Monday, October 12, 2026

 
 
 
 
Why am I so depressed?
Man's life is like the morning mushroom.
Who can bear, in a few dozen years,
To see new friends and old all gone away? 
Thinking of this, I am filled with sadness,
A sadness I can hardly endure.
What shall I do? Say, what shall I do?
Take this old body home and hide it in the mountains!
 
Hanshan
Zen Poems 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Jemez Montains



 

 ... A heart is breaking in shards
in wake of dawn's parting. 

Shinkei
Zen Poems 








 

Friday, October 9, 2026

 Recalling the Old Days at Mianchi

 

To what can we liken human life?
Perhaps to a wild swan's footprints in mud or snow;
by chance its claws imprint the mud
before it flies off at random, east or west.
The old monk is dead and a new pagoda built;
the old wall has crumbled, the poem we wrote on it gone.
Do you still remember this rugged mountain path,
the long way, our exhaustion and how the lame 
donkey brayed? 

 

Su Dongpo

Zen Poems 




bear prints in the mountain mud



 

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

 An extraordinary three weeks. After a year long drought we had three weeks of rain that filled the river beds, the ditches, flooded roads, brought our Bosque back from the brink and stirred up mushroom spores have been dormant in the soil for decades.

These two fine specimens are growing in my yard!

Suede bolete is an edible but not very good mushroom unlike its delicious cousin the Boletus edulis.

I'm fairly certain this is a variety of White Amanita, an extremely poisonous mushroom.

 

 The Words In Their Sleep

Have you slept the whole summer away here
with the dogs
do you believe in waking,
do you dream that you are somewhere else
do you remember what you meant to say
do you remember the sounds of the voices
you once heard
do you know who you are
do you still speak the old language
are you older than you can say
you who never told the whole story
only what came to mind

 

W.S. Merwin
 

from
Garden Time 

 




pomegranates 

Collards, broccoli and marigolds

tomatoes gone crazy

 
NM Red Delicious apples

 

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

,,,By the light of the moon in the water
I sit in meditation.
A wide Palace of Cold soaking into smooth blue grass,
at midnight I rise, turn suddenly around.
And find the perfect circle of moon in the heart of 
the ripples. 
 
Guido Shushin 
from 
Zen Poems 
 



 

 

Friday, September 25, 2026

Hen by the pomegranate bush. I've let the chickens out of the chicken yard to help me with the weed explosion with all the rain we've had in two weeks! 


Pear tree offers rotting fruit and bugs

A roadrunner wanting to make friends with the girls.