Spicy Dragons & Dinosaurs

Two funerals in two days. It is hard to remember that the funerals were not the reason for being on the east coast. Hard to remember that this is a vacation and that this week was meant to be lazy with visits to museums and walks in New York and long talks with Cheshire. On one hand, I was returned to last summer -- the days of living in the present without effort, and communion with people who are not always a part of my day-to-day round. The reminder of family and community touch me deeply. I am grateful for their simplicity. And I intend to hold on to these rediscovered cousins and my remaining elders.

Cheshire, Julia, and I arrived at Cheshire's apartment at supper time last night, exhausted to the bone from our funeral days, stuffed from the "lunch" after uncle Walter's funeral (Is there some relationship between funerals and over eating?), and antsy to do something physical. We took a Brooklyn walk and settled into a movie, snacking on fruit and drinking gallons of water. Julia stayed up late and I got to bed just a bit after she did, sleeping long and hard.

This morning, the Central Park Zoo is on our plan and then a drive to Woodstock, New York, to visit Jan at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, where he lives and works. I have an impulse to write "Back to the vacation," but possibly what would be more appropriate would be to thank the universe for the privilege of being in this right place to honor the two men who died this week and to have another part of this journey to experience before returning home.