Time for Tea

I am a seasonal tea drinker. Only when it gets chilly do I reach for the teapot. The act of drinking tea is thoroughly enhanced by delightful containers that hold my tea. Lucky me that I have a great cup collection!

I started collecting cups years ago when I took my first ceramics class. I would trade with other students, buy mugs at studio sales, and receive them as gifts. I think my collection took a leap the year I slept in line at the annual cup sale at the National Conference on Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA).

NCECA is the national ceramics conference held every year, and the cup sale benefits a scholarship fund and usually raises over $12,000! All from a room full of cups! I had previewed the cup show a few days earlier, and while the rest of my friends were sharing a pint with their ceramic heroes I walked down at 11pm or so to wait in line. I was not the first, but the 5th in line. We waited patiently throughout the evening and into the wee hours of the morning until 4am when the line started to lengthen. By 8am when the doors opened, everyone was anxious.

When I finally got inside, I began selecting my favorites. At one point while holding one cup under my arm and picking up another to look over, a felt a hand reach into the pit of my arm and try and grab the cup I was holding! I smacked the hand away, and turned to look (with my mouth open in astonishment) at the manner less middle-aged woman standing there. What exactly did she think she was doing? She wasn’t sure I wanted that one. Gasp!

I donated one cup, purchased three, still some of my favorites.

If you find yourself without a mug that feels great in your hands, you might skip on down to the NAU Clay Club Cup and Cookie sale today. This will be at Drury Inn from 11am to 5pm, right in the hotel breakfast nook. Mugs are only $10, hand made by students at NAU, and you get to choose what feels best in your hand! Fill up your mug with coffee and grab a home-made cookie to go. All funds go to the NAU Clay Club to support students going to NCECA next spring in Philadelphia.