I am a creature of habit. I love greeting the sunrise with my coffee outdoors: just the quiet, the green, and my dogs. It’s my morning ritual, and I treasure it.

In the evening, after the little ones have gone to bed, I have my quiet time in the kitchen. I grant you, that quiet time is spent cleaning up and closing down the kitchen for the night. Still, I play music softly and clean and tidy and putter to my little homebody’s heart’s content. 🙂

Another ritual I hold fast is tea. I don’t know if it’s because of growing up a little bit in Canada, or my Celtic heritage, but I deeply value the ritual of tea in the afternoons. In addition, there are so many beneficial herbs/vitamins that can be consumed simply and efficiently through drinking tea.

For the hot flashes, in addition to traditional Western remedies, my Doctors recommend Black Cohosh. This is available in tea. Barley Grass helps to cleanse the blood much in the same way that wheatgrass does. It’s available in a tea. For cancer patients, Burdock Root helps fights the progress of the disease. Annnnndddd (you guessed it) – it can be consumed as a tea. Some of these need to be crushed, or ground in a coffee grinder, dependent upon where you are able to purchase them. When dealing with loose teas, many people complain about the little bits of tea leaves that escape into the drink itself. Well, one of my birthday presents this year is the most amazing teapot in the world:

The center of the pot is a mesh filter that holds the loose tea, helps brew and steep that tea, and prevents the loose tea from escaping into the drink itself. It works!

Of course, no tea drinking ritual is complete without the tea cup. 🙂 My grandmother used to collect tea cups – not one china pattern, but anything that struck her fancy. I have some of her china cups, as well as my own. I began collecting them when I was 15. Afternoon tea is typically served around here in a pretty cup, since presentation does count:

Thank you for reading, and blessings to you all…