Tea is a restorative drink, with as many shades of subtle flavor as wine. HBO has serialized The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency (books by Alexander McCall Smith). The number one lady detective, Precious Ramotswe (played by Jill Scott), enjoys a cup of tea to handle every situation. It is wise and altogether civilized.
I decided against reading the first book in the series a long time ago, but I may have to give it a second chance.
I have had only part-time work for a year now. This situation has called for a lot of tea drinking, as does having a job, working, relaxing, thinking, writing, and reading.
I’ve given up, for the most part, items such as cookies, breakfast Danish, chocolate, and steak. I’ve had to live on rice and beans in the past, and I can do it again. Rice and vegetables are healthy. I’m purchasing a cheaper brand of ice cream, too. And I’m wondering if I can afford to take advantage of the economic stimulus package tax credit to buy a new central air conditioning/heating system. This one has been limping along since I bought the place four years ago, and I’m not sure that even a shot of Freon will get the old cow up and going again.
I have not yet given up drinking tea. I laid in some English Breakfast tea, from England yet, at $2 a box from Big Lots, compared with $3.69 at the supermarket. It’s not always available, so I may go back next week for more. I feel a bit better when I open the pantry and see it stocked with something I love.
For that matter, I love opening the pantry, because it represents a really good buy and timely find. I was longingly perusing online stores for a free-standing pantry that would open with narrow shelves on the doors and inside. The cheapest one was $200 plus shipping, and it was a bit rustic for my style. Then I found one exactly the same color as my kitchen cabinets in a Goodwill Store for $40. Such a deal.
Tea and the occasional bargain are beacons of light in hard times. But I wish times were not so hard. I will be 61 on Monday, and I do not much feel like celebrating.
On a completely different topic, I am looking for feedback on my page about Chinese Clothes at FashionAfter50.com. I’ve also changed the template design for the whole site. I will be rewriting and revising many existing pages over the next month or two.
