London Calling

Macaron black tea. The container is so lovely, I plan to put it in my office when I've used the tea.

H. got back safely from London this afternoon and brought us beautiful gifts from Selfridges*, the store where he appeared Saturday on his UK book tour.

Punch got a blue Cath Kidston sweater and ballerina music box, Figgy a heavenly persimmon-scented candle in a pretty porcelain container. My taxicab-yellow Selfridges shopping bag contained a tea party, courtesy of Mariage Frères**, a brand I don't know. H. chose the pink and silver tin above; two glamorous black bags of tea; a pack of 30 filter envelopes for infusing tea [making our own sachets with all of this loose tea]; four pretty rock-candy sugar stirrers; and a bar of Bitter Dark Chocolate 80%. It is really a lovely gift--I would have loved to go to tea in London.

Regrettably, he also brought back a short fuse when putting Punch to bed, probably partly because it was 2 A.M. London time. But that's hard for me, and Punch. She missed him and wanted him to do bedtime.

Good night.

TCOY

1. Soaked up lots of sleep before Punchy came back from her Mimi's.
2. Tonight, I went for maybe an hour to Elly's, where Anne and another friend were. We had roast chicken and salad and it was really nice to talk by the crackling fire.
3. I've been catching up on the HBO series "Girls." Fascinating and entertaining. Lena is so funny.

I love the UK book cover for H.'s book.

And I love this U.S. cover, too.

*Per Wikipedia: Selfridges, also known as Selfridge & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge. The flagship store on London's Oxford Street is the second largest shop in the UK (after Harrods) and opened 15 March 1909. [I feel like I belong there.]

**Mariage Frères (French, Mariage Brothers) is a French gourmet tea company, based in Paris. It was founded on 1 June 1854 by brothers Henri and Edouard Mariage. [Wow, since I want to go to Paris, too, this is a great gift.]