Just want to draw your attention to a long comment left on this post by Angie.

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Sadly it was late evening before I managed to get away from the phone and computer. Some days a just like that. When I finally emerged from the house and started walking along the 'front' as we call it there was a barking and a whining coming out of the gloom off shore. The seals habitually lounge on a rock just off the point on West Cliff Drive. You can see where that is on the map. When I reached Lighthouse Field State Beach surfer were pealing off their wet suits on the sidewalk (pavement). About a dozen hopefuls were still bobbing around below but there was hardly any swell at all. When the surf is up one gets a grandstand view of Steamer Lane beside Lighthouse Field Beach. If you think surf and Santa Cruz that's the place to go gorp!

Whether one is in the water or a dedicated watcher I can see how very compelling this surfing business can be. As I walked along West Cliff Drive last evening there was a certain thrum of anticipation that's infectious. I catch it every time I find myself in Santa Cruz, which isn't that often. Clearly people can live their lives centered around the state of the waves, wind speeds etc.

One could live for worse, I guess. And....The means of training are thousand fold but pure Zazen must be done. Zen Master Dogen - Rules For Meditation. In other words surfin' sitting OK, AND sitting sitting is essential.

The Buddha inside the stupa

Offering incense at the stupa before leaving Pine Mountain Buddhist Temple
Before leaving a temple it is the custom to offer incense, recite a scripture and say goodbye to the Chief Priest. In this case Rev. Master Phoebe. And then on arrival at the next temple, or home, one offers incense and makes bows in gratitude for having got there safely.

To stand before the stupa and then to see the golden Buddha inside is phenomenal. Quite takes ones breath away. It is almost that one has just met the Buddha. One HAS met the Buddha! So to make the Pilgrimage to the stupa, offer incense and then walking around it three times is to have accomplished something quite remarkable. Really.

The story of how this stupa came to be here is a story of faith/trust. Each person who visits and pays their respects as described above contributes in a way, and at a level, that I find hard to put into words. On the Pine Mountain Buddhist Temple website can be found photographs and text documenting the construction of the stupa. There is also valuable teaching on the meaning of the stupa.

I rarely talk about the devotional aspect of Buddhist practice because devotion is something one expresses, through action. To write about it is to be looking on, observing, and that is NOT what devotion is about. Making a religious journey is an act of devotion. While I write about my travels it is not the nitty-gritty journey itself, it is just a description. Each of us makes our own journey, be it to the local temple or further field. Oh, and sometimes I fancy that traveling over to Jademountains is a religious journey, especially for those who are not able to physically get about. The thing to keep in mind is that it is not reaching a destination or having a goal that is the important thing. It is to realize that Buddha is right now, right here be that on the dusty road or beside tall trees or sitting in traffic. And still one goes on Pilgrimage. In our meditation tradition one would go for retreat, as well as paying ones respects as a pilgrim.

This post has been edited 13th August.

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This is how our trip over the mountains and back looked like day before yesterday. At 'B' we took a tourist boat to the small island on the right, Anakapa, in the Channel Islands.
And this is what we saw soon after getting out of harbour....

Thanks to Wikipedia and the photographer for this picture of the Common Dolphin.
Being witness to these joyful creatures as they arched in and out of the waters as they collectively rounded up breakfast was quite something else. And then all of the excitement as they and a flock of Brown Pelicans tucked in. Later we cruised along the coast of Anacapa a volcanic Island being told about Kelp Forests and sea caves, ship wrecks and a French hermit who lived there for 25 years. Many sights, sounds (those Sea Lions can bark up a storm) and smells to get attention.

On the drive home we stopped off for a hot drink and this poster caught my eye.

There are very many more than two sides to every story and while California has plenty of everything it's worth remembering that there is indeed plenty of EVERYTHING.

No time to respond to the comments because I'm driving out of this part of the world this morning heading to Santa Cruz where at least one reader will be waiting for me to take photographs of the SURFERS. Right Pascal?

Somebody asked me in an email if I knew the source of a quote. Here is the full quote which is spoken by the celebrant at the end of the Lay Ordination ceremony.

We live in the world as if in the sky
just as the lotus blossom is not wetted
by the water that surrounds it.
The mind is immaculate and beyond the dust.
Let us bow to the highest Lord.

It has been a long day, it's actually the next day now, and I'm so very glad right now to be publishing this verse.

Highest Lord? Really the meaning of that, the spiritual meaning, needs to be discovered for oneself. Right off the top of my head and for now I'd say deepest *heart. However the emphasis must surely be on Let us bow.

*Heart - heart/mind or Shin.

Coming around a corner this fledgling Pinyon Pine caught my attention

and then, zooming in, this fungus.
This morning as I was taking an early walk I realized my brain is adjusting to the sharp California light and with that I've a renewed and deeper sight. The subtle shades of green for example are quite unlike anything I have encountered before. I super saturated these two images and rather liked the result. No, the shadows are not this beautiful blue!

Tomorrow we will be traveling on California State Highway 33, a twisting and turning road over the mountains to the coast, loved by bikers. Much like Hartside Crossing in the UK. Perhaps there will be some photographs of marine mammals in the next post. California 33 is also know as the Petroleum Highway. I'll have to post the video, taken near Maricopa when I was passing through the oil fields earlier this month.

Thanks for the small rash of comments. And thanks for the e-mail R. I'm doing my best to get back to regular posting because I know there are those of you who log in each day in hope of something new to look at.