Happy Birthday Prince George!

Happy 5th birthday today, July 22nd, to Prince George, son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Catherine...

This photo, released by the royal family, was taken at his grandfather, Prince Charles' hom in London, Clarence House following his brother Louis' christening on July 9th...

typical cheeky boy grin...

 It wasn't long ago...last year in fact...that he headed off to school....

And we remember his birth too!

in 2013...

We still have a few commemorative mugs left that were made for Prince George's birth, and a tea towel as well at

Time Was Antiques...

 

Prince George's 4th Birthday July 22, 2017 Happy Birthday!

Happy 4th Birthday to Prince George, son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Catherine....

This photo by Chris Jackson from Getty Images is so cute! 

It has been fun watching him grow up...from birth...

to toddler...this photo is by Mario Testino, a favorite royal photographer...

to this week when he turns 4 and spent time in Poland and Germany with his parents... 

during which he looked decidedly underwhelmed by all the proceedings,

although this moment in Germany was probably the hit of the trip for him... 

Time Was Antiques still has a few Birth Of Prince George English bone china mugs available...

click on the photos...

 

This week...a week for England

I know I have been very bad at my blogging on this blog...life has a way of intervening. But today....I just had too! Too many things about this day....

First of all...today is St. George's Day, and St. George is the symbol of England...not the Union Jack....

 Which is thy symbol of the United Kingdom, but this is the flag of England...it's the symbol on the National teams of England. St. George is the patron saint of England and believed to have dies on April 23rd. He is thought to have been a Roman soldier, and, of course...reputed to have killed a dragon.....

 This is a Dunoon, England bone china mug we have at Time Was Antiques with the ubiquitous image of the St. George Cross, symbol of England...so...

April 23rd is also famous in England because it is celebrated as Shakespeare's birthday...

 which is a big deal in parts of England...especially Stratford-upon-Avon where he lived...big celebrations there this weekend....this Shakespeare teapot is from our archives...

And April 23rd in the anniversary of the founding of the Coldstream Guards, a unit of the Queen' Own Guards brigade of 5 units, and special to us because it was my husband's old unit. For more on the guards, I have posted previously about it HERE

And April 21st is the actual birthday of Queen Elizabeth II...89 this year, and still out riding. For a great photos stream of her life, click on the photo or HERE for more photos from The Telegraph.co.uk....and of course, a new baby is due soon as well...

Jason Bell photo of Prince George, son of William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge, on his christening day....So a special day all around. Hope yours is brilliant, and that you celebrate with a nice cuppa!

Ho Ho Ho! Santa Mug Seasons Greetings and Celestial Seasonings Teas

Hello and welcome to a Tuesday Cuppa Tea which I am joining with Antiques And Teacups.

The top of the china cabinet is decorated with a swag I did a few years ago and is adorned with a German Dresden paper star angel announcing the birth of Jesus.

 But Santa, or Father Christmas is coming soon. I pulled out another of our Dunoon mugs from the Season's Greetings series by Richard Partis that features the jolly old elf himself! This isn't a teacup, but when it's cold my Honey likes a mug and not a teacup...and of course that's fine with me!

Pretty cute, isn't it? And isn't he jolly! What a long list! For more info on the mug at Time Was Antiques, click on the photos. 

The perfect mug for a cup of seasonal teas. Here are 2 of our favorite Celestial Seasons this year. I favor the Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride and my Honey likes the  Gingerbread Spice best!

 I can sit with a cup of tea while going through some of my seasonal books. One of my favorites is The Ritz Book Of Christmas which I picked up at the Ritz Hotel when we were there one year during the Christmas season and stopped for afternoon tea in the Palm Court. The book has Christmas lore and traditions, history of the Ritz and it's tea tradition and some marvelous recipes. I am sharing a simple one I like for Fruit And Nut Clusters.

 Fruit And Nut Clusters

"Red and green are the classic Christmas colours and the decoration od red and green glace cherries on these delicious little chocolates carries on the theme. They look enchanting in individual gold or silver sweet cases, if you can get hold of them, but failing that, pack them into a gold or silver box tied up with red and green ribbon."

The recipe has both metric and cup measures, but I give only the cup measures here.

4 squares semi sweet chocolate, broken into small pieces

1 tbs light honey

3/4 cup mixed dried fruit

1/2 cup chopped nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts

red and green glace cherries for decoration

Place the chocolate and the honey in a bowl, then either stand this over a pan of hot water until the chocolate has melted, or put into a microwave on low power for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the fruit and nuts until they are well coated with chocolate. Drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto waxed paper or parchment. Press a small piece of glace cherry into the top of each piece and leave in a cool place until set. 

For a fun tour of Christmas at Windsor Castle, here is a link from The Royal Collection Trust about the festivities there with a video at the bottom of the page:   HERE

 

Lastly, most of you will have already seen this, but here is the latest picture of little Prince George, son of William and Catherine, Duke & Duchess of Cambridge.

 

I am joining Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage for her Christmas Tea and Ruth at Antiques And Teacups for Tuesday Cuppa Tea.   Have a wonderful day visiting the other blog parties. And have a cuppa tea with a friend!