As I write this, the orioles are at the feeders. I even went and bought an oriole feeder - only to discover that oriole food is sugar water with orange dye in it. Doh! But he is still a real beauty. I've never really seen them this close before. It kind of reminds me of the Cape May, NJ Zoo, where in a sense, you are in the cage and the animals have huge spaces to roam in. Huge for a zoo. It is really nice because you can very close to many of them.
Our farmer neighbor is finally plowing and discing his field, I bet he's happy to be able to do it at last. Discing breaks up the big clods and furrows the plow leaves behind. Think of a long row of discs mounted on a rod, parallel to the ground. Another farmer has goslings, along with his lambs and calves. At the moment they are wee little balls of yellow fluff. Geese are good parents, one of them is always on alert and the goslings are always between them. The lambs are growing rapidly, eating grass as well as milk. The mamas still have their long fleece and now that it is warmer, I would imagine they are almost too warm.
Back to black tea today, Samovar's Russian Blend. The small leaves are black and silver and have a smokey smell. The teas come from China and are supposed to have lychee flavoring. I can't smell it, but I am not sure I would recognize it as lychees are pretty bland. I do my usual 3.5 minutes with boiling water. The smoke aroma is till there. The tea tastes smokey, but pleasantly, gently so. There is a certain juiciness around the edges that I would attribute to the lychee, as well as a bit of teasing fruit. Unlike most teas labeled "Russian", this doesn't have a bit of heaviness or citrus peel. I think this would be a pleasant afternoon tea for those who can tolerate smoke, probably served with cheese and crackers and sturdy fruits, red grapes perhaps.
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