My World Tuesday: Beating a Retreat

Actually, there is no beating a retreat--not when Brian leads the way. I spent all of Saturday among friends in Plymouth, Connecticut, under the direction of Buddhist teacher Brian Vaugh. We shared in tea, walking, silent, and guided meditations, tai chi, and a video about the Soto Zen teacher Edward Brown. Along the way we even had a clay meditation, fashioning food items from modeling clay. We spent the day in silence, and it was good.

The cup, above, is one of Brian's that we use in the tea meditation. The dog and the cat are the live-in friends of our hosts and very much in sync with the universe. So they're way ahead of the rest of us.

The truth is you're already a cook.

Nobody teaches you anything,

but you can be touched, you can be awakened.

Put down the book and start asking,

"What have we here?"

(Edward Espe Brown)

My World Tuesday

Today's Flowers: Not so Shy

What you discover when you get a little closer....

Today's Flowers

One Single Impression: Single

Count on it:

A single touch
From you
And I become the water,
Dusky, musky, and elusive,
In the predawn purple of dreams

As a muskrat,

Determined and alone,
Singular and silent,

Draws a line
From one end of the pond
To the other,

Sending shivers through the water
That echo like kisses on the
Soft and eager earth
On the edge.

Where does he go? Why?
These questions have
Nothing to do with me.

On the edge,
I am the eager earth.
I am the water.

Count on it:

A single touch
Is enough.

I shiver.

One Single Impression

Skywatch Friday: East Meets West

Skywatch Friday

Get Earthy With Me? Please?

On March 27th at 8:30 p.m. local time, Earth Hour will cascade around the globe—from time zone to time zone—uniting the planet under a single, simple, call to action. On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people, organizations, corporations and governments will come together to make a bold statement about their concern for climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. Earth Hour symbolizes that by working together, each of us can have a positive impact in the fight against climate change, protecting our future and that of future generations.

In the U.S. where the impacts of climate change are already being felt, Earth Hour sends a message that Americans care about this issue and stand with the world in seeking to find solutions to the escalating climate crisis because if we don’t, who will.

Participation is easy. By flipping off your light switch on March 27th at 8:30 p.m. local time you will be casting your vote for action on climate change. Use this website to find out what else you can do to get involved including leading the Earth Hour movement in your community.

Wordless Wednesday: Drawn in the Sand

Wordless Wednesday

My World Tuesday: Sturbridge Village, MA

My sister and I took our kids to Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts $on Saturday. This is a wonderful outdoor history museum depicting life in a New England village in th 1830s, a time when this region was moving out of a purely agrarian lifestyle into a commercial one. At the same time some folks around here were scraping a living out of the earth, they were also sending missionaries to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and starting to play a key role in international trade. With three young kids who are cold and curious and therefore moving quickly to see it all and stay warm, taking photos was a challenge. So was dealing with what I saw through my polarized eyeglasses! It was a great day.

My World Tuesday

Today's Flowers: A Timid Rose

Today's Flowers

One Single Impression: Blowing the Curve

I watch and love
Alone

Reaching for you

I anticipate
Which way
You will draw the line

And you draw the line

I watch
For the east and west
Of this conversation
And how far you will take it

But no

There's no way to know
If you will go

Left or right straight ahead both

And the line curves round me
Until it surrounds me

Circumscribed

I step out of line
Blowing your curve

Step in. Step out.
Be where you will

In this
Undefined universe

We call love.

One Single Impression