I don’t know whether I just didn’t notice this before or whether it takes warm, wet weather to bring it out, but the 50 year-old Chadō Kaikan building where we hold our practice chaji smells like the cottage in Sawyer, Michigan where the Boydstons spent many happy, lazy, summer vacation days. No beach within walking distance here, though. And no laziness. Read the rest of this entry »
This afternoon we had a practice chaji, a formal tea gathering sans kaiseki meal like the one we had about a month ago with Tanja as host. Today’s was an especially big deal for me, not just because I was the “first guest,” shōkyaku, with extra things to say and do; but because the host was my senpai, Anita, whose responsibility it’s been to teach me just about everything but what the senseis focus on during practice. Read the rest of this entry »