What is well done by intention is good

We are attempting to transplant in this unaccustomed harsh sunlight with unpredicted heavy frosts. I think the computer models have in them more particulate matter than is currently the case. Rains last week were different as well -- that coastal-style mist we used to call "Oregon Sunshine." All in all, this is the Oregon environment of forty-five years ago, except no bees.

Mice abound in the potting shed, so I've set up shelves in the dining room; otherwise we would have no peas, or, later, beans or squash.

The firewood guy brought three cords for next winter. He says he's camped with his family on the tree farm: "best way to do social distancing is the woods." The Young Man, who is with us for the duration, stacked with me.

Bigleaf maple has spectacular edible flowers, and every year I have gathered them. They're really good in stir fries, egg  concoctions, and flatbreads. This year I am making more of an effort; bagging them in quart bags and freezing, just -- you know -- in case.

This was the weekend that I was supposed to go to Bird Haven Zendo and be ordained as a novice nun in front of about thirty people. We switched to Zoom and were hosted in a Zazoomkai (I made that up) room hosted by Treeleaf Zendo. So the thirty people we ended up with were from all over the planet, all in quarantine, all temporary hermits; a precious time was had by those present. I was supposed to be out at the hut but its Internet has been sketchy; so we put up sheets and a screen between the Mac and the woodstove, and Teacher Kenshin did much the same.

Items that were necessary for me to receive, she brought five days early and we quarantined them until the ceremony. At the event, she handed her assistant similar items and my assistant (Beloved) handed me the equivalent items. Thus, my teacher "gave" me my robe and bowls, and "shaved" my head across a distance of many miles.

Ordaining at a distance, electronically, is an idea still resisted by much of the wider sangha. Treeleaf has done it for many years, whereas for some of us, this was breaking new ground. "Body to body, face to face" matters when it is possible, but when it is not? Where would this leave those in hospital, in quarantine, beyond closed borders, with no transportation, or alter-abled? The Catholic Church stipulates that in the desert, if you can spare no water to baptize, you may use sand. And my teacher pointed out that as a hospice chaplain, she trained to cross-serve; that is, a Muslim chaplain may give the precepts to a Buddhist and a Buddhist chaplain may offer extreme unction to a Catholic. When what must be must be, what is well done by intention is good, I think. _()_