It's always tea-time

Jaana invited to drink coffee If we were having coffee, and so did Tammy Weekend Coffee Share.

Their posts sparked an inspiration to write my tea slice.

Lets' drink some tea. We could meet in my classroom. I have a drawer with a tea selection - tea bags and loose leaf tea to choose from - one black tea, some fruit infusions, several green teas with different flavours, and milky oolong. Some years ago I always had a bar of chocolate in my drawer for stressful moments. I learned that taking a pause to drink tea during a day kept me calmer and happier than the chocolate consolation that made me happy on the spot but caused some guilt later. I still eat chocolate just not as often and not as much as I used to. I drink at least two cups of tea at school. We could sit on the teachers' lounge sofa and listen to the chat about puppies, and knitting yarn, and old time movies, and we can join in if we wish and laugh along when the talk goes in odd directions. 

Let's drink some tea. We could meet at my home. I have a drawer at home with many packages of tea I have bought from my favourite little tea shop Chado, or received as a gift from people who know me well, and four bags of tea from a tea shop in London. You can pick from green, sencha, white, oolong, black, rooibos, cactus- flavoured or not flavoured- from the drawer, or some mint leaves from the freezer. We could make the tea in a little red tea pot or in a large glass tea pot, and we could sit on the living room sofa (I have three) and talk about books. 

Let's drink some tea. We could go to London and have an afternoon tea. I have done it only once but it was a very enjoyable experience. We could go to one of the hotels that brings out the silver trays with scones and tiny cakes, more than anyone could possible eat, and the silver tea pots, and the silverware, and we would sit under the chandelier and talk about the exhibitions and bookstores that we visited.

Let's drink some tea. We could go to a tea ceremony. I have done it twice and I hope to go there again. We would sit on the pillows on the rug covered floor, in a circle of beautiful stranger, surrounded by plants and with a fire place in the corner. The hostess would pour us tea and we would drink it slowly sip by sip, cup after cup during the two hours we are there. And we wouldn't talk at all. We would be silent and peaceful and fully present in the moment. 

Let's drink tea. I wish we could go to a buddhist temple in China and drink tea with a buddhist abbot. I have done it once and it was like a dream, so unbelievable, out of my life, experience. We would drink tea, eat figs and mooncake, and listen to the wise words similar to the ones I hear more than two years ago:  

"Teachers are givers. They give selflessly without expecting receiving back. They need belief, calmness and wisdom. They create calmness with their example. Their being is what makes the environment. Students are like petals on a lotus flower, the teacher like the center of the flower and compassion like the sun that gives light and warmth."

Lets' drink tea. We could drink tea in the countryside on a summer day. Pick some fresh mint leaves and watch them swirl in the hot water. We could take our cups and walk to the seashore, sit on the rocks and watch the sun glisten on the surface of the calm sea. Or we could stay in the garden and watch the grass grow. We would have all the time of the world - no hurry, no schedule, no to-do list. 

“It's always tea-time.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland Art by Made Balbat