"Come little cottage girl, you seem to want a cup of tea...................

     And will you take a little cream?  Now tell the truth to me."  She had a rustic, woodland grin. Her cheek was soft as silk, And she replied, "Sir, please, put in a little drop of milk."  ~ Wordsworth

     It is that time already, Tea Treasures Thursday.  This post might just as well be called, It's a whiteout.  In case you are not familar with the term; in northern states where it snows and they have blizzards, sometimes all you can see is white - they have a whiteout.  I have been having a white-out lately with dishes!  Let me back up and say, on Sunday I went to a Ross store hoping to find something my daughter is looking for. No luck for her but, a few steps on down the sidewalk is a TJ Maxx (Home Goods), and I couldn't be that close and not run in there for a few minutes. Now let me tell you I have always loved white dishes especially the ironstone look.  White dishes have a quiet allure, a serenity and they provide a gentle and peaceful setting.  But, can have good style, be interesting and not boring.
So when I walked into TJ's home goods department, there on a sparsely stocked shelf sitting almost alone was this....................

A white cup with a lid, sitting there waiting for me to come along!  And, not just any old lid but, a lid with a cute little bird!  I know we have had a conversation about chickens and roosters but I don't think I have mentioned how much I love birds.

This is the perfect thing for me and it was just $3.99.  It's perfect because almost without fail whatever hot drink I am drinking I drink about half of it and then later find the other half sitting somewhere cold.  This will help keep my hot drinks hot!

See how nice it looks near the fall colors.

Another cherished inexpensive white piece is this teapot.

And yet another is this pretty shaped  little plate. One of the reasons that white dishes are desirable is they provide a great backdrop for food.  Unless, of course, you are serving white or light food. My expert chef son-in-law agrees with me on this.  His choice for a  good presentation of food is using a white plate.

Have you tried these?  They are found in the frozen food section at my Publix. They are not something I would rave over but are pretty good.  It comes in 3 or 4 varieties.  This one is pretty dry.

It was better after I put a big dollup of applesauce on each one. Next time I will heat the applesauce first.  Devonshire cream would be even better. All you do is defrost them in a toaster. They are thicker than they look here and are smaller on the bottom than top.

So, whether you are serving up bran muffins or fall acorns - white works well! 

I will explain these in another post - just a preview of things to come.  They are white and not tan as they look in this picture.

Four o'clock on a fall afternoon. The sky is overcast, the light is ebbing and the time for tea is now. Grab a cup no matter if it's not white and enjoy some tea with me.  I suppose you could even make yours hot chocolate, hot cider?