Sunday, September 02, 2012

A Teacup's Story


Teacup Art...and Reflections is a beautiful book filled with photos and stories of teacups. They were gathered by the author and photographer, Joyce Wilkens, from places around the world. Each teacup is steeped in a story. And each teacup holds a meaningful place in Joyce's heart. Many of her pictures and stories are sure to bring forth a similar response as you recall specific objects and events in your own life. Wherever you sip and tell your stories, connections are made when you raise your cup.


What story does your teacup tell? 


Please share your story here. Leave a comment at the end of this post. Describe your teacup and then tell the story of your teacup and how it relates to your life. Your teacup story and how it relates to your life will bless other Gracious Hospitality readers.



All comments which meet the criteria above will be placed into a basket and one will be randomly drawn. The person whose name is drawn will receive a copy of this delightful book! Entries will be received until midnight on Friday, September 7, 2012. 

Please share your teacup story and how it relates to YOUR life!

13 comments:

  1. Were you a teacher in a former life? =D

    I have no tea cup story that meets the level of having a profound influence on my life or that, if broken, would make me weep so I shall leave this assignment for those who may.

    What an interesting concept, though, to gather tea cups from around the world and write a book about their stories.

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  2. That looks like a very interesting book. I never drank hot tea when I was in the States. It was only when I came to this side of the world that it became a daily ritual. My first memory is when my mother-in-law who did not speak English fixed us a traditional Middle Eastern breakfast with hot tea flavored with miramiya (sage). Then when I changed my eating habits, I started drinking lots of green tea which, along with organic infusions, are my favorites to drink now. How many words did I just use? :) Have a great day. Tammy

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  4. This morning I am sipping tea from a Royal Staffordshire teacup of a Rural Scene in browns. The first morning that I am definitely feeling a chill in the air as we head toward Autumn. Along side the teacup was a green tea flavored macaron. Dreaming of a new season in my life as my new grandson will soon be here to have tea with his grammie. Dreaming and believing in passion today.

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  5. Having my morning cuppa tea and stopped by to say hello. I am blessed with a few rare moment of quiet in a home filled with boys. Sunday morning....ahhhhh. Please consider me in the give away of this fun Tea Art book. Happy Sunday!

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  6. I first remember sipping tea with my grandma, peppermint tea to be exact. In the winter, the water was heated in a silver teapot on the stove. In the summer she would make it in a jar on the patio, and then add ice. Later she taught got a spearmint plant, and that became our favorite source of tea. She didn't have any tea cups that I would consider pretty, but that didn't matter, the best part was just drinking tea with her. When I drink peppermint or spearmint tea today, no matter what cup it might be in, I remember her and our special times together.

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  7. My teacup story began with my first teacups, a dozen assorted teacups given to me in the 1980's by my dear Aunt Ida. These were teacups she collected while out and about antiquing with lady friends. They are a variety of shapes and colors, Haviland, Bavarian, Occupied China, Beleek and my favorite -- a beautiful blue English Shelley. Now, thirty years later, I own about 200 teacups. Most of my collection is made up of English-made teacups, many collected on my six trips to England. I learned early on in my tea education experience, tea tastes best when sipped from English Bone China.

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  8. From Patti W. - My friend LaTeaDah is asking people to take pictures of their favorite teacup with a story why it is their favorite. This is my story!

    I bought this teacup around 1989 at a sale at Valley Chapel Church near Milton-Freewater, OR and it was signed by Gladys Berard with the date 1952 on it. It was handmade. In 1995 I was getting married and had a huge house sale and somehow this got sold and I thought I would never see it again. Around 2010 I was at a yard sale in Walla Walla and there it was! I told the story to the seller and she said "here....it is yours again!" Now it sits proudly in my china hutch along with many other teacups but it somehow warms my heart when I look at it! Now it will stay home with me until my dying day....then my daughter will have a giantic house sale and it will be sent on another journey!

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  9. My tea cup story is interwoven with friends. A happy/sad/happy tale. When I first moved to a state far far away from any friends or family, I was immediately "adopted" by a very dear lady who loved to give tea parties to bless others. She had a large collection of tea things that she would bring out to decorate her parties in different themes. I had never been to a tea party unti JoAnn invited me, and I was blessed. Well, some time passed and for my birthday JoAnn gave me a delicate blue flower tea cup. I was delighted! What I did not realize was that she had broken up a little set of hers that included a flower tea pot, and four little flower tea cups in different colors. After some time passed, one of JoAnn's friends called me with a huge favor to ask. Turns out that this friend--Jeannie--had sometimes borrowed this tea set from JoAnn to have a tea party with her grand daughters. She was flying out to their home state, and begged me to let her take my tea cup with the rest of the set which JoAnn had agreed to loan her. I decided "Why not?" and knew Jeannie would take good care of the cup. Well, as things go, through no fault of hers, my tea cup was broken on the air plane. Jeannie was agast! While I had no idea that this was going on yet, she scoured stores trying to find a tea cup to purchase for me as a replacement. Really, she didn't need to replace it, but she did--with a beautiful blue Wedgewood tea cup. So I lost my original blue flower tea cup--but I gained two precious friends. And that is worth more than a million tea cups!

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  10. Here's my teacup story...

    The square brown package arrived on a day in mid December. I turned my attention to the upper left hand corner of the box. Oak Harbor, Washington. Then my eyes rested on the name in the first line: Evelyn Foreman. With a mixture of surprise and nostalgia, a smile slid across my face, and in that instant I was suddenly fourteen years old again.

    Today’s the day I go to Mrs. Foreman’s house. At Mrs. Foreman’s invitation, once a week we gather in her formal living room and sip tea from beautiful cups – Mrs. Foreman has her own special cup she reserves for these occasions. Me and three other girls would talk. Girl talk, mostly, about the mystery of boys and the meaning of love, about plans and dreams and who’s the cutest Doobie Brother.

    We talk, too, about the things that trouble us. For me, it’s the migraine headaches I’ve suffered from since I was five. Evelyn Foreman gets them too. Up until then, I thought she was the only one in the world with headaches so bad it could hurt to blink.

    Widowed twice, married now, sixtysomething Evelyn is at a different stage in life. Her two daughters are grown. Her husband, retired. And in the zest to stay connected with Life in Bobby Socks and life in general, Evelyn happily opens her home every week to us four girls, and in the process, opens our minds to new possibilities.

    Evelyn delights in calling these afternoons “rap sessions,” convinced, no doubt, that, contrary to popular belief, it really is possible for an elegant, silver-haired woman, a world traveler, photographer, sculptor, artist, and poet to, in fact, “rap.”

    “I can’t believe she’s ninety years old, She always treated us girls like equals, friends, not children. More than anyone, she was the person who helped me believe that girls can do anything. Be anything. That there were no limits to our dreams.”

    In the decades since, I have found both a career and a man she can give her heart to. And my own collection of teacups that rivals the Queen Mother’s.

    “For a long time now I thought of your collection,” Mrs. Foreman scrawled in red in the note folded inside, “I hope you will enjoy my very special cup and saucer.”

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  11. Hello La Tea Dah...

    One of my favorite cups is in the Old Country Roses pattern. I have always loved this very beautiful pattern because I love roses, especially red, pink and yellow ones.

    I pretty much knew it would be impossible to have a cup in the Old Country Roses pattern because it is very pricey.

    Well, imagine my surprise when one Mother's Day, my daughter urged me to get out of bed and come to the dining room. Rather reluctant to leave my comfortable bed, I succumbed.

    When I walked into the dining room, the table was set completely with Old Country Roses dishes and, of course, beautiful cups and saucers.

    My teenage daughter had saved her money over a long period of time and bought an entire set for me.

    Even today when I drink out of my Old Country Roses cup, memories of the sweetest, most thoughtful and generous gift from my beautiful girl come to mind. She's about to become a Mama herself! Susan

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    1. What a special treat from a special daughter! Years ago Sam's had 4 - 5 piece place settings of Old Country Roses on sale by the checkout line, very inexpensively, so my husband bought 2 sets for me. Years later I found a 3rd set, so we must have purchased 3 sets then, and I put one away. I have slowly but surely added serving pieces from Tuesday Morning, ebay, etc. I now have my husband's great grandmother's Haviland, and his grandmother's Royal Worcester Bacchanal, but I still love my Old Country Roses.

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  12. What an interesting book! From the photos shared, Joyce Wilkens is a very creative lady with her teacups.
    Several years ago when I was still working, we had a draw for names to buy Christmas gifts. A young man drew my name and knew I liked to drink tea so bought me a pretty teacup with a Christmas pattern of poinsettias. This is the only Christmas teacup I have and I often think of his thoughtfulness with the choice of gift.

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