Some mornings...

This morning, my cup of Earl Grey, hot, sweet, lemony... I needed that.

Moonlight - One Deep Breath

Moonlight shines down,
glazing the lake with diamonds.
Night birds call.

The moon so big
children reach up to take it,
trying to play catch.

Breath glows white
Watchers stamp their feet
Crescent moon sails on.

Whistle blows sadly
Under a winter moon,
the midnight express.

A ghost in the sky,
Opal eyed visitor,
The moon peeks at day.

Beloved,
whisper to me again
by moonlight.

Crescent moon,
a perfect moment is here
to see your valleys.

How did this happen?
Just a cup of tea, outside,
went to take a sip.
How did this get here?
The moon hid in my cup!

Morning's cup of tea

I have a somewhat battered infuser - the kind that looks like a measuring cup. It's been camping with me and exactly fits my camping mug. This morning, I pull it out, and tip a scant teaspoon of Earl Grey in, then just smell the leaves, all brown and small at the bottom of the mesh cup. Mmmm. Citrus and tea...

And then, the magic of hot water from the coffeemaker, and slowly, those small brown leaves bloom, become soft and full, transforming and being transformed by the water. My scant teaspoon of dry leaves is now a plump tablespoon of glistening tea leaves, and there are more colors - various shades of reddish brown with hints of green, and even one leaf that is now a sort of celadon.

The light is returning, the new year coming, and I have a beautiful cup of tea. May the new year be filled with such pleasures for us all.

Morning tea

Some of y'all will remember that I really love my cups of tea, especially herbal and fruit teas. This morning, one of my coworkers approached me because she'd only recently discovered that I write haiku.

Somewhat out of character for me, I had gotten cocoa instead of tea this morning, and I found myself looking at *her* morning cup of tea, made from loose green tea and red dates...

Red dates float
in morning's cup of tea,
calm, soothing islands.

Okay, that's it. I've got to bring a loose tea canister to work... (probably for my hibiscus tea...)

And she said nice things about my poetry, too. Whee!

Simplicity: One deep breath

Rainy day book
Cup of herb tea
Simple pleasures

Tea and pie...

Mostly, I've been recovering from the grand camping adventure, taking warm epsom soaks and the like to soothe muscles inclined to complain about walking around a state park situated on a mountainside.

But on Wednesday, my husband and I decided to check out the new bakery near some friends' house. And we are not sorry we did. Handmade pies from locally sourced ingredients - we went with the peach, which the gentleman informed us would be gone in a couple weeks. Mmmm. I am a total sucker for peach pie, and this one was worth every cent. My only sadness is that he doesn't make pies in reasonable sizes for smaller households, so this is strictly for time with friends.

Another friend who was visiting brought her birthday gift: flowering tea - it's white tea that literally "blooms" when you drop it in the hot water. I'm so glad she shared. Mmmm. This one was jasmine scented and shaped like a basket of flowers - the handle was made from jasmine, and the flavor was lovely - but I like both jasmine and white tea, so there you are... (Or rather, I like *good* white tea. I had not suspected I was a tea snob until I tried to drink white tea from a teabag.)

With thoughts of tea and peach pie from the night before, last night I decided I *really* *really* wanted a good peach tea. Luckily, while we'd been camping, we found a small tea shop in the nearby town and had picked up an infuser that fits our camping mugs, along with other equipment (like say the teapot). So I pulled out a dried peach from the dried fruit stash, chopped it up and threw in a few hibiscus flowers and a pinch of dried citrus peel. Then threw the kettle on. (Oops - even with a superficial cleaning, the outside of the kettle still gave off a campfire smell when heated. Oh, well...)

Mmmmm.... Peach tea. Yum... And the advantage of this way of making it is that I get to munch on the rehydrated peach bits as a snack once the tea is brewed.