Rainbow Weather

One thing I learned, going into yet another wet weekend last weekend, is that most people don’t pay much attention to the forecast – at least not as much as I do, scutinising developments carefully to know how likely I am to get wet on my bike, or whether, as I had to do once more, I need to postpone a roam. I did manage to get out and ride briefly on Friday, and for a little longer on Sunday, but there was plenty of rain moving through, and once again very strong winds blowing through the city.

The tail of the storm was still giving us showers on Monday and Tuesday, along with more rainbows. Once it was gone, suddenly the weather felt mild and spring-like. I took short rides every day at the end of the week, glad of the gentle breezes, mostly blue skies, and profusions of blossoms and butterflies making the most of the change of the weather.

Thankfully I had an easy day on Wednesday ahead of my talk; I have learned that, as long as I know basically what I want to say, the best preparation is mental space, and I got plenty of that. I felt pretty relaxed as I waited in the gaitan, then processed into the zendo with Kim as my jiko. I was delighted to see a few people who I have known through Zen Center for a long time in attendance, as well as both abbots, even though they were just coming back from a long board meeting.

I think I said just about everything that I wanted to say, though I had a tiny feeling that I had wanted to emphasise a couple of things differently. I also wrapped up early enough to be able to take a few questions; people also came up and spoke afterwards as I stood in the gaitan, which all felt very encouraging. Right now the only version available is on YouTube (I didn’t even know Zen Center put talks on YouTube, but I see a lot of the Suzuki Roshi talks that I wrote essays for are there, with some of my descriptions as well), so please take a look if you would like to.