That New Book Smell....

What are you doing here?

Its a balmy 15 out, and it's supposed to go up to 18. Why on earth are you on your computer?

Granted, I haven't posted in a week, but my long-distance boyfriend came down, and we spent the days cuddling, watchign Scrubs, going for walks in the sun, going out for dinner and wandering around down-town Paris. Twas delightful. But this post is going to be short while I write a few more to catch up with my absence. And then I'm going outside. Or I might just grab a few reference books and go outside and write there. :)

My last post was on the mourning dove, a common sight here in the Paris countryside. I think for the next few days I'll keep up on writing about some familiar flora and fauna, since with Spring being here (for those people who say we have more snow or the temperatures going to plummet to regular March weather, shut up. Just shut the hell up.)so many amazing and ordinary things are coming out of the woodwork. So, starting tomorrow, I'll be working through a week-long list of familiar flora and fauna that will seem totally new by the time I'm done with them. I might even start tonight.

Now...for fresh book smell.
This isn't so much of an informative post. It's more of a 'I FREAKING LOVE NEW BOOK SMELL'. I love the smell of fresh-printed ink, glue, white paper. I know many people will agree with me on that, especially book-lovers. IF there ever was a smell that was about fresh-adventures and what not, it would be new-book smell. :)

It's pretty awesome.
What do you think?

Japanese Tea Ceremonies

All right.
So, like I mentioned before, I hate beginnings. So it was amazingly difficult to figure out what I wanted my first actual post on awesome things to be about. The answer came to me while sipping a green tea liberally laced with honey.

Japanese Tea Ceremonies. I know not everyone would be able to understand or have the patience for a tea ceremony, but I think it’s still something that we can marvel at. Any martial artist would know that the tea ceremony is like a kata; it is an art form. It involves breathing, controlled action and concentration, and a singular state of mind. Also known as ‘The way of Tea’ it is an ancient and culturally important ceremony meant to be savoured. The ceremony is based around the preparation and presentation of Matcha tea, a powdered green tea.

The ceremony generally takes place in a room or small hut designed specifically for a tea ceremony called a chashitsu. The guests to the tea ceremony, generally numbering four, purify themselves and enter through a small door, reminding them that they are all equal in tea no matter social status or possessions. There are as few as four or as many as thirteen components to the tea ceremony. Students spend years trying to perfect it to become tea masters. Many samurai were also masters at the tea ceremony.

While I can’t go in-depth without writing pages and pages on the ceremonies and their intricacies (something right now neither you and I probably have time for). I highly encourage you to look up the tea ceremonies and view the video below. I know that some of the actions may not make sense to you (Why are they taking so long to prepare TEA!? As my baby sister said), but I hope you take the time to appreciate it and its beauty. It is a refined practice hundreds of years in the making, and I wish I had the time/space to go in-depth here instead of just giving you a few facts without any real substance.

There is a deep and peaceful beauty to the ceremony. It’s something I can sit in awe of and it inherently soothes me. When you think of not only the history behind it, but the time, care, practice and preparation that goes into the ‘simple act’ of making tea, you can’t help but wonder.

No denying it, Japanese tea ceremonies are one of those truly awesome things.