The Zen Of Carrot

 "The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities." -  Shunryu Suzuki

 "When one first seeks the truth, one separates oneself from it." -  Dogen

 "The true purpose [of Zen] is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes." -  Shunryu Suzuki

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as if nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is a miracle." -  Albert Einstein

 "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."   -  Lao Tzu

 "Zen teaches that if we can open up to the inevitability of our demise, we can begin to transform and lighten up about it." -  Allen Klein

 

"When thoughts arise, then do all things arise. When thoughts vanish, then do all things vanish." - Huang Po
 

"Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know." - Pema Chödrön

 

Shakespeare ...

 "What fresh hell is this ... !?!"

 

"Though now this grained face of mine be hid in sap-consuming winter's drizzled snow, and all the conduits of my blood froze  ... "   

... whilst mentioning not mine giblets own!

Age-Old Mystery Solved ...

 It has happened to us all.  Admit it.  You know it has.  Laundry day comes.  You gather up all those dirty clothes and throw them in the washer.  Eventually they get to the dryer and spin about like happy astronauts at zero gravity.  Finally that buzzer sounds and it's time to fold.

Laundry.  One of those never-ending constants that 'they' keep forgetting to mention.  You fold the shirts.  Line up the pant legs so they can be folded nicely.  Make nice squares out of those towels and wash rags.  So on and so forth ad nauseam until eventually it comes down to the socks.  And with equal and annoying eventuality, you inevitably end up with one sock missing.  Or perhaps two. But those two socks surely do not match.  That's how it is.  Where do these socks go?  Who knows.  It is a mystery.

You go back, retracing your steps to see if somehow those miscreants jumped ship as you were ferrying them toward cleanliness.  You recheck the laundry hamper in the hopes that you might have inadvertently missed picking them up.  Maybe there is one lounging languidly somewhere on the floor.  Nope.  They have just disappeared - as if by magic.  Spirited off to some unknown corner of the Universe never to be seen or heard from (not to mention worn) again.  

But friends, I have solved the age-old mystery of the missing sock! One picture is worth a thousand words, but four! ... that's an entire dictionary!

“A sockless man is not to be trusted.”
― Jessi Klein, You'll Grow Out of It

Channeling ...

 

 Mochi is channeling his inner Boris Johnson.

I Is A Frisbee Dog ...

 "Okay, Mochi!  Ready????"

"I said I was ready.  Why is this guy not letting go???"

 

"Finally!  Now we're talking ... "

 "Oops!  Overshot. Should have kept the flaps down ... "

 " Ah!  Nice correction!  I got this!!!! "

 "Don't drop it ... don't drop it ... don't drop it ..."

 "Game, set, match!  Moch, my man, you got it goin' ON! ..."

 " That was a lot of hard work.  I need a little break.  Now where was that big clump of grass?  Ahhh ... "

 "You did NOT just take that picture?!!!! "

 

How Fast They Grow ...

 Well, Mochi was 5 months old as of yesterday.  One would not think that a milestone and yet it was.  For you see, Mochi, that cute little fuzzball, sort of figured out he is a guy.  Yes, my friends, Mochi, hiked his leg.  I think the first time was an accident.  Kind of one of those knee-jerk reactions.  But he was so thrilled with this obvious display of manhood that he ran about hither and yon hiking his leg on anything he could find.  Of course when you are as short as that, even a large clump of grass will do.  And indeed it did.  First was a tree, then the large clump of grass ... and each time he lifted his leg so high he knocked himself over.  Ever the optimist, he kept trying.  "Never, never, never give up!"  Even if you don't really need to go!  So while I'm sorry to see him growing up, I am thrilled to see him gaining some sort of maturity.  Ah, change...

And you know what else?  The lamb lay down with the lion ... and there was peace in the valley. (*Disclaimer: peace was short lived, as peace often is.  Still it is a beginning.  I'll take it.)

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” ― Lao Tzu 

I'm in.

A Queen In Her Own Right

 

 

This is Edna.  Edna was born in Wales and emigrated to the U.S.  She loved it here, but her heart held a special fondness for the place of her birth.  She was a quintessential 'Brit'.  She was my friend.

She was fiercely conservative to my moderately liberal. Yet we always managed to discuss things and found common ground on quite a few fronts.  We always said we could solve the problems of the world if only anyone would listen.

We met about 9 years ago while we were both volunteering. She held a morning shift on two separate days and we would meet at the proverbial 'Changing of the Guard'.  Eventually we became such fast friends that she would just stay over and talk to me.  As time progressed, it became more like Edna holding court surrounded by her loyal subjects. Edna had so many friends in the community, and everyone working in the establishment where we volunteered loved her too.  She was just that kind of person.  Always laughing.  Always joking.  Because, as she said, if you can't have fun, why do it?

 

 As I said, Edna was the quintessential 'Brit'.  Always proper and always with an opinion on the 'right' way.  Witness the look on her face when, having ordered Fish and Chips, the waitress brought out malt vinegar and, heaven forbid!, Catsup.  It is simply NOT done!  She loved all things tea and many's the discussion we had over the merits of Yorkshire Gold (the Queen's favorite) and how you could actually get more than one good 'cuppa' out of just one tea bag.  We went to high tea together.  We ate lunch at her house.  "Do you want a bikkie?", she would ask.  "Proper orange marmalade simply MUST contain Seville oranges."  "People say I am opinionated ... and I am!" ... followed by an infectious laugh.

Edna was feisty, kind, and most always had something nice to say about everyone.  She treated people as she would like to be treated and expected the same in return.  And she thought Emmanuel Macron was about the cutest thing on two legs.  "I may be old, but I'm not dead", she would grin.

Last week Edna left us.  She was 89 years young, as they like to say.  In this case it was true.  She had a brighter mind and a more youthful outlook than a lot of 50 year olds I know.  She lived on simple means but she loved to enjoy the best she could...like French butter.  "It is just so much better", she would say, "and I'm worth it."  Followed by that infectious little giggle.  She was a baker supreme, making the most decadent Dundee fruit cake at Christmas, topped  with royal icing, and sporting not only a layer of apricot preserves, but a layer of almond paste.  It was no mean feat to make either, taking hours to put together and then having to sit for weeks to be just right.  And come Christmas you were lucky indeed if you happened to be one of the recipients.  Tarts ... lemon, mince (using specially made mince made and sent to her from California because it was just SO much better than anything you could buy in a grocery store...) and fresh fruit were often gifted to her friends. Generous to a fault and so appreciative of anything someone did for her.  That was Edna.

 

I will miss her terribly.  Who will I have now with whom to discuss the state of the Royals?  She wanted to outlive the Queen.  I guess it was not to be.  But Edna has the last laugh.  Betty White was quoted as saying: "My mother had a wonderful approach to death. She always thought of it as — she said, 'We know we have managed to find out almost anything that exists, but nobody knows ... what happens at that moment when it's over.'  And she said, 'It's the one secret that we don't know.' So whenever we would lose somebody very close and very dear, she would always say, 'Well, now he knows the secret.' And it took the curse off of it somehow."  Now, Edna, you know the secret.

"Hey, Hey, He-ey, What About Me ...?"

 

Remember Cabra? Remember I said before that when we decided to get Mochi we forgot to ask her?  I mean we thought it was such a good idea.  We thought having a companion would be such a great thing.  We thought it would be just the ticket for giving her a new lease on life.  That was the trouble.  We thought.  And we forgot to ask what she thought.

Okay, admittedly, when we brought Mochi home, things did not go quite as well as we had hoped.  Sure we thought things might be a bit rocky at first until she got used to him. But there we went thinking again.  I learned a lesson.  Don't just think.  Ask.  Asking is good.  Yes, asking is HUGE. Take my advice.  Don't be a non-asker.

So what was so bad?  Well, we did, after all, expect there to be a few snaps and growls.  I mean this IS a puppy and everyone knows puppies, like children, don't come into this world automatically exhibiting social decorum.  The trouble was, well, Cabra is 14 years old.  Plus, Mochi, being a puppy no longer with his mother or siblings, saw a dog!  Another dog!  Oh, boy!!!!  He would try to play and she just wasn't having any of that.  He couldn't understand.  She wouldn't.

Had we asked, it probably would have gone something like this:

  "Cabra, guess what?  We are going to get a puppy!!"

  "A WHAT?!!  No.  You did NOT just say a puppy. Did you?    I'm too old for this ... Shih Tzu "

  "No, really, Cabra.  You don't have to be lonely for Quinn anymore.  And a puppy will give you a new lease on life!"

  "A puppy will give me Weltschmerz."  (I know...I had to look that up too.)

Anyway, long story short, it has taken two months to get to a point where Cabra deigns to mostly tolerate Mochi.  One decided point of contention has not been oh, say, food, as one might think.  Possessiveness of people or toys comes to mind.  No, the point of contention has been this:

See  that magnificent plume of a tail?

How about now?  

You see, from day one, Mochi saw this tail and the quest was on.  Any time Cabra would jump down from the ottoman (no, not the goat), it was like waving a red flag in front of a bull.  Grab for ze tail!  Step to ze side.  Olé!!!  Finally it got to the point where Cabra gave up and just allowed him to grab her tail and as long as he didn't bite down things went pretty well.  But he would grab her tail and then act as though he were shredding the hair.  I have been amazed at not finding hair lying about everywhere unattended, and I am still not sure exactly how this is so.

After awhile, snaps and snarls began to lessen and eventually Cabra learned that if she just sat down, he simply couldn't get to her tail.  Little by little she actually began to play with him.  We still have moments when things devolve into chaos and Mochi gets reprimanded, usually after the dreaded Zoomies have taken possession of his soul. (Remember the Zoomies?)  Yet, ever so slowly, day by day,  we are gaining ground toward a place of complacency.  A place where conflict arises only on occasion and peace abides. Is there such a place?  I don't know about you, but considering the last few years I'm not sure it exists.  Still, it is our holy grail. 

Okay, initially we forgot to ask.   But Cabra has risen to the occasion like the trooper she is.  And when she's not?  Well, she just thumbs her nose at Mochi and says, “I don’t want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough water! I fart in your general direction!” – French Soldier, Monty Python and The Holy Grail.