third meditation (148/365d)

homework went super smoothly today - the reward for which was me reading them 4 chapters of indian in the cupboard, which they listened to without a break. it was wonderful to sit outside and read with felix in the garden. and it was wonderful to make lentil salad and have henry say it was one of his favorite foods. and it was delightful to paint theodore's "square meter" - a piece of paper cut exactly to size for school. theodore and i also repaired my rain stick, which had cracked, with hot glue. it is now officially his.

renate and otto came over on their way back home to vienna. centa served highly praised elderflower champagne, and we had tea and cake. then renate and i took our time meditating (while the birds were "twerping" as Brian said) behind the rosebush while otto went for a walk and brian took the kids roller blading. it was bath night. and then story time. bed time was too late really, since we have to be up early again for school, but everyone was in a good mood and i hope for the best tomorrow morning.

the new point and shoot offers this choice of frame
henry thinks this is the best thing ever 

Meditation with Renate:
to find the "light in my heart" i dove into my chest and found a dark unlit candle which i lit. it wasn't bright enough, i lit match after match to make it brighter, but it didn't help so i started adding mirrors. first  i doubled the light, then i made an infinity mirror with a mirror set up on the other side. then an infinity mirror top to bottom. then one more mirror, and i sat there and watched from the 6th, empty side of the cube. i started putting more mirrors into the edges and watched the light get more and more, but it couldn't get past the mirrors. i made myself small and started to walk up the walls of a twisted candle. i had to face toward the candle and hold onto the sides to get a good grip. at the top i finally found a flame, which was larger than i was, and i watched the braided wick burn and i tried to warm myself by dipping my hands in the hot wax, but i just got cooled wax which i pulled off with my cast wax fingerprints... one of them fell to the floor and i made myself even smaller, microscopic even, and went in the maze on my own fingerprint. at first i was afraid of getting lost, but then i reminded myself that i knew the layout of my own hand, and that i couldn't get lost. eventually i got to the other side, and found my big candle again. i climbed to the top a second time, made another box of mirrors and this time closed it up and looked at it from the outside - it was like a bright colored cubic net, because the edges of the mirrors let the light from the candle through. i carefully carried the box of light into my chest and put it near my heart.