Libra New Moon

I mentioned the other day that the new moon was coming and now it is here, today around 8 degrees Libra. I've been thinking a lot about how to be in relationship and find balance, happiness, give and take, love. Libra is about balance. Being overly on one side of the scale would mean being co-dependant, giving everything to another and nothing to oneself. All the way on the other side, Aries: everything is for the self, nothing for the other. Balance in the middle, this is best my astrologer always said.

On the dock yesterday at Diablo Lake, I read an article in Shambala Magazine. Thich Nhat Hanh was talking about relationships and using the hands as a metaphor for two people. When the right hand gets hurt, the left hand is there right away. Helping. The right hand doesn't say, look at all I'm doing, I'm drinking tea, I'm doing calligraphy, and you do nothing. The hands are not punitive. The hands work together and relationship should work that way. This is balance, I'd say. Don't you think? More from from the Zen Priest True Love: A Practice of Awakening the Heart

We, participants at Diablo Downtime, all worked together on a peeling garlic project on the deck of the dining hall Saturday evening. The sun was low on the water, reflecting bright light, and it was a little chilly, a breeze coming up the valley, but beautiful. And we peeled garlic, a good thing to do since the peeled garlic you buy comes from China—warning! There were about eight of us and we talked about memoires and food and cattle drives. It was a good chat. And we peeled a gallon and one half of garlic cloves. Chef Charles suggested we buy local, even if it isn't organic. It is better to have broccoli from a neighboring farm than from China. Again China comes to mind—danger! This is the way I was raised, although then it was about unions and commerce. This is about where our food comes from and what goes into it—and the expense of shipping.

And of course the best is to grow your own. In your lovely garden.

Happy day,

Flower