Summertime. Windows up. At night, drifting off to sleep, all is quiet in this rural county. No trucks, cars, sirens, trains, ambulances...just a distant dog bark and an occasional moo.
Awakened at 3:30 am by a vigorous mighty mockingbird. he was full of the joy! He sang for two hours straight. I listened as the cool humid breeze wafted over me. I enjoy the nature sounds and I know I'm blessed in living in a place where there are lots.
I enjoy the city and have traveled to many of the world's great cities. I especially like New York City with its soaring granite skyscrapers, lofty bridges, and museums of history and art. but I could never live there. The cacophony of noises would over-sensitize me in minutes flat! No, laying comfy in bed in the wee hours listening to the variety of mockingbird sounds is more my speed.
Mockingbirds mock, and can and do imitate a variety of other birds, and even gods an frogs! They can vocalize up to 63 different sounds although other sites say up to 200. Do they sing their own sings? Some say yes, others no. What everyone does agree on is that mockingbirds like to sing, and they sing a lot!
I was serenaded last night by a particularly vigorous one and I'm happy about that.
I got up late, very late for me, but I went to bed at midnight so that is to be expected. Though, I don't like it. I enjoy sleeping 9-4 or 10-5. I don't like midnight to 8. But it seems that as the summer progresses and I'm home from work, the bedtime slips later and later. I want to tighten that up starting tonight. If I can do it I'll skip the nap and go to bed early in hopes of retraining my body on the schedule I prefer. I wake up sharper and happier when it's early.
And look who likes to join me as I drink my coffee in the morning!
I ordered a tea sampler. I'd heard on the tv show Elementary of a Japanese tea made from twigs and leaves. LOL, I'm weird. It sounded good to me.
Kukicha is a Japanese tea made from the twigs and stems of the same plant that black tea and green tea come from. It is also known as twig tea or 3 year tea, and it's aged after harvest and roasted. Kukicha tea has a unique flavor- sweet, creamy and slightly nutty. I didn't find it bitter. Since the base of it is green tea I can drink it as a Low FODMAP item. The Hojicha was a bonus surprise included in the packet. Apparently it is also made from roasted twigs and leaves from the green tea bush, but is reddish in color. From Wikipedia
It is distinctive from other Japanese green teas because it is roasted in a porcelain pot over charcoal, whereas most Japanese teas are steamed. The tea is fired at a high temperature, altering the leaf color tints from green to reddish brown.
I dunno. I just know that due to my FODMAP issues I can no longer drink most of the teas I used to drink (including chamomile, wah!) so I search for other kinds I can drink. The sample size is convenient because I can do just that, sample without investing a lot into the tea before I know if I'm going to like it.
I also have honeybush tea on my list, which is a close cousin of roobois except sweeter, hence the honey in the name. They are both South African teas, and are good for FODMAP diets.
Here are a couple of shots of the mockingbirds that live in the yard.
Have a wonderful day!
The tea samples: I got them thru Amazon
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