A Garden in the Garden State

In our town Montclair, New Jersey, there are so many beautiful homes, with so many lovely plantings. 

One, however, stood out. 

Recently we stopped to take some photos of the flower spectacular in the front of a home we often drive past.

Turns out the owner/gardener recognized his garden from a post we made in a local Montclair Facebook group. 

And, we were invited to see the back yard. 

I expected to see just some more of the same as the front. 

What a surprise. A 17 year spectacular work in progress. Flowers, bushes, vines, trees, vegetables. Mushrooms. Bees. Butterflies. Around 650 pounds of vegetables annually. A Secret Garden to spend some tranquil solitude. A Buddha. And, the gracious gardener. Went home with a sampling of right off the vine Tomatoes. 

Many thanks, Mr. Jose German-Gomez ...

Farmers Market 2017 Edition

Farmers Market 2017 Edition

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My First Miracle

I'm sure that there were many, many more before that one, just that one was one I recognized as miraculous.

One evening going from my home in Brooklyn to a party in Manhattan I was driving north on the East Side Highway. Very low on gas. Very. Feeling anxious. I got off the highway in a very isolated spot somewhere around Delancey Street, way east. The locale was dark and desolate. Empty. Scary place to be alone at night. Even more anxious. 

Fortunately I found a gas station open. After gassing up and back on the highway I noticed I was still anxious. And, quickly realized that there was no longer any reason to feel that way. Immediately, the anxiety lifted. I found myself profoundly present, in the moment. Free.

The party was in a walk up on the upper east side. Climbing the stairs I noticed the hostess had sprinkled rainbow glitter on the steps leading to her apartment. Blew my mind. 

At the party there were a lot of cool people. Studio 54 habitués. Beautiful people. I noticed a handsome fellow there dancing with abandon and joy. He glowed. I met him and said I would like to be more like him. He asked me why not. I said I was afraid. You know that saying, "You can be happy, but not too happy". 

When I confided to him my fear, he said something memorable. It sticks with me today. "Oh, fear. That old thing!"

Not Everyone is Your Customer

Sample photo, not actual persons discussed in this post.

Yesterday at the supermarket checkout the young man bagging our groceries was also carrying on a detailed conversation with the bagger next to him. At one point he spotted some friends and turned away from his talk to say hello.

The cashier, besides ringing up our purchases, was also paying attention to the conversation at his bagging station.

I had to comment. My tactful choice was to ask, "Do you know about Zen?"

"No." I noticed the lack of intellectual curiosity.

I told the fellow Zen was about learning to do one thing at a time. And, only one thing. He proudly retorted that he was a multi-tasker. Imagine that! Some high school kid already had the world by the balls. BTW ... If you are proud to be a multi-tasker, stop reading this. It's not for you.

I offered that Zen was a great mental discipline. And asked if he would look into it.

"No. I'm a multi-tasker."

You can't fight ignorance. I complimented him on his honesty.

He came back with, "That's what I am ... honest."

As I began to leave that scene, the fellow at the next checkout asked me, "What is Sen?" I said, "It's called Zen, Z-E-N. It's an ancient discipline. Look into it."

There's hope.

But, if you know Zen ... there's no such thing as hope.

It's all right here, right now, baby.

Knock wood. I mean that literally. Tap something. Now! Do it!

That's some Zen for YOU!

"We do not know what love is ...

"In the space which thought creates around itself there is no love. This space divides man from man, and in it is all the becoming, the battle of life, the agony and fear. 

"Meditation is the ending of this space, the ending of the me. 

"Then relationship has quite a different meaning, for in that space which is not made by thought, the other does not exist, for you do not exist. 

"Meditation then is not the pursuit of some vision, however sanctified by tradition. Rather it is the endless space where thought cannot enter. 

"To us, the little space made by thought around itself, which is the me, is extremely important; for this is all the mind knows, identifying itself with everything that is in that space. And the fear of not being is born in that space. 

"But in meditation, when this is understood, the mind can enter into a dimension of space where action is inaction. We do not know what love is, for in the space made by thought around itself as the me, love is the conflict of the me and the not-me. This conflict, this torture, is not love. Thought is the very denial of love, and it cannot enter into that space where the me is not. 

"In that space is the benediction which man seeks and cannot find. He seeks it within the frontiers of thought, and thought destroys the ecstasy of this benediction."

Jiddu Krishnamurti
Meditations 1969

My dad would make an annual trek from Detroit to Toledo, just over the Michigan-Ohio border, to give us kids a chance to buy Fourth of July fireworks with our savings.

A fireworks store to a young boy is as close to pornography as his innocent young mind can go. Bright paper packages with hundreds of carefully grouped firecrackers with even brighter and fantastical labels.

Bottle rockets by the gross. Cherry Bombs and Hammerheads/M80s, the heavy duty standards; each one a small bit of dyn-O-mite. BLAM! For those lighter moments, Lady Fingers. And, snap caps that you threw to the ground for an explosion whenever the circumstances indicated.

What you like as a kid can stay in your blood. 

Once on a trip out West not that long ago we stopped by a fireworks roadside stand in Wyoming. It was October. I asked how come they were selling fireworks that time of year? The answer: "Fireworks are for any time you want to celebrate life." Now, there's a salesman for you!