Another Year at the Tea Festival

Welcome to my coverage of TeaFestPDX, which took place last Saturday. Warning, this is picture heavy. I look forward to this event all year long. I plan for it, work for it, and then enjoy it.

The festival started in 2017 and has only missed one year because of Covid. The first three years I organized and ran the British Tea Tent by myself, with some good volunteers to pour the tea. After Covid I determined I needed someone to pick up some of the heavy work and work with me. So at the festival in 2022 I found an attendee, someone I didn't know; she was at my tent most of the day and I could really tell she was into the whole thing. At the end of the day I asked if she would like to work with me the next year and she said "yes". We have established such a special team and I couldn't continue to do it each year without her. She does the organizing of the tent with setting up, instructing the volunteers, and the tearing down and storing of supplies. Whew! That's a lot!!!!  I do the behind scenes part of getting 6 presenters, getting volunteers, and getting product donations. All stuff I can do on my computer. Then the day of I introduce the speakers and sit back and enjoy. 

Across from the British tent is a booth for selling gently used and some new teaware to support the festival in the coming year.

And then the door opens and about 3000 attendees entered and enjoyed.

Each year my first speaker is Lisa Hand and her sidekick, Lynelle.  They come in costume. This year their presentation was a celebration of 250 years with Jane Austin; so their costumes were from that era. 

The second speaker was Mike Raab. He came from the teashop, Tea for Two, in New Jersey and spoke on taxation issues with the tea party rebellion.

Our noon presenter was Marisa from Oranges and Blossoms, vegan bakery in Portland. She shared a lot about scones, from the difference between a British scone to an American scone, then vegan and gluten free scones. We thoroughly enjoyed her raspberry/pistachio scones. Marisa's bakery has won awards for her vegan bake goods and I had been working for about 4 years to get her to come and speak. What a treat!!!

And then there was Raj Vable from Young Mountain Tea Company. He and his wife, Mitra, came from Michigan for the festival. It was a treat to hear him talk on the influence of the British on the tea industry in India. Raj shared a black tea and a white tea. The black tea he had carried back from the new factory he was instrumental in helping to get built in Nepal.

The fifth speaker was Anthony "Tony" Tellin. He has been in the tea industry for a long time, having worked with Steven Smith at Tazo Tea, then later at Smith Teamaker. He shared his story of getting involved with tea and then introduced his new tea company, A.Tellin Co. The two teas he brought to share were both beautiful and tasted amazing.

Note the cup on the table in front of Tony. It was our festival cup for this year. 

The volunteers were all amazing. Hoping they can be in the tent again next year.

Our last event of the day was including a boxed afternoon tea. What a treat and I think everyone enjoyed having it.

Leah Murray from Eugene, is the director of a historic house/museum there. They sometimes host afternoon teas; so she share tea etiquette with the attendees.

I did take a little time late in the afternoon to stroll around the grounds of the festival.

This was Jeni Dodd serving tea in her booth. Crossing my fingers she will come next year and share her story in my tent. She comes from New York just for our festival. What a treat.

Tony Tellin left some tea for my volunteers and myself; so this week I am again celebrating tea from the festival.

 If you ever want to travel to a tea festival plan on coming next year. We are already making plans for another year with tea at the end of June.

 

Wow! I just read what I wrote and see I used the word "treat" a lot. Well the tea festival for me is always a treat and I love the connection with tea and tea friends. 

 

In the meantime, raise your cup in celebration for another successful festival.

 

Just to let you know, I am shutting down comments later today. I will be away from my computer for a couple weeks. It's been a long time since my "live-in gardener" and I have just taken off on an adventure for more than a couple days. Looking forward to the adventure. I will share when I return. 

 

Sending love,

Marilyn 

Good Friends & Tea

 

I love these Rose Is Rose comics that I have saved from long ago. YES! Good friends and an afternoon spent together over cups of tea is my favorite thing to do.

This week it was a teatime with a tea friend. What a treat it is each time we meet. Teatime friends are the best.

We sipped a new Darjeeling tea and nibbled on trout and egg salad sandwiches with dried fruit and scones. The scones are in the pink napkin, as they were fresh from the oven. 

 

 

Then earlier in the week my "live-in gardener" and I had to initiate our patio with teatime. We have a small garden of potted plants on the patio. There is one cherry tomato, one tea plant, and many flowers and herbs. The herbs are basil, thyme, and rosemary. Then there are a few bonsai in the background too. Well you didn't think we completely gave up the garden. Being on the ground floor it feels like we have a garden out our backdoor, as beyond the concrete slab there are plants that the landscapers take care. Now that is the way to have a garden and not have to do all the work.

What is your favorite way to spend time with a friend?

Hoping you find special times often to spend with dear friends.

 Sending love,

Marilyn 

A little Tea and Play

 I finally feel like I have gotten back to normal life after a year of preparing and moving. Not sure if I overdid, but it felt good to play a bit.

There was open faced Coronation Chicken sandwiches, trout sandwiches, chopped black olive sandwiches, sweet peppers with a cream cheese filling, deviled eggs, fruit skewers, scones, carrot cupcakes, strawberries dipped in chocolate, and macarons.
 

Yes, Sunday was Easter. There were 8 people having teatime in my little apartment. It was pure JOY and a bit crowded.

 

Monday I took a walk in the neighborhood to explore "the ditch". Thanks, Jeanie, for that name inspiration. It is only one block from my new abode and quite peaceful. I can see I will be going there from time to time.

  

Wednesday I attended a fund-raiser for Habitat for Humanity.

My friend, Annette, works for Habitat. It was good to sit with her son, Renze, and catch up on the news. Renze is sort of like a "god-son" or extra grandson to me. Isn't he handsome. He is graduating next month from University of Oregon. The speaker was excellent.
 

 

Thursday I picked up a friend and we had tea in my favorite apple orchard.

 

Friday I had a new friend from my church come for a cream tea and visit. She brought lilacs from her garden.

 Then we said goodbye to our little blue car while our red car looked on. The blue car has been donated to PBS. After all, how many cars does two people need. We also have a grey, sparkly car that is new to us. Isn't the new technology amazing? I love that I can connect my phone for the map and music. Picture taken from our patio.

And today I will soon venture out to the annual teabag art show. I will try to remember to share a few pictures next week.

Hope your week has been full of delights and JOY.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Words of Kindness and Joy

Wow! The day is almost over and I realized I missed my Monday words of kindness and joy. Some days just fly by and my mind is focused somewhere else. Can you believe it, but I was working on ideas for the tea festival in 2025. I am already excited for drinking tea in the tent with attendees and there is still over 11 months to go. A lot needs to happen along the way, well after all there is still an election coming, then Christmas and more adventures too. There are more opportunities just to think about being kind. More smiles and kind words and maybe a little laughter along the way.

 

"You don't have to understand people's experiences to be kind. 

Kindness doesn't require logic, it requires grace."  

The Multiple Mom

 The two pictures of me with others was tea time in my gardenhouse last week. The young woman was Lily and the top picture was with Lily's mom. If you have followed me for a long time I had a Christmas tea for Lily and her family every year starting from the time she was 4 years old. I hadn't seen Lily since she graduated from high school and now she is a nurse. It was so special to see Lily and her mom.

 

Each person's experiences of kindness may be different, but none is less wonderful than just that of sharing a word or smile, helping someone that needs a little help along the way, or just saying "hey, let's take a break and maybe have a cup of tea"!  It was wonderful to have a cup of tea with Lily and her mom a few days ago.

Sending love,

Marilyn

TeaFestPDX 2024

 TeaFestPDX - 2024

 

Last Friday was time to set up for the TeaFestPDX. The tent on the left is the British tent. It is the one I organize. I have organized it each year since 2017, except for 2 years during the pandemic. To the right is where the tea festival sells used teaware to raise money for next year. Setting up is fun -- Oh the anticipation!

My pictures actually are in reverse to what took place for me, but still happened.

Right below you will see the tea van and above are people sipping tea inside the van. They come every year and set up back against the trees. It's a very mellow vibe. I don't get to visit the vendors and tea sipping venues until late in the day, which is probably OK as it isn't as crowded.

The multi colored shirt guy to the left at this table attends all the tea festivals in the Pacific Northwest. He doesn't have a business, but still brings along his table and chairs and sits there all day sharing tea with anyone that wants to sit and drink awhile.

My last speaker of the day, Bryon Marie, spoke on the history of Suffragettes in Portland 100 years ago and was representing a local tea spot in a downtown hotel, Abigail Hall.

Kris and Erin from the Framer's Touch in Forest Grove along with myself shared about art on a teabag.

They have a tea bag art show every April in their shop. It's the show I participated in this year. Their energy and kindness to all the attendees in the tent was so special.

Jhanne and Zack from Stash Tea shared the book, All the Tea in China.

Representatives from the Daughters of the British Empire shared the history of afternoon tea and scones. They baked scones for each of the attendees in the British tent.

Stephanie was the Education Coordinator for the festival this year and did an amazing job. In 2020 I had scheduled Stephanie to talk about Suffragettes and Tea. Finally we got it done!!! I loved having her be a part of the British tent even though I know she was so busy elsewhere in the festival.

The first presentation each year is by Lisa Hand and her assistant, Lynelle. They always come in costume and have something fun to share. This year it was the Language of Flowers.

Here is the tent ready for the day. My volunteers are the best and have fun working to make it a pleasant tea sort of day for each attendee.

Used teaware for sale. I resisted, though tempted.

Before we started the day I did a quick run through part of the vendor tent.

A bowl full of ceramic tiny bunnies for the tea table by Jonathon Steele. 

I did come home with one very tiny white bunny.

Note to Madelyne: The bunny is what "tea nerds" call a tea pet for their tea trays.

The ceramic artist booth.

Floating Leaves, Hi, Shuiwin!

The Tao of Tea gave ceremony demonstrations, which I missed. They were one of the festival sponsors this year.

Minto Tea farm from Salem, Oregon taught a class and sold tea plants and tea.

It's a really big vendor tent and there were more in one building too.

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of TeaFestPDX - 2024.

 

Sending love and happy weekend!

Marilyn