Signs of Spring

Today I am having a lovely smooth tea from Uptons (ZK55) from the Sichuan Province of China - Zao Bei Jian Congou.  You can tell from the Congou this is a black tea.  When I opened the packet there was a sweet smell of silage, with a tiny edge of sourness or acidity.  The leaves are quite tiny, a mix of brown and black.  I brewed it with boiling water for 4 minutes.  The brew gives off a pleasant fresh wash aroma of good tea.  There is a bit of nuttiness and the merest whiff of spice, but it's overwhelming characteristic is smooth silkiness.  It strikes me as a perfect cup for a tea party, as I think it would go very well with both sweets and savories.  It takes milk nicely, but I like it just plain and pleasant.  Although it is plain, I really am liking it as I drink more of it.

This morning started out beautifully, with the sun rising to bejewel the frost.  There was mist in the valleys and the smoke of the farmsteads was rising in the calm air.  One of those moments in time that easily dissipates.

Since then, it has been quite blustery., but flowers are coming up and I heard a prothonotary warbler singing it's heart out.  The mourning doves are courting, as are the crows.  The two pairs of downy woodpeckers are giving each other dirty looks and do a bit of squabbling before they settle down to eat and the pileated woodpecker is going crazy with his drumming.  Even the cats are restless and run in and out and out and in.

These are wildflowers in the cliffs of Sorrento, Italy. I think the blue ones are some form of Canterbury Bells, but I don't know what the pink ones are.