Day 84: Rest

Today is a day of rest. It was such a beautiful day, I went out a walk again just for the sheer joy of it. There's such a difference - I listen to quiet, beautiful music; walk slowly; look around a lot; and try to take in the rest and beauty all around me.

Enjoy your rest today!

Day 83: Green Tea With Orange And Lotus Flower

I can't believe it, but I'm running out of teas again.  Actually, what's becoming far more difficult is remembering whether I've tried a particular tea or not. I scraped the bottom of the barrel and came up with this poor specimen, a wee packet lodged at the bottom of my handbag that has, apparently, been traveling with me everywhere I go since a meeting I had in Bristol a few months ago. I remember snagging an extra tea packet because they are nice to have, and in case of emergencies like this!, and here it has come in handy.

Fortunately for me and for the teabag, the packet has protected it from all the vagaries and challenges of life and weather, and inside is a pristine bag of tea, with an aroma that brings me great joy.  I'm actually wishing I had saved this one for an early morning tea (I love green tea in the mornings), but it's releasing its orange-and-lotus-flower goodness into the air around me and I'm very susceptible to those charms.

Lotus flower is a perfectly lovely scent, and taste. It really does make me think of Japan, and Bali, and places where light and fragrant flowers abound, leaving petals and powerful scents everywhere you go.  It reminds me also of the 'flowering teas' (or 'blooming teas'), the ones that you drop into hot water and watch them blossom and grow and become beautiful right before your eyes.

Again my walk this morning was bright, and glorious, with sunshine glowing on the green grass and trees with a dark blue-grey sky hovering behind.  The rain has come off and on all day, but I walked in happiness and came home dry.

Walk length: 35 minutes

Day 81: African Honeybush, Mandarin and Orange

Today's character, the person who came to life in my mind as I sipped my tea, is Mma Ramotswe from the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.  If you've read this book, you'll be familiar with this lady, a warm, generous-hearted, confident and humble creature.  It's a fascinating mix, and so is the tea for today.

African honeybush is a lovely phrase. Just makes you imagine you are wandering through the back roads of Africa and there is a flowering bush, sage green in colour to match the rest of the dry landscape, but with light white flowers covering it and being tended to carefully by thoughtful bees.  Somehow the bush gives off a fragrance of honey that wafts to you even from a far distance, and if you are fortunate enough to pass bush after bush, you have to stop with your eyes closed and just breathe it in for a few moments to truly take in the beauty.

This tea is like that, and with some citrus flavour to enhance it all, you can't ask for a much sweeter tea.  It needs to be steeped for quite a while - I'm thinking it would make an absolutely perfect iced tea, because by the time it has steeped to the level that all the flavours are brought out, it's no longer hot.  Maybe that's how Mma Ramotswe likes it, but I prefer my tea to either be hot or cold.

One of my favourite lines from the entire Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith is on the second page of the first book. We are introduced to 'Precious' Ramotswe, and her new business, and to her love of Africa.  "I am not ashamed to be called an African patriot, said Mma Ramotswe.  I love all the people whom God made, but I especially know how to love the people who live in this place."

When I read that line, I associated with it exactly. That's how I feel about Scotland.  I moved here ten years ago from America, and whilst America will always be my 'home country' in terms of where I am from, and where I often return to, and where my family is, I am not ashamed to be called a Scottish patriot.  I love all the people whom God made, but I especially know how to love the people who live in this place.  It's a beautiful thing to love where you are and love who you know there.  Airdrie is a town of 50,000 or so, small compared to Phoenix, where I grew up, which is 1.5 million strong and growing.  It's not the kind of place that people move to on purpose, so I'm constantly asked why in the world I left the glories of America to come and stay in Airdrie, of all places.  We have a few stabbings now and then, and a murder or two, and there are places you just don't go at night (or, sometimes, ever), and some people you pass have a bit of hopelessness in their eyes and in their face.  But when I moved here, it was to help support the little church down on North Bridge street, the block building that doesn't look so impressive from the outside, but inside has the words of life and a people who love God and each other and hope for everyone in this town and beyond.  And after ten years here, I especially love this place, and this country, and am proud to have become a citizen of it.

Took a longer walk this morning - just felt like I needed it.  Went beyond my usual and was plagued a bit by bugs, but overall it was a good walk and a beautiful day and I might just go out for another one later!

Walk length: 50 minutes

Day 80: Assam

Nearly there. Only ten days to go!  Today's tea was recommended by a friend of mine up on the Isle of Skye...had I tried assam tea?  I haven't, so here we go.

The packet declares it "A deep amber tea with a rich and malty character."  I love the way these tea packets describe their teas. They give them heart, soul, body, and now an entire character.  This tea definitely has that, in spades.  Remember my Lady Grey from the other day?  Well, this is about as different from her as you could get.  None of these floating dresses or silent butlers or silver tea sets...assam tea is rich. Meaty. Heavy duty.  A bodyguard you don't want to mess with.

I have a picture hanging in my parents' guest bedroom at home in Phoenix.  My sister Janice gave it to me when I passed my CPA exam (yes, for those of you just joining me in the last few years of my life, I trained as an accountant, of all things!).  Taking and passing that exam was one of the hardest things - in terms of study and grunt work and sitting inside when I'd rather be out and not getting enough sleep and wanting to give up - that I've ever done.  I worked 10 hours a day and studied in every free moment - literally on my short lunch breaks, sitting in the car at a red light, and waiting in queues.  The only days I took off were the Lord's Days, and I spent those going to worship in the morning and sleeping the rest of the day.  And I had to take that exam three times.  So the day I got that 'pass' letter in the post was a pretty great day, and my sister recognised it, and as I say bought me this picture that means a lot to me still.

It depicts a dark-skinned man in strange, almost Asian-Oriental-Ancient Biblical times dress - it's hard to even call it 'dress' since much of it is armour.  But the kind of armour that looks like it was made to fit his skin, as light as mithral and just as powerful.  His helmet is silver also, with that intricately worked design that reflects hours and days and even years of labour, and comes to a point at the top.  He holds a gigantic spear, the kind that is higher than his own head (and he's not a small man).  He is standing tall, at attention, with that faraway look in his eyes that goes just beyond you and misses nothing.  And the kind that, like the guards at Buckingham Palace, is unmoved by small distractions or foolish tourists or anything that is part of the usual day.  He manages to look calm, almost relaxed...and yet if you even flinched towards him with malice intent, he would whip that spear around and be pointing it in your face before you could even gasp.

And behind him is a door - a massive, blue-green, intricately carved door that stretches far, far above his head and beyond the edges of my picture.  It's the kind of door that proclaims a king, a kingdom, power, strength, and majesty you can't even imagine.  There is glory there, and beauty, and fear, and justice, and solemnity.  And it is before this door, this palace, that our strong and silent guard stands.  For he is a doorkeeper.

There are other roles he could have accepted, other tasks. He could be with a group of his fellow men and warriors who are fighting for the Kingdom in faraway lands.  He's in the shade of this great door, but he's also alone, and he is on duty morning and night.  You can tell by his eyes and the grip on his spear that he takes this position seriously - that he chose it, wanted it, perhaps even fought for the right to have it.  And he is proud to stand there. 

When I saw that picture the first time, I thought of the great Bible verse, "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness."  (Psalm 84.10)  I've always loved that verse, because you might think a doorkeeper a fairly boring, mundane task.  Something that you get stuck with while the other warriors and fighters are out doing the glorious work that gets accolades and medals and honour and praise.  But the man who wrote those lines - and the man in my picture - chose this task. It's a task of honour, glory, joy, and intensity.  It holds the promise of great things, because the doorkeeper stands at the door of greatness.  The King who resides inside has built a Kingdom that is worthy of being protected, a Kingdom so great you would rather stand in the scorching heat dressed in armour from head to toe, than go rest in the tents of your enemies, who have cool drinks and fans waving and maidens dancing and laughter flowing.  You scorn their luxuries, because you know that there's a day coming those things won't last.  They're laughing now, but the army is coming.  Your friends and brothers and neighbours and family are marching, and you're at the door watching, and the King is all glorious in the city waiting, and the great moment is coming...and so you would rather be this doorkeeper.

That's what I tasted - and that's who I saw - in my Assam tea today.

Fight on!

Walk length: 35 minutes

Day 79: Orange, Mango, & Cinnamon

Twinings 'Moment of Calm', it says on the packet. Just breathe...ahhhhh.

I love anything with citrus. Today was a very full and fairly exhausting day (and momentous, for reasons that are too long for this blog!), so I enjoyed my orange mango and cinnamon tea and a good long chat with my mum and sister. The tea was heavy on the orange and mango and low on the cinnamon, just the way I like it...and yet it was red in colour, which confuses me a little bit. Orange, yellow, and brown...result? Red. I'm not sure what else is in there but it's a good calming tea, as promised.

Went for my walk at 7.15 this morning even though I reeeeeeally didn't feel like it (was trying to convince myself that I shouldn't go, I needed to rest), but was thrilled that I did and came up with all kinds of great ideas for my photography business and my life in general! More on that in future!

Walk length: 35 minutes

Day 78: Rest

Today I took a walk for the sheer joy of walking. And I might just have a cup of tea for the joy of that, too.

Enjoy your rest today.

Day 77: Twinings Ceylon Tea

Ceylon is another tea I've wanted to try for a while, but it didn't seem very 'exciting', in terms of exotic flavours and brilliant colours...it just seems like 'plain old tea'.  If tea can ever be described that way.

And in many ways Ceylon is just that. It's just tea. My friend Audrey, who turns up her nose at my fancy and special teas, would enjoy this one just fine with a bit of milk and a biscuit.  I suppose it's one of the finer teas that doesn't overwhelm you with a strange or new taste. But what I found most interesting about Ceylon is that when I tried it lightly steeped, leaving the teabag in for a short time, it tasted dark and almost bitter. Not a big fan. So I let the teabag sit and steep for almost 10 minutes while I edited photos, and when I came back and tried the second cup, it was really nice! Either I got the bitterness right out at the start (my green decaffeination process again), or it just does better when steeped longer!

Didn't feel like going out for a walk this morning, so I did.  I'm finding that even at my most tired, my morning walk really does set the tone for the day. Today the skies were grey but bright, and I came back all enthused and glad I went out in the first place.

Walk on!


Walk length: 35 minutes