Sunday Afternoon Tea

I wasn't certain what to chat about this week for Sunday Afternoon Tea Time. Then I turned on the TV and the Hallmark Channel was playing the original Swiss Family Robinson movie from 1960. I loved that movie as a child and now as an adult.

I turned it on during the scene where they were showing "Mother" the tree house which "Father" (and the sons) had built for her. I used to want to live in that tree house. (Of course now, I'm older and more practical. As I watched yesterday, I wondered how she kept their clothing so clean and if the thatched roof leaked. Ahhh...the loss of innocence.)

Anyway, the next scene is where Mother has made pretty curtains for the "Master Bedroom". The room where you can see the stars from the bed...sigh. They were able salvage some good stuff from that ship! It was always fun to see how she continued to make a home and a life on that island.

It came to my mind during that "curtain scene" what a difference a "woman's touch" makes to a dwelling. The tree house was nice and quite functional...but Mom added floral curtains. I always thought those brightly colored birds added a touch, too. I wonder what my cats would say if I brought a few birds in the house? Anyway, I digress...

When I looked at this house the first time with my realtor, the first thing I noticed was the presence of a homemaker. Someone had put a lot of time and effort into the details in this house. I later met the young mother who was the person behind the lovely wallpaper, colors, carpeting, curtains, shelves over bedroom windows, etc. and the young father who (with lots of extended family help) did all the carpentry projects.

Together they had also planted "hundreds" of bulbs and beautiful flowering shrubs...which we are enjoying this very week. The young couple had put a lot of love into this house. (They were selling as they had built their dream home for their expanding family.)

I love visiting homes and seeing the work of the woman who live in them. I know there are many creative men (my husband being one of them) but there really is a difference. For instance, my husband and I are enjoying the dozens of daffodils coming up in our yard right now. However, he didn't think of going to the closet where we keep a collection of vases, finding the small pruning shears, and cutting some of the daffodils to bring inside. He commented on the big bouquet in the living room but I am not certain he's even noticed the individual stems and blossoms placed inside the colored glass bottles on our kitchen windowsill.

The woman's touch is made evident by doilies under the lamps, potpourri in a pretty bowl, lace on the windows, fragrant soaps and shampoos, the vintage apron hanging in the kitchen (ready to be tied around her waist during an afternoon of baking), embroidery on tea towels and pillowcases, the geraniums next to the rocking chair on the porch...the little extra touches that honestly do turn a well decorated house into a comfortable home. Can't you tell when there is the presence of a woman in the home?

Men bring their own sense of order and style to a house...but today, it's all about the ladies! :) Now, I'm off to sip some Kona Blend coffee from a very manly looking mug rather than my usual girly tea cups. Somehow it just fits the blustery day we're having.