Showing posts with label Seattle Teacup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seattle Teacup. Show all posts

Sunday, July 10, 2005

It's amazing how the week flies by

I keep meaning to post things here and there on the blog, preferably on a daily basis, and the week has just zoomed by... again. Sheesh!

Tbe STC's Board of Directors has had a busy week this week. The Executive Director resigned and we've had a lot of extra work to do already and there'll be a lot more, I'm sure. Meanwhile, of course, there's everything else that I need to take care of: tracking construction on the new house, working on a bunch of Framemaker files for someone, a few other miscellaneous and sundry items that are designed to keep me from sleeping. Oh, well, we got out and danced twice this week, which is lovely, although we did not make it to the Oregon Country Fair, alas.

I have a couple of web sites for you to look at. The first is Turn Your Head, a web site that lets you order a sculpture of your profile. It's the old optical illusion of "Is it a vase or a silhouette?" only someone's actually done it. Not too shabby--I might get one made myself just because it's so fun.

The second web site is The Canonical List of Banjo Jokes. For all those who know banjos for what they are (fun but reeeeeally low class), this is a lovely page. There's a fair amount of dross in the list, but there are some real gems. They don't have one of my favorites, though: about 13 years ago, I was doing a concert in Portland. Previous concerts, I'd done sung along with guitar or banjo but for this one, I decided I'd do nothing but instrumental stuff and then just talk in between the pieces. I was telling a bunch of banjo jokes about halfway through the show--banjo jokes were still a relatively new phenomenon at that point--and getting some good laughs with them.

Well, I'd gotten through eight or nine banjo jokes, just kinda rattling them off one after another, and I got to "What's the difference between a banjo and an Uzi?" The answer I was going to give (which is the one appearing on the jokes page) is "The Uzi only repeats 40 times," but just as I was about to say the answer, a guy in the 3rd row jumped in with "The banjo clears the room faster."

FACED! Absolutely faced right there! The audience (and I) exploded laughing and I mimed tipping a hat to him.

I've been drinking a lot of tea lately (and enjoying it, of course). I'm going to be ordering some more tea from the Seattle Teacup soon. I couldn't remember what the name for that unusual green tea with the bits of roasted rice in it is; Elisabeth told me that it's called genmaicha ("Duh!" [he smacks his forehead in disgust for forgetting this]) and the question "What's that tea with the rice in it called?" is actually one of their top 10 questions at the store.

Enough of this. It's getting late and I've hit my work benchmarks for the day. I have the last bit of a mystery to read (Lawrence Block's "The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart") and there are a few hours of sleep in my future. I hope.

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Sunday, May 15, 2005

It worked out the way I'd hoped

I peered out the window and saw that it had indeed rained a little last night. Everything got watered, spreading the liquid fertilizer around nicely. I just went outside to see and all the plants are singing. The squashes and melons that I'd planted in containers are showing a lot of growth already. One of them has even thrown out its first true leaf last night, so they're happy with their new homes. The row of tomato plants is all standing up straight and tall without any transplant shock. And the beds of impatiens are showing new blooms and new buds. Hitting everyone with a shot of fertilizer was clearly the way to go. What really makes me feel good is that I hung up the big bass windchime. Hearing the gentle plongs in the morning when it's cool and sweet and green-smelling makes me happy.

I've been looking at podcasting sources and online references to get ready for the new book. The field's starting to explode! Huzzah!

And for those of you who haven't yet gone there in person or online yet, go, go! to the Seattle Teacup. While I was there a week ago, I replenished tea stocks and got half a dozen new flavors that I've been wallowing in since I got home. I'm drinking Pampelmousse Bleu right now, a light French tea with hints of grapefruit (okay, it sounds strange if you're not used to this, but trust me, it's a wonderful breakfast tea!). Yesterday, I had Aristocrat blend, an Empress Hotel knockoff, and an English Breakfast decaf later in the day. The day before, I had looooooots of Lychee Congou, one of my favorites: black tea with lychee juice so that it has body and a rich fragrance. All of these are in my new teapot, which holds three pints of tea at least.

It's all working out the way I'd hoped.

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