SLEEPLESS

It's just a fact. I'm not complaining.

Lately I've been living a 'Day for Night' reality. Film makers know that's when you shoot scenes at night but light them to appear as day.  It's usually used to make shooting in heavily trafficked conditions that would be impossible to shoot otherwise. That may even figure into why this has come about, Manhattan can be extremely stressful when it's up and running at full speed. Everywhere, technology appears on the streets promising connections many will not necessarily find useful. We miss the old businesses and familiar faces in these up-scaling days

It has gotten so much worse in the past few years and since I'm not the young and ready for anything I used to be, I think I'm just avoiding the effort. I keep my shoes and my rainbow purse near the bed just in case I have to get out in a hurry, which is always a possibility.

My circadian rhythm has gotten on this track and I'm trying to coax it to change while my favorite monkey friend looks on sympathetically.  Of course, reliable "Teddy'" is always nearby for comfort.

Tapping into Zen practice weekly helps keep me sane.
The drum beats as we chant in unison, then silence.

After, I stop by the altar that honors departed benefactors and members.  There on the lower right is my friend and writing buddy Kalinda whose third round of cancer took her away recently. You may recognize others there (yes, that's Phyllis Diller on the upper right).

 I shopped at Trader Joe then on 6th Avenue, and wandered around the corner to a famous graveyard:
"Shearith Israel’s third cemetery was consecrated at 21st Street just west of 6th Avenue in 1929."

 (See link)

~*~

At home one rose bud from my river walk exudes  its delicious aroma still.

Life and Death Forever and Ever
~*~

Links
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Shearith_Israel_Graveyard

FOUR NIGHTS-THREE DAYS

Commit To Sit
"The purpose of our sitting meditation is not to eliminate thoughts, but to adjust our relationship to our thoughts. "Not to activate thoughts" is an invitation to allow ourselves the compassion and gentleness to observe thoughts as they arise and allow them to pass without needing to follow them to some imagined conclusion."

(Painting by my friend Dylan Guy)

Tuesday
Dos Madres Press is dedicated to the belief that the small press is essential to the vitality of contemporary literature. This night they celebrated "In the Realms of the Mothers"

KGB Bar featured readings by David Katz (hidden behind the signing table), Rick Mullen (while beard) and R. Nemo Hill (not shown)

Julio Perea loved it
Me too

~*~

Wednesday
Looking out from the ATM enclosure of my Bank...

...then to the store to lay in supplies for the coming storm, then home to cook and rest.
~*~

Thursday
Poor 'Teddy' worrying about our future since I've subjected him to constant, alarming political news for the past many weeks.

After reminding us both to 'Be Here Now', we relaxed into the snow-slowed day, opened the front window, leaned out, took some deep breaths and gazed Westward.

 Traditionally 'Throw back' on Face book is Thursdays, so I posted this vintage image of myself with "Kitty Does Too" by Vivienne, a 'Just Like You' book published in 1946.

Some Good News - A federal appeals court has unanimously rejected a Trump administration request to allow its travel ban to take effect.  The battle continues none the less but folks have an enlarged window of opportunity to get to safety and that made me glad.

 ~*~

Friday

The 10th of February dawning and news not arrived as yet. What fresh misery, what delights await today?

A single Mourning dove calls out of the darkness
somewhere out there in the building alley--
Oh how that sound sings of the past to me--
comforts at the same time fills with such sadness

Suddenly an answering call from not too far away 

then the call response in quick succession--
with pitch and subtlety of a conversation--
I am at home again though I never moved an inch
*

In the world outside these flimsy walls everything seems in jeopardy. Executive orders shoot out in the quick succession of machine gun fire, day and night spewing chaos and contention, fear and uncertainty.  It's impossible to keep up, impossible to bear when the bully boys arrive and commence throwing chairs--who could?  Slow down, concentrate and try to separate the tangled threads of all this destructive, thoughtless activity I tell myself and do that. My bed's become a therapist, a medicine that can not cure but does relieve the strain.  We are mortal after all and the nervous system is very real.  It can only sustain what's sustainable.

I need more practice.

~*~

LINKS

Dos MadresPress

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dos_Madres_Press

The Event

https://www.facebook.com/events/723904864448842/

Good News

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/09/514384549/appeals-court-rejects-bid-to-reinstate-trumps-travel-ban?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social

RITUALS

Visible Order

Sanskrit ṛtá

In Vedic religion, "the lawful and regular order of the normal, and therefore proper, natural and true structure of cosmic, worldly, human and ritual events."

Sky Watching
Noon

 Phenomenon

 Dusk

 Phenomenon

Zen Practice
The Blade

Detachment

I am participating in a ninety day 'Commit to Sit' practice again this year.  Every day a teaching is sent from the Zendo to each of us.
"My Dharma must be transmitted from mind to mind. You must make people awaken to themselves.  From ancient times the transmission of the Dharma has been as tenuous as a dangling thread."

Personal Maintenance

New Store

"Began in Amsterdam in 2000 as a single store.  Sixteen years later there are four hundred stores located mostly in Europe by Raymond Cloosterman, Founder and CEO

These excellent essences and products are out of my price range but it's nice to stop by and inhale when I'm near there.

 

I use natural essences from more affordable and often direct sources, like lemons soaked in almond oil, or sea salt in a tub of warm water with lavender added.

I also hand wash clothes daily in buckets in the tub and hang them above to air dry, another kind of ritual.

Preparation
I never leave the apartment without my earrings, hat, and scarf.  Without them I feel unready.  It's my ritual preparation for being in the world. When I am heading to the zendo I include the bracelet that one of the monks made and gave me.
Leaving home

 Arriving home

Communication
To and from friends, via email, blogs, Face book and hand written cards as well as gift exchanges via the United States Post office.  There's listening or reading, thought and responding involved.  In the end, nothing but friendship really matters.  Communicating is a kind of ritual observance honoring the value of friendship.  Recently this wonderful book arrived from Wendy Golden Levitt.

Valuable links to this below, including a short Video

LINKS

Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual

Store
https://us.rituals.com/en-us/home

Zen
http://zencare.org/commit-to-sit/

Sigurd Olson
http://singingwilderness.net/wordpress/sigurd-f-olson/ 
"The Singing Wilderness"
http://fiscal.ifp.org/project.cfm/274/The-Singing-Wilderness/
The Film on Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/3708217 
~*~

FOR ALL WHO NO LONGER CLING

A POEM

In retrospect, all events and turnings in one lifetime involved choice.

Choice meant something was lost I say in my aging voice.

which has lowered it's timbre a decibel

to speak-up now for the ineffable

~

THREE VISUAL PROMPTS

A screen image taken while listening to the full hour plus video of the Dalai Llama talking to teens about ethics and compassion.

An image from my current environs which shines this illuminated message to be ready for disaster at all who pass East twenty third and third.  New this year.

 A mysterious truck-'Hylan Datacom and Electrical' from Staten Island-digging up cables on East 23rd between 2nd and 3rd, Manhattan.  Never saw one in the neighborhood before.  I'm just sayin' it might be a good story.

~

ZEN

PETER MATTHIESEN
He who no longer clings

I rephotographed from the screen this astonishing

Photo by Damon Winter that accompanied the article

The New York Times Magazine published an extensive look at Matthiessen’s life entitled
'Homegoing'

I wasn't able to lift the link off The Rumpus Magazine which I get through blogger, but it's worth a search if you are a fan.

  

"Lying back against these ancient rocks of Africa, I am content."  "The great stillness in these landscapes that once made me restless seeps into me day by day, and with it the unreasonable feeling that I have found what I was searching for without ever having discovered what it was."
from
-The Tree Where Man Was Born-

"In the longing that starts one on the path is a kind of homesickness, and some way, on this journey, I have started home. Homegoing is the purpose of my practice."
from
-The Snow Leopard-
~

HOME VIDEO

~

NIGHTFALL
That's All