Sun Tea(se)

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we don't see a lot of sun between the months of October and April. Now, usually this doesn't really bother me. I'm a true Oregonian--I like the rain. But lemme tell ya, when it's the middle of March and it's fucking SNOWING, it doesn't make me happy. In March I'm ready for chirping birds, flowers in my yard, warmer air and a visit now and then from that magic, bright orange thing in the sky. I think people in other parts of the world call it sun.

About two weeks ago, we got a huge tease from summer. It was nearly 80 degrees. The sun was out, birds were chirping, there were flowers in my yard and it was warm. Hot, even, since if you can't remember what warm air feels like, anything over 60 feels like a heat wave. Now, of course, it's back to rainy with highs of 60, if we're lucky. Summer descended upon us, teased us, then vanished. That fucker.

To celebrate the loveliness that was this day, Cookie Monster and I loaded up a truckful of dirt (for our garden) and did some manual labor around the yard. For post-yardwork refreshment, I decided to make some sun tea.

I put a family-sized tea bag into a pitcher, along with a regular-sized raspberry tea bag. See? See the reflections and the color? That's from sun!

Then I just filled up the pitcher with water and left it in the sun for about two hours. Here's how it turned out. Pretty! And delicious.

The magic ingredient was sunshine.