Compassion and Enlightenment

I didn't get tickets to hear His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, speak at UCSB on Friday, but I was able to listen to his talk on Ethics for Our Time, via the internet broadcast on KCSB. (The talk on Nature of Mind is also available via KCSB.org.) Then on Saturday, I was blessed with the experience of watching the group of Tibetan monks who had been working on a sand mandala all week, take the intricate design apart during a beautiful dissolution ritual. Photography wasn't allowed inside the museum so I only have photos and this video of what happened after the monks left the building:


Here is one photo but there are a lot more on our photo page.(My video is very shaky because I was so excited and wasn't using a tripod. There are some great photos of the sand mandala and a really good video on Nooshawk.com.)

A Visit from the Easter Possum

No sign of the Easter Bunny before church this morning, but I was very happy get an up-close-and-personal visit with one of our local possums. When I looked out the back door this morning, Bob was doing his slow-stalk move so I went out to see what was in the yard. This possum was on the back wall - pretty unusual to see this nocturnal critter in daylight! This just might be the same little guy who fell into our fishpond last fall, now grown a bit bigger. He's very likely the critter who comes and eats the apple cores and fruit slices I leave out most nights.

Back from Spring Break

(The birthday boy!)
It was such a nice little vacation - Sequoia, Tahoe, and Ventura; great places to live and visit! We had a nice visit with Sam and Jenn, skied a little, saw snow and spring flowers, and enjoyed time at home. Here's a video of our day skiing:
And some shots of us before, on the way to, and after skiing at Squaw and Sugar Bowl . . .

Another Bob

Ever since the second story was built and we moved back in, the balcony (via the ficus tree and roof) has been Bob's private door in and out of the house. Who woulda thunk another cat might try out Bob's private territory entrance? Last night, around 2:30, I had finished my book and heard a noise upstairs (Bob was downstairs with me). As soon as we came to the top of the landing, Bob's fur poofed out and he started sniffing around. What a surprise to find a cat - who was very reminiscent of Kate and Evenstar - on our balcony. It must have felt cornered because it spit and tried to scratch me, but it wasn't terribly afraid of Bob!
Thank goodness for digital cameras; I took it's picture and was able to blow up it's tag . . . surprise, it's name is Bob! He refused to leave with me trying to shoo it away, but he was gone this morning, making him the first interloper to figure out the diagonal leap it takes to get off the roof and onto the balcony (and the harder part - leaping down diagonally to get back to the tree and the ground!) Hopefully, Bob will defend his territory a little better next time . . . smelling the roses and thinking it's all good is only good to a point.

After the Rain . . . More and More Spring Flowers!

We don't get as much rain as we would like (and when it does come, it sometimes causes mudslides and flooding) but I love the rain because it causes the flowers to bloom. Just walking around the yard as the sun came out and looking at the water droplets left on the plants was such a beautiful experience this morning!