Today's tea is in remembering our dearly loved blogging friend, Mary.
Mary was special to so many of us with her blog Home Is Where The Boat Is where she shared her creativity, recipes, tablescapes, tutorials, flower arrangements, tea parties, potting shed, boating life, gorgeous yard, and her adorable pups. Through our blogs, we all truly get to know each other's lives, by our words, and our photos.
Years ago, Mary and I became friends through this wonderful blogging community. I won one of her Halloween giveaways, and another time, she knew that my granddaughter Cissy and I baked weekly while Cissy was in middle school, and Mary sent me another box of her Halloween giveaways when no one claimed it. Cissy and I got to open it together, and I took a picture to share the joy with Mary, who was so extraordinarily generous.
Mary started sending me birthday tea related gifts, and would send me tea related Christmas gifts, too. When I look upon gifts that people have sent me, it's not the thing that is important but the memory of that person that comes to mind. A friend once told me that a memory is like a little prayer. I have lots of prayers of Mary.
For my tea today I am using my favorite and most special tablecloth from my dear friend, Joy. We will have Mary's favorite cookies and some cranberry orange tea in remembrance.
Mary loved flowers, and she grew the prettiest hydrangeas, among many other flowers. In this glass teapot, that was a gift from Mary, I lined it with hydrangea leaves, as Mary often showed us how to do line vases with various things and I used one beautiful hydrangea.
This was my last birthday gift from Mary, and so appropriate with my love of birds.
At Christmas, Mary sent a box of holiday teas, and this one is perfect for our tea with Mary's favorite Chewy Oatmeal-Cranberry-Orange Cookies.
This teacup was another birthday gift from Mary and one of my all-time favorites. I would always ask her if she minded that I mentioned her as the gift-giver, and she never minded at all.
Mary was always so faithful in commenting on my blog, and her last comment was on August 28th, and she wrote this:
Kitty, what a sweet way to celebrate Caiden and Elizabeth! They make such an adorable couple, and I love your clever “charcuTEArie” party and filling their birthday teacups with goodies. The flower-filled teapot is so pretty, and those darling teapot sugars from Paris are almost too cute to use! I had to smile at Caiden requesting English Breakfast tea. 😊 Your tomato tart looks absolutely delicious too—I can see why you made it two weeks in a row! Wishing Caiden and Elizabeth much happiness as they begin this exciting new chapter together. ❤️
These favorite Chewy Oatmeal-Cranberry-Orange-Cookies of Mary's are ones that you will want to make. Mary gave detailed recipe instructions here.
We can all say a pray for Mary in remembrance of all the ways she enriched our lives. A dear friend, Sarah, wrote this to me: "I know that her soul continues to expand, expressing kindness and creativity."
My favorite Bible verse comes from Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control."
May we spread the love and joy in making the world a better place.
My beautiful daughter, Molly, had a birthday this past week, and we celebrated with breakfast with Connor, her oldest of four, and Caiden, her third, and his fiancee, Elizabeth. Molly and I were invited, along with Elizabeth's mom, to see the wedding gown that Elizabeth chose. What an exciting time!
Thank you for your visit! xo
I'm sharing with these parties:
I did not know Mary or her blog but you have such a lovely tribute/remembrance of her here. She sounds like she was a real sweet woman and her blog is just lovely.
ReplyDeleteDearest Kitty, thank you for honoring our sweet friend, Mary. I am heartbroken and find it hard to believe that she passed away. She was so thoughtful and sent you many lovely gifts that you will definitely treasure. She certainly touched my life in so many ways. It was through Mary that I became acquainted with you and your charming blog. Sending love and hugs this morning, my friend
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Kitty. What a beautiful tribute to Mary. Her beautiful heart and creative soul will be missed in blogland. Heaven has to be so full of beautiful blooms. Have a great new week ahead. Hugs Kris
ReplyDeleteOh Kitty, you are so sweet to honor Mary as you did this morning. We all have such special remembrances of her and her generosity. I, too received a lovely 'give-a-way' gift from her as many other bloggers were on the receiving end of her kindness, not only in items she sent but in her comments on their posts.
ReplyDeleteThe Apostle Paul shares the 9 fruits of the Spirit in Galations 5 as you mentioned and I am sure you won't mind me going one step further.
• Love: Caring deeply for others without expecting anything back.
• Joy: A deep, lasting happiness that comes from God, not circumstances.
• Peace: Calmness and trust in God, even during hard times.
• Patience: Staying calm when people or situations test you.
• Kindness: Showing sweet and helpful actions toward others.
• Goodness: Living a clean, honest, and moral life.
• Faithfulness: Being loyal, trustworthy, and true to your promises.
• Gentleness: Treating others with mildness, humility, and care.
• Self-Control: Managing your thoughts, actions, and desires.
God wants us to share these gifts each and every day with everyone we come in contact with and I believe Mary was a good example. None of us are perfect and many times we do and will ...fall short, but we should always keep striving to show our love for each other.
Mary loved was loved by many and I love you Kitty and I consider you my dear friend.
Kari @ Me and My Captain
Hello Kitty,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this special tribute to Mary. I did not follow her, so I did not know her. I can tell she was a special blogger.
I like what Kari Rogers Miller shared above with the 9 fruits of the Spirit.
xo
Kitty, this is such a sweet tribute to so many of the reasons we loved Mary, and Sarah's comment says it so clearly, and fills my heart with hope. I am very sad and even though I visited your post this morning, I wanted to wait until this evening to comment. Your sweet family is growing ❤️, and Molly seems to have had a wonderful birthday with good things happening all around. I love that. Your beautiful and thoughtful gifts from Mary will always be sweet reminders of how giving she was in her blog content, and in real life. Thank you for making shared treats you both loved and honoring her memory.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely tribute you shared of Mary. She was such an inspiration! I am heartbroken that she is gone. We all learned so much from her.
ReplyDeleteHeaven now has beautiful flowers and gorgeous tables.
Sending you a big hug, dear Kitty.