Truck in the Garden

My walking onions are now flatter than a flitter*. 

Every November, my sweetie backs the pick-up truck filled with firewood over my back door garden. This makes sense to him. Driving over any garden never makes sense to me. 

Views and opinions. There you have it. He has one view; i have another. We do not agree. Yet we do have communal harmony.

For lunch, i made a squash soup with onions from the back door garden. "What's this?" he asked.

"Squash soup with braised truck tire onions," i said.

*Etymology:  German flitter.

‘A minute square of thin metal, used in decoration; collectively, a quantity of such squares

Blue Gentian

Twenty years ago, i met a 72-year-old Master Gardener, Lanice, who couldn't keep up with her many flowerbeds. She gave me a gentian that had been overgrown by a nearby azalea.

Today, i am 72 years old, and i just rediscovered Lanice's blue gentian growing in one of my nursery beds.

Gentian is an herb--one of the ingredients in bitters, which settles the stomach.

Meditation settles our mind. Interestingly, gentian blue settles my heart. When i am wearing this bright blue, i feel safe.

Feeling safe, feeling a lack of fear, anxiety, worry and such, is one of the ingredients of loving-kindness and friendliness.

One of our challenges today is to feel friendly toward those who do not share our views and opinions.  The first response of the amydala might be bitterness, but we are seeking the heart's response. How can you feel safe with "them"? And how might "they" feel safe with you?

Squirrel with Racing Stripes

An urban visitor asked, "Is that a chipmunk?"
I nodded.
He said, "That's only the second chipmunk i've seen in my life. When i first saw it, i thought it was a squirrel with racing stripes."

Oh, the beginner's mind is a joy to observe. It's so creative. It's so open. The beginner's mind hasn't taken on stressful beliefs, views, and opinions like "The chipmunks are eating my tulip bulbs" and "I'm going to trap those darn chipmunks and deport them."

Our own minds are full of stressful thoughts and stressful beliefs. This is one of the reasons we feel so joyful around children: we can look at the world anew through their eyes and let go of stress for a moment or a minute. Blessed relief!

A squirrel with racing stripes.