The following came to mind this morning as I sat relaxing on the back porch of the home where I’m being hosted. It has been three days since arriving in the Botanie Creek Road area above Lytton in the mountains of BC. Today the weather forecast calls for a high of 40 c! We have reached 34c so far and the day is not over yet.

Picture it. Two hippopotamus wallowing in a mud pool in the noon day sun. It’s hot, very hot. It’s still. Not a whisper of a breeze to ruffle the glass like water around them. Eventually in the midst of their revery one Hypo turns slowly to the other and thinking out loud says, Sometimes I think it’s Thursday!

Life has been full these past days, and good days too. I have been struck daily by the extra ordinary people I’ve been meeting. Each encounter fleeting yet not at the same time. I’d not know where to start or what to miss out should I attempt to describe these days since last writing. So I will not try. Enough to say a huge thank you to all those people I’ve met, who have kindly listened to me talking about our shared Buddhist practice and who have shared with me windows on their lives.

Here on Botanie Creek Road the forest fires are out and the temple buildings were not touched though the flames came within yards before the winds changed direction. Life can change direction in a blink of an eye. Fires out of control and close to home brings that reality close to home. Yes, sometimes mercifully there is relaxation in the hot summer sun and sometimes, most of the time, we have to be brightly present where we are right now.

However I am struggling to keep track of which day of the week it is. I can forgive myself for that.

Last evening I watched a DVD, Searching for Sugar Man. I maybe the only person on earth who hasn’t seen this documentary film. It comes recommended, it touches the heart – the story and Rodriguez himself. It is the story of a singer/singer songwriter from the early 1970’s in Detroit who had incredible talent but didn’t make it in America. However unbeknownst to him his music had become a huge hit in South Africa and quite by accident. An American young woman had brought with her his LP and soon it was being bootlegged. And one thing led to another… His songs were the background music to the young white liberals fighting apartheid in the 1970’s and 1980’s. His music and lyrics from the streets of working class Detroit gave them hope and encouragement to speak out, through their own music.

Nobody knew who he was or anything about him and a myth grew up that he had killed himself dramatically while on stage in America. Two fans made it their life’s work to track him down and find out the truth behind his death. Discovering the truth wasn’t easy however eventually they found him alive and well and working in construction. An incredible man, humble and not bitter about his early life as a singer. The film tracks the unfolding story of how they eventually found Rodriguez. There was that certain something that he conveyed in his way of going about life that left a deep impression on all who knew and worked with him. It came through loud and clear in the brief interview towards the end of the film. What happened after he was found caps it all… But that is another story. Closer to the hear and now….

There is a certain something about the smell of the air in the tinder dryness which is Victoria, Vancouver Island at the moment. As with music, smells are powerful in stimulating memories, the Beatles songs were the background sound to my teen years and to my spiritual seeking. Right along with them. The air here takes me right back to my years at Shasta Abbey. After the long wet/cold winters in the mountains with snow on the ground for months the warm weather was a joyful time. I seem to remember spring came around the time of Wesak in early May and that was a celebration time too. But I think the weather warmed earlier than that. Anyway it is wonderful to walk along the paths in the area I’m staying in and breath in the pine and the dryness.

A thought for all those caught up in the drama of the wild fires raging, some out of control, in British Columbia. We can only be grateful for the firefighters who saved the temple buildings and land Dragon Flower Mountain (Lions Gate Buddhist Priory) in the interior of BC. The fire came close, VERY close. In a few weeks I’ll be there to witness the charred land.