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    There’s Alot of Yard Work Going On

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    When we were winding up and preparing to be locked out of our jobs, I said to a co-worker that I planned to get out a stepstool and clean the cat hair off of the ceiling fans.

    He replied that he had plenty of yard work to do.

    I was out in the garden for some time this morning.  A squirrel or other garden terrorist had knocked some almost ripe and some green tomatoes off the vine. I brought them inside to turn into something, I don’t yet know what.

    What I thought when I was in the garden picking peppers was that I bet there are a lot of nonessential feds doing yardwork today.

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    Sunshine?

    I was talking to my Dad earlier today.  My parents live on Long Island, where they are in the middle of getting three to six inches of snow.  He said that the weather forecasters indicated that they were just missing having a blizzard, and he was grateful they were not.  For the same reason Long Island is not getting a blizzard, we are seeing sun instead of a couple of inches of snow.  We actually needed the snow.  Last week’s ice was the first precipitation in almost three weeks, and now, once again, a storm has shifted away from us.  It is good to see the sun, but it would be better for the trees to get some rain or snow.

    We get what we get and then we have to choose whether to be happy or sad about it.  I am happy not to be shoveling.  And the chard is starting to come back.  Next week, with highs forecast in the 40s and 50s, I’ll be harvesting again.

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    Morning Walk

    After meditating and breakfast this morning and before meditating more, I took a walk along the short trail on the grounds. I saw several rabbits and some chipmunk/gerbil-like creatures, many different kinds of birds, and a small lizard. Though there were lots of holes on the path, I did not see any snakes, though we have been warned repeatedly to be careful of rattlesnakes, which abound here. To my disappointment, I did not see any members of the bobcat family that had showed themselves to some of the people who had arrived a day early.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Furlough Week Two — Sutras

    First too hot, now cool.

    It wasn’t until the weather cooled and the reality of a second week of work not being done that needs to be done to meet deadlines that the impulse arose to make the first batch of homemade granola of the season.  This batch could be called maple nut granola with raisins.

    Harvested last of the sweet banana peppers and a fire engine red cayenne pepper.  Also picked as a baby one last eggplant before pulling the plant to make way for tat soi.

    Most of the tomatoes I found on the ground still unripe.  With a generous portion of red wine and nice herbs, and the traditional way of cooking them for hours and then running through a food mill, and then reducing until reaching the desired thickness, it won’t matter that the tomatoes ripened on the counter.

    Assorted apples from the farmer’s market.  Dried fruit is different when it goes into the dehydrator within a couple of days of having been picked and early in the season when the apples are best.  An upside of being required to stay around home is that I have been able to experiment with the dehydrator that was a most generous birthday gift.

    There’s a bunch of difficult stuff going on, but there is no need to write about it anywhere except possibly in my journal, for much of it.  And as for the shutdown and its impact on real people around the globe (and all that interconnectedness stuff), I prefer today to write about granola and stuff from the garden.

    Anyway, I’m thinking I would just be preaching to the choir if I wrote another blog post about the importance of trying to keep up and understand as much as possible, speaking with others to shape your understanding and your voice, being in contact with your elected officials and signing petitions, and reaching out to friends and family open to such discussions to invite them to be engaged.

    It is times like these when I think of Patanjali’s sutra:  heyam duhkham anagatam (the pain that has yet to come can be avoided.)  I have contemplated this sutra much over a long period.  It is a good one for when I am reaching into the yoga teachings for insight into how I might respond more optimally under the circumstances at hand, especially that which is entirely out of my control.

    furlough 1a furlough 1b furlough 1c furlough 1d

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