Happy New Year

2017. Already. That's amazing to me. When i was younger, years crept by ever so slowly. I could run, bike, and hike all summer and those months lasted forever. Now, it seems that as soon as i settle into my summer running/biking season, it's over and we're looking winter right in the eyes.

In any case, i'm wishing everyone the very best in this new year. Wishing all a year of fulfillment, a year of growth, a year of deepening love, and a year of success in all that you do.

I hope many of you have downloaded the Insight Timer app and have joined us in the challenge to meditate every single day this year. Look inside the app for the group called 365 Days Together. I would be especially pleased if i saw others from here in Locport joining, but sadly, i haven't yet. I would be almost ecstatic if i heard from some of my fellow henros saying that they are on the team. :-) Please consider joining us.

I have a pretty long list of books that i intend to work through this year, but i'll be spending the beginning months working on three books in particular. Because of the meditation challenge, i want to take the time to reread Daido Loori's The Art of Just Sitting. But this time through, i will slow down and let each chapter sink in before moving on to the next.

I will also spend between now and March working on two oldies, but far from moldies. Both are translations of some of the earliest Chinese writing that could be considered Zen. The first is The Zen Teachings of Huang Po: On The Transmission of Mind. The second book is Entering The Tao of Sudden Enlightenment, by Ta-Chu Hui-Hai.

After that, my plans right now are pretty eclectic. I'm going back to the practice of writing the Heart Sutra once each morning. Whether i use my ink brush pen or just a ball point pen hasn't been decided. I'll know by the end of the first week. On the science and math front, i've recently gotten back in to the habit of reading physics and spent a week with a video series on the discovery of the Higgs Boson. As the year starts, i'm going to pull out old video courses on physics and calculus and run through those again. At the same time, i'm pulling a course off the shelf on the founding of the US, from before the war to the writing of the constitution. Plus two shorter audio courses on the constitution and the prevailing ideals around that time.

As for running and biking, i'm planning on another 600 mile year of runs but haven't decided how much i want to do on my bike. My leaning right now is to simply aim for 600 miles on that as well, even though i know that isn't very much riding. We'll see. And, of course, there is my yoga practice; one class a week down at the yoga studio and several times a week in addition here at home. Would like to get up to 4 times a week at home, but don't know if that will happen.

I'll be on Shikoku for almost all of April this year. There's a chance i could be on the Kumano Kodo trails in October and then back in Shikoku again in November, but those trips won't be decided until this summer, most likely.

So that's how my year is looking. I'm excited about all these plans. Wishing all peace and love.

Happy New Year.

Those Goofy Buddhist Lists

First off, a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to all. Hope everyone enjoyed time with family and friends and that Santa's problems delivering everyone's gifts didn't hit your home.

Secondly, wishing everyone a wonderful new year. Wishing all peace, happiness, and fulfillment.

Lastly, i have been reading through the first volume of Gateway To Knowledge, by Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche today. It's a primer on the basics of Buddhism, much like What The Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula, but written from the Tibetan viewpoint, which doesn't change a lot.

Anyway, as the Buddhist like to do, especially (it seems to me) the Tibetans, the book is list after list after list. And in the chapter on the Skandhas, the five aggregates, we find the lists associated with the skandha of perception. There seem to be six types of perception, and leaving out the details, those are perceptions with characteristics, perceptions without characteristics, lesser perceptions, vast perceptions, immeasurable perceptions, and .....

Number six: "The perception of nothing whatsoever causes the sphere of nothing whatsoever to be perceived."

There you go. If you were ever in doubt of how on earth, or in any of the three realms, it was possible to perceive the sphere of nothing whatsoever, the path has been laid out here. Granted it may take years of effort and hours upon hours on your zafu, but all that is required is the perception of nothing whatsoever.

Glad i got that straight. :-) Now how do i convince people to take Buddhism as a serious path with things like that on the list?

Happy New Year.

When Given A Choice...

I spent Monday at the Museum of Science and Industry downtown. It's a great place to spend time and i don't think i every tire of going there. In one exhibit glorifying the entrepreneurs and technological leaders of the past, a sign was posted with these aphorisms:

1. If anything can go wrong, Fix it!!! (To hell with Murphy!)
2. When given a choice — Take Both!!
3. Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
4. Start at the top then work your way up.
5. Do it by the book ... but be the author!
6. When forced to compromise, ask for more.
7. If you can't beat them, join them, then beat them.
8. If it's worth doing, it's got to be done right now.
9. If you can't win, change the rules.
10. If you can't change the rules, then ignore them.
11. Perfection is not optional.
12. When faced without a challenge, make one.
13. "No" simply means begin again at one level higher.
14. Don't walk when you can run.
15. Bureaucracy is a challenge to be conquered with a righteous attitude, a tolerance for stupidity, and a bulldozer when necessary.
16. When in doubt: THINK!
17. Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.
18. The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
19. The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.
20. The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!

At first glance i love these. The exemplify the never give up, shoot for the stars, always chase your dreams point of view that one part of my brain never tires of reading about. At second and third glance i still like them, even though about the time the third glance starts to make its appearance i am having doubts about some of them.

When i sit down and let myself think about them, getting past the fist-pumping, Yeah! Go for it stage, i see many things that i worry about.

If you can't win, change the rules? Maybe years and years of trial and error have shown that the rules in place need to be there for a reason. Maybe there are unseen consequences if the rules aren't followed. Of course, when the rules have been put in place to protect those that don't wish to be challenged, then they need to be broken. Or when the rules are results of beliefs, dogma, and ideologies that are frozen in time, unchangeable because the believers just can't, or don't want to, imagine other possibilities, ... then these need to be challenged as well. In other words, this aphorism should really be, If you can't win, change the rules if you can — but only after thoroughly understanding what they are and why they were put in effect in the first place.

The squeaky wheel gets replaced? That's absurd in a great many cases. Everyone knows (or should know) that dissent is absolutely essential to any successful organization. Blocking out, getting rid of, any and all dissent, opposing viewpoints & opinions, any ideas about the future, leads to certain death. Working from a portfolio of different, and sometimes opposing, ideas, is where the best ideas come from and where the best successes grow from.

I won't go through all of them, i leave it up to you to think them through. But as a last thought, i was reminded of the one that says "Bureaucracy is a challenge to be conquered with a righteous attitude, a tolerance for stupidity, and a bulldozer when necessary" last night in yoga class. As we all know The Affordable Care Act took it's next step yesterday as the health care exchanges were opened for business here in the US.

One of the women in class last night made it very clear that she is absolutely opposed to Obamacare. Her words were, in effect, that while she understood the need for more people to have health care, she did not want to pay 50% of her salary in taxes so that those people could get it.

Ignoring the question of where she came up with that 50% figure, i wonder about her relationship with yoga. Yes, it's true that a great, great many people who do yoga think of it as nothing more than asana practice. And, yes it's true that i have only had one yoga teacher so can't say what goes on in other yoga classes around the world. But, i assume that my class is typical in that the teacher brings at least a little of the philosophy of yoga to each class. I assume that anyone who does yoga is exposed to at least a little of the spiritual side of the practice. No?

But, even more than that, whether your spiritual leanings are yoga/Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Islam, whatever, how can you not go to bed and cry at night when you catch yourself saying in public, 'Yes, i understand that everyone needs health care, but my personal gain and prosperity should not be affected in any way to provide that.'

How can you not find yourself sobbing in your pillow when you suddenly realize that you have let yourself drift so far that your personal benefit is more important than the benefit of society as a whole. That your material prosperity is more important than the health and welfare of those less fortunate. That you shouldn't have to surrender one iota in order to help those less fortunate.

How can you not be wracked with guilt when you realize that what you are saying, publicly, is, in effect, 'I don't care if they do get sick and die, that's not my problem. My problem is increasing my own wealth, prestige, and power.'

Is The Affordable Care Act the best solution? I doubt it; but it's a start. And this country will be immeasurably better off when everyone realizes that we will be better people, a better country, a better society, when helping others isn't just mindlessly throwing a couple of quarters in someone's styrofoam cup, but getting rid of styrofoam and finding ways to actually help others — even if that means a bureaucracy is involved and even if my personal gain will be affected.

A Day At The Office

Noticed that i haven't posted a picture of me spending a day at the office yet this year.

Bottle of water, thermos of tea, salmon onigiri, some cheddar cheese, and a great book — all spread across a clean desk. And to top it off, parking is very, very convenient.

" 'Beauty cannot guarantee truth,' asserted the physicist Robert Mills, the second half of the Yang-Mills duo. 'Nor is there any logical reason why the truth must be beautiful, but our experience has repeatedly led us to expect beauty at the heart of things and to use this expectation as a guide in seeking deeper theoretical understanding of the fundamental structures of nature.' Conversely, Mills added, 'if a proposed theory is inelegant, we have learned to be dubious.' "

The Shape of Inner Space
Shing-Tung Yau

Can the same assertions be made about what we find/see/come to realize about the nature of Being while on our zafu?

Focus!

I seem to be having a lot of trouble focusing this year. It's gotten so bad that at the beginning of this month i sat down and wrote up a list of the ONLY books i was going to allow myself read this month and in August. There are a few books that i enjoy and want to get through before starting anything new.

Imagine my surprise, then, when i realized last night that i had completely forgone the almighty list and spent the day with two new books! (hanging my head in shame...)

The first, "How to Practice Dharma: Teachings on the Eight Worldly Dharmas," by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, has been yelling at me to start it for months. The second, i simply stumbled on. I don't even remember what i was looking for yesterday, but in the online search results up popped a link to a pdf copy of the book "The Shape of Inner Science: String Theory And The Geometry of The Universe's Hidden Dimensions," by Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadis. I had never heard of the book, but when i first opened the file all i had seen was "The Shape of Inner Science," and i thought this was about consciousness, the mind, or something along those lines.

Well, my original list is now in the dust bin as i can't stop. Both books are just too exciting to put down. And lest you think that they have nothing in common, consider these tidbits from Inner Science, where the author is discussing Einstein's use of Reimannian Geometry in his development of his General Theory of Relativity.

"Equipped with Riemann’s metric tensor, Einstein worked out the shape and other properties—the geometry, in other words—of his newly conceived spacetime. And the resulting synthesis of geometry and physics, culminating in the famous Einstein field equation, illustrates that gravity—the force that shapes the cosmos on the largest scales—can be regarded as a kind of illusion caused by the curvature of space and time."

Or this, in the next paragraph:

"Suppose that two people start at different spots on the equator and set out at the same speed toward the north pole, moving along longitudinal lines. As time goes on, they get closer and closer to each other. They may think they are affected by some invisible force that’s drawing them together. But another way to think of it is that the assumed force is really a consequence of the geometry of the earth and that there’s actually no force at all."

Gravity is an illusion? Assumed forces can be the consequence of the geometry of the space you inhabit? The next time someone questions the idea of emptiness and the idea that conventional reality is an illusion, ask your listener if they believe in physics and mathematics.

Two great books to spend the rest of the week with!

P.S., Yesterday it was 100% fine, today it looks like the top of my cherry blossom tree is dying. :-(

Going To The Birds

I built a small bamboo water fountain in the back yard last month.

Besides looking good (IMO), the sound of running/trickling water is incredibly soothing — especially in the evening as the neighborhood starts to wind down and becomes quieter. However, it really started to show promise this afternoon when a cardinal and a yellow finch decided to check it out as a possible bathing site.

I get incredibly happy about the smallest things....

P.S., the cherry blossom tree in the front yard is doing wonderfully. It doesn't look like it was affected by the disastrous broken branch at all. There is even new growth on it. I'll post another picture of it this weekend.

Reduced To Tears, But Hopiing For The Best

When i looked out my front window Saturday morning, i was looking to see if any more orange day lilies had bloomed; they're starting to make their appearance. Then i couldn't believe my eyes. I was in SHOCK. The top half of the Yoshino cherry blossom tree that i had planted in the front yard two years ago was hanging to the ground! Something had broken it off! Did i say i was in shock?

Here's what the tree looks like.

About halfway up the tree, there is a "V" where all the branches start growing out of the trunk. The tallest part of the tree, the top, grows out of the left side of this "V," and it was this part that was hanging all the way down to the ground. One small piece of the bark hadn't broken so the top half hadn't fallen to the ground, but was just hanging there.

What to do? Buy a beer and sit there drinking and crying? That would do nothing to help, so instead i went to the garage and dug out a bamboo stake and lots of twine. Using two pieces of bamboo and about 20 meters of twine i spliced the two pieces back together. I pulled the twine so tight that i broke it several times but in the end the two side of the "V" were back together again. Wrap, wrap, half hitch, wrap, wrap, half hitch, wrap, wrap, half hitch,... 20 meters worth. Just before the last of the cut disappeared under the twine i could see that the split was completely sealed, i could see no opening in the bark, just a line where the spit had been.

Is this going to save my tree? It's been two days now and the tree shows no signs of change. All the branches are still pointed up, nothing is drooping, and none of the leaves show signs of wilting. Is this a good sign? I don't know. How long before any signs of problem will show up? Or, conversely, how long do i have to wait before i can say there is a good chance it is going to heal itself?

He's A Complicated Man

The best story i've seen yet on Lance's Oprah interviews:

"The long road to redemption: Lance Armstrong realizes it's OK to be human"

Some people are wailing and screaming that he didn't seem contrite enough, or sad enough, or that it didn't seem as if he was hurt by the damage he did to others. I will never understand those people. Maybe these people are the same one's that were shocked when the doping report came out laying out how he had gotten away with it for sooooo many years. I call them fools.

Fools. Pure and simple. It has been clear for a very long time that Lance couldn't have accomplished what he did without cheating. Everyone with an open mind understood that. Forget that "he's never failed a test" nonsense — if you believed he was clean you were a fool. Instead of crying about how Lance is now handling himself as he comes clean, go stand in front of a mirror and look yourself in the eye and admit you're a fool. Admit that a hero, any hero, is more important to you than the truth. Admit that you consciously chose to bury the obvious simply so you could worship yet another sports star. Look yourself in the eyes and admit you're a fool. And vow never to do it again. They're outstanding athletes, not necessarily outstanding people. Not the same thing.

One more time for the record, i will always admire Lance as an athlete. He's a lying, cheating, obnoxious SOB, but he was a great athlete. Did he cheat? Yes, but so did all the others. I still believe that if noone had been cheating, and those seven Tour de Frances had been clean, then Lance would have won anyway. He was a great athlete, he had the best teams and management, he had the toughest training programs and toughest daily training regimes. I think he would have won anyhow. My hat is off to him for his skill as bicyclist.

But, he deserves everything that comes to him now. He cheated and should lose his titles, medals, and endorsements. He should be sued and have to repay those that gave him money. He should be sued and have to repay those that had to pay him over the years when he sued them. His feet should be held right over an open fire.

As long as companies encourage idol worship in order to sell their products, idols will appear. Pedastals will be built. And complicated, success driven, win at any cost human beings will climb on top. In my opinion, they aren't the real problems; the problems are the fools who choose to worship them at the cost of their integrity.

Cheats will always be among us. They only cause problems when the rest of society enables them.

Seaweed

I don't usually recommend much to people out there, figuring that what i like and dislike really has no bearing on your likes and dislikes. But, this is different ... somehow.

I eat a lot of nori, the Japanese word for dried sheets of seaweed. Those that eat sushi or onigiri (rice balls) will know what it is because it's the sheets of seaweed wrapped around your rice. Since i eat a LOT of rice balls each week and throughout the year, i go through a lot of nori, and the place i buy it is the semi-local Korean grocery store. (As an aside, i love that store. It's as big as a Walmart and has anything and everything Asian that you could possibly want to eat. Going there is like what it must be like to die and go to heaven.)

I have, for a decade, at least, always bought the same Japanese branded nori. It's good so why bother changing. Last fall, i decided to be brave because the store had some Korean nori on sale, and "sale" usually trumps taste with my current budget.

I can't read a word of Korean, so here's a picture:

(Click to enlarge if you want to read the packaging)

The nori that i first bought in November was the small package on the left. Because of the packaging i think i ended up with about 30 of these. Each package comes with about a dozen smallish sheets of nori. I went back a month later and bought several packs of the larger size that i can cut down to any size i want. The small one's will only fit very small onigiri, so when i make larger ones to take out on my bike i have to use the larger sheets.

I don't know what it is about the taste, but these are the absolute best nori i have ever eaten. Ever. I actually look forward to the nori more than the onigiri anymore. There is a different taste from my previous brand, but i don't know what it is. Are they just fresher? Dried differently? Are they a little more salty? Maybe, but if so only faintly and i can't be sure, but since i never use salt for anything except cooking sphagetti noodles even a very faint taste makes my tongue perk up.

If you find these in a store near you, buy some. They are delicious.

Questionable Art

So i'm just throwing this out there.

I bought the below oil painting (i think it's oil) way back in '73 or '74. It's about 3' x 3' in size. I was in the Navy, had just finished school, and been given my first assignment to a submarine and was looking for something to decorate the walls of an apartment i was renting. In Charleston, South Carolina.

The story i always tell is that i stumbled across the painting in a grocery store. I still think that was true, but certainly wouldn't bet any money on it. I wasn't the art gallery type back then (they didn't sell beer) so it had to be something like a grocery store or Ben Franklins.

After 40 years i still love it but after carting it everywhere around the country, i've suddenly gotten curious as to who "Candace" is. That name is the only thing written on it. I've googled the name and the name plus "artist" but the returns are too many to make any sense out of it. I just see no way to figure out who the painter was.

I'm not assuming the painting is worth anything, i'm just curious about who painted it and what they might have done since. 40 years is a long relationship. No? So, the questions is, how does one go about figuring out something like this? Is it impossible? Possible if you have thousands of dollars to pay a professional to track it down (which i don't)? How? Anyone have any ideas?

Keeping Busy

In my never ending attempt to simplify and unclutter my house (and life), i decided to build a new bookshelf in the dining room and then use that to get rid of three smaller, 2-shelf units scattered here and there in three different rooms.

I didn't want my typical bookshelf — a basic box, completely closed in with sides and backing. I wanted something that left the wall open so that you could see through it and not make the room appear any smaller once it is in place. I also didn't want to lose the spot in the center of the wall where i rotate different pictures of the henro trail.

It's not nailed in place yet, but this is what i came up with. After it's nailed in place i have two more pieces to add on the left and right of the picture in the center, but that will take some time because i have to find two Japanese designs i like and then carve/cut it into approriate pieces of wood. Mt. Fuji? The henro trail and a temple? Some kanji: Namu Daishi Henjo Kongo on one side and Dogyo Ninin on the other? Hmmmmm.....

... a few hours later...

Still have to work on the decorative pieces over the next few days, but at least the books are now moved. Woodblock prints, Japanese art & architecture, Japanese joinery, Shakuhachi, Japanese gardens, Japanese travel, Japanese language, French, Mathematics, Physics, a few regularly-used Buddhist books, and some henro related stuff.

Time to call it quits for the day.

Intricate Designs

Completely forgot that i had promised to upload this picture. This is the door between my living room and dining room. Originally, the space above the door was solid and covered in wallpaper to match what can be seen on the walls. I opened that space up and made what was called in the old days, a transom, who's purpose back then was to allow the hot air that accumulates at ceiling level to move to another room where there might not have been a heat source.

After opening the wall i framed it in wood then built the lattice work that you see now. It has completely transformed the look of the room.

(Click to enlarge)

Went to the movies for the first time in a decade today — a treat from my sister. We went to see Lincoln, a movie i thought was going to be about the Civil War. (How can any sane person call any war civil??????)

I know i may have been the only person in the US that didn't know this, but much to my surprise and delight, the war only played a trivial part in the movie — it was all about Lincoln's push to get the Congress to pass the 13th amendment to the the constitution.

Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

At the time of its passing, a great many people in this wonderful country of ours were convinced that this ensured the doom of all our forefathers had fought for, that it forebode the certain decline and eventual destruction of all we held dear, that we held to be true and just.

But just the opposite has proven true. Granted that the battle for equality didn't end there, that many would say it still has a long way to go, but those brave men who had the courage to stand up and be counted for justice, good, and rightness, proved that we Americans on the whole are willing to do what is right.

I imagine that today, right now, as i type this, the exact same types of conversations are taking place in Congress, that the exact same type of backroom dealing is taking place, that the exact same sweat is being shed by those who refuse to stand up for rightness even though they know that what they stand for is wrong.

It is time for America to admit that we have a gun problem, that this addiction is tearing our society apart, tearing cities and families apart, that if it is not stopped soon, we will no longer have the ability to hold our heads high in front of our peers worldwide.

This isn't about mental illness. This isn't about failed school systems. This isn't about violent video games and movies. This isn't about the right of hunters to own guns. This is about a moral failure. This is about a disease that has infected an entire society, a disease prompting all of us to avert our eyes and change the subject just as long as it's not our schools or our children.

It is time to admit that all of those needlessly killed are our children, are our brothers and sisters, are our mothers and fathers and aunts and uncles. Guns kill, no matter what the NRA says. Guns kill. And it may be your child next.

If those brave people had the courage to stand up for the 13th amendment, why do we not have the courage to stand up now? Look in the mirror and ask yourself that tonight as you tuck your child in bed or as you say goodnight to your parents. In some cases, for the very last time.

Japanese Diapers

It's amazing how rapidly Japan's population is aging. According to this article at Bloomberg.com, "Unicharm Corp.’s sales of adult diapers in Japan exceeded those for babies for the first time last year."

New Back Gate

The last of my "big" landscaping jobs in the yard is now complete. The gate into the back yard that i have talked of building for many, many years (almost since the day i moved in 12 years ago) is now finished. The bamboo cap was screwed on just before lunch.

I expect grass around the stepping stones to start growing sometime next week. I'll post another picture after it is well established. I'll also post pictures of the back yard once some of the lilies start to bloom giving some color to the picture. Everything there is in place: the fake/rock stream is done, the stepping stone walking path is in place, the stone slab bridge is set, and all the flowers and grasses have been planted. It's still missing "something," but i don't know what that is yet.

Full Bloom Trees; Half Bloom Sidewalk

Today is either the 5th or 6th straight day of 80 degree weather and everything in the yard is definitely showing the effects. The cherry blossom tree usually starts blooming in mid- to late-April and takes about two weeks to come to full bloom. Both opened yesterday and both look to be at full bloom today! Inconceivable.







Made good progress today on ripping up the sidewalk between the garage and the house. Here's just one of the piles of cement from its previous incarnation as a boring, white-bread, cement sidewalk. It's amazing what you can do with one sledge hammer and a lot of sweat. :-)



Here's the beginnings of what it will look like in its new life. The larger, rectangular stone is the one that will sit inside the threshold of the gate. In addition to these three stones, i have four large(ish) stones left. Those four will have to spread out and fill the remainder of the sidewalk. The spaces between these large stepping stones will get filled with mid-sized stones, if i can rummage up enough of them in the back yard. After that it's down to small stones. Lot's and lot's of them.

Blooms

First full day of blooming and the new Yoshino is already at full bloom. :-) The good news is that it made it through it's first winter in spectacular shape and has beautiful white petals. I had to take a picture now, even though it is overcast and the lighting doesn't show the tree very well, because thunder is rumbling just southwest of here and rain is on the way. I'm afraid the first rain will strip off all the petals before i could even get one picture this year.

The shidarezakura behind the torii is blooming nicely.




Obviously you can see that the path leading to the torii desperately needs to get finished. I put pea gravel around the stepping stones at the base of the torii late last fall to see if i would like it. I've decided i do so will put it down along the rest of the path and take out the grass in a couple of weeks.


Unfathomable
From where blooms of such beauty
The eyes of your son

Cherry Blossoms

The first blossoms have made their appearance here in Lockport! 2-3 white blossoms on the new Yoshino tree and 4-5 pink ones on the shidarezakura (weeping cherry blossoms tree) poked their heads out of their buds late this afternoon

Will post pictures when most of the tree is in bloom, but i am sooooo happy tonight. :-)


Meanwhile, work on the back yard started again this week.

* Built a new brick retaining wall and steps around an area next to the porch that will get white gravel to simulate a pond and then a small 6' round deck over that, which will look like the center portion of this picture, sent to me by a friend many, many years ago (thanks Shirley).




* Terraced the top third of the area on the north side of the house, trimmed all the wild grasses, and transplanted several dozen handfulls of day lilies to that area. Will terrace another third over the next weeks and then leave the bottom part alone until fall. Probably.

* Widened the (fake) creek that flows through the yard from north to south. About two-thirds done and will finish the remaining one-third this week.

* Cut down three-quarters of the remaining wild grasses and Russian Sage in the front and side yards. Will finish the rest tomorrow because they are all starting to show new growth.

* Moved about 50 day lilies, maybe more, probably more, to new locations around the yard to expand already existing sections.

* Took a sledge hammer to about 30' of sidewalk and busted out all of the cement. That will get filled back in with gravel and topped off with dirt. Then limestone stepping stones will be laid out as the walkway from the garage up to the house. Large flat stones to step on, medium stones to fill in between those, and small stones to make everything a reasonably standard width. Then plant grass around it all to hold everything in place. It is going to look oooohhh so good.

* In mid-April i'll buy the wood (6" x 6" posts) and FINALLY build the Japanese-ish gate at the end of that stepping stone path, just before stepping up to the sidewalk along the back of the house. Finally. I'm not sure when i'll get the actual roof on it (money issues), but at least the frame and door will be up and in place.

* This week i have to finish trimming last years growth down, then hope to build another retaining wall with steps down to where i'm going to "skin" the back wall of the garage so that it looks like a temple on Shikoku. That's the purpose of almost everything i'm doing in the back yard. Both stone walking paths and the stone bridge all lead you in the direction of the temple.

* Had an ingenious idea the other day (if i say so myself). I'm going to keep my eye open for someone who has cut down a tree and try and get a section of the trunk about 1.5' long. I'm then going to take the time to saw and chisel it, and hollow it out so that it looks like a temple bell and hang it from a post in front of my fake temple. Haven't decided if i will have to paint it or not. I'll wait until it's done to decide that.

I have promised to help my sister Thursday through Sunday with work at her house. Will rototill almost her entire back yard and put in mole repellent to see what we can salvage. The moles have destroyed it. Once they are gone, we can re-sod sometime in April. Will also install two windows in the shed in her back yard — windows that came out of my back porch when i replaced them.

We'll then pull 6 very old lilac bushes out of her back yard, trying to get them out in good enough shape to move them to my house were i'll add them to the side parking and front yard.

It's going to be a busy next several weeks. :-)

Shakuhachi For Sale

I've decided to sell the better of my two shakuhachi. Contact me if you are interested.

www.shikokuhenrotrail.com/shikoku/ShakuhachiForSale.html

And You Thought You Had Secrets?

A very, very interesting article in the New York Times called How Companies Learn Your Secrets.

A few take-aways:

• We all know "they" are collecting data on us all the time, but it is still frightening to read what they can know about us when that collection is manipulated by statisticians.

  
  

• "...habits, rather than conscious decision-making, shape 45 percent of the choices we make every day..." Amazing! I knew it was a high percentage, but half??!!

  
  

• We can learn to retrain our subconscious mind.

  
  

• Mathematics is sexy now! Maybe i should stop tutoring young kids in math each week and start tutoring adults.
  

Love Blossoms In Winter

I've was expecting her to show up sometime this week, so you can imagine my happiness when i opened the door the other day and found her on the front porch. I am so hopelessly in love that it's almost shameful for a man my age — especially since she is sooo much younger than i am.

Physically she's very, very beautiful. Describing her as fast would be calling her slow; she is lightning quick. And nimble doesn't even begin to describe her athleticism. She's so flexible that she bends almost in half without the least bit of discomfort. Emotionally, she's warm and gentle and just a pleasure to hold.

She's completely fluent in kanji and can stay focused for hours. She can focus to a point, staying focused to one hair's width for as long as necessary, yet is perfectly willing to broaden out to vast broad strokes when breadth is more interesting or important than focus. She's amazingly well versed.

Sigggghhhhh.... i am so hopelessly in love.




Akashiya Bamboo Body Brush Pen @ JetPens.com


(The only problem is, my Kuretake pen is now getting jealous of all the attention i give her. But the Kuretaki is going on 10 years old...)