Mrs. Teabody Greets the Day

Mrs. T. and Chaffinch share lunch at Sissinghurst Good Morning from Mrs. Teabody's favorite side of the pond - the USA --where she and Lady Glass have just returned home after spending eight happy nights abroad in easily the most captivating city in the world - - London. Having made more than two dozen trips to London across a twenty-year period, Mrs. Teabody has had many hotel adventures from the rabbit warrrens near Russell Square, to the rental apartment with a kitchen big enough for 1 in Bayswater, to high rise tourist meccas in South Ken, and  not forgetting the single most alarming  accommodation near Euston Station run by a madman and/or possible murderer. But Mrs. Teabody digresses. Copthorne Tara (CT) has won over Mrs. Teabody's future business for several important reasons which shall be listed here in order of their importance. 1. Safety and quiet. At the end of the day, one desires tranquility, a place to regain one's stamina and wits. The location of...

Good Morning from arguably one of the most enchanted-looking locations in the UK St. Ives, County Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Lady Glass and Mrs. Teabody boarded the 8:57 train at Paddington and three (shared!) martinis and five hours later arrived at this most charming of seaside towns. En route Lady Glass had the chance to realize a long-held dream of a train ride through the English countryside, and Mrs. Teabody is happy to report that Mother Nature, First Great Western and the English countryside all conspired to deliver the dream in spades. One could not have hoped for lusher trees and fields, more sparkling streams and lakes, a more generous sprinkling of stately homes and proud cottages, a better distribution of sheep, cows, horses and fowl or a smarter set of place names be it Leylant Saltings, Slough, Dawlish Warren, or Torbay. Fewer billboards touting Vodaphone, perhaps, and more chalk horses against mountainsides above bucolic villages such as Westbury, but these...

Good Morning from Meadow Grounds Mountain where the leafing trees are forming new silhouettes against a morning sky with clouds as BLUE as the beloved Tuscarora just below. It is lovely, wicked April after all, teasing everyone by flirting with summer, then sending draughts chill enough to inspire a quick trip to the closet for an extra sweater, a heavier robe. Outside, one never knows when a sunny sky will suddenly cloud over and send buckets of rain, when a moonlit, starlit sky will suddenly rumble and shoot sparks to send scaredy cats such as Mrs. Teabody and her beloved Duchess Ming for cover. In spite of her drama and her whimsicality, April is a month Mrs. Teabody adores and she looks at April's waning number of days on the calendar with regret. Only six days remain. "Be bloody, bold and resolute!" However, this is not a post about April. No, Gentle Reader, this is a post about waffles. And how Mrs. Teabody longs for one perfect waffle this slightly chilly Ap...

April 10, 2013 It's spring!

Good Morning, Gentle Readers! Hopefully, your slumber was restful and you find yourself in the mood to slay a few dragons today, meaning that in a mostly metaphorical sense. In spite of little shoots of discomfort rocketing along her extremities from an ambitious first garden foray, Mrs. Teabody finds herself quite ready to get drunk on spring. Nothing heralds one of Mrs. Teabody's four favorite seasons more than  a spot or a group or a long glowing border of forsythia. Consider this marvelous shrub. She bursts into bud ahead of everything but witch hazel and pussy willow, and every inch of her being shouts, "I am alive; look at me!" without a single drop of support from all the other shrubs and bulbs and towering trees still locked in winter's embrace. If forsythia were a student, she would be a gifted student. If forsythia were in a rock band, she'd play lead guitar. If forsythia competed on "Project Runway" she would win every challenge and be decla...

Good Morning, Gentle Reader! Doubtless you are wondering why this first Saturday of SPRING finds you still in your winter pajamas with no hopes of balmy temperatures any time soon. Mrs. Teabody had hoped to spend some time giving her rose bushes a little trim and snack today, but with temperatures to remain in the thirties, Mrs. Teabody has enough sense to remain indoors and pursue appropriate indoor activities, i.e. reading and napping whilst ignoring household chores that have gone un-tackled as Mrs. Moppit has swanned off to warmer climes. Were you a talented mathematics student, Gentle Reader? If you were -- and it truly DOES take all sorts to make a world - - perhaps  problems of this ilk did not inspire almost immediate ennui: Four oranges and five apples cost $3.56. Three oranges and four apples cost $2.76. Find the cost of an orange and the cost of an apple . . . Do pardon Mrs. Teabody as she nodded off after the second mention of oranges even though oranges serve a...

Good Morning, Gentle Reader. Mrs. Teabody trusts you are as annoyed as can be with the latest in a series of time changes. Who decides such things anyway? It occurs to Mrs. Teabody that whoever makes such decisions will one day simply get it into his head to move the clock forwards SEVEN hours or to move the clock backwards two hours and forty-five minutes, and then what a fine pickle for everyone, do you not concur? Regardless of  having to endure such whimsicality, Mrs. Teabody has noticed signs of spring everywhere and shall today cast 0-45-0 all though the flower borders and prune off a few branches of forsythia for forcing. You should do so, too. Spring only comes once a year, after all, so wallow in it and all its commensurate joys with abandon. The Teabodys enjoyed a wonderful sojourn in Mexico and Mrs. Teabody came back with renewed energy to tackle two problems which have plagued her for some time. The first of these was the purchase of an extremely portable electroni...