This morning I find myself with a cup of a more classic tea, Cream of Earl Grey. I wonder briefly as I wait for it to steep if I should add a drop of milk and a spoonful of sugar, but after some thought I decide to sip it black.

The Earl Grey in loose leaf form is a very dark, almost black, dried leaf with occasional pieces of a dried tan coloured leaf. The ingredients are simply black tea, marigolds with cornflowers. The loose and steeped tea has a floral smell and I would describe the flavour the same way.

If we were having coffee tea, I would apologize because I’m posting this up and heading out camping. First camp of the season. Can’t wait.

If we were having coffee tea, I would bring forward a parenting/electronic issue to see what your thoughts are. So, I have pretty strict rules around electronic use in my house. 30 minutes at a time, weekends only, no electronics on weekdays, and electronics are not allowed in bedrooms or bathroom, they can only be used in the main family area. As you can imagine, my kids aren’t happy with me about this at all, but they respect it. The other thing that factors in to my electronic rules is that at 12 and 9 my boys do not have cell phones. So, here is the problem. My older boy is having trouble fitting in with his peer group because of my electronic rules. He keeps telling me that he can’t even be involved in the discussions because most (if not all) his friends have phones and their conversations revolve around Tiktok videos and video games (and that is if they are talking at all and not just staring at their phones). I thought that he was being dramatic about this until he came home from a sleepover and told me that every boy (except him) came with an I-pad and they sat around and didn’t talk to each other, they just played on their I-pads. He was crushed and I am at a loss.

If we were having coffee tea, I will share some updates on The Ember Stone. The coming soon post is up on The Twin Horseshoes website. It includes the advanced reviews too. If you want to have a look, you can find it: here. I have been making a few small changes to my Pages. The About Shari page updates. My book page isn’t complete, so this is a temporary status, here. I plan to put product details there eventually. Hmm, what else? Eighteen days till book launch. Thank you all again for the support.

By Shari Marshall – 2022

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Weekend Coffee Share is hosted by Natalie the Explorer. I hope you have a chance to join us for a virtual cup. Coffee share #70 or week 18 of 54.