Sunday TeaRoom 2/22/09 Are TeaChatters Nature lovers?

[Chip]

Welcome TeaFriends to TeaRoom TeaDay on TeaChat, please stop by throughout the day and share what is in your cup.

Yesterday responders were pretty evenly across the board on the TeaScientist versus TeaArtist brewing question. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaRoom poll and discussion topic gives us yet another chance to get to know each other a little more. I know many TeaChatters have pets (a topic for another TeaDay), but I was wondering, are TeaChatters also "nature lovers?" Please share with us.

I am looking forward to sharing our TeaRoom with everyone. Bottoms up.

[olivierco]

No pets for me (I don't count the phasmids aka walking sticks which I have currently at home for the school vacations) I like however nature: many books about it and bicycle rides are better on little country roads.

Keemun with my breakfast

[PolyhymnianMuse]

Yes, very much so. More recently i've been growing in a big interest in nature, to be more specific, a general interest in plant life. I've started to read a couple books about planting, growing, gardening, and just general information about plants. I have also been enjoying a book suggested to me in the chat called "The Botany of Desire" which has been making me think about the life of a plant quite differently.

I hope to get accepted into the local community college this fall so I can take general studies, but look into biology and anything that they offer related to botany.

[Salsero]

I am with Olivierco on the pets and nature both. I love to walk or cycle in the woods, I enjoy learning about our local trees and other flora, and I like to learn the names and habits of our local birds.

Pets are another issue. I have never felt that people can or should own animals and I don't understand the habit of keeping animals in the home. But then I've never wanted a foreign exchange student either!

Speaking of foreign exchange students, that's just what our own Auggy was when she learned about sencha. The content of this sakura yunomi (=cup) is actually Yutaka Midori in its fourth infusion, but the intention is to recognize Sakura Sencha season, which has been officially announced in another thread on the forum. The flower is the same camellia as yesterday.

[omegapd]

Good question, Chip. I love the outdoors (unless it's spent cutting grass) and spend a lot of time in the fields and woods around my house and other places. That said, am I a nature lover? Probably not in many people's eyes. I don't like a lot of the nature groups that have cult-like followings and I keep the peanut fields behind my house free of wild hogs and other crop harming animals. Venison has also been known to come across my table a couple of times a year...nothing is ever wasted, though, and hunting is not much of a sport for me - more along the lines of being "necessary".

It's like that thin line between a Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

EW

[olivierco]

Nice yunomi! Which size is it?

Matcha this morning (Shin Shun Wakamatsu No Mukashi)

[Trey Winston]

Interesting question. I would have to say "very much so". I enjoy hiking in the woods, skiing in the mountains, swimming in the ocean or just sitting on the porch in the springtime, reading a book, the birds chirping in the trees around me, a pot of Silver Needle close to hand. Mmmmmmm...

And I also like the natural sciences, astronomy in particular. I even have my own 'scope.

[Drax]

Yes, I do enjoy walks on the beach, or visiting botanical gardens, or the even rarer arboretums. Parks, etc, are all wonderful! I will admit a bit of an aversion to insects (mostly of the 8-legged variety or the stinging variety), but otherwise it's not too bad.

I'm having a Tai Ping Hou Kui for the first time this morning, which is a very nice change of pace from all those black teas I was drinking. I brewed it in a gaiwan, too, which was actually my first time gaiwan brewing. It was perfect for this green tea.

Since I finally got my act together about opening a Flickr account, I thought I'd share an old picture. I call it "Gunpowder and Steel."

[cherylopal]

I love nature very much- being in it (except when its cold!! and cold to me is anything under 65F )reading about it, learning about it. I took a cont ed class last summer on wetlands around chesapeake bay and thought that was the greatest. When DH and I were buying our house, I had to be able to see trees. I think thats why we ended up living in DC- we get our city perks but DC buildings are not so tall and there is lots of green space. I do live in the burbs but love going into town. We also live near the c and o canal which is fun.

teaism sencha this am

I do have a pet that I love very much- I'm still new on these boards so I'll share a pic of my boy- he turned 12 at the beginning of the month and he is an ex-racer. (note the nature pic!)

I love the outdoors (unless it's spent cutting grass)

I would think thats about the same as vacuuming-

Trey- I used to have a 6" reflector and loved it- had to give it away when I went to college- what do you have?

[Trey Winston]

Since I finally got my act together about opening a Flickr account, I thought I'd share an old picture. I call it "Gunpowder and Steel."

Nice 'stang. And a cup to match.

[Riene]

I'd say we are nature people. We ski, hike, and sail. Used to camp, but haven't had much time for that in recent years. We've had dogs, cats, rabbits, fish, two hermit crabs, and various other small animals as pets over the years. (I'm sure the cats would argue that they were merely living with us and observing us, though.)

We have a near-professional-quality reflector telescope, too....very cool.

Yunnan Gold in the mug this morning.

[brlarson]

Yes, I'm a serious nature lover. I became an arborist in my twenties and an avi-fauna naturalist about five years ago. I've been doing bird surveys, mainly seabird shorebird and marsh bird surveys, as a volunteer for US Fish and Wildlife for a couple of years. I don't hunt but I don't have a problem with hunting as a tool for wildlife management.

I did two secretive marsh bird surveys last spring and had to be at my first survey points 30 minutes before the sun rose. One was a brackish marsh at the edge of woodland, so when the sky started to lighten I was surrounded by the voices of wild turkeys, wood thrushes, warbling vireos, song and white-throated sparrows, towhees, marsh and carolina wrens, red-winged and rusty blackbirds and more all competing to make their songs heard, and by the sights of osprey and eagles, all varieties of heron and egrets and shorebirds, and white-tailed deer. Now that was a spiritual experience.

Anyway, Mem Imports Jade Oolong in my cup this morning.

[Trey Winston]

Trey- I used to have a 6" reflector and loved it- had to give it away when I went to college- what do you have?

That's exactly what I have! I bought it six years ago, and I used it a lot the first couple of years. But with increasing light pollution in this area, it hasn't seen a lot of use lately, just a couple of nights this winter.

[GT500Driver]

Since I finally got my act together about opening a Flickr account, I thought I'd share an old picture. I call it "Gunpowder and Steel."

Nice, I love mustangs. Almost was like, "Dude I drive a..." but I guess it's obvious,

In addition to our eight dogs, two cats, 2 horses, 2 ponies, miniature donkey, guinea pigs, and parakeets, I love being outside. Going for a walk away from technology is something I love to do, as well as making sure to see the big nature sites when we go on vacation.

Camping is another thing I like to do, as well as canoeing and kayaking especially.

Adagio Dragonwell this morning. I've noticed, tea just tastes better when you actually use a teacup. Also, the ones I'm using have a nice white interior, so I can really see the color of the tea.

[olivierco]

I have just opened a bag of sencha "the ultimate" from Zencha (the one from Yame, not the fukamushi from Shizuoka). Good taste but I should be able to get more from it : the steep time was maybe too short.