Further teabowl information from Thailand

I received this today from John Toomey in Thailand, about the two teabowls he bought from me last year. John gave the teabowls their names:

Hollis: You are too modest. Your readers should know that my tea teacher in Yokohama, Japan, highly praised both of these bowls when I sent her the pictures and that my guests for New Year's Tea for Year of the Rabbit (including Korean, Japanese, Thai, and Chinese tea masters) found both your "Snowy Rabbit" Tea Bowl and your "Evening Cherry Blossoms" (aka "Octopus") Tea Bowl stunning in combination with the very rarely used utensils of formal palace drawing room tea of the 14th century. I can hardly wait to see how they will blend with rustic wabi-cha utensils when the formal period is over after today's Chinese Lunar New Year and we get back to Zen-style tea. Your bowls, I think, will fit the requirement of the 15th century master Murata Shuko that utensils have the quality of "chill" and "withered", expressing the inner essence of true beauty that we still idealize in rustic wabi-cha today. (You can find all this on the internet.)

Of course, there is every reason for people to use the bowls as they wish, the more often the better--for snacks, dips, soups, floating flowers and candles, coffee, incense burners, whatever they like. Just hold them in you hands and experience peace and comfort like only fine down-to-earth pottery can give.

John Toomey Sofu (Ura Senke Tea name)