With the closing of my brick and mortar shop looming - just two weeks to go till the day we shut our door for the last time - I have not had a great deal of time for tea with friends. I am busy working most of the time right now and most of my friends are either far removed or are themselves just too busy for tea. But that's ok. I am making time for tea every day. The Wee Plum Pot has been a staunch companion in a hard month. It came to me a bit early, and I'm grateful for the lessons of tea during a rough time.
Here it is, posing with some Inktense pencils (and yes that IS a Marriage Freres tin holding them), my beloved water brush, and some opaque watercolors. I love how the tea cosy picks up the colors of the paint pans. I've taken to using one of the lovely tea towels that Karen sent, to make a small oasis of calm and pretty amidst the creative chaos.
"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea." ~Bernard-Paul Heroux
I keep meaning to put some flowers out but the cats tend to eat them, so most of my flowers live outside. Still. It is nice to make a spot of lovely calm for tea and paints, and the good vibes from all the friendly folks the teapot visited previously must have soaked in. The Plum Pot and I have shared many pots of Harney's Russian Country blend lately. That's a particularly delightful blend for art, I think, a little smokey and very complex. If you can't sit in a bohemian cafe all afternoon, this probably smells a little like the same thing. Well, maybe more campfire than tobacco, but close.
From the Harney site: "A blend of four teas along with an additional touch of Lapsang, this is a softer version of Smoky Lapsang Souchong. This tea is reminiscent of the teas that were carried by camel across the Asian deserts to Russia. As Norwood Pratt quips: "the only choice was one hump or two.""
I am still hoping to schedule some Skype and tea time with a friend, if we can just manage to get our schedules lined up in the week I have left! This is tea in the modern age, I guess. Laptop to laptop. Till then, I'll just take a break each day and the Plum Pot and I will have some tea and paint with the cats. No laptop or work. No metal or tools. Just tea.
"Find yourself a cup of tea; the teapot is behind you. Now tell me about hundreds of things." ~Saki
