A Three Cup Day

These cups each came with a story.

The red one arrived as a present from a grateful audience member at an Oregon church. This suburb of Portland, Clackamas, had saved for over a year to afford to bring Dale and I out to speak for three days to their small congregation. The pastor, wife and family remain friends to this day. The woman who gave me this ruby and gold cup didn’t know her teacup would move from Oregon to Colorado and now to New Hampshire.

The cream cup in the middle was a wedding present from my grandmother, forged in England, originally bought for my first engagement. When that broke apart my grandmother decided to gift herself my gift. Less than a year later, I was engaged again, this time it stuck so my grandmother box up the cup and gifted it to me. But it always feels like it was hers first.

The cup in the center was a wedding present from my favorite piano teacher, Ruth. She taught me to talk to animals and count and read music with exacting beauty. She counseled me on how to teach my boys, both of whom play piano. And the tea that inspired this painting: Lanxi Green in the morning, Thai roobois in the afternoon, and a few hours later we set the kettle singing for cup number three, lemongrass with honey.