Tea time and essential oils musing

What's your favorite tea for tea time?  My kids like a cinnamon variety.  My close friend loves a pear black tea.  I have found that Earl Grey suits my needs.  Does that mean that I'm British?  I'm snobish?  And of course scones are very important. 

Today as my son was working on scones for the 4-H fair he wanted to add Earl Grey tea to his menu. (Thank you dear son.) I hurried down the rabbit trail looking up who was the Earl?  What is in Earl Grey tea?  What makes Earl Grey called it's name?  I really was full of wonder.

And what did I find?  CONNECTIONS!  I keep an essential oil next to my bed.  It's my favorite scent and I use it all sorts of times.  I wear it to bed.  I put it on in the morning.  I often use it to cover up other smells of the farm life....sigh.  It's the essential oil called Bergamont. 

Did you know Earl Grey tea has bergamont in it?  I didn't until today! 

Listen to this!

The Earl Grey blend, or "Earl Grey's Mixture", is assumed to be named after Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, British Prime Minister in the 1830s and author of the Reform Bill of 1832. He reputedly received a gift, probably a diplomatic perquisite, of tea flavoured with bergamot oil.

According to one legend, a grateful Chinese mandarin whose son was rescued from drowning by one of Lord Grey's men first presented the blend to the Earl in 1803. The tale appears to be apocryphal, as Lord Grey never set foot in China and the use of bergamot oil to scent tea was then unknown in China. However, this tale is subsequently told (and slightly corrected) on the Twinings website, as "having been presented by an envoy on his return from China".

Okay Wiki.  I'll play.  I'd love to think that Charles Grey rescued someone and then found bergamont oil in China.  

But where is bergamont from?  Looks like Italy and Greece.  So perhaps Lord Grey was visiting the Santa Maria Novella church and saw the Fresco while drinking his own blend of tea?  Hmmm.  

Okay now I'm really dreaming! And then I looked up what Bergamont essential oil is supposed to be used for (because I probably bought it initally for some important reason!)   

Did you know it can help with depression?  It can decrease stress levels when they are high. It purifies and cleanses the skin.  It really is a wonder!

So that's it.  I just have to drink Earl Grey tea.  Especially on high tension days.  With my scones.

Do you wonder about tea?

Eira How

More than four years ago we moved to a "new house" in a more rural area.  It was less than 3 miles from our 1868 house in the village.

But a new house to us.  A very modern 1950's style house.  The most modern house we've owned in our marriage.

We've been practicing hospitality, both to those who live in the home and those who live outside, for many years.  I have written about this dear to my heart topic before...
The past four years we have kicked around names for this place.  What would embody what we hope for here?  What name could evoke the heart of what this place means?

Our home is simple.  We use three bedrooms of the four for our own sleeping quarters. My children say we are minimalistic.  (I feel as though we have too many toys, but not enough books!)  We are not minimalists.

We welcome many people.  We do not go a week without a guest in our home.  We welcome strangers and friends.  And we hope the strangers can call us friends when they leave.

The midwest is typically considered a very flat area.  But for some reason the road on which we live is the hill-i-est around.  We have often called it the roller coaster road!  It's a natural phenomenon.  Our house sits on the top of one of the many hills around. We can see the tops of the other hills when we look down our road, but we cannot see the valleys.

So here's the "big" reveal.  We finally have a name for this place.

We've kept an icon over our kitchen table area for the past 10 years at least.  It's the visitation of the three guests to Abraham.    Sometimes it's called the Trinity Icon or the Hospitality of Abraham.  It's probably the most famous Russian icon.  It was written (as icons are not painted) by Andrei Rublev in 1440.  I hope one day to travel to Moscow to visit it.  For now, we just sit in it's gaze while we share our own table with guests from far and near.

Our copy of the icon is from Romania.  My parents were traveling there many years ago and we requested they bring a copy of this back for us.  They found it in an Orthodox gift shop/church.  It reminds us of our friends who live there and those that have suffered greatly in the Eastern church for their faith.

My family roots are in England and Sweden so I've been doing a little dive into Norse language roots.  We often talk about how our home is where we learn to show mercy.  It's in giving mercy that we receive mercy.  I wanted to know what norse words might reflect our mission of giving mercy in and out of the home with our place of hill.  Here is what I came up with!

Eira How.  Eira (ear-rah) meaning Mercy and How meaning Hill.


This past month Embroidery was our focus so I chose to make mine for our home with our name.
I tend to have the most productive handwork time while my husband is driving!

And now my embroidery hangs in our dining room.  In a simple frame.

Do you have a special name for your homestead/house?  Does it reflect the values you have for your home/family?

Epiphany...

More than six weeks ago we had a snow storm.  It was Epiphany.  And we still had our annual Epiphany blessing by a priest.  We've had plenty of snow since then.

I wanted to post these "before"photos because we finally have ripped down all the wallpaper and painted.  But it was a glorious celebration.  And so many great shots!  (thanks honey for letting me get a "fancy" camera!)

Special epiphany water and chalk.

A special wine bottle cover from a friend. And a glimpse of the wainscoting and wallpaper that was to come down.

Beeswax candles.

Magi painting.

Incense.  Frankincense of course.

The priest.

And enough incense that you can't see the walls.  On the left was removed wallpaper and a first coat 

of paint.

Writing 20+C+M+B+14 over each doorway.

lots of sprinkling of water.

Here you can see ALL the wallpaper that we tried to hide under kids artwork and Christmas cards.  BUSY walls!

Front door. (see that wallpaper!)

3 year old couldn't stay awake anymore.

The Trinity icon that hangs in our dining room.

A child's penny doll house needed blessed too.  

And now all the kids eating dessert with the priest.  

A house blessing

There's nothing magical about comitting your house for God's use.  Choosing to have a house be a blessing to others is a yearly commitment we make at Epiphany.

But then we moved!

So after we moved we asked our priest to come and help us bless this house for God's use.

Here are the photos (long overdue!) from the blessing in July.

May God take this little abode and turn it into a blessing for others.  

(and thanks to a God mother who took all these photos!)

Thank you for dirty finger prints on the wall.

Recently a family member remarked on the shock of having a teen in her house that left dirty hand prints on the wall.  It's been several years since she had a child in the house.  And she's never had a son....so this was all very amazing to her!

Today as I wiped yet another set of dirty hand prints off the wall, I was thankful.

I wondered at how many other hand prints had been wiped of this same wall near the stairs.  Then my eyes traveled to the front door and the scuff marks where children had entered and exited from a recent family gathering.  Our old house (130+) years has heard it's number of wailing mothers and laughing children.  And it carries it's share of marks from love and war.

I'm personally in the throws of dirty hand prints on the wall.  And there are more to come over the years.  Two sons (so far) and a puppy make for lots of mud in the house.  Many are the days when I shake my head to the cleaning I seem to do.  But for today I am remembering how short these years are.  (the days are long, the years are short, right?)

Someday I will be having a grandson or a nephew visiting my perfectly clean house and wishing for a few dirty hand prints.  (the good Lord, willing).

Adjusting to new circumstances: cleaning

It's been a weird spring.  Weather with 80's one day and then 50's the next.  Outside calling to us and inside growing with clutter.

As this mommas belly has grown, I've lost my ability to keep order on many levels.  I'm rethinking our cleaning chores.  We had a fairly good system MONTHS ago, but chaos has ensued.

Isn't that how it is with most things in life. They tend toward chaos if not tended to? What IS that Science principle?

So we try new trends to see if they work for this growing family.

(My current one is getting up at midnight to mop the floor and then watch it be clean for more than 5 minutes.  It is not one of the plans that works btw. I know. But it was cleaner for longer!)

 Here's what is currently working. This will all be thrown into a blender when swimming and summer band and art lessons and dressage lessons and summer reading begin next (eck!) week.

 #1 All live persons must dress before coming downstairs to breakfast.

 #2 It is necessary to have cleaned bathrooms and kitchen promptly after breakfast. This is a group effort of differing responsibilities. I see more clearly when the floors are exposed and the counters are not cluttered.

#3 Morning snack does not begin until 10 am. The kitchen is closed after breakfast until snack time!

 #4 When you finish your morning school you must be outside or you will do extra cleaning.

 #5. Quiet time is necessary both for mom's sanity and also so that you get a break from cleaning....if you'd prefer to be noisy, you get to vacuum.

Sounds harsh doesn't it?

 As I've been pondering our homeschooling Bible verse for the coming year, I came across Proverbs 29:15. (I don't spank my children so the beginning of the verse doesn't mean much to me, but the last part caught my attention)
"... a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother".

 I'm working to teach my children how to keep and clean home. It's not my role to force them, but rather to model and work along side them...or them alongside me. It's not my role to teach conduct, but to rather teach character.  (thank you Charlotte Mason)

Many times in the last 12+ years of parenting, I've seen how it can be faster to send them away and do the work myself. But that doesn't equip them for their future. Shopping at the grocery store, buying church clothes, cleaning a toilet and doing laundry can be seen as necessary evils to be quickly finished so as to only create easiness and a cherish childhood for them.  But to truly help them when they leave this abode, I need to work with them and they with me. This takes more time and energy in the starting years, but helps create virtue in them and long lasting habits. So, yes, sometimes they get their own way, and sometimes I get mine, but most often we can find happy solutions that help the whole household run more smoothly. And those options always include all of us helping with chores during the day.

So here's to a new circumstance with cleaning!

Gladly away from my computer

We are finishing up our school year and spending every extra moment outside enjoying the view.  

Chipping sparrows.  Four this year.  Also Mourning Doves (too high to photograph), Grackles, Sparrows and House Wrens all hatching in our yard.  

Clustered Bell Flowers like where they are.

Red Rose Ferns and Day Lilies wrapping the porch and hiding the swing.

Robin eggs!

Dianthis.  This comes back every year.  Was given to the girls by a children's librarian the first year we moved here!

Lilies divided from my mothers yard around the fountain.

The garden coming along nicely...

Looking for Lent around the home...

The hallway and the library....

Pysanky eggs again this year.  This is a new pattern for 2012.

Display of past and current eggs.

Finally!  flowers for our Kitchen Madonna.  Siberian Squill from (shh!) the neighbors yard.

Stations of the Cross basket in the hallway.

Couch basket to share with pre-schooler and toddler.

Catholic Schools Week

So we have a non-traditional Catholic school in our home.  It's perhaps like a one room school house in that we have a variety of ages, but we never school in just one room.  We travel around the house based on the needs of the children.  (I'm tired, can you read to me in my bed?; I need a snack, can you read to me at the table?; I need to be outside, can you read to me on the porch....get the idea?)

This week across the nation and in our Diocese it's Catholic Schools Week.  I applaud our Bishop for his commitment to keeping the option available for families.  I know of some priests that find keeping a Catholic school open to be the hardest work they do for their parish.  It can be one of the hardest things we accomplish at this domestic church too!

Our Bishop put out a statement for all Catholic schools this week.  The schools should stand for Faith.  Academics.  and Service.    The Bishop encouraged each school to have an open house to show off how they live these standards.  Since I doubt people are dying to put their children into this school, I decided a virtual tour is in order.  Of couse the children are the hosts.

I asked the children in this school how we live out this mandate from our Bishop.
Their responses:  "We go to Mass on Wednesdays nights as well as on Sunday."

Epiphany 2012

"We celebrate special feast days with readings and special foods. "

"We go to Atrium every week!"

"We study history a LOT! "

Quick reading time on your own

"Today we did a lot of Math."

Letter practice while mom reads

"We did that service project for the HomeCare"

Heart shaped rice warmers for Hospice patients

Even more reading aloud

And even though our Bishop will never darken the doors of this school, we thank him for his guidance.

20+C+M+B+11

Sometimes the simplest traditions can be the most full!   And we like the consistency of having the same priest friend over each year.  

Brother Incense bearer

the "Presider" at our home blessing for 2011.

Sister icon bearer

Sister chalk bearer

first Epiphany listener

All interested except lil guy.

He really enjoyed being part of it all.  

a gift from Jerusalem that plays the most annoying music....over and over and over.  Thanks Fr. E.

Visiting the camel at the zoo.  (thanks for being one of the first to adore!)