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Two Happy Teacups Tessie Turns One !!! November 1st 2004 rings in our one-year anniversary! Wow, it’s been such a joyous year and we so much thank you, our dear customers and friends for helping to make it so! We remember well that first day; we had an Open House and were wondering if any one would show up. Our stomachs were in knots! By the end of that day over 320 new friends stopped by, we were so excited and relieved. As we arrived at The Teacup the next day we were giddy, but we still wondered if anyone would be joining us in the dining room for breakfast or lunch. Well, you did join us, and now we are being joined on a daily basis and we feel truly blessed. It’s been a fun, fast year, full of hard work, happy customers and the opportunity to meet so many wonderful new people. We want to express a heart felt THANK YOU to everyone who has visited and supported us this past year! It has been our pleasure to have you join us for tea and become part of our dream come true. We look forward to sharing many more wonderful times together. Stop by, relax, have some tea and a bite to eat and share a few laughs with us as we remember this past year. Thank you!
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Tea Talk A word about Tea Tea is not only a refreshing, delicious beverage; it can also play a fantastically flavorful role in cooking yummy food. Tea can be a marinade, a tenderizer, an extra special ingredient. It will impart a unique flavor for your dinner guests to savor while they wonder why the rice tastes so special or the chicken is so tender. In our kitchen, we feature our teas in some of our scrumptious scones, soups and sandwiches. So, what’s an easy way to start? Try this; when a recipe calls for water, brew some tea, let cool, and use that instead of just plan water. Experiment, enjoy and have fun!
"My Cup of Tea"
Eric Heck |
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Chamomile Moments Stories to warm the heart Hero in My Heart Maddy Heck (Maddy, Kathy’s niece, is a senior at Gwynedd Mercy HS.) A great shadow casts itself upon the avenue behind and before me. Though it grows thin with each stride, its essence is manifested in the gradual stimulation of my pace. The farther I fare, the fonder my heart becomes. I attempt a turn for a glance at the inspiration. My eyes trace the dominant shadow to the edge of its form. There, standing tall and poised, on a pedestal above the masses, her gentle face gleams lovingly. She sees herself in me and I in her. Behold the victor of my ambition! Even the greatest and most powerful of all mankind go through life but one time. My mother is the exception. Confronting this actuality, she plants her soul into the lives of each of her six children, rejoicing with their accomplishment and aching in their sorrow. The lines of her transparent expression are constantly dancing to the beat of her children’s moods. Upon being elected class president, looking at and tracing her lines, I saw a reflection of the same satisfaction I felt deep within my own heart. Day after day, she rises well before the rest and has already packed our lunches, put a load of wash on and had at least two cups of tea. Her hands labor on well after sunset. I can recall stumbling down the stairs for a late-night cup of water and finding my mother, still awake, reading and trying to understand one of my father’s business reports or marveling at one of my sister’s drawings. Her duties are endless and relaxation is a foreign term, for when she does settle down, she is busy praying that all of us have peace in our lives. With my father away at work most days of the week, she tries so hard to make everything perfect for us on her own. Constantly washing clothes, cleaning rooms, making meals and carpooling to sports events, the loneliness in her heart builds with each of his overtime hours and protracted business deals. I still remember the first time I saw my mother cry. I was young, and as she sat alone at the kitchen table, a piece of my heart peeled away. She was human after all, and in that instant, she was within my grasp. Yet, her soft eyes never harden and her sweet smile never sours. The pieces of her life are always in tact, that I have one to cling to when mine falls apart. When I was a child, it was as if my mother was placed high up on a mountain. As I grew up, part of my adolescent goal was to climb up and meet her. And yet now that I grow nearer, her hand is reaching and urging me to go on. She points in the direction of the next highest peak and wants something more for me. Perhaps the greatest of people are those that force us to look into our hearts and to see the greatness within ourselves. |
Boston Tea Party Drinking to independence Boston Tea Party … The phrase itself stirs memories of a long gone grade school history lesson. I can clearly remember my teacher; a test; something about taxes and the British; dressing up like Indians and dumping some tea overboard. It’s part of our society, a simple phrase, stitched into the tapestry of our collective childhood citizenship. As a child, the image of the Boston Tea Party was the stuff of legends. It was a party; they got to play with some food, make a big mess, put on some costumes, pirate some boats and dump tea into the harbor. As I sailed from that innocent harbor of childhood, I soon came upon the sandy shoals of High School History class. Suddenly, the Boston Tea Party wasn’t such a party after all. It began to seem more like a C, or maybe a B- on my next history exam, as I struggled to understand the Seven Years War (1756-1763), England’s looming financial crisis and the levying of taxes on goods destined for the colonies. Do you remember The Stamp Act, perhaps the Townshend Act? How about The East India Company and the Tea Act of 1773? Me neither, or perhaps barely at best. Yet, a battle cry from that period still managed to sound its way into the anthem of adolescent awakening “No taxation without representation”! Casting off the comfort of High School, I set my sights on the deeper waters of college. On the academic, and on the party front, the Boston Tea Party faced a lot of competition. In lectures, it began to unfold more like a cause; a fight against injustice, as I learned of tax protests, organized boycott campaigns, embargos and tea smuggling. I studied how other American cities joined in a united front, burning or throwing into the sea English cargoes of tea. The stakes grew as skirmishes escalated into battles and battles into war, culminating in the United States winning our independence. It goes without saying that tea was not responsible for our country’s independence. Nevertheless, out of the seeds of protest, planted at the Boston Tea Party, grew our independence. In the spirit of that event, The Talking Teacup will hold it’s own tribute to the Boston Tea Party. While we certainly will be dressing in appropriate costumes, we won’t be pirating boats, dumping tea, studying The Tea Act of 1773, boycotting, fighting or smuggling stuff. Rather, on December 16th, the date of the Boston Tea Party, and in the spirit of that event, we will be charging our customers NO sales tax! That’s a 6% savings on tea, treats and gifts and a nod to the tax protest spirit of the Boston Tea Party. Not wanting to be locked up and thrown into jail, the state will still get it’s tax, we’ll be covering that cost. Visit The Talking Teacup on December 16th and celebrate our collective citizenship and the shared spirit stirred up in Boston harbor back in 1773, which by the way was 12 years after our farmhouse was built! Steeped in history, warmed with friendship. |
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