More rain, same as before

It's a good day. 

The rain has come, and my head feels all muzzy, but the wind has stopped howling in its efforts to tear the bricks off the building, and the temperature is no longer trying to freeze us all in place.

School is good, and work is a circus like normal.

I have tea and marmalade toast and all is well.

<3

Drink your tea slowly

Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole earth revolves.
-Thich Nhat Hanh
 

 

The Enlightenment of Thi

Here's Thi's rhapsodic waxing on his method to make tea. (And because the universe is like this, his name is pronounced tee).  Please note: I have never done this. Nothing near it. This sounds like the recipe for enlightenment with tea as a happy byproduct.

My method of making tea makes most serious tea drinkers wince: I chop up some fresh ginger and toss it in the strainer with two tablespoons of black tea (usually organic fair trade from frontier) and pour boiling water over the whole mess. I don't remove the strainer and drink it as it gets stronger. My pot holds about two large mugs.

I like my tea strong and sweet, but with a depth. I use unrefined sugar (raw, organic, fair trade because there is too much slavery still in the world) and once I found the difference in flavor I was hooked and I use raw sugar as a straight substitute in all my baking. This is a bonus because regular refined white sugar crashes my system even in small amounts. I go through 50-100 pounds of sugar a year so I buy it in 50 pound bags to keep it affordable, about $1.30/pound. Same with tea: I can't imagine a day without tea. I buy it wholesale 5 pounds at a time. This makes it about $13/pound, meaning I spend about $20 a month on tea (full disclosure: thesis months see twice as much).

As Thi says, you can go down a serious rabbit hole with tea. I say find what works for you. There's a particular leaf and method that is your personal combination and that's what's kind of great about tea and also about sharing tea. Having a cup of someone's daily brew is like getting a window into their mind-space.

 

Yarn love!

Yarn love from Michelle! With tea!

Almost all the mountain of yarn is in storage, and the Artemis Blanket is going to take quite a bit, especially with the elaborate cables that are dancing through my mind.

Work on the book looks like knitting and listening to Erica practice Bach via a live feed from Twitter, or cello music streaming into the living room. My community is digital, now, and I'm craving some analogue interaction. It's time for letter writing again.

Memphis

Memphis likes detective novels, especially Tana French.

In other news, I still have the miserable flu. (It's a particular strand of the virus, I'm convinced.)

There's always time for tea

Writing group

Spent the later morning with the writing group.
Writing actually got done, and it was really good, too.
There were many insights, and many reflections. Lots of helpfulness all round.
We are on a completely different plane from this time last year.
It was good to get back to the workshop voice for a bit.
Next week there will be tea, too.