September
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September 1, Thursday, 2005

Worked for CUESD from 7:30 am to 4 pm.  Focused on managing grant projects, placing orders, and staying on timelines.  

Exercise at the Tehama Family Fitness Center after work.  Weightlifting for 40 minutes, then taught Yoga for 75 minutes.  I shared information about B.K.S. Iyengar with them, and read them a quote from him.    

I had some nice feedback recently from readers of Green Way publications.  I greatly appreciate the kind remarks people send to me:

"Mike,   Thanks for your poetry on the garden digest site.  You've really been able to do the minimalist zen poetry, and still say something, sometimes to my brain, sometimes to my heart, sometimes to my gut, sometimes to somewhere in between.  I also enjoyed the pictures of your housesite 'growing'.   If you ever pass through Corvallis, OR, we have a zen meditation group that sits on Sunday morning.   
Reflecting on tranquility 
Laughing with the sky   
Take care, Rich"

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September 2, Friday,  2005

"The secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all
the details of daily life, and in elevating them to art."
-  William Morris

Updated my Yoga Class webpage and yoga class flyer.

Prepared the trifold brochure for the Tehama County Commission on Aging.

Updated side links to biographical data.  

Walking and Taijiquan at dawn.  Weightlifting for 30 minutes, spin cycling class led by Tonya, Taiji with Kevin Weaver.  

Watering, gardening, and home improvement projects on the new Green Room.   

Started studying the ACE Personal Fitness Trainer manual for upcoming PFT exam in November.  

Green Way: From the Ground Up   Quotes, brief comments and links related to gardening, nature mysticism, Green Spirituality, and Zen.  By Mike Garofalo of Red Bluff, California.  

Valley Spirit Journal  Notes, comments, daily activities log, web notebook, links, references, bibliography, observations, fitness notes, etc..  By Mike Garofalo of Red Bluff, California.  

T'ai Chi Ch'uan  
Yang Style  
Sun Style  
Sword  
Staff  
Saber 
Cloud Hands 
Qigong 
Links  
Chen Style   
Bagua  
Yang 24  
Sun 73  
Bibliography  
 

September 3, Saturday, 2005

Walking and Tai Chi at dawn.  Gardening and home improvement projects.  Clean up Blue Room.  Building shelves for the Green Room.  Mild temperatures all day.  Added some references from T'ai Chi magazine.  A bit sore from 5 days of weightlifting.  

The Spirituality of Gardening.  By Donna Sinclair.  Kelowna, BC, Canada, Northstone Publishing, Wood Lake Book, 2005.  Bibliography, 159 pages.  ISBN: 1896836747.  MGC.  Themes treated include: connections, balance, memory, healing, hope, spiritual practice, and resistance.  This book includes substantial portions, with my permission, of my History of Gardening Timeline.    

Added links to numerous Spirit of Gardening webpages.

September 4, Sunday, 2005

Left-hand Tantric games from 4:30 am until Noon.  
  

Society for Human Sexuality  

Tantra Archive - Society for Human Sexuality

"In this body the central Great Axis, Mount Meru, the spinal column, is surrounded by seven islands. These islands are named Prana (the vital force), blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow and Soma (seed/ova). There are rivers and seas, all the stars and planets, sacred pilgrimage places, shrines and presiding deities. In this body, Brahmanda (the egg of Brahma), there is the nectar-rayed moon atop the spinal column; it turns its face downward, and rains nectar day and night. The ambrosia from the moon subdivides into two subtle parts. One ray nourishes the body like sacred waters, and descends as a subtle channel on the left side; her name is Ida. The other ray, brilliant as the purest milk, enters the central nerve of the spinal column in order to maintain and recreate the moon in its proper place atop the central Great Axis. Its name is Susumna. At the lower region of the Great Axis of Mount Meru is the Sun, located within the body itself. From the Inner Sun, situated at the solar plexus, a subtle channel emanates to the right of the body, carrying solar flame upward by the power of its rays. His name is Pingala. Pingala moves through the body, swallowing up vital secretions and leading the spirit to Liberation. Lord Surya, the Sun, moves through the vessel of the body. Who knows this microcosm of the body and experiences its mysteries truly reaches the highest state."
-  Siva Samhita

Many schools of metaphysics acknowledge a principle of manifestation i.e., the more energy that goes into a thought, the more likely it will "come into being."  As a man thinketh, so he is.  

"To experience the fullness of human experience, we need passivity and receptivity as well as assertion. We need a sense of mystical wonder as well as rational problem solving. We need to be in touch with what the psychoanalyst Carl Jung called "the shadow" -- the weak, limited, degraded, sinful side of ourselves as well as the strong, loving, compassionate, competent side. We need to move out from under the onus of our egocentric way of viewing life; to abdicate control as well as to take it. Masochistic submission, in centering on lack, inadequacy and weakness, puts us in touch with the entirety of our humanity. Full humanity requires surrender to the down side of life as well as the upside. Religious penitents knew of the soul's need for suffering. They knew that it keeps us from having hubris, or the pride that keeps us in the limited perspective of having too much faith in our competence and abilities. The Christian and Eastern mystics knew that. "Humiliation is the way to humility and without humility, nothing is pleasing to God," says St. Francis of Assissi."
-  Dorothy C. Hayden, CSW

Kink in the Movies  Informative catalog of films on subject.

September 5, Monday,  2005

“Aurora hail, and all the thousand dies,
Which deck thy progress through the vaulted skies:
The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays,
On every leaf the gentle zephyr plays;
Harmonious lays the feathered race resume,
Dart the bright eye, and shake the painted plume.”
- Phyllis Wheatley, A Hymn to the Morning
Green Way Wisdom - Dawn

Being an earlier riser has enabled me, over the years, to enjoy thousands of beautiful sunrises. In the late summertime, in the North Sacramento Valley, the mornings are cool, clear, quiet, and possess an subtle earthy smell. A little dew has settled on the lawns and shrubs. Automobile traffic is minimal. Skies have a few clouds over the Cascades. The nearby mountains loom larger in the deep shadows of dawn, before the sun fully rises to the north of Mt. Lassen. Birds are always busy at dawn’s light. All the past rainy season’s wild grasses have withered in the hot, dry summer air until they are now a soft subtle brown hue. A few trees in our yard, the White Birch (Betula pendula) for example, are now showing lots of yellow in their leaves - the first strong signs of approaching autumn. It is a wonderful time to be up and walking about! An excellent time for practicing T’ai Chi Chuan or Qigong.

Susan Crowe sent me the following poem:  

"Cavalier and foreign bred, 
Quite a catch but never wed, 
Monsieur Lilac looks astute, 
Tall and regal in his suit. 
He bereaves me of all words, 
Matters not, quite how absurd, 
In his bowtie and silk cape 
Of respectful, deepest grape ...
Pervading me like a musk, 
Possessing me dawn 'til dusk."
-  Susan Crowe, French Lilac

Flowers

The grape gains its purple tinge by looking at another grape.
[Latin: Uvaque conspecta livorem ducit ab uva.]
      - Juvenal (Decimus Junius Juvenal), Satires (II, 81)

We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.
-  Marcus Aurelius

No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
-  Epictetus  

The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
-   Galileo Galilei    

In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.
-  John Steinbeck

Grapes and Wine

Labor Day Holiday: a nice warm summer day.  

September 6, Tuesday, 2005

Work for CUESD from 7:30-4 pm.  We held our first Reading First Grant meeting this morning.  

Exercise at TFFC: Weightlifting for 40 minutes, teach yoga class for 75 minutes.  

The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language, and Human Culture.  By Frank R. Wilson.   New York, Vintage Books, Random House, 1999.  Index, bibliography, notes, 396 pages.  ISBN: 0679740473.  MGC.  

September 7, Wednesday, 2005

"I have studied many philosophers and many cats. 
The wisdom of cats is infinitely superior."
-   Hippolyte Taine

Worked for CUESD from 7:30-4.  We held our first Enhancing Education Through Technology Grant meeting today.  

Weightlifting for 40 minutes, spin cycling class for 30 minutes led by Tonya, and Yogalates class for 45 minutes led by Lauren.  

Reading:

"Hua Tuo's Five Animal Frolics," Zhou Lishang.  T'ai Chi: The International Magazine of T'ai Chi Ch'uan: Vol. 29, No. 4, August, 2005, pp. 42-49.  Translation by Yan Shufan.  A detailed article on how to do the Frolics.  This version of the Frolics set was developed by the Shanghai University of Sports and approved by the State Physical Culture and Sports Bureau. The articles includes set by set photos, instructions, and some very interesting illustrations from the Ma Wang Dui Tomb No. 3 findings.    

September 8, Thursday,  2005

Worked for CUESD from 7:30-4.  Lots of follow up from grant meetings and ordering EETT3 equipment and supplies.  

Exercise at TFFC: Weightlifting for 40 minutes, teach yoga class for 75 minutes. Lots of chatting and laughing in a class of 6.  

Our young cat, King Tut, was injured and had to be taken to the Vet by Karen.  Some other animal ripped open his abdomen.  He purred through the surgery.   

Feedback from readers:

"Love the walking quotes.  Thanks a lot!"
-  John Harris, Walking Herts, Hertsfordshire countryside, UK

"Mike, thank you for this website.  I have been trying to find information about using canes and staffs for self defense.  When I go for walks, I use a cane and would like to know how to use it for self defense.  Being only 5'1", I think I might be attacked because some person would think that I am an easy target.  
Boy, would I prove them wrong since I am also taking Kenpo Karate.
Again, thank you for your website."
-  Sherryl Treen

This and That:

We have had excellent results with prune plum trees in our yard. We grow  the Improved French Prune (Prunus domestica, L.) with the Mariana 2624 rootstock.  

• Over 99% of the prunes grown in the United States are grown in California.
• Approximately 1400 growers farm 81,000 bearing acres of prunes in California.
• In 1997 the crop totaled 220,000 tons valued at approximately $210 million.
• California grows almost 70% of the total world production of dried prunes.

       Crop Proflies - Prune Plums

Walking and Taijiquan at dawn.  Quite stiff and sore all day from all the heavy weightlifting this past week.  

Watering, gardening, mowing lawns and home improvement projects on the new Green Room.   

Reading the ACE Personal Fitness Trainer manual for upcoming PFT exam in November.  

************************

Worked on developing new email contact forms for all the Green Way Research websites.  I first looked a software that allows you to use Dreamweaver or Front Page to create the interface contact email or poll form, then convert it into PHP server scripts with a piece of third party software, e.g., From Processor Pro.  Then, you would put it up on your own server, or your customer's server.  They have software for $30 for Perl or PHP.  I would  like to do this in the long run, as I learn more about PHP.  A second solution, is to use the servers of a commercial host who offers you a customized online form designer software that produces a script that you insert into your own webpage.  There are many companies that offer this service.  I chose to go with My Contact Form.  Their form design software seemed fairly easy to use and robust.  You can experiment for free for awhile with them.  They charge $20 a year for their Premium Service package, which I purchased.  You can only use this software on websites that you own.  I used the online My Contact Form designer software to develop the contact forms and host the server side scripts.  I now have more current and full-featured e-mail contact forms for all my websites:

1.   General Simple    

2.   General (with attachments upload capability).   

3.   Gardening, Timeline, Quotes     

4.   Poetry (Haiku, Concrete, Cuttings), Journals/Blogs     

5.   Mind-Body Arts (Taiji, Yoga, Qigong, Meditation, Fitness)    

6.  Karen's E-mail Form     

7.  Other E-mail Form

8.  Poll Survey #1    

9.  Poll Survey #2   

10.  

************************ 

Reading a new yoga book:

Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom.  By B.K.S. Iyengar, with John J. Evans and Douglas Abrams.  Rodale Press, c 2005.  Index, 282 pages.  ISBN: 1594862486.  MGC.  A very well written book on the yoga lifestyle, written by the great modern yoga master, B.K.S. Iyengar, 1918-.  

"What does it mean to be a Druid today? Above all else, Druidry means following a spiritual path rooted in the green Earth. It means participating in a living Western spiritual tradition drawn from many sources, including surviving legacies from Celtic wisdom teachings, but embracing the contributions of many peoples and times. It means learning from archaic traditions, from three centuries of modern Druid scholarship, and from the always changing lessons of the living Earth itself. It means embracing an experiential approach to religious questions, one that abandons rigid belief systems in favour of inner development and individual contact with the realms of nature and spirit."
John Michael Greer, Druidry – A Green Way of Wisdom

What is a Druid?

"It is now apparent that the ecological pragmatism of the so-called pagan religions...was a great deal more realistic in terms of conservation ethics than the more intellectual monotheistic philosophies of the revealed religions."
-  Prince Philip  

Seven Gifts of Druidry

Adapted from Philip Carr-Gomm.  

1.  Developing a philosophy of interconnectedness with natural world.

2.  Utilizing techniques for getting back in touch with nature.  

3.  Following practices that promote healing and nurturing.   

4.  Affirming life as a journey.   

5.  Exploring ways to open up to other realities.  

6.  Committing to ongoing self-development.   

7.  Allowing magic and enchantment into one's life.      

“We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.”
- E.B. White  
Green Way Wisdom - Simplicity

Many of our grape vines are loosing their leaves. I spent some time today removing vines and cleaning up. We did not have a large crop of grapes this year, compared to last. Nevertheless, we enjoyed more than enough grapes. We have six different varieties of grapes on our property.
As I worked, I would uncover hidden bunches of ripe grapes. I filled a basket with these beautiful grapes. Working in the sun and eating ripe grapes. Now this was joy!

Taught Tai Chi from 10-11 and Yoga from 11-12:15 at TFFC.  This was the first Saturday class I have taught since last June.   

Typefonts change in this journal because I cut and paste so much from other websites and sources.  

Comments from readers:

"And while I'm throwing a whole lot of the world's glorious things at you, I will tell you that one of my favorite websites to stroll through is Michael Garofalo's Spirit of Gardening, which has a lot to say about complexity and simplicity."
-  Lisa Shamess, "The Ten Thousand Things" in the truth hurts.

       Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Somebody Still Screams Somewhere

Walking and TaiChi for 90 minutes at dawn.  Work on Green Room improvements: new rug, window blinds, reshelving, clean up.  Watering.  Lunch at Tokyo Garden in Redding with Debbie, Jordan, Karen and I.  Relax, read, watch TV in the afternoon and evening.  

A beautiful day: very cloudy everywhere and with immense thunderclouds over the Southern Cascades.  Temperatures in the high 70's most of the day.  Many trees starting to show an autumn tint.  

Books alone, however well written, or richly stored with facts, cannot teach all that is necessary to be know about the subject; they can only act as a guide. We must examine the work of the past, and note down errors of practice that have led to failures for rectification; so as to go forward with additional experience and a firm resolve to merit success in the new year.
- T. W. Saunders, 1887
Green Way Wisdom - Learning

A philosopher should always look to the reality of the local situation, here and now, facts and information based on direct observations and practical experience, scientifically established generalizations, reasonableness, integration with goals and objectives, economics, deductive and inductive logical reasoning, broadminded ethical principles, self-interest, and common sense to help them decide how to think and act on some matter.  Book learning can help with this process - if the books meet many of the above criteria for investigation and making reasonable judgments.  When a book, no matter how ancient or how revered by "believers" is incompatible with some or all of the above criteria for making reasonable judgments, then ignore the book.  Books can be valued guides, use them wisely.    

Walking and Taiji for 90 minutes at dawn.  Working on 3rd section of Yang Taijiquan 108 form and another section of the Sun Taijiquan 73 competition form.  Watering yard and weeding.  Take Oreo in for vaccinations.  Do Aging trifold brochure for TCA.  

Starting at 4:30 at TFFC:  Weightlifting for 40 minutes, spin cycling class for 30 minutes led by Tonya, and Yogalates class for 45 minutes led by Lauren.  

"I have found, through years of practice, that people garden in order to make something grow; to interact with nature; to share, to find sanctuary, to heal, to honor the earth, to leave a mark.  Through gardening, we feel whole as we make our personal work of art upon our land."
-   Julie Moir Messervy, The Inward Garden, 1995, p.19

Gardening, indeed, is a "practice" in the loose sense of an activity we engage in regularly, although the activity is not required as a livelihood or as providing a vital needed supplement to the table.  It is, in some sense, the practice of an amateur, as contrasted with that of a professional gardener.  In another sense, gardening as a "practice," engaged in as are yoga or taiji, is a "practice" that involves the sense of gardening as a activity that supports and enhances our spiritual quest for integration, peace, inner well-being, artistic expression, and mystical insight.   

“We think in generalities, but we live in detail.”
- Alfred North Whitehead

“Details are all there are.”
- Maezumi Roshi, Zen Master

“God is in the details.”
- Mies Van Der Rohe

Green Way Wisdom - Learning

We planted many starts for winter crops today: Swiss chard and cabbages. We are clearing out summer vegetables that are past their peak, weeding, and starting to transplant a few strong trees and shrubs from pots into the ground as the daytime temperatures continue to drop. Our main planting season for trees and shrubs is in October and November, when it is cooler and the rain returns.

All of these activities are, of course, just details. Particular trees and not the Forest. The specifics rather than the generalities, parts not wholes, concretes not abstractions, snapshots and not the Big Picture. And, thankfully, we are blessed by being able to flourish in this fecund complexity and revel in the details.

Very busy with some “details” related to this Green Way blog and with my e-mail contact forms. Callista Wolf redesigned the Green Way Blog. We will be adding some new graphics in the coming weeks. This focus on details helps me learn quite a bit about website design and management.

I’ve been out and about in the blog world. Exploring new blogs and learning about the search engines in this expanding field of web publishing. I keep all my notes in my Valley Spirit Journal. My notes, for example, about learning to create e-mail contact forms are in an entry in that Journal.

Cloud Water Assembly: Zen poems and sayings, resources, sutras, and stylish photographs.

Work for CUESD from 7:30-4 pm.  EETT grant reports and Room 9 planning.  

Exercise at TFFC: Weightlifting for 40 minutes, then I taught the yoga class for 75 minutes.  

"Steep is the way to mastery. Often nothing keeps the pupil on the move but his faith in his teacher, whose mastery is now beginning to dawn on him. He is a living example of the inner work, and he convinces by his mere presence."
-  Eugen Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery

I have been so very fortunate to have many fine teachers, many gurus, many wise persons to learn from, to model, to imitate.  
My library is filled with the keen insights and wise words about life and living from such persons as: D. T. Suzuki, Bertrand Russell, B.K.S. Iyengar, Georg Feuerstein, Albert Ellis, Anne Dillard, Aristotle, Carl Jung, Thomas Cleary, Frederick Nietzsche, Star Hawk, Thomas Mann, J. Krishnamurti, etc.. And, the list or worthy minds grows larger and larger each year.  These masters inspire me, encourage me, draw me forward and upward, set a standard for accomplishment that convinces me to continue with the inner work for ten more lifetimes.  

Some recent adventures included: 

The Zen Guide   

The Ten Bulls by Kakuan   

Eastern Philosophy   

101 Zen Stories

Terebess Asia Online   

Becoming Whole: Jung or Zen

Work for CUESD from 7:30-4 pm. 

Exercise at TFFC starting at 4:30 pm: Weightlifting for 40 minutes, spin class for 30 minutes led by Tonya, then I taught the Yogalates class for 45 minutes as a substitute for Lauren. 

Work for CUESD from 7:30-1:00 pm.  We had a CUESD management group meeting.  Medical appointment with Dr. Anderson for dermatology.   

Exercise at TFFC starting at 3:30 pm: Weightlifting for 40 minutes, attend Pilates class taught by Tonya, then I taught the yoga class from 5:30 to 6:45 pm.

"We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry."
-  E.B. White  

The Ultimate Male Masturbation Resource  This website has expanded and improved since 1996.  Good information!  

"It is being increasingly recognized in mental health circles that masturbation can relieve depression and lead to a higher sense of self worth. Masturbation can also be particularly useful in relationships where one partner wants more sex than the other—in which case masturbation provides a balancing effect and thus a more harmonious relationship.

Both from the standpoint of avoiding unwanted pregnancy and that of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, masturbation is the safest of sexual practices. There is no credible scientific or medical evidence that manual masturbation is damaging to either one's mental or physical health."
-  Masturbation - Wikipedia

Did you know that one Surgeon General of the United States, Jocelyn Elders, M.D., got into trouble with politicians because she suggested that health and sex educators should teach people about masturbation?  Bravo Dr. Elders - you were correct!  However, Dr. Elders presented too radical an idea for the Christian and Islamic "Right" Coalition of the 1990's.   Just think of the millions of people who would not have AIDS if they had masturbated instead of exchanging bodily fluids in sexual activity with another infected person.   

So ...  we should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only watering the lawn, stretching out on our bed and masturbating, or taking a long walk.  

Walking and Taiji for 90 minutes at dawn.  Then at TFFC: weightlifting for 30 minutes, spin class with Tonya for 30 minutes, and Taiji with Kevin for 1 hour.  

Watering and weeding in the garden.  

What do John Roberts and George Bush think about Roe vs. Wade?  Roberts refuses to say, and Bush doesn't care about how people get out of New Orleans. 

Walking and Taiji for 90 minutes at dawn.  Taught Tai Chi class from 10-11, and yoga class from 11-12:15.  

silence
seeks the center
of every tree and rock,
that thing we hold closest-
the end of songs
-   Michael McClintock, Letters in Time

Michael McClintock sent me a copy of his new book:

Letters in Time: Sixty Short Poems.  By Michael McClintock.  South Pasadena, California, Hermitage West, 2005.  75 pages.
ISBN: 097702590X.  Hermitage West: P. O. Box 124, South Pasadena, CA 91031-0124.  HermitageWest@aol.com.  

Mike and I were colleagues and friends for many years when we worked as administrators for the County of Los Angeles Public Library.  He introduced me to the literature of many haiku and tanka poets, and we shared many a lively conversation about people and places.  

His new volume of short poems include a number that will resonate with those whose heart can embrace romance and love.  His concise art continues to be strong, sensitive, and clear to the core.  

Currently reading:

The Flight of the Eagle.   By J. Krishnamurti.  New York, Harper and Row, 1971.  159 pages.  MGC.

Light on Yoga.  B.K.S. Iyengar.  New York, Schocken Books, 1966, Revised Edition 1977.  Glossary, index, 544 pages.  ISBN: 0805210318.  MGC.  Subtitle: Yoga Dipika.  

Yoga: The Poetry of the Body.  By Rodney Yee with Nina Zolotow.  Photographs by Michal Venera.  New York, Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Press, 2002.  Index, appendices, 345 pages.  ISBN: 0312273312.  MGC.  

Watch USC vs Arkansas football game on FSN. The USC football team, ranked the #1 college football team in the USA, for the third year in a row, defeated Arkansas 70-17.  The USC offense is very impressive to everyone.   Over 92,000 fans came to the Los Angeles Coliseum to watch this game.     

Walking and Taiji at dawn for 90 minutes.  Finished work on the Tehama County Commission on Aging (TCCA) brochures and put up an information webpage for the TCCA.  Watering in the afternoon.  

"The Moon festival (also called the Mooncake or Mid-Autumn festival) falls on September 18th in the year 2005. What is the Moon festival? Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese celebrate "zhong qui jie." Children are told the story of the moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface. The legend surrounding the "lady living in the moon" dates back to ancient times, to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer, Hou Yi, to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, the Goddess of the Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal. However, his wife, Chang Er, found the pill, took it, because Hou Yi was a tyrant, and was banished to the moon as a result. Legend says that her beauty is greatest on the day of the Moon festival. 

Today, Chinese people celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival with dances, feasting and moon gazing. Not to mention mooncakes.  While baked goods are a common feature at most Chinese celebrations, moon cakes are inextricably linked with the Moon festival. Roughly the size of a human palm, these moon cakes are quite filling, meant to be cut diagonally in quarters and passed around."

Moon Festival

Moon Festival

Moon Festival Legends

Walking and Taijiquan at dawn.  Working on 3rd section of Yang Taijiquan 108 form and another section of the Sun Taijiquan 73 competition form.  Completed paperwork.  Work for CUESD from 1-4 at Tehama County Department of Education for a library workshop with all our library clerks.  

Exercise at TFFC for 40 minutes of weightlifting, 30 minutes of spin class with Tonya, and then taught Yogalates for 45 minutes for Lauren.  

The water began running in the ditch this afternoon.  Karen and I began our day and nighttime watering chores - moving hoses, adjusting valves, setting priorities.  Our pond was at its lowest level in memory.  Many of our trees and shrubs were very stressed from a lack of water.  

"The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life."
- Robert Louis Stevenson
  Green Way Wisdom - Simplicity  

A voice from a different era.  A simpler era.  But, still wise words we should consider.  

Despite our automobiles or motorcycles, our televisions and computers, our office or factory jobs, our work life and our home life.... we should , whatever, we should still remember the importance of simple living

The Tree Spirit Project by Jack Gescheidt.  Excellent photographic studies of people and trees, tree happenings, and tree art.   

Gardening   
Air  
Beauty   
Clichés   
Earth  
Fire   
Flowers 
History  
Humor 
Green Way Blog   
Green Wizard  
History 
Index    
Jokes 
Months  
Olives    
Seeing     
Simplicity     
Timeline    
Trees 
Tree Lore    
Water 
Weeding      

Work for CUESD from 7:30-4 pm.  EETT grant report, budgets, and ordering materials. Very busy at work with lots of demands from many people.  A bit overwhelming at
times.   

Exercise at TFFC: Weightlifting for 200 minutes, then I taught the yoga class for 75 minutes.  I felt very stiff, sore and tired.  No real energy for exercise.  I did a Synergy style workout for 7 students.  I really slowed down the pace, dimmed the lights, and stayed in focus.    

Neo-Pagan Blogs:

The Witch's Voice  NeoPagan News/Networking on the Net since 1997

Read the United Nations Millennium Project Goals.

• Target 1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day.
• Target 2. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
• Target 3. Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
• Target 4. Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015.
• Target 5. Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
• Target 6. Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.
• Target 7. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
• Target 8. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
• Target 9. Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources.
• Target 10. Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
• Target 11. Have achieved by 2020 a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.
• Target 12. Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, nondiscriminatory trading and financial system (includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction?both nationally and internationally).
• Target 13. Address the special needs of the Least Developed Countries (includes tariff- and quota-free access for Least Developed Countries? exports, enhanced program of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries [HIPCs] and cancellation of official bilateral debt, and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction).
• Target 14. Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island developing states (through the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and 22nd General Assembly provisions).
• Target 15. Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term.

Work for CUESD from 7:30-4 pm.  Web work, meeting with administrators, preparing grant proposals, and ordering materials.    

Exercise at TFFC: Weightlifting for 40 minutes, spin class with Tonya, and then Yogalates class with Lauren.  

"Every kind of work can be a pleasure. Even simple household tasks can be
an opportunity to exercise and expand our caring, our effectiveness, our
responsiveness. As we respond with caring and vision to all work, we
develop our capacity to respond fully to all of life. Every action generates
positive energy which can be shared with others. These qualities of caring
and responsiveness are the greatest gift we can offer.”- Tarthang Tulku

Green Way Wisdom - Working

The irrigation ditches were filled with water the last few days. Karen and I jumped for joy to see the water coming. It meant many hours of moving hoses, unclogging drip lines, and attending to the watering chores long into the moonlit night. Knowing, however, our great need for some late summer water on the shrubs and trees, as well as filling our main pond and smaller ditch ponds, it was a labor of love.

I found the following book both insightful and useful: Sweeping Changes: Discovering the Joy of Zen in Everyday Tasks. By Gary Thorp.  New York, Walker Company, 2000.

"I take my strength from the mist in the hills
I take my strength from the standing trees
I take my strength from the running stream
I take my strength from the whispering breeze
My heart breaks again, no need to know why
We’re here but for a moment and then we must die."
-  Foundation for the Law of Time

Green Way Wisdom - Impermanence

Valley Spirit Journal
Archives   
November 2005  
October 2005  
September 2005   
August 2005  
July 2005   
June 2005   
May 2005   
April 2005  
March 2005  
February 2005  
January 2005   
2004   
2003 
Index  

Work for CUESD from 7:30-4 pm.  Writing, reading, meeting with administrators, supervising, coordinating, and planning. Presented a 3 year plan for website development for CUESD.       

Exercise at TFFC: I taught the yoga class for 75 minutes.  I had no energy for weightlifting today.  

"Part of the challenge in taking up Zen training is appreciating that formal study is focused and dedicated, but also in a certain sense contrived. Each step in kinhin is a wondrous linking of breath and mind and sangha and self, and is obviously also walking in circles really slowly in a cramped room. It’s a device, and it’s mysteriously right. It’s very ordinary, and it’s as extraordinary as the universe itself."
-  Bonnie Myotai Treace, Moonlit Window   

Green Way Wisdom - Walking

“In the assemblies of the enlightened ones there have been many cases of mastering the Way by bringing forth the heart of plants and trees; this is what awakening the mind for enlightenment is like. The Fifth Patriarch of Zen was once a pine-planting wayfarer; Rinzai worked on planting cedars and pines on Mount Obaku. … Working with plants, trees, fences and walls, if they practice sincerely they will attain enlightenment.”

- Dogen Zenji, Japanese Zen Buddhist Grand Master
Awakening the Unsurpassed Mind, #31

Green Way Wisdom - Spirituality

The best time for planting trees and shrubs in Red Bluff is during the months of October and November. We are now digging holes in preparation for planting the potted trees and shrubs we have watered well during the past few months, and kept shaded from the intense afternoon summer sun. The weather will soon cool down to below 80 degrees, the rains will start to come, the nights will not be very chilly, and if you forget to water for a couple of days the plants will survive and thrive. The trees and shrubs can really set down their roots during the long cool and wet winter months.

Many Zen masters are quite well know for their efforts to design, create, and maintain rock gardens, Chinese style landscape gardens, tea houses, bonsai, flower arrangements, and beautifully landscaped monastary gardens. Japanese garden aesthetics have been significantly influenced by Zen and Chan-Taoist ideas. The Buddha himself attained a high state of enlightement while sitting quietly under a large tree.

Planting and growing a tree or shrub is to follow the Green Way, even if you only occasionally taste the mellow fruits of enlightenment.

"If all our eyes had the clarity of apples
In a world as altered
As if by the wood betony
And all kinds of basil were the only rulers of the land
It would be good to be together
Both under and above the ground
To be sane as the madwort,
Ripe as corn, safe as sage,
Various as dusty miller and hens & chickens,
In politics as kindly fierce and dragonlike as tarragon,
Revolutionary as the lily."
-   Bernadette Mayer, The Garden   

Zen Proverbs

Watering trees and shrubs from ditch irrigation water.  

Work at the Tehama County Fair for Senior Citizens Day from 8:45 am - 1pm.  Work on roofing repairs in the afternoon.  Reading and writing all afternoon.

Hurricane Rita hits the Gulf Coast states of Texas and Louisiana tonight.  

“The unspoiled colors of a late summer night,
The wind howling through the lofty pines –
The feel of the autumn approaching;
The swaying bamboos keep resonating,
And shedding tears of dew at dawn;
Only those who exert themselves fully
Will attain the Way,
But even if you abandon all for the ancient path of meditation,
You can never forget the meaning of sadness.”
- Zen Master Dogen, Verses from the Mountain of Eternal Peace,
Translated by Steven Heine, p. 133
Green Way Wisdom - Chan Poems

It was with considerable sadness we learned today that Hurricane Rita will cause more severe damage to the Gulf Coast states this weekend. Millions of people have been evacuated from the areas of Louisiana and Texas that expect to be damaged by the full force of this powerful new hurricane. Everyone in the United States will be effected by the two major hurricanes of 2005: Katrina and Rita.
Karen and I were living in Biloxi, Mississippi, in August of 1969 when Hurricane Camille smashed into the Gulf Coast towns of Mississippi and Alabama. It was a very frightening experience we will never forget.

All last night, in peaceful Red Bluff, California, the winds gusted up to 40 miles and hour. We heard the gusts shake the trees and shrubs quite forcefully all night. Others will have lived or died last night in winds howling and hurling rain and debris at over 120 miles an hour. How sad!

Walking and Taiji for 90 minutes at dawn.  Teach Taiji and yoga at TFFC from 10-12:15.  Home repairs.  Watch USC vs Oregon football game on ABC TV starting at 4 pm. 

Hurricane Rita was less destructive than expected - Thankfully.  

"Weeding is plant racism."
-   Salmon Shriver

Favorite Gardening Quotations   

Gay Gardener - Gardening Quotes

We are united with all life that is in nature. 
Man can no longer live his life for himself alone.
-   Albert Schweitzer

Sengai Gibon (1750-1838)

UBC Botany Photo of the Day

Cloud Water Assembly: Zen Poems and Sayings

Walking and Taiji at dawn for 90 minutes.  Working on 3rd section of Yang Taijiquan 108 form and another section of the Sun Taijiquan 73 competition form.  Reading personal fitness training manual.  

Walking and Taiji at dawn for 90 minutes.  Work for CUESD 10-4 for grant projects.

Exercise at TFFC for 40 minutes of weightlifting, 30 minutes of spin class with Lori who has returned after giving birth.  

Lauren had asked me to teach yogalates tonight.  Nobody but Mary showed for class.  She told me that Lauren had told everyone that she was not teaching this week, and that there would be no class.  I'm confused by her approach.  I don't think I will substitute for her anymore.      

Working on the 3rd section of Yang Taijiquan 108 form and another section of the Sun Taijiquan 73 competition form.  Reading personal fitness training manual.  

“Life is measured by your happiness, basically smiles minus frowns. You have a choice in this regard at every step. All people should be treated fairly, evenly and justly, to the greatest extent possible. Nothing is black and white. You don’t have to win arguments to be happy, just know that your own opinions are good. Be a good person that others would like, golden rule. Be open, show your true self, don’t hide behind facades. There is room for humor in everything.”
-   Steve Wozniak

The Aesthetics of Silence  When artists leave their occupation,
reject their past, move in a whole new direction, or reject their previous creativity they have silenced themselves for various reasons.  This article by Jose Miguel explores why.  

Icerocket Blog Search

Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat.
-  Ann Landers

Work for CUESD from 7:30-4 pm.  Plan for new West Street library, budgets, and ordering materials. Very busy at work with lots of demands from many people.  A bit overwhelming at times.   

Exercise at TFFC: Weightlifting for 40 minutes, then I taught the yoga class for 75 minutes. 

When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and checked even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay,
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new. 
-   William Shakespeare, Sonnet XV

Mysticism  
Nature Mysticism 
Green Way Blog  
Green Wizard   
Spirituality 
Tree Lore   
Eight Trigrams   
Taoism 
Taiji Classics  
Bagua 
I Ching   
Religion  
 
   
   

Work for CUESD from 7:30-4 pm. Work on EAST-EETT3 grant maters, prepare 2 year school library plan for West Street - including moving into a new library on 11/5/05.
Started to explore the power of the AskSam Free-Form Database Management System.  We purchased version 6 for Maywood.  

Exercise at TFFC: Weightlifting for 40 minutes, spin class with Tonya.  

Karen and I enjoyed a Subway sandwich.    

Feedback from Readers:  

"Mike - I'm in awe of your website.  Is there an easy way to print off your entire compilation?  I want to go through them and select some for sprinkling throughout a manuscript that I have just begun  ?  It's based on nature, and has a quasi-therapeutic goal.  I'm an academic in a Counseling Psychology Department.  Of course,  I would cite your website, and include your name in the acknowledgements.  ...  This is an extraordinary compilation and cross-reference.  I'm still amazed after an hour on your website, which I'll revisit.  Thank you for adding weight to the balance scale on the side of sustainability, especially at this tragic time in our nation's history."
-   Joan

"I just had to write to tell you how much I enjoyed your website.  I am a widower and live with a cat and dog, and I am sitting here laughing out loud, and the animals look at me like I am nuts (maybe I am).  That your for this website which I know must have take a lot of time and work.  I appreciate it more because I am a gardener of sorts, and a pun man.  No, we are not related that I know of, but we have the same taste of humus."
-   Pete Garofalo

"I really enjoyed your website on string games.  One of my fondest memories was a coach giving me a beautiful tie dyed string that I played with for hours.  I'm now trying to teach my Brownie troop string games, and I cant find a good place to get the strings.  Any suggestions?"
-   Kimberly

I'm having some problems with insomnia.  I fall asleep quickly but awaken and then don't fall asleep again.  

Work for CUESD from 7:30-4 pm. Further research on AskSam software.   

Exercise at TFFC: Weightlifting for 40 minutes, then I taught the Yoga class for 75 minutes.    

Holy Bible Search Engine   

Fighting off an upper respiratory infection: headache, coughing, running nose, sneezing, tiredness.  

Walking and Taijiquan around 11 am for 90 minutes.  Working on 3rd section of Yang Taijiquan 108 form and another section of the Sun Taijiquan 73 competition form.  

Watering garden.  Mowing lawns.  Fixing roof tiles.  

I use AskSam for managing my websites.  I save the HTML files from a website into an AskSam database.  Then, when I want to know if I already have a quote, or URL, or website, or topic in that website database I just do an AskSam search.  The searches are incredibly fast and accurate.  I've used it since Version 1 and now they offer Version 6.  

The Heart Sutra 

"When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
Was Discoursing in the Deep Prajna Paramita,
He Perceived That All Five Skandhas Are Empty.
Thus He Overcame All Ills and Suffering.
Oh, Sariputra, Form Does not Differ From the Void,
And the Void Does Not Differ From Form.
Form is Void and Void is Form;
The Same is True For Feelings,
Perceptions, Volitions and Consciousness.
Sariputra, the Characteristics of the
Voidness of All Dharmas
Are Non-Arising, Non-Ceasing, Non-Defiled,
Non-Pure, Non-Increasing, Non-Decreasing.
Therefore, in the Void There Are No Forms,
No Feelings, Perceptions, Volitions or Consciousness.
No Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body or Mind;
No Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch or Mind Object;
No Realm of the Eye,
Until We Come to No realm of Consciousness.
No ignorance and Also No Ending of Ignorance,
Until We Come to No Old Age and Death and
No Ending of Old Age and Death.
Also, There is No Truth of Suffering,
Of the Cause of Suffering,
Of the Cessation of Suffering, Nor of the Path.
There is No Wisdom, and There is No Attainment Whatsoever.
Because There is Nothing to Be Attained,
The Bodhisattva Relying On Prajna Paramita Has
No Obstruction in His Mind.
Because There is No Obstruction, He Has no Fear,
And He passes Far Beyond Confused Imagination.
And Reaches Ultimate Nirvana.
The Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future,
By Relying on Prajna Paramita
Have Attained Supreme Enlightenment.
Therefore, the Prajna Paramita is the Great Magic Spell,
The Spell of Illumination, the Supreme Spell,
Which Can Truly Protect One From All Suffering Without Fail.
Therefore He Uttered the Spell of Prajnaparmita,
Saying "Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha."

Green Way Wisdom - Zen

When I first learned about the Heart Sutra, in 1962, I was startled by its strangeness.  What was it saying?  What did it mean?  After many years of reflection, I still have the same unsettledness.  This state of mind, however, still appeals strongly to my mystical leanings.  

It pointed to the nature of consciousness, the rather jumpy and passing nature of mind, and the insubstantial nature of beings except as they are part of the interdependent Whole.  It fostered a kind of letting go, acceptance, surrender, opening up, and spiritual freedom that would carry a person to real understanding.  

It cast a magical spell over my spiritual heart, one from which I have never be released.  

Pulling Onions

Even Allah cannot alter the past; but our knowledge of the past changes each year.  

Aging and death are epitomized by Autumn.  

Humanity is worse for the planet than swarms of locusts or hurricanes in the summer.  

The minutes might matter more than the day.  

The season determines the week's work.  

What you do now matters more than what you did yesterday.

-  Pulling Onions, By Mike Garofalo

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