More than a cup of tea

A friend came for tea, giving me a chance to use my new Art Deco tea set. As I placed the cups and saucers on the table and poured hot water to hot the pot, I was transported back to childhood tea parties. Then my cups and saucers were so tiny they only held a swallow of tea, and usually it was Coca-Cola in the pot, my preferred beverage. Sometimes my guests were other little girls, sometimes they were dolls and we would talk about whatever jobs I assigned them, archeologist being one of the most frequent, when we weren't Roman matrons or Greek Gods, or cowgirls with our next chore to be rounding up cattle, imaginary of course. Not a lot of cattle in Reading, MA.

When I did drink tea during my childhood, it was laced with milk and probably had more sugar than the sugar-laden Coke.

On Wigglesworth Street we had several teapots. One was a ceramic lion face bought in a souk-like store in the underbelly of Quincy Market. If it had been a bad day, it was hard to stay depressed using it. The sky blue pot with the puffy clouds also changed the mood from tense to relaxed.

Across the street Hiram Manning, an artist, would also serve us afternoon tea with everything from cucumber sandwiches to little sweets. He had one sandwich made with butter and cracked spices that his family created when their finances were down. We talked about his specialty, the decoupage that he taught, food, renovations on our respective houses, food, friends, music, food, the ballet, food, books and food.

After I moved at least once a month I would get together with my girlfriend and we do special teas and talk about food, friends, music, food, the ballet, food, books, dogs, work and food.

And there are the less formal teas, the cuppas, a bag put in a mug hot water added.

Whenever I watch a drama on BBC, at least 50% seem to have the line “I’ll put the kettle on.” I wonder if the words are stored in someone’seach writer's computer and put on top of each page to be pasted into the manuscript at the right moment. However, the playwrite is correct: hashing out a problem is easier over a cuppa. Or sharing a joy, or having a good conversation, or using it revive oneself, or to have near at hand while reading a good book, or next to the computer while I write…Excuse me, I need to pour myself a second cuppa before I hang up the wash.