In early November, I went to the Hamilton Potters' Guild's Fall Pottery Sale. You can view the beautiful teawares from the spring sale here.
The fall sale was the perfect place to shop for Christmas decor and gifts for the pottery fan.
There were many cute (but pricey!) ornaments on sale.
Ornaments featuring classic Christmas carol.
Alas, there were no tea-themed ornaments so I left empty-handed.
This adorable nutcracker was from HomeSense.
Sadly, the $60 price tag prevented me from bringing the nutcracker home with me.
After 3 months of pumpkin and other spiced teas, I'm ready for the Christmas teas!
I've always wanted to try Celestial Seasonings' Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride herbal tea so I was excited when I finally found it at our local Bulk Barn. Love the teapot sleigh on the box cover!
I purchased this "Tea Time" mug by Greg Voisin at last year's fall pottery show.
The sugar cookie sleigh ride herbal tea was a light and sweet tea ...
...but Celestial Seasonings' Candy Cane Lane green tea is still my favourite Christmas tea!
I missed the annual Hamilton Fall Garden and Mum Show this year, but was able to catch some mums at the Royal Botanical Gardens when I was there for a conference last month.
The RBG's autumn display included pumpkins, chrysanthemums, and interesting purple flowers that resembled cabbage heads.
I always keep an eye out for black teacups during my treasure hunts and scooped up this pretty pair at the local antique store last year for only $5 each!
The Paragon backstamp includes the name of the pattern: Mums.
Chrysanthemum is the birth flower of November.
Pink, yellow and purple pom pomp mums adorn the outside of the demi cup.
The wide-mouth teacup has the colourful mums inside the cup.
Last week, my office had another tea social. The theme for October was a no-brainer: Halloween!
I brought in some black teas and my Fire King peach lustre teacups and saucers.
My co-workers brought orange and black-themed treats.
Our mini jack-o-lanterns.
Last weekend was "Scarecrow Saturday" in downtown Dundas. This is an annual competition where local merchants create scarecrow displays that reflect their store or Halloween themes.
Village Bakery
This little piggy went to market...
Left: Picone Fine Foods; Right: The Keeping Room
Veggie tales
Left: Ellenoire; Right: Bling on King (top), Strawberry Fields (bottom)
Spa Day
Cumbraes the Butcher Shop
Mooey Cyrus' street performance of "Wrecking Ball".
Taylor's Tea Room
This was my favourite: "The guard of Buckingham Palace".
In 2012, I attended a special event which celebrated Donn Zver's 40th anniversary as a potter. To thank his customers for their patronage, Donn Zver hosted a complimentary "Royal Tea" at his Cafe Troy in Troy, Ontario.
Donn Zver (right) wearing the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond
Jubilee Medal that was awarded to him on June 24, 2012 in recognition of his outstanding charitable work and contributions to the arts. You can learn more about Donn Zver's accomplishments here.
The buffet of sandwiches and sweets.
Cafe Troy serves locally-raised food and has been awarded a Certificate of Excellence by Trip Advisor.
A "Royal Tea" wouldn't be complete without empire cookies!
Queen Elizabeth II would have approved of the guests' pretty tea hats!
The Cafe has gorgeous stained glass windows. You can view the stained glass design in more detail here.
Tea is served from Donn Zver's stoneware teapots.
I love Don Zver's beautiful pottery, but always thought that the pricey pieces were beyond my reach...until this past summer.
I was driving home and passed a house which had several boxes sitting by the curb. My curiosity was piqued so I turned my car around and went back to check out the boxes. I recognized the Donn Zver pattern immediately and couldn't believe that the pieces--all in excellent condition--were being thrown away!
These Game of Thrones-style goblets came home with me...
...as well as these beautiful tankard mugs in my favourite colour: PURPLE!
The Donn Zver backstamp
The tankard mug is twice the size of a standard bone china teacup and perfect for drinking copious amounts of tea during the cold winter.
October 18th is Persons Day in Canada. This annual celebration commemorates the historic ruling made by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of
Great Britain (the highest court appeal at that time) on October 18,
1929 which declared that women are "persons" under Canadian law and qualify to become members of the Canadian Senate.
This milestone victory for Canadian women's rights was led by Emily G. Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Henrietta Muir Edwards, and Louise McKinney who became known as the Famous Five.
The Women are Persons! Monument in Olympic Plaza, Calgary, Alberta (photo taken in 2012)
The bronze statues of the Famous Five were erected to commemorate their historic win of the "Persons" case. Nellie McClung (left) shows Irene Parlby (right) the newspaper headlines announcing the court's decision in favour of the Famous Five. Not pictured: Emily G. Murphy
The Women are Persons! Monument in Olympic Plaza, Calgary, Alberta (photo taken in 2012)
Henrietta Muir Edwards (left) and Louise McKinney (right) celebrate with a tea party (my kind of gals!)! The bronze cups and and saucers were a nod to the "pink teas" held by suffragists so that they could get together and plan their campaign for female equality without getting disrupted by the opposition.
The Women are Persons! Monument in Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario (photo taken in 2015)
Emily G. Murphy (left) invites the Ottawa tourists to take a seat and join the Famous Five. I would definitely join them for a cup of tea!
As a tribute to the Famous Five's pink teas, I am sharing some of the pink teawares in my collection. The Fiestaware pink teapot was an online purchase from a few years back.
This teacup once belonged to a friend of a woman that I met at work. I never actually met the friend (who was downsizing her collection) so I was touched that she gifted me such a beautiful teacup!
I love the soft pink shade and and pretty yellow flowers.
I think that the Colclough backstamp is from the late 1940s.
Let's raise our teacups to the Famous Five for championing the rights of Canadian women!
The following 6-minute video presents a nice summary about the "Persons" Case (first 2 minutes) and the Famous Five (last 4 minutes).
