Boy, there is really nothing to discuss here except that the changing of the seasons is a beautiful thing.  For those of you who do not have four seasons, my sympathies.  For those of you who seek warmer weather this time of year, my blessings.  But as for me and my family, we stay.  We stay and enjoy all that our sacred Earth has to offer.  skp

Till next time!    skp

The Tantalizing Taste of a Woman

With tea what you get for taste
Is what you choose to brew.
If you select premium whole leaves,
Not ground up bits of dust, then you
Will get a richer flavor that
Will tempt you time and time again.

The qualities of a good woman
Are much the same.
It’s the whole woman you
Should consider, not specks of
This and that which can be
Whisked away like spilled leaves on
The counter board.

Choosing a good woman
May take many tastings and much time.
But making the right
Choice will be, oh, so rewarding
When you enjoy cup, after cup
After cup, after cup.


Susan Patterson
October 2005

Well, this might be just plain naughty!  Depending how you look at life, that is.  What's not to like in a good woman?  Or a good man for that matter?   I think that I will stop here in the discussion section of The Causerie.  We want to be appropriate, now don't we?   skp

Many of my readers already know, but for those who do not, we in the Patterson household enjoy our tea.  My husband has taken classes in the history and development of tea.  I just know how to make a good pot of tea consistently.  People often ask me which teas I would recommend.  There are so very many good teas available now that only on occasion do I suggest particular tea companies, so as not to leave any one company out.   However, I begin to break with tradition.  I will from time to time make suggestions for your tea pleasure.  

Have you tried French teas?  Have you heard of Nina's Paris?  Well, my dears, you will.  Already very popular in France and Japan, they will soon have stores in the United States.  Right now you can enjoy Nina's teas by ordering online.     http://www.ninasteastore.com/

Nina's teas are blended with unique and tantalizing flavors.  And what choices they have to select from!  In addition, Nina's have just been honored to win in the North American Tea Championship 2nd place for their Balade à Shanghai and 3rd place for Thé Des Muses.  But you won't want to stop there.  Just look online at their other very tempting tea selections. 

Nina's began in 1672 when Pierre Diaz created "La Distillerie Frères", which distilled essential oils.  For more than 300 years Nina's has had an amazing history filled with a passion for fragrances and aromas.  The company now offers a wide range of fine tea blends delicately flavored with pure essential oils.  One of Nina's teas, Marie Antoinette, is flavored with apples and roses grown only in the King's Kitchen Garden at Versailles. Gosh!  Why not kick up your heels a bit and choose a couple of Nina's marvelous options?  Look for the beautiful red tea tins.  You will be sipping a cup of France's history! 

À bientôt!  skp

The Unlikely Match

She needed an equal.
The one she had wasn’t working.
So, the harness loosened and
A new one came along.  
She strove to be his.
He grew to be hers.  

They matured at uneven paces,
Learning the important
To keep the balance;
Waiting for the other
To catch up or to slow down;
Not always understanding the what,
Or the how, but willing to
See the through.  

They’re equals now, together
At the same time.  
Each taking his turn at the lead.  
Each watching the other with care.
Satisfied with the yoke that has no load.

Susan Patterson
7-2011

When I was growing up in the shadow of a somewhat conservative church, we were taught that to become unevenly yoked was dangerous.  What the church teaching meant was that a person should not marry someone who is not like him or her.  Well, sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. 

Regardless, whether one is yoked with another person, a business, a life style or any other sort of relationship, the yoke that has no load is certainly due considerable appreciation.  skp

Autumn begins next week!  Happy days to you.  skp

The Moment That We Are

It will all be a distant memory,
All that we have and all that we see.
It will be part of the real that is gone,
Yet, part of the fondness that we own.
This here and now will not be lost,
But kept within the lives of the perpetual.
There will be no pain about it, no fear.
Only the exhale of a life gone by and
The inhale of a forever now. 


Susan Patterson

03-2011

My husband, James, and I are on a little vacation.  We are in Alberta, Canada enjoying, in my opinion, the best mountain scenery in the world.  But we came here for tea. Yep.  So we hiked 2.25 miles, one way, up to the Lake Agnes Tea House, at the 7005 foot level. There we enjoyed a lovely tea with traveling companions, Harold and Jolyn Plough.

This part of the world offers the most breathtaking landscape I have ever seen. Created millions of years ago, the mountains look like they only recently jutted up.  But they will be here for another million years and hopefully I be somewhere as well, breathing in the beauty of a forever now.

Maybe that time is now and I just don't recognize it.  Maybe heaven is really where we search and find it.  skp

Be in the moment.    skp

Heritage: 
Men From an Unknown Memory

I’ve seen pictures of them,  
The men of my family.  
Though I’ve never met most, they are part
Of me.  I am their resolve.

My men were strong and solid.  
They swaggered a little.
They tilted their hats to one side
And leaned against trucks.   
They laughed and dreamed.  Some
Were reckless to the point of sin.  

They held themselves upright,
Though life would blow to bow them down.   
Proud of their ability and construct,
They worked with wood and
With machines, with tools and with dirt.

Insightful craftsmen and engineers.
I know their structures.
Silent musicians of my past.  
I hear their songs.

Before I was born.  
My men gave me life and strength.  
Before I was born,
I accepted their endowments,
Both good and bad,
Fine and faulty.
Forming my life with their
Perseverance,
I am their labor.


Susan Patterson
February 2014

I wrote this poem about an old picture which I now carry in my wallet.  It is a picture of average working men, probably in the 1920's.  I don't know who they are...maybe a grandfather and uncle.   It doesn't matter.  I know that I am from their stock.  It is important to appreciate what has been done for us by those we may have never met.  We all figuratively stand on the shoulders of our parents, grandparents, and further back.  We are fortunate to do so.   It's the way it works.   skp

À bientôt!   skp