Easter Greetings!

Yes, I did think of you today.

Blessings on a special Easter weekend.

May you delight in springtime and flowers.

May the bunny leave you a chocolate egg.

And may the daffodils blooming shine on your face.

Happy Easter, dear friends!

Have a terrific weekend!

Flowers on the way to Tea

Last week I took a walk through the Lan Su Chinese Gardens.

The flowers were beginning to bloom and the afternoon 

just sparkled in the spring sunlight.

I was on my way to taste some teas in the garden.

But I just needed to savor the flowers as I walked.

I reached the place for tasting tea with Yin Na of TeaArtofChina.com.

Beside sharing about the region of China that she was from,

she shared so much of the beautiful ritual of tea time.

She explained that the tea growing areas of China

are more in the southern region, which is in color on the map.

Then we tasted.

Yin Na's preparation of making and serving tea

was like a dance. 

Her heart and hands performed a beautiful picture for us.

In the picture she is preparing an oolong, which she called Rock Tea

from the Wuyi mountains.

Each movement was an art

and the tea was enjoyed as I sipped.

I came home with a small packet of Golden Flower Super Tea.

It looks like a puerh, a young green puerh.

I was hoping for flowers, but it is more like spring time grass.

Tea times are always special times for me

of meditation and being served delights my soul.

Now to finish my walk in among the flowers of the garden.

It was a snippet of spring time, a small escape from everyday life.

One I grabbed ahold of, delighted in, and so happy I ran to the gardens

for tea time and flowers.

Adirondacks by the Sea

I sit by the sea

Dreaming dreams of you and me

The waves pull me into another world

They wash away all stress

My eyes droop closed

My head falls back against the chair

And truly I step into another place in time

For each time I find a chair by the sea

I dream

I sit

I listened

And soon my cares wash away
~m.miller

When I first picked up my big girl camera
someone asked what I intended to take pictures of?
My response was Adirondack chairs by water. 
So here I share the latest picture
of Adirondack chairs by water.

Best of British Tea Time

Saturday was one more birthday celebration over tea.

My sister and I share March birthdays, so we try to get

together sometime during the month over tea.

So off to the Best of British for our own personal celebration.

It was my first time to have the full afternoon tea

and I was not disappointed.

Pretty Thistledown cozies wrapped our teapots,

mine full of Harney's Darjeeling - yummm!

Everything was so fresh, I just loved each bite.

It is hard to say which is my favorite, but Coronation Chicken

was soooo good, then there was egg salad, cucumber,

and bites of other delicacies.

Wishing I could remember each bite.

Whatever was in that triangle was also delicious.

Oh yumm, I loved them all.

It was fun to see our food delivered on this pretty cart.

Isn't the dessert plate pretty with the ribbon woven through it?

Just the right amount of scone with real cream and strawberry jam.

Traditional British through and through.

The sweets were the perfect end of a special birthday celebration.

Macarons, lemon/blueberry tart, Victoria sponge cake,

cheesecake, cookie, and petite-four.  Deliciousness all around.

Definitely worth stopping for tea time and a celebration too.

Best of British

4810 SW Western Ave.

Beaverton, Oregon

reservations recommended, 503-367-4828
Website: bestofbritish.biz
Tell Sally and Elizabeth I sent you.

Monday's Tea Quote

Beyond Gold

To sit quietly

And let everything

And everyone go by

Is truly a treasure

Not everyone can enjoy.

Sitting so with tea in hand,

Many thoughts can crowd the mind.

But it's sitting so with tea in hand,

To see what fills the heart-

That's the truest treasure one can have.

~Earlene Grey (aka Susan Patterson)

Musings  with a Cuppa-

The Poetry of Tea

Gardenhouse Celebration

 Stepping into the gardenhouse is like stepping into a womb.

So teatime celebrations are a perfect way of celebrating a birth

right here in the gardenhouse.

 The cake for the birthday girl was center stage.

No I didn't bake it, but embellished it with berries.

 The stage was set and ready for the guests to arrive.

 Let them eat cake, first and foremost.

Then for other nibbles there was smoked salmon, smoked trout,

prosciutto, goat cheese, all sorts of olives and pickled things,

a baguette, rice crackers, and a gluten free cupcake for one guest.

 We stepped inside,

we ate cake,

we sipped tea (Baozhong oolong and Tulsi with roses)

and

for a couple hours the world went away.

The celebration was mine.

Four special women sat at my table.

We celebrated 75 years of living.

It delighted my soul.

Linking to Bernideen at: http://blog.bernideens.com/

View by the Sea

An adventure to the sea.

Staying at the Sylvia Beach Hotel.
A historic hotel where there are  no televisions,
no phones, no wifi, and a friendly cat.

The Hemingway room was to be where I slept.

But I snoozed and read in that leather chair too.

Do you see the resident cat?

A place to sit and listen to the sea.

My favorite lighthouse above the waves sending signals out to sea.

How I love the sea and each and every sight to see.

Newport, Oregon is a lovely place.

Another lighthouse to the south, the other was to the north.

There is something so beautiful in a lighthouse; so solitary.

Fishing boats in the bay.

How I love the sea.

The rest, the sounds, and the solitude.

This was one way to celebrate a birthday.

First Day of Spring

 Portland's Farmer's Market is in full swing;

so with a recent visit along with my little guy we enjoyed 

the event of springtime.

 "Joy spreads the heart, and with a general song,

Spring issues out, and leads the jolly months along."

~John Dryden, The Flower and the Leaf

 We found flowers and a lot of leafy greens.

 The market was like a flower garden of delight.

Daffodils are fully blooming in my garden too.

Oh how I love the first day of spring!

It brings such hope for renewal and new life.

May we walk in delight with a heart full of kindness.

I can't think of a better word for this day than DELIGHT.