All a girl needs are a teacup, a book and her dogs

The night was falling, but up here in this tiny, rural blip on the map in the northern part of Norway, it’s pretty much dark even in daytime in winter. At least the light is sparse. As is the warmth. It has been a cold day and we are about to have a cold night. I walked into the kitchen. It was so warm and comforting. A place you’d want to spend time. A right place for a kitchen and hearth witch.

I had spent all summer and autumn foraging for wild herbs, flowers and berries, as well as gathering the herbs in my garden. My favorite drink in winter reminds me so much of summer. A home made tea I make from peppermint that I freeze rather then dry and dried fireweed blossoms. I go to gather the peppermint from the freezer and when I come back up both Gaia and Tamlin jumped on me happily, even though I had been gone under one minute. I giggled and hugged them before pushing them down. I put on a full kettle of water, because in this house, we don’t do small dainty teacups, we do tea-buckets. I have a big tea infuser that I can pop in the water while waiting for it to boil.    -So practical, I think to myself. Think one liter thermocup monstrosities that I can sip from all day and all night. If I want to feel fancy, I pour from the big cup in to smaller cups. My two best girlfriends are equally as crazy about tea as me. We all do tea-buckets. I smile to myself, missing them since they live at the other end of the country.

                 Tamlin doesn’t give up his mission to cuddle while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil. He nudges me with his long snout so I get down on the floor and stroke his head. Silky soft. He is a fluff bunny as we playfully call them. He gets so exited by me getting down on the floor that he knocks me down completely and Gaia comes to join the cuddle and giggle party we apparently are having. Goddess I love these pups so much. My babies.

                 I can hear the water getting close, and peaking at it, it has a beautiful purple-cerise pink color from the fireweed flowers and it smells like a combination of rhubarb, strawberries, red currants and maybe even a tiny bit like lilac. It’s one of the most wonderful smells I know of, and just a touch of the peppermint peaks through. I can close my eyes and it’s summer again. I love that the witch in me tried to dry the flowers as I had made a syrup to blend with water for a way to quench the thirst just before the fireweed flowers turned in to summer snow. The dogs loved going on walks to collect them.

                 The tea is done steeping, and I pour it in to my big cup where I have had my sweeteners, and decide I want to be fancy today and warm my fingers. It’s -16C outside, the fireplace is crackling, and I turned off all the lights in the house. I had the perfect view from my living room window. A huge mountain peak in the background, a pretty and big willow tree on my property right in my sight line up in front and lots of glittering snow. It looks like the perfect storybook picture. Tonight the night was very clear, lots of stars and a waning crescent moon. I put my cup on the table before feeding the fireplace, the only light source anywhere close.

I snuggled up under a furry blanket, with Gaia next to me and Tamlin pretty much trying to climb inside me, but when he figured that wasn’t possible, he had to settle with placing as much of his big body on top of me as he could. Him? Cuddle bug or incessantly dependent on me? Nah, not possible. I just gave him a kiss on the head and gave Gaia a quick scratch. Then I finally stretched to get my wonderful, warm cup filled with the wonderful elixir called tea. Tea is life force, an addiction. What on earth would I do without it? Things was near perfect right now. Would luck be my lady tonight? She would! Because of the dark I could see it. I took a sip of the tea while I saw the Aurora Borealis, the northern lights dance across the sky. It was mostly different shades of green, from the darkest of dark, to almost so light it was white, to neon green. But sometimes a small flash of purple or a bit bigger one of red came through. I found myself sipping my tea slowly while petting Tamlin and trying to find shapes in the northern lights. It always makes me feel in awe of the universe. Magic really do exist.

I feel the warmth and comfort from the tea burn in my mouth while my fingers sink deeper into the softness of a long doggy ear. They are extra soft, and Tamlin groans in doggy ecstasy. Moments like these are precious and should be treasured. I lean my head back against the wall, and the northern lights are really giving me a show tonight. By some divine reason they tend to make angel wings spreading out over the farmyard where I live and hang in the air for a bit. I always give a little prayer to the divine and thank them for granting me this magic show. It might be claimed that science is making it, but some of me is certain it is also part magic. I love talking to my fur-babies, so while they cuddle close, I tell them my favorite legend about how the northern lights came to be.

                 -There once was many swans. They had flown further north, but some got trapped in the ice. They struggled and struggled while flapping their wings. Finally they broke free from the cold, cold ice. You know, ice and swans looks pretty, but it’s much to cold for them. The shards of ice and the wind from their wings made light dance across the sky, and thus, the northern lights was made. I smiled and hugged them both close as I watched the lights slowly start disappearing.

                 It was early still, so I turned back on the lights, two pups not at all happy with me for getting up from the couch and their perfect cuddling positions, but lights had to be turned on and mor tea had to be fetched. It was time for a little reading before bed. I am certain the dogs will once more find the perfect position. They do that quite frequently. Almost like they spent most of their day striving for one position better to cuddle I then the former one. This thought made me smile to myself and shake myself. I could bet I had two of the most cuddly dogs that ever was, at least Tamlin. Gaia at least had some independence. He had zero of that. He was velcro.

On my way to get my wonderful book I had left on the kitchen counter and fill up my tea, Gaia herded me back to the couch where she wanted me by going around me in circles and Tamlin gave small lovenips in butt to hurry me along. They obviously wanted me to hurry. He usually only does that when playing with my dad, or grandad as he is to them, and that is a plaything or if he very, very, VERY much wants or not wants something to happen. I hurry back to the couch, almost throw my cup on the table, making it slosh a bit, dive under the blanket, and I barely sit down before they are already on my lap. Those two rascals.

I get completely consumed by my book. Woops, 50 pages in, an empty teacup and to very tiered doggies. This was the missing part to make my perfect trifecta; a cup of tea, a good book and my loyal and loving dogs. It makes for a pretty perfect moment, at least in my opinion.

                 -Perfect, let’s go to bed babies. The day is over. Two very happy dogs surrounded me, as happy as could be. It was their favorite thing to do in the world, to go to bed. Even more snuggle time!