Snakes! Hisssss. Watch out for the snakes lurking in the dark. Slithering unseen, getting ready to ‘get yer’ when you are least expecting. They hide in plain view wearing a disguise, step out unmindfully and a snake will have you roped tied and branded before you know it. That deadly sting is a breath away, and after that there is the coiling around and the deathly squeezzzzzze, which will finish you off.

Sound like anything you have ever thought? I know of at least two readers who are, TERRIFIED, of snakes. They live on opposites sides of the world and both live in snake infested places. Come on, not really BIG ones are they? Hisssss. The closest I came to the big ones was while traveling in Northern Queensland, Australia in 1970. I came as close as the long-tall stories I was told, of how they slide into your sleeping bag at night to get warm, hang languishing from trees by day and are the size of a mans arm, at least! In the flesh I might have seen just one tiddler in the outback, that’s all.

I passed by a gift shope in Hexham yesterday and out of the corner of my eye I saw them, slithering up the walls of the shop. Lots and lots of them, slithering multicoloured snakes. Who is going to buy them? Who in this wide world, in their right mind, would even cross the threshold of that shop? Bad for business I thought, don’t they know about snakes and how they scare people?

In Buddhist teachings, specifically in the Wheel of Life, you can see a pig representing greed, a cock representing anger and a snake. The snake represents illusion/delusion/ignorance. These three poisons, as they are termed, chase each other around in a circle thus perpetuating suffering, endlessly. That’s until they, which are all qualities chasing around in the lives of the average person, take stock of the situation and see into the unsatisfactoryness of living like that. Of poisoning oneself from the inside, and drinking in more poison daily. This is when people can, and do, turn their lives around. It really is possible to do that. Interestingly the more poison you have poured into your body/mind, or have had others pour into your body/mind which is particularly nasty, the more potent and complete the turning around can be. Why? Because the poisoning is that much more obvious. Take a tour of the Wheel of Life why not.

To-day I’m celebrating the snake, terrifying as they are for some, and probably for good (karmic) reasons too. Because the three poisons, snake being one of them, are the great liberators when their true nature is seen into. We have a verse:

This posting is dedicated to all those who have been forced to drink poison at an early age and have lived in fear ever since, until now.

Dunking it, what ever it is, in bleach is not always the best solution. Today I did dunk some stained fabric in a bleach solution, so far so good. That scrap and I started life together some 25 years ago as one of several cloths that go with a set of formal eating bowls, used during monastic retreats.

It just so happens ‘Bleach fact sheet’ is the first item listed under general textile care in an archival posting on Rebecca’s Pocket, which I was very glad to have found again this evening. Here’s the other headings in this treasure trove posting on caring for domestic linen; stain removal guides, miscellaneous, vintage textiles, textile conservation, caring for linen and vintage linen.

My bowl set linens have remained with me all these years probably because I have name tapes sewn on them. Such is community living. This evening I started the long project of sewing tapes onto all of my clothes. They are not required, however I love my clothes well enough to go to the trouble. After all one sock looks much the same as another, unless it has a name! There will be no problem finding out who I am should I be found unconcious with no means of identification on me. Sad thought, however such things do happen.

Here is where to buy woven name tapes which will last longer than the items they’re sewn to. I’m still using a couple that belonged to my paternal grandmother. Bless her.

Back in the early days of weblogs, in the mid to late 1990’s, postings were written with html coding, all done ‘by hand’ as I see that referred to. Blogging, seems to me, was a craft and the authors took pride in their hand coding, time consuming as it must have been. Now we have the ability to tap tap away and the coding just happens behind the scenes. So I thought to take a pause to reflect on our weblogging ancestors and extend some gratitude towards those who pioneered this liberating form. One in particular comes to mind.

Rebecca Blood’s on line archive goes back to 1999 and her weblog, Rebecca’s Pocket is still being updated regularly. One of the first books I bought was The Weblog Handbook, which she wrote in 2002. There is a wealth of practical information and guidance as well as clear and compassionate instruction on just how to behave on line. She talks about right speech in such a way that one can go into the seeming jungle confident to behave with integrity, and not sell out to popularity and loose ones sitting place.

For days we have been anticipating the arrival of our new rubbish bins. We’ve speculated on the size, the number and the all important, when will they arrive? The mileage we collectively and individually got out of the subject of our new bins over the past week(s) has been impressive! And here they are, they arrived to-day.

Now we can discuss, in fine detail, just what we can, and cannot, put in the grey recycling bins. Yes, grey for recycling and green for the rubbish. We have already been reminded that this is counter intuitive.

Yes, it is not easy to find things to talk about that don’t lead to Preceptual difficulties. The new bins have been gratefully received, on several counts. Practicing right speech while not becoming tiresome or repetitive can be quite a test, where ever one lives.

Writing a blog without becoming tiresome or repetitive or just plain boring is a huge test. Especially when sharpening ones opinions is not part of ones daily practice.

Thanks for visiting.