The big blizzard is slamming New England, but down here in western South Jersey, we only got a dusting. But because the predictions were so extreme, school was canceled. And since I work at a school, I got a snow day. I love a snow day, as much as a child; I will wait up late and get up extra early just to watch the school closings ribbon on the television news (despite all the more modern notifications that I receive).

Having a snow day means I get all this extra time to work on several projects with looming deadlines. But, here I am blogging (it is my newest passion), and making another cup of tea (a very old passion). In the morning I like a big mug of black tea with local honey and some milk. Several times. Every morning.

My sister, and many of my cousins, also loves tea. She frequents tea shops and actually traveled to Sri Lanka to visit tea plantations. I like to think that our love of tea is due to our Irish genome.

All tea actually comes from the same small shrub Camellia sinensis. It is different varieties of the plant and different methods of picking and processing it that give us the many styles and colors of tea, like black, white, or green. I have not actually seen a tea shrub in person. I understand that one would not thrive in my area, but I might mail-order one this spring just so I can look at it a little closer.

Enjoy your tea today fellow tea-drinkers!

~Elizabeth