I forgot what I did!

I forgot for awhile that I had a Hotmail e mail account!  When I remembered and checked it a couple of days ago I found a bunch of E mails dating back to May of last year.  UMM, I thought “Why are my Blogger friends E mailing me on this account?”   “I’d better figure this out.  Oh, its right here in my account settings!”  I’m thinking that I was leery of privacy, spamming, hacking etc. when I jumped into this new fangled blogging thing in 2003 and thought I’d better use my “junk mail” E mail address just in case.

I had nice notes from several bloggers.  No, Chatty we’re not presently on the road but sure get itchy hitch quite often.  Yes, Michael, I’ll send you some of my photos of Carnegie Library fireplaces.  Martha, in May I actually won the yellow California pottery tea cup set and you saved it and are sending it to me!Thank you!

Oh yes, there was also a lot of junk mail.  I’ll let that continue but have definitely changed my contact E mail so I will receive your nice notes.

I’ve been working with computers a very long time but does learning ever stop?  Not for me!!!

(Yes, I really have frizzy hair like that.)

Amaryllis and Orchids

My Christmas Amaryllis has finally bloomed, a little late but better than never.  I started it on December 6th which is about when I start them every year but I’m thinking it was delayed because we were away on our trip to Washington for 12 days and the room was cooler than normal.  One stem has four brilliant red blooms and the other has three.  One year I had one which had five blooms on one stem!

While checking to make sure I had the correct spelling, I found this definition of amaryllis on EHow.com.  Makes them sound pretty special doesn’t it?

"Amaryllis" means sparkling in Greek. Referring to its large star shape, "Hippeastrum," or horse star, is the scientific name for this blossom. The brilliant red amaryllis flower symbolizes radiant beauty.

I took it outside to get the best light for a picture. Notice my first narcissus of this year at the bottom of the photo?  REALLY early even for California!

Close-up of one bloom.

My son and daughter-in-law Gary and Vivian gave me an orchid plant for Christmas.  I think it is a Cattleya coccinea or Sophronitis coccinea  (had to look that up too.) It has small blossoms. I was drinking my tea the other morning and noticed the sun shining on them.  Grabbed my camera to catch that light and this is what I got. 

As you can see the background wasn’t so great so grabbed a piece of paper and held it behind the orchid to get my shot. I’m waiting for the orchid in the background to bloom again.  I tried leaving it outside and it didn’t like it!

Enjoy your day!

Anyone for tea?

I LOVE TEA.  Almost everyone else loves their morning coffee. . .but for me it is tea. I brew and drink a pot every morning. 

As little girls, our brother Don introduced my sister Micki and I to tea drinking.  When he babysat for us one of our special treats was making tea sweetened with lots of sugar.  We thought it was so fun to watch the water turn to a dark rich mahogany color as we bobbed the tea bags in our cups.  The funny part of this story is he is a huge coffee drinker and I don’t think he ever drank tea and both of us are still tea drinkers.

I love my electric Cuisinart tea maker.

In the past I have owned several Mrs. Tea, a simple, very adequate (and cute) tea maker which was introduced in 1995 by Mr. Coffee but has been discontinued.

I liked this Russell Hobbs tea maker but it took too much of the limited counter space in my 5th wheel home.)

My daughter Kelle, also a tea lover, has the Cadillac of tea makers, a Breville One Touch maker but, at $249, its a little rich for my blood!

I dig out my old stainless tea kettle when we don’t have electricity. (In RV lingo it’s known as boondocking)

Somehow I have managed to assemble this collection (isn’t it funny how collections just happen – one minute you have a couple of “something” and then suddenly that “couple of somethings” are a collection!) of  infusers which I really do use for brewing one cup of tea.  I particularly like the art deco diamond-shaped infuser that Don found when he and Lee moved into their  home.

A present from grandson Jorden is this Martha Stewart stack set of cup and teapot.

Found this art deco cup and saucer in a thrift store.  I use it to store sweeteners. I also have a large collection of old tea cup and saucer sets in storage. (No room in the 5th wheel)

My favorite everyday tea mugs. This morning I chose the Café du Monde mug.

My tea tools:  sea star tea bag/infuser drip dish, tea-theme measuring spoon, little blue container for my bulk sweetener (and gift from Zella a long time ago.)  The vintage salt spoon is perfect for measuring an exact amount of sweetener.

Of most importance is the tea!  I order loose tea from Upton Tea Imports.  My preference is for Earl Grey blends: Earl Grey Blue Flower, Earl Grey Supreme, and Season’s Pick Earl Grey Crème Vanilla.  I also really like Vanilla and sometimes order English or Irish Breakfast.

Cuppa tea anyone?