Pink Chalcedony

We went to Tonopah, Arizona to hunt chalcedony, fire agate and druzy quartz.

We made a flag with a metal pole, rubber band and a scarf. We planted it atop a hill near where we parked the car. Then the three of us descended upon the desert for five hours, searching.

We picked up many many rocks on two tours of the area. I found a cobalt blue glass soda bottle. We saw a couple baby tarantulas. We heard someone on a dirt bike in the distance. We drove out at dusk, following our own tire tracks back to the road through the creosote.

Spill the Tea

I have been a little obsessed with learning new styles of tea making. I am practicing a style from China called Gongfu, which means right effort.

The brewing vessel is called a gaiwan. It is designed to brew leaves in many small infusions. To start, give the tea a 10 second wash and discard by pouring over your tea creature (and into the tea tray.) Then infuse using progressively longer times and hotter water.

I really enjoy the complexity of oolong (a hybrid of green and black tea) and Pu’reh (fermented.) I’ve been trying different varieties from The Tea Spot and Yunnan Sourcing. Check out this four year old fermented Pu’reh tea in a tangerine peel (below!)

Jimminy in the cabinet

I guess we are really really really lucky cause we’ve had a cricket take up residence in our kitchen for the past couple weeks!

Every night they sing and I follow the sound (warmer… colder… warmer…) until I zero in on their exact location. For a week it was the cabinet to the left of the stove. Last week it was a different cabinet! Then a couple days ago, jiminy went over to the hutch.

I suspect this magical adventure is sponsored by Elvis, who is a professional cricket catcher and loves to share his catch with the family.

Cricket Cabinet

PS- Hope you enjoyed my dusty cupboard! 😬

Rare Footage

As you know Biggie Smalls jumps the fence a hundred times a day to patrol his domain.

Today, Elvis made a dash for it and somehow eluded a camera notification!! When he came running up the front sidewalk, I went back through the footage to find this special moment in time.

Elvis and the gate

Two of coins

Balancing

The sacred/mundane moment gives me life!

Intention setting, awareness expanding.

I’m sorry. Forgive me. I love you. Thank you.

Biggie’s Little Loop

Cat Route Around the House

I’ve slowly, SLOWLY let the cats outside under extreme “hover-cat-mom” supervision. They are both well trained to return home with a couple claps out the back door. Most of the time, they come inside in their own and start napping, cause it’s over 110 degrees!

Elvis camps out in the backyard like a zen master. He’s very conservative.

Biggie Smalls is our wild child adventure seeker. His latest game is to exit the back door, jump the gate and come back through the front. When my gate camera gets triggered, I know to answer the door for him and he knows to be there!

I can can.

Official results on how many jars sealed will be tallied tomorrow. I am anxiously *ahem* excitedly waiting the 24 hours it takes for them to cool and seal. Based on the pings I heard after pulling them from the hot water bath, my very first canning session is a success. I just bought myself some shelf life!

I was kinda put on the spot to try hot water bath canning. I ran out of my last case of Southside Mike’s BBQ sauce. He doesn’t have any bottled, so there’s no way I’m gonna say no to a gallon jug of this delicious dark brown glassy spice infused gold!

“I’ll just can it,” I told myself when I made the order. The jug arrived at the perfect time. My ribs came out great! Now I gotta get that gallon canned… I’ve never canned anything before… until now!

Visit Southside Mike’s BBQ in Humboldt County, CA if you’re ever in the area; he puts love in the food!