I have always loved the wind. I love to see it ripple through long grass and set the trees and clouds flying against the sky. I love its sounds, from the barest murmur to raging tempos. I love to open my windows to hear it and feel it move across me as I go to sleep. There is nothing quite like being snug in a warm bed while a storm rages.
You would think I would have a strong, sturdy tea for such a day, but no, I am having Jasmine Pearl Oolong from the puriTea. I won't say a lot about it, because I have reviewed it before. However, it is still wonderful, sharing the top spot with another from Life in Teacup. Lovely jasmine, sweet and floral. Lovely little green and white pearls, like miniature balls of yarn, unfolding in my pot.
It is worth having some glass teapots so you can watch your tea unfold or dance around or hop up and down as it brews. More action seems to happen with greens and Oolongs, but some of the tightly twisted black teas are fun to watch, also. This is often called "the agony of the leaves", but I rather think they are enjoying themselves, stretching out to do their job of enriching our day.
A.C. Cargill wrote an article recently at the English Tea Shop blog about tea and the Scottish games. I was reminded that I haven't been to any for too long, so I am marking my calendar to go with my cousins to the ones on Labor Day weekend near Albany, NY. The last time we went, it rained and it was mud to our ankles. Not much fun, so we listened to some rousing bands, drank beer and ate 5 different kinds of french fries. (Ye gods!) There was only 1 clan tent still braving the elements and we were cheered to see their tartan is uglier than ours. One or two at a time, ours - the MacDuffee - isn't so bad, but en masse, the weird reddish orange or orangeish red can be quite an eyeful. This time I shall look for some good Scottish tea and biscuits and hope for harp players.
A poem I loved as a child, perfect for today:
By Christina Rossetti 1830–1894
Who Has Seen the Wind?
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
1 comment:
I find the concept of "seeing" wind to be fascinating; we can do it, but only when there is some body or medium that we can observe that is moved by the wind...swirling leaves, snow, raindrops (harder to see), or in some cases, birds.
I've watched big kettles of migrating hawks, and more frequently, big groups of seagulls, or smaller groups of vultures travelling locally in search of carrion.
The birds are fascinating to me, in how they ride thermals (rising columns of air) to the top, and then make a bee-line for the next rising thermal...to avoid flapping. I think this is one reason why gulls like parking lots so much: they can perch on a lamppost and hop off, rising high up with minimal flapping.
I am pretty sure that if anyone sees the wind, it is the birds...they are so in-tune with the air, and the skill and ease with which they locate the rising air currents leads me to suspect that they really do have ways to see and interpret the subtle cues pointing them to where the wind is blowing.
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