When the samurai Kikushi was ordained a Bodhisattva (one devoted to lifelong service), his master told him, "You must concentrate upon and consecrate yourself wholly to each day, as though a fire were raging in your hair".
I was once told by my boss that I seemed to live my life at mach with my hair on fire, so I can relate to this quote. I am finally reaching a point of equilibrium with respect to the speed at which I live, but I am still working hard to consecrate myself wholly to each day. I believe that to be a worthy goal.
We have reluctantly left our beloved home in Kings Langley, UK, behind, and we are working at the cultural adjustment necessary to live comfortably and successfully in our new adopted home: Folsom, California. While the weather is great, we are all finding things that are completely normal to Americans to be a little strange to us. If we had parked our car in the UK the way most people park here, there would have been fisticuffs! But the parking lots here are massive, and are designed to accommodate the latest armored personnel carrier that the average suburbanite Californian drives.
And the driving! Good grief! At least they mostly do it at a decent pace here, unlike when we lived in Oregon. I used to call Oregon "the land of ridiculously low speed limits, and drivers who fail to achieve them". But one does have to remember that over 50% of your fellow car pilots on the road here are paying more attention to their text messages than they are to you, something to keep in mind once I have a bike back on the road.
The Hawk is being refurbished, in hopes that I can use it to explore some of the lovely local roads. I have a Vespa P200 that I intend to use to ferry Alex to school once the title is sorted out with its former owner. I am not in as big a hurry as I was, due to the driving factors mentioned above. And the distances are far longer than what we were used to in the UK. The good news is, rather than having to navigate several large roundabouts, including the infamous "Magic Roundabout" in Hemel Hempstead, which was quite local to us (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9zrOWt8Ee8 for a leisurely trip though when there was almost no traffic-it is usually ten times worse!), we have roads in town that are larger than all but the biggest motorways in England!
So far, other than the local gun shop, which is positively heaving with customers every time I go by, we haven't seen any gun action. The neighbor over the road from us did tell us he was broken into and all of his guns stolen, but thankfully they haven't come back. My friend who lives here does have a gun safe in her house, but her boyfriend uses it to keep a bunch of 'spare' guns, in case he wants to go shootin' when he's in town.
That's my rather chatty post for today: this blog is all but moribund, thinking about starting a new one someday soon. Meanwhile I will keep working on my 'zen' while I enjoy the pool, the smooth roads, and the large garage!
I was once told by my boss that I seemed to live my life at mach with my hair on fire, so I can relate to this quote. I am finally reaching a point of equilibrium with respect to the speed at which I live, but I am still working hard to consecrate myself wholly to each day. I believe that to be a worthy goal.
We have reluctantly left our beloved home in Kings Langley, UK, behind, and we are working at the cultural adjustment necessary to live comfortably and successfully in our new adopted home: Folsom, California. While the weather is great, we are all finding things that are completely normal to Americans to be a little strange to us. If we had parked our car in the UK the way most people park here, there would have been fisticuffs! But the parking lots here are massive, and are designed to accommodate the latest armored personnel carrier that the average suburbanite Californian drives.
And the driving! Good grief! At least they mostly do it at a decent pace here, unlike when we lived in Oregon. I used to call Oregon "the land of ridiculously low speed limits, and drivers who fail to achieve them". But one does have to remember that over 50% of your fellow car pilots on the road here are paying more attention to their text messages than they are to you, something to keep in mind once I have a bike back on the road.
The Hawk is being refurbished, in hopes that I can use it to explore some of the lovely local roads. I have a Vespa P200 that I intend to use to ferry Alex to school once the title is sorted out with its former owner. I am not in as big a hurry as I was, due to the driving factors mentioned above. And the distances are far longer than what we were used to in the UK. The good news is, rather than having to navigate several large roundabouts, including the infamous "Magic Roundabout" in Hemel Hempstead, which was quite local to us (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9zrOWt8Ee8 for a leisurely trip though when there was almost no traffic-it is usually ten times worse!), we have roads in town that are larger than all but the biggest motorways in England!
So far, other than the local gun shop, which is positively heaving with customers every time I go by, we haven't seen any gun action. The neighbor over the road from us did tell us he was broken into and all of his guns stolen, but thankfully they haven't come back. My friend who lives here does have a gun safe in her house, but her boyfriend uses it to keep a bunch of 'spare' guns, in case he wants to go shootin' when he's in town.
That's my rather chatty post for today: this blog is all but moribund, thinking about starting a new one someday soon. Meanwhile I will keep working on my 'zen' while I enjoy the pool, the smooth roads, and the large garage!
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