Life here is pretty simple. Today, for instance, it has been mild and windy - a good drying day - so I decided to do some clothes washing. I did two loads, coloureds and whites and got about half dry by evening. In the afternoon I made a chocolate cake.
What else? This morning, while the washing churned, I did some more work on my commentary on the Jewel Mirror Samadhi Song. Writing in the morning is fairly typical activity for me. I like to do it in the grenier - the upstairs room - if the weather is not too bitterly cold. It is a most attractive room and looks better than ever now that I have had a bit of a sort out. It feels a huge privilege to have such a space in which to work. Tara is also very fond of this big room and as soon as she know I am coming up here to work she is at the door mewing for entrance.
In the evening Tara and I went for one of our walks. In the twilight we went through the Artemis Woods and the Enchanted Glade, crossed the medieval lane, and went to the Aphrodite Field. Here too I feel so delighted to have this closeness to nature, this beauty, this sense of the sacred, all around. It is hard to imagine anything better really. It is particularly magical in the half light.
So that's today, but other days are all rather similar. Once a week I go into town for supplies and on Fridays I go to Oasis to give a teaching. Since I got back from UK I have not done much outdoor work as the weather has been too severe but recently the wind has brought down quite a number of branches and I have been slowly bringing them in and cutting them up as firewood for next winter - there is plenty enough for this year still in the woodshed. At the moment it is too cold for the grass to grow so mowing is one job that is in abeyance, and as we frequently have severe frosts my geraniums are all sharing the kitchen with me at the moment. It is rather nice to see them flowering.
Life is simple and satisfying and all the while I sing the nembutsu. As the myokonin would say: How lucky I am!
Replies
Happy you enjoy so much this simple life in nature.
I see you are in good company.
Namo Amida Bu