Morning canoe paddling out West Middle River into St Patrick's Channel.

Performance of Celtic Mass for the Sea this afternoon in Mabou.

Time is to be valued! You just try to learn Zen or Tao on the surface as something outside yourself, learning to recognize terms and slogans, seeking “buddhahood,” seeking “mastery,” seeking “teachers,” considering them conceptually. Make no mistake about it -- you have but one mother and father, so what more are you seeking? Turn your attention back upon yourself and observer.
- Lin Chi (d 867?)

Tonight in New Glasgow with Andre's pizza and 2nd game of Boston vs Cleveland.

It's the fifth. Ramirez and Lowell homer. A new pitcher comes in.

The music stays alive within.

A fine mist shrouds Cape Breton as notes and strings vibrate up and down Cabot Trail.

In everyone it towers like
A mile high wall,
Flashing a great precious light
In everyone’s presence.
One thought ten thousand years,
Ten thousand years one thought,
Eating when hungry,
Sleeping when tired,
Who worries about the alternation
Of light and dark,
The change of the seasons?
- Daio (1235-1309)

We leave wood leaning against fire-can at campsite.

All is well as Celtic Colours draws down.

Every sheltered harbour and rock solid wharf is commitment to the sea.

We voted to allow Maine to become officially part of Atlantic Maritime Provinces.

It was unanimous.

Good move, eh?

Cape Breton fiddlers and guitar players. Canoe paddles in brackish Baddeck Inlet. Hiking boots on mountain trail to white water (Uisge Ban) falls.

Dog, woman, and man in tent on wilderness site.

What is the truth? The truth is the reality of mind. The reality of mind is formless and pervades the ten directions. It is being used presently, right before your eyes, yet people do not trust it sufficiently, so they accept terms and expressions, seeking to assess Buddhism conceptually in the written word. They are as far away as the sky is from earth.
- Lin Chi (d 867?)

Water carried us up river. Water carried us back.

Cesco wants dinner.

What a lovely sky!

Brisk winds at portal to Nova Scotia.

As to the roaming of sages,
They move in utter emptiness,
Let their minds meander in the great nothingness;
They run beyond convention
And go through where there is no gateway.
They listen to the soundless
And look at the formless,
They are not constrained by society
And not bound to its customs.
- Lao-tze

Canadian Thanksgiving is second Monday in October.

Canoe atop, old dog within, green element (frosch) leaves New Brunswick and rests a spell at Amherst.

We are grateful for merely being alive.

Today in Canada.