Posts filed under 'The Heart of Tea'
Dear Readers of Tea Party Girl, I admit I am trying to hang on to the transporting I experienced 48 hours ago watching Becoming Jane, the biopic about one of our favorite women and writers of all time, Jane Austen. We need another post about tea and the movies, don’t you think?
Truthfully, I personally found myself transported most by the musical score and found myself humming it as I walked to the car. It is lovely, Mr. Johnston. The pastoral large-screen views of Ireland, where it was filmed, made it worth paying full price, and yes, I spotted a few tea-drinking scenes throughout the story.
I attended the movie with my number-one, in-real-life, tea-drinking friend. She caught the bug and never recovered when I introduced her to tea two-and-a-half years ago. Since that time, she carefully purchases teacups she loves, drinks multiple pots per day (with her three boys!), and hosts tea events. But the most remarkable change for her has been the way she makes room in her life for beauty, listening to more classical music, for example. And while I loved the movie, my dear friend wept during Becoming Jane.
The irony of her reaction (for those of you who’ve seen the movie, I say this with a smile) is that with a sigh, she expressed her longing to live in the Regency time period. And on that note, off we went to her highest priority errand…Wal-mart.
The practical side of me is thankful to be born in a society where girls can wear pants, vote, own property, marry whomever, and not die during childbirth or kill the chicken before eating it. I would enjoy seeing a movie about the servant class during the nineteenth century as I’m always curious about their lives (did they go home and then clean THEIR houses? And how did the human race propagate when men took baths once a week if they were lucky?).
But I understand her longings. I feel them, too. I feel it in the architecture, costumes, and unadulterated countryside the movies represent. I believe our souls long for and are nourished by beauty.
This is why I love the tea party. I cannot paint masterpieces. I gave up piano lessons as a young girl to chase boys instead. I live where telephone wires, cement, and more cars than drivers are a reality. A tailor no longer makes my clothes to wear at balls and the middle-class (my friends) shop at Wal-mart. I didn’t have the knowledge or money to purchase a vineyard. So I throw tea parties. Often.
My same dear in-real-life friend threw a tea gathering last week and called to thank me and my mother (again) for introducing tea to her life. One of her guests had never been to a tea party before. I see this guest around town; a mother of three young children, where low prices are key to survival, and her wardrobe is mainly sweats and quickly pulled-back hair. This woman, however, in a few hours on a Sunday afternoon, was completely transported by the tea party, a slice of beauty. She’s already planning one for her daughter. And this ripple effect of the tea party happened DESPITE her initial scoffing and intimidation by the event.
So again, I ask you, how are you making room for a daily touch of beauty? Have you allowed quiet moments for tea with yourself or someone else? Will you let tea do its work on you?
And let me end this blog post with a nod to the serious fans of Becoming Jane, two fellow bloggers. Be sure to visit their site if you want to experience a bit more of the movie’s magic.
September 24th, 2007
I recently watched Miss Potter for the first time. Enjoyed the movie, thoroughly (Ewan McGregor sings, how could I not?). A classic story of English aristocracy, this interpretation of Beatrix Potter showcased many of the values I hold dear. These included:
a commitment to creative work despite the objections of others, even one’s own family.
a love for farming and preservation of the land.
living through heartache and coming out stronger on the other side.
But another value I hold dear that may not have been as easily noticed by other viewers was the constant presence of the teapot.
Scene after scene, whenever the characters gathered for any conversation, they included tea. Nowhere did one see the string of the teabag hanging over the side of a mug, but instead the props included the beautiful teapots, cups, trays, and silver of the time. Taking tea was a daily event and inviting someone to tea at the spur of the moment or for a well-planned out event was commonplace.
Now, many of you might remind me the English aristocracy employed servants. Of course they could offer hospitality at a drop-of-the-hat. Fair enough. I think, however, there is another way to look at it.
Statistically, unless you are reading this from a war-torn country trying to survive genocide, those of us living in the 21st-century are healthier and wealthier than ever before. The resources available at our fingertips are staggering. True, our cultural norms and financial priorities mean the majority of us no longer employ household servants. However, the reality more often reflects a lack of energy and resources to practice hospitality because our energy and resources are going other places instead.
Learning to brew a simple pot of tea and offering a little-touch-of-something to go along with it is one of the simplest and least expensive ways to offer hospitality on an on-going basis. Books and movies are filled with such examples. Here’s a few movie favorites (mostly taken from books) that come to mind:
- Mr. Tumnus preparing traditional English tea for Lucy in Narnia. Notice Lucy’s cup and the toast cooling rack. Did you know the English cool their toast first? (Do you still do this? It’s hard to imagine in a country with weather such as yours!).
- Birdie hosting Kathleen Kelly and Christina over tea and scones in You’ve Got Mail while sharing about her love affair with the owner of Spain.
- Gandalf wanting nothing but tea despite Bilbo’s fluttering about as a host offering everything else under the sun during the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo and Gandalf also hold their first major discussion about the ring over tea.
- Anne Shirley’s complete delight to host her dear friend, Diana, for tea and the utter devastation when Diana gets drunk instead in Anne of Green Gables.
Did you have a favorite tea scene come to mind while reading this post? We’d love to hear about it in the comments. How are you able to practice hospitality quickly and easily?
September 21st, 2007
whom would it be?
Think about it for a moment. Whom would you most like to sit down with for an uninterrupted hour or two?
Imagine the setting. Is it a sun-room with upholstered wicker chairs and daisies in a vase? A front-porch swing with a painted railing to put up your feet? Or maybe you would set the tea table up next to a roaring fire in a mahogany-paneled study with leather wing-backs and a sleeping cat.
Now, close your eyes and see yourself in that setting. Who sits with you? Maybe it’s someone you’ve never met before, like an author of a favorite book; yet you’re at ease because you somehow know they’ll be a comfort to you. What would you want to talk about? What questions would you want to ask?
Myself, I think I might choose Anne Morrow Lindbergh or the wife of one of my favorite guitar musicians for the sun-room (”Is he as deep in real life? What’s it like to be married to one who makes us swoon? Mind if I do for a moment?”). For the front-porch swing, I want to track down my junior-high kindred spirit who married the Italian filmmaker. And I think if I could, I would invite the old boyfriend to the study and leave the door open. (”I know we weren’t meant to be, but how are you, really?).
How is it that so much of life can go by without heart-to-heart talks: the ones that truly comfort, linger, and connect us?
The college student of interpersonal communication in me knows some of the heady answer. I wrote papers on the different levels of intimacy and why they become more threatening as we progress deeper through them. I understand as an adult what I didn’t as a teenager; most of us need to face daily life with the balance these kinds of conversations tend to throw out-of-whack.
But I also wonder if maybe we’re just painfully out of practice in the art of conversation. Guarded because of past risks that didn’t go so well. And just too busy to slow down and receive nurture from one another. I think I imagine a day when there will be time; where my own graying Ya-Ya sisterhood and I will treasure each other and make the effort because we know better…
But for now, I prepare pots of tea and pour them out for others. It’s my small way of making room for people to connect with one another. There’s something about the preparation of tea that communicates to the recipient how you value them. Over and over I see the affect this has on tea drinkers. The care lingers, comforts, and connects.
What are you waiting for? Who would you like to invite for tea before the month’s end? Don’t hesitate! Let Tea Party Girl help you. Find the information you need in my categories. Feel free to email me or ask questions in the comments. Do it today!
As for me, carrot cake and cappuccino cream rooibos tea with my sons await.
September 18th, 2007
How much time do you spend online or sitting at your computer?
Do you sit in a room with windows? What do you see outside your window? Are the shades drawn to prevent glare?
What do you do when you start to nod off during your work? Do you sip room-temperature Diet Pepsi? Throw down a handful of sugar for a quick pick-me-up? Is it getting harder to ignore that nagging voice reminding you your caffeine quotient’s already been used up for the day?
I met a blogging friend in person this last weekend. She admitted to knowing the difference between when her computer served her versus when she’d allowed herself to be sucked in to escape something else or to waste time. Do you listen and recognize the difference?
I love blogging. I’ve made it a part of my every-day’s work, by choice. My In-Real-Life friend who also blogs admits to having a crush on the Internet. I smile at the analogy because yes, as others pen, the Internet is the thinking person’s television. But just like television, thanks to my crush on the Internet*, my priorities easily become askew if I let them.
How do I avoid this? I remember I want to live a daily life of simple beauty. If even hours go by without nurturing my senses, life is off balance, even when facing pressing deadlines. And of course, leading a tea lifestyle reminds me how to live what I love. If you spend much of your day online, you probably need a few tips and tricks for a Beautiful Blogging Life.
- Blog by a window. Even if you can’t gaze on verdure, watch the sky. If you cannot blog by a window, chose nature-based wall calendars, prints, or a screen-saver. Webshots is a great option.
- Make yourself step outside, even if only for five minutes every couple of hours.
- Open that window if you can, and breath in the fresh air.
- Know what truly nurtures you. Men, I’m even talking to you. What truly reminds you “this world is enchanted“? Mozart? Fresh-baked muffins? Dead-heading the chrysanthemum? Start your day, however you can, remembering this truth BEFORE you go on-line.
- Drink your caffeine and eat your sugar with purpose. Don’t use them to charge your burnt-out batteries. It doesn’t work! I, of course, recommend drinking tea for daily caffeine intake and saving sugar for a LITTLE touch of something with my afternoon cup.
My blogging mentor continues to remind me this on-line world doesn’t have to be a race. Though I’m not completely convinced**, I do know he’s reminding me that my love of this new medium isn’t worth letting go of the beauty of life. It’s the fear of being left behind that allows me to be driven at the cost of simple beauties. But for what purpose? Yes, I am giving you the on-line reminder to stop and smell the roses.
Did you like this post? Have you yet subscribed to my RSS feed? Please do so! It’s so simple, just press that big, beautiful, lavender button in the top right-hand corner of my site. I recently experienced a technical set-back which greatly affected my feed number. It’s one of the best ways you can support this site, as “important people” care a great deal about that number. Thank you! Now, go outside and breathe deeply.
*After all, how else could I obsessively check the weather, fan my Lost obsession even in the summer, find a kindred spirit across the pond, and keep up with a favorite author in ten minutes?
**I’m a Californian and glad my ancestors showed up when they did in the nineteenth century for a piece of the pie. Isn’t the Internet our latest frontier?
September 17th, 2007
Traditionally, the day after America’s Labor Day was the first day of school. Now, more and more schools start earlier (our county schools began August 16th), go year-round, or like our local college, don’t start until the END of month. Nevertheless, September brings the anticipation of shorter days, cooler nights, and changing leaves, along with the smell of crayons and newly sharpened pencils. If you are a Southern Hemisphere reader, do tell us, what does September represent down-under?
For many of my readers, the school year now begins for our children. Whether you home-school your children or send them to school, the beginning of the year marks a change in your routine as well as theirs.
Question: How well do you honor the changing of the seasons with some sort of tradition? A simple way to do this in September is to make time for a back-to-school tea.
Why tea? Because sharing a pot of tea fosters community and because I believe a key to your children’s success in school involves your connection to their friends’ parents. Who can you invite over for or meet over a pot of tea and a little touch of something?
Now, some might accuse me sounding very 1950s. But the reality is hospitality has not gone out of style and those 1950s moms knew something about how to help each other out. Is there another mom or two you could invite over for the purpose of getting to know them better? Granted, many moms work and rush off to their day as soon as they drop off their children. Is there a small window, however, where you can spend time with the parents of your children’s friends? This investment will pay off greatly in the long-run as it is critical for you to know the family of the friends your children want to spend time with.
Start over a simple pot of tea and a few home-made cookies some time this month. Remember, make decent tea!
Do you feel connected to the parents of your children’s friends?
September 4th, 2007
Next Posts
Previous Posts
