We buried Robin’s ashes yesterday in the roots of a black hawthorn tree out behind the Gumboot. As the tree went into the ground three eagles circled overhead, and it being Roberts Creek, a few lazy dogs and feral children wandered through the circle of held hands. Someone blew marijuana smoke from a fancy glass …
Category: Aging & Dying
Lessons of Chaco Canyon
Early this morning I sat wrapped in a blanket on the frosty back patio of Querencia. The sun rose over Pikacho Peak. Ravens and chickadees chattered, dogs barked, coyotes scattered, footsteps crunched on snow. The highway woke up then too, commuters zooming through the valley to Santa Fe. Each engine momentarily obliterating the birdsong and …
Being with Robin
I finally stepped out of the SkyTrain after the long journey from Santa Fe. I walked over the Grandview Cut and all all my pores opened wide , my lungs filling with moist forest air. After five months in the desert I felt like a parched epiphyte coming home. I am in Vancouver for a …
New Year’s Renunciations
Renunciation! Now there is one scary word. Joyless ascetics giving up all worldly pleasures. Shaven-headed cave-dwellers. Celibacy. Ugh. Well I am thinking, never mind the resolutions that stem from feelings of failure and inadequacy. New Years is a great time for renunciation, and so I renounce all the hindrances that hold me back from shining …
The lady in the chemo hat
I am the jikido (timekeeper) for evening zazen meditation. This duty involves sparking up the candles and incense in the zendo, guiding lost visitors to a cushion, and keeping the time. I strike the heavy temple bell to begin the sessions and signal the breaks. At the hour’s end I chime the chubby brass handbell …