Mar 7

It is time to sow poppy seeds in the snow.

http://www.onestoppoppyshoppe.com/

Rain, estimated at 2-3 inches, fell all night, filling the tributary to Love Brook. The rivulets ran under the ice in the driveway, melting, melting.

The dogwood is budding even though the tree trunk is still under a foot of snow.

Yay, I say.

Mar 6

For a continuation from yesterday of the remaining 4 siddhis :

5. Prapti - reaching the sun and moon

6. Prakamya - invisibility

7. Vashitvam - taming wild animals and storms

8. Ishitvam - power of divine

Sure, why not?

Meanwhile, Buddha begins to emerge, the snow fleas are visible on the melting ice, and it's weigh-in day. Eeeks.

Mar 5

Four of Eight Siddhis (Powers):

1. Anima: becoming small
2. Mahima: becoming large
3. Laghima: light as a feather
4. Garima: heavy as a mountain


Having already studied small, large and heavy, I am working on light as a feather, laghima. It's easier than I think.

Go Fourth!

Canadian Air Minus Ten

Those Canadians are breathing in through curled tongues for a colder breath. Sitali pranayama, breathing through a curled tongue, is supposed to be cooling and refreshing.

I skinny skied from the cabin at the very southern point of the lake to the narrows yesterday, that place where the water from the middle lake empties into third lake,

and where the waves also form a shape like a curled tongue.

And actually it was cooling and refreshing despite the bitter cold.

Today the sun is out again in a cloudless pale blue winter sky from the skylight, calling us forth, "It's the Fourth! Go Fourth!"

It's as compelling as the Rose Window in the National Cathedral.

3-3-11

To be a teacher one assumes there will be students.

To be a physician one assumes there will be patients.

To be a healer one assumes there will be disease.

To be a perfect shovel one assumes there will be perfection.

So it is.

And then we have lunch.

Mar 2

We know what today holds.

Shouldn't there be a little more surprise to it? Well, yes. It was a surprise to discover we had to snowshoe in to the lake. The 4 wheel drive could not even get us close. So we loaded the sled with "stuff", and hauled it down through snow sometimes as deep as the thigh.

Today after breakfast, we shovel.

It's a lamb day.

*Rabbit Rabbit*

March comes in this year like a rabbit/lamb, and the day begins as a very still and balmy 22 degrees. But waiting until after sunrise,

the heat brought the wind, the wind brought the howling,

the howling brought the lions, and the lions brought the fever.

No, it was the other way around; the fever brought the lions. One of my colleagues gave me this lion picture he had taken. He went on safari in Africa and came back with a recurrent fever. I gave him a picture of his blood cells, nicely labeled. He returned the favor with a picture of lions.

And now March is here. In like a rabbit/lamb/dog/lion/Plasmodium. Too much coffee.

Tibbar Tibbar

The perfect fruit, without blemish.

And the winner is...

Orange ya glad I didn't say banana?

Feb 27

Good morning!

Another two inches of snow overnight,

on top of what fell yesterday.

This is like counting the recent pounds showing up on the scale.

But like spring snow, this weight will melt quickly.

(Because God, Angels and the Miraculous are on my side,

enlightened, weightless, ethereal without gravity)

Today my job is to buy a beautiful place mat,

napkin, dinner setting, fine utensils, a glass and candles.

And one perfect fruit.

Aw Jeez, will that be a mango, a pomegranate,

a cluster of grapes, a banana?

Feb 26

Four inches of wet snow in the morning,

stuck to and covered the clothesline,

then dissolved under an afternoon of rain.

All that's missing is Color.

Silks.

Acrobats.

Music.

The shape of things to come.

Christmas in February

Don Juan and Don Genaro discussed cords projecting from the navel center. It was the cord method that Don Genaro used to take himself from one spot to another, like across a chasm or canyon in the desert, or to climb up a steep cliff like Spidey. That would be some Christmas present to be able to do that.

The navel is the center for fire, determination, accomplishment. That navel cord is sometimes like the power washer on the recent commercial that gets out of hand and sprays all the dishes off the table, or in this case, burns up the table. There is a specific Sanskrit name for fire burning out of control. But all I can see is Carrie, and man, is she pissed.

Meanwhile I am thinking of incinerating the scale that's blinking heavy with an upward trend, and the free weights on the floor gathering dust. Tap, tap, tap.

Feb 24

This morning I have been thinking about the physician's code, Primum non nocere. This is Latin for "First, do no harm." It is the same as one of the tenets of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, Ahimsa, the Sanskrit for nonharming. But self-help gurus all caution to put statements in the positive, not the negative.

The physician's code restated in the positive would be as follows: First, help; Or, First, assist; Primum adiuvo.

Or, First, bless.

Primum benedicere.

I think I will write to the American Medical Association, or publish in the New England Journal of Medicine. They've been waiting to hear this.

Feb 23

It is said that "deer and supervisors don't look up", so it is easiest to hide in the realm overhead, if you want to hide.


Maybe that is why we have so many things hanging down from the ceiling, drawing our attention from eye level upward. Maybe that's it.

Some hang over the vents and clack when the furnace kicks on. "Notice me!"

The real estate at the top of the room is at a premium. All the hooks are taken. This entry is waiting for a caption, a conclusion. Jim is waiting for me in the car at the top of the hill so we can go to breakfast. Daisy is sleep-eyed and stumbly. The sun is shining in a light blue sky. I need to look down and put my socks on.

GW's BDay

What a coincidence!

The turkeys have come to visit and it's George Washington's Birthday!

The turkeys eat sunflower seeds, not cherries. They don't have wooden teeth. The hens don't sew flags. And they scatter like chickens when you go to greet them.

Feb 21

Elusive sleep. This early morning I am on the bat schedule. Daisy is snoring now after previously looking up sleepily, wondering if we were going outside at 2 AM. There's decaf in the cup, and popular culture from Yahoo on the screen. Having tried everything else, maybe I should hang upside down and echolocate.