Sunday, April 22, 2007
the "deck"
Everything copasetic on our end. Nothing so exciting as to warrent a blog post I guess. We finally put together the weight machine Darryl bought two years before we moved here. (Yes we brought the super heavy Canadian made thing from the US to NZ still boxed, thinking some day surely we would make the effort). Now we're working out 6 days a week and doing stretching, walking around the neighborhood...
We made our reservations for the Australia trip...
Tonight's sunset was so gorgeous I had to post another Kapiti shot from the deck. Speaking of our deck... when kiwis say vowels they generally sound to me like the i in "if," so you can imagine what it sounds like when they say "deck." I heard it so many times when estate agents were gushing about the size of a house's deck that I no longer even crack a smile. But I was talking to someone about yoga, and she said, "I love to do it on the deck." Then she stopped and said, "Oh good grief. When I say that does it sound to you like I'm saying d---!?" Cracked me up that it occurred to her.
Posted by Jessica at 6:07 PM
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Sunday, April 08, 2007
meditation day
Went along with a fellow meditator from the weekly sitting group, to the monastery in Stokes Valley (about an hour away) for walking and sitting meditation. Very unstructured, which was actually nice. You could sit the entire time or go out for walking medititation in the simple courtyard. A gorgeous fall day. The Tuis were singing and I saw my first Waxeye (smallest NZ bird) up close when we were leaving. There was a little breeze, but the concrete floor of the courtyard was warm on my socked feet.When the paper went around I signed up for a meeting with the teacher, then realized I had no watch, no clock in the room, no idea where to meet him, and no one to ask who wasn't meditating. Miscalculated the time entirely, and someone came into the meditation hall and whispered into the silence "Is there a Jessica?". Those of you who know me will not be surprised that I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut tight and pretend my name was Nicole. But I met with Bhante --- (I don't think he said his name) and, after I apologized profusely for making him wait he asked me when I began meditating, and still flustered I heard 2005 pop out of my mouth, and it was funny to see how I wanted to go back and let him know I'd been meditating longer and at the same time imagined how odd it would be 2 mintues later to say - Wait it was 2003!! Anyway he answered a question I had about watching the breath quite clearly, which was a big help, despite my mental antics. He asked about prior retreats and was pleased to hear the Bhavana Society and spoke very highly of Bhante Gunaratana.
On a totally separate note we have now been in NZ for one year! I don't think it feels like a year, but there it is.
Labels: bodhinyanarama, meditation
Posted by Jessica at 10:23 AM
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