The Dacha

Monday, July 19, 2010

Simply Ask

I love it when my spiritual worlds- Christianity and Buddhism- come together.

Every morning in my email, I receive the Rigpa Glimpse of the Day. Reading it first thing every day gives me a tool to use as I go about my day.

I haven't written much about my Buddhist studies and how Buddhism manages to help me integrate my Christian beliefs into everyday life. Some day I will, but for now, I wanted to share today's Rigpa message.

I am REALLY uneasy about asking ANYONE for help. Whether it's to hang a picture, support a cause, or to clean up the kitchen. I wonder why that is? I'll get back to you on that, but I have a feeling it lies in my need/insistence for self-perfection, my fear of not being "liked", and ultimately, my ego.

Wow- what a way to start Monday.

Anyway, here's today's Glimpse. I'd love to read YOUR take on it!!!

"All we need to do to receive direct help is to ask. Didn’t Christ also say: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. Everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth”? And yet asking is what we find hardest. Many of us, I feel, hardly know how to ask. Sometimes it is because we are arrogant, sometimes because we are unwilling to seek help, sometimes because we are lazy, and sometimes because our minds are so busy with questions, distractions, and confusion that the simplicity of asking does not occur to us.

The turning point in any healing of alcoholics or drug addicts is when they admit their illness and ask for aid. In one way or another, we are all addicts of samsara; the moment when help can come for us is when we admit our addiction and simply ask."

Friday, July 16, 2010

Week 41, EP365

Finally back on track....here's Week 41 of EP365

Day 280 July 9, 2010
Railroad Bits

Day 281 July 10, 2010
Tennille Baptist Church

Day 282 July 11, 2010
A Boy and His Dog

Day 283 July 12, 2010
Drunk on Pollen

Day 284 July 13, 2010
Grass Needs Cuttin'

Day 285 July 14, 2010
Just Around the Bend

Day 286 July 15, 2010
Leak!

Week 40, EP365

Wow!! Only 12 weeks left!! Here's Week 40 of EP 365!

Day 273 July 2, 2010
Baby

Day 274 July 3, 2010
My Next Door Buddy

Day 275 July 4, 2010
Thank You, Brothers!

Day 276 July 5, 2010
Kyle

Day 277 July 6, 2010
After the Bloom

Day 278 July 7, 2010
Country Road

Day 279 July 8, 2010
Construction Bear

Monday, July 12, 2010

Some Days It's Just Not Worth Chewing Through The Restraints….or...Make That $8900

This blog has turned into a photo-fest with my EP365 and precious little reflection or commentary or…well…writing of ANY sort.

I have a whole three week’s worth of photos to share, but as most of the readers of Maison Cou Rouge were WITH me on said trip, I figure I will save that for a little later. When my mind isn’t quite so numb.

Catastrophe and destruction abound on the first floor of Maison Cou Rouge. And it all started a few months ago with one wobbly floor tile.

Ok, one expects a LITTLE settling in a 100-year old house. Even a LOT of settling.

Ignorance is bliss.

SO when I noticed the building contractor was working on my neighbor’s roof, I asked Alan to walk over and ask him to come take a look at the tiles. He came over. Said “no problem", and gave us a quote of around $400 to even the settling and re-cement and re-grout the tiles.

Note to newbie renovators and old-home owners----it’s ALWAYS worse than the contractor thinks originally. You would think after owning three over-100-year-old homes I would have learned this by heart. Evidently I am a slow learner. Or I enjoy putting my hands over my ears and singing "LaLaLa" very loudly.

As my friend Jan-Olav's bear is spending the summer with me (think of a three-D "Flat Stanley" Tour), I quite innocently and naively posed Lookchin for an EP365 snap.

Little did I know that in an hours' time....

When the tiles were lifted up (the mortar gave way quite easily…QUITE easily. One of the gerbils could have removed the tiles), there was…um…..waterlogged plywood underneath.

Waterlogged plywood is NEVER a good sign in a 100-year old house. Especially not in the bathroom.

I just got the bid this morning. It’s no longer $400. Add a zero. Double that.

Did I mention I have $1178 in the bank????

Trying to determine just HOW MANY floors are stacked on one another..

The answer- FIVE.

The original one and a quarter inch hardwood flooring (tongue and groove)- then two layers of linoleum, and, THEN two plywood subfloors with shims between them. The ceramic tiles were like icing on the cake.

Guess I better get out my do-it-yourself home improvement how-to books. We may have to finish this project ourselves. I thought I was too old for this. (Apparently, the Big Guy Upstairs doesn't think so.......)

Maybe I should start playing the lottery.

At days' end, most of the floor was up, but there's plenty of work for the forseeable future. There's still water damage and the leak hasn't been found. (Oh, and unless it's a recent and active leak, homeowner's insurance doesn't cover the repairs......did I mention THAT little nugget??) The floor isn't TOTALLY covered, and opens directly onto the crawlspace under the house. If I wake up in the middle of the night to find a squirrel or raccoon on my bed--well, we're just not going there.

I must say that our contractor, Tony Wallace, has been TOTALLY wonderful. We really lucked out on finding him working next door. I have a million projects that need repairing at MCR (one never owns an old house- it owns YOU)- but considering that I have absolutely NO CLUE how I am going to pay for ANY of this...those will have to wait.....until the next decade, at least..............

OOHH, I know.....I can hold a floor-tile fundraiser....send me cash, and I'll have your name painted on one of the new floor tiles. Think of the years of memories..every time Alan or I step into or out of the shower, we'll think of you. (Sounds a little like medieval Church indulgences, doesn't it????)

Well, I have an extra kidney- I could really get by with one, couldn’t I? My dad did it for years...

Hocking a kidney sounds like the solution.

O positive blood type. Serious inquiries only.