Tea Time Appreciation

I'm a little teapot short and stoat

Tip me over and pour me out.

Do you remember that childhood song?

Well no teapot today, just a cup of tea.

Oh so much goes into that beautiful cup of tea
poured from all shapes of little teapots.

From the wonderful women that pick it for us

and yes it is usually a woman because her fingers 

are more dexterous. 

To the man that planted the tea and cultivated it.

To all the people around the world that cherish it,

process it, and send it to market.

For then we that love a good cup of tea

can sip and savor each mouthful with delight. 

Thank you to those men and women that bring us tea.

 A husband and wife demonstrating one form of picking.
Thank you, Farmer Chen in Taiwan.

Picking and processing in Alishan, Taiwan.

We do appreciate our good cups of tea each and every day.

Walk with Me - A Walk in a Park

 Wilshire Park is a favorite place to walk, run, and walk a dog.

 Stopping here on the way to somewhere else on Saturday morning,

I was searching for a little solitude.

What I found were thousands of soft purple crocus growing there.

They were closed, but I could imagine them opened to the sun.

 So on my way home later in the afternoon I noticed the sun was shining.

I stopped once again for another walk in the park.

 Oh so beautiful, shining in the sun.

Some were a bit bedraggled, but they all were trying

to shine.

  

 Oh I loved the hope of springtime

and a little sunshine too.

A lovely trail and a walk in the park delighted my soul.

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Spring Fever

 Has spring fever hit you yet?

Or the dreams of the changing of the seasons,

tickled your fancy so to speak?

 Are you needing more color to touch your heart?

 It certainly hit me with a vengeance this week.

Oh how I am craving color and flowers.

 So there has a visit to pictures from last spring to remind

me that spring will indeed come again.

 There has been a visit to the market for cut flowers.

 And a visit to the nursery to buy a couple plants.

Now my house smells strongly of lemon blossoms

from the meyer lemon tree waiting to go in the garden.

 The crocus are beginning to bloom.

The camellias are covered with buds,

the daphne too.

The grape hyacinths is showing it's greenery.

And the daffodils have buds, but too afraid to open to the cold.

Soon, oh very soon, the sun will shine again and the flowers will burst forth.

I can't wait!!!!!    Can you?

Then the celebration of Easter can't be far behind 

the blooming of flowers in the garden. 

Happy weekend, dear friends!

Shakespeare and Co. tearoom, a Story

Was it in my imagination or a dream?

Upon visiting the Shakespeare and Co. bookstore some years ago

I heard there was a tearoom in the store.

I was told to walk up the stairs and at the top I would find it.

Always in the search of a new tearoom I climbed the stairs.

Up I went, I can't remember how many steps or flights.

As I got closer to the top, the stairs narrowed and it became darker.

Are they right?  A tearoom at the top?

There was no one else around, yet onward I climbed.

At the top there were two doors, but only one said ENTER.

Slowly I opened the door.

It was rather dark inside.

Not sure this was a tearoom I stood in the doorway.

A dim light shown behind me, but as my eyes adjusted

I could see a group of people sitting on the floor in a circle in the dim room.

They must have been sipping tea, I am most sure of that.

They were sharing poetry in the darkness.

It spoke to me of another era,

a bohemian time

where poetry and tea were the tearoom

at the top of the stairs of a bookstore in Paris long ago. 

They bid me enter, but in my timidity I refused.

Now upon remembrance of this time so many years ago,

I could only wish I had taken the next step and entered.

It is a distant memory and one I can dream of yet today,

for poetry and tea would delight my soul in a dark

and dingy tearoom at the top of the stairs.

I didn't take any pictures,

so made an attempt to pull out the watercolors

and paint the stairs with it's hodge podge of books

that led to the tearoom at the top of the stairs.

A memory for sure, but could it have been a dream?

Quote on the wall at the bookstore:
"Be Not Inhospitable to Strangers Lest they be Angels in Disguise."

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More Tea Whimsy

I just love Rose is Rose comic strip,

especially when it includes tea time.

A perfect Tea Party Hostess etiquette

is to sniff and taste first.

Do you sniff and taste first?

Then offer it to a special guest?

Smiling!

Enjoy your tea time today and every day.

Walk with Me - My Neighborhood Murals

What can I say.

Just a one mile walk from where I live is Alberta Street.

There are murals on many of the buildings.

Though I am showing alot, there are many I haven't shown you.

Just enjoy as we walk along.
There are many pictures, but few words today.

Tourist are often seen photographing sights along this street.

I hope you enjoyed the walk down Albert Street.

If you are ever in the neighborhood, ENJOY!

There are many good restaurants along this street too.

This one almost always has a line.

I have been to the Pine Street once and the chicken sandwich was good;

but so many choices from Indian to Fried Chicken and Spanish tapas too.

Come by for a visit and I will walk with you.

Red is my Happy Color

Not long ago some friends and I were discussing the effects of color on ourselves.

One of my friends said she was uncomfortable with the color red, even to the

place that when she had to drive a red rental car it her uncomfortable.

I have thought about that since that discussion.

Looking around my house I realized I love accessorizing with red,

even my car is red.

Paying attention to how it makes me feel I realized it is my happy color.

I feel uplifted when I wear red or even use a red teacup.

It is my happy color.

What you see in the pictures is on top of my china cabinet.

It makes me happy to see the red sitting there.

Old striped candy, not even edible anymore makes me smile.

The cranberry red bowl and creamer were a gift from a special aunt.

And the teacup was a souvenir from Kensington Palace last May.

If we walked around my house you would see other touches of red,

it just makes my heart sing.

What color makes your heart sing?

Do you have touches of it around your home?

Happy weekend, dear friends!

May you be surrounded with happiness!!