Tea for three

watercolor from Patsy Seeley

"Tea - a drink which relieves thirst and dissipates sorrow"

"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly.
"I've had nothing yet", Alice replied, in an offended tone, "So I can't take more."
"You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "It's very easy to take more than nothing."

(Lewis Carroll)

quotations from The Etiquette of an English Tea, by Beryl Peters

Hawk alert

Lately, this lovely hawk has visited our neighborhood . From dawn to dust it can be seen and heard. We hope our birds are safe. They have an attentive guard dog. He barks and bites.

Drink Tall Horse

The label is cute, but the best about Tall Horse is the flavor: light, gentle and fresh. I'm not a wine conoisseur and one glass is enough to knock me out. But the south-african Tall Horse has a good price and a sweet taste. It's worthwile and praised by people who knows best:

"This is a lovely wine. It has a sweet and simple flavor that went incredibly well with the fish we prepared for dinner last night. There also wasn't that unpleasant aftertaste that has accompanied most of the white wines I've tried in my life. I'm pleasantly surprised with how much I like this wine and hope to find more cheap whites that please me as much. I'm not ready to jump on the white wine band wagon just yet though; I think I just got lucky picking out the bottle. Who can go wrong with those herbaceous grassland aromas?" (Wine for the Cheap)

"The labels also create interest with their name and the illustration. The simple drawing is obviously a giraffe but the wines are called "Tall Horse." There is a story behind this that dates back to the early 1800's and a gift of a giraffe from the Sultan of Egypt to the King of France that the French called a tall horse. A good story and a great label design can go a long way towards selling more product and Tall Horse Wine is a great example of that." (Lightning Labels)

Faith like Potatoes

De By Star Filmes

"Sometimes you watch a movie, and the story hangs with you, like the scent of perfume or the lyrics of a song, for days afterward. This movie is like that. (...) Faith like Potatoes is the true story of Angus Bachan, a farmer from Zambia but who moves his young family to South Africa in 1978. It’s a HARD life. He’s starting from scratch, trying to clear his hard-scrabble land, raise his kids, and get out of debt all at the same time. He nearly has a nervous breakdown from worry, financial problems, and overwork. His wife drags him to church where he gave his life, his heart, his family, and his farm to Jesus Christ. And amazing things start to happen.

The real Angus Bachan is still alive, still living in South Africa. You can read his biography from his website. Probably the most compelling element to the film is that all this stuff REALLY happened (and is still happening). After Angus dedicates his life to Christ, his farming takes on new meaning. Where he once was a nasty, angry man, he is kinder but still full of Scottish spunk. He and his Zulu foreman, Simeon Benghu, form a close brotherhood that is today, three decades strong, “My children are his children, and his children are my children.” (...)

The DVD also came with a stunning documentary featuring Angus Bachan, his wife Jill, and the actors and film crew of Faith like Potatoes. We like the documentary as much as the film. The film is kid-friendly, except for the part when a little boy is injured by a tractor. It’s pretty gory at that part– I’ve seen some gory war movies but this was absolutely heart-wrenching because it was a little boy. We had to skip it for the kids’ sakes.

Watch the movie. You won’t be the same." (Freak Frugalite)

Prepare your heart for Christmas!

Jill and Angus Buchan

De By Star Filmes

Simeon Benghu

De By Star Filmes

Christmas Day Morning

Carl Larsson