I am reminded again of the exquisite pleasure of seeing movement in a tree, and then, bringing the bird in close, when I read Thomas Merton:
Meadowlark sitting quietly on a fence post in the dawn sun, his gold vest - bright in the light of the east, his black bib tidy, turning his head this way, that way. This is a Zen quietness without comment.
From: The Intimate Merton, ed. Patrick Hart and Jonathan Montaldo, (New York: HarperCollins, 1999: 222
We took quite a journey and ended up after exploring, what appeared unexplored, in New Idria, a former mining town, now a ghost town. We saw very few people on our trip, and could have been the only people in the world, Jeff, Jan, Senna, Steve, and me. Chris and Frieda are in Scotland for Christmas, and I feel I'm there, too, so I'm here and there. They were in Korea before their return to London, and then they flew out to Edinburgh. Through their photos, I'm around the globe. Today they drive to Inverness.
I'm reading a wonderful book by Neil Oliver, A History of Ancient Britain. It allows me to feel the changes humans and pre-humans have undergone, to understand the adaptations to climate change. One day England was connected to Europe and then it was an island, and now, we can see the whole beautiful spinning planet from space.
Tread gently this day, and notice what's under your feet. This moment, so precious, this moment, so one.
