The cottonwood tree is slowly loosing its leaves, or should I say that the leaves are one by one letting go to float down to their death.
"When the still air and still in summertime
A leaf has had enough of this, it seems
To make up its mind to do; fine as a sage
Its drifting in detachment down the road."
- Howard Nemerov, Threshold
A leaf has had enough of this, it seems
To make up its mind to do; fine as a sage
Its drifting in detachment down the road."
- Howard Nemerov, Threshold
"The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August,
and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair
amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair
amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
When I return from the gym at around 7:20 pm, after teaching yoga or taijiquan, I enjoy walking around in the garden, watering, and just sitting outdoors. The air has cooled somewhat and the sun is very low in the western horizon. The leaves of many plants are beginning to perk up again after a cool drink and less sunshine and heat.
“That beautiful season - the Summer!
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.”
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.”
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Inebriate of Air - am I -
And Debauchee of Dew -
Reeling through endless summer days -
From inns of Molten Blue.”
- Emily Dickinson, No. 214, St. 2, 1860
And Debauchee of Dew -
Reeling through endless summer days -
From inns of Molten Blue.”
- Emily Dickinson, No. 214, St. 2, 1860
"Gardening helps us realize somatically, viscerally, the laws of growth and gradual unfolding. We can't pull the plants up to make them grow, but we can help facilitate and midwife their blooming, each in his own way, time, and proper season. I have learned a little about patience and humility from my gardens. It's so obviously not something I'm doing that creates this miracle! I also like to reflect upon and appreciate the exquisitely, evanescent, transitory, and poignant nature of things in the garden.
If you love the Dharma, you have to farm it.
If you love the Dharma, you have to farm it.
Go to a garden
And just stand in it.
Breathe in the air, the fragrances,
the light, the temperature,
the music of the different plants, insects, birds, worms,
caterpillars, grasshoppers, and butterflies.
Inhale the prana (cosmic energy) of all the abundantly
growing things.
Recharge your inner batteries.
This is the joy of natural meditation."
- Lama Surya Das, "Awakening to the Sacred," 1999
And just stand in it.
Breathe in the air, the fragrances,
the light, the temperature,
the music of the different plants, insects, birds, worms,
caterpillars, grasshoppers, and butterflies.
Inhale the prana (cosmic energy) of all the abundantly
growing things.
Recharge your inner batteries.
This is the joy of natural meditation."
- Lama Surya Das, "Awakening to the Sacred," 1999
The colorful gate pictured above is located at the entrance to our Sacred Circle Garden in Red Bluff, California. The color green symbolizes Earth, yellow symbolizes Air, red symbolizes Fire, and blue symbolizes Water. This photograph was taken two years ago. Some of the plants have nearly doubled in size since then.
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