Teacup Tales

Hello Tea Friends, My flight arrived a little later than expected last night and I'm a bit more tired than expected too so no post this week. I will be sharing the "tea" parts of my trip with all of you in future posts. For this week I look forward to reading your blogs and responding to your comments. I apologize for not responding last week. Have a wonderful 4th of July Weekend and come visit next Sunday. All the best, Nora

Hello Tea Friends, Hope your weekend brought you blue skies and time for tea. Camping along the California coast in a Redwood Tree grove was certainly the highlight of my weekend. We just returned from our ninth annual camping trip so please excuse the brevity of this post. There is so much unpacking, washing and laundry to be done. While all of this is tiring, the actual trip was rejuvenating. Being under and among the Redwoods is simply amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading, hiking  and having tea on this trip.  It almost seems impossible to capture the enormity of these amazing living creatures on film. The smell of the sea hugged the fog in the redwood trees, All cool and dank, dimly lit and rank with green, And in the shadowed limbs the Stellar jays jabbered free, And me, standing silently, an alien in this enchanted scene... ~Michael Garofalo That excerpt really describes the scene of our campsite. The stellar jays are always on the lookout fo

Happy Belated National Iced Tea Day! Did you celebrate on June 10th? In honor of this national day, I would like to share a white tea I discovered two years ago that makes a really nice iced tea. Typically I like my iced tea strong and straight. I usually use Irish or English Breakfast teas. Recently I've been inspired by two issues of Tea Time magazine that featured a wide variety of iced teas. I want to branch out this summer and order some of these teas. Come join me for a refreshing glass of organic Ginger Pear Iced White Tea. This tea comes from Trader Joe's. I prefer it iced. It's a great thirst quencher for hot days. The ginger flavoring is very subtle not spicy and the pear flavoring adds a small amount of natural sweetness. The tea comes in individual bags which makes it easy to make iced tea. (Excuse the shadows.) "American-style iced tea is the perfect drink for a hot, sunny day. It never really caught on in the UK, probably be

"Won't you come into my garden? I would like my roses to see you."                                                                                               ~Richard Brinsley Sheridan The rose is the classic garden flower as well as this month's birth flower. I love garden roses and their wonderful scents. Our garden has two rose bushes: Blue Girl (featured on the left) and Fiesta. Our rose tree is Mellow Yellow. Right now there are just buds on it so I didn't include a photograph. When it comes to teacups, many feature rose designs. This Mother's Day I was gifted by my own mom with a Shelley teacup in the Rosebud pattern. Needless to say I was thrilled! She knows that I'm always looking for Shelleys. I appreciate her efforts in trying to find one locally. I just love the sweet flowers as well as the green handle and trim. Such a feminine teacup! The classic Dainty shape by Shelley...my personal favorite