Buddhist Birds

I’d feel worse, more afraid and aggrieved about this exceedingly warm winter we’ve had/are having but, at the moment, I’m still all relieved that we don’t have nine+ feet of snow on the ground.

Yesterday got up to ALMOST 60! Instead of putting my magic trike on the road, I went for a beach scramble at low tide. There’s something extra special fabulous about wandering the beach, crawling over piles of boulders, sitting in the surf—staring at weird strings of seaweed and odd shells, gazing off into the distance—imagining forever.

I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to do this unaccompanied (you know, given my force ten tippy-ness) so I aim to get as much solo scrambling in as I can.

It’s sunny and today’s temps will crest just over 50.  Maybe a ride AND a scramble!
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The novella Jonathan Livingston Seagull came out in 1970—the year I turned 12.

From Goodreads:

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is no ordinary bird. He believes it is every gull's right to fly, to reach the ultimate freedom of challenge and discovery, finding his greatest reward in teaching younger gulls the joy of flight and the power of dreams.

Star Wars, Alan Watts, Within You Without You ~ George Harrison, Instant Karma ~ John Lennon, Oh Very Young ~ Cat Stevens, etc., etc. Everything around me, or so it seemed, was pushing me to think big and deep. Oh yeah, Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee came out that year too. I toted it around for months as I tried to slog through the heart breaking, heavy duty history. Kids made fun of me—said I was just trying to look smart (as though being smart was a crime) by carrying the book around. "No," I told them, "it's a hard read and its taking me a long time to get through it." The mocking continued.

You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.
~ Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Teachers, fellow students and my mother insisted on conformity while my father encouraged me to be me. Is it any wonder that I gravitated towards Buddhism?

It all started with a seagull.