The crickets are chirping away in the night and cool air on a light breeze is wafting in the window. Wonderful! This is high country and the air at the moment is dry and thin. Sounds travel remarkably long distances. A dog is barking now, or is it a coyote. I hear tell of wild flowers, abundant in spring, and of seasonal rains and even a drop of light snow in winter. I'm so glad to have been able to spend these days here with two close fellow monastics. It has been a tonic.

Links removed from this post because they didn't work so well.