Tea With Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi

Here is an excerpt from a must-read book series, known as "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency". This is book #5 in the series (pictured) and the chapter is entitled, "Tea is Always the Solution".

Mma Makutsi made the bush tea and they sipped on the dark red liquid as they discussed the best approach to Mma Holonga's suitors. Tea, of course, made the problem seemed smaller, as it always does, and by the time they reached the bottom of their cups, and Mma Makutsi reached for the slightly chipped tea-pot to pour a refill, it had become clear what they [Mmas Ramotswe and Makutsi] would have to do...

(and then the next chapter is entitled, "How to Handle Young Men Through the Application of Psychology"- is this a page turner, or what?)

I have tasted red bush tea and I must say that it is an acquired taste (tastes like boiled bark to me). I prefer black tea. But I do enjoy reading about the life and times of the ladies at the Gaborone, Botswana based detective agency and mentally partake tea with them as they brew a pot to put their clients at ease, clear their thinking or calm their nerves in a stressful situation. The red bush tea flows freely throughout the books.

The books are one reason you haven't seen much of me lately -- I've been reading(!) Nay, consuming the stories. Thankfully my librarian can order these books and get them to me quickly so I can go from one book to another almost uninterrupted (I have jokingly called her my "dealer", because these books have truly been an addiction). That and working at the post office every morning the past two weeks has kept me from updating my blog. Well, there is also being a mom-- the kids demand all of my attention from the minute I pick them up from school to the second they are all off to bed (and sometimes beyond).

My days have been full from dawn to dusk!

If you like artsy postage, like I do, you might want to check out the latest sheet available (as of Sept. 28) with the artwork of Romare Bearden (1911-1988).

If your local post office doesn't have it, do go to usps.com to order stamps by mail.

They come right to your door, nicely backed with cardboard and wrapped with celophane.

Pretty much all new postage releases now are "forever" stamps, so if you lose a sheet in the back of a desk drawer and it doesn't surface until your next deep cleaning, 8 years from now (haha), they will still be good for the first ounce of a first class mailing without additonal postage, no matter how much postage has gone up in that time.

Some insider info-- the price of the first ounce postage has not gone up in about 3 years, but there have been increases in the second ounce (from 17 cents to 20 cents) and parcel mailing costs have increased, to defray the postal services billions of dollars in debt and rising costs of doing business over the years (fuel to run all of those delivery cars and trucks!)


For more Tea on Tuesday posts, visit Kimmie's blog.