Cool Asalha Puja Rainstorm

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Asalha Puja – a major Buddhist holy day

The celebration of Buddha's First Discourse

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A tremendously windy rainstorm

Just hit us this late afternoon.

The coolness is exquisite

The fresh smells intoxicating.

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I had gone out earlier to my hammock

On our back-facing second floor veranda

With reading and writing materials,

And I started reading the First Discourse.

But it got so dark I couldn't read the printed paper page;

So I just lie back, watching the wind whip the big tree.

Then the sudden cool breeze hit,

Reminding me of my father's weather lore:

"It feels like it has rained somewhere."

And it had.

Then it rained and blew spray on us with a vengeance,

And I sat back and delighted in the blasts of coolness.

It doesn’t get any better than this!

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-Zenwind.

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St. Swithun’s Day 2015

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Let the Feast of St. Swithun begin! 15 July 2015

Old Swithun (aka Swithin), often considered the patron saint of drought/rain cycles, you are needed now to relieve the horrible drought in Thailand. It is the worst drought in countless decades and the farmers up-country need rain. We down in the parched central plains need clouds and rain to cool things down. The sun is scorching our brains! I don’t really believe in saints, miracles, or theological meteorology, but appealing to fantasies such as this can be tempting.

As the ancient lore claims:

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“St. Swithun’s Day if thou dost rain

For forty days it will remain.

St. Swithun’s Day if thou be fair

For forty days ‘twill rain nae mare.”

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Therefore, for centuries the old-timer farmers in England and America had a strict rule: you must get your first crop of hay into the barn by 15 July, because if it does rain on that day, what if it actually does rain for the next forty days? Superstitious? Or prudent?

However, I hear that in old Warren County, Pennsylvania, USA they have been getting too much rain. Up there, folks are going to want a dry St. Swithun’s Day!

-Zenwind.

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St. Swithun’s Day mid-year reviews 2015

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I consider this Feast Day of St. Swithun (15 July) to be the calendar year’s mid-point. It was about the midway point in public school summer vacations, vacations which I considered the high holy days of freedom when I was both a student and later a teacher.

So, this is a good time to pause and record things about the last half-year. I started recently listing the books I’ve read and the movies I’ve seen, mainly so that I could keep track of all of them and possibly give them as recommendations to those few (if any) who read my blogging. I’d like to review them all, but that might be too much. From New Year’s Day to St. Swithun’s Day, here they are:

Books Read:

Ira Levin – This Perfect Day (1970) [libertarian SF] [reviewed on Zenwind]

Marc Headley – Blown for Good (2009) [reviewed on Zenwind]

Victor Koman – Solomon’s Knife (1989/2014) [libertarian SF]

Elie Wiesel – Night (1958/2006)

Lawrence Wright – Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief (2013) [reviewed on Zenwind]

Steven Pressfield – Gates of Fire [great novel of the Spartans at Thermopylae]

Basho – Narrow Road to the Interior [master of haiku]

Richard Flanagan – Narrow Road to the Deep North (2013)

Nancy Many – My Billion Year Contract: memoir of a former Scientologist (2009)

Tony Ortega – The Unbreakable Miss Lovely (2015) [Wow!]

J. Neil Schulman – Alongside Night (1979) [libertarian SF]

E.M. Forster – The Machine Stops (1909) [libertarian SF]

Jefferson Hawkins – Counterfeit Dreams (2010)

Amy Scobee – Scientology: Abuse at the Top (2010)

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Movies Seen:

Predestination

Into the Woods

Blackhat

Guardians of the Galaxy (DVD) [recommended]

American Sniper [reviewed on Zenwind]

The Imitation Game [recommended]

Still Alice [recommended]

The Theory of Everything

Birdman

Lost River

Child 44 [reviewed on Zenwind]

Tomorrowland

Mad Max: Fury Road

Wild (DVD) [recommended]

Crazy, Stupid, Love (DVD)

Nightcrawler (DVD)

Unbroken (DVD)

The Voices (2014)

Spy (2014)

Inherent Vice (2014) (DVD)

Jurassic World

Love & Mercy [recommended]

The Kingsmen (2015) (DVD)

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I hope to recap the next half-year’s books and movies at New Year’s next. Let me know what books and movies you have experienced.

As far as our family, we are still doing well. I am still under treatment for chronic Deep Vein Thrombosis, blood clots in my legs. But I'm trying to stay fit and exercise whenever possible.

Swithun lives!

-Zenwind.

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Hammock Daze

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I got a hammock for the second-floor veranda out back! I haven't yet made it to the big flea market as I'd planned for hammock shopping, but I did get great tips from the online expatriate community and found a store with good camping gear with easier access in downtown Bangkok. The hammock is made of nylon parachute silk, which is not quite as ventilated and cool as I'd like, but it sure is nice otherwise. With it I got a mosquito net covering.

Our rainy season monsoon this year is a weak one, and we are not getting much rain. Yet we do have more clouds and a bit more wind, which are welcome relief from the heat. When the wind blows, I can cool off a bit swinging in the gusts with music and a book/Kindle. When it rains, I enjoy the occasional blasts of cool moisture while under the overall protection of the open and roofed veranda. (Gotta love Sony for their waterproof products!)

Blessed Coolness. Zen Delight.

-Zenwind.

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