Summer on the Porch . .

Hello Again, Dear Friends of The Tearoom,

Today was another cool, rainy and very-un-summer-like day.  I know the trees and flowers love it, so we will rely on our memories of warmer days until the sun comes out once again.

Last week, we had a small birthday tea for our friend Elaine and so here are some fun pictures to share with you!  Mr. V helped me set up a little buffet on the diningroom table and then, we took our treats out to the porch to eat.

(As always, you may click on the images in 

order to see them larger.)

Between what I have collected from flea markets and what my mother had collected and left to me, I have a fun collection of vintage glass, china and silver, along with some new pieces, none of which match, but which I happen to love together!  

The glass platter with the dandelion was one we got for our wedding to put candles on to have a candle-lighting ceremony.  However, the breezes that night had other ideas and the candles didn't stay lit!  Luckily, the tray has turned out to be entirely more useful for serving tea sandwiches!!

I picked some our pansies from the porch to float in a tea cup and small pitcher.  The napkins are from a trip to Sur La Table some months ago and ferreted away for such an occasion.  The glasses were the monogrammed ones owned by my parents, silver iced tea spoons and plates from my mother's collection and the sugar bowl from my own collection.

Here is our menu:

Open-Faced Tea Sandwiches:

Egg Salad

Cucumber with Scallion/Dill Cream Cheese

Cream Cheese and Green Olive

(a unusual but nostalgic choice for Elaine and myself!

My mother always made them for me for summertime lunches

and so they just taste like summer to me!)

Iced Tea:

Peppermint, Double Bergamot Earl Grey and Strawberry

Dessert:

Macarons (from Whole Foods)

(vanilla, chocolate/strawberry, green tea, lemon, coconut, red velvet)

 The day was lovely and warm so we brought our luncheon

out to the porch to eat.

The last time we visited the porch was last month before I

had planted my tomato and herb seedlings, which I planted

and grew in boxes in the sunny diningroom windows.

(If you look carefully, you can see our two hummingbird

feeders as well!)

But now, my little porch farm is going well!

The largest of these tomato plants is a variety from the UK

called Tigerella, which will be an early striped red variety.

The ones in the middle are Black Tula from Russia.

They will be a dark red variety with black seeds.

The ones at the end are Flamme from France,

which are an early yellow variety.

Hoping for some really warm weather because it really is

what tomatoes need most at this point!

Do you remember this box of pansies with small shoots of

morning glories from last month?

This is the same box now!

And the morning glories have sprouted up and I have begun

to train them to climb up the lilac branches I have tied to the

post!  One of our returning hummingbirds just loves to perch

on one of these branches and seems to like the leaves around

him so he can hide and guard his feeders!

Another view of the morning glories growing

up the lilac branches!

And this is the rest of my little porch farm!

From top left: German Striped Tomato (an orange variety),

Black Tula and Flamme in the middle pot,

two mystery varieties of heirloom tomatoes,

sent by one of the seed vendors.

Bottom row, from left: Cilantro, Dill & Chives,

Curly Leaf Parsley & Basil, Sage & Oregano

Here are one of my lovely pansies,

growing in the pot on the East side of the porch.

June 7th was the birthday of one my favorite

artists, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

I follow 78 Derngate on Twitter, which is

the only house in England designed by

Mackintosh and on his birthday, they asked

that their followers tweet photos of flowers,

in honor of his beautiful watercolors of

flowers.  I tweeted the image above and

the two below for the event and they were

included in their Facebook album to

commemorate the event!

And now, back to my work on my Mad Tea Party

post for the blog party at A Fanciful Twist!

What in the world (or out of the world)

are Victorienne and Purple Kitty up to now?