Much Madness is Divinest Sense

While I was in Boston, we had some free time to shop at Harvard Square. I stopped in at Tealuxe, which bills itself as a tea bar and cafe. The place had a wonderful atmosphere. According to their website, they came into existence on Harvard Square only in 1996, but it has the feel of a place that has occupied the same space for ages — creaky wooden floors, tables too close together, shelves of tea and tea-making implements. I’ve had better tea, but to be honest, I tried the Earl Grey, and after perusing their menu of teas online, it sounds like I should have been more adventurous. I also didn’t wait long enough for it to brew. I couldn’t find the milk anywhere, and frankly, I don’t think that’s something you should have to ask for with tea. Sugar and various sweeteners were provided, however.

I love a good cup of tea. Every time I go to the Georgia Renaissance Festival, I have to stop in for a pot of tea at the Peacock Tearoom. To be honest, the service is usually anywhere from mediocre to horrible. Sometimes it takes forever to get noticed, and you don’t get your tea any too quickly either. But their scones and clotted cream are pretty good.

I’m tearoom deprived. Evan showed up while I was at Tealuxe and informed me that I had found his old hangout (he used to live in Boston and taught at Gann Academy). I asked him later if he could recommend a good place for tea in Atlanta. He recommended Teavana in Lenox and some place in Little Five Points. Well, I wanted something closer the the atmosphere in Tealuxe, so Teavana being ensconced in an upscale mall wasn’t exactly going to do it (though they do have a great selection of teas and good service, or at least the one in the Mall of Georgia did). And whenever am I going to be able to go to Little Five Points?

There is a tearoom in downtown Roswell, Mittie’s Restaurant and Tearoom, within walking distance from my house. I decided to try to find out more about it, and lo and behold, I discovered TeaMap. If you are looking for a good tearoom near you, you can enter your zip code and peruse the results. I found out that Mittie’s has universally bad reviews, so I won’t waste my time. However, the tearoom I pass daily on my way to work, The Farmhouse Tea Shoppe (though I confess I don’t remember that being the name, but I may not have been paying attention) has good reviews, and Tea Leaves and Thyme in Woodstock has great reviews. Vintage Tea in Alpharetta also looks like a good place to try. Actually, I found out there are quite a few good prospects nearby.

Hmmm… I sense in my future a weekly me-time spent trying out these various tearooms, reflecting over my week. I think a weekly pot of good tea could really change my outlook. I should live in England. I really should. Do my fellow Georgians have any recommendations?

I was re-reading some entries from my journal hosted at another site. At this point, I’ve been writing elsewhere for a year. We got PlanetHuff.com last March, and I began using it in earnest in, I think, May. Before that, I wrote at Upsaid. I was just wondering whether I should upload any older entries from that other site. I still have all of them. I wouldn’t upload some of them for various reasons which old readers of mine know well. But there is occasionally some good stuff there. Some of it is more private than something I’d want to share here, in a place where my real name is used.

It has so far been a fairly productive long weekend. I have written a test for my 10th graders. Actually, I guess that’s about as productive as I’ve been, unless you count minor housework. Well, minor isn’t a good word for cleaning up after two toddlers.

I am looking forward the the upcoming material I’ll be teaching in American Lit. — “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a film study of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, and down the pike, The Great Gatsby, one of my favorite novels.

I just paid for my People subscription and was sent an acknowledgment reply addressed to “Mr. Huff.” That bugged me. I know I have a unisex name, and it does happen occasionally, but that doesn’t mean it makes me happy.

I’m feeling down right now for lots of reaons. The kicker is that I actually had a great day. The core of the English department went over to one of our “feeder” schools and met with Language Arts teachers from that school. It was invigorating and productive. And I got to hear about what a good teacher I am from the parents of my students (several parents teach there). That’s always a great thing. I appreciated the compliments. Sometimes I feel like I’m not doing what I need to do, and it’s refreshing to see otherwise. I don’t know. What am I getting at? I just like to hear I’m doing a good job sometimes, and that was nice to hear. Actually, if I didn’t think I could do an important job like this, I probably shouldn’t be, right?

I guess it’s just nice to feel special — like you have an impact. Why don’t I enjoy that more? Try to hang on to it? Why do I have to figure out a way to balance that out by immediately figuring out a way to feel bad about myself? It’s very weird. I need to stop it.