getting ready for Grandchildren.

Grandpa takes his annual swim

Waiting for you!

 It is that time of year when Grandpa has his annual swim and he and I start to prepare for the abracadabra girl and her sister and for those other abroad children and grandchildren to join us here.  The preparations include getting new bath toys for Benji, sharpening the box of crayons and making certain there is enough drawing paper for Isla and putting out the croquet set for Arch.   We make certain that there is everyone's favourite family food and we watch the raspberries for signs of ripening. This is our favourite time.  It is as if every bit of nature and every part of the house and garden know that the family are coming home and everything perks up.   But we know that it will be short and that you will all be going back to your own homes again and because we don't want to feel sad then, we absolutely know we must keep up our meditation.  Sometimes that means getting up really early to be sure to spend that precious time reaching out towards the unchanging presence that meditation indicates is behind all this activity.  We wonder if you will remember this about us when we are gone as well as remembering the cheerful colourful busy times of being together.  We wonder this because this practice definitely is our choice of legacy to you all.  You may or may not want the household possessions, you may or may not like the pictures or the old brown furniture.  But will you search for us in the places we used to meditate, will you find that we are unchanged in that other reality.  Who knows? We can only meditate and hope that you will.

Tractor rides too