Wednesday, January 17, 2018

January is National Hot Tea Month



When someone told me that, I felt so happy.  We need more like this: national walking on the beach month, national picnic month (I think there is that, in Australia), national reading month, national sewing month, national letter-writing month, national fresh bouquet month, national gloves and hat and dress month....there would not be enough months in a year for all the lovely things to enjoy. 


Giving a nod to national tea month, I took some photos of my guest room...


...and a page from the first winter (1987-88) issue of Victoria, 



...the cover of which you see here.


As some of us have become more interested in using plaids, I thought you would be interested in a cape they featured in one of the articles:

Things have really changed for me over the years. When I got that first issue, I had children at home, and enjoyed them so much!  Now I have 10 grandchildren, and cannot seem to catch up with everything. I try to sew clothing for them, but get waylaid by various interruptions in life and never really get as much done as I want to!

I realize not everyone likes tea, but drinking anything out of a tea cup, even hot apple juice with cinnamon, or coffee, is so refined and slows you down, makes it a ceremony and makes time stand a little more still.  I like to put berries in a cup and pour hot water and add a touch of honey. That is "tea" to me, and I noticed on Pinterest there are a lot of people doing that and calling it tea. I saw a pretty cup with a fragrant peel of orange floating in it and thought how delightful it is to hold a cup of tea with a wonderful natural scent, whether it be a fresh mint leaf or some lemon.

Several ways to present hot tea: 

-Tea time delivered to someone, with service (by you or written instructions) included.

-Tea time, or whatever beverage they prefer, by mail. That is so exciting, to open a box with homemade treats, a cup, a napkin, spoon, a little book, and more.

-Tea for yourself if you are alone. Take a photo, or paint a little water color in your water color journal, write a description, or just savor the moments.

-Travel tea. This is something I've been trying to get right so that the process flows smoothly and efficiently during car travel and still looks nice and appealing.

-Yard promenade tea.  I love to put an tea pot outside on the old bench under the tree, make a cup with some of the herbs available in the season, and walk slowly around the yard looking at things.

-Guest Room tea.  If I deliberately take time, I can sneak into the guest room, feel like a guest and have tea and croissants, trying to get a feel of how my guest might experience it.

-Sewing room tea time. Would not that be interesting, to find a sewing themed teapot or tea cup just for the special tray in the sewing room.

-Laundry room tea.  I have not figured that out, yet. 

-Correspondence tea.  Sit down with a tray on a side table with just a little cup of mint tea and read your mail or get some mail ready to send.

-My daily list/schedule tea.  Although I don't like schedules, there is always that long reminder list to make, and there should be a special tea blend for that. 


It is useless to wait for something special to happen or for someone to declare a special day. At home, the dull world does not rule us, so, at home, there are no rules from the outside world, and we decide! So we can declare it to be be Happy Day, Quiet Day, Beauty Day, Singing Day, Spa Day, Swing Day, Ship Cruise Day, Train Travel Day, Art Day, Fix Things Day,Learn  Something Day, and whatever day you want.


11 comments:

Christine said...

I spotted the picture from Victoria magazine right away!
Thus is the only one I have left from collecting them for years!
Grest magazine !!

Shay said...

Although I don't think we are on the same 'page' in a lot of ways (politically especially), I do enjoy your posts about everyday thoughts and activities and so appreciate the time you take to write them. Reading your latest posts on tea cups, gardens, restful days, tablescapes,and so on, are a happy spot in my day. Thank you, God bless, and please continue!

Heavenly Home said...

Nice that there is a month dedicated to hot tea! I usually have tea every day, but there is something about remembering to savor it and truly enjoy that time...I also love coffee. Your guest room is so lovely and inviting.

Unknown said...

I started drinking hot tea when I was a teenager even though my family all drank coffee. January is my birthday month so it delights me that it is also National Hot Tea Month. A friend gave me a magnet that says "WHERE THERE IS TEA, THERE IS HOPE". What would we do without tea? Let's celebrate!

Lynn said...

Yes...I love how you have created such a pretty guest room....may I make a reservation for it? :-)

Lynn said...

I like your various 'day's to celebrate with tea...(or coffee).

Anonymous said...

Thank you Lady Lydia for the lovely post and the so very important reminder to take time out of the homemaking day to relax, rejuvenate, and concentrate on lovely things. There is always something that needs tending to at home and when I have relaxed with my tea, I feel calm and rejuvenated. I too always use my English tea pot and bone china cups...I have 32 of them and yes it is sort of my addiction to collect them! Tea cups have such lovely floral patterns on them that it is especially wonderful to have the flowers during the winter months. Thank you for all of your wonderful posts, I am new to your blog and am enjoying reading all your other ones from previous years. It's fun to get the email and know there's something new and uplifting waiting to be read. Lady Liza

Alex said...

A very good reminder, once again of the freedom we enjoy at home to take a little time with tea ~ it is surely a beautiful calming thing to do. I do like the ordinary black tea especially Lady Gray, but I sometimes make a cup of hot Ribena which makes a blackcurrant 'tea' with no artificial additives. If I cant sleep at night, I make a cup and let the steam warm my face a little before drinking it. I then fall asleep in a couple of minutes!!
Don't know whether you can get Ribena in the States. It is very concentrated, and has a lovely old -fashioned generation-to-generation theme in its marketing. It has been going a long time!

Lydia said...

I am interested in the benefits that black currant tea, and will check at the tea store to see of it is imported. Do you mean black currant, a berry that is black, or black tea with currant flavor?

Alex said...

Dear Lady Lydia, Ribena (from UK)is a simple cordial made from just blackcurrants (the berries, like redcurrants only black) and sugar, tho' I think they do a sugar free' one now, but I do not like it so much.It is high in vit C. and quite concentrated, so you dilute to taste with boiling or cold water. Hope you can find it!. Best wishes!

Lydia said...

As I live in the country it might be simpler to find some berries or go o the garden center and find a plant for these berries! We do have South African imports of rooiboos tea but I have not tried it