Tea Time Thought (TTT): Pearls

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photography, tea, tea addict, tea quotes, tea time, teaaddict, teacup

The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths, it has its pearls too.

Vincent Van Gogh

A great life is nothing more than a series of days well lived, strung together like a string of pearls.

Robin S. Sharma

Keep living well. Start by putting the kettle on! 😉

Blessings, friends.

CFFC: Bark

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CFFC, nature, nature photography, Photo Challenge, photography, trees

On pavements and barks of trees I have found whole worlds.

Mark Tobey

This is my post for Cee Neuner’s Fun Foto Challenge: Bark-Tree or Dog

CFFC: Reed, Read or Red

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CFFC, Photo Challenge, photography, reading, summer, tea, tea cups, tea time, teaaddict

I know it’s Monday – tea day!! So what am I doing posting a Photo Challenge? I think if you take a gander, you’ll see there is a common theme with 2 great loves…So pour yourself a cup of tea and soak in some summer.

There is temperate zone in the mind, between luxurious indolence and exacting work; and it is to this region, just between laziness and labor, that summer reading should belong.

Henry Ward Beecher

This is my post for Cee Neuner’s Fun Foto Challenge: Reed, Read or Red!

Wilderness Wednesday: Drip

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icicles, nature, nature photography, photography, water, Wilderness Wednesday, winter

Music comes from an icicle as it melts to live again as spring water.

Henry Williamson

Happy Wednesday!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge

Tags

CFFC, games, home, memories, Photo Challenge, photography

I didn’t include the topic of Cee Neuner’s Fun Foto challenge today because for some, the first association might be off-putting. It’s “non-live animals“. My first thought was taxidery or stuffed animals. Little Guy’s first thought was roadkill. I actually have a photo of roadkill, but I won’t be sharing that today.

As I looked in my archives and around my home, however, I noticed there are a number of creative options! I have a stainless steel mouse in my kitchen, whose tail holds my rings when I’m baking. My egg timer is a pig. One tea tin has a sloth and one tea dish is a panda. I have assorted figurines of cats and frogs in the house, and Grandpa’s Pig. My shower curtain is birds on a wire. I’m wearing kittens on my nightgown and I am in no hurry to get dressed.

So I experimented with a few other items because it is, after all, a photo challenge:

Waterford Crystal Christmas Ornament

This perfume bottle used to have coloured water in it. It sat in my Grandmother’s kitchen window at the farmhouse.

A long time ago, my Dad made and sold teddy bears. He didn’t make this guy for me.
I found him in a box a few years later and I stole him.
I’m not sorry

I love my “cow” lamp in my office!

Cookie cutters and jelly moulds…one brand new, 3 very old!

I always hated this game! It took longer to set up than to play, and it never worked quite right!

Creativity involves breaking out of expected patterns in order to look at things in a different way.

Edward de Bono

Happy Wednesday!

What’s In My Cup: Bee the Change

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#whatsinmycup, flatlay, food, food photography, honey, tea, tea addict, tea cups, tea lover, tea quotes, tea time, what's in my cup

Did you know….
16 oz. of honey takes 1152 bees to travel 112 000 miles and visit 4.5 million flowers?

http://www.hivetracks.com

I believe there’s a degree of goodwill in all us. An innate desire to join with others to contribute to our world in a way that blesses. It may be in your local community or the global community, a grand or complex legacy for the next generation, or as simple as tending a garden for the birds and the bees.

In the tea community, there are organizations that promote fair business practices, safe working conditions, and sustainable resources. Right now, David’s Tea is donating 10% of the proceeds from their “Bee The Change” tea, to The Bee Conservancy, a non-profit organization that creates bee habitats in Canada & the US.

It’s a drop in a bucket, but as you add drops, the bucket fills up.

“Bee the Change” tea is a delight for all the senses too. Vibrant petals of echinacea, rose, marigold, pink cornflower, and red clover are combined with rooisbos and honeybush leaves, apple, rosehips, natural honey flavouring, and natural flavouring with stevia extract. Many of these ingredients are said to stabilize blood sugar levels, reduce inflammation, and boost the immune system. The aroma is a bright perfume of sweetness and flower, from the time the tin is opened to the very last drop!

“Bee the Change” is a kosher, caffeine-free infusion. It’s a light honeyed colour (not surprising) that intimates warmth. I found this floral, honeyed elixir to be vivid and cheerful. Would it be weird if I called it “sunny”?The honey is identifiable and sweet, but not provocative or cloying. I’m not a fan of floral teas for the most part, but I found this coupling beautifully balanced.

Not only have I helped my buzzy besties in a small way, but it’s my new favourite indulgence on a gray afternoon or a chilly evening.

The key to nature’s therapy is feeling like a tiny part of it, not a master over it. There’s amazing pride in seeing a bee land on a flower you planted – but that’s not your act of creation, it’s your act of joining in.

Victoria Coren Mitchell

Happy Monday!

Retail Therapy

Tags

humour, retail therapy, shopping

Does anyone else miss shopping? I don’t just mean the thrill of buying something new. I’m talking about the experience of it. The canned music and dull roar of people talking. The colourful displays. The texture of soft and silky fabric. The aroma when you walk by Cinnabon.

By the end of January, the Christmas crowds are gone and the big sales of leftover crap is over. The “new stuff” is coming out. It’s the perfect time to browse at your leisure, with no particular deadline (or in my case, put in time while I wait to taxi Little Guy home).

Truefact #104: Women who do a lot of shopping may tend to live longer. For women, shopping is a form of therapy and provides stress relief.

The end of January is also Chinese New Year, and our local Mall always has colourful decorations. They might this year too, but I won’t be there to see them. But this is what it looked like in years past…

And now you know one of my favourite places to shop. Thank goodness for online shopping!

I’m not a shopaholic. I’m helping the economy.
Shopping is my cardio!
I could give up shopping but I’m not a quitter!
When I get tired of shopping, I try on shoes.

Happy Wednesday!

Wilderness Wednesday: Cardinals

Tags

birds, garden, nature, nature photography, photography

Sometimes all you need is a little colour. No matter the season, cardinals provide a pop of colour on the landscape, and they make us smile.

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  Singing in the rain….

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  What are you looking at?

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Now, go! Boldly be a pop of colour in a black and white world! Happy Wednesday!

CFFC: Catching People Unaware

Tags

CFFC, Photo Challenge, photography, Wilderness Wednesday

This year has been quite a year! This year required us to stay closer to home and find creative ways to keep busy and stay healthy. It also meant more photographs around home too. Here’s a sample of 2020!

If you see something that moves you, and then snap it, you keep a moment.

Linda McCartney

This is my post for Cee Neuner’s Fun Foto Challenge: Catching People Unaware

Happy Wednesday!

CB&W: Birds

Tags

birds, black and white photography, black&white Photography, CB&W, hawk, nature, nature photography, Photo Challenge, photography

Winter is for the birds.

Especially this big fellow who “dined” in our backyard two weeks ago, during a snowstorm. When I first noticed him from the dining room window, I thought “that’s a big robin”! I’m not that dumb but we live in the city and rarely see large birds. Especially in the back yard!

I don’t even want to think about what, or rather, who, was his “snack”. I’m keeping my eyes open for the Little Reds!

The wild hawk stood with the down on his beak and stared with his foot on the prey.

Lord Alfred Tennyson

THis is my post for Cee Neuner’s Black & White Photo Challenge this week: Birds.