Back again!

Yikes! Where did the time go - here it is September already!I've lined up some part-time jobs and they have been keeping me busy. One of those jobs is selling loose teas at the local farmer's market again so I've been busy blending and getting ready for that. My first day is this coming Saturday. I'm going with a fall theme, with such teas as orange spice, harvest blend, apple spice and some nice organics. I'm going to start with about 10 teas and try to feature either a new one each week. Wish me luck!

New Month

August has begun and I've got great hopes for this month! Hopefully I'll be able to move out of my funk and get working again. The foot is still sore so I think my treadmill days are over - it's the exercise bike and whatever else my gym offers that doesn't bother my feet.
The new car is working out great - still getting used to it but I think, aside from those pesky power windows, it's a going to be a good vehicle. Filled it up for the first time today - gas prices are about $1.32 per litre here and because of a provincial gas shortage (the main refinery was damaged in a lightning storm and it's taking a while to fix it), I had to get Supreme gas which is 8 cents a litre more but I still managed to fill it for $40 - and there was only about an eighth of a tank left when I got it filled. You know with this type of situation, they'll be jacking the prices up so this will probably last for about two weeks since we have no plans to get out of town until the end of the month and hopefully the shortage will be over by then.
Stocked up on some new K-cups today - wanted to get the Green Mountain Coconut flavor but the shop ran out. However they did have Green Mountain's Wild Blueberry, which is surprisingly delicious, and Green Mountain's Glazed Chocolate Donut, and these more than make up for the loss of the coconut flavor. As for tea, it's been mostly iced King Cole Decaf Cranberry Raspberry Green, which is very tasty.
The weather's still cold but I am convinced that summer is still coming - it's just been delayed somewhat ...

What A Week!

I haven't written in a while and there's good reason for that. While out driving two Wednesday mornings ago, the bottom fell off my car.
It's not a great way to start the day.
Fortunately there was no traffic - otherwise they would have been swerving to avoid springs and various other car body parts that came flying off. I have no idea how we got the beast home but when we did, I knew it was time to start looking for another vehicle. After all, there's really no point in putting thousands of dollars of repairs on a rusty 12-year-old vehicle that's probably going to fail inspection anyway. So, for the part week, I've been renting, taking the bus and walking, all the while looking at new-to-me vehicles.
I love to shop. But I despise car shopping. I finally decided on a small 2010 Chev that has few kilometres on it and some warranty left. I'll have payments for the next few years but I can pay it down whenever I can, so I know where all my extra money will be going. I hate having a car payment again but at this time, it's pretty much a necessity and I'll just have to adjust.
It's a nice little vehicle and I confess I'm a little afraid of it. New cars always freak me out a bit since you're never sure just how they'll react to certain situations. It has power windows and locks which I hate and if you don't use them, the horn will start beeping - I'm sure the neighbors are shaking their heads as I write this. It does have air conditioning, which I've never had before and I'm using it - it's been pretty hot here the past few days.
Of course, the fun never ends - when I arrived home after buying the car, my eight year EMac has decided that it's going on vacation - maybe permanently. So I'm looking at computers - I need a job soon to pay for all of this. So, today, I applied for a few jobs - the serious job hunt has begun.
Of course, all of this stress has exhausted me so I'm drinking Harney's Paris tea right now. I may have some Higgins and Burke Pear Green tea later - it's subtle and gentle for a hot summer's day.

Back to Tea

I awoke not feeling all that great this morning and decided to soothe myself at lunch with a traditional (sort of) afternoon tea. I took some homemade scones out of the freezer and slathered one with some homemade lemon curd. Then I made a peanut butter sandwich and cut it into fours and completed the food with a large slice of the blueberry pecan coffee cake that I made yesterday. The tea was a loose coconut black from Metropolitan Tea. And you know what - I do feel a little better! Maybe I was just hungry for something special.
I tried one of my samples from Upton Tea yesterday, a Yunnan Green Silver Buds Supreme. What a nice tea! I may have to order more of this one. It was light, vegetal with an orchid like scent - a lovely summertime tea.
It's back to hot and sunny today - it feels like July again.

Chilly Summer

After a week of heat and sun, the rain and cooler temperatures are back. I don't mind the cooler weather - it's much more comfortable - but I doubt if others share my opinion. We haven't even had a queasy day yet - you know, a day so hot, you haven't got the energy to do anything but sweat and it's so hot, you actually feel a little sick. I don't really consider it to be summer until we get one of those days but here it is, nearly mid-July, and none of those days are even in sight.
It hasn't even been hot enough yet to make iced tea or crave ice cream. I've been eating a lot of chocolate lately and it's not even melting. Yes, I have been drinking plenty of hot tea but mainly out of the Tassimo - Earl Grey, Chai Spice Lattes and the occasional Twinnings Ceylon Black. I really have to get back to making proper tea but I've been craving a Dragonwell Green and of course, that's the one tea I don't have. I may have to make do with a darjeeling or even a pouchong.

Summertime and the roofing is easy ...

Well, for me anyway - I hired people to do it. They've been here all week after rainy weather delayed them getting here by about five weeks. They're a hard-working bunch and I admit I don't envy them working in sun-drenched 29 C conditions but I guess it's better than working in the rain. I've had a chimney taken out on an old Franklyn stove that was improperly installed and therefore unusable so while it's looking nice outside, it now means I have a hole in my livingroom ceiling. It's covered with a grocery store bag, adding to the ambience of the room.
Despite the high temperatures, I haven't started drinking iced tea yet. I have been drinking Stash's Wuyi Chocolate Mint Oolong which is surprisingly good and a white orange spice that I picked up at the mall. I do think there will be some iced green peach tea in my future though ...

Iffy 50

I turned 50 today.
Yabba dabba dooooooooo!
Seriously though, turning 20, 30 or 40 never bothered me in the slightest. Turning 25 did because once you hit 25, you can't use the excuse of youthful exuberance any more for dumb mistakes. You're also a quarter of a century old which sounds even worse. Now that I'm a half-century old, it means I'm at least half-way towards the end and I'm definitely no longer a kid.
But everything was going OK until I looked at the newspaper online and found out that another relative had died. I guess that's going to keep happening with increasing familiarity now that I'm firmly in the middle of middle age.
Fortunately, there's a small birthday cake in the fridge and my friend gave me the prettiest Royal Albert teacup (Lovelace) and a package of Stash's Chocolate Mint Oolong. I'll raise a toast this evening, to my favorite great uncle and to whatever the future may bring.

Cloudy Days and Crazy Crows

The sun dropped by for a visit yesterday although it's gone back into hiding today. Apparently, according to the weather gurus, we've had 14 days of rain for the first 17 days of this month - yet, we haven't broken any records. I guess it clears up at night. Oh well, we're saving on sunscreen.
Of course, this is delaying getting my roof repaired although I may have some explaining to do when they eventually get here. As I drove out of my driveway yesterday, I noticed a crow with a hot dog on my roof. Now that's not something you see everyday! I watched as he carefully placed the bun in my rain gutter and then he began to eat it. It's probably the same bird that was up on on the roof a few weeks ago with a sandwich.I don't know where or how he's getting his meals but I can just imagine the looks on the roofers' faces when they'll take down the rain gutters off the house - an all-you-can-eat buffet? What's up with that?
As long as they don't start stealing my tea ...

Computers and the democratization of us all

Yes, I am getting pretentious here but when you think about it, what has, more than anything else, made us more equal than almost anything, besides the vote?
It has to be the computer and what it has led to.
Think back about 25 or 30 years ago. If you lived in a small town or rural area, you bought what was available at your local shop or you had to drive miles out of your way to the city. If you wanted to see a major entertainment or sporting event or even buy a bestseller, you pretty much had to do the same thing, since big name acts don't usually fly into beautiful metropolitan Podunk and many of these smaller areas don't even have (gasp) book stores.
It just ain't the same today. Thanks to computers and the internet, we can get anything we want when we want, whether we live in New York City or Hicksville. We can order whatever books and tea whenever we want or not when the local shopkeeper decides to carry it. I remember years ago looking for pants in an olive green color and being told by the local shopkeeper that she didn't sell them because people around here didn't want that color.
Yeah. Guess I didn't count.
But that's OK now because I can get them online in whatever color I choose and not what a local yokel fashionista deems to be the proper shade for my rump.
The same goes for my coffee and tea choices. I tend to get most of my day to day stuff online with the occasional taster bought locally when something catches my eye. I do try to shop locally when I can but I refuse to give up when they don't carry the things I like.

Just Getting Lazy

I've been buying teas lately and it seems every tea I try, I have a single cup and I'm not inspired enough to have a second. So I've been making too many cups of Twinings Earl Grey via the Tassimo. I mean, I like Earl Grey, but I wish it wasn't becoming my fallback tea because the other teas are so lousy.
My onions in the backyard are growing wonderfully. Unlike most Maritimers, they seem happy enough with the wet, chilly weather we have been experiencing lately. I've just learned about bag method for growing potatoes and I might give it a try. I've always wanted to grow potatoes but thought it was too difficult. The bag method sounds pretty easy and therefore, right up my ally!
I have been adding more and more cups and saucers to my collection, thanks to Value Village. They sell saucers for 99 cents and cups for the same - the trick is managing to match everything up so you get a complete set for a 1.98. It's a great, fun way to expand your teacup collection for next to nothing and you get some pretty amazing pieces. People just don't value these items any more - but that's good news for those of us who love a bargain.

Scone-a-mania

I baked again today. On the menu today were mayonnaise biscuits (surprisingly delicious and few ingredients), rich tea scones, blueberry oatmeal scones, chocolate chip muffins and a President's Choice shortbread mix that I managed to burn. Everything that I made from scratch was delicious and the shortbread was OK - the unburnt stuff, that is. Nearly everything has been frozen except for the tasting scones/muffins so my freezer is now heaving and I'm stuffed!
The tea de jour is Grapefruit black, which cuts through all the sweetness quite nicely.

Muffin Mania!

Even though the weather here argues to the contrary, I do believe we're going to have a long, hot summer. So, I'd like to have a freezer full of my favorite baked goods ready so I don't have to turn on the oven more than necessary during the summer months. Last week, I made a few loaf cakes and today, it was time for muffins. I started at 7 pm and by 10 pm, I had baked five and half dozen muffins: blueberry, strawberry, double chocolate and banana chocolate chip. Four and a half dozen have been frozen while the remaining dozen have been left out for snacking purposes. And I do have to say - I make a great muffin! Muffins are one of those foods that have to be made at home - I have yet to have a decent one in a restaurant or coffee shop. Also, the ones you buy are so big and full of calories - at least homemade ones are smaller and can be adapted for whatever diet you follow.
To go with those muffins, I just received some of Stash's Meyer Lemon Herbal tea and have been drinking that. It's very lemonny and not at all grassy tasting, like so many lemon teas are. I'll definitely be ordering more.

Weather's better

The weather is back to normal for this area - low teens and misty. Pretty much perfect weather for gardening and that's what I've been doing. Planted a small vegetable garden today - asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, onions, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, peas, beans and zuchinni. The tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, lettuce and some herbs will be planted in pots while the rest are in my new raised bed. Who knows what will happen now - it's pretty much up to Mother Nature.
I am drinking Spring Pouchong today and it's still the best tasting (and smelling) tea I have ever had. It smells like a spring garden filled with lilacs and roses. I am drinking it in a Royal Doulton "Nicole" pattern cup and saucer, which my mother gave me about 20 years ago. It's cream colored bone china decorated with tiny yellow flowers and what looks like sprigs of lilacs. I prefer to drink tea out of bone china but I usually use a mug. The past few days I have been using a tea cup and saucer and it does enhance the experience. Since a china lover can never have too many cups and saucers, yesterday I hit Value Village and scored quite a nice haul. For just over $9, I bought five saucers and five cups. Yes, they're mismatched but I managed to get them to nearly match so that only an expert would know the difference. My best purchase was a cup by Rosina called Wild Flowers, which is pretty blue flowers on a white background. I think it's a demitasse since it's smaller than the others. I highly recommend this as a way to expand your tea cup collection but it does take some time - most of the time what's in stock is pretty awful.

Sometimes You Do Get What You Wished For ...

Ooops! In my past posts, I mentioned how I want cold damp weather - well, I got it! On Thursday and Friday previous, we had sunshine and temperatures in the mid-20s C (mid - 70s F). Yesterday and today, it's been foggy and in the low single digits (high 30s). Now personally, I love this sort of weather - I'd like it year-round - but I know I'm in the minority and I now feel kind of bad for those hoping for nicer weather on the holiday weekend.
However, it's still great weather for trying new teas and I did just that. I tried Tazo's Sweet Orange, which is an herbal orange flavored blend. Quite nice although not as good as the Orange Tangerine from Celestial Seasonings, who get it just right. I also tried a Cherry Rose green which was pleasant enough, at the one local restaurant that actually offers loose tea, served in a proper pot. Unfortunately, they don't decant but hey, who expects everything? I'm just impressed that they see the need for loose over bagged. Someday, we'll reach the 20th century around here!

Good Weather - Oh Well

Yes, you read that right. We have been receiving spectacular weather the past two days and I am none too happy about it (see previous post). Oh well, it is suppose to be freezing here tomorrow so hopefully that will come about. I am being a real scrooge but I am worried about my roof and oil tank - once they're fixed, let the sunshine and hot weather reign!
It's the long weekend and even more importantly, it's the weekend when they'll be showing the new Jesse Stone movie on CBS. Sunday night at 10 EST. I love these movies - not so much for the stories but for the characters, atmosphere and setting. I could care less what happens - I just want that house that Stone lives in! It's in the most beautiful setting possible.
I'm drinking some Earl Grey from my Tassimo right now. I confess I am using that machine entirely too much. But it does make good Earl Grey!