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Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Dark tea for the dark of the year, 2004 Menghai Tuocha, notes of agarwood & a bitter hint that slides into sweet, velvety broth, delightful all around.

#teasky #tea #wintermood #puerh #shou

Reflection of white flowers in a pottery cup of dark tea, next to a beeswax candle

December 8, 2025 at 2:36 AM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Watching beauty
fade

steam
swirl

the slow transition
to
stillness

is there a moment when
autumn ceases
winter begins

or is it a slow
borderless
smearing

one into the
other
until one day you notice
the barren
cold
doesn’t
stop

#poetry #poem #tea #seasons #autumn #winter

Wilted chrysanthemums lay in a tray above a steaming cup of dark tea

December 3, 2025 at 12:06 AM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Old life lets go,
& in doing so
feeds new life —
may what is breaking in me now
nourish
the me I am becoming
in all this
rain.

#mushroom #shroomscrolling #autumn #lettinggo #poem #poetry

Small brown mushroom surrounded by orange fallen leaves

November 24, 2025 at 9:02 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Made a long, low temperature decoction of chaga, then used it to brew lao cha tou in a thermos overnight. Just the deeply comforting cuppa I needed this crisp November morning on the porch.

#teasky #tea #puer #thermos #chaga #shou

A colorful pottery mug of dark tea, pumpkin and flowers in the background

November 19, 2025 at 8:00 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Look up!
There’s a lion
in the tree!
What are you doing in
The City?

#lionsmane #mushroom #shroomscrolling #citytree #unexpected

November 15, 2025 at 11:58 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

I love the November trees who are still turning, touch of green here & there, what’s the hurry?

#autumngold #fall #tree #latebloomer #nohurry

Autumn gold and orange tree with hints of green leaves towards the right side

November 12, 2025 at 2:50 AM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Shou pu’er & cranberry pumpkin seed biscotti on this perfectly crisp autumn day.

#tea #teasky #treats #pumpkin #puer

Biscotti in a gray pottery cup of dark tea, with a pumpkin snd small vase of flowers in the background

November 11, 2025 at 10:42 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

This tree stands bleeding out,
poised
at the gateway
between autumn & winter
each year —
preternaturally red,
shouting,

“I am still alive!!
& this world
achingly beautiful
no matter how bare
my black branches
become”

#autumn #red #poem #poetry #fallleaves

Vivid autumn red maple leaves in colorful contrast to dark tree branches

November 7, 2025 at 12:27 AM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Rainy day tisane, grandpa style fermented fireweed. Like rooibos & red tea had a love child, set cozy to maximum, so delightfully warming!

#tea #teasky #herbaltea #rainyday

Mug of tea on a balcony rail in front of a western hemlock tree

November 5, 2025 at 11:08 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

November leaves —
almost all fallen,
broken down,
becoming mud
beneath my boots.

Reds & oranges
fade to brown
& the glorious display of autumn
surrenders
day by day,
bit by bit,
one last exhale
before
winter’s
sleep.

#autumn #leaf #poem #poetry #fall
#endings #leaves

Mostly faded autumn leaves lie on the wet pavement, a scraggly orangeish yellow leaf is face up, as is a red leaf in the corner, but fall is nearing its end.

November 5, 2025 at 1:18 AM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

The sky
lit a candle to the Ancestors
at dusk, yesterday
& silence drew us in
for a moment (infinity)
we stood
enraptured
connected
haunted —
until the light shifted
& let us go

#sunset #ancestors #poem #poetry #graveyard

A fiery orange and gold sunset behind autumn foliage of the same colors, still clinging to the branches despite the recent flooding storm. The trees stand guard at the perimeter of a graveyard, sprinkled with the leaves who fell with the rain.

November 2, 2025 at 7:07 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Mostly drinking grandpa style shou on the porch lately, taking in the fall colors & chatting with hummingbirds.

#teasky #tea #fall #porchlife

Steaming mug of tea with a Día de los Muertos skull on it, next to a small orange pumpkin.

October 30, 2025 at 10:19 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

#shroomscrolling #mushrooms #amanitamuscaria #autumn

Two Amanita muscaria mushrooms, red tops fading into yellowish orange beneath white spots, and in the background blue spruce and red Japanese maple leaves

October 30, 2025 at 9:57 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

my words are hiding.
this is worth a thousand of them, anyway, or so I’m told.
shifting season vibes for days.

#fall #autumn #orange #crow #fallvibes

A black crow sits on a black branch amid orange and yellow autumn leaves

October 28, 2025 at 11:40 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

#autumn #asters #bloomscrolling

Purple asters in the foreground, orange autumn leaves in the background

October 20, 2025 at 3:51 AM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

spent leaves
damp from a rainburst
glittering
diamonds in the sun
for a moment
before the wind
before the sunset
before a passerby
scatters the tableau
& time moves forward
once again

#ginkgo #autumn #leaves #aftertherain #poem

Yellow ginkgo leaves with raindrops catch the evening sunlight

October 16, 2025 at 6:15 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Every year this red maple goes full on autumn before the other trees even notice it’s fall. I love their enthusiasm.

#fall #autumn #leaves #early

one tree bright orange surrounded by green leaved trees of the same kind

October 15, 2025 at 5:38 AM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Cloud’s feet, endlessly captivating

#tea #teasky #swirl

October 10, 2025 at 4:34 AM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Special anniversary edition cup from Northwest Tea Festival this year, so glad I was able to attend & see so many of my tea friends!

#teafest #teasky #tea

White porcelain tea cup with the Seattle space needle and the words Northwest Tea Festival printed on it. In the background are dahlias in a mason jar and cluttercore level
tchotchkes.

October 7, 2025 at 6:41 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Only tea service I managed during our whirlwind tour of Ireland, second to last day in Dublin.

#teasky #traveltea #hoteltea #puerh

Tea service on a brown towel, on s glass table with a plant in front of the window

Shou pu’er on a tea scoop next to a white porcelain tea vessel. Beneath the tea towel is part of a book the word “Dublin” is visible.

White porcelain cup of shou pu’er tea on a glass table, beneath it a book is visible, titled “The Book of Kells”

October 6, 2025 at 1:47 AM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

The light is so strange
filtered through
wildfire haze & grief —
aggressively golden,
it curls the steam from my cup
into a parody of smoke
above hot leaf water,
while the silent ursine roar of protest
goes unheeded.

#teasky #wildfire #steam #poem #poetry #landback

Curls of steam rise through menacing orange sunlight above a cup of dark tea, an Ainu carved wooden bear roars in the background. Next to the cup is a clay teapot.

September 4, 2025 at 6:44 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

Starry pollen bee in the heart of the flower nebula, still so much beauty all around, take it in, take it in…

#bee #pollen #bloomscrolling #flower

Pollen covered bee in the heart of a white flower with red on the center of the petals

September 4, 2025 at 6:02 PM

Kate

@k8star-p.bsky.social

I’m haunted. 20 years ago tomorrow Hurricane Katrina changed my everything. It was the most terrible blessing I’ve ever survived. I am not the same human, for better & worse both.

#ptsd #hurricanekatrina #survivor #nola #film