Friday, August 16, 2013

What's up Black Dragon?

This summer my family and I have been very busy and productive around the house. We cleaned the basement (no small task), had the exterior of our house painted (dark blue with white trim), and set up a workspace for our daughter as we begin planning her project-based, home-school kindergarten.

In our garden, this has been a good season for potatoes, apples, cucumbers and blueberries. We might get some pumpkins (time will tell) and have been picking a lot of grapes and blackberries from around the neighborhood. Plums will start to ripen next month and I am sure they will be plentiful.

My wife and I have been taking care of our good friend's wonderful kids (a 1.5 and a 3 year old) three days a week for most of the summer. Because of that, plus working at Phoenix Tea and cooking at Seattle's best vegetarian restaurant, St. Dames, there has not been much time for online pursuits.

Still, we have found time for play! My kids (age 5 and 3) have enjoyed plenty of great playdates and birthday parties and we've all savored a few awesome days swimming and picnicking.

Even though I've been busy I still make time for tea! If the day is going to be hotter than ~85° F (thankfully a rarity in my little corner of the world) I'll usually drink hot tea in the morning and iced tea in the afternoon. Otherwise, I'll drink hot tea all day. It's hard to pin down just what I'm drinking. It's a little bit of everything really with a lot of spring 2013 high mountain Taiwanese oolongs, darjeelings, and Japanese greens.