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Monday, March 24, 2008

Litera-Tea


La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality is hosting a Tea Blog-a-Thon from March 16 until May 31. There a different theme for each week and you may participate as much or as little as you like. The theme for the second week, March 23-29 is Litera-Tea: "Share tea from the perspective of literature. Post a tea quote, a verse or poem, or story. Tell about a favorite tea book. This would be a good time to share how you use tea to encourage others. Do you minister to others by sending them tea themed cards to friends and shut-ins? Or another way you use 'tea' to share joy with others?"

My January 28 post shared a number of my tea-themed books.

In Metropolitan Museum of Art Teatime Tales & Rhymes , I found two poems which express the joys of tea.


A Cup of Tea
When the world is all at odds
And the mind is all at sea
Then cease the useless tedium
And brew a cup of tea.
There is magic in its fragrance,
There is solace in its taste;
And the laden moments vanish
Somehow into space.
And the world becomes a lovely thing!
There’s beauty as you’ll see;
All because you briefly stopped
To brew a cup of tea."
--Traditional





The Tea Party
In the pleasant green garden
We sat down to tea:
"Do you take sugar?" and
"Do you take milk?"
She’d got a new gown on—
A smart one of silk.
We all were so happy
As happy could be.
On that bright summer’s day
When she asked us to tea.
--Kate Greenaway

One of my favorite tea-related stories is A Cup of Christmas Tea by Tom Hegg, illustrated with watercolors by Warren Hanson. A nephew’s obligatory visit to his elderly aunt results in new insights into family memories.


The sequel, A Memory of Christmas Tea reveals the importance of special times for reflection about what matters most.


One of my favorite authors on various aspects of tea is Emily Barnes. I have been inspired by If Teacups Could Talk and recently got The Twelve Teas of Christmas from my book swap.
See La Tea Dah’s excellent reviews of four Emily Barnes tea books.

Please visit La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality for links to other participants in the Tea Blog-a-Thon.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have a wonderful collection of tea books Carrie. I love the poems you posted for us...

Yellow Rose Arbor said...

I enjoyed reading about your tea books, and the poems are wonderful!

I will try to work on mine tomorrow.

Katherine

Mrs. V. said...

I followed your link in my comments section. Your blog is lovely ~ I'm glad to have found it. I was also the caretaker of both of my parents for almost five years until they both eventually passed away. I know of the struggles. Hang in there~~~

Vee said...

That's the second time on my tea tour that I've run into the first poem. It's so very true!

Millie said...

I love this poem ""A Cup of Tea
When the world is all at odds
And the mind is all at sea
Then cease the useless tedium
And brew a cup of tea.""
Thanks for posting it.
Thanks also for stopping by my blog
Millie

Lana G! said...

Love the poems you chose to share! Just beautiful!

Scrabblequeen said...

It's been really fun reading all these Litera-tea posts. I keep seeing books I own or have read and hadn't thought of for a while. Great memories were invoked by your book sharing. Thanks.

Karla Cook @ Roads to Everywhere said...

Sweet poems! Thanks for sharing!

Jenileigh said...

How neat. I enjoyed reading this!

Gina E. said...

When my friend wrote that poem out for me in a card, she didn't say where she found it. But thanks to you, now I know! You have a lovely selection of books!

Shady Gardener said...

You have quite a collection of books on the subject of tea. I have quite a bit of English heritage and I credit that to the fact that I very much enjoy drinking tea and the "ceremony" involved. ;-)

I hope to have more time to visit you soon!

Sandy said...

The Tom Hegg books look like something I would like very much to read. Thank you for posting on them.

Anonymous said...

Hi Carrie, thank you for visiting my blog this evening and for the kind words :). You have a wonderful collection of tea books, I love the poems you've shared. It sounds like I need to start with an Emilie Barnes tea book first :).

Have a wonderful evening!
Kathi :)

Wanita said...

Thank you for the poems and the books you listed. I especially want to check out Emilie Barnes' books. They sound delightful. Thank you, too, for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment.

Anonymous said...

Went back and read your earlier posting on tea books. You have a nice collection including some I didn't know about.

Grace said...

Your collection of books is gorgeous, I enjoyed reading your posts!

La Tea Dah said...

Carrie, you have some lovely tea books! I appreciate your recommendations on a few I haven't read or seen yet. I will try to find them. And the poems --- very sweet! Thank you for sharing them!

LaTeaDah

Sweet Necessi-Teas said...

What a lovely collection of tea books! Thanks for sharing them with us!

Priscilla said...

Hi, I do love the little poems from the books, what a nice collection you have, I am going to try and find some of the books I have seen..... Thank you for sharing

Priscilla x