so proud!

This is my daughter, Jill.
I am so proud of her.
She recently graduated from massage school in Ashland, Oregon.
She was surrounded by gorgeous country and views,
which perfectly fit her spirit.
Once she takes her state board exams she will be ready
to share her gentle spirit with others.
I am Mimi to her and Mimi is thrilled that she has found what makes her heart sing.
That is what all mom's hope for their children.
May all our children be surrounded with love and
have hearts that sing.
Oh and did I say, she sang at the graduation
and I was so touched by her beautiful voice.

Family Traditions

The past few days I have been thinking about family traditions.
Each family has them, whether they are recognized or not.
Some are small things, like the way you celebrate a holiday.
Some are related to your religious faith or your ethnic background.
I asked my family what they thought our family traditions were
and really compared to some families we couldn't think of many.
Growing up my mother's family mostly lived on apple ranches in Northern California.
Many of our family gatherings took place at the main apple ranch of my uncles.
I mentioned several months ago that the last family ranch had been sold.
I felt it was important to have one more family gathering, especially for
the younger generation to celebrate family at the ranch.
The pictures above are from the family ranch as we celebrated
on Memorial weekend.  It use to be all apples, but now there are grapes too.
The family home still stands there and many of the vintage tools and the old truck
still remain.  But it isn't the same, no it isn't.  The heart of the ranch is gone.
One of my aunts, who had a ranch down the road, was there.
But my uncle that ran the ranch is no longer there.
There isn't the hustle and bustle that once was felt.
I will always cherish my memories of family celebrations, laughter, and play
(oh there was work too); but mostly I will cherish the family traditions
we celebrated here and I am grateful.

Do you have special family traditions?

The Dollhouse Project

Each month this year I have committed to making a house with The Dollhouse Project.
You can find the link to my right side bar.
I missed last month because of travel and sickness.
I knew one month I wanted to go play in my friends glass studio;
so this was the month to play.  Often when I go to play I have a general plan
and just start picking up pieces of glass to see where it takes me.
Here is where it took me for my June house of glass.
It is a sun catcher of fused glass.
I am not sure if it will hang outside or in a window, but I kind of like where the glass took me.
Do you ever do a project not knowing exactly where it will end up?
Are you usually pleased or want to start over?

Several have asked what I found tea related at the 7/11.
It was two face masks in Earl Grey Tea and Macaron scents.
I have heard they are quite nice, but haven't tried one yet.

Smile!

Smile!


We have a winner:

La Tea Dah

I will be contacting you soon and a package will be in the mail.

Thanks to all that left comments.  I loved seeing where each of

you are dreaming of traveling.  May your dreams come true!

Now isn't that worth smiling about?
Have a good day. 
I am planning to return to the Spirit Whispers series
next Monday.  Come along and join me.

A Final Day and a Farewell toTaiwan

The final day in Taiwan was spent in Taipei exploring.
Yes, there was more tea as we celebrated our last day by visiting with the
Taipei Tea Association and visiting two teashops.
As we walked throughout Taipei we often had glimpses of the 101 Building,
which at one time was the tallest building in the world.
We walked past temples and always there were motorbikes passing by.
It was a very special dream come true holiday,
one I hope many of you have the opportunity to someday do.
May all your travel dreams come true.

Please leave a comment telling me what dream for travel you have
and I will draw one name on Monday morning.  If you don't want to
leave a comment, but would like to be in the drawing, just email me.
You will find my email on the Profile page.
There will be some small samples of tea from Taiwan and something special I found at the 7/11 store.
You might laugh at finding something tea related at the 7/11 store, but you just never
know what you will find when you visit in a different country.

Tea Institute - A Final Farm Visit

Now you know by now, the first thing we did when arriving at the tea institute

was drink tea.  This was our guide for the day.

The tea institute was again in the hills outside of Taipei.

It was originally begun as a training sight for tea farmers,

but has expanded to include other small groups.

Again there were rows and rows of tea.

Flowers often were included in the landscape of each of the farms we visited.

Now here is where I learned something new about tea.

I always thought there were only a few varieties of tea plants and

what made them different was in the processing.

The processing does make a difference, but what I learned

is that there are many varietals of the tea plant.

This marker is marking one varietal and there were many markers

at the tea institute.  So like a rose has many varieties, so does tea.

I learned that just in Taiwan there are over 300 different varietals.

In China there are thousands of varietals.

Am I the only person that didn't know this?  I hope not.

And then there was more tea to drink.

And we picked tea too.  We were given the special tea picking hats

and baskets to wear.

Here I am in my tea picking outfit.

Finally an oasis in the shade.  It was a hot day.
I hope you have enjoyed visiting tea farms in Taiwan.
I know I did.
Come back tomorrow for a special, small give away.

Farmer Zhang's Tiequanyin

We are nearing the end of our trip to Taiwan.

A very special visit is in store.

Taking the metro in Taipei to the end of the line,

we connect with these lovely gondolas.

What a treat to take a peaceful, gentle half hour ride

up the mountain to Muzha, a small village.

The view of Taipei is spectacular.  You can see the 101 building standing so tall.

After leaving the gondola we walk about a quarter of a mile down the road arriving at

this lovely oasis of a tea farm.  Tea is waiting with the magnificent view in front of

us of a tea farm and then Taipei.

After Farmer Zhang served us tea his wife served us a wonderful meal.

One dish after another appeared and we had so many new flavors to partake.

The battered tea leaves were also served here too, yummmm!

Then Farmer Zhang got down to the business of sharing tea. I loved his smile.

What I felt from Farmer Zhang and the other tea farmers was a true spiritual

connection to tea and what they do.  They love tea and work to continually

improve and learn all they can about the growing and producing of good tea.

Farmer Zhang talked about that aspect and about growing organic teas.

He shared how he grows lupines between the rows of tea to add more nutrients

to the tea.  My husband told him he was very smart to figure this out and the farmer said,
no it was my father and grandfather that figured it out.  He loves photography
and had many pictures of his yellow lupines in amongst the tea plants.
The lupines weren't growing while we were there, but the photos were lovely.

After sharing a meal and tea, we walked in his farm.

In two of the farms we found memorials to the farmers ancestors.
Farmer Zhang's memorial was lovely.
Farmer Zhang then took us behind his teashop to his small processing plant,
where we were able to again see the process of making tea.
He makes a wonderful Tiequanyin oolong, a real treat, which was
wonderful to taste, sipping, and knowing the heart that went into making this tea.