Midnight Serenaders

The DH and I recently attended a concert by the Midnight Serenaders at the Chinese Classical Garden.  They sing vintage jazz and swing, and it was great fun!  A mix of original songs and old favorites.

The garden roses and mock orange were in full bloom.

Our friend Marilyn and her husband were also at the concernt.  Marilyn brought tea to share, how thoughtful and tasty!  It was an aged Buddha Hand, very lovely!

What a wondeful way to spend a summer evening.
Here you can listen to Midnight Serenaders...enjoy!

Unfurl

This tightly wound tea, when given the right conditions, unfurls.  It stretches and dances.  It becomes its best. Its essence is extraordinary.
That's how I want to be during my sabbatical. 

I have many fun things planned for the next 10 weeks, including:  family visit, bike camping with the DH, and a tea tour to Asia.  Plus plenty of time for me to sip, savor, stretch and dance, and contemplate how I can tend to my own essence.

Captures the Moment

Photo by Mitra

This photo holds special meaning for me.  When I saw it I was immediately taken back to this moment (last night).  Summertime.  Dining outside.  Great drinks, food AND dessert.  Leisurely conversation with a girlfriend.  Relaxation, sharing, celebration.  This photo gets to the core of that experience for me.  It reminds me that these moments in time are not indulgences; rather, they are necessities.  Time out for grownups who are too busy.  Time out for listening and being heard.  Time out to slow down, savor.  Time out to consider the menu.  Time out to love life, precious in each moment.  Thank you.

Purple

Thinking of purple...

Lavender fields, lavender in my tea tin, not all lavender is the same color, taste, or smell.  The lavender color of my high school prom dress.  My amethyst birth-month friends.  The amethyst in Cin's wedding.  Go Rockets!

That purple is the favorite color of a dear friend (Esme) and my sister.  "When I'm an Old Woman..."  The soft purple of wild iris that grow up in the foothills.  The deep-black purple of grandma's iris, with its velvety secrets.  The aroma of lavender, of an iris, of lilac.  Bees like the cat mint.  Their buzzing vibrates in my chest.  I can touch them, they are so intoxicated with the nectar.  I want to show my niece.  The Secret Life of Bees and the purple honey.  The color of royalty, the color for you.



Where does purple take you?

K, I'm Ready!

7 work days until sabbatical begins!

During my time off, I'll be enjoying a visit from my niece (and her mom and grandma).
I'm ready! 

I made this outfit for the almost-4 niece.  This is my first time doing reverse-applique.  I really like it!  It's fast and simple.

According to the niece, she and I are going to ride the train.  Her mom and grandma were not invited.  ;-)

It Was a Good Place to be Stranded

We were out for a long training ride on a lovely Saturday morning, when we decided to take a detour.  We'd spied the Lavender Festival signs along the route that morning, and wanted to check it out.  When we arrived, we discovered the "Tea Pavilion" on the back patio of the facility.  YES, really.  I found tea and scones in the middle of rural Oregon while on a bike ride.  Incredible!

We hungry cyclists tucked in and made short work of the scones and fresh berries with cream!  I was also pleasantly surprised that the tea served was loose leaf.  I had the lavender herbal, and the DH had a black earl grey.

Our seats in in the Tea Pavilion
The picture doesn't do justice for the view

After tea and scones, I had plenty of time to check out the gardens and the festival because I'd had a mechanical issue with my bike on the way up the big hill to the place.  (A broken chain.)  My gallant DH rode all the way home and back -- including the big hill again -- to rescue me.

A fairy garden

At the lavender festival, we were invited to pick bunches of the flowers to bring home for arrangements or for drying.  For $5, I brought home more than I know what to do with!  I have a lovely mix of four different varieties, including a soft white.  It smells so lovely -- to most of us, that is. (Sorry, Mom!)

Rows of lavender

Baby alpaca and parent

On the way up, we passed an alpaca farm that had a number of babies lounging in the pasture!

My knight and his steed Iggy (the yellow one); Mine (silver) is the duchess

The day wasn't as I had planned, but who can complain about being stranded at a lavender festival where they serve scones and tea?  I mean, one could almost think this was by design!

This Land

This weekend I'm celebrating this land...its glorious landscape and diversity, its fertility and multitude of riches, its forgiveness of us when we abuse it, and in the end, its acceptance of us back.

Happy 4th of July!

Control

Oriental Beauty Tea, unfurling in its own sweet time

I'm struggling with control right now.  Well, that I don't have it.  And this is messing up my JOY big time.  Well, I'm allowing it to.  Uugh.  I'm 15 work days before sabbatical and it feels like things in the office are falling apart, and I can't control them.  OH - how I want control!  I want to leave with everything tied up in a perfect bow, coordinating wrapping paper, and everyone thinking how nice and smart I am.

Not being in control is SO hard for me.  I get very squirmy.  My coping mechanisms are either to barge in, steam roll over people, and just do it MYSELF or to bail and run far,far away.  I can't do either of those here.  I have to just live through it.  I'm going for hour by hour, sometimes breath by breath.

Like the leaves of this oriental beauty tea, I can't hurry its unfurling.  I have to breathe, and find the joy in watching life unfurl.

A Perfect Day in Portland

In front of Mt. Hood, from the Japanese Garden

Sunshine, 75 degrees, Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, tea picnic, shopping, dinner out....all shared with my friend Sweetcakes.  A perfect day in Portland!

A picnic tea party
Strawberries, sugar snap peas and rosemary (in the sandwich) from my garden

Can't get enough of that view!

Light playing in the trees, Japanese Garden

Champagne cake dessert, Papa Haydn (THE place in town for desserts)

More Roses

Just because they're pretty and I live in the city of the rose...

These two shots came from a rose the DH brought me last week.

Roses

I visited the International Rose Test Garden yesterday, and it was heaven!  The roses are coming into the first flush (bloom), and the colors were exquisite.  The temps were warm and it was sunny.  (Unfortunately, most of my photos were over-exposed b/c I got caught up in the real-time experience.  Not such a bad thing.)

If you can get there, it's a beautiful thing to see (and it's free!).  My tour guide said the peak would be between now and early July, but the roses will keep blooming and be special through September.

Waiting for Good Things

I've been waiting for this strawberry, the first from our garden, for several weeks.  The blossoms came, then the little green baby fruit, and then I had to wait.  Wait.              Wait.                                                    Wait.                Waiting for good things.  It's hard to wait, even for the good things in life.

I'm doing a lot of waiting for good things right now.  I'm trying nobly at being patient.  I know the good things are just a few weeks away!  I try to stay grounded in the present moment and not get ahead of myself, but that's an easy temptation.

Are you, too, waiting for good things?  How do you wait eagerly without overdoing it?

Update your info: Caffeine in Tea

Matcha - High in caffeine because you ingest the entire leaf

I'd like to share with you this informative post on About.com:  Factors influencing caffeine levels in tea.  Thanks to Lindsey, my friend and tea professional, for summarizing a tricky topic.

In the past few years, more thorough and sensitive testing has shown that the old idea of pouring off the first brew of your tea to decaffeinate it doesn't work like we once thought.  It has to do with caffeine's "desire" to be in a state of equilibrium. The caffeine keeps on giving, so to speak, in addition to a host of other factors, like tea varietal, growing method, maturity when picked, processing style, brewing technique and even water temperature.  If you and I brew the same tea side by side, chances are each cup would differ in caffeine levels.  Yours might brew a bit longer, I might use cooler water, etc.

I've been learning more about this over the past few years, and I think Lindsey has done an  excellent job of summarizing the findings. 

* Photo from Microsoft images

Weekends Simplified

Eat.  Ride the bike (Up, up, up the mountain). Eat. Put my feet up. Eat. Do the dishes. Sleep.
Eat. Ride the bike (Long). Eat.  Do laundry and prep for the week.  Eat. Sleep.
That sums up my weekends right now.

Only 6 weeks until I'm on sabbatical, and that means several things!
1 - A BIG BREAK from work, and I really need it.
2 - My mom, sister and niece come for a visit!
3 - The DH and I do a week-long cycle/camping ride (thus the training above).
4 - A long-awaited tea trip to Asia.  More on that later.

For now, I thought I'd show you a few of the seasonal things we're eating.  Since our weekends are pretty streamlined right now, and I'm burning some serious calories, eating is a focus.  ;-)

These individual rhubab pudding cakes were excellent!

And pizza!  It's actually a great recovery food when topped with lots of fresh veggies.  In this version, we've got green onion (from the garden), lots of greens (from the garden), mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, walnuts and cheese.  Our grocer carries dough in a plastic bag that we used in this pic.  Tonight, the DH is making his own whole wheat version.

I'm liking these streamlined weekends.  Keeps life simple.  What's a simple weekend look like for you?

A new Teavana in Town

There's a new Teavana in town. I had the chance to visit it last night.  These stores are fun for me because they do a great job with their retail displays.  And I was sorely, sorely tempted by some cast iron saucers for small Asian cups.  I resisted.

However, I did not resist one of these filters for the office.  It's stainless, has plenty of room for the tea to move around, yet holes small enough that the leaves won't escape. And the silicone cap keeps the heat in while steeping, along with acting as a saucer.

While none of the camellia sinensis blends tempted me, I did come home with a very citrusy herbal blend. 

One suggestion I have for Teavana:  The blends they were serving at the front door clearly had sweetener in them. (I asked - it was sugar.)  Yet that info was not presented clearly.  Someone new to tea or herbal blends might assume that it was "naturally sweet" when in fact it wouldn't be.

Do you have a Teavana (or other mall-based tea retailer) near you?

*Photos and logo from Teavana.com

Tweed Ride

Tweed Ride, San Luis Obispo

I was walking down the street in San Luis Obispo, CA a few weeks ago.  I looked behind me for a moment, and caught these dapper folks coming towards me.  It was the "Tweed Ride" and was great fun to watch!

Happy Belated Bicycle Month (May)!  I'll be spending large parts of my weekends over the summer on my bike, in prep for a week-long touring ride in August.  These photos capture the spirit of how I feel when I'm on a ride.  Freedom. 

If you like to cycle, how does it make you feel?

Sliced or Smooshed?

Perfectly sliced berries in a strawberry shortcake

Strawberry shortcake is one of my favorite treats!  Nothing says early summer to me like this indulgence.  However, there is great debate at our house regarding the best way to prepare it.

Me:  The shortcake is cakey...the strawberries are sliced or chunked, NOT smooshed.  The ensemble is assembled just before serving.

DH:  The shortcake is a pie-crust-like base, the berries are smooshed, and the ensemble soaks together overnight.

I know he loves me because he made this shortcake in the cake-sliced style.

How do you like your strawberry shortcake?

Braised Leeks

The DH's braised leeks

Leeks are a new crop for us.  They like long, mild growing seasons which we have plenty of around here.  We feasted on these leeks from our garden last week.  Wow, WOW - good!

The DH's (dear hubby's) Braised Leeks

• One bunch of leeks - outer edges removed, washed carefully to remove dirt between the leaves
• Trim off most, but not all, of the greenery (we are saving for later use)
• Slice in half, lengthwise
• Brown and soften in olive oil (we like using a cast iron skillet for this).  It's a good idea to add a little water, too, to assist the softening.
• Keeping in the cast iron skillet, cover with heavy cream.
• Place in a 400-degree oven for about 30 min, or until brown on top and the cream is thick.

YUMMY!

Practicing Joy and Winners!

I chose the title of this blog post deliberately...practicing joy.  Because sometimes we just have to make ourselves practice something that isn't coming easily.  It's not that I'm unhappy...it's just that I feel a little volatile in the moment.  I'll have a joyful day, hour, minute -- and then something happens and I'm swooped up in drama and I allow my joy to leave (sickies, work work work, being homesick, blah blaha,).  I'm working on this, and practicing joy is one way.

Recent things bringing me joy:

* These gorgeous lilacs!  The color, the texture, the fragrance.

* My biggest ever blog giveaway!  417 commenters, oh wow!  Congrats to the winners (see below).

* My husband - he moved us into our new home with very little help from me.

* That my family and friends in the Midwest are safe after the storms.

* My recent trip to CA.

* Sun and warmish temps. 

* US-grown strawberries with cream (eating only seasonal fruit these days, another joy - diving deeply into the seasons).

* It's a three-day weekend.

* My job, I have a good one even on the really Really REALLY tough days (like today).

* Riding my bike to work and looking at all the flowers.

* All the FLOWERS!  Wow - it's Eden around here!

Now to the winners of my blog giveaway!  It may take me a few days (I just moved = disaster in the house)...but I'll ship it next week for sure, just as soon as I unearth the goodies!

Tara at Sew Tara who said, "Yipee fabric!! I'm all about using small bits of fabric lately although I'm not sure what I'd do with charm packs, they seem to nice to cut up! Perhaps a lap quilt, been needing one of those for a while.  needing = wanting, let's be honest. :)"

AND

Angela from Cup of Tea who said, "I've been making pinwheels with charm packs lately, but I'm eyeing a recent Moda tutorial for cathedral window blocks that I think would be perfect for a charm pack!

My favorite thing about Spring? Tea! (Actually my favorite thing about every season :-)"

Spring Giveaway Day!

I'm happy to be participating in Sew, Mama, Sew!'s latest giveaway day.  Spring is so special, for so many reasons - even with the horrible allergies I've had. 

My giveaway will include two charm packs of fabric, and tea!  The giveaway is open through May 25th, and after that time I'll draw a random winner.  Good Luck!

To enter, tell me either what you might do with the charm packs or what you love about Spring.

-- Update -- Wow!  I've had such excellent response, I'll pick two winners!  Stay tuned!