May 16

The plumber was here in the morning, and I had a dentist appointment this afternoon so I didn't go into work.  I did spend time mending one of Eileen's favorite dresses for her and making today's square.  While doing those things, I watched the first part of "Being Brave", a DVD of the retreat given last summer in Nova Scotia by Sakyong Mipham and Pema Chodron.  Sakyong Mipham talked about Basic Goodness and the western tendency to head straight for basic badness in our thinking.  He stressed the need for a sense of basic goodness in our culture and in the whole world.  So far the DVD has been wonderful, and I haven't even gotten to the Pema part of the talks yet....  Mary

Maple helicopters in the bird bath