Andy Lowry @AndyLowry@qoto.org

@ninawillburger
Somebody needs to go into the birch-pitch business. I'd buy some.

@jjhysell@beige.party
Huh. Mine looks like this: 😜

@SecularJeffrey
If it's Tata motors, that might even be worth looking at.

@joshuaneedlemAn
Onions and maple is a really interesting thought! Must experiment. Thanks for the pointer.

@Lowie@universeodon.com
That names part is the hardest. The rest, I can do.

@drsueoosthuizen
Gorgeous indeed! And yet another reminder that before radio, if you wanted music, you'd best be prepared to make your own. 😉

@ProPublica
A jeez, don't tell me that! About to sign up in a couple of weeks myself. I guess I'll need to be super-careful. One is run by my palliative care guy, whom I very much trust, so at least I'll have some help from him I hope.

@SecularJeffrey
The recognized Mr. Super Cool Dude of the neighborhood had one of those. It's the only one I ever saw. There were also a couple of big BSA's around. Harleys hadn't really caught on yet, at least not where I lived. There were several Triumphs about as well, Tridents and Bonnevilles both. Ahh, the coveting I did.

@beesanctuaryireland
Growing up in Ohio, USA, one of my favorite young-teen summer pastimes was watching the bumblebees disappear into snapdragons and then pop back out. 😀

@LadyParadis
Yes! Every moment counts, and some can even teach us important things unexpectedly.

@SecularJeffrey
Ahh, that just brought back a fun memory. When I was 14, a great-uncle let me drive his Honda Dream 305 around his enormous front yard (he lived on a farm) for a couple of hours, all the while chased by his flock of guard geese. That was a huge, huge thrill for me. It was the first time I'd ever been on an actual motorcycle. He was a professional truck driver and part-time farmer; I have no idea why he even owned the thing. It was the same Honda Red as in the illustration. Thanks for provoking a fun memory, I'd completely forgotten about that.

And that framed thing on the right is my certificate of having taken my vows. It was with a Chinese lineage, so my priest wasn't into the signing-of-the-back-of-the-rakusu thing that is a more common method of assigning a dharma name and such. (He was actually wrong about that, the practice actually started in China, but whatever.) I do have a rakusu (that's the bib-like garment you see on Zen people sometimes) for formal occasions and sometimes wear it around the house to remind me to slow down and pay attention. I need reminders for things like that ALL THE TIME because my mind, even after almost 50 years of practice, still tends to be more bouncy and distractible than I would like.

And there you have it! Be glad to answer any questions about anything. Even rude ones. 😎

I used to keep live carnations on this and a couple of other smaller shrines, but it got to be more work than I really cared to keep up with, so now there are dried flowers and plants instead.