A gift from a friend, thank you!
Thank you to all the Veterans who are serving and have served this Country. Thank you to the families who struggle through hardship.
This may be the day that the United States honors Veterans and the day of Honor may be different in other Countries, but the message is the same. Sacrifice and Valor. We show our respect to you all.
My Father, Bill was still in his Navy Uniform when he met my mother at a Canteen for Servicemen in San Francisco.
The War was over and 6 weeks after meeting at the First Baptist Church Canteen on Mission Street, they were married! There wasn’t a day for the rest of their lives that they weren’t crazy about each other.
Dad had been a Radio Operator 1st Class. Morse Code…sometimes decoding dits and dots… 24 hours straight during a battle at places like Iwo Jima. (My father had respect for the Marines!)
My dad blinked and twitched for the rest of his life and was buried with his Navy Honors.
My Grandfather Will was 17 when he enlisted in the Spanish American War in the late 1800’s. He was injured by Gas inhalation in the Philippines. There were no benefits for that kind of injury when he got home from war.
Because he was a good carpenter for the Army, he worked on the grounds of the Vet’s home in Yountville, CA. He was allowed to live in a shack there for the rest of his life. This is where my father was raised and the Cemetary there is where my grandfather is buried.
He used to make the Vet’s caskets. Odd.
During the Vietnam era, I was with my husband at Fort Hood, Texas. We didn’t get to have base housing, and things were pretty dangerous for an interracial couple in 1969. I needed an escort to go to the PX. I was attacked and couldn’t do a thing about it.
The first year of my marriage the military told me not to go to basic training with my husband at Fort Bragg because of the KKK.
So, I went to my parents home and later had our first child like so many military wives, by myself.
My years of living on very little money and other problems wasn’t something that happened at that time to me alone. My story was easy compared to most who were truly suffering.
Military families have always had hard times. Often they must move away from family and friends. They face loneliness, injury, stress and lack of funds.
And the ultimate sacrifice, the loss of a loved one.
Thank you to our Military, Veterans and their Families!
Tea
In 1953 I was ‘5’! Amazing that I was able to drink this tea today!
I rinsed the leaves twice and steeped the tea 30 seconds each steeping in a Gaiwan.
The liquor was light champagne yellow, clear and bright.
The wet leaves had the aroma of wet bamboo, roast meat becoming lighter and sweeter with each steeping.
1. The flavor was very SAVORY! I was surprised at how much flavor there was on this first steeping. I’ve never said that a Pu-erh tastes like bamboo, slightly dry and salty sweet, but this one was. There was a little bit of green bean flavor to it, something unexpected.
2. Now the saltiness was lighter and my tongue tingled. There was some dryness in the front of my mouth with the mix of light green bean and bamboo taste. As the tea cooled it became creamier.
3. The savory quality was softened and the bamboo, sweet grass had smoothed into a ribbon of buttery creaminess that increased as the tea cooled. I could feel the tea coat my lips. The aftertaste became sugar snap pea, fresh off the plant.
I was surprised! How could this 59 year old Pu-erh give off so much flavor?!
I just can’t give anything but the best rating to a tea that has given so much to me. Where has it been? What journey has it been on all these years? And to wind up with me…well, I’m amazed and humbled!
Thank you to my friend! What an honor!
