Summer Teas in the Garden

My little space in the garden has become an oasis, a special place to relax, and just enjoy the beauty of the flowers, vegetables,the fruit and the bees, the hummers and squirrels that also call it home.  I am thankful for the sweet presence of the Lord that is with me there, as I work quietly amidst all the plants and living things, and it brings my heart great joy each time I enter this haven I've been blessed to have.

One day this past July, a new friend and I were chatting, as we wanted to meet and get to know each other better over coffee.  After trying to decide where to meet, I thought... why not invite her to my garden? Now, any gardener knows and sees all the imperfections and things that need to get done, and I thought... my garden isn't quite ready yet for visitors, and then I thought... if I wait for perfection, it will never happen, life is just not ever going to be perfect!

So!  I invited my new friend over for tea in the garden.  This was a perfect place for us to meet and get to know each other better.

She made homemade Lemon Curd to go with the blueberry scones I made, along with some fresh blueberries that I had picked earlier. The Lemon Curd was scrumptious! It went perfectly with the blueberry scones.

It was quite hot out, and we sipped on iced lemon water while we chatted. In fact, we had so much fun talking, that I didn't get many pictures!

Then we filled our plates with the goodies, and sipped hot tea. What great fun we had drinking hot tea out of the teapots on a hot summer afternoon... ha! We also drank lots of iced lemon water in mason jars... :)

It was a lovely, wonderful tea, so relaxing to sit outside in my little garden area and enjoy our time of fellowship together.  She is a local pastor's wife, and their daughter is dating our son... so we had lots to chat about... {smiles}

It was fun to have tea in the garden with her... I am still planning to have a tea with my dear friend and neighbor A, but this summer has been extremely busy for her, so we are planning a fall tea, which will be lovely too!

And then... to my great delight and joy... days after my garden tea, another friend of mine invited me to a Garden Tea & Painting Party that her mother was hosting.

My friend's mother has a lovely home, and a gorgeous garden. She and her friends, and all the guests invited brought a little something to share... and oh my, it was a feast!

 Lovely delightful snacks...

 Fresh fruit... mini strawberry shortcakes, scones...

 A room with a view... her dining room has a huge window overlooking her garden.... you can see the little canopies set up with tables underneath ... I believe there were about 25 gals that attended, and there was room for all to sit comfortably.

Each table was beautifully decorated with little pieces of art that we could use as a starting point for our painting.  The idea was to sip tea, paint, and fellowship with each other... it was an incredible evening of fun!

A peek from the garden to the back of the house.

 Another table setting..

Love the purples, blue and yellow theme! I would not have thought to put those colors together, but they work really well!

Behind the tables, her garden extended to the back wall of their yard... filled with gorgeous flowers, and assorted vegetables.

 Love the blues at this table setting...

 Our table setting... I chose a dainty rose tea cup to sip my tea from...  the blank canvas in front of me was rather intimidating!  The lady who was to come and show us how to paint was not able to come at the last minute, so we were ... on our own!

I chose to use this flower as a starting point for my painting...

 

 One of the ladies at our table chose to paint the tree beyond the fence... it turned out lovely...

 Another lady chose to paint the teacup she had chose... isn't this a lovely piece of work!

There was a group of young children who participated as well, and they had as much fun, or more than all of us ladies!  Lots of talent at this table too!

I soon realized that my talents did not include being an artist... I felt like my painting looked like it belonged in a kindergarten class, so I chose to leave off where it was, and wander the dear lady's garden instead... oh how I loved the tin building as the backdrop with all the flowers! I'd much rather take pictures of the flowers than try to paint them, lol!

Love these gorgeous cosmos!... It was a delightful evening, and so wonderful to visit with other sweet Christian ladies, enjoying the fellowship, tea, goodies and having fun creating together.  There is talk amongst all of us ladies that we must do it again!  I do hope so, it was a lovely way to enjoy a hot summer evening, painting, drinking ice tea in gorgeous tea cups, with the background of the lovely garden, and taking a painting home to remind us of the fun of the evening... 

Here is a picture of all the lovely ladies with their paintings... what a special night it was :) 

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In other news.... the smoke in our area has been pretty horrible for most of August.  The picture below was taken in the middle of the day.  We currently have no severe fires in our area, but the smoke is drifting our way from the terrible fires in British Columbia, and Montana, as well as a couple of fires in Washington and Idaho that are north of us.  

  

It has been rather eerie to have the constant smell of smoke in the air, with the horizon barely visible, and the sun but a small orange globe in the hazy skies.

Both of these pictures were taken in the middle of the day, and you can see just how hazy, dark, and smoky it has been here.  The amazing and wonderful thing that we give the Lord praise for is that we have had no major fires here in our local area, but we are experiencing the heavy smoke from fires around us.  We did get a break from the smoke when a small rainstorm came through bringing a bit of rain, and clearing out the smoke haze for a few days.  However, it comes and goes, as the wind direction changes.

While I have enjoyed this summer immensely, when I saw my maple leaves turning red the first week in August, I knew the days of summer are now numbered!  The nights are much cooler, in fact, there was a frost in our area on the 15th of August, but thankfully we escaped it here where we live.  My garden is continuing to produce significant amounts of vegetables, and my strawberries are back at work, producing a fall crop!  So much to do in these busy, hazy, waning days of summer... I am spending as much time as I can outside in my garden, and in my yard, soaking up all the vitamin D I possibly can.  Fall is on its way as my red maple leaves tell me, and my children have started back to college... how fast the days pass, and yet, I know I've enjoyed each one of them to the fullest.  We have had many fun adventures this summer, and hopefully soon I'll get around to posting about them all.

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My dad just called to tell me that the hurricane out in the Gulf of Mexico, which is bearing his name, Harvey... is projected to hit their area this weekend.  One of my sisters lives in the direct path of the hurricane as it will come ashore, and the rest of our family will no doubt be affected by the path of the hurricane as it comes inland, so we are keeping everyone in our prayers as this massive storm makes its way to land, praying for safety for all who are in its path.