a garden for herons and waterbirds

mariusz szmerdt

The real work of planet-saving will be small, humble, and humbling, and (insofar as it involves love) pleasing and rewarding. 

Wendell Berry



Yolo County, Sacramento Valley

Light in the winter morning,
a gray glow through the tule fog,
a fog that sits low across the bottom lands,
hugging the creeks and blanketing the reeds and oleander,
a gray sunrise that is just barely kissing the dawn,
and the silver sky is low, all is still,
an easy light, gentle and gray,
a love, a thought, a hope.

And the creeks themselves,
Cache Creek and Putah Creek,
dark and cold and fast,
rinsing the earth,
washing away the dust of summer with winter's bath,
like dancers to a wild Spanish mambo,
sisters of the rock and bone of living,
the blood veins to the body of the valley,
as strong as gods, full of life,
and full of death.

The valley is a marsh,
a garden for herons and waterbirds,
a green grocer for any who would tend it, love it,
treat it like a mother or a daughter,
the soil made rich and sweet from the centuries spent underwater,
when this valley was a great sea,
from water to soil to table to stomach,
worked with love.

It is winter,
it is morning,
another fine day in our valley.

james lee jobe

If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace.

Thích Nhất Hạnh

Hand takes hand takes hand.

At the end of the service our congregation joins hands to bring a prayer into the world. Hand takes hand takes hand until we are like a lovely snake winding through the sanctuary. No one is left out, no one is omitted. The reaching out continues until all are joined by flesh, and then we all are joined in spirit by our prayer.

james lee jobe

Zen mind is not Zen mind. Throwing away Zen mind is correct Zen mind. 

Seung Sahn

2nd birthday

If I am to allow the wind to spread my legs
Then I must surrender a certain amount of my will to the wind.
I am not willing to do that.

If I am to trust my life to fate or to the will of a god
Then I must believe in fate or in a god that rules.
I am not willing to do that.

Lonely for the hearts of other living beings
I often go out into the world and announce myself alive.
I am through with making announcements.

To be alive is to live on the sharpest edge
Of being totally invisible.

To be alive means being awake
And not needing any illusion for guidance.

Good morning, James, it is time to wake up.
Today is my new birthday.

Happy birthday to me.

james lee jobe

I'm not a slave of darkness, I am the slave of light. 

Rumi

Hello. If you enjoy this blog, and I hope that you do, please consider making a donation through the BUY ME A COFFEE button below. It's done safely online, and just takes a moment. I could use the supplement since my mobility issues no longer allow me to work. 

Thanks! -jlj