Let's be honest here: we're not bloggers. Or diary writers. But from time to time, even the dimmest bulb flickers. If we have anything intersting to say... let me rephrase that. If we feel the need to express something... No. Again, that's not it. If we feel like saying something, whether it is interesting, or expressive, meaningful, or not, we'll say it here. You have my word.

Let's give it a try. When Brenda and I got married, one of the things we told ourselves we wanted to do was live simple lives. Simplicity, after all, is a virture, so they say. It made me wonder: is living simply in itself simple? How does one hack away the inessentials, pare down to the minimum? Poverty, perhaps. It's easier to live simply when one is on a budget just above the line of poverty, one might suppose. The Franciscan remedy. But being on a budget and living simply are not the same thing. 

Take tea: I just made myself a pot. What could be simpler than that? A little hot water, a sprinkle of tea leaves, a cast iron tea pot. No fancy one touch cappa-frappa-mocha-cino makers here. No gleaming, glistening, brand named semi-intelligent technological marvels here. Heat, water, plant, iron. Nothing to it. Simple is as simple does, and any number of other cliches. "It is vain to do with more," says William of Ockham, "what can be done with less." That's right.

Less according to who, I wonder? Obviously, I'm drinking loose leaf tea. Obviously. It would be uncouth to use a tea bag. I know this because someone once told me. And google agrees - anyone serious about tea does loose leaf. It tastes better. It looks better. You can re-use the tea leaves. I believe all of those things, in much the same way that I believe in the UN charter of rights. A tea bag... gimme a break! And what could be simpler: Just heat the water to 90 degrees... wait, boiling's a hundred, right? How do I know when it's at 90... ok fine you got me, I have a fancy kettle that tells me the temperature. So heat the water to 90, put in 5 grams of tea leaves... wait, what kind of tea? Ok, green tea. Because, of course, as we all know, different kinds of tea require different temperatures of water! That's simple enough. What kind of green tea, I wonder? I don't remember. Not the most expensive kind. Not the powder. Not the cheapest, either. Whatever. 5 grams, and 90 deg... no wait! 80! Shoot. Not 90. 80 degrees! Wow that was close, how uncouth would that have been! OK temperature set, measure the tea: 5 grams per cup they say. How much is 5 grams. I have no idea. Well ok just put in a teaspoon full. Let's call that y. Per cup... so how many cups in my teapot... mmm wait nevermind that - how many cups will I put into the teapot, irregardless of how many cups can actually fit. Let's call that z. But actually, a cup, meaning 250 ml, that's not actually the size of my mug. I'm going to drink two mugs. Quick, measure the mug... it's about a cup and a half. Big mug. So where are we here: 1.5z x 2y x 80C = a perfect pot of tea! I have no idea what that means. And now, in the time it took me to write that, I let my green tea steep too long, which might be ok if and only if the amount of tea leaves I put in was less than I should have in a ratio commensurate with the extra steeping time. See? Simple!

It tastes quite nice, actually. That's because its looseleaf, and I made it correctly. Actually I didn't make it correctly, I didn't put in the right amount of leaves or steep it for the right amount of time.

It's not easier than a tea bag. But does simple mean easy? A fancy one touch machine, now that's easy. In a way. Of course, it took a team of engineers (I'd imagine) a fair amount of time to design the machine, and a team of designers to create a parts list, to pass on to their purchasers, who send the parts to a factory in a country half-way around the world where either machines or people slap it together, altogether aliented from the process (I'd imagine). That's not simple. Then it took an oil rig in the Gulf to pump out crude, sent to a refinery, turned into fuel for the combination of planes trains and automobiles necessary to get the product to the shelves of our local store. That's not simple.

One touch would be simpler, for me. Loose leaf tea is simpler, for the world. Especially if you're drinking Oolong. Monkey picked! They send a monkey up into the tree to pick only the best Oolong buds - the monkeys love it, trust me! The monkey picks a nice batch for the tree owner, who sends it off to the market where a nice person buys it and sends it in an ethical way (but also quickly, so it's still fresh) to my local tea store. Brought by storks, I'm sure. Storks who are in no way coerced or forced, who love flying and delivering tea over long distances, who are always careful to drop their droppings in designated dropping sites where they are used for fertilizer in local gardens, and who are always polite, where politeness is relative to the local culture, whether that means burping after dinner, letting older Storks sit down on public transit, not talking about religion, or opening the door for everyone and anyone regardless of age and gender.

I was going to conclude that simple, in this case, means shutting up and drinking the tea (loose leaf, tea bag, or one touch) and just enjoying it. But I've forgotten what simple means.