thoughts on how we fit into the web of community, family and society
Cardinal eying the baby chard. I really ought to start greens inside. Ganesha looks on. The still exuberant saga in front of him was three times the size. It was not hard to find people who wanted some. I also have been offering lots of mint and yarrow. Locals, let me know any time you want to know what’s available for sharing.
These devotional candles were on the fence enclosing a neighbor’s garden. I appreciate the sentiment, and am grateful and have financially supported both.
I am also moved to ask why it is we put people on pedestals. Could it also be in part a way of letting oneself off the hook for doing what is in our capabilities because only the contributions of those who are more than human have real meaning?
Last year I decided to bring this murti of Kuan Yin outside. I asked my neighbor if it was ok, as her parents came here from China, . My neighbor welcomed this presence in the space between our yards and also appreciated that I asked.
What does it mean to be free? To feel free? To honor other people’s freedom while embracing our own?
Last Monday I had the honor and delight to be invited to a multigenerational dinner of homemade dumplings at a neighbor’s house.
I was told it was customary for guests to shape a share of the dumplings; the hosts do everything else. As I have not grown up making dumplings as part of group family activity, that meant I needed first to be shown what to do with the already made dough and filling.
Skills used to make homemade noodles, tortillas, and pizza helped make dumpling shaping an accessible activity. It was tricky at first. Two people were showing me two different ways, which was somewhat confusing in an enjoyable way, and helped emphasize that for friendly dumpling making, ultimately, everyone needs to find their own method that works for them. Also, as with many hand skills, because it was the first first time I was being shown, I was simultaneously transposing it from right to left-handed.
It only took two tries to get a dumpling that wouldn’t explode in the pot and lose its filling. It took several more to make one that had nice pleats and blended in with the rest.
We had an interesting discussion about the difference between learning by eating several variations and then reading several recipes and then trying to replicate a version that resembled what I had eaten prepared by someone who learned from childhood as part of a multigenerational group process.
I have long contemplated, and continue to do so, how my comfort in learning anything from a book and then seeing if I can do it or something like it, has shaped my meditation and movement practices.
It’s pretty easy to see which dumplings I made. No difference in taste. I was also happy to contribute garlic chives from the garden.
To the wind howl and rage, I understand (and listen to) the advice, if one is fortunate enough to be in circumstances to be able to follow it, to stay indoors on the lower levels of your dwelling, and away from the windows.
It is ok to think you are the center of your own world as long as you remember and behave with the awareness that the world is filled with a collective of individual consciousnesses.
I am awed, as I have been every year since I moved here. The fullness of the cherry blossoms.
Do you, too, find yourself unexpectedly observing holidays? I’d forgotten the day when I was moved to make pizza for dinner.
