October 2nd, 2009
Billy Enjoying a Fine Black Yunnan Tea
Billy, a homeless friend in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego took me canning this morning. Afterwards I served him the rare Yunnan black tea from the Dadugang Tea Company that we had visited in July on a cool, misty day in Yunnan, China.
“Canning” is the act of picking up used aluminum cans and plastic bottles from trash cans to sell to the recycling truck. For about two and one half hours of canning and tea drinking we made $26.75. Billy asked me a number of times if I wanted to split the money. As his apprentice, it was not right; I was there to learn a little about life on the streets. Besides, Billy would have made the same amount if I wasn’t there. It wasn’t like I found cans he would not have found. Billy said once you learn the craft of canning your harvest is based upon luck. At the end of the canning harvest Billy deemed us lucky.
The air was foggy; the sounds were dampened and the light gave a soft glow to the immediate surroundings. With Billy as my mentor he showed me how to jump up and lean on my stomach over the side of the large commercial trash containers in a modified approach to the complete immersion of dumpster diving. He also showed me how to pour water out of plastic water bottles over my hands to wash them as we moved through the alleys behind businesses, homes and churches. Billy knows from his canning work where the heavy drinkers live; even what mornings are likely to have a good haul of aluminum beer cans. Billy has memorized the combination lock number to many of the commercial trash cans that are locked. He has earned this trust by keeping the area clean and doing his work quietly.
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September 25th, 2009
Billy Enjoying a Fine Black Yunnan Tea
Billy, a homeless friend in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego took me canning this morning. Afterwards I served him the rare Yunnan black tea from the Dadugang Tea Company that we had visited in July on a cool, misty day in Yunnan, China.
“Canning” is the act of picking up used aluminum cans and plastic bottles from trash cans to sell to the recycling truck. For about two and one half hours of canning and tea drinking we made $26.75. Billy asked me a number of times if I wanted to split the money. As his apprentice, it was not right; I was there to learn a little about life on the streets. Besides, Billy would have made the same amount if I wasn’t there. It wasn’t like I found cans he would not have found. Billy said once you learn the craft of canning your harvest is based upon luck. At the end of the canning harvest Billy deemed us lucky.
The air was foggy; the sounds were dampened and the light gave a soft glow to the immediate surroundings. With Billy as my mentor he showed me how to jump up and lean on my stomach over the side of the large commercial trash containers in a modified approach to the complete immersion of dumpster diving. He also showed me how to pour water out of plastic water bottles over my hands to wash them as we moved through the alleys behind businesses, homes and churches. Billy knows from his canning work where the heavy drinkers live; even what mornings are likely to have a good haul of aluminum beer cans. Billy has memorized the combination lock number to many of the commercial trash cans that are locked. He has earned this trust by keeping the area clean and doing his work quietly. [...] Continue Reading…
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Tags: Bronx, contentment, Dali Lama, homeless, recycle, tea, Yankees, Yosemite, Yunnan
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September 23rd, 2009
Jade Wah’oo Grigori is a practising shaman living in Sedona. Jade is a gregarious and self effacing man in his late fifties and has been a practising shaman for over thirty years. He came to his calling the way so many of us come to our own life’s path: by accident and with the beneficial trickery of another and much wiser person.
We shared a pot of Puer tea last week on his porch as the blue birds chattered in his pine trees. Jade is is of Mongolian descent and lived with the Ute Indians in his early years.. His choice to drink Puer tea was in line with his Asian ancestry. Puer tea was carried by horseback from Yunnan to Mongolia for thousands of years. I had replaced the horse in bringing Puer from Yunnan to Sedona.
When Jade was 24 years old he offered tohelp an old man with some chores around his remote cabin. Initially Jade did not know the old man was a shaman, a “Caretaker of the Ways”. The man, in his 90’s, had no descendants to train for the life of a shaman. As Jade grew to know the man, this gave him comfort, because as he was being taught the ways of the shaman, but knew he never would have the responsibility of a true shaman: he was not born into the man’s family.
After months of time spent doing chores and learning of the rituals, beliefs and practical applications of a nature-based and spiritual way of living the [...] Continue Reading…
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Tags: Arizona, climbers, Hiking, Mongolia, Mount Whiney, Puer tea, Sedona, Ute Indians
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September 1st, 2009
The road to Nirvana is loud, real loud. The kids are playing the Doors as loud as I played the Doors when I was a kid. It was my first rock and roll album.
I am trapped in the back seat of a Harley Davidson themed Chevy pick up truck returning from a week in the spiritual Disneyland of Sedona, Arizona. I may get to Nirvana soon, but I won’t be able to get hear the angels sing when I get there.
In the process of visiting this Coney Island of the Soul ( a tip of the tea cup to Mr. Ferlinghetti) my four year old soul was retrieved by a Mongolian-Ute Shaman from a cave guarded in my subconscious by Roy Rogers, my muscle reflexes guided my holographic re-patterning and my future and past lives were revealed to me by Tarra, a true clairvoyant.
I was the best man, maid of honor and the photographer for a spiritual wedding on a cliff overlooking Sedona at sunset. A homeless Yaqui Indian guided us through a sweat lodge experience and we meditated every morning at the Buddhist Stupa at the base of Thunder Mountain. We sang together in a tee pee after the sweat lodge; the kids are musicians and rock and roll performers at that, so the guitar and duets were marvelous. The lady of the tee pee ended the evening playing a large crystal bowl and singing a long and serene medley of Celtic mother earth songs. It was magic, [...] Continue Reading…
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Tags: Kukicha tea, Sedona, weddings
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August 18th, 2009
I attended a lecture by hiking buddy Bill Burke last week. On May 23 of this year he became the oldest man to climb Mount Everest. You can track his three attempts and past ascents of the tallest mountains on all of the seven continents in the world at his web site: http://www.eightsummits.com. Bill is 67 years old.
Bill went up the south side of Everest, which is the side of the mountain in the country of Nepal. Nepal has fine, fine teas. The teas are every bit as good as a Darjeeling, and are grown in similar mountain ranges only several hours away. In fact there is such a demand for Darjeeling tea that tea from Nepal is occasionally blended into the Darjeeling tea. Many of us think it improves the taste and the complexity of Darjeeling tea to be blended with the tea from Nepal! Historically, these teas of Nepal remain undiscovered to the world at large due to the difficulty of transportation and a lack of tea factories in the area. But that is changing. I am working with a young Canadian friend to bring in some of these beautiful teas. Interestingly, there are four seasons of teas in Nepal and the autumanal flush may be the most interesting-and rare. I digress; this really is about Bill’s rare accomplishment and the equally rare tea of Nepal.
Bill said that every morning while they were in base camp they were served tea in bed. Well, OK, actually they were served tea [...] Continue Reading…
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Tags: accomplishments, age, Nepal, rare teas, Whitney
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