Tea Swap with Lavender Cottage

Well, my forced blogging break certainly turned into a much longer absence than I had planned!

My arm & wrist feel much better, having stopped playing tennis, planting & computing for almost 3 weeks.
HOWEVER, it seems I was grinding my teeth in my sleep, due to the arm pain & I somehow managed to create a toothache!

I have not had such tooth pain since I was a wee little girl. It was just AWFUL...it took over 45 minutes for a Vicodan pain pill to dull the ache. I was, literally, in tears! The dentist could find nothing wrong with the tooth. I'd had a round of antibiotics & anti-inflammatory meds. There were no cracks, no cavities, no abscess...Nothing!
He thinks I was just putting pressure on the tooth NEXT to it & it inflamed the ligaments.

Who knew teeth had ligaments, anyway???

My sweet hubby had to do the grocery shopping...a very RARE occurrence, believe me!

He brought home the 3 beautiful white roses for me because he felt so sorry for me

...such a touching gesture...I wanted to cry even more!

I added the single pink Queen Elizabeth blossom...my first flower from this newly planted bush & took them with me outside on a tray while I wrote a "thank you" note to Judith, author of the blog, Lavender Cottage.

I wanted to just sit in the warm sunshine & enjoy all the lovely tea swap items that Judith had sent to me, as a participant in Beth's Beyond The Garden Gate Tea Swap.

Such a delightful assortment of tea related items! I'm in love with the beautifully embroidered linen hemstitched handtowel & the little individual teacup & saucer with the butterfly on top.

Judith is very partial to butterflies, ya' know.

That is hand soap in the shape of a butterfly!

Ms. Caroline is going to LOVE washing her hands with it on her next visit.

They only have liquid soap at their house & it is Hilarious to watch her try to manage a slippery bar...she just laughs & laughs because she can't hold on to it.

I was especially tickled with the lemon honey drops....I've never seen them & they are wonderful!

I'm going to save this special blooming Fairy Lily green tea for when I can share it with a friend!

The Oh Canada tea is AWESOME!!

I can't wait to try Jessie's Tea next. So fun to discover new flavors!

I'm enjoying the Laura Childs book, Death by Darjeeling very much.

(one of my favorite tea flavors, too!)

The saying on the magnetic bookmark that Judith sent is especially touching.

It is one my Mother had hanging in her kitchen all the years I was growing up.

I don't know why it appealed to her so much, as we don't have any alcoholics in our family

...that I know of, that is!

It is the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr, a theologian.

It has been adopted by

Alcoholics Anonymous which was created right here in Ohio

at the nearby Stan Hewett hall,

where the originators of

AA held their first meetings. You can read more about it HERE.

We've finally had some GLORIOUS weather here in Ohio &

it was a perfectly blue sky day to just sit & enjoy the sunshine!

I wish you ALL could have joined me for a cup of tea.

I would have loved the company & you're always welcome at

The Gazebo House!