Hallelujah!

Two Sunflowers

First report from Grailville, where our retreat starts tomorrow.  Since I am almost surely not going to be able to do all the sits, I have brought amusements - books, a manuscript, the netbook, colored pencils and drawing paper and erasers and little sharpener, very compact art supplies.  Right away I was sorry I didn't bring water colors.  Extra batteries for the camera, and the above picture of our front porch tested whether I could download pictures. Miracle - the wireless internet is not only in the coffee shop, but in our rooms!  Until I set up and found that out, I felt oddly lonely, though Tom and I can still talk, and are in adjoining rooms.  But we won't talk after first sit tomorrow evening.

I brought every conceivable garment for cold weather down to heavy socks and scarves, and wouldn't you know it was 86 degrees today. 

For my Zen friends, this is an easy retreat.  Sit about 8 hours spaced through the day, and you don't have to go to all the sits - no one will come after you.  It is odd in that many participants will not be students of
Zen, yet; Ama Samy is also a Jesuit priest, and attracts many Catholics from the area. . . For my non-Zen friends it is an unthinkable ordeal.  Added to all that sitting is the silence, which is pretty well observed.  Wbat, not talk for a week?!  At more formal Zen retreats, not talking usually supposes not reading or writing, which is a lot of effort, though I enjoy the silence.  I might continue to blog. It could be interesting to chronicle the inner weather.  Or I might just post the day's photo.

And oh yes - we learned on ther way down (by cell) that my transplant surgery is scheduled for Oct. 12.