2012.04.30 _ 20

The last day of April - a green wet day and the sounds of rain on the leaves of my tulip tree. A good day to focus on the shapes and colours of a giant pine cone.

"Where I Hide: Ordinary Space, Available Light"

It's been five days since I made a 99-Days entry. The hermitage has been crawling with loud people and vehicles for over a week now . . . No half-hour goes uninterrupted. As grateful as I am that the neighborhood seems to have made a "block party" out of demolishing my former dwelling, it will be a relief when the job's done and I have my "peace and quiet" back.

Thus, a photo I took this morning of the MESS.

http://hermitdog.com/99-Days/trailer_3.JPG edited 17:15, 30 Apr 2012

So, after my little rant here yesterday... ;-) Today, everyone and his dog wanted to email me, so I'm off to a slow start...

Fitness. Walking. Today I had a lesson...

Every month, at our condominium complex, I create a set of posters to go around the place with "Tip of the month" on them. These are extracts from our handbook (rules and regulations). Before I took over this, a year ago, the posters were stridently didactic - perhaps written by an ex-sergeant major, and guaranteed to have many people upset. I have softened the tone and put photos from our garden on them. Consequently, everyone now likes the artwork, looks forward to them, and thinks the messages are wonderful. :) Today, being the end of the month, it was picture taking day, and I'll be creating the poster for tomorrow later on. (One snap attached above.) Before I snapped the photos, I took down the recycling, and I met a nice little old man in the elevator who gets around very VERY slowly with a walker. When I went down to the garden - suitably protected from the blazing sunlight and the caustic UV by a big sunhat (even though it's only 77° out at the moment), I saw the little man coming slowly back from having trundled laboriously to the end of the block. When I came back in, he'd passed the condo complex and was heading to the other corner of the block. Lesson: if he can do it in his state, what's my excuse?! edited 19:54, 30 Apr 2012

A friend kindly took me to see my art club exhibition today. I have a painting entered but they have only sold one painting in three weeks. Was thinking that perhaps people are moving away from the static nature of paintings. Or is that just me with the abundance of graphics I get in SL?

Karuna-metta this evening, and earlier today an Eckhart Tolle video that I've often found particularly comforting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jieOJjD3uAY. He has a way of showing up the space around things, which fits with something I have been noticing the last few days... that there is awareness of how easy it would be, but also optional, to pick up a certain kind of mind, to use a strange phrase.

In this case I have felt the edges of a certain kind of sadness or feeling of discouragement, but simultaneously guidance from awareness that I can just see and acknowledge that in a healthy/spacious way... don't have to get on the train ... leave it be. This doesn't mean I don't feel anything, just that it is seen in openness.