Nathan Upchurch
Nathan Upchurch
I write about incense, life, music, tech, vegan cooking, and other things I find interesting.
August 2026
Top Words
- incense
- review
- reviewing
- making
- wild
- world
- build
- eleventy
- lately
- tunes
All posts (78)
About a month ago I moved just up the street, so to speak. The last time I moved, I had the cash to hire movers, but this September it was down to me and whatever poor saps I could cajole into helping in exchange for a warm fuzzy feeling. I will remain eternally grateful for my good friend and business partner...
Here are a few new (and not-so-new, but good to know) features I’ve built for my humble website: A Sitemap for Humans # I now have a (human readable) sitemap, linked in the footer of each page, for easier discovery of the pages that aren’t listed in the menu at the top, such as colophon, and privacy pages, which are...
I came across this submission to Not Always Right today, and it got me thinking about some of the attitudes towards technology I’ve seen over the years. There is a contingent of people in many workplaces who believe they can do a perfectly good job without investing the time in learning about the tech they use each...
If my memory serves me, some time ago I tried a stick from Yi-Xin that contained osmanthus flowers and mastic gum. I recall enjoying the combination, so when I found a bag of dried osmanthus on sale while doing some online grocery shopping, I set out to make something using these ingredients. Having read that...
At the start of the pandemic, I had just begun a relationship with an artist who had the occasional gig doing a bit of nude live modeling. Not my ex When he invited me to join a session via zoom, I was apprehensive. Drawing has never been my strong suit. I can doodle, but I can’t draw. But hey, I thought, I’m not...
Myrrh can be a challenging note. I’ve seen the resins collected from various members of the Commiphora genus described as everything from loamy, bitter, and mushroomy, to reminiscent of cleaning fluid or a dental clinic; whatever impression you take from the fragrance of myrrh resin, there’s no denying that it’s...
Whether due to trauma inflicted by gas-station sticks laden with synthetic patchouli oil or the stigma unfairly landed upon the fragrant sticks by association with generations of teenagers seeking to obscure the olfactory remnants of their smoky intemperance, in the part of the world that I currently occupy, incense...
I wrote two letters today, sealing each into a cotton envelope alongside a colorful cardboard straw, taped at both ends, containing two minuscule sticks of incense. I’m very excited about what’s in those straws: incense sticks resulting from a blend I’ve dubbed Grand Dame. A quick note: You can see everything I’ve...
I recently happened across the article in which Pete Wells announces that he will be stepping down from his role as Times’ restaurant critic. Health stood tall among the reasons behind the decision: My scores were bad across the board; my cholesterol, blood sugar and hypertension were worse than I’d expected even in...
There is a reason that much incense on the market makes extensive use of fragrance oils: it’s simply easier. As returning readers will know, blending combustible incense made with plain old plants is extraordinarily difficult, even when only using two or three ingredients. The World Makes Scents is a Chicago-based...
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