Icey White

Gosh, I really got carried away with the flowers, didn't I?


This morning we were treated to the sight of a doe and 2 almost-grown fawns, practicing fence jumping. Bert the brave was watching them from the window and wasn't sure if he should be afraid or not. There are lots of birds, including some blue birds, which I haven't seen in quite a while as they are not town birds. We understand it is very common to see black bear so one must be careful not to get between a mama and her cubs, as mama bears can be vicious if they perceive a threat to their young.


Last evening we were sitting on the porch, watching the shadows lengthen and the evening fall. I was reminded of many such evenings with my Gramma 'Duffee, the green tea drinker. When the work was done and evening approached, we'd put the porch chairs on the lawn and watch the shadows crawl across the hills, waiting for that last bit of glorious sunset, talking desultorily of this and that. She lived on a hillside above the Schoharie valley in Upstate New York. Perhaps that is where I acquired my love of hills. It certainly is one of the ways I learned to love tea, as she and I often shared a cup of gunpowder or Lipton's green, loose leaf.


Since we moved to a new house, I felt it was appropriate to buy a new teapot. Any excuse, right? I found one at www.servv.com that I had had my eye on and it was on sale! It is a white Foo Dog or Lion Dog and totally cute. Perhaps I should say fierce, as they are traditionally the sacred guardians of Buddhist temples. The pot was made in Nepal and came packed in Nepalese newspapers. I can't read them, but I enjoyed the photos. Of course, I had to buy some tea there as well. A sampler of 4 Himalayan teas – black ones flavored with cinnamon, mint, ginger and lemon. I also ordered some from Gingko at Life in Teacup and plan to get some Indigo Dreams from Madam Potts when she returns from her Paris fling.


Our local grocery has lots of tea. One that caught my eye was Inko's White Tea, billed as 100% natural white iced tea, unsweetened, of course. It cost $1.79 for a 16 oz bottle, which was glass, I was glad to see. It is a very pale gold. The only additional ingredient is citric acid. It's pretty good, tasting vaguely of apricots, strawberry and pineapple, with the faintest whiff of smokiness. The tastes don't seem to be there all at once, but kind of dosey-do in and out. In the interests of thoroughness, I added some sugar to the last of it and that seemed to bring out pineapple the most. All in all, I think it's a good brew.