Eat Your Vegetables

I sit at work and think about that story in the book of Buddha, the one where a guy decides to test Buddha's reputation for peace and nonviolence and abuses him for three days and then gives up. Only three days? Three days is nothing! I've been being harassed for almost four months now and every day I walk a fine line. I'm sorry, even though I'm a woman, I think the story should include Buddha being harassed by a woman, she would have gone on for much longer than three days, I'm sure even he would have cracked.

"If someone offers you a gift, and you do not accept that gift, to whom does the gift belong?"

I got a comment from Idaho Power about my post about smart meters. It is very nice, but the idea that someone from Idaho Power is trolling the internet defending smart meters gives me the creeps. I suppose it is some new angle on internet marketing, good PR.

To reward myself for successfully walking the line through another tough day, I stopped at Home Depot and bought a Christmas tree. A Christmas tree, Shelly? Isn't it a bit early? Last year I noticed Blue Spruce in the nursery when I got here and a few weeks later everything was gone, the nursery closed up and bare, and by Christmas I could not find a living tree anywhere. This year I am ready and I get a tree on my porch in the meantime. I can't plant it, it will take up my entire back yard, but they grow really slow and it will be a fine Christmas tree for several years.

When I got out of work it just started raining, but it was still hot, and there was that great smell of just wet blacktop. Now it is really raining and we just had the loudest thunder I've heard here yet, which sounded like it would shake the roof off. I told the spinning top at work today that those days when it is hot and clear all day just do not feel like Idaho to me.

The top told me yesterday that when she grows up she wants to be like me. Hey, that has to soften anyone up. It was sincere and helped my day immensely.

This weekend is another BSU game, so I stopped after buying the tree and looked for a BSU shirt. I bought an orange sweatshirt, boy is it orange, but now it feels like money I should not have spent. I am so tired of worrying about every dollar and the price of everything. Funny that I feel like that about the sweatshirt and not the tree.

Cruiser has been much less whiny and spends most of his time sitting in the shade on the grass and looking around as if he knows his grass-laying days are numbered. He is still working on his holes, although he is not making any new progress. He is back to hugging me from the back of the chair most evenings and I have to say it is hard to move away from the TV when he does.

In my entire life I do not think I have eaten as much vegetables as I am eating today. The last tomato Sarah gave me is enough for an entire meal and I am stretching to find recipes that include green peppers. I think the most fun I had this summer was with my vegetable garden. I had a garden as a kid with failed tomatoes and a successful grapevine, but otherwise this is the first time I tried growing food and I really enjoyed it.

One problem with enlightenment is that nothing seems very important, and most things are not, but I have some feeling that I need to be ready for something that I do not know what is. It is difficult to practice awareness while you are somewhat bored and nothing seems very important, but then I guess you never know what you do that might end up being important. One of my friends thanked me yesterday for helping her get through unemployment, which included a conversation and a phone call. Monday I sent my friend a text because I was thinking about her and she sent me a weird text back, so I called her and her mother just died. Those are the things that matter. In the meantime, I guess I just eat my vegetables and bake bread, and now that the weather is cooling off I can get back to more painting.

My friend's grandson was born last week and that night I had a dream that I saw the Hebrew God. I do not want to describe the dream here, but I wanted to record it so I will remember. I am still feeling weird about it and I am sure it shows some kind of spiritual beginning, but what does that mean?