(This was the third box turtle 🐢 I saw in less than a week, all three of them were just stopped in the middle of the path along my walk. Maybe they were trying to tell me something….)
(Yesterday was Sunday and on finishing my hike and walking back to my car, seven little dogs—four he’s and three she’s—were getting settled to go out on the trails for their Sunday stroll. I confess I never yearned to have a baby, but little puppies light up my eyes and smile my heart. I think it’s the dog in me….I was born in the Chinese Year of the Dog!)
(97 degrees! Hottest day of the year so far and it isn’t even summer yet….)
(I have been making origami nearly 30 years, folding paper cats and fishes and boats and birds, faces, stars, hearts, flowers….I can dream the world at my fingertips. I hope to keep on dreaming for another 30 years….)
(I just read a poem: “The Poet Goes to Indiana.” Mary Oliver said she had a pond with fish from China; they crept out of the pond, along its edges to eat the grass….and she wasn’t lying. I believe it. I once had a little pond in my apartment with little koi from China. They loved eating zucchini….and I’m not lying! 😆)
Here’s the poem: http://tidingsofmagpies.blogspot.com/2008/10/poet-goes-to-indiana-by-mary-oliver.html?m=1
(These are flowers of the michaela alba tree. It has large glossy green leaves, growing to 16” or more with jade-white, magnolia-like flowers that are extremely fragrant. This time of year, the Fort Washington State Park nearby has many of these trees which are native to China, where they are known by the names: yu lan hua or yulania. That’s like my name! When I was a young girl, my father told me that in China daughters were given names of flowers in the hopes that they would grow to be beautiful.)
(A walk in the woods is always surprising….just like life. We can never know what Life will bring our way. I think the best thing to do is appreciate the experience, learn from it, find a way to enjoy it as long as it lasts, then be on standby until the next thing comes along.)
(Mikey and I sit together every morning. This particular morning, she was sitting and I caught her gazing up at the Buddha for the longest time. Now I understand why Buddhist monks in the temples and psychiatrists in their counseling rooms are said to favor the presence of a cat.)
(My feet prefer cotton, they don’t like polyester or nylon—this makes them irritable and sweaty, especially in summer. And it’s getting harder and harder to find cotton socks, or cotton clothing of any kind. I did find socks—but I had to buy six pairs! When my feet are happy, then I’m happy.)😆
(She was the best friend ever and a real winner!)
(Too windy and rainy to go out walking, sitting in my studio and contemplating what to do, the ant turns east….ah ha! there’s a great picture!)
(Rabbits are cool. They have the ability to freeze-run-or-hide out….and without even thinking they know when to do which….lickety-split they just do it! I don’t believe there’s any such thing as a dumb bunny!)
I keep going back to the woods. If you ask me ‘why,’ I couldn’t say for sure. I only know that it’s a feeling, a feeling that I’m home and it’s okay to be me.
(This haiku is offered in the tradition of writing a farewell haiku for the poet’s final remembrance. The line drawing came from an exercise last week in art class: putting dots on paper, then connecting the dots slowly turning orientations of marker and paper, making one long continuous line. I looked, and there was The Archer.
“The Archer” is a stance taken in the practice of kundalini yoga, which I have practice more than 20 years. The Archer draws the bow, aims the arrow, and holds with breath-of-fire and one-pointed focus, one to fifteen minutes. This is a strong warrior pose. The entire body-mind-spirit is filled with full-blooded life.)
(Bumps and bruises—that’s life. This old tree bearing witness to the changing seasons of life, day by day, year after year. A walk in the woods always reminds me to be satisfied and so glad to be alive.)