Tea and mythic beasts and mayhem

[mrissa]

Last year for Christmas I wrote my mom a story that included all these elements. This year I decided to put it on my website for free to share with all of you. Here it is: How to Wrap a Roc’s Egg. It was inspired by a pair of earrings made by Elise Matthesen, by the work of the great taxonomist and general all-around eccentric Carl Linnaeus, and of course tea. Happy Solstice, merry Christmas, and on through all the rest of the holidays ahead. Enjoy.

Originally published at Novel Gazing Redux

Comments

[pameladean]

So I highlighted one line as Very Nearly the Best Ever, and I think it's early enough that it's okay to quote it in the comments: "I hardly need tell you the importance of a roc's egg to the nascent Swedish tea industry." Then I highlighted more and more, rocking and whooping with laughter, and in the end would have simply ended up copying and pasting most of the story, with whose contents you are already familiar, into the comment box.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Did you know that Linnaeus really wanted a Swedish tea industry? I thought and thought what would make that work. And this is the result.

[pameladean]

I did not! But it doesn't surprise me a bit.

P.

[pameladean]

My youngest brother is growing tea in his yard, but he lives in North Carolina. He says that he has ornamental camellias also, but all the bees go straight for the camellia sinensis.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The pedigree of honey may not concern the bee, but the tea production apparently does. Somebody ought to have told Emily Dickinson.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Also, is that the brother I know? If so that makes me happy, to think of him with tea in his yard.

[pameladean]

No, the brother that you know lives in Minneapolis. He did have beehives when he lived in Utah, but sadly has none now.

The North Carolina brother is an elusive creature who pops up for a few hours now and again. (He plays bass for Corrosion of Conformity and comes through on tour.) He and his wife used to come for more normal visits, but they have three dogs and a cat and find it either difficult or expensive to get a pet-sitter. They once brought all the dogs with them, but the dogs didn't like sharing the back of a small Toyota station wagon.

P.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Right then, I have the math straight now.

How to Wrap a Roc’s Egg.

[eileenlufkin.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this lovely story. I enjoyed it a great deal.

Re: How to Wrap a Roc’s Egg.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[sraun]

That was fun!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

It seems odd to see the name in that form; I'm used to either Carolus Linnaeus or Carl von Linné. Did he have interesting eccentricities? I've looked at the Systema Naturae, but I haven't encountered a biography.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

He had fascinating eccentricities. Yes. Biographies worth seeking. And I made myself not say "von Linné" because I feared that people would not know who I meant in that format.

(I kept puzzling and puzzling about Mr. Brahe: who names their child Tycho? Who? Who? Finally I found out his name was Tyge, which is a totally normal thing to name a child, and my sleep improved immensely thereby.)

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get that "von Linné" is uncommon, but he's also not commonly called "Carl Linnaeus." In fact, the title page of my downloaded PDF of Systema Naturae has him as "Caroli Linnaei," which I assume is one of the oblique cases (with the a and e run together, actually, but I'm not sure how to do that in the LJ interface). So I'm less sure why not "Carolus." Though your reaction to Brahe suggests an aversion to latinized given names.

In any case, inventing binomial nomenclature was pretty cool.

[sheff-dogs.livejournal.com]

Thank you for giving me a huge and persistent smile.

Rather to my surprise there is an estate producing a small quantity of English tea in Cornwall.It is very expensive so I haven't been able to try it yet.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed!

[zelda888.livejournal.com]

"should the steam system exit your control"

Oh, delicately put. As is all of it.

*applause and giggles*

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[blue-hat-guru.livejournal.com]

Delightful.

Interesting how involving rocs makes the negative consequences of embroiling oneself in the production of mind and metabolism altering chemicals so much more immediate and obviously severe; but I suppose that is the nature of rocs.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

They turn up the volume on everything.