Leaflet No. 24 A new chapter-ish
This week’s leaflet tea tastes like...red kidney beans, milk, navel orange, cookies.
Hello, everyone.
Tea Leaf Tech is a process in which I brew a cup of the Beobab.tree’s blend (its bark, leaves, its fruit, and a dapple of honey—of course!), which is a way to introduce settling and warmth into the day’s spiral of events. During this time of sipping and slowness, ideas and images collect at the bottom of the cup. The readings of the tea leaves laid to rest on ceramic glaze will be the basis of Beobab.tree’s leaflets. From here, I invite you to sit with your own cuppa and peruse what sensations this week’s tea blend has to offer.
A transplant from Virginian soil by ways of time in the kindness of the Midwest, I am now beholden to the Hudson Valley as I begin a new job, the first role in my career as a science librarian or what-have-you.
I do not need to go into what was stressful or what rudely awoke me here. Instead, per usual on this project of Beobab.Tree, I want to focus on what has kept me soft-hopeful amidst local change and the future at large.
This is my attempt of immortalizing some details. Sharing them in the way that if I had a cookie, I’d break it such that you too, could have that which is gooey and good. Or maybe an allergic reaction—I do not know.
The people at the library I work at are mega-kind. It’s the kind of friendliness that both electrifies and shelters. One colleague shares little offerings as a way to say, “You belong here. Take some of this.”:
Two tall glass mason jars, a pound of Camellia’s Signature Red Kidney Beans—her favorite bean brand—a canister of spicy orange sugar from “BBS” (“Beautiful Briny Sea”, how great!), and packets of stir-fry noodles.
In gratitude, I lend my copy of Lynda Barry’s Making Comics to her young daughter and muffuletta relish I portioned into a spare canister. Until I know my favorite bean brand, I hope these suffice at present (as present).
Another gave me two tea packets—mint and green tea—on my first day, followed by that familiar cartoon gesture of double finger-guns, “‘cause I know you like tea!”, something remembered from my campus interview back in January.
Now that new and old students are starting to migrate back to our campus planted in Swamp land (originally home to the Munsee Lenape), I am starting to feel the Summer slowness churn to bustle. I offer an array of library instruction this semester that is tailored to the STEM department, and it does feel like a dream job.
My intention is that as I continue to work, I will make time to reflect and write, the way I used to turn events that happened while I was belaying kiddos into adorned descriptive notes. I want to say attuned +.+
I consider myself very lucky that sometimes I do not know how to act or organize my time. It may also be because I am now more on my own rhythm.
There is so much to learn and act on. There is a flavor of solitude I have not quite tasted at length before, making it easy to fall into the groove being a voyeur on YouTube or Instagram. I don’t need to go into all that, either. ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ I’m working on it.
Here’s a list of “things” I’ve been enjoying. ^_____^
The muffled crack of fruit, particularly in stone fruit like Southern peaches, when you wriggle the pit, fibers from the flesh detaching from endocarp. I have been pausing to create silence before the sound. I’ve eaten 7 peaches this month, each with its own voice like an exhalation.
Going from Hot to Cold showers. Start your shower at the temperature that makes you feel safe, cozy even, and stay as long as you’d like…towards the last quarter/half, inch the dial colder until you’re dancing (hoo! haa!) underneath freezing water. I do it because it gets humid in my place, and it prepares my body for the heavy air that awaits for when I step out the tub.
Simple post-workout nutrition. These days I just have a glass of whole milk and that feels good. I want to experiment with rice krispies for something like jiujitsu training, compared to its acclaimed success in running and biking.
A wide porch with a lawn chair…I am so enthralled by feeling breeze on a chair made ergonomic for reclining, though in a brutalist way.
I hope your day is kind to you and you are kind to you.
Half of a cookie,
Isabel
My office’s coat rack. :)
thank you for your lovely words.. so beautiful that they remembered your affinity for tea!