dual personalities

Yorkshire Red Tea -- our favorite

This morning I received email from my middle son, who casually commented, “Also, I’ve taken what I believe is your last box of tea.” Alarmed, I thought “But it’s Friday! What will we do all weekend?” You must understand that my whole family is addicted to Yorkshire Red tea. We drink copious amounts all day and we don’t like any other kind. It’s not that we’re snobby tea connoisseurs, it’s just that we’re creatures of habit and Yorkshire Red is our favorite (okay, I really do think it’s better than Twinings). I suspect that for those in the know, we have very bourgeois tastes. So be it. We love our tea. Unfortunately, living as we do in the back of beyond, we can’t purchase the tea locally and have to rely on wonderful Amazon.com for delivery. Fast as they are, it is likely to be a long weekend with tea rationing, but it will make us savor every cup.

a "semi-antique" rug from Iran, now gracing my living room floor

Nothing finishes a room quite as well as a hand-knotted oriental rug. I bought this Bibikabad from a dealer in Syracuse NY a couple of years ago. It’s slightly elliptical in shape and therefore blended in perfectly with the (rather worn) furniture and antique oriental already there. It’s possible to buy reasonably priced medium quality handmade rugs online now, too. In the opinion of this humble blogger, a good living room needs hardwood floors, oriental rugs, original oil paintings, watercolors, or prints and plenty of books!

Up here in the North Country there are not so many opportunities to visit cool historic houses, so I get my old house fix by going to the wonderful Historic Properties for sale web site (http://www.historicproperties.com/results.asp) where I can look at everything from fully restored mansions to those like this wonderful house in Salem Indiana that is in need of some tender loving care.

John A. Bowman House on sale for $59,999