About a week or so ago I posted something about how it was really getting to be fall. Now we've had our first fall rain (as opposed to all that summer rain) and, after initially warming up when the clouds were rolling in, the temperature plummeted. My tomato vines are clinging to life out in the garden, and I plan on pulling them out this weekend. The spinach I planted last month has suddenly bushed out (well, the ones that the cats and toddler left in the ground). The shelling peas are taking off skyward.
The new Czicken Palazz is almost finished, after the House Bean and I put in a sustained effort last weekend.
The Fall Ango period for the Eugene Zendo began a week and a half ago. This is a 90-day period of intensified practice. I've made Ango commitments to sit Zazen every day for at least 20 minutes (what I do first thing in the morning) and to finally read Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Suzuki Roshi. Well, I started out by carrying the book around in my bag for a week, but I wasn't getting time to actually read. Then I got a chance to sit and read at some point last weekend, so I put in a few pages. Realized that I had made the commitment to read, but didn't commit to understand, so that took some of the pressure off. Hell, them Zen masters are always telling us not to cling to understanding, anyway. More progress was made this week, because I discovered that I could download the audiobook of it, so I can listen to it while I am grading papers. And will probably listen to it again, and again.
