Tea Time

I’m a coffee drinker but I can’t have it after about noon or I’ll be counting the spots on the ceiling all night. I can drink tea at night without a problem. Now that the weather is getting cooler, I share tea time with Mr. FixIt every evening. He catches up with the news on his phone. I sit here on the sofa, write my post and schedule it for 4:00 in the morning so you can read it when you have YOUR cuppa.

I always liked tea, even as a young girl. But, I really got into it when I lived in England. I learned to drink it with cream and a side of “digestive biscuits”…England’s counterpart for graham crackers. I bought a Brown Betty while I was there…a sturdy, brown, earthenware teapot that keeps your tea at a proper temperature for quite some time. I was taught to put in a teaspoon of loose leaf tea per cup and add one for the pot. I poured my cream into the pot then fresh, boiling water. I let it steep till it was the color I like and poured it through a strainer to removed the leaves.

I had my first child in the Royal Berkshire Maternity Hospital. My physician was Mr. Stalabrass (certain physicians are referred to as Mr. in Britain, or at least that’s the way it was forty-three years ago.) I had pre-eclampsia and had to be in the hospital for a week before I had the baby. Every afternoon, an aide would take your lunch tray, close the curtains and the door, and settle you in for a nap. Two hours later, she would come back with a warm face cloth and a tea tray…a lovely pot of tea, finger sandwiches, and sweets. It was divine! They should do that everywhere.

I am working double time trying to give this house a deep cleaning before winter sets in. The water here at the farm is hard and has a lot of iron in it. It turns the porcelain dark brown and takes a great deal of elbow grease to get clean. I discovered a wonderful product called Zap. The tub hasn’t been this white since I was a kid and they installed running water in this house. Seriously…it’s probably some horrid chemical, but the bathroom looks great!

I have to tackle the outside next, scrub the porches, and get the kitty beds ready for cold weather. But, first…another spot of tea! ❤️

“Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭6:6-11‬ ‭NLT‬‬