This blog moving!

Dear Ones...

The losing of this tea book almost finished, and my sponsor with it as her company was sold, has left me with a few hard months of looking at many options and, with many personal hardships going on I have decided to take the summer off of having so many fingers in so many pies. To that end, this blog WILL stay here, but for the summer and I don't know how long past that, I am doing one blog to combine all of my interests. This tea blog and the one preceding it will stay in cyber space (There is very much to read if you haven't read it on this and the Tea blog Part 1.) and I may return to it in the fall after decisions about what direction I should take with the book will be made. I think you will enjoy the new blog and I will give you a little excerpt from the first entry of the new blog. The blog is called Gathering, Yielding, Opening, Ripening...

"You will see all of the things here on this one blog that I have written about on several other blogs. Life at Dragonfly Cottage ~ The animals, the garden, the writing, the fiber art, cooking, studying herbal healing, and more. You will read about my Tea Life, my works of compassion, and so much that you may read about more in depth on the cottage website. Inotherwords, this is a diary of my life during the period of this summer of gathering, yielding, opening and ripening, and as I move from this period into the next, I shall be full with the lessons of this summer, I will have worked through much that needed working through, moved through some difficult life experiences and experienced many joyful ones, and you will see pictures of the garden in its various stages of blooming as well as fiber work that I am making. It will be a deep, reflective, peaceful time during which I will be doing a lot of reading and sharing that, as well, with you here. Much of that will be rereading old and treasured books for their infinite wealth of knowledge that has stood me in good stead over the years and brought me to this point in my life, as well as books that are new to me and will be lanterns to light my path into the future. I am very excited to share this journey with you."


I hope you will visit the new blog. I will be delighted to see you there. And there will be tea times, and so much more.

Warm Regards and Deepest Blessings to all,

Maitri

Doors Closing, Windows Opening, and Tea Through It All...

Over the period of time I have not been here
I have been drinking a number of favorite teas

from SBS Teas:

Formosa Peach Oolong (several nights in a row!)
Ti Kuan Yin (I do tend toward oolongs for comfort!)
and the delectable black flavored tea, Chocolate Cherry...

"I was the world in which I walked, and what I saw
Or heard or felt came not but from myself;
And there I found myself more truly and more strange."

Wallace Stephens



People have been asking me what has happened to the tea blog. Well, it's been here, simply put, I have not. After working through so much loss -- so much more than I had at first realized, having lost so much more material from my computer than I could at first see -- I went through several phases, like the phases of the moon. I couldn't not do the book, it was too important to me, but having lost the book that was 3/4 finished and laid out for publishing, I was in such despair I couldn't face it. And then I thought, well, my life is really all of a piece and I write about so many facets of my life: tea, the animals, the garden, my family, and so much more, that perhaps I would write one big book and the tea would be a section in that. I never for one second meant to not do the tea book or continue this blog, but when you lose your book and your tea sponsor all in one fell swoop, it seems like a sign from the universe. It was a period of feeling that all the doors had shut and nary a window had opened. So yes, perhaps I'd do a big book. A compendium of wabi sabi life and all it's facets. Yes, that might be good. But no, it didn't feel right.

In the midst of all of this, one of the myriad of problems that came up is that this is a wonderful computer but so much more powerful than my older one that the program I had used for several years to create the Dragonfly Cottage website wouldn't work. What this meant was that the website I had been working on since 1999 I could not get to to change or update. I could download the whole website and my files etc, so I have a copy of all of the work, but the program to revise, update, or create anything new was simply gone. After a pretty rough time my wonderful webhost told me that they have a program that I can use for free. It's not got all the bells and whistles but I had to get the website back up and up fast. That's why I haven't been here. I have been trying to reconstruct a very large website that has been up for nearly 8 years. Oy vey, whatta job! It looks very different, much simpler, is much easier to read through and find things, and while not as razzle dazzle as the old one, I really like this much better. And then I stopped and thought, rather amazed by it all. Not only had my computer changed, but I had changed in many many ways and I was still trying to do things that were outmoded and not where I was anymore. I had been forced, as it were, through circumstances, to change much of which I had grown past but was still holding onto. I heard a creak and a shudder and windows began to open. The website is most of the way back up with new pages added -- one on St. Francis and Animal Welfare; and one on Gardening and The Greening Of The Planet -- and there is so much more to come. Many things that long needed to go are now gone. If you are not going to move forward you will get a big kick in the patootski to help you along. My bottom still hurts!

Then, the book(s). Well, I have been planning, for some time, to create an independent press called Dragonfly Cottage Press. As I don't have the money to wholly start an independent press, I am set to use the wonderful services of lulu.com, so popular now, on demand publishing. Eventually Dragonfly Cottage will become non-profit and I want to have a truly "green" press, meaning using recycled papers and so on. But I will use lulu to get started. The tea book was the first of many, and I have been a small press publisher 3x over. I have a very unique way of doing my books, my signature as it were, and that's why I like the ability to design and lay out your whole book for printing. But so many books, so so many I had planned and they all began to loom over me in the night. And one night something flashed in my mind like a bolt of lightning in the sky. While I have never been a 12-stepper I highly regard their work and have learned many of the slogans and so forth from friends who have been involved in the program. I love the KISS ~ Keep It Simple, and all of a sudden I realized I was trying to do too much, too big, too soon.

I like the small and the intimate, yet potent. Something that packs a punch in a quiet gentle way, and allows the reader to take in the message without being inundated with too much at once. I was getting too frilly and too big for me own britches! I would now do several books, but make them small, and average 2 or 3 books a year. And the moment this message came to me every window in the house blew open, fresh air streaming in. It was as though I had been freed from a spell. I woke up, and realized my true work. All of my small books may someday become a compendium bringing all the work together, but for now, I will concentrate on one book at a time. The first one out, this fall, will be called Snail Mind: How Slow Can You Go? And it is about a meditative practice and awareness to help you go slower in the world. There is a page dedicated to this with a free guided meditation on the Dragonfly Cottage website. Feel free to use it. Many have and have written to thank me and tell me how moved they are. There are thoughts there to help you in your daily life.

And so each afternoon and evening, as I sat down to my contemplative time with tea, an open notebook with a blank page and pen laid across it before me, I sipped my tea, meditated, and had an open easy mind. More and more realizations have come and I have noted them. My whole life is changing in so many ways. The day that my old computer was shattered by the technician with a power drill, it wasn't just the computer that shattered, but my whole carefully conceived world had as well. It shook me to my core. And my life hasn't been the same since. Thank God!

So my work today is being fully open to the new thoughts and realizations as they arise. I am in a deep time of meditation and prayer. I am planting like mad in the garden, tending my 19 animals inside the cottage, my grandbaby a few times each week (Ah, my little heartchild... I will be 53 on April 30 and he will be 3 May 1. Such a bond we have, what a wonderful miracle to have a tiny child in your life!). I am writing most of the day everyday and getting some fiber work in too and my days, like my life, are all of a piece. My tea times are my my contemplative times when the lessons of the day are drawn together and meditated upon, and I connect with my inner guide so that I might understand where I am to go next.

So yes, this tea blog will be continuing regularly once again, my books are in process (the tea book due out now Spring 2008 or so since I have to start all over again with it) and I am planting a new garden in my heart, as well as outside my little cottage, and both are beginning to grow and blossom. Miracles abound. Never forget that.

When doors close in your life, simply make yourself a cup of tea, take a deep breath and relax. Before you know it, the windows will start opening, and your life will begin again anew. There is nothing more exciting!

Warm Regards and Deepest Blessings to All... Now put
the kettle on, make a cup of tea, and get out your pen
and notebook...

Maitri

Things That Suffice, And What We Need To Remember...

I dedicate this piece to my dear longtime friend Katya Sabaroff Taylor,
who, for more than a quarter of a century has been my teacher, my
mentor, my friend, and my Muse, and most certainly still is all of
the above...



A Lovely Mellow Fruity Tea For Remembrance:
Pomegranate Mango Flavored Black Tea from SBS Teas...

(I got this lovely tea from SBS Teas and believe it to be currently
out of stock but you may find similar teas elsewhere. It is truly lovely.)

"At night I went out into the dark &
saw a glimmering star & heard a
frog & Nature seemed to say, Well
do not these suffice?"

Ralph Waldo Emerson



It was late at night, and Moe, my sweet old lab-doby mix and I went out for a walk under the midnight black sky, stars twinkling like cut glass against black velvet. And there was Mama Moon, and Spring is here and the azaleas are in bloom, and the first tight buds glow on my roses. I have already brought lovely 'Poeticus' Narcissus in from the garden and there is a fragrant bouquet in an antique milk bottle sitting on my kitchen sink. Such a lovely thing to breathe in the fragrance as I wash dishes or look out of the window, at my 'Zepherine Drouhin' rose with 'Jackmanii' clematis climbing through it coming to life just the other side of the window panes, and the cardinals feeding at the feeder. I stood and watched the birds, took in the greening of the rose and clematis, the fragrance of the narcissus, the guinea pigs squealing in delight over their fresh breakfast greens, and my 5 "Little Gentlemen," the beta fish, having their breakfast next to me, and I felt at peace. Does this not suffice? Yes, it does.

Does it matter that my book was lost in the computer debacle, that all of my contacts with tea companies, notes, letters, files of research and more were lost, as my new computer will not read the old zip disks which may have become corrupted? At first it seemed like the worst thing in the world, devastating in fact. I only just a couple of days ago realized (as I am realizing in waves) how very much I've lost with the old computer, and yet I am coming to some new realizations and they are quite enlightening. Even as the tea company that has been my sponsor for over a year had to pull their support for business reasons (... and I bless them for all that they have done, they are wonderful people with fabulous teas which I will still buy, support and review...), after the initial blow and disappointment I had to sit down with this lovely tea and really think. And what I thought was that there really are no accidents. That the loss of what the book was, along with the support of a company that I admire, and so much of what the original book was, though more than a bit unnerving, is also freeing. There is a wide world of wonderful teas, and I believe that things happen for a reason for all parties concerned. I bow in deep gratitude for all that has come before, and today I start anew.

After the barren earth of winter, seeds are planted, and in Spring, the greening of the earth brings renewal, new life, new ideas, beauty, deep revelations. Yes, it was a loss, but I also believe it was full of important teachings, and to that end it will be a better book. I will pay homage to all of the wonderful tea companies that sent me samples and review teas along the way and offer a resource section for all of these and many more wonderful tea companies, but the focus in the book will be less on a particular brand or type of tea (... though certainly, my daily teas will enter as they are part of my tea life...) but my focus is the tea life itself, living tea, how it influences our life and days bringing a meditative, contemplative time into this round of twenty-four hours we daily circle through, giving us a moment of rest and respite. And then thoughts arise, and these are what I share. This is what I have to give. It is about tea, certainly, but the particular type of tea matters less than the reflections and thoughts that surface.

I dedicate this post to my dear longtime friend, mentor and Muse, Katya Sabaroff Taylor who is just a wonderful writer, journal teacher, modern Haiku Master, and wonderful woman, because at a low point, and working through these revelations, complications, disappointments and yet beginning to see and feel that ray of light I needed to pick up the pen (...which is mightier than the sword!) and go once more into the breech, wrote me a very thoughtful e-mail, sharing some of her beautiful writing from a class she had just taught, and then asked me a question. The question was, "What have you forgotten?" And all of a sudden something in me flipped over and a wide smile spread across my face just as a ray of sunshine came in through the four French doors that open onto my patio, the sun danced across my living room floor making rainbows through the crystals hanging on the glass, and my whole world turned around. This is what I wrote, in part, in answer to her question...


"And so to answer your question, after a night of waking every hour on the hour, having terrible nightmares, waking up afraid and unable to breathe, I took my medicine, and talked to my daughter, and my best friend, my dear sweet friend Jeff, and they both made me feel better, and then here is your lovely post and what it made me realize is that I forgot that we never LOSE anything. If you didn't write anything it would still exist, already there and whole, because our energy radiates out into the world with love. And just as surely, it stays with us.

And so I will start anew, and I even feel like this might be a good thing as hard as it is right now. It will take me longer, but I think it will be a better book.

So what I need to remember, what I easily forget, is that everything I need is INSIDE OF ME, not "out there," not reliant on other people or circumstances. Everything I need I already possess. I just need to be unafraid to use it.

Thank you for asking the question. I needed to hear my answer."


And so I did. And so once again, as she has so many times before, Katya helped me find clarity, and this cup of tea is good, and I shall begin the challenge of finding a new book within the book I have been working on for over a year, and the journey before me will be frighening, exciting, and a powerful one. And it will suffice. And I will not forget.

Warm Regards & Deepest Blessings to all,
and a special hug to my dear friend Katya...

Maitri

Tropical Island Breezes ~ A Balm For The Soul...

A Beautiful Tea, A Shower of Flower Petals, A Balm For The Soul:
Green Tea Tropical Cyclone from SBS Teas ...

"Green Sencha and green Assam with heavenly mango, passion fruit and pineapple flavors, blended with hibiscus, rose petals, blue mallow blossoms, sunflower petals, cornflower blossoms."


"Know then, whatever cheerful and serene supports the mind, supports the body too: Hence, the most vital movement mortals feel is hope, the balm and lifeblood of the soul. "

John Armstrong: Art of Preserving Health



When a cyclone of sorts has blown through our life, we need rest and respite, a balm for the soul. I find that my own system is extremely sensitive to internal weather patterns caused by life stressors and over time I've learned to automatically fall into the practices that will heal the body and the mind, leaving in their wake a woman finally at peace.

Nothing does this better than a tea ceremony, and it can be the simplest ceremony in the world, one of your own making. A special cup, a gentle ambiance, mindful movements through the making of the tea, and of course the right tea for the occasion. At certain times, only a specific tea will do.

I have many teas here to sample and write about, and yet sometimes I have to turn to an old favorite for comfort, as I did in the last entry with the Lapsang Souchong. But this time, in searching for just the right tea, I came across this green tea blend, Tropical Cyclone. I was intrigued. I opened the package and breathed in deeply the perfume of the leaves, redolent with flowers and fruits and tropical island breezes. I quickly brewed it and sat breathing in the floral essences, the tropical fruits warming me, and the bright green tea enlivening in its gentle way. (And when I say to brew it quickly, I mean quickly! When a green tea says one to three minutes brewing time, you'd best not go more than a minute the first go round. I usually wait one minute, then pour the tea from the brewer into my cup. Fill the brewer again with hot water and let the leaves steep closer to 3 minutes, then pour the second round into my teapot which I cover, and when I pour the water over the leaves for the third time, I go sit down and rest. After a bit I pour the last of the tea into the pot and then bring it into my quiet area.)

These have been strange days for me, a month and more of illness, the computer issues, issues with recovering a significant amount of my work, and what that means, and how it will change the course of the work itself. I am full of questions with few answers. I fall deep in the valley of depression and then sit numb and unable to move. I will not allow myself to wallow in this place for long, and the ritual of tea time somehow brings me back to my center and lets my overactive brain slow down to a soft silence. The worries of the day seem to leave me for awhile, and I give myself over to the tea.

These days we read so much about the health benefits of green tea, and there are many, but one of the things I find most amazing about green tea is how very bright it feels, like a field of brilliant green grasses as the backdrop to the wildflowers in the meadow. It seems to make the perfect backdrop, or base, for what is added to a particular blend. It goes beautifully with fruits and flowers, it takes us back into Nature, and deeper, to the Source of all things.

A cup of hot tea is not something one throws back like a soft drink or even coffee, often quickly consumed. A good tea makes us settle down into our own small corner of the world and move slowly, think deeply, sip, reflect, sip again, feel your brain relax, and the relaxation echoes through your body, a leitmotif to carry you far past the last drop of tea, a recurring theme throughout your day. Closing my eyes hours later I can feel, I can sense, I remember those moments of tea in a prayerful way and it calms me. Tea is indeed a sacred beverage. That tea became a ritual, The Japanese Tea Ceremony, that influenced an entire culture, everything from philosophy to architecture, flower arranging to a time of gentle sharing and reverence, that it produced the concept of wabi sabi, the imperfect-perfect, helping the participants to have a whole new view of the world, a deeper compassion for all, is a rather astounding thing. A simple cup of tea changed the world. It started in Japan and spread around the globe.

And no, my tea ceremonies are not the formal ceremonies one reads about in books on the Tea Ceremony, but it needn't be. I have read and studied many books on Chanoyu and there is a lovely section on the site you will reach by clicking on the word above about this practice. On this page it says:


"The Japanese tea ceremony, or Cha-no-yu, meaning 'hot water for tea', is more than an elaborate ritual. It is an interlude in which one leads oneself for the moment to the spirit of beauty, quietude, and politeness toward others. The ceremony may be practiced anywhere, at home or in a teahouse.

There are 4 principles: harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility (wa, kae, sae, jubuo)

• Harmony: with other people and with nature. The tea ceremony is the way of bringing one’s self into harmony with nature.
• Respects: a harmonious relationship with others.
• Purity: clean yourselves through the five senses - sense of hearing when hearing the sound of water(which remind one of the silence outside), sense of sight when see the flowers, sense of touch when touch the utensils, sense of smell when smell the scent of the flowers, sense of taste when drinking tea.
• Tranquility "

It is not a difficult thing to carry the spirit of Chanoyu into a daily tea practice in your very own home, and it will infuse the day with all of the elements above. Your heart opens wide, and you feel the waves of harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility flowing through you and out into the world. It is for this reason that I practice Tea everyday. It is this practice that sustains me over the hurdles of life, and through the valleys of the hard times. Chanoyu, the great equalizer.

And so I sat alone, breathing in the delicate vapors of the tea, breathing in and out, feeling my body relax, the flowers and fruits being taken in by all of my senses, and I could imagine, almost feel, the tropical island breeze blowing gently over me, warm sun on my face.

All this in a single cup of tea. All of this, and so much more.

I bow to this cup of tea. I bow to you. Let us carry what we have experienced out into the world. A tea revolution. We will save the world with a cup of tea.

Maitri

Smoke and Mirrors ~ Attachment and Letting Go...

Smoke and Mirrors, Lessons on Letting Go:
Lapsang Souchong from SBS Teas ...

"This is a superior grade black tea from the Fujian province of China. Lapsang Souchong tea has a famously smoky aroma and flavor and was once known as a man's tea, but plenty of women drink it now too! To create this, tea leaves are dried in bamboo baskets over pine and cypress fires, achieving a perfect balance of smoke and tea flavor. It has been rumored that this exotic tea gives you a greater energy boost and can assist in weight loss. It is especially tasty with a spicy or salty food dish."

(Added to this tea tonight is another delectable delight from SBS
Teas. Sweet Purple Haze Sugar. This you've got to try!)



"Nevertheless the flowers fall with our attachment
And the weeds spring up with our aversion."

Dogen



Lapsang Souchong is one of my favorite teas, and it carries an important lesson for me now, as, with the words of the great Zen Haiku Master, Dogen, "... flowers fall with our attachment, weeds spring up with our aversion." The lesson is letting go. And like this smoky tea, all of life is smoke and mirrors, there is nothing that we can hold onto, and in trying to, in grasping, we lose that to which we cling. Letting go. Letting go of computers, and books, and people, and things, and all that we cling to, good and bad. For three weeks I frantically held onto notions that my old computer would be okay, that things would work with ease on my new computer, that I would not lose the book I have been working on for the last year and more, but when we lose things, there is a lesson too, and even the lesson of the tea book, wabi sabi, the imperfect perfect, is in attunement with this lesson. The book is gone. And so I start again.

When I realized that, I shrugged, and started anew. Apple even sent me iWorks, and here I go again. It almost seemed a fitting lesson for me, I who have always held on too tightly and now went freefalling through space and time losing more than I thought I could bear losing, things slipping out of my grasp so fast I couldn't even see them going. And I felt empty, and I felt lost, and I felt afraid ... and then I felt free. There is much work to be done, but the flowers will fall though we want to cling to their beauty, and the weeds, ah, the weeds are wildflowers in many parts of the world, edibles, healing herbs, and these lessons, too, come with their own kind of healing.

And so I sip this smoky black tea, having just arisen from my afternoon nap, and needing a boost, and reaching for the tea that is both a comfort tea for me, a favorite tea, and a strong black tea that would awaken all of my senses so that I might begin the forward march into new terrain. The same book, a new creation. And it will be better than the first.

I remember the very first time I tried this tea. I had just come to SBS Teas and it was one of the first teas I tried, nearly a year and a half ago now. A friend had told me it was one of her favorite teas, and so I bought it. And I sniffed it and wrinkled my nose, not imagining that it could ... well ... taste good. But trying teas is part of my work now and so I brewed up a pot and was instantly mesmerized by the smoky aroma that filled the room, truly like sitting at a campfire in the woods, smoke rising from the burning embers, the woods around me closing in so that I was enveloped by the white haze and my nose burned with the woodsmoke as my hands held this cup of tea, and I sipped. It was like slipping into a dreamworld, into another dimension. This wasn't tea, it was an experience. And I have felt this way every single time I have had it since.

It is good to remember that things are ephemeral and pass quickly and all too soon. It is also good to back things up on an external hard drive! (Though the book was backed up on zip disks. How could I know the computer would die and I couldn't use them on this computer?!) When we remember that flowers go and "weeds" come, taking their place, we remember to tend our gardens carefully, and treasure that which is blooming before it passes. We think we have all the time in the world. We don't.

I only realized, a short time ago, well into writing this piece, that today was the daylight savings time change. All day long I have been an hour off. Even time is elusive, and not always what it seems. There is a saying, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." I would rather put it this way -- "When the flowers are gone, cherish the dandelions." There is beauty in dandelions. I have often made little bouquets of them and sat them on my kitchen windowsill. They remind us that even "weeds" have their beauty, and even this time of losing everything and beginning again will have a positive impact on my life.

Smoke and mirrors. Salvidor Dali's clock and time shapeshifting before our eyes. Tea that clouds our vision and awakens our senses. Never forget Dogen's lesson. Now drink your tea, and get on with it.

Maitri

Fire In The Belly ~ The Inner Inferno...

An tea for stoking the fire within:
CreativiTea from SBS Teas ...

"In a rut, putting pen to paper with no results? Relax and be inspired by our lively blend of spicey flavored black tea, liberally imbued with lemon, orange, clove, lemon balm, red clover, allspice and raspberry!!! A cup of tea so creatively inspired it is bound to be infectious!"



"Fire is never a gentle master."

Proverb



It has been a very rough few weeks. For half of February I was so sick I might have ended up in the hospital, and as soon as I started feeling better my computer went on the fritz. When tech support finally got here with the parts sent from Apple, the repairman literally ruined my computer, cracking it with a power drill. I lost so much I could not believe it. The day before it went out I had just purchased an external hard drive and before I could get a lot of things backed up on it -- kaput -- no more computer. Apple was horrified and sent me a new computer. A jazzy new computer. A super computer. So super duper it would not read most of my programs, would not read my zip disks and the book from the first year's tea blog, 3/4 finished, POOF, gone, because it's on a zip disk that this computer will not read. I have the blog to go back to as a basic platform for the book and I have to start over. To say it was like the air was completely let out of a helium balloon is to describe my state of mind and being. So I sat here with the glorious new iMac with double the everything I had on the old computer, and nothing to work on it. I have been piecing back together my computer life, and even a wonderful tech who came and spent 2 days here trying to recover things off of my old hard drive had no luck. As the computer will not start at all, there is no way to transfer the material on it. Sigh... Oh well... In any case, this is why there has been such a lapse in entries here. Now I'm getting back on target and this blog will be updated regularly.

So I needed something to stoke the fires within. I needed to create an inner inferno, fire in the belly, to help me burn through the dross, get out of my funk, and just plunge into the work. I found it in a cup of tea. SBSTeas CreativiTea is amazing, and it lit my pilot light again. Before long I had glowing coals within, the flames were small at first and then rose into a raging inferno. I had the fire in the belly needed to go once more into the breech. No, fire is never a gentle master, but necessary to get the job done.

This tea is an awakening, the cinnamon creates an inner warmth that quickly rises from the belly to the brain and causes the synapses to fire rapidly, the spicy delicious flavors cause the dead and dull parts within to waken as if from a long sleep, and before I knew it I was working like all get out. I had to get a new Word Processing program (even my MS Word wouldn't work anymore on this computer!), I had to start piecing important things together, in fact even had to create a whole new website because the website I've had since 1999, Dragonfly Cottage, my main homesite that lists all my sites and blogs and all of my works of compassion, well, I couldn't work with it anymore as I have since 1999. This computer simply won't run the old program. 3 days and countless hours of tech support and the new site is up and running. Pour me another cup of tea please, I've got miles to go before I sleep...

It might just be time for another cup of tea. I'm not sure what this one will be but you shall read about it here very soon. I am taking a deep breath, not looking back, and moving forward again from where I am into uncharted territory with new programs I've never worked with, a lot of material to recover, rewrite, and design again for the first Tea Mind, Be Kind book, and so much more. But everything seems to happen for a reason and perhaps this will be a better version of the book. At this rate it may be late fall before it is out, but it will be out. I shall be working on it steadily from here on in.

Wish me luck!

Maitri

Tea As Art ~ Beauty Amidst Chaos...

An artful tea to bring about a moment of

beauty in your day: Rooibos Vanilla Melon
from SBS Teas ...

"Who said you can't have your melon and drink it too? Certainly not us! The tea Genie has whipped up a delectable sweet combo of creamy vanilla, honey dew melon and a top note of a sweet surprise to create a whole new taste sensation. Like dessert in a cup, without the guilt or the calories! Excellent hot or over ice, you will love it!

Organic rooibos, honeydew melon, apple, nettle, sunflower blossoms and a proprietary blend of natural flavors. This blend contains NO caffeine."



"Chanoyu, the Tea Ceremony, developed in a country torn by war
and bound by class barriers. The culture it created profoundly
influenced the arts of Japan for centuries to come. Architecture,
interior design, landscape gardening, cuisine, flower arranging,
ceramics, and lacquerware were shaped by the artistic tastes
and creativity of tea masters and warrior elite."

Bettina Vitell
The World In A Bowl Of Tea:
Healthy Seasonal Foods Inspired
By The Japanese Way Of Tea



I have just experienced one of the most beautiful, lush teas that I have ever had. I love the soothing nature and soft rounded flavor of rooibos, and the lush vanilla, the sweet delicate melon in this particular tea, well, this is one of the most stunning teas I have had in a long time, and I have a lot of tea! And as I sipped the divine amber liquid, art in a cup really, the flavors blended to perfection -- and perfect tea blending itself is an incredible artform -- I was flipping through the pages of Vitell's newest book, or not really new but new to me. I had had the cookbook in the previous entry for a great many years, loved it, forgot about it, and recently pulled it out again when I once again became a vegetarian. When I looked it up I saw that she had another book out, and what was it about? Two of my favorite things! Food, and tea. The Japanese Tea Ceremony itself was the inspiration for this beautiful book. It is a beautifully laid out book just to behold, the recipes luscious, the history of the tea ceremony informative, and the whole book deeply moving. I was transported to another world with this new book and the incredible tea in my cup.

The Tea Ceremony arose from a war torn world and influenced myriad arts in Japan, and a whole way of life, and centuries later we are still growing and changing toward beauty amidst this chaotic war torn world of today each time we sit down with a cup of tea, or we can make it so.

One doesn't have to do the formal Tea Ceremony to take great care in the preparation of the tea, a beautiful teapot, a lovely cup, a tea tray laid just so, a small vase with a flower or herbs. Even in the dead of winter there are things that grow outside. I have a large pot of rosemary and a wonderful pot of lavender thriving just outside my front door and it is below freezing. On my tray is a delicate cup with a pale blue and purple watercolor image, on a burgundy velvet mat with a small vase filled with sprigs of lavender and the jasmine blooming in my front window, I set the vintage art deco teapot full of this fragrant tea, vanilla mixing with jasmine swirling with melon blending with lavender until I cannot tell what I am tasting and what sweet aroma fills my nostrils with it's divine fragrance. Heaven!

In a world where cars cost what houses did when I first got married just over 3 decades ago, and houses may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and people work harder and harder to make more and more money to have an expensive lifestyle that is stress-filled and unmanageable, and the world is torn apart by a terrible war, war after war, never ceasing through the centuries, still, a cup of tea can change your life, and it barely costs a thing. Good tea may not be cheap, but it is worth every penny. I live in a small humble cottage surrounded by old and used and vintage things, many hundreds of books collected over the last decades, fiber, my animals, plants, and simple things. I can create a tea ceremony here of my own making that is carefully thought out, beautiful in its presentation, and soothing and inspiring to this artist's mind. I sip my tea and relax. I let the steam rise and mist my face as I breathe it in and I let my mind wander, the little grey cells, as Christie's Poirot would say, relax and expand and the mind fills with color, ideas dancing, a joyful calm, a gentle stillness, and finally I settle into a deeply contemplative mode. Yes, the whole world might be saved if everyone took time for tea, thoughtfully, mindfully, simply, without fanfare, in the silence of their own solitude or with friends, it matters not, but a simple tea ceremony once changed the world, and changes it still, and transforms my life each and every day.

I write about wabi sabi, which arose from the center of the Japanese Tea Ceremony, the very aesthetic that influenced all of the arts mentioned in Vitell's quote, because it is not just about art, it is about compassion. It is about a deep respect for all of life, for every sentient being, everywhere, always, even in our imperfections we can find a tenderness and compassion, and it is this compassion that the world needs now more than ever. We will find peace or we will not survive. Yes, we need to find beauty amidst the chaos, and we can find it in a cup of tea.

Perhaps today you can find the time to prepare a beautiful tea tray. Sit alone, or with a friend. Even in companionship there can be quiet conversation, the good talk where one really listens to what the other has to say, and the words are spoken softly, and with care. Even today when the world around us moves faster than the speed of light, we may find time to put the kettle on, measure out the tea leaves, brew the tea, fill the pot, set the tray and bring it to the table for a time out of time experience that, when we reach the other side of it, when we've had the last sip, when we gather our tea things and clear the table, we will be breathing slower and more deeply, our steps softer on the ground beneath us, a gentle reverence may arise for all of life, and our spirit may be renewed, we may walk, once more, into the world with the quiet calm that can influence everyone and everything around us. Beauty amidst chaos. If this is possible, why not do it, each and every day? It doesn't cost much, it doesn't take much time. In fact, it will slow one down so that time unfolds before us, and we have more than we ever knew. More time to do and to be all that we might be, all that we have dreamed, and we can take it out into the world and do the work that might just, centuries from now, have influenced more than we can begin to imagine. In any case, we can influence this moment now, and this moment is all we really have.

Will you have a cup of tea with me? Will you make it a thing of beauty? Will you stop the world for a moment and step out of the chaos? As my Zen teacher Charlotte Joko Beck asked me when I studied with her for a brief period in the early 90's, "If not, why not? If not now, when?" Why not? When? Indeed...

Namastè,

Maitri