Steve`s Country
For a smile as wide as a country sunrise
Wednesday Wanderings…Tea Time!
Oh my, I got myself sidetracked once again. Sigh. I really wanted this out earlier today, but things just didn’t work out. We got snow again. Nine inches altogether. Not so bad really. Except for me. Ended up hurting my back again. Seems to be kind of normal for me. My doctor said, ‘don’t shovel snow’. My physiotherapist said, ‘don’t shovel snow’. But, hey, we live in a land of cold and snow! What am I supposed to do? If I shovel snow, I hurt myself. If I don’t shovel snow, I slip and fall and hurt myself. Seems like a no win situation there. Sigh.
So It’s…
Time for tea! Raspberry leaf tea, to be exact. I like herbal tea. Almost as much as COFFEE! But not quite. Except after supper, then it’s definitely tea time. Like right now. A nice hot mug of raspberry leaf tea beside me. Ahhhh! Perfect. Next to COFFEE, a hot cup of tea is great on a cold winter day. Anyway, some of you wanted to know how I make this. Very simple really. I like simple. That way I can actually accomplish it.
First Of All…
You need to pick some raspberry leaves. If you can get wild ones even better, they do have even more flavor. But any will do. I pick them off my landlord’s raspberry plants. Yes, I do have permission. Best time to pick will vary a bit, depending on where you live, but generally I think July is best. The flavor is at it’s peak then. Make sure the leaves are nice and green and healthy looking.
Next…
Comes the drying part. Very important. Put a layer on a baking sheet, not too many, and put in the oven set at 150F, or up to 200F but no higher. This will dry them slowly enough to retain good flavor. Check on them about every 10 minutes, ‘fluff’ them up a bit and back in the oven. Make sure they are dry enough to crumble nicely, they must be DRY.
Then…
Let them cool completely. After that store them in an air tight container, such as glass or metal. I suppose plastic could be used. But I hate plastic for storing stuff, unless it’s not food. That’s just me.
I use an old apothecary jar from a local area pharmacy of days gone by.
Best Part Now…
Making a cup of tea. I use a stainless steel tea ball.
Fill half full for a cup, not loosely, stuff those leaves in there! Use boiling water. BOILING water. Not hot. Boiling. And pour it in the cup, not on your foot. It hurts when you pour it on your foot. Trust me on that one. Sigh. I think Muffin will have something to say about that soon.
Time To…
Say good bye for today, enjoy the rest of your week and God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod
Suddenly…
Flump! That’s really what it sounded like. And there I was. Laying in the snow. I discovered that when walking forward while it is snowing heavily it is best to look forward. I wasn’t. I was looking back over my shoulder at that wolf. Which at that point was about 50 or 60 feet behind me. There was this little drop off. And I did. About 6 feet. Which really wasn’t so bad. And I landed in nice soft snow. On my side. That was okay. However, there was just a couple problems. First the soft snow. It was soft.
That’s good. Also bad. It was about 4 feet deep (I measured it later). Second was 2 large rocks right beside me. Well, kind of beside me, kind of in front of me. Sort of. Even though there was snow on top of those rocks, it still would not have been nice to land on them. However, there was a space between the rocks, just big enough for my leg and foot. And my foot was stuck. Probably wouldn’t have been a problem except for the snowshoe, which was wedged in there too. Sigh. My leg was sideways, so I couldn’t bend it at all. And since the snow was so soft, I couldn’t push myself up too easily. Sigh.
The Wolf…
He was not far behind. I could just imagine that huge head of his staring at me over the edge of the rock. Okay, not a fun thought. I decided to remove my other snowshoe. Now I had something a bit more solid to lean on so I could sit up a bit. But my other foot was not moving. Hmm, good thing my joints don’t mind going in two directions. Otherwise my ankle would likely be broken. Then I spotted the wolf. Still about the same distance away but over to my left now. Hmm, somehow I don’t think that’s the same one. A few minutes later the big fella joined the other one. Great. Now there is two.
Now, if circumstances were a bit different that would have been a wonderful sight. And a great photo. However, at the moment I wasn’t too thrilled about the sight. I was really praying that they would just decide I wasn’t anything exciting and then leave. Which is what I wanted to do. Sigh.
So Now What?
Maybe if I unlace my boot I would be able to pull my foot out. Then I could retrieve my boot easily. So I started. The smaller wolf had sat down. The larger wolf was gone. Not nice. By the time I got my boot unlaced the big fella had gone around to my right side. Looking at me. And he was closer now. Maybe just trying to figure out what I was. I wiggled my foot as much as I could and finally out it came. Rats, gnats and blueberry bats! My sock had come off. I hate when that happens. And a bare foot in snow is not very exciting either.
I quickly pulled my boot out from the rocks and pulled my sock out of my boot. Put my sock on. Put my boot on. Great. Snow in my boot. Now my foot is wet. Sigh.
Where Are They?
The wolves had both disappeared. That’s good, if they really did. But…rats, my snowshoe is broken. Now I will have to walk through that deep snow. It is not easy walking through snow that deep. Forget it. I put the snowshoes back on. Even with the broken one I figured it would be easier than just walking. Okay, maybe not. I headed for an area with more tree cover. Less snow there. I looked all around. No sign of the wolves. Fantastic! Now I just had to figure out the fastest way back to one of my trails, then it would be easier walking. It was still snowing. Must be 4 inches of new snow by now.
Those Eyes…
I got that feeling again. I looked around. Sure enough, that big wolf was following me again. Maybe I could hit him on the head with my broken snowshoe. No good for anything now anyway. Of course, after such action I wouldn’t be either. Sigh. I wonder where the other wolf is hiding? Oh. There she is. In front of me. Hmm. I decided to change direction. At least it was easier walking through the trees. Easier for the wolves too. Finally, there is one of my trails. I was getting kind of tired by this point. But I didn’t really want to stop and rest. They are gone again. Both of them. Good. After ten minutes I spotted them again. They were both ahead of me. And standing on my trail. That’s not nice. It’s my trail. I kept on walking. They just stood there. I kept on walking. Like I didn’t see them. Then suddenly they took off running to the side. I looked around. Nothing. But I never saw them anymore after that. I wonder what happened? Oh well.
Thank You…
To all who responded to my questions, both through the comments and my contact page. Hmm, this is tough. About equally divided on length. Some other ideas put forward too. Several liked my raspberry tea thoughts. Maybe I will write about different herbal teas I have tried. Ones I have actually made myself. I will share about the raspberry leaf tea. On Wednesday.
My Apologies…
Another long post. Sigh. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. There will be more on the way, though not all are so exciting. But fun anyway. Snowed today. I hope you all enjoy your week and until next time, God bless!
Steve and Muffin.
© 2019 Steve McLeod
Steve`s Country 