Why Blog, and what is with the name?

Why a blog?

On January 28th 2008, our family changed forever. My husband Jeffrey woke up that morning with blurred vision, severe nausea and the inability function. In an effort to keep everyone informed of his condition without constantly repeating ourselves- I started a blog just about him. What a godsend it was. The weeks have passed and we have gone from one illness to another. Privately I call Jeff’s blog, my ‘unhappy blog’. But, it has given rise to the usefulness of keeping a blog to communicate what is happening with family and friends.

The thought struck me one night that I should start a ‘happy blog’ on our family. While it is not as personal as a letter, it will give me the opportunity to share with those that I love an insight into our lives. I have to admit that it will also help me accomplish a New Years Resolution that I make faithfully every January and break it just a routinely by the end of the month. What is that resolution? I Promise myself that I will write to everyone in my family every month. (-no laughing please)

My mother is the world’s greatest journal keeper (all hand written). Faithfully, for the past decades she has written about her and my dad’s lives. Give me any day of any year and I can tell you what they did, who came for a cup of tea, what boats sailed by their house and what the weather was. With the distance being so great between us, it gives such a comfort when those fat letters arrive, sometimes with pictures or articles from a local newspaper. I don’t just read them any where, it is a treasured item that I read alone. It is a time that I am close to my parents and family. My mum writes with such detail that I can put myself in the moment, smell the toast that is cooking for breakfast and the pot of tea or coffee brewing. I can smell the roses she tells me that are blooming or imagine the magpies singing their songs out on their balcony. I see the family gatherings at my sister’s house, her garden and her art. I know what my little sister is doing and what is happening in her life. Her letters/journals have given me comfort these past weeks. One arrived and I read it while waiting for Jeff to complete one of his tests. It was not the most ideal place – a hospital waiting room, but, as I immersed myself in her chatty writing I felt my mothers love for life and her family. She was by my side, giving me comfort on that troubled day. My Uncle Spyro and Auntie Helen have made Jeff and I laugh over the years with their newsletters of their little town Bicheno in Tasmania. Their newsletters are entertaining and once again give life to daily living experiences.

I will never be as good at keeping my blog up as my mother does her journal, or as entertaining as my Aunt and Uncle but I will give it my best effort..

So, why the funny name of my blog?
Well the above description of my mother’s journal keeping really is the key. It is a throwback to my upbringing. I recall morning and afternoon tea time (and all the Tea Times in between). It was a time to talk, a time to visit, a time to just spend together. ‘Tea time’ was always a relaxed affair. Sometimes it was at the kitchen table, during winter it was in front of our big smoky fireplace and when the weather was wonderful it was served outside on the porch. My hope is that when members of my family or friends sit and read each new entry that it will be a time to ‘visit’ with me, that it will be a time to catch up on what is happening in my life. I have the notion that as I sit and write I will be thinking of those that I love and will be visiting with each of you.

So, put the kettle on, make the tea, serve yourself a slice of cake or a biscuit and ‘Come visit with me over a cup of tea’.