Sweet Rosy Earl Grey

We all need a little buttressing in our lives and I want to honor a woman who buttressed mine. Today would have been my Gramma Duffee's birthday. Harriet Grace Ottman McDuffee that is. She was born in 1885. She was an adventurous person, getting her ears pierced when she was about 80 – and getting my cousin to do it as well [and in trouble]. She bought her last car at 85 – a bright red convertible, and she had her first motor boat ride when she was 90 . Her cookies were wonderful, and she served them with green tea! Gramma was the only person I had ever met [until I became an adult] who drank green tea, Lipton's loose in a green and white box. So today I will lift my green tea in tribute to a great lady, whom I loved dearly.

Sweet Rosie O'Grady. Oops, no, I meant Rosy Earl Grey. The tea. From Teas Etc. Sweet it is, but not sugary. It smells wonderful, more like its rose-scented jasmine component than Earl Grey. It is very pretty too with a mix of green and black leaves and big pink rose petals. I brew it my standard 3.5 minutes with not really boiling water, using a bit more than a teaspoon per cup. It smells delightful as it brews and pours out to a very nice amber. There is not much taste of bergamot, either when it is hot or as it cools. It tastes almost exclusively like a very nice rose-kissed jasmine, with the very barest hint of lemon, which would be the bergamot. It is a very nice tea, just made for a “lady's” afternoon. I had it for a late breakfast with tea breads, does that count? I wonder if Gramma Duffee would like it? Probably too frou-frou for her taste.

The last tree in the neighborhood that has leaves is finally losing them. It has been interesting to watch this beech turn yellow, deepening to gold, then red and finally burgundy. The top is bare now, with just a raggedy frill about the bottom. If we get more rain, it will be bare like all the others.