Teatime Tale #42 - Just Say No

Just Say No

            Sarah Harrison was feeling frazzled. Why was she always the one who got roped into doing the jobs no one else wanted? Just because she was a stay-at-home mom, everyone thought she had unlimited amounts of time, energy, and resources and could serve with the PTA, her sons’ soccer leagues, and the church youth group.

            Stay-at-home mom? By Sarah’s calculations, the last time she’d actually stayed at home was one day in January when both boys were sick with the flu.

            That morning, Sarah’s day had started with an hour working the bake sale at Eli’s school followed by another one-hour shift at the book fair at Logan’s school. After ordering twenty-five dollars’ worth of books Logan would probably never read so that he could win a “free” T-shirt, Sarah sped through McDonald’s for a chicken biscuit. Her trusty travel mug with the “I Heart Tea” logo sat in her SUV’s cup holder, and she was pleased that her ginger-flavored black tea was still fairly hot.

            While stopped at a red light, Sarah whipped out her cellphone and typed cereal and milk on the list of grocery items she needed to pick up. The red light turned green, and the car behind her honked.

            Sarah was tempted to let the driver know what she thought about that, but she was in a hurry, too, headed to the monthly committee meeting of the downtown merchants.

            Brad Harrison, her husband, owned a small insurance agency downtown, and Sarah represented Harrison’s Insurance Agency at the merchants’ meetings. Sarah tried to switch gears from school fund-raising and think about her report to the merchants. She was in charge of coordinating refreshments for the downtown Christmas Open House. When she got to the meeting, the business owners were complaining about the parking situation and gossiping about the merchants who hadn’t participated in the fall decorating contest.

            I can’t believe these people have nothing better to do than sit around worrying about whether their neighbor has a pumpkin outside the door. Sarah realized she’d been nervously bouncing her foot up and down when Mary Ellen Simpson, who owned a downtown florist, gave her a disapproving look. Mary Ellen lived for those monthly committee meetings and took seriously her position as president of the merchants’ group.

            Mary Ellen asked everyone to note a few dates of upcoming meetings, and some committee members pulled out their smartphones to add dates to their calendars. Sarah pretended to do the same, but actually she was typing vitamins onto her grocery list.

            After Mary Ellen finally adjourned the interminably long meeting, she asked Sarah to stay behind. Mary Ellen wanted an update on the refreshments list for the Open House, which annoyed Sarah. If Mary Ellen didn’t trust Sarah to do it, why assign her the job?

            “You know, Sarah, I envy you,” Mary Ellen said.

            Sarah was surprised to hear that. “Really? Why would that be?”

            “I’d love to just be a stay-at-home mom like you,” she said. “It must be so nice to have all that time to yourself and do whatever you want all day. I tried that for a few years when my children were young, but I found myself going stir-crazy. Besides, I wanted to put my business degree to good use. But how nice for you that you can be a homemaker.”

            “As a matter of fact—”

            Sarah was about to give Mary Ellen a snippy response when Mary Ellen’s phone rang. “Hi, Mayor Hudson,” she said, pointing to her phone and mouthing “Excuse me” to Sarah.

            Sarah rode home fuming. No one seemed to appreciate her volunteer work, and what was she really accomplishing?

            That night after supper, Sarah told Brad about her day and repeated what Mary Ellen had said.

            “If you don’t enjoy volunteering, don’t do it anymore,” Brad said.

            “Who will help coordinate the Christmas Open House next year if I don’t?”

            “They’ll find someone else, or it won’t get done. Either way, life will go on.”

            “Seriously?”

            “Yes, I’m serious. You’ve been running around like crazy this past year, so why not take some time off and just say no to everything for a while? Might help you figure out what you really enjoy doing.”

            As Sarah prepared to load the dishwasher, her phone rang. She looked at the touchscreen. It was her friend Karen, the PTA president at Ethan’s school.

            Sarah picked up, and Karen said, “Hey, guess what? The nominating committee met, and they want you to be PTA president next year. Since there’s never any opposition, I can meet with you sometime after Christmas to let you shadow me for the next few months and get ready to take over in May.”

            “Um, Karen, let me stop you right there. No,” Sarah said.

            “No?” Karen sounded confused. “What do you mean no?”

            “I mean no, I’m not taking on any new projects right now.”

            “Are you sure?” Karen sounded genuinely puzzled.

            “Yes, I’m sure.”

            Karen’s voice lowered. “Is everything okay? Are you and Brad having problems?”

            “Not at all,” Sarah said. “But I’m burned out on volunteering and need to take a break. Maybe some other year, but not right now.”

            “Well, all right then,” Karen said before hanging up.

            Sarah felt slightly guilty, but it had felt great to tell someone no. Strangely, she didn’t feel she owed anyone an explanation for her decision.

            Next, she would try saying no to the soccer league.

            As Sarah finished loading the top rack of the dishwasher, she popped in the travel tea mug she’d grown so used to sipping her tea from as she burned up the roads each day. Maybe she’d do like her mom and start drinking tea from a teacup instead.

            Or maybe she’d have the neighbors over for tea. Maybe she’d start a tea business.

            Then Sarah caught herself and smiled. Or maybe I’ll just read a book, or watch a TV program, or enjoy a cup of tea.

            She felt better already.

Some delightful new teas from Good Earth

The Good Earth tea company recently sent me some samples of tea, and oh, have I been having fun exploring the six new flavors! Today, I wanted to tell you about the first three I've had time to try because I so enjoyed each and every one of them!

This Cocoa Tango Black Tea was a particularly lovely surprise. Many of the chocolate teas I've tried have such weak, wimpy chocolate flavor that they're not worth the bother, but this Cocoa Tango tea had a rich, thick, chocolatey flavor. I really felt that I'd sipped something chocolate with this tea, and I'm intrigued that some of the flavor comes from chili peppers. I didn't find it too peppery at all, and I found it quite sufficiently chocolatey, so that's a win!

Sweet and Spicy Herbal and Black Tea, I learned, has been around for years, but it's the first time I've tried it. When I opened it, I got a whiff of something that reminded me of red hot cinnamon candies, and that's exactly what it tasted like. And oh, was that good on a cool fall afternoon!

Matcha Maker Green Tea was the only one I was worried about. I'll drink matcha, but it's not my favorite. This orange-flavored one, however was delightful and reminded me of Orange Creamsicles. Have you had Good Earth teas before? If so, what's your favorite?

A new collection! (sort of)

When I got back from my trip to Wisconsin and Chicago last month, I was unpacking my suitcase and pulled out these two bags I'd carefully tucked away, one from Argo Tea there at the Chicago airport, the other from David's Tea on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Did I really need to keep them, though? These days, I seem to get more satisfaction from passing things along or throwing them away than in acquiring them. 

But then I remembered I had a few more bags with tea company logos on them, and I realized that A) I have a collection, and B) these could be used as "props" when I am asked to speak about tea! I usually get asked to give a tea presentation two or three times a year, and when I do, I always take along a picnic basket packed with fragile teawares and other things for show and tell. If I take a few of these bags along and open them into standing position, that could make a cute display. And since these don't take up much room (and aren't breakable), I'm not worried about having too many of these teatime shopping bags on hand!

The Tea Drinker … in red

I hadn't bought anything on eBay in ages, but recently I found this pretty red transferware teacup and saucer.

If you'll notice the design in the center of the teacup, you'll see that it features a young lady and gentleman having tea.

 The design is repeated on the saucer, the border of which features a classic red transferware pattern.

 I first saw this pattern two years ago and absolutely loved that this "Made in Holland" pattern is called "TEA DRINKER."

My first "TEA DRINKER" set was the small chipped and cracked brown version, at left, which I found at an antique mall in Florida and bought because of the design and pattern name. The red set is actually large enough for me to drink tea from, and it's a different shape than the other set, too. Now, I'm hoping to find a blue version, and then one day … a matching teapot!

Sampling teas from Plum Deluxe

Recently, I got an e-mail from Plum Deluxe offering to let me sample some of their teas, and I was so impressed by founder Andy Hayes' website, which features a tribute to his mother, who passed away following a battle with breast cancer. Since I lost my own mother to cancer just about this time two years ago, that naturally spoke to me, and I was pleased to see that his tribute is no weepy thing but rather an encouraging, uplifting account of some of the wonderful lessons his mother taught him. (What mother wouldn't be proud of that!) Now usually, I tell any tea company that offers to send me tea samples to please just send whatever they like, not wanting to appear greedy, but this time, I saw a tea I truly coveted and let greed lead the way, saying, "May I please, please, please have some of your Reading Nook blend?"  Since my day job now includes editing novels, that tea seemed right up my alley. Happily, Andy wrote back and said sure, he'd be glad to send me that one and a sample of a few others as well. Oh happy day!

This Reading Nook blend lived up to my every expectation, and I think it's so pretty that I'd like to have bowls of it to sit around as potpourri. The scent is lightly floral, and I can truly see myself savoring this delicious and delicate tea as I'm reading for pleasure. It wasn't by any means an overpowering floral taste I got, just a little extra something in the tea, and I loved it. I got a kick out of reading the list of ingredients, too: "Black Tea, Rosebuds, Lavender, Chamomile, Love, Gratitude, Natural Flavor." I tasted the love!

This Oregon Breakfast black tea was a lovely surprise! I didn't read the ingredients first, I just made the tea and tried to figure out what was in it. Once I prepared the tea, I detected a distinctly nutty scent. When I sipped, I got a wonderful nutty flavor. The ingredients? "Black Tea, Honeybush Tea, Orange Peels, Hazelnut Essence, Love, Gratitude." So it was the hazelnut I was tasting. Ahhh. And yum!

Finally, I can't get enough spice teas right now, so this Deluxe Pumpkin Spice Tea was a treat because it's a little more spicy and peppery than the usual pumpkin teas I drink. It contains "Honeybush Tea, Black Tea, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Ginger, Cloves, Calendula, Safflower, and Natural Pumpkin Flavor." Plum Deluxe also has a Tea Club and newsletter (which I've just signed up for), and if you'd like to visit their website and learn more about these terrific teas, just click here!

Fall 2015 Bake From Scratch magazine

I have been a magazine junkie for as long as I can remember. I started with Tiger Beat and Teen (Teen published my first letter to the editor when I was still in junior high) and worked my way up to Seventeen, Glamour, and then Newsweek and Time when I decided to become a journalist. Years later, when I became editor of a local magazine, I bought even more magazines because I wanted to see what "the big guys" were doing, and I have always been eager to check out new magazines I hear about. I hadn't heard a thing about Bake From Scratch magazine, but I saw it on the newsstand  recently and decided to flip through it. I have this rule: if I open to three pages and don't see anything I care about, I'm done. Through. You've got three chances to get my attention, and that's it. Lately, I've noticed how very similar magazines have become. Christmas magazines? I've seen those pretty wreaths and candy-cane-covered trees a million times before. Fall cooking magazines? Oh, who doesn't need one more article on how to cook the perfect Thanksgiving turkey. The anything-with-Vintage-in-the-title magazines? If I see one more article on chalk paint, someone is going to get hurt. (My, that sounds snarky for a Monday morning, doesn't it? Sorry!) But I've said all that to say this: I reached for Bake From Scratch magazine and loved everything I saw. That Apple Spice Cake on the cover? What a great and yet somehow moody photo.

Inside the magazine, I found a Vanilla Buying Guide, and I needed that. You know how the Barefoot Contessa always tells everyone to use "the good vanilla"? I've always assumed she means expensive, only-available-in-the-Hamptons vanilla, so it was lovely to read about the history of vanilla as well as the difference between the various pure vanillas and extracts.

As I flipped through the magazine, I already knew I was going to buy it, and then I saw this feature on scones. And aren't they beautiful scones?

And here are some more beautiful scones, and guess what? The magazine has 12 whole pages of beautifully photographed scones and recipes! Sweet Potato Sage Scones? Pear Chai Spiced Scones? Vanilla Bean and Cardamom Scones? I think I'm in love. The magazine costs $12.99, and I wonder if that's a sustainable price level for such a publication, but it turns out the publisher is Hoffman Media, which has a long history of making successful business decisions and so far has done just fine without my input. Hoffman is also publisher of our beloved Tea Time, and as I flipped past the page from the editor (some guy named Brian), I flipped back and realized the editor is one of Phyllis Hoffman's sons, Brian Hoffman. So if you're a passionate baker, scone maker, and/or magazine junkie, be sure to check out this magazine. My husband and I call it the Garden & Gun of baking, and I'm so impressed with this first issue and wish them all the best.

Teatime Tale #41 — The Blossom

The Blossom

            After washing the breakfast dishes, Miriam finished sipping her second cup of English Breakfast tea and headed outside to her garden with an anxious heart. After working so hard to create a magnificent display of fall annuals early last week, she had been dismayed when the Atlanta weather forecast had turned to rain, rain, and more rain. Added to all that rain, the area had suffered a sudden and violent storm the night before that was so powerful, it caused trees to fall on houses and damage power lines. Quite a few of her neighbors had flood damage in their basements, at least according to the e-mail circulated by her Sunday School class.

            So while she knew she had much to be thankful for since she and Richard had suffered none of those calamities, she was still worried about her flowers and plants. Her Camellia sinensis bush had been struggling for weeks now, and she feared the storms might have finished it off for good. She hoped not.

            Miriam slipped on her Crocs, the old blue gardening clogs she loved but that Richard had always said were “as ugly as homemade sin.” She stepped outside and onto the back patio, trash bag in hand, fully prepared to find a hot mess awaiting her in the patio garden.

            Instead, she was surprised to find that her annuals had fared pretty well. One of the new container gardens she’d planted had gotten knocked over in the storm, and the clay pot broke, but the plants themselves had landed right side up and still looked sturdy. Miriam smiled as she realized that a broken pot didn’t bother her nearly as much as a broken plant. In the raised flower beds near the patio, she had planted masses of mums in gold and yellow hues. She actually preferred the pink and mauve ones, yet she somehow believed that fall mums should echo the fall colors. This year, she’d also included a few bright orange marigolds in her garden plan. The marigolds wouldn’t make it past the first freeze, but in the South, that could be a while.

            Her one concession to a non-gold color was the purple asters. They were just as hardy as the mums, but Miriam knew they didn’t like to be wet. She’d have to watch them to see whether they recovered from all the rain.

            Miriam started to scoop up the broken pieces of the clay pot. She would break them into smaller pieces and recycle them, using them next spring to help with drainage in the bottom of new pots. She was halfway through cleaning up the broken pot when she glanced several yards away and saw something white bobbing in the wind near that Camellia sinensis bush she’d probably lost. Who knew what might have blown over into the yard in last night’s storm.

            Curious, Miriam stopped what she was doing and walked over to her beloved tea plant. To her astonishment, one perfect white blossom was there, so obviously, the plant wasn’t dead after all. 

            Miriam stopped to finger the soft petals. The small white blossom reminded her of the Cherokee Rose, Georgia’s state flower. Why on earth had her Camellia sinensis decided to blossom in such awful weather? But then Miriam remembered that she’d been out of town on a girlfriend getaway when the rain started, so the plant could have blossomed while she was still gone. And the last few times she’d been working in the garden, she was focused on the patio area and probably hadn’t even looked at the tea plant. At any rate, that single blossom was quite lovely, she thought.

            Back at the patio, Miriam finished cleaning up the spills from the storm and repotted the fallen plants. She kept an extra bag of potting soil on hand, and she always had a spare clay pot for container gardening, too. She’d received so many passalong plants from friends over the years, Miriam knew it was wise to keep pots and soil on hand for those unexpected garden treasures that came her way.

            Her Camellia sinensis, in fact, was a gift from a friend who bought it for her on a trip to North Carolina. A garden center there had the plants for sale, and Lynn had told Miriam that she had no idea whether the plant would thrive in Georgia, but since Miriam was such a tea lover, it seemed appropriate that she grow her own tea plant.

            With a fine film of mist and dirt covering her hands and feet, Miriam went inside and took a quick shower. Her afternoon included, of all things, a planning meeting for her church’s Christmas Tea. Christmas planning, already? Miriam sighed. She knew it wasn’t too soon to start, although she would never be one of those women who had all her Christmas gifts purchased by July and wrapped by August.

            Before she got busy with the rest of her day, Miriam decided to have a cup of Darjeeling, another of her favorite teas. She looked at the package and saw that it said, “Garden-fresh tea, straight from our tea gardens in Darjeeling.”

            Garden-fresh? No. Those tea leaves growing in her backyard, they were garden fresh. And to her great delight, despite the storm, they stood.

The Teatime Holidays magazine winner is …

M. Rothfus! I've sent you an e-mail, so as soon as I hear back with your snail mail address, I'll get this packaged up and headed your way. Congrats!

A new website to visit for tea history!

Actually, it's not a "new" website but a "new to me" website. I was looking up some history on tea one night when I was directed to the website of the National Archives. I can't believe I hadn't thought of visiting that website before, because a dear friend of mine used to work for the National Archives in Morrow. Of course they would have resources online!

The image above is from a 2012 exhibit titled "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?" The exhibit was about the government's effect on the American diet, and you can click here if you'd like to visit the slide show for yourself. This particular image reminded me that we used to have a national board of tea tasters in this country. Are you curious why it ended? Then click here. (I find myself in agreement with Senator Harry Reid on this one!)

And if you're a history nut as I am, be sure to bookmark the National Archives website, where you can look up all kinds of fun stories and photos—on tea and lots of other topics as well!

My October column in The Coweta Shopper

For those of you who like to keep up with my Coweta Shopper columns, here is the October edition, which started going out to local readers yesterday. I figure everyone needs a reminder that tea is not only a beverage but also can be used as a cooking ingredient!

Here's the link to this month's column for those of you who aren't local and don't get The Coweta Shopper. I hope you enjoy it!

The "Bless Your Heart" spoon bracelet

Last week, I decided to visit the Marietta Antique Mall, where I ran across this wonderful booth of jewelry that included a style of spoon bracelet I had never seen before. I've had a fancier silverplate spoon bracelet made out of a teaspoon and adorned with pearls, but I like this one even better—and yes, I would proudly wear it to tea!

The "Bless Your Heart" bracelet greatly  appealed to me, although I must admit I *almost* got one like it that said "Sweet as Tea," but I liked the color of the band on this one better. And if you look at that flat edge at left, you can tell the silver part was once a spoon! When I got home, I checked out the Facebook page of the designer, and the page is at Kristian Noel Creates if you're interested. I love that she upcycles materials for her jewelry, and her display was absolutely charming! Next time, I want some of her pretty earrings that are packaged in small cork-topped glass bottles. For some reason, it fuels my writing creativity to see other kinds of artistic creativity, and of course I love knowing that a spoon is part of my bracelet's design.

Funny enough, the evening before, I was at an event where a friend and I had a fun discussion about the phrase "Bless Your Heart." That phrase is often thought to be something southern women say only when we're being catty (and yes, we do that sometimes), but to be honest with you, I think we say it and mean it in a positive sense the vast majority of the time. I've never forgotten the day we buried my maternal grandmother and returned from the funeral only for me to get a phone call letting me know that my pastor, whose family I was very close to, had just died unexpectedly of a heart attack. It was almost too much grief to bear, and when I told my mom, who had just buried her own mother, she gave me a big hug and said, "Oh, bless your heart." I've never forgotten that in her own grief, my mother still had room for mine. But that's what mothers do, don't they? And if I find out someone is sick or has had something bad happen to them, I am very likely to say and mean, "Well, bless your heart." So I hope this brief lesson in the usage of "Bless your Heart" has blessed your heart—really!

The People's Full-Leaf Brew Basket

For steeping fine teas like rooibos, I had been using a plastic infuser basket that I received as a gift. And then one day, it disappeared! I don't know if I stuck it away in some tea mug in the cabinet where I can't find it or whether I accidentally threw it away. All I know is that I am missing that mesh infuser basket. So I was at Harry's Farmer's Market in Marietta last week when I spotted a Republic of Tea stainless steel mesh infuser basket that I thought might do the trick. At $4.99, it was a good price for experimenting with!

My test tea for the finest of infusers is always a rooibos tea, because that tea has the tiniest particles. And while this basket didn't strain out quite all of the tea that an infuser tea bag would, I thought it did a great job, and I have been using it when steeping rooibos teas over the past few days. I do have an almost brand new box of infuser bags, but I feel wasteful if I use one when I have a reusable infuser sitting around. What about you? What do you prefer to use to strain and/or filter your tea?

October Giveaway: Teatime Holidays magazine!

You know I like to get started on Christmas early, so I thought for the October giveaway, I'd offer this Special Collector's Issue from Tea Time magazine called Teatime Holidays!

Inside, you'll find lots of holiday celebration ideas just as we've come to expect from Tea Time, including sweet treats …

Festive teawares …

And pretty serving and packaging ideas for Christmas foods! If you'd like to be entered in the giveaway, just leave an "Enter me" comment to this post between now and 7 a.m. EST this Friday, Oct. 9, and you'll be entered to win. (US and Canada only, please.) Good luck!

Teatime Tale #40 — A Cup of Hope

A Cup of Hope

           It was the lump that every woman dreads finding. Gail was doing her monthly breast self-exam one morning when she felt the small, hard spot, something so small she was convinced it couldn’t possibly be cancer. Still, all her friends who’d had breast cancer insisted that early detection saved lives, and Gail knew better than to let the spot go unchecked. She was sure it would be nothing, so she called her doctor and scheduled an appointment.

            It wasn’t nothing. It was something. Along with the shock of learning she had cancer came the shock of learning she would need to have a lumpectomy followed by radiation. Gail loved to quote the popular saying “Ain’t nobody got time for that,” but she quickly saw that she would have to make time for that. Because she hadn’t worked outside the home since her children, now in their late twenties, were little, she knew she had it much easier than those women who worked full-time outside the home. And single women. And poor women.

            But Gail loved being a volunteer in her community—with Friends of the Library, with Meals on Wheels—and it bothered her that those activities would have to be put on hold for a while.

            Her friend Bonnie, a breast cancer survivor herself, said, “Gail, aren’t you mad that you got cancer?”

            Gail told her that, in all honesty, she was not. Annoyed? Yes. Frightened? She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t. But mad? What would be the point? Lots of people got cancer, Gail told Bonnie, and until they found a cure for the horrible disease, she knew people were going to get it. She considered herself fortunate that her cancer was spotted early, and the doctor had given her the reassuring news that her chance of a full recovery was excellent.

            Week two of radiation was going pretty well. Gail had even written about her treatment on Facebook, asking all her friends—the real ones and the ones she hadn’t laid eyes on in thirty years—to keep her in their thoughts and prayers.

            Her neighbor Pam had been a big help, even preparing dinner for Gail and her husband, Wayne, one night. Wayne was no cook, but he would have happily picked up dinner every night of the week if Gail had asked him to. She enjoyed cooking, but the daily trips for radiation seemed to suck the life out of her.

            So Gail was especially happy when she got home from a round of radiation late one afternoon and had a text from Pam: “Call me when you get home. Got a drop-off.”

            The “drop-off” was a freshly made salad, a pan of Pam’s famous mac ’n cheese, a roasted chicken, and some of her fresh-from-the-garden green beans. For dessert, she included a half-dozen red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing and raspberries on top.

            Gail never realized a gift of food could make her so happy.

            It had rained almost every day for two weeks, and today, after Wayne drove her home from radiation, she took a nap. When she woke up, she decided to have the last of those red velvet cupcakes with her afternoon cup of Earl Grey. Instead of using her customary brown pottery mug, though, Gail chose to have tea using one of her aunt’s Royal Winton Welbeck teacups. Her aunt had always loved that cheerful yellow pattern, and truthfully, Gail did, too. It made her happy just to look at the pretty yellow colors.

            Once her tea steeped, she inhaled the strong, fragrant aroma. Earl Grey always perked her up, and today, the tea was quite a needed pick-me-up.

            Gail was genuinely trying to eat the healthiest food she could get her hands on—organic juices and fruits and vegetables, for starters—but she wasn’t about to let one of Pam’s red velvet cupcakes go to waste. After grabbing a napkin from the kitchen, she headed to the living room with her cupcake and her sunny yellow teacup and settled in.

            Just three more weeks and Gail would be finished with radiation. Wayne had offered to take her to Las Vegas to celebrate after it was all over, but she simply wanted life to get back to normal. She wanted to help coordinate the fall book sale at the library, and she especially wanted to see that all the local shut-ins were equipped with a turkey and trimmings in time for Thanksgiving.

            Gail turned on the TV in the living room just in time to see a commercial for the Promise of Pink, a benefit luncheon raising funds for breast cancer research. The luncheon was being held at the community center later in October. Maybe she would go this year.

            Pink wasn’t Gail’s favorite color, but it represented what was fast becoming a new favorite cause. She raised her teacup in a silent toast to all those along the way who’d helped make it possible for her to have such a good prognosis. Then, she offered a prayer for all those facing a similar challenge and all those who would come behind her.

            And then, just as any hope-filled woman would do, she ate her cupcake.

A "Tea and Honey" teapot from T.J. Maxx

When I was in a T.J. Maxx this week, I was looking through the clearance items when I came across a teapot with a familiar-looking flower. I thought wow, that looks like a Camellia sinensis blossom, and that's exactly what it was! Turns out, this was the six-cup "Tea and Honey" teapot from Cardew, and it was on the clearance shelf for $5 because it was missing its lid. Hmm. Surely I could find a white lid to match, eh?

I loved the saying that runs from front to back on this teapot. It says, "Busy bees …

… for our tea …

… Bring home honey." Love it!

And it even has the tea plant's name at the bottom. After I photographed the teapot, I realized the lid to my white tea-tasting mug actually fits this teapot perfectly, so that made me feel even better about my $5 find. But what did the original lid look like? I was surprised, and you may be as well (click here for a photo), but I'm still quite happy with my bargain "Tea and Honey" teapot!

Traveling home with Argo Tea's Green Tea Ginger Twist

While I've enjoyed several of Argo Tea's bottled teas before, I was not aware this company sold loose leaf tea until I saw their small stand at O'Hare in Chicago on Monday as we were about to fly back home to Georgia. My purse-slash-tote bag was packed full (books, notebooks, camera, iPad, iPhone, chargers, etc.), but I knew I had enough room left in my suitcase to tuck a tin of tea.

And I'm so glad I did, because this Green Tea Ginger Twist was wonderful! I pretty much like any ginger tea, but the addition of the lemon in this one was a pleasant change. I enjoyed knowing I'm getting the healthy benefits of green tea, and the ginger and lemon combo made it deliciously different.

And finally, I thought you might enjoy seeing the reason we made the trip up north to begin with, sweet Andrew and Michael! My stepdaughter and her husband know that as much as we enjoy visiting with them, it's these precious boys we also love to see, and it was also fun that they donned their Halloween costumes early so we could see how they'll be trick-or-treating this year. All in all, a most successful trip, I'd say!