Dec 5

Today we drew Darjeeling Spring from the mix. It was a nice tea to have for breakfast. Very light and floral. Though it never got above what a family member calls “winkles tea.” We have as leisurely a breakfast as possible given the ninety-minute commute. We eat our otmeal, we start our online scrabble, and only then do we pour out the tea. It gets anywhere from five to fifteen minutes to steep.

You wouldn’t have known it with this Darjeeling. We can normally cope with watery tea, but even by our standards it was almost too weak. We think it’s the leaves. They’re very big and very loose in the tea bag, which is what you want for a good cup, but you do need more than a pinch of tea to make a pot. A mug might work better. We’ll try that next time, although we didn’t have the same issue with yesterday’s masala chai.

We didn’t actually end up commuting; there was a pllumbing thing we had to be in for. Except, of course we didn’t, because the plumbing thing took all of thirty seconds if one’s generous. Why we had orders to remove all furniture from the area so they could work absolutely boggles the mind.

Later, we went dancing. The snow’s still there. We still have no boots. It’s a whole saga. Have a poem instead.

Dust of Snow
Robert Frost

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.