Tea, Anyone?

I went to a friend's house last week for "tea". John used to work with this man (let's call him Joe) and through the years we've also gotten to know his wife (who we'll call Jean). We used to get together once every month or two for dinner but Jean's 98-year-old mother lives with them and she has COPD. Her mother is becoming more frail, less mobile, and more confused every day. She can't be left alone, so Jean thought maybe we could have "tea" at their house while her mother napped. 

"Tea" was in quotation marks in the invitation, so I was expecting that we would have actual tea, maybe some cheese and crackers and just chat for an hour or so. But when we arrived, Jean had prepared tea fit for the Queen! There were roast beef and horseradish cheddar sliders, dainty cucumber sandwiches, Linzer cookies, lemon squares, chocolates, decadent chocolate cake, and of course, fancy English tea. There may have been some bourbon after we finished the tea. 

It was all incredibly delicious and we did sit and chat for almost three hours. Jean was able to check on her mother and we had a really nice time. This is something of a minor accomplishment because we knew Joe and Jean well as friends before we found out they were supporters of that guy. We rarely discussed politics but now we can even do some of that as they also think that that man is ridiculous and harmful in many ways. It's interesting how we can all speak, listen, and even begin to understand and respect differing points of view without raised voices or anger. Maybe the tea and bourbon helped? I would recommend it for almost anyone discussing things, or even just some friends enjoying "tea". 

Tea Time

I spent two glorious weeks in NJ, enjoying time by myself, doing all the extra laundry tasks I rarely have time for (washing curtains and some rugs), and even accomplishing some fall cleaning. It's been very nice knowing that things I've cleaned will stay clean for a while, and having whatever I want for dinner whenever I felt like eating it. I'm not quite sure how it started (maybe the first chilly day after I was tired of taking down curtains, doing four loads of laundry, hanging them out, and then putting the curtains back up), but I've been enjoying a cup of tea each afternoon around 5:00 pm or so. 

At first, I contemplated having a beer or cocktail as a reward for my work, but decided that maybe drinking by myself wasn't a great idea. A warm cup of tea is still a lovely reward, and because it was so nice and marked a break between working and relaxing in the evening, I've kept it up.

Sometimes it's a cup of the usual PG Tips that I wake up to in the morning, but I've also been branching out. I love Celestial Seasonings Peppermint and Tension Tamer teas, and they provide a very enjoyable caffeine-free cuppa. 

Other days I take more time and prepare a cup of loose-leaf tea. One of the things I did during my two weeks was to clean out my pantry and kitchen cupboards, so now I can see all the teas I have available. I have a bit of a tea fetish that I try to wrestle under control every now and then, but I like having a varied choice every day, especially now that I can see exactly what my choices are.

I've been watching Call the Midwife in the evenings, so I may have gotten the idea for my new tea time ritual by seeing the many times the characters put the kettle on and how they treat tea as calming and restorative. My tea time started without much thought, but now it's an important part of my day and one I look forward to. I might even bake some scones this week!