Tonight’s tea was confused. It’s called cinnamon rooibos chai, and while all of those are good things they do fight a bit when it comes to flavour. We should here double back a bit and add that it’s only chai in the sense of chai meaning tea. We can’t find evidence of the constituent parts of chai present. Just as well, considering the cinnamon barely registered. This may be our fault. We’re not of the ilk that leaves tea to brew for the request 4-5 minutes, mostly because we like to have the blog up this side of midnight. So it tasted primarily of rooibos, no bad thing, but less subtle than the smell of the tin promised. But it’s a good tea and warm. The kind you can drink to stave off a winter chill, and there’s certainly enough of that going around.
Along those lines we were going to find you a nice, topical poem about tea and winter, or one or the other. But then the Marschallin-Cat put in an appearance She variously sat on us, attempted to write the blog for us, and failing in those efforts, sat with her back to us, Sulking. The Sulking, if you’ve never observed it, is quite the spectacle, and not to be confused with that well-known book of similar name The Shining. Though we fancy there are horrors in store for anyone who ignores a Sulk. We, being disinclined to find out, took the hint. So much for tea and winter. Here’s a poem about life with cats instead.
Busy, Busy
Francesco Marciuliano
It’s 8 AM and it’s time to nap
It’s 10 AM and it’s time to relax.
It’s 12 PM and it’s time to doze off
It’s 3 PM and it’s time to zonk out
It’s 6 PM and it’s time to slumber
It’s 9 PM and it’s time to snooze
It’s 12 AM and time to sleep
It’s 4 AM and it’s tim to hang upside down
from your bedroom ceiling, screaming.
Here we hasten to add that Miss Marschallin never screams. She’s not adverse to a light touch of singing at preternaturally early hours though. With that in mind, from the Marscahllin-Cat and us both, it’s goodnight. At least until 4 in the morning.
Chorister at Home 
Hi Claire, I’m catching up on your blog which I love and which brings me great comfort as well as laughs. AND educates me about poetry. And hymns. A lot done in one blog! MY beloved feline whacked me, hard, at 4 a.m. because he thought my insomnia entitled him to be fed at that hour and I didn’t agree. So we sulked at each other for a while.
Last week at my church the choir sang Jesus Christ the Apple Tree which I found so beautiful and moving. I’m sure you know it but it was haunting.
MERRY CHRISTMAS to you, to Missy Marschallin, the pretty gorgeous dachshunds, and of course your dad and brother. (Have already exchanged greetings with your mom.) Hope it’s a wonderful time and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year!
Joy
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Happy Christmas! So glad to hear you’re enjoying the blog. We always have fun with this Advent stint. It’s a great excuse to hunt out more poetry. We had Jesus Christ the Apple Tree last week at the Nine Lessons, and it was gorgeous as ever. I always think sung right, it sounds like it’s floating.
I think my Miss Marschallin has been taking lessons from Mr Olly -we’ve had quite a few requests for 4am snacks here too, and she has to wake me up to make them. She’s usually amenable to a cuddle instead though, for which this u=human’s everlasting gratitude.
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