Cherry Blossom Time

This week, I have another teacup which seems just perfect to celerate the arrival of spring!

I got rather over enthusiastic with photos today so I hope you will forgive a rather long post!

This is another chintz pattern called May Medley, covered in spring blossoms in pink, white and yellow. This was a delight for me today when I unpacked one of my china storage boxes to find some more teacups to post for Teacup Tuesday and found this treasure that I had completely forgotten about! It was like Christmas!



This is a wide rimmed cup, with gilt details.



One of the internet sites I saw today described this kind of handle as kidney bean shaped. I don't suppose this is a technical term, but I do like it!



This set is a trio with a tea plate to match.



Here is a close up of the back stamp.



Royal Standard was a trade mark on china made by an English company called Chapmans Longton Ltd in Staffordshire. This trademark was used from about 1949 onwards.

If you would like to know more about Teacup Tuesday, pop over to Terri's lovely Artful Affirmations blog here. You can find links to other people participating in Teacup Tuesday this week as well, so do pop round and visit them too.



Here is the trio with a sprig of cherry blossom from my garden. I had to take some pictures of this tree and it's blossom, which is blooming outside one of my bedroom windows.



This year seeing the cherry blossom has been very poignant. The Japanese people celebrate the arrival of the cherry blossom each year with festivals. This year the arrival of the blossom will be tinged with great sadness for them in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. Looking on the internet for more information, I noticed that cherry blossom festivals in Washington and Nashville are to include fundraising to support the disaster relief efforts in Japan. So this beautiful blossom brings a sad reminder of the tragic experiences of many people in Japan who are in our thoughts and prayers at this time.

Elaine x