This single flowerhas leaves and rootsthat take nourishment fromthe environing soil and air. And the soil contains the distilled nutrientsof past growth and decay that constitute the living ecological systemin which all of its participants are organically interdependent. The sun enables the flower to process these nutrients,while the atmosphere that caresses the floweralso nourishes…
No. 24 He who stands on tiptoedoesn’t stand firm.He who rushes aheaddoesn’t go far.He who tries to shinedims his own light.He who defines himselfcan’t know who he really is.He who has power over otherscan’t empower himself.He who clings to his workwill create nothing that endures.If you want to accord with the Tao,just do your…
No. 20 Stop thinking, and end your problems.What difference between yes and no?What difference between success and failure?Must you value what others value,avoid what others avoid?How ridiculous! Other people are excited,as though they were at a parade.I alone don’t care,I alone am expressionless,like an infant before it can smile. Other people have what they…
My love affair with drag racing reaches back in time to my sixteen year old self. A visit to Great Lakes Drag-a-way in Union Grove Wisconsin comes with sensation of connection. Just inside the gate in the distance is the shutdown area for the quarter mile race track. Before my vehicle is parked I…
July 5th. Yet another Independence Day experienced and consigned to memory. We American’s are urged to experience feelings of dedication, of fond attachment for our country especially at this time of year. As in past years, from curbside I witnessed the Wheaton 4th of July parade. I’d wager this parade is exceptional for the…
Today is Wednesday our second day at home. Slowly the body adjusts to the mid-western time zone. France is seven time zones earlier than Chicago. (Tomorrow perhaps I will not be wake at 5AM) A memory that lingers is our Bateaux Mouches cruise up the Seine at dusk in Paris. This is an ancient…
Travel in a foreign country asks the traveler to adapt. Humans can be very adaptive. Or frozen, by patterns of past experience, those impossible expectations paralyzing the mind, and then spinning like a top, after energy is spent, wobbling to fall over. It is Sunday morning, I compose these lines at the end of…
We stayed a night in Tours. Tours was once the capital of France. I will always remember the Starbucks that looked convenient across the street. There I’d be able to simply order medium-sized, dark roast coffee as I am accustomed back in the states. It happened not to be found on the menu board….
Our fourth day in France featured a pilgrimage to Chartres. Could one conclude that the cathedral at Chartres is one of the wonders of the world? Yesterday in conversation with three Parisians we mentioned our plans to visit Chartres. Their eyes became wide, they assured us Chartres was amazing. The story of this great…
The day three, another outstanding breakfast at our hotel. The French feature of flakey, buttery pastry and fresh fruit, plus a charcuterie board is impossible to beat by my breakfast standards. My standard of what makes a good breakfast has been elevated. Today is Sunday. We arrived at the church of Saint Augustin, where…
