Tea Practice, 28 April

Tea practice for Tuesday evening 28 April 09 Reminder:

At Kristin's house
Kristin doing usucha

Pia bringing flowers.

H2 bringing furo, sensu, kaishi etc.

Dhar: Shokyaku
Laura: Dhar's giude

Dan: Makkyaku
Pia: Dan's guide

Holly: Describe tanka

H, K, L, P: be ready for haiken

Others who show up will be set to different tasks and second rounds of tea.

For everyone: remember to bring your regular items, socks etc., AND your notebooks and pen, blue chado books, AND. at least one haiku that you have written.

pax, H2 MuGai

Princess Taiping rammed by unknown vessel

We received this message over the weekend:

"Hello all

Bad news, the Princess Taiping capsized off the coast of Taiwan, near Suao. All were rescued. We hope to hear from Angela and the rest of the crew soon. Our thoughts are with you.

Here is the url of the article:
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090425/BREAKING01/90425074

Amy, Dennis Sean, Ryan Lily"

The Princess Taiping, a replica Chinese junk, was struck by an unknown vessel and sunk off the coast of Taiwan. She had nearly completed her round-trip of the Pacific Ocean.

The Princess Taiping visited Humboldt Bay, Eureka, in October 2008 (see Previous Posts, below). Harvey and the crew enjoyed friendly maritime exchanges of tea, chess and boat talk, and we exchanged ensigns with the captain and crew.

Here's a more detailed story on The China Post:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2009/04/27/205767/Princess-Taiping.htm

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- “We all but made it,” Nelson Liu bemoaned yesterday…

And from the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8020206.stm

A replica 16th-Century junk has sunk off Taiwan, one day short of completing an epic voyage to the US and back.…

We're very grateful to the Taiwanese Coast Guard for rescuing the crew of the Princess Taiping but deeply saddened at the loss of their beautiful ship.

:: :: ::

Facebook Group: search for "Sailing Yacht Princess Taiping"

Previous Horaizons posts:
HSU to host Chinese junk skipper
Chinese ship replica visits Humboldt
Photo album

Ohanami Tea

Last Sunday we gathered at Laura and Karin's house for Ohanami and an outdoor tea ceremony.

A flurry of activity always precedes the quiet of chado, and this morning was no different. We gathered up dogu, made a batch of sakura mochi to share. Just as we were getting ready to leave the house, I turned to Harvey in a panic, "Wait! I forgot chabana!" I started to get my garden shears and was headed towards the back door when he stopped me.

"Honey," he said with a hint of exasperation, pausing for emphasis. "You'll be under a cherry tree."

Oh. Right.

From Ohanami Tea 04/05/09

We enjoyed tea under the cherry tree, with buzzing bees and hummingbirds and a curious cat. The tea color was so much brighter in the sunshine than in the dim light of our chashitsu.

Titanium chawan?

If you wanted to hike into the Trinity Alps and do a Tea ceremony, you'd need a titanium tea bowl and tiny whisk, right? Believe it or not, matchasource.com has them! Perfect for the backpacking tea aficionado:

http://www.matchasource.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=set209

Harvey's homework assignment: Listen to the 'Book of Tea'

Sempai Harvey has sent out a homework assignment. Here's what it said:

It is very easy, almost painless, unless you do it all while in seiza, but an important one. Please respond when you have finished.

Your homework assignment is to listen to The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo. (It WOULD be better if you read along in the book while you are listening to it, but…) Here is the link to the book on LIBRIVOX:

http://librivox.org/the-book-of-tea-by-okakura-kakuzo/

Scroll down to find the Zip file.
Download.
Un-Zip the file.
You can throw away the Zipped file.
Save the Un-Zipped folder.
Open I-Tunes. Drag the files into I-Tunes. I use a separate Playlist for each Book.

Be careful to check that the chapters are in the correct sequence. Sometimes they get shuffled in the download/unzipping process.

After listening, please be prepared to share impressions, insights, agreements or disagreements with the author’s ideas and comments.

This work can be very helpful to your way of Tea.

Ponder this deeply.

Pax,
H2

P.S. Gripes and complaints will be gratefully accepted. Yea, I know I'm a **@@*)&^)*^%@#$!.

NY Times: With Explosions of Color, Tibetan Art Flourishes

Sengeshong Journal

With Explosions of Color, Tibetan Art Flourishes
By EDWARD WONG

Published: March 30, 2009

The monasteries in the mountain valley of Sengeshong, China, are some of the most important centers of art in the Tibetan world. Read full story...