Friday, February 11, 2011

Royal Albert Festoon for afternoon tea and the bloody weather!

On Thursday I had a friend over for a tea.  She enjoys the finer things in life, so I decided to hunt out my Nana and Pop's tea set my mother gave me.  They got it as a wedding gift in 1934.  On further examination it turns out they are Royal Albert, the Festoon pattern which was introduced between 1905 - 1907.  Now I know this set is probably not as old as that, but I would love to know more about it, however I wasn't able to find anything on the Internet.  I have six cups, six saucers, six side plates and one larger round plate.



I never got you told about what happened on Wednesday.  It's been freezing cold and it has been blowing a gale force wind, which means it blows over the driveway and blocks us in.  Due to it being so cold it has turned the snow rock hard and made it feel like ice.

As my right arm had been giving me a lot of problems, dh told me to leave the snow blowing until he came home.  Well by the time he got home it was even worse, so bad he got the truck stuck halfway up the driveway.  So I went out with him, as there was at least a two foot high drift in front of the garage door, which we had to dig out first before we could get to the snow blower.  The wind was just howling and it was bitter, bitter cold.  We fought on for a bit and then I told dh this was crazy.  We were both exhausted and frozen, so I insisted on calling a friend and seeing if she knew of someone who could come and plow out the driveway.

She gave me the number of a local farmer and to cut a long story short he came over with his tractor and snow blower and had the whole driveway cleared out within half an hour.  He also cleared out by the mail box, as the mail lady had stopped delivering to us as she couldn't access the mail box easily.  Now all she had to do was open her truck door and lean out, but as per the Post Office she is not allowed to open her door to deliver mail as it would violate her insurance if she is injured...........I could go on a rant for another hour about the post office and our dear mail lady, but it isn't worth my energy or my time.

I must say I could have kissed the farmer for clearing everything out though, as I was close to tears with the cold and the wind trying to clean out the driveway.  The farmer wouldn't take any money for clearing out the driveway.  As he is a widower I thought I would make him a couple of meals that he can freeze and eat at a later date, and we'll have him over for supper when the weather gets better as well.

So just in case you haven't figured it out,

I AM FED UP TO THE BACK TEETH OF THIS BLOODY WEATHER!!!!!

14 comments:

Valerie said...

It's good of you to think of making meals for the farmer. One good turn deserves another in that weather, or anytime. I sure hope you get a rest from it soon.

Jane and Chris said...

What a kind thought..I'm sure he would appreciate home baking too.
Yesterday was EVIL!!!!!The wind was just whipping the snow everwhere filling in all the bits I had cleared before. Chris was working at home so I am not bothering to clear the drive until today. Gill, I ranted about the Post Office here.....ENJOY!!! http://swiftsuresongbird.blogspot.com/2008/09/labour-day-day-that-traditionally.html
Jane x

Shammickite said...

I agree about the @#&^$^!! weather, but it's supposed to be getting warmer over the weekend, so don't despair!

Karine said...

Your tea set is lovely Gill!

That was great of your neighbor to clear out your driveway for you. It's been very winding here all week as well, but it's a bit better today. I hope the wind has died down for you as well!

Niki said...

So, I'm thinking an ongoing arrangement with the farmer is needed....for sure!!!

I may not have mentioned it, but I am a china junkie!!! I LOVE china. If I were wealthy I would have a room just for china...anyway, all that to say what a lovely pattern and I've never seen it before....if you want to enlarge the set try
www.replacementchina.com

Have a happy weekend and I'm fed up of winter too!!!
hugs
Niki

Scrappy quilter said...

Okay friend, smile. I'm sending you warm weather. Suppose to get to +3 here on Mon. However along with it comes freezing rain. At least it won't be cold or no gale force winds. It's been mighty cold here too. Hugs

btw - love that set. I have a tea cup exactly like that except it's pink. It cost my mom an arm and a leg to purchase it for me. I treasure it.

Piece by Piece said...

I too have to pay back my neighbour that has been clearing my drive way this Winter. I do have a snow blower but, it is big, I am only 5ft tall, and the snow is so deep in my back yard I can't get to the shed where it is located.
I am so fed up with this snow, rain forecast for a couple of days next week, what a $%&#@ mess it's going to be, Canada Eh
Patricia

Jackie McGuinness said...

Haven't been by in a while, been MIA from Blogland, busy with work! Hate it when work gets in the way of playing!!

Absolutely hate this weather as well, why couldn't my parents have emigrated to a warm country???

BTW, Gill, I did finally get signed up to Swagbucks, but couldn't use the link in the email you sent me.

Have been using some of your tips, though, so thank you!!

Jackie

MyBulletinBoard said...

Ditto "fed up." ~Liz

Jane and Chris said...

Gill, if you get to Fenelon Falls in the summer please call in(we are on the way) for lunch/dinner/afternoon tea/cocktails......just let me know closer to the time.
Jane x

Stella Jones said...

You certainly are having a hard time of it.
I like the tea set. I hope you can find something out about it. Perhaps Royal Albert has its own website?
You give 'snowed in' a whole new meaning Gill!

Evelyn said...

love the tea set! we have to shovel our driveway as we have no snow blower, to plow it they charge 45 dollars a trip. it is a long driveway too and I often have to have it done early to get to work

Rose said...

How blessed you are to have a good neighbor...I don't know if you have followed my blog enough to know that our daughter and her family moved a couple hours away from us due to her husband's job.

And she has had two serious, major surgeries...one in October and one in December. And in December her husband was working with hardly a day off...and 12 hour shifts at that.

They moved there the last weekend in August...and right away met one of their neighbors...they are just wonderful They are older and retired, but since they know that Sarah has Lorelei and Jeremy works so much, when they clean their own drive, they come over and clean Sarah's.

Words just aren't enough to tell how thankful I am for them.

Rose said...

I also meant to say that is a beautiful tea set.

{{{SIGH}}}

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