Mind the fall...

Finally, a sunny crisp fall day.

I spent the morning planting bulbs - lots of bulbs. Tulips. Dwarf tulips. Crocuses (croci?). Daffodils.

This is my first bulbing at the Bunkle. Last fall, there was too much going on to worry about things like planting.

As I was planting, I thought about a film I saw at VIFF last weekend - How to Cook Your Life - about a zen master who happens to be a great baker and cook. The film was actually pretty funny, but there was one thing the chef brought up that really stuck with me. Mindfulness. "When you chop the carrot, chop the carrot." The point really is to pay attention to and respect everything you do. As my pal A. said, the bonus of mindfulness when cooking is you don't end up with "Chop the carrot, chop your hand". It is so hard to keep your mind from flying to 15 different things when you do something like chop a carrot. Or plant a bulb. And *blink* the task is done, and you can't actually remember doing it.

I can't believe how fast time flies now. Every year, that little bit faster. Kids don't have that problem. Summers last forever. Why? Because when they are drawing a picture or playing tag or punching their friend in the nose, THAT is what they are doing, and THAT is what they are thinking about.

So, that's what I'm trying. To focus and give my mind a rest. And with the bickering Greek chorus that exists in my brain, boy is it hard.