Cup, Mug and Glass

Tea: Hot Cinnamon Chocolate

Music: Endusk, "Four"

Time: Night.

It has been a long, productive day, marked by a triad of most excellent potables. The wellspring was the same for all three.

The "hot" in this morning's tea -- a hand-blended gift from a friend -- was more than temperature and more than cinnamon. It's seasoned with Szechuan peppercorn, which becomes more pronounced as the tea cools. It's the sort of heat one feels around the edges of the tongue, in the soft palate -- even in the teeth.

This afternoon's coffee, from Homer's Coffeehouse, was chocolate Irish cream. The same friend who sent the tea bought me the coffee, long-distance.

And tonight, after a walk that ended just as the rain began, I broke out something porty, a gift received during an impulse stop at Holy-Field Winery, and raised a silent toast to the giver.

Leaf, bean, grape ... all testaments to things that grow, take root and produce wonders. Not everything is a metaphor -- but then again, from time to time, everything is a metaphor.

Salut.

Bumbershoot Deficit

Tea: Chai, iced.

Music: David Bowie, "China Girl"

Time: Night.

It's raining tonight, and I have a walk of a mile (give or take) back to the house.

That's fine. I like walking at night. Always have. Most of my memorable walks have been after dark -- here, in southwest Kansas, in New York, in Germany.

I just wish I'd remembered an umbrella ...

I Even Forgot a Title

Tea: Stomach Soother

Music: Oingo Boingo, "Dead Man's Party"

Time: Night.

My head is a-jumble with thoughts, few of them coherent. (Sometimes being And Boy has its drawbacks.)

I could rant about the Chinese and their Orwellympian schtick of changing the present by changing the past. (Oooh. I like that word. I'm going to keep it.) But nothing's going to change ... the IOC and the international gymnastics federation aren't likely to make the host country lose face.

I could go on about my inadvertent backpacking trek this afternoon. (Better not, though.) I shouldn't grouse, though. I got in a good walk, even if it was raining.

Or I could say something about ...

Darn.

I forgot.