Would you like sugar in your tea? Virtual Tea pt. 3

Hello everyone. Sorry I missed tea yesterday, our Internet was down. Thank you for all of the comments left on the previous posts. I love them. It makes my day a little better when I am working an they randomly pop up on my email.

Now, today, I want to tell you about my maternal grandmother. She can be tough as nails when needed (and when my brother and I were young we needed it a lot I'm sure), but she is also the most poised, well-mannered and elegant lady. Even when she is elbow deep in her garden after a rain storm, she still seems to have the elegance of a grand lady. I must say she has probably been the largest influence on my life even though as a child we saw her only twice a year when my mother had visitation.

For my pending birthday (Jan. 22) she gave me five tea cups and saucers to add to my collection.

I asked her about her collection and she said that she started collecting them when she was my age. She had no preferences or requirements, just choosing those she was drawn too. She has given some away over the years, but I think secretly she was happy that I was starting my own collection and she could pass her collection along to me.

I told her about how when I was a little girl I would sit at the coffee table in the den and pretend I was a Spanish Queen pouring tea for her visitors. I loved playing with her silver set.

Growing up I loved to look at my Granny's tea cup collection, from afar of course. She kept them on top of the china cabinet, but there was a silver tea set that sat out on the coffee table, probably because it was unbreakable (trust me I dropped them a few times.) My grandmother wasn't a "high class socialite" but she is a firm believer in perfect manners, being polite and getting the most from your education.

Recently, I told you about having to take her to the emergency room. It was scary, but she pulled through and is home resting.

These tea cups are from her personal collection that she passed to me in January for my 29th birthday. They are elegant and beautiful – just like her.

Until our next cup of tea ...