When we were visiting Aunt Eve in St. Louis a few weeks ago, she offered us hot tea. Like me, she loves tasting different flavors of hot tea. But instead of pulling out a sterile and boring cardboard box of tea, we noticed that she had a large vintage metal container with which she stored all of her various bags together. So as we sat down at the table, the selection of our tea become fun and part of the process - much like sorting through old buttons when I was a kid with my grandmother. We had a chance to sort through, pick out and "oh and ah" over all the different flavors before finally selecting one for ourselves. And I ended up with one that I might normally not have picked (but enjoyed) because I had been allowed to leisurely appreciate and consider all the different varieties of kinds possible.
When I thought of all the assorted boxes in my cupboard that take up a lot of room, I decided that I too would find a metal tin from a thrift store and would begin storing my loose tea bags in a vintage tin too! It's really a handy and decorative way to store it.
And for a good entertaining book recommendation - I would HAVE to suggest that you read HOW STARBUCKS SAVED MY LIFE by Michael Gates Gill. It's a book that Elysbeth recommended to me, and boy was it just what I need as an inspiring "pick me up" last week. I think it's loosely autobiographical about a 60 year old former executive of a huge advertising firm who gets laid off too late in life to easily recover. He loses his health, his marriage, his job and his morale at a time of his life that isn't easy to just pick yourself up and dust yourself off.
He goes from being SERVED at Starbucks to being grateful to serve others and to have a job at all. He learns to truly change his attitude. He kicks himself in the pants, pulls himself up and finds new meaning in living a much simpler but more fulfilling life. I found the book really moving. It's not rocket science or great literature, but if you need a good "feel good" and moving tale, this may be it.
6 comments:
That tin is just fabulous. I've collected tins for years now (but I cut most of mine up!) and I've never seen anything like this. What a score!
I read that book, it was good!
Glad you enjoyed it, it can be iffy suggesting a book. I enjoyed the message without having to feel "preached" to, or that it might be "deep" and I was missing something.
Enjoy your search for the tin.
Yeah, just to clarify, I have NOT yet found the idea tea tin - I am still looking at the thrift shops. The one pictured is just one I saw on ebay a while back that I probably should have purchased but didn't. I am still on the hunt for just the rigt one. In the meantime, I've been using a Christmas cookie tin that isn't really that cute. : )
Happy Tin Hunting!
How are you feeling? Hope you're recovered and rested and knitting happily away.
Also, are you going to Spinsters this Sunday? It's in KC! YAY! I'm hoping to be there for at least part of the afternoon.
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