PODCAST · business
Pursuit of Spark
by JB Raku Media LLC
Conversations about creative approaches to the challenges, pleasures, and possibilities of everyday life and work.
Episodes
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August evening chorus
August evening chorus by Pursuit of Spark
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tea for all the senses: tea meditation
Tea in the garden engaged all my senses this morning. Perhaps make a cup for yourself and listen with me?
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Symphony of green: tea meditation
The birds were singing their winter songs this morning. My tea tray was a symphony of green.
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Lit up by the sun: tea meditation
A mourning dove was sitting on my bench when I stepped into the garden for tea, and flew away at the sight of me with nervous chirrups. The air was cold but the sunshine was warm, and my tea was the same lovely red-brown of the oak leaves lit up by the sunlight.
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Tea meditation: seedpods
I pondered the mock orange seedpods as I had my tea on this cold wet morning. They're spiky and beautiful in their severity, and made me think of the flowers spilling over the porch rail last spring.
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Absorbing the warmth: tea meditation
The inflorescences of the ornamental grasses captured the bright winter sunlight and held it so they glowed in the wind. I held my teabowl in gloved hands, absorbing the warmth on this cold morning.
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Glimpse of branches: tea meditation
The tea was deep red in my teabowl, and then glancing again I could see the tips of the Japanese maple and a glimpse of blue sky. It’s cold and very still this morning, just the cardinals and sparrows calling to each other and the distant sound of a street being dug up. Two bowls of Elevation Red...
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Winter birds: tea meditation
The sun burned through the low clouds as I sipped my tea. Our garden is full of winter birds: a pair of cardinals peeping to each other, one in the serviceberry and the other in the holly near our kitchen door; sparrows swooping in and out of the Norway maple; mourning doves grooming themselves…
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After the storm: tea meditation
Perched on the edge of my chair to avoid the snow collected at the back for two bowls of tea. The lawn looked like a platter that had been glazed with white, then strewn with leaves, then glazed again, then sprinkled with more leaves. The zinnia in my vase offered more surprises - petals that…
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Getting ready for winter: tea meditation
I know where the squirrel is making its nest. I watched it nibble still-green leaves off the tips of the branches and stuff them in its mouth, clamber up to a huge silver maple limb and disappear inside, quickly emerging to do it all again. Two bowls of kamairicha tea, surprised that the orange...
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Rough and smooth: tea meditation
Steady rain this morning. Chose my favorite rainy day teabowl by Sammy Chung, with clouds incised in wisps of white slip. Today what I fell in love with was the foot of the bowl, tall enough to protect my hand from the hot tea and deliciously rough to the touch because the dark clay is full of…
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Sun on our faces: tea meditation
Chilly this morning so we moved our tea to the middle of the garden, our backs to the grasses, a perfect spot to feel the sun on our faces and see the light streaming through the spice viburnum leaves. Three bowls of kamairicha tea listening to the wind in the leaves that are still hanging on.
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Beauty in contradiction - tea meditation
On my chair I found four leaves, one green, one blushing, one brown, one skeletal. I placed them on my tea tray and mediated on their beauty because each one is beautiful, even the one that has almost completely faded away. Took my time with tea this morning after a long week, five bowls of…
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power of community - tea meditation
Two bowls of Evening Sky red tea this morning. I loved sipping from the thick-walled teabowl, which allowed just the right amount of heat to reach my hands. I made the bowl but others glazed and fired it in @watershedceramics’ wood fire kiln, and I thought about the care they took to finish my...
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Changes all around: tea meditation
The red dogwood leaves I noticed earlier this week have almost all fallen off. The zinnias in the vase on my tea tray are fading. I sipped bright green sencha and listened to the light rain and the crickets, taking in the changes all around me.
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Flock of leaf blowers: tea meditation
A flock of leaf blowers across the street made it a little hard to meditate this morning. But I was grateful for the warmth of the tea in my cloud yunomi.
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Watching clouds form in a blue sky: tea meditation
Late morning tea. The sun illuminated the dogwood leaves from a different angle. As we sipped our kamairicha from beautiful teabowls I brought home from Japan half my life ago, we watched small clouds form in the blue sky.
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Fallen away: tea meditation
The yellow ray florets of the false sunflowers have almost all gone, revealing a half sphere of tiny disk florets which will soon turn to seeds, to the delight of the goldfinches. Sipped my kamairicha tea, a weak echo of the golden flowers, and thought about the worlds within worlds that we have...
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Bright yellow pollen: tea meditation
Bright yellow pollen on my shirt and scarf from the sunflowers in my vase, a pale bug with red eyes on a ragged, lichen covered piece of bark next to my tea tray. The new growth on the oakleaf hydrangea is a beautiful color I can’t describe. Sipped my sencha and listened to the crickets, power...
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Hope for recovery: tea meditation
Our little cherry tree lost all its leaves to a blight this summer, yet is offering a sign of hope for a recovery by pushing out new leaves at the tips of its branches in September.
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First cicadas: tea meditation
The cries of the cicadas mixed with the clank of nearby construction and the growl of the garbage truck as I sipped my tea in the cool dappled shade of my garden.
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Wind in the green leaves: tea meditation
Chose a vivid green matcha to celebrate the leaves.
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Oakleaf: tea meditation
The oakleaf hydrangea has grown so large that I had to cut some back this morning to reveal the path, which was my good fortune because the delicate panicles were exquisite to study as I sipped my tea.
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Mockingbird sings: tea meditation
The indefatigable mockingbird kept me company all through tea, never once repeating its comical calls (and hardly ever stopping for breath!). The patio stones were cool under my bare feet, sun warm on my face, the texture of the Jack Troy teabowl lovely to touch. The kamairicha was just the right...
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The world in my garden: tea meditation
The snow is receding and the birds are gathering. Sipped oolong tea and delighted in the changes.
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a spiral revealed: tea meditation
Chose a small ‘three sip’ teacup this morning and was captivated by how the blue glaze revealed a spiral of pinches. The birds chattered, a train whistle moaned, planes crisscrossed overhead. I sipped my Puerh tea, grateful for how it opened my eyes.
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Sunshine after gray: tea meditation
After so many gray mornings the sun was glorious, illuminating the golden oolong tea. A fuzzy maple blossom had fallen so I picked it up and added it to my tea tray. Listened to the chickadees and cardinals and the occasional passing airplane.
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Fuzzy blooms: tea meditation
I think a hawk may have been hovering nearby when I stepped out to the porch for tea, it was so quiet. Then a mourning dove gave a few cries to my right, a squirrel complained to my left, and now the sparrows are noisily arguing. I sipped Puerh tea from a porcelain yunomi heavily painted with...
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First robin: tea meditation
Watched a chickadee hop its way up the honey locust, looking for bugs in the crenellated, lichen covered bark. It was joined by another, and then I spied a mourning dove higher up sitting placidly on a branch with its feathers puffed out. A second mourning dove joined it, and then two robins...
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Three cups: tea meditation
First cup, listened to the juncos as they whirred and chirped, more like R2D2 or Morse code than birdsong. Second cup, crows and a flock of geese overhead, the oolong tea the same lovely color as a fallen Japanese maple leaf. Third cup, tears fell again for the dead and welled up for the brave...
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Mourning tea
Listened to the sparrows and a lone chickadee, the wind chimes, a flock of geese flying north overhead. Sky a solid gray, warmer this morning. Instead of waking me up this morning I found that the Puerh tea sent me deeper into mourning yesterday’s losses.
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New song: Tea meditation
New birdsong this morning, a crazy mixup of melody and shrill thrrrrps. I think it was just a single bird somewhere in the budding silver maple branches that kept up its song through three cups of tea.
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Clouds, chickadees, tea: tea meditation
The shino glaze complimented the rich puerh tea, which reflected the cloudy sky.
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Blue and gray: tea meditation
Blue-gray teabowl, gray-blue sky. Sipped the earthy Puerh tea and looked for early signs of spring in the garden.
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Bright red beak: tea meditation
Snowflakes on my black coat, bright red beak against the cardinal's muted feathers, hot tea.
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Sun after rain
After yesterday’s rain, what captivated me this morning was how the sunlight played on the grasses, sparkled on the frost, and lit up the inside of my teabowl after I had finished my tea.
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Fast-moving clouds: tea meditation
The latest tea arrived yesterday from Global Tea Hut and I was so happy to steep it this morning. A shou puerh from the late ‘90’s - as old as my children! - and so delicious, bright red in the sunshine, and in my beautiful Jack Troy teabowl the rich tea reflected fast moving clouds.
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Glimpse of brightness
Ground frozen under my feet, sun warm on my face. The grass seedheads glowed and even deep within the shadowed tangle of leaves I glimpsed tiny bright patches of sunlight.
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Pulling in the light
Even on this gray day the Puerh tea pulled in the light and glowed red as it steeped. False sunflowers are wearing little snow caps, so lovely against the black of the wet street.
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Embellished with clouds: tea meditaiton
Gray yunomi big enough for a whole pot of tea, embellished with clouds, on a rainy morning listening to sparrows and cardinals and highway nearby.
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Warm sun, cold air: tea meditation
I pushed my hood back to feel the warm sun on my face, and we listened to the windchimes and birds as we sipped our puerh tea.
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Sun on the snow: tea meditation
A woodpecker investigated the bark of the massive maple tree, a cardinal perched in the mulberry, and many more birds celebrated the warmth of this winter morning. I sipped my green tea and listened.
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Roses In Winter: Two Gardens
It's been quite a year -- drought in Tuscany this summer, bitter cold now on the US east coast, and that's just what's happened in our gardens! But today in Maggie's Tuscan garden the sun lit up a rose that had just bloomed -- in December! In my garden, the weather was warm enough a few days ago...
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Snow quietly falling: Tea meditation
Sat on the porch swing listening to the soft chimes and the snow.
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Frost and hope: Two Gardens
Maggie just returned to Tuscany after a week in Berlin, where her husband Joel Meyerowitz has a photography retrospective. I was eager to hear about her trip -- and also yearned for her wisdom about where we might find hope in the winter garden. The morning's frost on the fields outside her…
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Holding on: tea meditation
The wind was blowing, but the last few leaves were holding on tight.
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Leaf ballet: tea meditation
As we finished our sencha we were treated to front row seats to the leaf ballet when a gust of wind sent maple leaves into the air.
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A Late Ladybug: Tea Meditation
Tea on the porch in late afternoon sunlight, watching a late ladybug.
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Tea before diving back in
Stole a few minutes for tea before diving back into preparations for tomorrow.
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Tea Meditation: All but one
The wind picked up the leaves on the table and flung them all away, except for one.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Pursuit of Spark have?
Pursuit of Spark currently has 160 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Pursuit of Spark about?
Conversations about creative approaches to the challenges, pleasures, and possibilities of everyday life and work.
How often does Pursuit of Spark release new episodes?
Pursuit of Spark publishes regularly with 160 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Pursuit of Spark?
You can listen to Pursuit of Spark on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Pursuit of Spark?
Pursuit of Spark is created and hosted by JB Raku Media LLC.
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