Image: a leaf near the dock at Windgarth House
Tuesday, September 11
JF took me to buy heather for the window boxes in town - hopefully they will make it through the winter. There are two sorts, one lighter pink and one a beautiful purple. Maybe I will paint them.
I have started painting - fields and flowers and mountains and the lake - so I can walk into them, through them whenever I wish.
I have no inner poetry at the moment. But perhaps soon I will work on the solo harp piece for Myra. First I need to clean the living room. Before composing I always need to clean the house, I am not entirely sure why ...
Monday, September 24
M. went swimming and dropped me off at some stores, up the hill. Did a few errands and then waited outside. Three Tibetan monks in their deep maroon robes were cheerfully waiting for the bus back into town, and I waved at them. One monk waved back.
When M. came, I asked if we had room in our small blue VW for three Tibetan monks. While M. fixed the back seat, I asked the monks if they would like a ride back to town with us - and they smiled and followed me back to the car. One thin, young monk hurried over and took my packages out of the cart for me, put them carefully into the trunk - the monks couldn’t do enough for us, they acted like bees around flowers. I asked if they were excited about the Dalai Lama’s visit to Ithaca in early October. Their beautiful smiles broadened, followed by many nods and some short, happy sentences to each other in Tibetan - sentences which I did not understand. I asked if the Dalai Lama was going to visit their monastery during his brief stay, and one of the monks said that he would. I had seen the monks earlier, going into a store, and I had wondered if they were buying new shoes for the Dalai Lama’s visit. I asked if this was the case; all three monks laughed and one said ‘no’ ...
On the ride back down the hill, with the lake to our right and the lights of Ithaca before us like gemstones in the darkness, I began to feel the great Love emanating from our new monk friends. This Love filled the car.
When we finally stopped in front of their monastery, the three monks cheerfully climbed out of the back of the car - and it seemed improbable that they had all squeezed in for the ride. My memory of them is good natured bustle and comraderie among themselves, thankfulness .... and smiles/ laughter.
Tuesday, September 25
Hot and humid today. Diana e-mailed me the entire FAQ section today, formatted. I sent her the corrections for the first half of the Appendix. There were only a few corrections, but I had to delete two sentences of one section so that Diana could get Padre Pio’s footnote on the correct page.
Thursday, September 27
A nice thunderstorm last night. Unfortunately the humidity returned today, as did the heat. I am now reproofing the second half of the FAQ section that Diana sent me yesterday. We still have a few questions to answer, in terms of formatting: just now we are discussing how to set up the Introduction and Table of Contents for the Appendix. The problem is one of clarity for the reader - and artistic concerns for Diana.
I am so very pleased with her work.
Sunday, September 30
10:30 p.m.
Sent Diana my final corrections for the FAQ section. Now it’s all back in her hands. We have decided to wait until her visit to Ithaca this coming week to make final decisions on the formatting of the Appendix Introduction and Table of Contents. When the ms is done I can send it off to reviewers.
A distributor for Malaysia contacted me last week and I sent some books and CDs off to him. The weather is perfect now, in the low seventies. The gardens are very beautiful, even with so little help from me this summer.
Monday, October 1
October. In the low seventies, the leaves on the trees starting to turn. Half the plants have been brought back inside from the back gardens ...
The terrible reports of the monks in (what used to be) Burma stay heavily with me and overflow into my prayers. In the very little time M. and I have together each day, the stories and rumors about the fate of the many thousands of monks arise and reenter our discussions. As M. said tonight, the Tibetan monks we drove back to the monastery the other night could be one of those imprisoned, deported - or tortured, killed monks in Burma. We also agreed that this could put a terrible pall over the Dalai Lama’s visit to Ithaca, a mere week from now.
And so I ask God to send the Burmese monks and their struggling country many angels and protection.