back in the 'brary

Note to people with my phone number: please don't call me for a couple hours. I don't want to disturb the other patrons.

It's cool and rainy today, so my giant blue backpack shroud is out and doing its job. I've got the rain pants on along with the jacket, but given how much I sweat, I wonder whether it's all worth it.

A couple notes:

I'm going to head to a campground later today; I'm hoping to visit Red Cedar Zen Community tomorrow and engage in some sitting meditation, talk with some folks, do some chores (this sharing of work is normal in a Zen community; you probably distribute chores in your own household, yes?), and leave the following day.

Red Cedar's head priest, Tim Burnett, wrote me about arrangements (I actually want to talk more about one thing he said, but will save that for later). I think he's going to direct me to the Community of Christ on Samish Island (though I might not be able to go there if there's no bridge allowing me to walk across). This community apparently has a campground that the Zen community has used. Whether the COC will be ready to receive me immediately is an open question; I'll know more shortly. Because I'm having some trouble getting people to understand and follow through on the third of my "three requested things" (i.e., pointing me to my next destination and telling those folks that they, in turn, need to point me onward), it's been very hard to get the ball rolling. Very hard.

To that end, I'll be contacting intrepid commenter Alan Cook, a gent based in Texas, about helping out with arrangements. Alan very kindly volunteered his services as a scout and PR person; I need to contact him today so we can start up Kevin's Walk Central. I might even start asking those folks who are willing to host me to refer their questions to Alan!

I haven't asked Alan about this, but I'll put it to the public: many hands make light work, so if other readers actually have the time and wherewithal, more volunteers for Kevin's Walk Central will be appreciated. At least by me-- for all I know, Alan's a frothing megalomaniac bent on world domination, a man not given to working with others. (Joking aside, Alan is a sharp guy with a great blog called Milinda's Questions. I've never met him face to face, but we live in an age of e-friendship, so this isn't particularly disturbing. Many of us have e-friends these days. Is that weird?)

Some point soon, perhaps if/when I'm with the Community of Christ, I'll need to stop for a few days and let my poor hips heal-- just lie in my tent all day and air out that bloody mess. If not at the Community itself, then I'll do this at some nearby campground. The other reason for doing this is to give me and Kevin's Walk Central some time to organize a few of the dots in our connect-the-dots.

Thinking aloud now: one way to do this would be to find centers in far-off cities and work backwards, connecting the bigger dots by finding smaller dots in between, filling in the projected path long before I arrive at those waypoints. Those smaller dots wouldn't have to be religious communities, necessarily; they could be individual homes (or some crazy-happy family with a Winnebago), similar to French "gites," places with simple accommodations where I could spend a night before moving on. (Sorry about not adding a circumflex to the "I" in "gite"; I'm typing this via email, so I can't use HTML.)

Right-- lots to ponder. More updates in a bit. Oh, before I forget: remember that picture of the breakfast I ate that the gurdwara? I've got my notes out, now, so here goes (pardon the incorrect spellings; all mistakes are my own):

1. The fried veggies that you dip in ketchup are called "bhukora."

2. The fried, pale, chip-like morsels are called "matri" or "maturi" (I may be way off here, but I think this is what I heard from Charnjit and Mr. Sidhu).

3. The large blocks are "burfi," pronounced a bit like "Murphy"; they're sweet, being made out of flour and sugar.

I could have been a pig and eaten several plates of all the food, but didn't want to appear as greedy as I really am.

There we go. Back later. Enjoy the weather, wherever you are!

_

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