Friday, February 26, 2016

Tea time with the Little Guy

 The little guy, D, visited the teahouse with Poppop and Mimi
for the first time just the other day.
There were chrysanthemum flowers in the teapot and cup.

Cheers with tea!

Oh the first taste was a surprised gulp by the little guy.
Then there was a lesson on sipping.
Sipping tea works so much better and was enjoyed by all.

Have a delightful weekend, dear friends!

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Tea in Stillness

















The past 15 weeks I have been taking an online class
called StillSundays.
It is a photography class on still life's and just taking time to
savor the stillness, the quiet times of life.

This portfolio is a sampling of the photographs I have taken from my class.
We are encouraged to do a little photoshop work on them, but somehow
my stillness doesn't very often extend to photoshop.
These are straight out of the camera with maybe a crop or two.

For me seeing them all together has been fascinating.
I didn't realize I liked popping red into so much of my surroundings.
Red with white on the side plus tea throughout, that seems to be me.
A contrast for sure.

When you take photos, do you learn a bit about yourself?




Wednesday, February 24, 2016

A Day on the Farm

A little conversation about the tractor, definitely the boys at work.
My grandson and I had a day at the farm recently.
Feeding the pigs and petting the sheep was among the fun things to do.
Hello, Wilbur!
But best of all was hanging with a buddy.
Oh they had so much to say and do.
It was a sunny winter day, so perfect for playing on the farm.
And of course a bit of driving to get to the country
with a bit of racing too.
Playing at the farm is the very best of days!



Tuesday, February 23, 2016

T Project, An Experience

Saturday I had tea time at T Project.
Thinking on the shares I do on tea times,
I have realized what I love sharing with you is the experience of tea.
There are so many different ways of experiencing tea time
and each can bring joy and DELIGHT.
T Project has the most serene surroundings.
On Saturday, Teri, the owner of T Project had a tea tasting
with a delightful afternoon of meeting other tea lovers,
sipping tea, and nibbling on delicious goodies.
And I do mean nibbling, yummmm!
From wonderful dumplings made by Frankie's Dumplings
to Gena of Yuma Confections beautiful sweets.


Aren't the sweets just gorgeous?
We enjoyed four different teas:
A green, Dragonwell or Long Jing from Zheijiang Province.
Old Tree Raw (Sheng) Puerh, 2014 from Yunnan Province
Bi Luo Chun Black/Golden from Yunnan Province
Wu Yi Shan, Hua Xiang Da Hong Pao Rock Oolong, Spring 2015, Fujian Province
Thanks, Teri, for a wonderful afternoon experience with tea.
You can find T Projects website here, http://www.tprojectshop.com/

Take time for tea and enjoy the experience each and every day and in every way.
Be adventurous. 
Playing with Bernideen today at: http://blog.bernideens.com/

Monday, February 22, 2016

Monday's Quotes

One winter night
A friend dropped in.
We drank not wine but tea.
The kettle hissed,
The charcoal glowed,
A lucid moon shone outside.
The moon itself
Was nothing special -
But, oh, the plum blossoms!
~Tu Xiao Shan

Look to the moon with your cup of
 tea tonight because it will be 
something special,
a full moon called Snow Moon.
In my cup will be Moonlight.
Plum blossoms yet to come.
~m.miller

Friday, February 19, 2016

Tea Tasting with Shiuwen



Shiuwen of Floating Leaves in Seattle comes to Portland
occasionally to share tea with the WuWo Tea Ceremony group.
 
For our Chinese New Year's celebration she poured tea
for us and entertained us.  Sipping tea with Shiuwen is a delight.
In all we tasted 11 different teas from oolong to puerh.
This was a blind test of 5 different teas from the mountains of Taiwan.
What fun to see which ones were our favorites.
The monkey sat quietly with us as we sipped.
Taking time for tea is always a treat.
Finding like minded friends is fantastic.
Thanks to all those that gathered to celebrate the day.

Happy weekend, dear friends!
Find time to savor each sip of the day.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Return to the Lan Su Chinese Gardens

Lan Su Chinese Gardens has been closed for a few months
while it did some renovations and refreshing.
It reopened for Chinese New Years on January 8th.
What a delight to visit again and celebrate.
Flowers were beginning to bloom.
The decorations delighted my soul.


There was time to pause for a cup of tea and a little music.

There were many in the tea house enjoying the day.
All the windows in the tea house had been refurbished 
and did look so nice.
Even myself was sitting there having just come from the gym
and wearing my hat to protect from the rain.

The lake had been cleaned and encircled with new rocks from China.
The Lan Su Chinese Gardens in Portland, Oregon
does delight my soul.

A must see if ever visiting Portland.