No, I haven't lost my mind and yes there's still snow on the ground here in Montana. Half of the east coast is being pounded with more snow as I write. But I noticed that my Vitamin D was not doing it's job these past few days and my Peri menopausal state of mind got me to thinking...flowers! I went to town to visit my friend Shelli, who you will soon meet, to have tea and when I left there, I had nothing to do. I have been so overwhelmed lately with bad news, I simply did not want to go back home. So I drove all the way in to town simply to look at flowers, or so I thought.
I had this idea in mind that I would go to the garden center and look at flowers to cheer me up. I thought surely they would have some indoors. As I ventured inside this massive building just waiting for that welcoming fragrance to hit me, suddenly the nasty aroma of fertilizer hit me square in the face. As I looked around at the empty shelves, boxes on the floor with new product waiting to be unwrapped, disappointment set in. The closest thing to a "flower" I got were some little tiny bulbs in a bucket of dirt just ever so slightly beginning to bloom. They looked so lonely that I almost bought one just so I could look like I actually came in for a reason. I wondered around for a moment as though I was on a mission and as soon as the clerk went around the corner, I made a mad dash out the door. How silly I must have looked! I mean EVERYONE knows there's no flowers in February at a garden center! Why didn't I think of a florist? After all Valentine's Day is coming up. As I jumped back in my vehicle, it dawned on me. The simple thought of flowers excited me so much in the dead of winter that I drove twenty miles just to look at them. While I was disappointed at first, I could have gone on to a florist, but I didn't. Instead I went home...still thinking of those imaginary flowers.
Flowers have a way of moving us. They can be exciting, refreshing, relaxing and make you happy all at the same time. You don't have to wait for a special occasion like Valentine's Day to come along and cheer you up when it's twenty below outside. Then it hit me.
Flowering Tea! 
Grab a chair and sit a spell while you experience the beauty of teas that bloom as you brew. It's a bundle of dried tea leaves and flowers that are bound together with cotton string. When they are steeped, the tea is released and the flower begins to bloom before your eyes. The nice thing about flowering teas, or "blooming teas" as some may call it, is that their mild flavors do not seem to be affected by longer steeping. The flowers usually will last up to fifteen minutes and can be refreshed simply by adding more water.
So who says you can't have flowers in the dead of winter! Remember to take time for yourself, slow down and appreciate the finer things in life! Now pardon me, my tea is waiting.
Grab a chair and sit a spell while you experience the beauty of teas that bloom as you brew. It's a bundle of dried tea leaves and flowers that are bound together with cotton string. When they are steeped, the tea is released and the flower begins to bloom before your eyes. The nice thing about flowering teas, or "blooming teas" as some may call it, is that their mild flavors do not seem to be affected by longer steeping. The flowers usually will last up to fifteen minutes and can be refreshed simply by adding more water.So who says you can't have flowers in the dead of winter! Remember to take time for yourself, slow down and appreciate the finer things in life! Now pardon me, my tea is waiting.
