THE COMFORT OF TEA

Lise Carruthers. See more work by Lisa here  and here

 The Tray by Naomi Shihab Nye

Even on a sorrowing day
the little white cups without handles
would appear
filled with steaming hot tea
in a circle on the tray,
and whatever we were able
to say or not say,
the tray would be passed,
we would sip
in silence,
it was another way
lips could be speaking together,
opening on the hot rim,
swallowing in unison.

 Watanabe Takayuki. Click here

"Tea is an act complete in it's simplicity. 
When I drink tea, there is only me, and the tea. 
The rest of the world dissolves. 
There are no worries about the future. 
No dwelling on past mistakes. 
Tea is simple: Loose-leaf tea, hot pure water, a cup. 
I inhale the scent, tiny delicate pieces of the tea floating above the cup. 
I drink the tea, the essence of the leaves becoming a part of me."
- Thich Nhat Hanh

Belocq Tea Atelier

"When tea is made with water drawn from the depth of mind, We really have what is called a tea ceremony." - Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Tea Infusers found on Tumblr

Tea Pot by Petr Novak  on Pots and Tea blog, here

Ceramics by Petr Novak on Pots and Tea blog , here

 Raimund Matros on Flickr. Click

Image found on Tumblr

I love the thought of drinking tea from an exquisite tea bowl
I'm searching for just the right one

Black sandstone tea bowls by Kambe Chinatsu at Oli Oli. 

Robin Welch. 

The Frog,  eggshell porcelain tea bowl by Jane Reumert.

Colin Hopkins

Swedish style

Found on Tumblr

PATCHWORK : SEEN FRESHLY

Lorraine Connelly-Northey

Look at patchwork with fresh eyes.

Quilts made from corrugated iron ....

or rusted drain pipes and fencing wire

Lorraine Connelly-Northey

Patches of wood .....

Rosalie Gascoigne

Comfort Quilts made from reclaimed steel

Cold Comfort Quilt by Ted Larsen (Reclaimed steel)

Paper and canvas....

Patching it up by Conrad Marca-Relli

Sackcloth ....

Sackcloth by Alberto Burri

.... or used teabags!

Tea Bag Quilt by Kim Schoenberger

Ceramic patches wired together

Sebastian Blackie (clay tiles wired together)

.... or a patchwork book.
Dorothy Simpson Krause

FRESH by Naomi Shihab Nye

To move

Cleanly.

Needing to be

Nowhere else.

Wanting nothing

From any store.

To lift something

You already had

And set it down in

A new place.

Awakened eye

Seeing freshly.

What does that do to

The old blood moving through

Its channels?

HAPPINESS IS .............

Bouquets of old spoons from the scrap yard,

Containers filled with pencils...

I LOVE pencils!

Art books... particularly African Art books,



Piles of sketchbooks filled with ideas,

Monkeys that peep .....

Sundays on the The Midlands Meander (an art route through KwaZulu Natal) .....

Browsing through country shops,

Being amazed by creatures made from wire and beads,

Stopping somewhere for tea .... lunch ..... and tea again

Beautiful scenery.... snow ..... fresh air in rural Natal

Happiness is spending time with my family (yep, that's my brother in the top right corner above ...... Lets see if he reads my blog :-)

All photos are mine except for The Dlaminis above from Zulu-Lulu Trading on the Midlands Meander.

SO MUCH HAPPINESS by Naomi Shihab Nye

It is difficult to know what to do

with so

much happiness.

With sadness there is something

to rub

against,

A wound to tend with lotion and cloth.

When the world falls in around you,

you

have pieces to pick up,

Something to hold in your hands,

like

ticket stubs or change.

But happiness floats.

It doesn't need you to hold it down.

It doesn't need anything.

Happiness lands on the roof

of the next

house,

singing,

And disappears when it wants to.

You are happy either way.

Even the fact that you once lived

in a

peaceful

tree

house

And now live over a quarry of noise

and

dust

Cannot make you unhappy.

Everything has a life of its own,

It too could wake up filled with possibilities

Of coffee cake and ripe peaches,

And love even the floor

which needs to

be swept,

The soiled linens and scratched records…..

Since there is no place large enough

To contain so much happiness,

You shrug, you raise your hands,

and it

flows out of

you

Into everything you touch.

You are not

responsible.

You take no credit,

as the night sky

takes no credit

For the moon, but continues to hold it,

and to share it,

And in that way, be known.

- Naomi Shihab Nye