Today was a day off from teaching. My allergist had me go for some tests, not a big deal but I had to not drink caffeine for 24 hours starting last night at dinner.

My friends, I love tea. I usually drink about 5 mugs of tea a day, sometimes green, often black. This has led to a fairly harmless addiction to caffeine that is rarely a problem… except when I give it up cold turkey as I did last night.

I am here to tell you that a caffeine-withdrawal headache is one way to slow me down to a halt. At least the worst of it came right after I was allowed to have tea again. It was only really bad for about an hour… and I’m clear that these are the minor afflictions of a barely-middle-aged woman in otherwise good health. So yes, I complained (funny how pain turns us into toddlers emotionally, isn’t it?), but I knew in the big picture it was just a headache.

I think it’s probably good to slow down sometimes, right? I’m spending the evening on the couch finishing simple knitting projects (wristwarmers for a friend and the sample sock for the Thursday night No-Purl, Replaceable-Heel class I’m doing at Rae’s starting Feb. 23). If I finish those, I may dive back into the Multicolor Mohair Bloom Shawl for the class I’ll be teaching (one session) on April 1/Saturday at Threadbear. OR if I feel better, maybe I’ll attempt to sew together the funnel neck I made on the machine over a week ago.

I did get help distracting myself from my complaints (yeah, progress in the positive-thinking department) early this afternoon. First I had lunch with my friend Sue R. at Aladdin’s. Then we popped over to Rae’s (just as Sharon P/Knitknacks was on her way out the door). And of course, as is true in any yarn shop within an hour from my home, if I sit there for half an hour or longer it seems that the world goes by, lots of fiber friends passing through showing off their finished projects or seeking a new one.

Sue is working on her first project from a published pattern, a stole with simple lace (diamonds made of yarn overs on a basically garter-stitch fabric). I’m so impressed with how far she has come in only a few months, she’s really starting to “get it” in a real way. Very exciting!

Anyway, Brian has gone out to play music (a jam session at someone’s home) with our Abbott Brothers’ Band friends. I feel a lot better than I did an hour ago, or I might have gone with him as I usually do. As it is, I think I’ll just put soothing James Taylor on the stereo on low volume, and knit while lounging on the couch. I don’t sit still and knit very often at all, and I might as well enjoy it. That and a lovely cup of Twinings English Breakfast tea, that is!!!

Photo: Gorgeous-colored teapot and mug, and tea I got in Ethiopia and which I’m still hoarding. I just love this tea packaging! The writing above the English is in Amharic. Under the big writing it says “Red Lable” (sic). I love the image of the man with his braids. Nothing glossy or fancy about this tea package made of unbleached paperboard. It’s very third-world practical with no marketing junk attached. The focus is on the good stuff inside.

And here we are, friends, a photo I took before I heard the advertisement. The answer is definitely Turquoise.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 13th, 2006 at 9:03 pmand is filed under Relationships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.