Monday Mug Shots

Valerie (AcornMoon) and Pat (Weaver of Grass) are hosting "Mug

Monday", a fun posting of our favorite mugs. So, without further ado,

here are a few of mine. The one pictured above is a vintage blue

transferware commemoritive mug in honor of Willow Manor's home

state.

.

.
Here's my favorite Nicholas Mosse Irish mug with a pup that looks a
lot like our dear departed Ralphy.

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This one's another vintage fave, transferware, as well. Across the
top it says: See all, hear all, say nowt, a Yorkshireman's advice to
his son. And across the bottom: Eat all, drink all, pay nowt...and if
ever tha does out for nowt, allus do it for thisen. (whatever that's
supposed to mean)
.


Another transferware (I love this stuff) commemorative of Queen
Victoria's Silver Jubilee. She doesn't look too happy about it, though,
does she?

And here's her great-grandson, King George VI and family, looking a

bit more pleasant.

For tea at Willow Manor you have a choice of Crabtree & Evelyn

annual mugs (I've been collecting these since they first came out in

the '80s)...

or my personal tea drinking favorites, the cheery Polish Boleslawiec.

So, there you have it. A few mug shots of my favorites. Happy Mug

Monday, dear bloggy friends!

What's Hot

As most of you already know, I adore old bookshops. There is a perfect one in town that is owned by a delightful lady, who knows just about everything there is to know about books. The shop is bulging at

the seams with books, with a huge overflow stack on the floor in the back. It has tall ceilings, wonderful creaking hardwood floors and that curious inviting smell of old paper and dust.

Not too long ago, I stumbled across an old copy of The Story on the Willow Plate, by Leslie Thomas, copyright 1940. Remembering it from second grade, I was absolutely thrilled to find it. It tells the story portrayed on the pattern of Blue Willow china. To make a long story short, it is about two star-crossed young lovers who are running from her father, the wealthy mandarin. You can see them crossing the bridge in the pattern. The two doves at the top of the plate are the lovers who have been transformed by the gods to live forever. Isn't that just so charming?

I recently dug out an old Johnson Brothers set of Blue Willow dinner plates we had when we were newly married. I had forgotten how much I loved them. There is something very comforting and strangely nostalgic in eating dinner on a Blue Willow plate on a cold winter evening. It might be cold outside, but Blue Willow is so hot right now at the Manor!