Hi Lavender Lass, sorry you are sick--I hope you are feeling better soon. Take care!

We are having thunder showers on and off-- a much needed rain! I am sitting cozily inside today, reading my autumn issue of Victoria magazine (has an interesting article on Beatrix Potter!), and sipping a nice cuppa Bigelow orange spice tea.

I'll put more water on in a moment, and brew some more tea. There will be plenty to share....along with some English tea biscuits - cookies.

Becky

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Becky- Great picture! Your teacups and saucers are beautiful :)

I have that Victoria magazine. Isn't that a great article? Schoolhouse told me about it and the pictures on p. 34. I love that fireplace with the beams. I was looking on the Internet earlier and I think I found the kitchen to go with it! LOL

Of course, this would be with an unlimited budget (notice the Aga) but I love all the beams and the cozy feel to the space. They just need a few window seats and it would be perfect.

Here is a link that might be useful: Country cottage kitchen

This morning Jarod came to repair the porch, not this afternoon like he said. Oh well, not going to argue. He finished up by 12:30pm. by putting a new top and half of a bottom rail on because the old ones would not nail back to the siding. Looks good! But now I will have to paint.

Meanwhile, I'm watching the episodes of Sarah Richardson's Farmhouse on HGTV - only online as someone posted the link here in Conversations. I love this series, and no commercials! Somehow I miss it on Saturdays. I think she's smart and funny, and I love her assistant - they make an enjoyable team to watch. But, I hardly think I'd be able to do anything she's accomplished with that house. She paid $500,000 for the house plus 50 acres and put another $400,000 in it. Wow. Although I really like her ideas and no doubt it's beautiful, it's too much color for me. I finally had to stop at the livingroom remodel episode and go mow yard. But it's bookmarked and I'll definitely go back tonight and watch some more.

Your cups with the yellow gold florals are beautiful becr.I wish I could find something like that. Glad you got the rain you needed.

Yes, lass - wonderful weather here too. Sorry about your cold. This morning was cool and damp though, but around 1pm. it turned gorgeous. As I said, I mowed yard and then made broccoli cheese soup for supper. Just now had my Thursday Tea while writing checks to pay my bills (first of the month is tomorrow!).

I had the Lapsang Souchong - as soon as I opened the box of tea bags I smelled something like bacon or smoked ham. Seriously, it's that strong. I wasn't sure what to expect as I took the first sip, but was pleasantly surprised. The tea tastes like a smoky green tea. Had three cups, so it couldn't have been too bad.

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Lavender Lass, I LOVE the AGA stove!!! If I lived in a cold climate, I would definitely have that on my bucket list.

Schoolhouse, lovely photo! The Lapsang Souchong tea sounds wonderful. I've had it before, and loved the rich smokiness. My teacups are Royal Albert Old Country Roses - Gold.

Becky

LL~

I wanted to explain about my stove comment above. I really adore the AGA line of stoves/ ovens. In fact, I have secretly longed for one for years--I love the old-fashioned look and all the nooks and crannies etc. and the quality is supberb! A chefs dream!!

Recently we bought new kitchen appliances. Although I longed for an AGA, the purchase would not be justified in the fact that it would hardly get any use. The reason being the climate is way too warm for most of the year to turn on the oven! So, I will be satisfied with my new Whirlpool Gold oven, and my husband can BBQ to his hearts content out on the veranda in the hot hot summertime.

Becky

Schoolhouse- I'm so glad you got your deck finished. I love your little brown teapot. My grandmother used to collect those, she was always finding different ones at garage sales.

As for Sarah Richardson, I think she has great ideas and it's fun to watch, but she does like a lot of color...and what is with all the paisley? My favorite rooms are the bath and kitchen...and I'm not usually that big a fan of yellow. I think the green would have been pretty in the kitchen too, if she had been able to find the fern fabric.

Becky- Aga stoves are so neat, but I don't know if they'd work with our hot summers. It would be great, when it's -20 F, but when it's 95 for a week, I'm not so sure...not to mention, they're a bit expensive! LOL

Here's another kitchen from that same site. I really like the blue and white together. I think I'd prefer those delft tiles (spelling?) for a backsplash behine the stove and maybe a wood floor, but the cabinets are perfect and I love the stove...again, probably very expensive, but nice. The baskets, plants and colors are totally me, but it would be nice to have some ceiling beams, like in the other kitchen...but for now, I'll just keep dreaming :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Country kitchen/blue and white

And I would get the gas AGA, not electric. Okay I am done now. Becky ;-)

Becky- I know gas is supposed to be better for cooking, but we don't get gas out here. There are no gas lines out to our area...I guess we're too far out in the country :)

Anyway, propane tanks are really not my favorite thing, so elecric it is. I wouldn't mind a woodstove, though. If there's a power outage, at least I could make my tea! And maybe warm up a few things. I love those little woodstoves with the glass doors.

Royal Albert Old Country Roses - Gold. Oh, I never knew such a thing existed. I've only ever seen the red. Wonder where I could find the gold pattern, is it available at most shops where china is sold? Lovely.

I think my kitchen is too small for an AGA, but still admire the design. Too bad gas isn't available in your area lass, I love my gas stove. When the power goes out, I still can make coffee or tea and cook food (just no water to do dishes). A propane tank scares me, I'm even afraid to attach the small ones to my camp stove! Wood stoves sound so romantic but not sure how dirty they would be. Regulating temps is another challenge I bet.

Yes, now I can safely walk on the far end of the little porch out back. The entire thing needs painted again but since there is no roof, paint doesn't stay on long. I should have used a stain in the very beginning.