Welcome to

Ken had been a volunteer at Marineland. He gave us some free passes.

Hank and Charlie enjoy the beach view.

The entrance to the dolphinarium

Informative signs abound.

The smaller pool

We were surprised to see that Dale, a Coquina Crossing resident, was one of the volunteers.

This group is having the ‘discover dolphins’ experience.

These dolphins are having an ‘ignore the humans’ experience.

I saw my first Florida snake today.  We surprised each other in the driveway as I was going out to meet the lads for lunch.

Apparently I had disturbed his morning sunning.  Or perhaps he was escaping the lawn service folks who were out with their mowers.

He was thinner than a pencil, about 7 inches long and totally black.  He had a triangular head and moved like a sidewinder. I waved some papers at him to see if he had a rattle but he seemed not to. We let each other be.

I tried to identify him on the internet but without success.

As I write this, Hank is outside with the camera because the big alligator is back on our end of the pond.

Him we can definitely identify!

Cindy and Ken were over yesterday.  Cindy spied a long, yellow banded critter in the pond which turned out to be a six or seven foot gator.

He (?) came closer

Looks like he’s about to swim between the houses.

A bit later,  Ken spotted an adult great blue heron. (think that’s what it is.)

– Thich Nhat Hanh

To my mind, the idea that doing the dishes is unpleasant can occur only when you are not doing them.  Once you are standing in front of the sink with your sleeves rolled up and your hands in warm water, it really is not so bad.   I enjoy taking my time with each dish, being fully aware of the dish, the water, and each movement of my hands.   I know that if I hurry in order to go and have a cup of tea, the time will be unpleasant and not worth living.   That would be a pity, for each minute, each second of life is a miracle.  The dishes themselves and the fact that I am here washing them are miracles!   Each bowl I wash, each poem I compose, each time I invite a bell to sound is a miracle, each has exactly the same value.

One day, while washing a bowl, I felt that my movements were as sacred and respectful as bathing a newborn Buddha.   If he were to read this, that newborn Buddha would certainly be happy for me, and not at all insulted at being compared with a bowl.

Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred.   In this light, no boundary exists between the sacred and the profane.   I must confess it takes me a bit longer to do the dishes, but I live fully in every moment, and I am happy.  Washing the dishes is at the same time a means and an end that is, not only do we do the dishes in order to have clean dishes, we also do the dishes just to do the dishes, to live fully in each moment while washing them.

If I am incapable of washing dishes joyfully, if I want to finish them quickly so I can go and have a cup of tea, I will be equally incapable of drinking the tea joyfully.  With the cup in my hands I will be thinking about what to do next, and the fragrance and the flavor of the tea, together with the pleasure of drinking it, will be lost.   I will always be dragged into the future, never able to live in the present moment.

We watched the launch of the Discovery from our front yard.

A ball of fire apprears above the trees.

Just the trace of a trail appears.

Now we have a fire in the sky.

We can see the boosters fall away from the shuttle.

She’s well off, leaving her trail behind.

On Wednesday I participated in a culinary event at Coquina Crossing.  There were stations for casseroles, desserts, soups and “heritage” dishes.  I made a pineapple gazpacho shown here at the near left of the table.  (That’s my elbow.) It went over very well.  I got several requests for the recipe which may now be found here.

The event, free to all in the community, was well attended.  Below is a shot of some of the folks enjoying their Tastes of Coquina.  That’s our friend, Ken, in the black shirt on the left.

The pics were culled from those taken by Ralph and posted on CoquinaDaily.com