Maddy Barone Send Message

EVERYONE in the office is now working from home. They got 1997 employees out the door with their equipment withing 2 days. Impressive, right? Most of them are back online and working. But now the questions have tripled. First, this is the first week we are using our new computer system. Second, not everyone can connect to the drive where we store our work. So, until they have the necessary drives installed, we all have to pick up the slack.

My stomach is in knots. I’m not so worried about COVID-19. I am a telecommuter introvert who stays in except for church, my writing group, my knitting groiup and my SCCA stuff. But ALL of that has been cancelled too, so the only place I now go is to the grocery store and the pharmacy. So I think I’m good. What is killing me is the overtime. This week was a surprisingly light week, only 52 hours.

I always start my day with coffee. But my tummy isn’t so happy with coffee. I am going to have to start drinking tea with caffeine. I have severla to choose from. Does tea ever bother your stomach?

I have more of this one. I thought it was about gone, but there is enough for maybe 5 more cups. That’s nice, because this is a nice choice for a chilly evening. The weather has been amazingly spring-like for the last week, but last night was windy, so my aparmtent was cooler than usual. Perfect for a cup of tea. I drank about half the cup when my brother called. WE ended up tlaking for nearly an hour and I when I came back to this is was cold. I finished it, and realized that this would be a nice cold brew.

The second tea I tried from my tearunners subscription box. To me, this one had no flavor. I carefully prepared it according to instructions. As it cooled a faint bitter note emerged. I don’t know if the flavorless bit is just me and my stupid anosmic nose. It might be. This one certainly sounded good. I’m a bit disappointed in the two teas I’ve tried so far. And I don’t want to be! I will try this one again another time. I generally do not add sweetner to my tea, but maybe I will try that next time. I still have two straight black teas to try so I’m not giving up on TeaRunners. Since I paid in advance for 6 months I can’t give up yet ;) But I think I’ll try an old favorite later tonight.

The Tearunners subscription package came this week. I am not a fan of floral teas, so please bear in mind that this tasting note reflects my own bias.

First, there was a LOT of rose petals in the leaf. It was very pretty. The base was Yunnan black tea. Rose petals and Vanilla bean were the other two ingredients. I brewed 1 teaspoon in about 8 or 8.5 ounces of water for the recommended 4 minutes.

I did not taste the vanilla bean. I didn’t really taste the rose either. That could well be my faulty nose. I could taste a bitter note which became more bitter as it cooled. I drank about half the cup. Someone who enjoys floral teas might very well like this one a lot more than I did. Maybe I over steeped. Maybe 3 minutes would have been better. I don;’t think I will try this one again though. If you are someone who enjoys floral teas and would like to take this off my hands, feel free to email me at maddy barone at gmail dot com.

Later this afternoon I decided to have another cup of tea, one that I know I like. This one swam up to the top of the tea drawer, so I brewed a cup. Num. I do like this one. More flavor than the last one I had. The blizzard is about done. It was mostly a ground blizzard and the interstates are closed, but in town it didn’t seem bad. I considered going to church tonight but I think it is best to stay home and rest. I have a book to read, a knitting project, and my subscription package from Bird & Blend came today. Might try one of the rooibos teas from it.

It’s cold. It’s blizzarding. I’m tired. I have been back to work since Monday but this pneumonia is kicking my butt. I was extremely tired on Monday but yesterday I did pretty well. Today not so much. I thought this tea would be warming and comforting. I used almost twice the leaf as last tine but it still was a bit weak. And a tad bitter at the end of the sip. Such a shame because it sounds lovely. I might go back to an old tried and true tea this afternoon. If I can stay awake. 4 more hours left of work. Not sure I’ll make it.

I might actually finish this off. But not today :)

I have been seriously ill. Went to the clinic on Monday and had some tests and chest Xrays, and long story short, I have Influenza A that went immediately to my lungs and turned to pneumonia. My oxygen was 88, which I guess is pretty low. I was given two different antibiotics to take, plus a steroid and some cough meds. I am finally beginning to feel slightly better. Very slightly. I changed my sheets and that tired me out so much that my wheezing sounded like I was gargling pudding and every little cough felt like I was being stabbed in the back. Funny thing is, I had both the flu and pneumonia vaccines in October. Maybe it would have been worse without them?

Back to bed now. But I am deeply grateful for tea.

A few weeks ago a friend came to a meeting with a box of lipton tea bags, a bottle of honey and a bottle of lemon juice. She was getting a cold and brought her own meds for it. Knowing I was a tea drinker, she offered to make me a cup. I dislike Lipton with a passion but I didn’t want to be rude, so I accepted a cup.

It wasn’t half bad that way. So yesterday when I got a tickle in my throat I thought about making some tea with honey and lemon. I didn’t, but it is much worse today. Like, my joints ache and I keep coughing up junk , and it hurts a little to breathe, and I feel miserable, but my nose isn’t plugged. So I decided to see what straight black teas I had. I found a sample sized pouch of this. I remember having it quite a while ago. It’s languished since then, although I recall I liked it fine.

Anyway, just a tish of lemon and a teaspoon of honey in a large, 14 ounce mug. I used double the amount of leaf I normally would, but the tea sin’t really coming through,. It is overpowered by the honey and lemon. Although, I do get a hint of mint. I don’t know if this is actually helping, but it certainly isn’t hurting. I imagine I will finish off the pouch today.