Buttercupchappati Chronicles

because it is perfect

“Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad.”

To Kill A Mockingbird
Harper Lee

Possibly my favourite book (and movie), ever. It was the first time a movie - I saw it before I read the book - changed me.
What a wonderful thing.

And

It is the most perfect book to movie marriage - ever.
And if anyone dares to try a remake, there may be bloodshed.
Gregory Peck is forever Atticus Finch.
Amen.

 

What this has to do with monday morning, I have no idea.

what did I read/watch/listen to?

A few people have asked what I read while away, (I am taking them at their word as my irony filter is out of practice) so here is a little list for those who want to know.

I read - all in electronic format on Darth the mini-tablet-e-reader-thingy:

A Tiny Bit Marvellous, Dawn French

Mrs Fry's Diary, Mrs Stephen Fry

A Dance with Dragons, George Martin

The Stephen Fry Chronicles, Stephen Fry

These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer

Devils Cub, Georgette Heyer

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Game of Kings, Dorothy Dunnett

Kolymsky Heights, Lionel Davidson

Queens Play, Dorothy Dunnett

Vacant Possession, Hilary Mantel

Old Path White Clouds, Thich Naht Hahn

Disorderly Knights, Dorothy Dunnett

The Manicurist, Phyllis Scheiber

Pawn In Frankinsence, Dorothy Dunnett

The Ringed Castle, Dorothy Dunnett

What Makes You Not A Budhhist, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse

Checkmate, Dorothy Dunnett

The Hare With Amber Eyes, Edmund de Waal - just finishing this one now.

I listened to recorded books:

Bleak House

The Journey of Crazy Horse

Rebel Buddha

And I watched, with great pleasure as always, Out of Africa, even on my ipod a marvellous film. (And really, how gorgeous, rugged and perfectly handsome was Robert Redford then, sigh.)

Music? Many many things at different times and on different days. There was one morning driving to Xining from Mahlo, the sun was coming up over the mountains to the sounds of Deva Premal and the Gyuto Monks chanting, a perfect moment in all times and all directions. My lift your spirits, get going girl, you can do this, songs were essential many days. I may share that list, another time...

Of course this is just the recreational stuff, I dipped in and out of my study texts the whole time I was away, it was great to have them just to hand to refer to, thank you Darth!

So now you know.

Help me Luke Skywalker!

I have gone over to the dark side!

Everyone knows I am a book girl. Real books that you can hold in your hand, read, look at, lend to a friend, put on the shelf until the next time you need to visit the world between those particular covers.

In theory I have admired the idea of ebook readers, but wasn't wanting one for myself. If I commuted to work, maybe, in one year I could probably read my way through a small forest. I think the printed word is one of our great acheivements on this blue planet. All you need to read is a book (and adequate light, yes I know). One book can be read by many many people. Anyway that is a rant for another time.

But here's the thing. My upcoming travels have sedced me over to ownership of this previously scoffed at item.

Looks innocent enough, doesn't it?

Being the resident Hermione Grainger of my TTM class means I was planning on taking all my texts and notes with me for the three months I'll be away, good revision time I thought.

That's a big chunk of my luggage allowance right there.

So there was the perfect rationalisation! (Plus I love a new toy.)

But the other big thing that has been worrying me is the lack of reading material. You cannot buy english language books where I go; and I cannot carry three months worth of reading, not without much excess luggage and a small troupe of muscular boys to carry it for me.

That was enough to make it a "necesary purchase", next is the fun part! Yes, yes, loaded up the pdf files of all the texts and notes for my TTM studies. Now filling up the clever little device with pleasure reading.

I am a comfort reader. I love to re-visit favourites over and over. So that's what I am taking with me, my library of favourites.

A much bigger pile!

 
That's not all of them, its the ones I could find easily this morning. And I have discovered something wonderful, lots of these books are available for free, and the others are a fraction of the cost of a hard copy. I have pre-ordered the new George R. R. Martin, due out in a couple of weeks, and it will be delivered directly to my device! So I can see myself a happy resident in the electronic reading camp and the actual book in hand camp.

This is my favourite picture: everything, and the wee black case that has it all and more.

 
Think I'll name it Darth.

Mind you, I still love a big pile of books, that says happiness to me!

 

 

a new one

Two thousand and eleven, a year well launched with friends and family, laughter, dancing, singing, momo's, Texas chili, margaritas and The Rocky Horror Picture Show on dvd.

I suspect the horror part was all of us doing the time warp some time around midnight, but anyway...

It was cozy - and that is one of my main words for this coming year. I want to snuggle in and read, study, work, create, be myself; with occasional outings for travel where I do all that, just in a different place.

Key words for 2011:

reflection

meditation

mantra

reading

study

music - really listening, not just playing in the background

healing - myself and my patients

art

writing

solitude

gratitude

poetry

a dharma year
a catching up year
a year where I return to Amdo - always!
a year where I say hello to myself, everyday

well - resolution comes from resolve, so let's just see.
Intention is everything, I tell everyone else that! Best listen to my own awesome advice.

Happy new year everyone!
Peaceful, safe, prosperous and brilliant.

back to the christmas thing

Still struggling, sad but true, no christmas spirit hiding anywhere at all. Nothing to define this time as special.

Then I found this poem!

When I had my shop, and as a general part of my self-imposed life task of being not ordinary, my decorations for the festive season were different. (And always included a letter to Santa asking for among other things - Johhny Depp in my stocking. Still waiting big guy!)

And on the last Christmas, I found as many Christmas poems as I could, and more importantly, ones I could stomach, and put them in the window.

So we had e.e.cummings, Robert Burns, Dylan Thomas, and lastly the fabulous Abigaile Housemans. I had never heard of her before and have been able to find out very little since.

But here is some magnificent writing.

I don't know about you, but it kick-started my heart when I first read it, and again this week when I re-found it.

christmas list
and christmas wish
all apart of the christmas theme
without any of it its like there is no
meaning
but im here to tell
im here to yell
that christmas is not all about you
christmas she get you in the spirit for
what you need to do
help the poor
help the needy
help the ones that dont get this or that
help the ones that have that and this
christmas is not all about you
if i need to yell or scream
to tell you what christmas means
i will
i promise
because christmas is not all about me
its not all about you
just what you need to do

 

what did I read while I was elsewhere?

I had a moment of madness not connected to my usual madness when I was packing for this last trip.

In my own defense, and no-one else will defend me, my bags were STUFFED and there was not room for another tissue let alone something bulky like a book. What was my logic here? I don't go down the street without a book in my bag, and here I was contemplating 5 weeks!

It will be ok I thought, I have my ipod. It is  loaded with music, a few talking books, a couple of episodes of Sex & The City, Invader Zim and one movie - Rear Window. It has also has a nice little ebook app that has classics.

It will be ok.

On retreat I won't read, and the rest of the time, I won't have time, or I will studiously write in my journals.

Sure.

I didn't make it out of Melbourne airport.

Seven hours later, in Singapore airport, I scored again.Then I borrowed a book from one of my tour buddies.Then I scored again in Singapore airport on the way home. (Note: Xining airport does not sell anything in English and I couldn't find anything in Beijing airport, largely because it was the middle of the night.)

It's all good. The books I read I enjoyed enormously and I learned my lesson. Who was I trying to kid?

So, the list:

"The Left Hand of God"
Paul Hoffman
A sort of fantasy, dark and a bit more violent than I usually read, therefore perfect plane fodder. I actually really enjoyed it, have passed it on to Sonam, and if there is a sequel, will most likely pick it up.

"Sacred Games"
Vikram Chandra
I LOVED THIS! A big epic book that played out like an awesome bollywood movie in my head. A big fat book full of stories and people and the smell and sounds of India. It was perfect escapism for my down time on retreat. I gave it to one of my tour buddies and she dived in like Esther Williams.

"The Road"
Cormac McCarthy
A loan, for such a small book, a big impact. Read through this in a few hours that felt like I lived through a couple of world wars one afternoon at the bath centre. Wow. A gripping, challenging, hard story. But written with such poetry. This one will stay with me for a long time.

"Stories" All new tales edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrontonio
Still going with this, a marvellous collection of dark, brooding, sometimes horrifying short stories from many many writers. I love short stories, but a whole book of them from one writer, unless that writer is Ray Bradbury, can be a bit much to take. A mixed bag is far far better.

So there you have it, the books I nearly missed out on!

spending an afternoon in medieval England

It's always a good day when I get a parcel from Better World Books (I don't think I have bought a book from anyone else since discovering them, well except for the Theosophical Bookshop, of course. BWB are the best thing ever, I can feed my book habit, save money, save books from landfill and help fund literacy projects by buying from them!)

Anyway, parcel.

Included in today's haul:

"Humans" Robert J Sawyer
I got book one from the number two son last year and really enjoyed it but all the shops in Melbourne only ever seem to have book three, so...

"Crooked Cucumber - the life and Zen teaching of Shunryu Suzuki"
David Chadwick
I had this years ago and lent to someone who kept it (grrr), but have now traded up because this one is a hard cover, first edition, that once belonged to the Hampton Library in New York.

And lastly, with great happiness -
"The Door In The Wall" Marguerite de Angeli
I can't tell you how much I loved this book as a child, it was one of the most often borrowed from the library for years. This afternoon loomed empty and the weather has turned cool-ish so the ability to take this lovely, lovely book and curl up in my quilt and read it from cover to cover was pure delight. Knowing that I own it and can take it off the shelf whenever I want, also pure delight.

Thus my afternoon in medieval England.

yes, it's me

I love Pema Chodren, she is like a beautiful dharma grandmother, even her voice brings you comfort!

This is my launching place for 2010.

I needed this reminder that all the tools, the wisdom, the advice, and the knowledge I need to navigate this coming year, are already in my life.

My practice room/meditation room /office/girlcave also has my library of dharma books. And Pema is well represented in there.

Just looking at those books brings me comfort sometimes.

I know that whenever I need it, I can just take one down, and words will pour over me in a stream of compassion, learning and even - maybe - a glimpse of enlightenment. And when it is kindness that I need, and understanding, and a hand over the rough bits (plenty of those), and a gentle nudge that all the teachings I need are in front of my face every day - then Pema Chodron is the one I reach for over and over.

So many times I bless the friend who pointed me in that direction, and have passed the blessing on to many others, as we should.

Thank you Pema, may all of your aspirations be swiftly realised, may you live long, happily and well.

My on-going love for Harry Potter

I am in the middle of a re-read of the Harry Potter Books. You know how it is, sometimes you crave the comfort of a well-loved, well-read book. It's like settling your bum into a favourite chair, one that remembers your shape.

I have adored these books from day one. I am, slightly smug, happy to say we were in the first wave, and read the first one when it was still an emerging best seller.

Anyway.

This time I am so enjoying the wonderful people that live in these books. It makes me all the more perplexed about the nonsense that was put about, and still is from time to time, about how bad they were for children. Really.

Yes there is evil, but step out your own front door and see what you find if that is what you are looking for. There is the ugly picture of real unkindness in the seemingly picture perfect home of the Dursleys. Gee, no kids in our world suffer at the hands of their families do they?

Magic, wish there was more of it in the world. Children who believe in magic cope better with life's inconsistencies because they have the ability to believe in something beyond the realms and constraints of daily life. And it's fun. Who wouldn't want to put a pigs tail on someone really annoying!

But the good things in these books seem to be less news worthy. There are some truly wonderful adults around Harry. Professor Lupin with his grave and gentle demeanour is so kind to Harry, so careful and respectful of him. Mr and Mrs Weasley, I would move into the Burrow tomorrow! Isn't every Big Brother or similar mentoring program looking for someone like Hagrid to help a kid over the hard bits?

Friendship. Ron and Hermione show true friendship over and over. In these times of being bullied over the internet and on your own mobile phone, how can this sort of courageous friendship be a bad thing for children to read about? The friendship of Harry's father and his group, its' strength was shown to exist even after death.

The hero's. Dumbledore with his wisdom, letting Harry be who he needs to be. Snape who shows us the dark sacrificial side of heroism. Sirius who is such a flawed hero and must die so Harry can be free of the tragedy of his parents. Harry himself. Sometimes I read these books and weep for that little boy who is so alone and yet so resilient.

And Fred and George, some of the funniest people I have met in a book, ever.

My only complaint is that they had to end, and so I have to keep going back to Hogwarts in my mind and in my heart through the magic that is the book.

(Yes I love the movies. Casting? Don't get me started! Rickman was born to play Snape! But I am first and foremost and forever, a book girl.)

Banned Books - rant alert!

It has been Banned Books week in the US, you can read more about it here.

How bizarre that we need a week of advocacy for the book when you can now find everything, good, bad and ugly on the internet.

This photo is a little unclear, (the ALA site has a complete list of this years "winners"), but you can see some Penguin Classics and MAYA ANGELOU!!!

People, wake up!

The ability to read is such an enormous gift, the ability to write, to read and the myriad forms of the book have uniquely defined our lives on this planet. Give someone the ability to read and you give them everything. Unless you remove the reading material.

And while I am up here on my soapbox. The kind of mind that assumes people don't have the ability to make judgments about what they read should not be given the power to make that true. Save the censorship for, um, ... how about nothing. Let everyone be responsible for themselves, imagine!