(Tea Time. January 2006. Photo by Robin.)
Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company.
~Author Unknown
While I’m enjoying our sabbatical here in the ‘burbs of Philadelphia (so much to see and do!), I do miss our home in the Bogs. The apartment here is plain and drab, the only really colorful decoration is a purple feather boa I was gifted with by a good friend at the Mummers Parade on Saturday. Because this is a temporary home, I’m not sure I’ll spend much time in decorating. As a result, it tends to feel a little like living in a hotel. That’s not so surprising really. The building used to be a hotel and has been renovated into apartments.
The LovelyMan (aka LM aka my husband) and I bought a house in the Bogs that was in bad shape. It took six months of tender loving care to transform it into the bright and colorful home it is now. Our youngest son is currently living there and taking care of it for us until our return sometime in the summer months.
The photo above was taken in our kitchen which is full of light in the mornings, a lovely place to sit and sip on a cup of good tea. I’m a loose leaf type of tea lover and have jars of the wonderful stuff lined up on the counter. One of my morning joys is to look over the jars of tea and decide which one I will treat myself to that day. Will it be the oolong? How about the jasmine green tea? The yerba mate looks good. Or maybe the darjeeling. The Japanese green sencha is another wonderous possibility.
At night I have the herbal teas to soothe me. A beautiful chamomile, a lovely rooibus, a sweet honeybush, or some homegrown mint. I have a mint garden in front of the house, easily accessible from the kitchen. There’s peppermint, spearmint, an apple mint, and my favorite, pineapple mint.
We have a large pond (1.5 acres) and a small bit of property with woods, meadows, and hayfields in the Bogs. I miss being so close to nature. Now that I’m walking more, I hope to get out and find a park or two nearby. One nice thing about this town is that there are plenty of trees for me to get to know.
This move, I discovered, was part of the stress I carried in my lower back. As much as I sometimes yearn for my home in the Bogs, I’m determined to make this sabbatical another magical adventure in my life.
Note: This is another re-released old post.
Bountiful Healing 