Shigaraki ware

Shigaraki ware is pottery known for its oatmeal and reddish brown glaze. It is from one of Japan's "Six ancient kilns". I bought these four cups for a tea ceremony I had a few years ago. I served toasted rice tea with flecks of gold leaf from Kanazawa.

Chiang mai tea cup

One of the highlights of my trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand was staying at Baan Orapin. And it cost less than a Motel 6 in the US! Dark teak wood, thai silk, the soft billow of the mosquito net over my bed, bamboo clacking outside my window, the cool blue pool in the hot afternoon. It was at the shop next door that I found this tea set. I couldn't resist the celadon glaze and the elephant handles. 

I loved the lemongrass "tea" in Thailand. Lemongrass picked straight from the ground, chopped up and boiled. Refreshing.

The king's sarcophagus

6) Four weeks after I nearly died in a fire, I found myself lying in the king's sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid of Egypt. This is not a drawing of the king's sarcophagus, it's a clay pot that I bought for thirty cents at a market in Luxor. My friend Hassan's mother treated it for me by rubbing the inside with honey, baking it, then scouring the charred honey off. Egyptian teflon! But that was on my second trip to Egypt.

I took the first trip because I decided that after almost dying, I was going to truly live. Myself and fifteen other goddesses-in-training cruised along the Nile, performing rituals and exploring temples along the way. The Nile was considered to be the spine, with temples built at the corresponding chakras. At Abydos, the temple of death and rebirth, I gasped when I saw my story on the wall. Osiris being brought back to life, hovering above him, the phoenix. Our journey ended in Cairo where our guide, who was friends with the guards, got us into the Great Pyramid after tourist hours. It was dark and everyone toned (similar to chanting) as we each took a turn lying inside, surrounded by the power of the stone. My turn, and all I could think was, "I am lying here in the king's sarcophagus in the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Anything is possible".

In honor of incredible journeys to far away lands, I introduce to you my amazingly talented friend Juliana Coles.

Another noodle bowl

Yesterday's drawing inspired me to capture my other noodle bowl.

Noodle bowl

I have two weeks left of this semester, which brings out a personal quirk. Whenever I'm really close to the time something ends, I'm already done in my mind. I think, with less than two weeks to go, why don't we just sum the whole thing up today and start our holiday break now?

When I lived in Japan, I spent Mondays sitting at my desk at the Board of Education. Twenty-five Japanese men in suits, and me. The highlight was lunchtime (when is it not?). We ordered our bowls of noodles and rice just before noon, and a tiny hunchbacked old lady delivered them in wooden baskets. Beautiful blue and white ceramic bowls stacked between wooden slats. At 11:57, with a steaming bowl of noodles on my desk, I reached for my chopsticks and began to dig in. But I noticed that no one else touched their food, and just went on with their paperwork. When the minute hand clicked to precisely 12:00, everyone reached for their bowls and began eating at once.