We have this thing we used to do called #TeakuTuesday. Every Tuesday a group of us would write tea-related haiku and post them on various social media, or just share them at the tea shop. That tradition died out years ago, but I’m working to bring it back on Instagram (see @TeaWithGary). This was today’s. And yes, today is Wednesday, but I’m doing them more frequently for a while until it catches on.

And in case you’re wondering, yes this did happen. We got a new dog. She’s about a year old (she’s a rescue, so we’re not sure exactly), and she’s a husky/bulldog cross. And I screwed up. I left a bunch of my teaware on a low enough shelf that she could reach it. She ignored the gaiwan, the matcha bowl, the pots, the cups, the gongfu tray, and (thank goodness!) the books.

But that matcha whisk must have looked like it would be fun to chew on. Or perhaps she liked the faint scent of matcha. I do clean it each time I use it, but that aroma persists. In any case, I’m down a whisk. Oh, well. It could be worse.

Grumpiness alert!

As long as I’m talking about Instagram, let me add a bit to this story. The go-to social media platforms for tea bloggers and other tea industry folks were Facebook and Twitter. I’m off of Twitter now that Elon Musk bought it and turned it into X, so I turned to tea friends to see where the action is these days.

Instagram, they said.

I have an Instagram account that I set up years ago. I messed with it for a few days, posted a few pictures, and moved on. A couple of weeks ago I figured it was time to get back at it, so I created @TeaWithGary. It was promptly suspended because it “looked like I was trying to impersonate someone.” I challenged the suspension and got the account back in a day or two.

I’m not sure of the etiquette on Instagram, but I figured that as I get going, every time someone follows me I will follow them back. I was off for a day and a half (long drive), and found about a dozen new followers when I signed back in. I went down the list hitting “Follow” on each one. After about eight of them, I got this:

It was two days before I could follow someone again. I tried hitting “Report a problem,” but Instagram promptly crashed. As of this morning, everything was working again. I started hitting that Follow button for my new followers, and it locked me out of following anyone after the 6th one.

Is Instagram really this annoying for everyone? Do people love it, or do they just tolerate it because that’s where the people they want to follow are? Oh, well, if you can enlighten me, please do so in the comments below or follow me on Instagram. Hopefully, I’ll be able to follow you back soon!