Uploaded on August 31, 2010

Caption from photo: My parents looked forward to their quarterly New Brunswick trips. The shopping list may have changed slightly from time to time, but King Cole Tea (unavailable right next door in Maine) was always at the top. I now get mine from my wonderful Auntie Bev, who just drives over the bridge from Calais. And yes, that’s a bone china cup. There’s simply no other way to drink that soother of all ills and tamer of tempers. Memories taste like molasses, but they smell like King Cole. And all of this reminds me of a wonderful line from a poem by Thom Kinnell: “You went to China and found tea that smells like compassion.”