Happy Mother's Day

A Happy Mother's Day to all you mamas.  Love your children extravagantly and let them go into the big world, knowing you did your best.  I learned that with our kids - that my parents did their best, for who they were and I did my best for who I was.  Not perfect and not always wonderful and maybe, at times, not my best.  But we all learned to forgive each other and go on.  Love covers so much that isn't perfect.

It's a good day for having some celebratory tea.  I am having another of Upton's teas.  It is Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe China Yunnan, ZY40.  I haven't ever seen one with the Golden etc. designation, as that is usually Indian or Ceylon teas.  They consider it the best of the commonly available grades.

 I am making it in one of my two new Mother's Day teapots.  This one is pottery from a local potter and is shades of blue and purple.  I am in love with it's colors.  I hope to buy some matching cups.  The other is Sheffield silver.  That is, an English silverplate over copper.

The dry tea has a mild, sweet aroma.  I am brewing it with water just off the boil, for 4 minutes.  The tea is a light yellow-amber, still with a mild sweet smell.  It is indeed a mild tea, a bit on the brisk side, with some of the characteristic Yunnan taste, with just the barest hint of spice.  It would be an easy introduction to this type of tea for those who might be hesitant to think outside the bag.  It is not at all astringent and goes nicely with cream.  I would not hesitate to serve it at a tea party.

The wild phlox and the buttercups are blooming!  Our woods are such lovely greens - I was beginning to despair of their ever being anything but gray.  I finally got all the bird feeders up and have been rewarded with a myriad of songs and tweets.  The woods are filled with them and with the sounds of so many, many woodpeckers, drumming away.  One is so fast and low, it sounds just like a cat purring.  The catbirds are crying, too and I am often running to see what's up.  Just a bird.  Our lone turkey is moving further afield and getting closer to the big flock - I hope he finds them.

Terraced vineyards just outside of the town of Forio, Ischia Island, Italy