a lesson in abundance.

"It is better to travel well than to arrive." --Buddha

Sometimes even going an hour away for the weekend feels far enough away.  This weekend for Tim's birthday we went one hour east to stand by the ocean, as I often need to do, and feel the openness of it, and smell the salt air, and be away together, and to wander aimlessly without schedule or specific plan, and to sleep away from home.  Coastal Maine in January is totally quiet.

 Because I didn't grow up in Maine, it still thrills me to live within reach of the ocean and to walk on the beach no matter the season.  

 We planned to snowshoe on MDI but there wasn't enough snow on the trails, so instead we walked through Bar Harbor and up into the last section of the MDI half marathon.  It was as beautiful and hushed as it looks in these photos.  I felt far from home and totally at peace.  

 

 For dinner we ate tapas at Cleonice, four shared plates and good beers, and ended with Caramel Flan with two spoons.  We had a late dinner, and lingered until the place was near empty. 

We have both wanted to go to a Zen center for a guided meditation practice, and we had decided to check one out this weekend.  Surry, Maine is the home of this beautiful place, the Morgan Bay Zendo.  We found it and hiked the half mile into the woods.

Ironically, the posted meditation from 9-11 on Sundays didn't happen, well at least, no one came, not a Nirvana seeker nor a Zen master, and it left us to walk around totally alone in this sacred place.

Tim shoveled off the porch in a gesture of "leave things better than how you found them," and then we sat for twenty minutes of silence, and hiked out.  Now that we know this little gem is tucked in the woods, we'll be back.  Maybe more people come after the icy grip of winter has left.

In the meantime, we decided that was our lesson in Buddhism, to find the Zen Center empty of a teacher, because the teacher is within ourselves?  Right?  Get it?  We get it.  We truly just felt grateful and happy.

And it was kind of the theme of our whole weekend, a non meditation,  deserted beaches, and quiet restaurants, and yet: So. Much. Abundance.