Category: Dharma Journal

Library of Mind

I’ve never been what you would call a library person. By this I mean I’ve not been prone to use municipal libraries except for a time in my preteen years—and only then because I...

Shadow Dance

Shadow and light mingle; they dance together on the table in front of me. Sun, filtered through maple leaves, has found its way through the kitchen window and produced a display on the veined...

Never Deserted

There was a time when most of my hiking was meandering up the trails into the high Cascades. These days, though, I am more likely to head east into the hills and flatlands of...

Auspicious Blossoming

We are wandering in a vast meadow of wildflowers here in the Ochoco mountains. Wandering is our favorite kind of hike; it allows meandering at the whim of intuition. Tarn and I seem to...

Same Old Foolishness

My aging bones welcome the warmth of early summer-like weather, and I cannot resist the temptation to spend time on our back deck. I sit in a faux Adirondack chair overlooking our beautiful garden;...

A Bee Meditation

I sit overlooking our garden and watch the insects, awakened by spring warmth, make their annual appearance. They explore the landscape for flowers and grasses, buzz about, and do whatever they do to play...

Puddling About

Although we are experiencing a moment of spring showers and light snow, the drought continues unabated. I am concerned for the land and animals this year, imagining dried flora and parched throats. The mule...

Subscribing to a Life

In my dream, I come across a new, improved water bottle being advertised to the hiking crowd. It looks like the basic Nalgene wide-mouth bottle, but the lid is odd. The screw-on cap appears...

Dryland

A bright orange, black-speckled butterfly lands on a patch of freshly watered soil near our lavender plant. It repeatedly opens and gently closes its wings—and then I swear it does a little dance, turning...

Falling on the Ground

The garden is calling me to do some work this morning, but first, I need to lay back on the dry winter grass that is beginning to awaken in the warmth of spring. A...