Category Archives: Nature

Saturday Morning Tea

Here in New England, this is the kind of day we wait for all winter long – brilliant sun, azure skies, no clouds and temps forecasted near 50. A glorious day for walking!

This morning I am delving back into the herbal world to share an interesting tisane that I’ve been enjoying as my evening cuppa lately.

Ocimum tenioflorum, commonly called Holy Basil and known in India as Tulsi,  meaning “the incomparable one” in Sanskrit.

There are 2 types of Holy Basil, one with light green leaves and one with dark. I have prepared the darker variety, also called purple leaf probably because the leaves have a purplish tinge to them.

Many Hindu families have Tulsi growing in pots outside the entrance to their home. The Tulsi plant is venerated as a goddess and every year a ritual is performed marrying her to the god Vishnu. This ceremonial marriage is called Tulsi Vivah and it signifies the end of the monsoon season and the beginning of the Hindu wedding season.

Tulsi has been used for thousands of years in Ayurvedic remedies. Studies have shown its benefits in quite a few conditions ranging from regulating blood glucose to pain relief to reducing cholesterol levels. I’ve also read that its great for easing stress.

I steeped the leaves for 8 minutes in boiled water. The amber liquor has a distinctive clove, anise/licorice aroma which carries over into its taste.

Sweet and spicy pepper notes mingle with a hint of cinnamon and fruit. I bet this would be lovely iced.

I’m looking forward to a warmer time when iced drinks will be regularly enjoyed.

The fresh air is beckoning….enjoy your weekend!

“When we emerge into the bright landscapes of the sun everything looked brighter, and we felt our faith in Nature’s beauty strengthened, and saw more clearly that beauty is universal and immortal, above, beneath, on land, in heat and cold, light and darkness.” ~John Muir

Saturday Morning Tea on Sunday

The weather couldn’t have been better at this time of the year – sunny and near 50 degrees! – for the move yesterday. They’re all moved in and now the unpacking and settling into a new home begins. There’s a lot of moving energy around me these days, including a company move coming up this summer.

I am sipping a cup of green Ceylon tea this morning, from the Idalgashinna estate, located in the Uva province in southeastern Sri Lanka.

Tea growing on the island of Sri Lanka was started in the late 1800s by a Scottish gentleman named James Taylor. Up until that time, coffee was the number one crop on the island until a rust fungus killed the majority of coffee plants. Starting with a basic tea cultivation knowledge learned in Northern India and 19 acres of land, he soon turned a small business into a very successful one, selling his tea for the first time at the London auction by 1873.

As you can see, this particular green tea has quite a large leaf. After steeping for 3 minutes in 180 degree F water, some of the twisted full leaf releases that shape and some stay tight. As I poured my first cup, a distinct vegetal aroma rose from my glass teapot.

A teapot full of sunshine.

The liquor is light and more delicate than other green teas, with a floral note reminiscent of a “green” Oolong. Its brightness, characteristic of Ceylon high grown teas, is revealed as the tea cools.

With deep blue skies and fast moving fluffy clouds, today is the perfect day for a hike into the late winter woods. I like to go every Sunday afternoon for my weekly dose of nature.

As I started down the woodsy path last week, I sensed a gradual awakening that tells me that we are almost at spring’s glorious door.

The fields are snowbound no longer;
There are little blue lakes and flags of tenderest green.
The snow has been caught up into the sky–
So many white clouds–and the blue of the sky is cold.
Now the sun walks in the forest,
He touches the bows and stems with his golden fingers;
They shiver, and wake from slumber.
Over the barren branches he shakes his yellow curls.
Yet is the forest full of the sound of tears….
A wind dances over the fields.
Shrill and clear the sound of her waking laughter,
Yet the little blue lakes tremble
And the flags of tenderest green bend and quiver.

~Very Early Spring by Katherine Mansfield

Is It Spring Yet?

There might have been a snowstorm here last Tuesday but I have this gorgeous blooming hyacinth on my kitchen windowsill to remind me that spring is getting closer.

Today I’m helping my daughter move into her new home and, as we want to get an early start to the day, my tea is quickly being poured into a travel mug as I head out the door. I will return tomorrow for our weekly cup of tea together.

I leave you with this wonderful quote from Thich Nhat Hanh.

Enjoy your tea.

“Suppose you are drinking a cup of tea. When you hold your cup, you may like to breathe in, to bring your mind back to your body, and you become fully present. And when you are truly there, something else is also there—life, represented by the cup of tea. In that moment you are real, and the cup of tea is real. You are not lost in the past, in the future, in your projects, in your worries. You are free from all of these afflictions. And in that state of being free, you enjoy your tea. That is the moment of happiness, and of peace.”

The Process of Becoming

First of all, my heart and prayers go out to the people of Haiti.  If you haven’t yet, you can find out how to help here.

Ever since a couple of Saturdays ago when I wrote about choosing a word for the year to guide and inspire, my mind has been filled with thoughts about what my word could be for 2010. I find it challenging and a bit daunting to choose a word that will define my direction for a WHOLE year.

As I discovered last year, a life can change drastically in a year’s time. A year ago, I was struggling with a debilitating condition, in a great deal of pain, both physically and emotionally, and now here I sit, in a healthier body in a brand new home. My own home.

Inspired by the flavor and color of that second flush Darjeeling tea from that day (mmmm), I’ve meditated at length on the word rich. This word is commonly associated with financial gain, however, there are many other ways to experience richness in one’s life. It can also describe how I feel about my life right at this very moment, fostering a sense of gratitude and abundance for all that I have and experience. In that respect, it brings me directly into the moment instead of focusing on the future. It gets me out of my head and into my heart, a way of being encouraged strongly by a psychic I went to see on a brilliantly sunny day last February. She told me that I should figure out how to live a more yummy, juicy life. Well, rich is yummy and juicy, isn’t it?

So, I thought that I was pretty much decided……that is, until I read my Daily OM horoscope e-mail last Thursday, entitled “The Process of Becoming”. Becoming? Huh? Hmmmm….oh….yes…..becoming. You know when you have a moment when something – a person, an experience, a WORD – resonates so strongly that you feel like it is a key that is perfectly shaped to your heart and soul? Some folks might call that experience an epiphany.

“a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.”

I read my horoscope every morning. Sometimes it offers inspiration or an insight into a problem or challenge I’m experiencing but most times, to be honest, it’s a quick skimming read over morning cereal. Not this time, however.

Becoming

“any change involving realization of potentialities, as a movement from the lower level of potentiality to the higher level of actuality.”

Of course, I could put those 2 words together. Becoming Rich. Rich Becoming. I think I like the latter phrase better which seems to evoke a yummy, juicy unfolding as opposed to conjuring images of get rich quick schemes.

Have you ever heard someone say that at this very moment you are exactly where you are supposed to be? How every moment of your life up until now has led you exactly to this place? These words have become my constant companions in the past year as I’ve experienced the process of purchasing my new home. This process was incredibly long and drawn out, involving slow moving banks and such, and it also involved the end of a relationship as it was, which would then make 2 endings of that sort in less than 6 years. When something like this happens, you go through all of the “should haves” and “should not haves”, right? I admit, I had my share of “woe is me” days about this but what I kept coming back to was how everything seemed to click into place in the last year to bring me here. Right here. Here is where I need to be. Where I’m supposed to be.

Have you chosen a word for the year? The first year I did this, I followed the advice found on Christine Kane’s blog here.

I copied and pasted all of the words from the list in that post into a blank document, arranged them on the screen so I could cut them out individually once I printed it. The pile of words then went into a colorful bowl. As I swirled the bits of paper around, I closed my eyes and thought about the year ahead and put my intention out into the universe for guidance. Then I grabbed a slip of paper. That was in 2008 and my word for that year was Beauty. That was another year of moving for me. My new home at that time was closer to nature and a garden so I immersed myself into those things and took a lot of photographs. Focusing on the beauty in the world became a very healing year for me.

Becoming

Rich Becoming

It’s only a word or two but what’s truly important is where it brings you.

“As we focus on enjoying each step along our journey to success, we immerse ourselves fully in the process of becoming.” ~from the Daily OM, The Process of Becoming, 1/15/10

Saturday Morning Tea

A most Happy Thanksgiving weekend to you all!

While the wind howls at the eaves outside, I am inside cozily sipping from a cup of this exquisite Formosa white tea. I watch the empty tree branches bow and sway and think about how resilient they are. While outside forces seek to move them, they simply go with the flow of the wind and then bend back to their original shape. Having strong roots and an inner core helps ground them against these forces.

The trees have much to teach us about life and change.

Tea is firmly woven into Taiwan culture, with tea houses or “tea-art” shops located all over the island. Its old fashioned name, Formosa, is Portugese for “beautiful island”. Many Taiwanese families collect teaware in the form of unglazed clay pots.

This excerpt from Wikipedia:

“Traditionally, “raising the teapot” at home is a way of life in Taiwan. Teapots are used to brew teas intensively so that the surface of the teapot becomes “bright”. This process is called “raising the teapot”, which enhances the beauty of the clay teapot. Tea stores are virtually everywhere in Taiwan. In big cities like Taipei one can easily find tea for sale on nearly every city block.”

Sounds like my kind of place. I love that they refer to their tea shops as “tea-art” shops!

Most tea grown on the island is processed as Oolong tea, or Wu-long tea. That’s what makes this particular tea very unique as it has been processed as a white tea. White tea leaves are allowed to dry slightly first and then heated up right away to prevent oxidation (darkening of the leaf) from occurring.

I steeped the leaves for 3 minutes in 180 degree F water.

The aroma is fresh and delicate. The words I would use to describe the taste of this tea.

Clean. Fresh. Soft. Buttery. Smooth. Fruity, just a whisper.

Unlike the teas I have reviewed lately, this tea is crystal clear, a pale, straw color.

About 10 years ago, I attended an arts and crafts show locally and purchased a set of teabowls and a teamug. This is my favorite piece. I remember how the potter told me that she dreamed the symbols she painted on her teaware. I love the road running through this one.

The road of tea, one that I am most happy to be on.

I can’t recall the potter’s name. I think that she was from Colorado. If anyone recognizes this work, please do let me know as I would love to contact her and see her new work.

Last Wednesday, we had a tea and cheese pairing/tasting at work. It was a new experience for me and introduced me to the wonderful world of specialty cheeses. So far, my experience has been very limited in that area. I took some photos and am hoping to be able to post and share my thoughts with you soon.

This weekend will be spent painting my bathroom over at my new place. Starting several weeks ago, they ripped out the ceiling, walls and floor to reveal the inner structure of the room. Now everything has been transformed with new wallboard and beadboard. I’ve been pouring over Benjamin Moore paint chips and never realized how many creams and whites there were! The theme of my new bathroom will be luminescence.

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished.

That will be the beginning.

~Louis L’Amour