All posts by Dona

Teatime

Musings, Things

I have too much tea. I’m a little afraid to count how many different kinds of tea I have for fear of embarrassing myself. There was a time when I’d proudly announce to guests that they had 13 different kinds of tea to choose from. This never got the impressed reaction I was hoping for — more of a blank stare than a delighted smile.

I started drinking tea when I was a young teenager — probably much later than some of you — but early for my kind. My folks drank coffee, which I refused to drink, but I loved my tea. I remember my Uncle Bud stopping by my parent’s house one Saturday morning and commenting on my tea drinking, suggesting I was too young.

I almost certainly took up drinking tea because of my Anglophilia. I devoured books about Britain, watched nothing but Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Masterpiece Theatre on telelvision, and dreamed of someday going to the United Kingdom and falling in love with a British man.

When I did visit the UK, tea was a fact of life. Every morning I drank my cup of PG Tips and every evening before bed I drank another with my host family. It was a time to talk and get to know each other a little more.

The year Dean and I moved to Pittsburgh is when I began to hoard tea. I’d always have a box of Lipton in the house as well as Sleepytime tea. I’d also have several different other varieties for a change of pace. After we moved to the DC area I bought more tea and felt that I always needed to have a dozen or so kinds of tea to offer people: Lipton, Assam, Constant Comment, Earl Grey, Jasmine (a favorite of Frances Lide), Sleepytime, Red Zinger, and so on.

Today I cleaned out part of the pantry and I uncovered my tea stash. Some should be tossed — they are a few years old, but some were bought just last week. I’ve decided to fill my wooden tea chest with a variety of teabags and have one type of looseleaf tea always available. I’d say I’ll get through this tea in no time — perhaps by the time Clare’s out of college. I also need to resolve to not buy any more tea until what I have is used up (or at least throw away a box for each new box I purchase).

Remind me to tell you about my teapot collection sometime…

Entertaining

People

This has been an unusually people-filled week for me. We had friends over on Sunday for a cook-out which was a lot of fun. We grilled chicken and ribs and took our kitchen table outside under the ginkgo tree, covered it with a long cream-colored tablecloth and ate and talked and drank wine, beer and port for several hours. Yes, I felt it the next day.

On Wednesday I hosted one of my book groups — the all-women one. I served tea sandwiches, savory scones, a variety of British cheeses and a cake called a Victoria Sponge. I’d never heard of a Victoria Sponge before, but it seemed easier than trying to make a fruitcake. I’d also never made scones from scratch before — and was surprised how easy they were to make.

I’m a little embarrassed to say that I worked pretty much non-stop on Wednesday to get ready for book group. I suppose I take it far too seriously. We barely talked about the book, but that’s the way this book group functions.

Then on Thursday — yesterday — my cousin and her husband came over for dinner. They were vacationing in Washington DC and had never been to our house. I served Greek style chicken and beef kebabs, tabbouleh and rice.  It was wonderful to catch up with them again.

It’s funny that I can go days without seeing anyone but my immediate family and be perfectly fine with that, yet also be perfectly fine with entertaining guests three  times five days.  Friday evenings I often feel the need to go out to dinner with Dean, but after this week, will be happy to stay home and eat leftovers. Tomorrow we go to our neighborhood book group and I’m happy to not be hosting. I’m also enjoying the break from other people today.

Cat [Poop] Lady

Life, ,

When, at age 13, I first got an indoor cat it was my responsibility to change the litter. We actually didn’t use litter, but Oil-Dri that my dad got in huge bags from the auto-mechanics’ store. I’d fill the cat litter tray and a week later pour it out behind the garage. I doubt that was environmentally safe, but no one complained.

When I moved to an apartment I did pretty much the same, but probably threw the used litter in a trash bag. I don’t even recall where the litter box was in my apartment, but it was somewhere. Probably my bedroom.

When Dean and I moved to Pittsburgh, then Alexandria, with the cats we used litter made for cats instead of Oil-Dri, but the rest of the routine was the same. Fill a box, wait a week (or more sometimes) and throw it out.

Never during all that time did we find cat poop anywhere in the house except in the litter box (or occasionally just outside the litter box) except for when one of our cats reacted to a new cat in the house by developing irritated bowel syndrome which we fixed by getting rid of the new cat.

I was responsible for the cat litter until I got pregnant, then Dean took over the job until about 8 years ago when I insisted we begin to use clumping cat litter and agreed to scoop it.

This worked fine for a number of years until fairly recently. Our aging cats have begun to poop on our living room carpet. They poop on our dining room carpet. They poop behind the litter boxes. They poop in corners of the family room.

I’m to blame — for a while I was not vigilant about keeping their litter boxes that clean, so if I went a few days without scooping their poop they’d start pooping elsewhere. I researched it, bought special expensive cat litter guaranteed to fix the problem (provided you kept the boxes clean).

Now our  cats seem to have the idea that if there is one small piece of feces in the litter box it is unusable. I scoop poop first thing in the morning and some time in the evening just to keep ahead of their bowel schedules. If I don’t I can be assured of a smelly surprise awaiting in the morning. The one saving aspect is that, while they poop more often, it is solid because their new food for “mature” cats contains fiber.

And if that isn’t enough, our neighbor’s very sweet cat poops in our front yard at least 3 times a week. Guess who scoops it?

PS Madeline or Chris — If you read this — I really don’t mind. Skippy is so sweet the additional scooping is NO BIG DEAL.