Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I cherish my coffee and my coffee time

Currently I am reading Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith. It is the 7th book in the series The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. They are sweet, simple books that serve as a nice escape. I loved the following piece where the main character shares her thoughts on life and tea (the sister to coffee on my mind).


"She put the paper aside and marshalled her thoughts. It was all very well sitting there on her verandah thinking about the problems of others, but it was getting late in the afternoon and there were things to do. In the kitchen at the back of the house there was a packet of green beans that needed to be washed and chopped. There was a pumpkin that was not going to cook itself. There were onions to be put in to a pan of boiling water and cooked until soft. That was part of being a woman she thought, one never reached the end. Even if one could sit down and drink a cup of bush tea, or even two cups, one always knew that at the end of the tea somebody was waiting for something. Children or men were waiting to be fed; a dirty floor cried out to be washed; a crumpled skirt called for the iron. And so it would continue. Tea was just a temporary solution to the cares of the world, although it certainly helped... Most problems could be diminished by the drinking of tea and the thinking through of things that could be done while tea was being drunk. And even if that did not solve the problems, at least it could put them off for a little while, which we sometimes needed to do, we really did." page 12-13

1 comment:

  1. I really enjoyed this. have the book and haven't read it yet - it's a lovely series.

    the juxtaposition of coffee/tea time with the tension of the never-ending cycle of work for women, works so well.

    i sit here drinking my coffee and reflecting on this. :)

    mb

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