Where else can it be?
In my last writing I noted the explosion of life in Manitoba - here's a field of canola:
And here are Dana's gardens at the Stanford Inn - she planted wildflowers, where last was a 4-H project - now in summer hiatus.
Nature in explosions of color is happiness. And nature is in continuous change - which is what I wrote about earlier in "The Weather". And embracing change, which is our very nature, is embracing our life and for the I Ching's "superior" man (or woman) leads to success/happiness. But the I Ching guidance is far stronger - embracing our lives is success. And sometimes one has to cross the great river to get to that realization - to that success. We are lucky. Here, in Matlock, the great river is the Red River and in Mendocino it is the Big River. So near and so meaningful.
I am on "vacation" and my ordinary days are broken by this interval which allows time to contemplate the nature of life and in particular the nature of my own life. Everything is "grist" for this mill of contemplation. And what I notice is that this process is identical to that 35 years ago in this very place.
I go away from home to come home. It doesn't have to be Matlock. It can be in a hotel in Scottsdale or Phoenix during a break with Alex to catch a few of the Giant's spring training games. Or, I don't have to leave at all - there is the mental space of the morning in our own bedroom in the Barn after Joan has gone down to feed Murphy - while Gypsy waits for me before getting-up.
These moments are precious and they are bracing, or embracing. And here is joy.
