A new little "shopgirl!"

I'd like to introduce you to our newest shopgirl, Miss Millie. Millie came visiting a week ago with two of her sisters and decided she'd like to stay with me. Oh my! She is such a little love and her fan club is growing rapidly! Millie is a nearly 12 week old, Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Many of you are familiar with another Cardigan, Miss Clover Meadow, who appears frequently on Alicia Paulson's "Posie Gets Cozy" blog.

As I type this Miss Millie is out in our little shop garden nipping the blossoms off the calendula plants. She likes to pick a blossom and then curl up under the table and very carefully pull out each yellow petal. Silly thing, she makes me smile. We lost one of our Pembroke corgis, in May, our dear sweet old Rosie. I miss her so.......and, I thought I'd want another Pembroke, but Millie convinced me otherwise. She's sweet, charming, quite smart (of course) and it is rather charming to have a wagging tail about! As my friend Steph said, "Millie is good for your soul." She's right. :)

Most days, if I'm on deck here in the shop, Millie will be, too. Stop by and say "Hi!" She'll be very happy to greet you!

Aloha, Kauai nani! Mahalo no kou ho`okipa!

Farewell, beautiful Kauai! Thank you for your hospitality!

We had a lovely, lovely time, but it went so quickly! And while it is good to be home, and lovely to be back in the shop, a piece of my heart lives in Hawaii on the beautiful island of Kauai. I shall let the photos pretty much speak for themselves.

Where we stayed......





And where we played.....




The friends we made.....






The beautiful mountains, cliffs and sea.....






The flowers......



The history and the haunting beauty......





A hui hou kakou! (Until we meet again.) Aloha!

Sigh.........

:)

Summer? Really? Unbelievable!

We turned the calendar page over into summer and by golly, summer like weather is actually here! We are nearly up to normal temperatures, and wouldn't you know it, I'm leaving for vacation in Hawaii! That's okay, I trust there will be two to three months of lovely weather to enjoy when I return......I hope!


With an unusually long, cool spring, we have only just begun to prepare iced tea for customers. Usually we're keeping several pitchers "on tap" by now in our little frig. We do have a sturdy few who will start ordering iced tea when the sun shines any day past March, be it warm or not! So I did run a quick report to see what customers are purchasing to enjoy iced. The top five thus far are:

Breakfast Blend (Our "Basic Black" Iced Tea!)
Passion Berry
Mangosteen White
Apricot
Summer in Provence

(No decafs or herbals in there! Hmmmm.....That's interesting.) At home, my boys and I have been enjoying a blend of Breakfast Blend and Spearmint over ice. It is so refreshing and of course a little lower in caffeine, too. I like this blend a bit sweet. :)

For iced tea you will use about 1 1/2 rounded teaspoons of tea leaves per cup. Put loose tea into a large infuser ball or fill-your-own teabags or loose into pitcher. Pour in several inches of fresh, boiling water. Steep for about 5 minutes, remove tea, fill with cold water and put in frig. Your infusion will be strong enough to handle those ice cubes. If you prepare sun tea, please make sure your container is absolutely, spotlessly clean. Tea is a perfect medium for bacterial growth. (I know...yucky!)

If you drink your tea sweet, we recommend making a simple syrup of sugar and water. Boil equal parts sugar and water on stove or in the microwave until the sugar dissolves. No more stirring and stirring and stirring to try to dissolve the sugar in iced cold tea. Simple syrup looks lovely in a small glass pitcher.

I wish you lovely (but not too hot) iced tea sipping weather!

New White Teas

We have several white teas to tell you about. Two are new, Mangosteen and Pomegranate (pictured above), and one is a returning favorite, White Calypso. White teas are the least processed of all the teas. Frequently the leaves are merely carefully picked and then dried. The natural down that baby teas leaves have are usually rubbed off during processing, but in white teas this is still visible and gives the tea leaves a silvery look. Hence the name "white tea." White tea is by itself rather mild and slightly sweet in flavor, and therefore takes flavorings very nicely.

Our Mangosteen White is a "limited edition." The mangosteen fruit is quite tropical, rarely seen in the west, and is considered to be one of the "superfruits." It is cultivated extensively in Thailand and in a limited way in Sri Lanka, India and the Philippines. The flavor of the white fruit reminds us of a cross between perhaps cantaloupe and mango. It's hard to describe, but is absolutely delicious. We have a limited amount of Mangosteen White Tea available in 1 ounce, 2 ounce and 1/4 pound quantities. If you desire a larger quantity please call the shop (360-331-6080) or email for availability. Little bits of dried mangosteen are sprinkled throughout this tea along with some mango to accentuate the flavor.

Pomegranate is actually a blend of white and delicate green teas and has lovely fresh, berry-like flavor notes. (As I'm typing this, I'm enjoying the tea in the photo above! Yum!) White Calypso is flavored with essence of pear, mango, pineapple, orange and plum. It makes an extraordinary iced tea and is a top seller during the summer season here. In fact all of our flavored white teas make wonderful iced teas, but enjoy them hot, too!

Next time you order, please feel free to ask for a sample of one of these. We're always happy to treat you to a cup or two of something new. :)

In search of spring....

Poor little blog...so lonely and abandoned!

Life has finally calmed down a bit. The parties responsible for the local burglaries are now behind bars and we are finally catching up in many ways. There are a number of new teas recently in to tell you about, but we'll start that tomorrow, I think. First I want to share a few photos with you.

Spring has been a long, long, lonnnng time coming to our island. We are all desperate for sun and warmth. Yes, even those of us born and raised in the mossy Pacific Northwest have had enough of the chilly, damp days. A few mornings ago, I grabbed my camera and set out on a walk in search of spring......I knew there had to be signs, and yes, I found a few. Spring is here, you just have to look....

Spring in the northwest comes in many shades of green. Fortunately, green is my favorite color. :) The photo above is the driveway into a neighbors house....Don't you just want to walk down around that bend?

The salmon berries are in full bloom right now. When you see these bright pink blossoms you know it is hummingbird time. Down the road from us is an area of quite open woodland and beneath the tall alder trees the forest floor is thickly carpeted with salmon berries and elderberry bushes. If you stop, close your eyes and listen, you can hear the buzzing and tiny chirps of hummingbirds all around you!


Sometimes you have to step off the path and look down, deep down into the lush grass. And there you will find some of the most delicate blooms. These little flowers are so tiny. The little buds hang down like bells and then as they begin to open, they turn tiny faces up to the sun. I love the rosy stripes on the petals.


I returned home just as it began to gently rain and captured this photo of my forget-me-nots just coming into bloom in the garden. So sweet in many ways. These little gems are the great, great, great grandchildren of plants that came from my grandmother's garden. I forget her not. :)

Happy May Day!

Happy Spring!

This is what greets me each morning. Even on the grayest of days, there are two pots full of sunshine right outside my door! There are yellow pansies in the pots, too, but they need to grow up a bit. If you come this way, you'll be able to spot the shop pretty easily. Just look for the red door and my pots full of color!

The website is coming along. I thank you for your patience! Some of you know, and some of you don't, that my little shop was broken into during the dark of the night on March 2. Between the dollars taken, repairs to re-secure the shop, time spent talking with our Sheriff and his detectives, and hours devoted to resulting paperwork, I am behind in just about everything imaginable! But, the parties responsible for this upheaval are now behind bars, tranquility is returning to my sweet shop, and I am rapidly catching up.

Many, many of you have stopped by, called, mailed or emailed words of support. From my heart, I thank you. You have cheered many a day!

Happy Spring to all!

Our website is moving......

Please, don't panic. We are in the process of moving and rebuilding our website to better suit our customers' needs. We'll soon be able to offer you more payment options, including PayPal, and will be able to update our offerings much more quickly and efficiently. It is a very good thing!

The website should be back up within 24 hours, but it will take a few days for us to re-enter all of our teas and tea accessories. We appreciate your patience during this process. Should you have any questions, or require assistance, please don't hesitate to call the shop at 360-331-6080.

Thanks so much!