Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Hurling snow balls in the air occupied a portion of the day at snow laden BC and particularly at Deer Lake. When you are having a leisure time with a young family which includes three boys, then even as a monk, you are obliged to give them some stimulation. Balaram is the ten year old - the eldest, and is my combatant at snow fighting. The battle can be justified. It's clean fun and a perfect workout. Neither he nor I suffered injuries in the process.

This white-covered haven was our venue for a walk along the lake. A heron allowed us to get almost close enough to give a handshake. A hawk's behaviour differed. Perched on a dead coniferous tree, he decided to go for a flight when our camera seemed to invade his privacy. A crow was not evasive or ready for a close encounter. He was fidgety, flying here and there. And conspicuous by their absence, coyotes of the area were burrowed by earth and layered by snow which just kept softly piling upon the already over abundant dreamy substance.

The boys, sons of nature-lovers Caitanya and Manoharini, were delighted by all of this and have been taught to respect from near or far, these creatures of the wild and the Master Intelligence behind them all.

The on going descending snow did not deter me from a home visit. Friend and funky drum-playing Kripanidhi, was host to an evening of chanting. Time was reserved for me to read of our guru's activities on this day exactly thirty-three years ago. Listeners were transported to Nellore, Andra Pradesh, in India, 1976. Like the crow, we were here and there, but Karuna Mayi's gluten fake-turkey put our contented bellies all at home base.

10 Km