A Day In The Life...

Its pretty nice to be temporarily unemployed. It's even better when the "superior other" decides she needs a 4 day weekend. With most of the population toiling away at their desks and few people congesting the roads we meandered down to the wonderful area of Santa Cruz. Our first stop was Land of Medicine Buddha butted up against the Forest of Nicene Marks in Soquel (http://www.medicinebuddha.org/). This place was amazing, not only for its location in the redwood covered hills but also the serenity, calm, and peacefulness of the center. Neither of us had ever been there before and this was a chance to walk around the center and just check it out. Here is a gigantic dharma wheel that greets you at the entrance of the facility:

Just up the way was another dharma wheel and, although it was much smaller, had an amazing roof. Each roof tile was pounded copper that had patinaed over time due to the sun and rain. Each tile was pounded into the shape of a lotus petal. Really cool:

We continued up the hill and saw another shrine that was just beautiful. Why belittle it's splendor with my crummy prose?! Here it is...

There are also plans to build and enormous stupa at this facility. The base will measure 108' x 108' and will be 53' tall. It will have 100,000 little stupa's placed on the entire structure. It will be an formidable edifice when completed. It is based on the Borobodur Stupa plan in Indonesia - the largest Buddhist complex on Earth. For now, this is all that is there...

On our return trip back down the hill, Namgyal noticed a 'bracket fungus' that had been painted. I thought it was a clever art medium and she thought it to be a beautiful work of art:

After leaving the center we headed to the Saturn Cafe in Santa Cruz for lunch, one of my favorite places to eat in Santa Cruz. We gorged and Namgyal did what Namgyal does best: be cute...

Our next phase of the afternoon adventure took us to a beach I really enjoy. It was foggy and overcast but not too cold and just downright beautiful. It wasn't hot and sunny like those Southern California beaches! :) I needed one last beach fix before we left and this sated my beach appetite perfectly. It will be a bit of time until I get to smell the salty air or feel the sand between my toes so I had to take full advantage of the situation. Beautiful!

I call this last one "Succulent Floating in Space." Dali would be proud. Next we called this, "Succulents Take The Train" and finally, "Succulents Ended Up In Our Car and Will Be Planted In Our Yard."


It's time to get back to the chores of getting ready for our trip. Only 7 days left and a heap of things to accomplish!