“Meditation is offering our genuine presence to our selves in every moment.”

Thich Nhat Hanh

Had a nice quiet time this morning. It was windy and overcast when I left the condo this morning. Wind was blowing leaves across the grass and street, making them dance. It has that feel of fall. An hour later, the sun was bursting through casting rays of light across golden leaves. Quite beautiful! Could see some light rain about mid-day. The high for the day is expected to be 56 degrees. Yes, a fall day.

We have another forest fire burning north of us in Wyoming called the Mullen Fire. It’s burning aggressively, starting 10 days ago, and has now burned up to 68,000 acres and no containment. The smoke from that fire plus the Cameron Peak fire made it difficult to see at any distance yesterday evening, made everything smell like a camp fire and ash and soot descended on almost everything. Several years ago my parents built a nice cabin in Mountain Home, Wyoming. This is near the Mullen fire and the area is now in a mandatory evacuation. It would hurt to see the cabin destroyed even though they sold a few years ago.

The Cameron Peak fire is now the third largest forest fire in Colorado’s history. Not the record we want to boast about. Wind gusts of 50mph have caused it to increase, now at 124,000 acres. The fire has burned east past the Shambhala Center, a Buddhist retreat center but crews were able to protect the temple at Shambhala. The three communities of Red Feather Lakes, Glacier View and Crystal Lakes are still under mandatory evacuations.

I need to catch up on reading and commenting on my blog feeder, so that is my intention today. I will also practice a bit of haiku and continue to read. And, I will for sure enjoy more meditation.