35 Comments
Mar 20·edited Mar 20Liked by Rebecca Holden

I took a moment to read this post, pausing my morning workout routine, and I'm so glad I did. I LOVE to chuckle in the morning! 😁 I love the description of your sewing project and the Sound of Music clip is perfect. I laughed out loud (hope I didn't wake my neighbors) with the sash bit. And oh, a book that lies flat! Perfection! I've not read "Emma" but now I feel compelled to. I'm also so happy that your Tetley tea arrived, Whew! There are a few things I've taken note of that inspired a drawing or two. Perhaps they may turn up as a BrewTime(c) Post-It . . . . Thanks as always for a great read! P.S. The blue and green Terry drawings made me laugh; thanks to him for sharing his drawings of him and his girlfriend.

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Awwww, thanks, Mary! That sash was a sight to behold - gosh, I got so cross with that dressmaking project..... 😤🤣 Making all of those mistakes with it was ridiculous! 🤣

I enjoyed turning Terry green - I almost wish I'd put those two pictures next to each other, Warhol-style. Oooooooh, now that's given me an idea for an illustration for my next letter - thanks for the inspo!!!!!! 🙌

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Mar 20Liked by Rebecca Holden

I have a great sewing story, too, perhaps for another time. Also, I just read my comment and found 3 typos and grammar errors!!!🤪 Yikes!!! And the green and blue Terrys "side by each" would be amazing. Can't wait to see what you do with it!

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I hadn't spotted any of your typos!

Right, I'm going for it: I'm going to ask Terry if he minds my adulterating his fabulous drawing yet further for my next letter - fingers crossed! 🤞

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Mar 20Liked by Rebecca Holden

Jim's conversation on the phone reminded me of "The Calculus Affair" in The Adventures of Tintin where they keep getting calls for Cutts the Butcher. Hahahaha it made me laugh out loud 😂

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Oh, brilliant! Thanks, Punit! 😁

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Jane Austen, the Sound of Music (which I almost know by heart as I saw it 11 times in the first year of release!), and the recounting of your sewing experience. Tremendously eclectic and fun. Forget Terry and just write to us!

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Wow, Prue - ELEVEN times! Awesome!

I was driving somewhere the other day and needed to stop for fuel. I was listening to the radio at the time (BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs - so a person was being interviewed and talking about the eight most important songs in her life) and 'Climb Every Mountain' came on.

Well, that's only of MY songs.... so I kept driving rather than stopping at the garage. I couldn't bear to miss it - and sang every word, too!

'Forget Terry'?! *giggles* I'm glad to say that I can't - that would be impossible! 😁

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A bag of 400 teabags!!!!!! Well done! I’ve never seen anything larger than 100 over here. Beautiful books too. And ah yes the memories of home made tops with too short sleeves and realising belatedly how simple it would have been to make them longer. Always learning. Although I’m not sure I ever made any more clothes for myself after that. Another lovely read. (And thank you for Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. A favourite movie of mine.)

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LOL, Beth - I'd got so cross that the smaller packets weren't ever available that I went a bit crazy, I'll admit it! Teabags over here are always boxed in funny amounts - 40, 80, 160, 240. I don't know why it's always multiples of 40. When there isn't a shortage I'll generally buy a big box of 240 - I guess for 400 they don't have a box big enough! 🤣

If we were all a standard size, buying or making clothes would be sooooooo much easier! Sorry to hear about your sleeve struggles. Even with my one-time experience of sewing I can totally relate!

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Is that bag of loose tea or bags? It will last a life time. Great photo.

Loved the phone convo with Jim. Hehe.

I agree with your assessment of Terrys blue face. He’s blue from lack of oxygen. Hope his breathing is clear today. We do need that O.

Thank you for letting me know what a Gutter is. I’m inspired to read Austen again.

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Thanks, Carissa! That massive bags contains teabags rather than loose tea - 400 of them - and they're going to last for aaaaages!

Blue from lack of oxygen - I think you're right. It doesn't help that he generally has a cat sitting on his head.... 😸

Yay - I'm so glad to have inspired you to read Austen again. I'm thoroughly enjoying 'Emma' - it's such a treat to sit down to and indulge myself in!

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Love the cat. Hehe.

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Mar 20Liked by Rebecca Holden

That is the most bonkers size of tea I have ever seen and now I want it.

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🤣 Bonkers is right!!! 🤣

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Mar 20Liked by Rebecca Holden

The photo of you peeking from behind the 400 teabags is absolutely priceless. I love it. Also, I had to laugh (sorry) at your struggles with adjusting the sewing pattern. I feel your frustration. I never bought a pair of trousers in my life that didn't to be shortened 4". Great letter, Rebecca.

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Thanks, Sharron! Funnily enough I have received a similar but even more impressive picture from a family member very like this - but HIS giant bag of teabags had contained a whopping 1,040 teabags and weighed 3.25kg (mine's only 1.25kg)! 'They lasted ~six months', he tells me.... 👀

Gosh, the trousers issue - it's a pain, isn't it?!

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PS Forgot to say - I love your new green leaf profile pic - perfect for spring! ❤️💚❤️

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Mar 20Liked by Rebecca Holden

Thank you for noticing! I had had the red / orange autumn leaf layout since 12/21! More than time for a change.

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Oh ditto! I always have to shorten copiously. Pay way over price for what I need to cut off!

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Mar 20·edited Mar 22Author

I sympathise with both of you, with a bit of envy mixed in that trousers that are too long can be shortened, but trousers which are too short.... can't be lengthened! 🤣

Fun fact: Jim and I take the same inside leg measurement (I think in other places in the world it's called the 'in seam'). His legs and my legs are the same length.... yet he's four inches taller than me. 🤣 Seems he's got a very tall top half!

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I'm 5'3" and shrinking, I swear. I have to buy jeans this coming week and will have bands of denim lying over the floor. Think I will collect them and make a cushion or maybe a toy for the dog. Seems such a waste.

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Ooooh, it's a great idea to repurpose the excess leggage, Prue! 🙌

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"A dozen hopeless ladies’ clothes shops" -- Not a bad title for your forthcoming memoir. LOL!

I adore the Sound of Music but I will never again be able to look at Julie Andrews' dress in that scene without giggling. I can barely sew a button, so you're still ahead of me!

If I need tea in the next - oh, decade or so - I'll know whom to call!

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LOL - I've duly made a note to consider that as my title, Elizabeth! 🤣

The giant bag of teabags now contains far fewer than 400 bags - I'm keeping count of how many days they last, and will report back once the bag is empty! 🤣

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Maybe, by the time you report back, your typing speed will have doubled? 😜

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Almost certainly! Well, either that, or i'l b typpppppyihng likkie thissssshsseee..... 🤪

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I wonder if the Tetley there is somehow different. I’ve blacklisted the brand from our shopping because I’ve tried a few flavours (including tea flavour), and they’ve all tasted rather weak/soapy. (Maybe it needs salt?)

We usually purchase Red Rose instead (a company that started here in Saint John, but of course is now manufactured elsewhere), but are having a good run with a recent experiment of Yorkshire Gold (I hear it’s the preferred blend of star ship captains).

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Gosh, I wonder if it IS different - and I guess I wouldn't be surprised if different countries blend different variations of their products to account for different tastes of consumers. I remember when I lived in Germany the Guinness you could drink in the locally-owned bars tasted disgusting - it was proper, 'official' Guinness, but being 'brewed under licence' it was nothing like what they served in the Irish Pubs, where they'd have the real stuff shipped over from Dublin!

I used to only ever drink PG Tips tea, but I can't stand the stuff now. For a while I would only drink a particular supermarket's 'own brand' tea, until they reformulated it (WITHOUT asking me first - can you imagine?!), and now I only buy Tetley because that's what my tastebuds demand.

Red Rose is such a lovely name for a drink! I hadn't heard of Yorkshire Gold, but my brother only drinks a brand called Yorkshire Tea, which is another very popular brand over here.

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Mar 26Liked by Rebecca Holden

Your sewing experience reminded me of my time in junior high school. I took a class and there were 3 different things we had to do within the class. I don't remember what the other two were but I do remember the sewing. How could I forget! I did not enjoy it! We had to do two small pillows. I had no idea what I was doing. The teacher never really explained anything. Every time the sewing machine was free, I hesitated to go over there. Finally, one of my fellow students saw that I was struggling and ended up doing it for me.

I laughed at the photo of you with the tea bags. 400 is an awful lot. You're right, that should last a looonnnggg time.

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I feel your pain, Matt! At school we had a sewing class for 40 minutes every week for two years (while the boys did WOODWORK - not fair!) and in all that time I produced an unwearable A-line skirt (no lining, wonky hem, revolting fabric, the zip didn't do up) and a very, very ugly needle case. I swear that in the time and brain-space I wasted in those classes I could have made an entire dining table complete with six chairs in woodwork class.... 🙄

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Mar 27Liked by Rebecca Holden

In two years, you completed nothing? 🤣 Except for the case. What did you do during all that time? Just sit there and do nothing? And the teacher didn't say anything or was it one of those that just didn't care about their students?

I had a woodworking class too but I didn't do good in that class either. I know my teachers in the arts in jr high and high school never really "instructed" us on how to do stuff. It was more like here are the tools and go do something.

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We were a class made up of eleven girls, a very, very poor teacher who'd been dragged out of retirement in order to teach us, and a single - yes, just the one - sewing machine..... 🤣

Happy days! #irony 😉

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Aug 16Liked by Rebecca Holden

As I was cleaning out my email trash I came across this- but I don’t remember reading it. So I reread it, and it was a lovely post. I love carting around books, and especially love Austen books.

My favorite tea is Barries- it is really strong and I find it is my fav.

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Oooh, I’ve never heard of Barries tea, but I can certainly relate to the need for a strong cuppa!

And thank you so much! x

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