When we welcomed the New Year over here, we welcomed a new (old) tradition. My husband Jeff and I have been sitting down each late afternoon for tea! I’m not exactly sure how and why we started this as a daily practice, but it’s been refreshing.
He’s been working from home the past several months, and since I do as well, it became a possibility. (Jama approves, of course!) So far, it’s been just on weekdays, but you never know if it might spill over into the weekend. And, I should note, it’s the hubby who’s done the primary tea-making and scone-baking.
Our youngest (17) was interrupted in his studies at the kitchen table the first day we tried it.
“I didn’t know you were going to have tea!” he said, appropriately annoyed that we crashed his quiet homework on Pride and Prejudice (at which he was also annoyed, until I later made him watch the film, which he admitted was better than he’d expected it to be… .) Funny how he’s ended up pulling up a chair, though, several times, especially after grueling days at tennis practice!
Our oldest (just turned 21) and I exchanged these exact text messages when we first started:
(Mom –with pic of table) Week 2 of new tradition – tea! :0)
(Deprived Daughter) Since when do y’all have tea? :0(
(Mom) Since last Monday. I figured since we would be empty nesters this year, we should practice having conversations.
(Daughter) Hahahahaha
Last month, I caught a few moments of an interview on NPR about proper English tea. Seems the Brits are most fond of Earl Gray or Darjeeling, and they always take their tea with milk. One of my fondest memories of our little trip to England in 1994 was taking part in that custom each afternoon. Time to slow down, relax, and partake of the most wonderful scones along with that cup of hot tea – mmmm…..
So today I offer you a cup of your favorite leafy brew, and a couple of tea-time poems. The first I wrote a million years ago. I was recalling those adorable miniature china tea sets I had as a child, and probably still have remnants of around here somewhere.
Tiny Tea Time
My teeny tiny tea set
is lots of fun for me.
I have to pinch the tiny cup
to take a sip of tea.
A little speck of sugar,
a teensy drop of cream -
I close my eyes and drink it up –
delicious as a dream!
©Robyn Hood Black. All rights reserved.
The second is more grown-up, and makes me smile:
Green Tea
by Dale Ritterbusch
There is this tea
I have sometimes,
Pan Long Ying Hao,
so tightly curled
it looks like tiny roots
gnarled, a greenish-gray.
When it steeps, it opens ….
Read the rest of this poem here. (And a very brief commentary/introduction by Ted Kooser here.)
I found a blog, Garden Party Teas, with a section of tea-related quotes, including this one:
Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one.
– Ancient Chinese Proverb
(Okay, but by the second day, I’d be clamoring for some scones…!)
I’ll send you on your way with this quote from C. S. Lewis. (I could not authenticate with an original source. - Maybe someone knows it? It’s on a variety of places online, so I hope I’m passing it along correctly.)
You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.
C. S. Lewis
Indeed! Now sit back with your comforting cup of tea and peruse all the great poetry waiting for you for Poetry Friday, rounded up by the tea-rrific Tara at A Teaching Life.
Read More
He’s been working from home the past several months, and since I do as well, it became a possibility. (Jama approves, of course!) So far, it’s been just on weekdays, but you never know if it might spill over into the weekend. And, I should note, it’s the hubby who’s done the primary tea-making and scone-baking.
Our youngest (17) was interrupted in his studies at the kitchen table the first day we tried it.
“I didn’t know you were going to have tea!” he said, appropriately annoyed that we crashed his quiet homework on Pride and Prejudice (at which he was also annoyed, until I later made him watch the film, which he admitted was better than he’d expected it to be… .) Funny how he’s ended up pulling up a chair, though, several times, especially after grueling days at tennis practice!
Our oldest (just turned 21) and I exchanged these exact text messages when we first started:
(Mom –with pic of table) Week 2 of new tradition – tea! :0)
(Deprived Daughter) Since when do y’all have tea? :0(
(Mom) Since last Monday. I figured since we would be empty nesters this year, we should practice having conversations.
(Daughter) Hahahahaha
Last month, I caught a few moments of an interview on NPR about proper English tea. Seems the Brits are most fond of Earl Gray or Darjeeling, and they always take their tea with milk. One of my fondest memories of our little trip to England in 1994 was taking part in that custom each afternoon. Time to slow down, relax, and partake of the most wonderful scones along with that cup of hot tea – mmmm…..
So today I offer you a cup of your favorite leafy brew, and a couple of tea-time poems. The first I wrote a million years ago. I was recalling those adorable miniature china tea sets I had as a child, and probably still have remnants of around here somewhere.
Tiny Tea Time
My teeny tiny tea set
is lots of fun for me.
I have to pinch the tiny cup
to take a sip of tea.
A little speck of sugar,
a teensy drop of cream -
I close my eyes and drink it up –
delicious as a dream!
©Robyn Hood Black. All rights reserved.
The second is more grown-up, and makes me smile:
Green Tea
by Dale Ritterbusch
There is this tea
I have sometimes,
Pan Long Ying Hao,
so tightly curled
it looks like tiny roots
gnarled, a greenish-gray.
When it steeps, it opens ….
Read the rest of this poem here. (And a very brief commentary/introduction by Ted Kooser here.)
I found a blog, Garden Party Teas, with a section of tea-related quotes, including this one:
Better to be deprived of food for three days, than tea for one.
– Ancient Chinese Proverb
(Okay, but by the second day, I’d be clamoring for some scones…!)
I’ll send you on your way with this quote from C. S. Lewis. (I could not authenticate with an original source. - Maybe someone knows it? It’s on a variety of places online, so I hope I’m passing it along correctly.)
You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.
C. S. Lewis
Indeed! Now sit back with your comforting cup of tea and peruse all the great poetry waiting for you for Poetry Friday, rounded up by the tea-rrific Tara at A Teaching Life.
Read More