in PEI. 

Before, not much to be said.

After; we turned the beds to be under the window, put up wallpaper, a different colour of paint, and the room has seaglass decorated in bowls laying about, come have a look for yourself.

The lighthouse wall border runs across the top of the window box (my master carpenter did a fabulous job)

What goes with the wall paper? Lighthouses.

A hand painted lighthouse

A bit of the fishermen in me

Saving the best for last.  Seaglass adorns bowls and plates about the B&B. Personal collections from our beachcombing days laid out in bowls for all to see and admire, you can pinch a few if you like when you come for a visit. This lighthouse  is a music box and it lights up and was gifted to me by my cousin Janus years ago and it finally found a home, I love it. 

Thanks for stopping by my before and after. 

I have one room left to paint and decorate nautical, but I’ll start it next week, maybe I’ll scrapbook or wrap some sea glass, ?? Thanks for stopping by.

~ cindy

I noticed how he comes and goes a lot so I went to the tea room window to see if I could find where he went, (oh no I”m becoming a bird turd) and to my surprise he has come by for a Christmas drink of water out of our pond.  Now the pond is frozen over but we have a heater in it to warm the water of our fish.  Yes, we are fish turds and found out last year when we lost a great deal of fish that it could be from the gasses not escaping.  So we have a pond heater that just makes a ring and keeps the water open in one spot and you can see it in the photo.  Sorry it didn’t turn out well as I thought I could use the zoom without the tripod and well I know I can’t.  

Now that we have Christmas behind us the days are getting longer and the ground here is preparing for Spring.  We have had two snow falls that are not amounting to very much but enough to make a couple of snowmen.  We have guests in the bed and breakfast who don’t often see snow and so they are having a grand time of it. 

Thanks for stopping by, take care and think of those New Year’s resolutions that we all make.

~ cindy

~Zwarte Piet

On the evening of December 5th, a folklore and legend of Netherlands repeats. Sinterklass resembles the holiday figure of Santa Claus and Zwarte Piet is his helper who became black from the soot of the chimneys he went up and down. 

The characters of Zwarte Pieten appears only in the weeks before Saint Nicholas’s feast, first when the saint is welcomed with a parade as he arrives in the country usually by boat.  The Zwarte Pieten job were mainly to amuse children, and to scatter strooigoedies (special sinterklaas candies) to those children who were being good.

This is the way Wikipedia would want you to understand it in the world of today.  However I have a further belief of Zwarte Piet and just today I have made a discovery that I never knew.  Perhaps Zwarte Piet was a helper of Sinterklass, but he was also a figure that was used to threaten children into behaving.  I can remember being told by mom if I didn’t behave then black piet would come and get me.  She also bought me a doll one year for Christmas that was black and looked to me like it had been just the opposite of a Raggedy Anne doll.  I never was allowed to take it out of the house and it disappeared as fast as it appeared.  I never knew what it was and didn’t bother to find out.  While searching for Zwarte Piet this morning I came across many articles on the golliwog.  The golliwog is this rag doll I got one year and disappeared. I was always told that I would be sold to the Gypsies or the golliwogs would come for me.  I found out this morning that golliwogs were bad thieves.  If you read the story of the golliwogs, it was a character that was made for a children’s book.  I am able to put another horrible childhood memory to rest and not to late as it is Christmas morning and a great day awaits me. 

 This has been my Z of Christmas. It also concludes my A – Z of Christmas.  It is Christmas morning, the sun is starting to come up and I see that Santa has been in the night and filled our stockings that we laid under the tree.  Remember to put baby Jesus in the manger this morning, love one another, give thanks and praise for this is the day.  

Merry Chirstmas Happy Birthday Jesus