My favourite things: part the third

I was hankering after a pretty teapot for the longest time. But our kitchen is small, and cluttered, and I thought it would be a good idea to avoid adding to that clutter. Then Beloved bought me a tin of organic loose-leaf Darjeeling,* so I went looking for a tea egg, but I couldn't find a tea egg so I bought an in-cup strainer, but that didn't work well *at all*, so I gave in and went shopping for a teapot.

I found this beautiful range of tea china in about five different blue and white patterns. While they were all delightful, I decided I liked them best all together. So I came home with a teapot, a milk jug, and three bowls, all different. So much for minimising clutter. But what can I say? They make me happy. And see how well they match my favourite teacup!**

Looking at this picture, I had a minor epiphany, of the blindingly-obvious-but-I-only-just-realised kind. Those bloggers who chronicle the pleasures of domesticity? Who post tightly cropped, beautifully composed pictures of cupcakes and quilts, and minor odes to the joys of lavender scented linen spray? They are SO FAKING.

No, that's not fair. I have no doubt that they have beautiful homes, and that they truly do go to the effort of, well, using lavender scented linen spray. But if you were to imagine my home life based on this picture — and I doubt you would, consciously, but I bet it's hard not to let it colour your image of me just a little, if you've never met me in person — you would be picturing something, well, girly. And... kempt.

Those who do know me, who have even been to my home, know that this is not exactly so. Which makes me feel a little bit — just a little — less intimidated by

The knitting does rather go without saying, but I include it because it matches so nicely.

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* I don't even drink Darjeeling. Every now and then he succumbs to a random impulse in Tesco, and this was one of them. More recently, he came home with four cans of Budweiser. I realise this might not sound odd to anyone else, but it was cold weather. He didn't have any plans to tuck in that night, or any time soon. Apart from at braais and such, we are not great beer drinkers. And... Bud? Really?
** I'm a mug girl, really, but how beautiful is this?