On the edge & fresh Cherries.

Location - 'Plum Village Buddhist community' at 'Thenac' Dordogne

We nearly did'ny get here either. However; I summoned up tremendous discipline and said goodbye to Francoise and John and their boat, caravan and Landrover at 'le Mas-Argenais' on the Garonne canal. We'd left Lac L'uby and needed a lunch spot and a Tanya walk. Where better than by the side of a French canal on the edge of a pretty village with lots going on.

As usual Tanya grabbed Francoise's attention as we strolled up the canal watching the hilarious fun being had by a school party in canoes playing a game of 'canoe basket ball'. It seemed to be organized by the elder boys and girls and there was as much throwing of younger members plus themselves in the water as there was serious canoe work. There was one teacher there with a whistle but no one seemed to take any notice. Great fun to watch.

John had met Francoise 8 years ago in France. He was separated, retired so sold his business and moved over. They now live either on their boat or in the caravan which, conveniently was parked on the side of the towpath by their boat. As John said. "you would never be able to do that in the UK."  A pleasant couple of hours were had while Tanya and Francoise's Daschund checked out all the dogs bringing their owners walks along the towpath. Between watching that and the canoe hilarity plus the relief of sitting in the shade in the 30 degree  temperature while putting the world to rights. Well, I was seriously tempted to just stop there the night. But as I said, serious discipline was employed and we said our goodbyes. A dangerous discipline testing moment I can tell you! I just love these French hello's and goodbyes. Especially so when it is with a rather scantily clad, well proportioned and 'all embracing' female who is saying, "Eeet was joooost so loveelee toooo ave meet yoooo!". Hmmmm! Me? No I don't think so. But Tanya yes. Ho hum eh!

And ....... We still managed to arrive at 'Plum Village', settle in and eat before the evening meditation. Fancy that eh! We actually managed to get where we had planned to be. Most unusual for me.

4/6 - Plum Village.
I guess trying to explain my spiritual journey is, however I word it, going to sound like preaching or pontificating. So let us just say that being here is very special for me and the meditations I've attended along with a wonderful Dharma talk (teaching) by Thic Nhat Han himself have put a few more pieces in the wonderful and forever expanding jigsaw of life.

I love Buddhism but it is the simple, straightforward, and well laid out Psychology of it that is my 'thing'. I'm not into the ritual or the religious aspects of it, or any other belief system or structure come to that. I relish being on the edge, in the area of 'don't know' and I guess a lot of that comes from my years of Counselling.

On the edge is exactly what this visit to Plum Village has been. There have been two aspects to it. The first is we were literally parked at the furthest edge of the field cum car park and right by a big tree to get as much shade as we could. This was again because Tanya is not allowed into the community area proper. It was unintentional but the particular position we chose gave us prime viewing but  kept us separate from all the comings and goings.

The second aspect was there was a large retreat happening with scientists and Buddhist practitioners from all over the world coming together. They were all grouped into families. A lone and scruffy individual homeless wanderer who had'nt paid his dues would of course be a bit disruptive to the proceedings.

So it has been a wonderful time of being able to attend the open meditations and teachings with afterwards good walks around the beautiful surrounding vineyard countryside with Tanya. My open discourse, the fresh understanding and insights have been heard adequately by Tanya herself and the surrounding trees meadows and beautifully laid out vineyards. Much better than deep group discussion and navel gazing. Been there done that. It was good and right at the time but not now.

And to top it all tonight's desert was chocolate sauce, meringues and fresh cherries straight from the tree in the hedge right by us. Yummy yummy!