Eat a bowl of tea....

It's Tuesday!!

where I join Kimmie and my Tea Tuesday friends

for a nice cuppa, where  ever we may be....

Today,

we shall eat a bowl of tea....

Concocted with various herbs and spices...
mint, basil, amongst some of them...

this tea mixture is added into a bowl of

freshly chopped vegetables on brown rice...

and peanuts, sesame seeds and fried anchovies..

when I was a child, my aunt would gather the family during the Chinese New Year
and hold such "tea parties"..

we used to look forward to this and each time I ate "Lei Cha" it  reminded me of the excitement,
the gathering and the special bonding between families and close friends..

This is comfort food to me....

Happy Tea Tuesday my dear friends!!

Truly
Steph

Remembering Japan...

steph

to stay connected with your heart...

Hi everyone!
I was just leafing though my "book of quotes" and I found this:

"In a society that almost demands life a double time,

speed and addictions numb us to our experience. In such a society

it is almost impossible to settle into our bodies or stay connected with our hearts,

let alone connect with one another or the earth where we live"

Jack Kornfield

 The past few weeks had been crazy work-wise, so much

that I felt pretty much "disconnected" in some ways...

Nevertheless, sketching and playing with water color
was a form of "escape" and although it felt a little "sluggish" in some instances..
( like when I painted this bird)
the projects were completed....

I'm really enjoying this medium of using water colors.. and I've been lugging
my:
sketchbook
water brushes
traveling water color pack

everywhere I go..

This of course had to do with a friend whom I recently met :))
(she doesn't have a blog yet)
who has such a great talent in sketching and watercolor.

well, my dear friends..
how do you stay connected?
have you stopped to "smell the roses"?


Kindest....
steph

PS: I'll be back for my usual blog hopping pretty soon....

Out of my comfort zone...

and so I did...

both sketching and water color are out of my comfort zone..

but I've decided to stretch myself a little today.....

Pomegranates

I'm loving this process...

though it took a longer time..

Happy Sunday everyone!!!

always..

~steph~

a note on freedom....

"True freedom means freeing oneself
from the dictates of the ego
and its accompanying emotions"

Matthieu Ricard


Happy weekend!!
steph

the present moment....

"When the mind is full of precious memories and preoccupied by the future,
it misses the freshness of the present moment.
In this way, we fail to recognize the luminous simplicity
of mind that is always present behind the veils of thought."

Mathieu Ricard


~steph~

Tuesday Tea and collage

How quickly time flies.....

I've just brewed me a cup of Baizhen white tea

to accompany my evening internet time.

Browsing through blogs and sipping my cup of tea is something I would 

really LOVE to do each night...

Tonight is special as I share this time with my

fellow Tea Tuesday friends

so come along and visit us for art and tea....

Happy Tea Tuesday!!

steph

PS  do hop over to Pat  from artfully Ooglebloops for a lovely giveaway..