Solitaire
A deck of cards rest on the table on the enclosed screened porch. Almost every morning after her breakfast of ground nuts and honey, Sarah plays cards in the silence. Sometimes solitaire, sometimes gin rummy. In the background her six parakeets are chirping in their cage. Gabby is the loudest living up to her name. I see that Sarah has spread out hands of cards for other absent or invisible players at the table. She picks up each hand and decides to save a card, trade one or lay out a pair. I ask her half jokingly whose winning and she says, " My sister Helen is."
-- "Who else is playing?
She names two of her brothers who are still living. I watch her play for a while the cards ruffling the air and snapping as she deals them out. Frisco standing idle in his corral, decides to run, his mane catching the wind as he whips around a corner. I'm feeling restless too.
Since I arrived a month or so ago, time feels like it's standing still. An hour feels like a week. A day like a year. With the exception of watching a DVD each evening, there is no internet, t.v. or cell phone. All the things I'm hooked on are not an option for distraction.
This is a test and I am already flunking. Years of reading Buddhism and Zen hadn't magically come to my aid and my day dreams of being a monk in a cave evaporate. My mind isn't ready for 'Quiet Mind' just yet. I voraciously read books, savore an AARP magazine for an entire afternoon and put together jigsaw puzzles.
Time ticks on.
One afternoon a package arrives and I receive some treats from Trader Joe's from a friend in California. Inside the box is a brown paper bag used to help pack it. I take the bag out and set it on the kitchen counter. Pictures of food are printed on it. Sarah gravitates toward it and says with a little bit of awe, "I'll be... They are putting pictures on bags now." She begins pointing and naming the pictures stamped on the brown bag, "Asparagus, wine, apple." I join her recitation and in unison,"Carrots, celery, lettuce..."
I smile and think to myself,
"Culturally deprived? Us?"
No Grasshopper. This is just the beginning.
~kao
-- "Who else is playing?
She names two of her brothers who are still living. I watch her play for a while the cards ruffling the air and snapping as she deals them out. Frisco standing idle in his corral, decides to run, his mane catching the wind as he whips around a corner. I'm feeling restless too.
Since I arrived a month or so ago, time feels like it's standing still. An hour feels like a week. A day like a year. With the exception of watching a DVD each evening, there is no internet, t.v. or cell phone. All the things I'm hooked on are not an option for distraction.
This is a test and I am already flunking. Years of reading Buddhism and Zen hadn't magically come to my aid and my day dreams of being a monk in a cave evaporate. My mind isn't ready for 'Quiet Mind' just yet. I voraciously read books, savore an AARP magazine for an entire afternoon and put together jigsaw puzzles.
Time ticks on.
One afternoon a package arrives and I receive some treats from Trader Joe's from a friend in California. Inside the box is a brown paper bag used to help pack it. I take the bag out and set it on the kitchen counter. Pictures of food are printed on it. Sarah gravitates toward it and says with a little bit of awe, "I'll be... They are putting pictures on bags now." She begins pointing and naming the pictures stamped on the brown bag, "Asparagus, wine, apple." I join her recitation and in unison,"Carrots, celery, lettuce..."
I smile and think to myself,
"Culturally deprived? Us?"
No Grasshopper. This is just the beginning.
~kao
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