KANNON

Kannon no
iraka miyari tsu
hana no kumo

—Bashō, spring 1686

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Goddess of Mercy
the temple roof overlooks
a cloud of blossoms

—trans. Jane Reichhold

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Kannon's tiled temple
roof floats far away in clouds
of cherry blossoms

—trans. Sam Hamill

TEMPLE

Practice tonight, with South Sound Zen. Zazen. Kinhin. Chanting. The reading of a poem, "[I Saw Myself]" by Lew Welch.

I was the fukudo (temple drummer) this evening.

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I saw myself
a ring of bone
in the clear stream
of all of it

and vowed,
always to be open to it
that all of it
might flow through

and then heard
“ring of bone” where
ring is what a

bell does

FLOWERS

"Yet in attachment blossoms fall, and in aversion weeds spread."

—Dogen, from "Genjō Kōan" ("Actualizing the Fundamental Point")

translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi

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"Therefore flowers fall even though we love them; weeds grow even through we dislike them."

—Dogen, from "Genjōkōan" ("to answer the question from true reality through the practice of our everyday activity")

translated by Shohaku Okamura

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Tonight, during zazen with South Sound Zen, my mind kept wandering back to the flowers on the altar—amidst the scent of Japanese incense, the incessant barking of my body, the wrestling of robes by one of our leaders, and the sounds of the city through the open windows.

There is effort to arrange the flowers. There is effort to place the flowers on the altar. And then they "disappear" while we sit. For that matter, they "disappear" even once we end sitting; most of us, most of the time, don't think about them again. But tonight, I did. And tonight, the line above (the Okamura translation) was referenced by our leader, which made those flowers on the altar bloom all over again for me. Attachment? Perhaps. Beauty and engagement? Yes. And of the (present) moment.

FLOWERING BONSAI

I have visited the Pacific Bonsai Museum many times, but have never been there in the spring when the trees are in bloom. I rectified that today.

Two of the flowering plum trees were in peak bloom. There were many other bonsai—juniper, sweet gum, Gravenstein apple, Japanese maple, azalea—with new growth. Buds and infant leaves were just starting to appear. I'm glad I visited!

CROCUS MOJO

Backyard dojo crocus mojo.

LAVENDER

We went camping near Sequim, Washington, so we set a day aside to visit various lavender farms. (It was interesting to explore the different emphases that each farm placed upon the same crop.)

Hidcote Blue and Dwarf White varieties of lavender from Victor's Lavender of Sequim, Washington found their way home with me.

RHODODENRONS and BONSAI

As many times as I've visited the Pacific Bonsai Museum, I've never visited the adjacent Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden. Today, however, The Wife and I visited both as part of my staycation.



The weather has been abnormally cold (April 2022 was the coldest April on record in Seattle), which has delayed the blooming of many flowers, so it was wonderful to wander among patches of color here and there on the grounds of the Rhododendron Garden. 



There were plenty of splashes of color peppered throughout the evergreen leaves.



The Rutherford Conservatory had these enormous ferns (fifteen feet tall) that were in various stages of unfurling. This frond was the size of a human fist. The Wife liked the "knuckles" at the center.



I think every variety of rhododendron must be included somewhere on the grounds. Round leaves, oblong leaves. Thin leaves, thick leaves. Chunky leaves, tapered leaves. Every shade of green. Blossoms of red, pink, white, yellow, orange, purple, blue. China, Japan, India, Nepal, the rest of Asia, North America.



We spent a lot more time with the rhododendrons on this visit, but made sure to stop in a check out the bonsai on display. This was one of my favorites this time. I like the playfulness of the "dead" trunk with the branches growing out of the top. It reminded me of a nurse log.



New on this visit was a series of "prints" on two of the walls near the exit. I didn't spend a lot of time with them, but I'm intrigued, so I'll have to visit again!

(It appeared that they were printed onto sheets that were then glued to the wall? Canvas? Lithographs? Wheat-pasted prints? Like I said, I need to return to explore them in more depth.)

BULBS

Getting bulbs into buckets and flower beds today. Liatris. Canna. Gladiolus. Calla.

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But, the first step was getting color-coded bamboo-skewer "locate flags" constructed so I know where bulbs are and what they are until they grow and bloom.

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Also spray paint and metal stencils...

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...so that buckets can be easily identified even if and when they are moved about the yard and garden.

WILDFLOWERS WALK

Wildflowers.Van Lierop Park. Puyallup, Washington.

The dogs and I walked the trail that weaves amongst the wildflowers of the new Van Lierop Park.

Swallows flew overhead, fifty or sixty of them, chattering, chasing one another, eating insects. They would swoop down within inches of us. They would dive toward the ground and pull up with inches to spare. They would fly over nearby fields of lettuce and rhubarb and gourds and then return to fly over fields of wildflowers.

The wildflowers called for their photos to be taken. Adore our simple beauty they taunted. We marveled at lupine and California poppies and daisies and the volunteers of wild rhubarb escaped from the rigid rows of their farmed siblings.

The smell of recent rain still lingered in the air. The dampness clung to stalks of grass and Banjo's belly as it caressed them.

We took our time making our way. We let the impatience slowly bleed out of us and into the culverts and bioswales. We spoke aloud our angers and let them disappear on the whispers of wind, stolen by the beaks of songbirds flitting above us.

RED XII: MEDITATION

"Red XII: Meditation."

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A meditation in floral form.

Mindfulness in the color red.

Ways to focus and leave the world

while the world resonates right there.

RED XI

"Red." Clockwise from upper left: Butterfly flower (schizanthus); red hook sedge; mossy saxifrage; Martha Washington geranium.

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The mindfulness of late autumn blows across the cold of winter and into early spring.

Even though unnoticed and without announcement.

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In the name of the Bee —
And of the Butterfly —
And of the Breeze — Amen!

—Emily Dickinson (F1 Sh1)

CROCOSMIA

Crocosmia, home flower bed.

CROCUSES

Diaphanous. My yard is filled with crocuses enjoying some middle-of-winter sunshine.

VASE with FLOWERS

"Vase with Flowers" by Troy's Work Table. Chalk painting for Monday 30 January 2017.

Sidewalk chalk wash, sidewalk chalk, chalk pastels, and charcoal pencil on concrete board.

After Odilon Redon.

CHRISTMAS at the CONSERVATORY

Today was both a day of wandering and a true Troy's Work Table day—filled with books, art, and beer. And plants.

I visited the W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory at Tacoma's Wright Park. With all of the glass and the temperature below freezing outside, even with portable heaters running full blast the temperature inside the greenhouse was only 60ºF. But it was beautiful with all of the ornaments and lights, the poinsettia, and the amaryllis, in addition to all of the tropical plants.

SUNGAZER

Sungazer. Puyallup Valley. Evening.

MOSS

Moss. Flowers. Morning.
North Hill, Puyallup, Washington.

NAPOWRIMO #26: CAMPANULA

For 2016's National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo), Troy's Work Table is writing thirty poems in thirty days, but only publishing three lines (or less) from each rough draft poem here at TWT.

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there is a
ringing of the bells
at the river of the dead

layers of lacquer capsulate
calyx and corolla of the campanula

and all is sandwiched between two slices of transparent glass

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The opening lines of new poem "Campanula." (Six lines instead of three or less.)

Walking along the riverbanks of Eliot's The Waste Land, Sappho's poetry fragment #95, Shakespeare's sonnet #12, and the New Jerusalem of the Revelation.

Dreaming of pressed flowers, pressed bodies, pressed time. Pressed and preserved.

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Copyright © 2016 by Troy's Work Table.

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Side view of Campanula, 2015
from the Botanicals series, 2013-2015, by Joey Kirkpatrick and Joey C. Mace.
Flower, composite, glass, and steel.

SPRING LEAVES

Spring foliage. Downtown Puyallup.

TULIPS

Tulips. North Hill of Puyallup, Washington. Late morning.