By February 14th, you are more than halfway out of the dark.
And very much, Valentine’s Day feels like an opportunity for the next bright start after the new years celebrations. It is a chance to practise the day you would wish to have everyday, to put your best side forward, to love as you would wish to be loved.
Valentine’s afternoon Tea – Mary Kate & Shawn’s Wedding in The Quiet Man
Valentine’s Day is but one day in the year, and while it is an opportunity to be romantic for a day, I think it can act as a portal for how to be everyday
Last Valentines, I wrote about David Whyte’s book, The Three Marriages, and his thesis that highlights a triangle of relationships. The first is the conventional one with your significant other, the second with your work, which I think most of us would recognise even if we would not wish to acknowledge, & finally, & perhaps most importantly, the third marriage is with yourself. Now while there are elements of each of the “Three marriages” that will have greater or lesser resonance with us, I concede that it is the first one that can really provide a base camp to allow the others to manifest. To have the absolute trust & care of another is simultaneously slightly scary & a quite wonderful thing.
Idea’s for a Valentine’s Tea to Fall in Love With
The true gift of a Valentine’s Tea is that thought & time have been spent to create it.
Choose favourite things to eat. Create a special menu, and include a reference to a favourite poem. It will add a quite thoughtful & lovely touch. Dust off the china, lay a crisp white tablecloth, light a scented candle, or even a few sparkling tea lights, the intent being to create a rather special atmosphere to savour the aesthetic & treasure the moment in time. For more afternoon Tea idea’s inspiration, do have a look at Five splendid idea’s for afternoon tea, which includes a wonderful Rose themed afternoon Tea menu, just the ticket for Valentines, with gorgeous sandwiches & sumptuous cakes.
Spectacular Valentine’s Tea – Cake from Thoughtfully Simple
As a Valentine Tea is such a special occasion, do remember to make a gorgeous cup of Leaf Tea
No if’s or buts or excuses, as advise on Top Tips on Brewing the perfect Cup of Tea is at hand. You will be amazed at how gorgeous a properly made cup of tea tastes.
I confess that Tea With Mary Kate’s one weakness is for China Tea Cups
I adore Wedgwoods Queen of Hearts china tea cups. In fact, I love the pattern so much that somehow the tea pot, milk jug, sugar bowl & cake stand managed to find their way into possession, but do chose you own favourites. If you are feeling rather generous, the china could also be a gift, but, ahem, do wash it before it goes out of the house.
Perfect for Valentine’s afternoon Tea – Beautiful Queen of Hearts Wedgwood china tea cups
A few final thoughts from Shakespeare's sonnet 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O no! it is an ever-fixéd mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose Worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom: If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved
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Tea With Mary Kate - Inspiration for Tea and Living 