We went to Tiffany for lunch today. A friend of a co-worker bought some jewelry on ebay which were supposedly genuine Tiffany pieces. My co-worker had her friend mail the pieces to her so she could take them into the store and have it verified.
The weren’t real. But, my co-woker bought a silver cuff bracelette for herself!
It was a very nice break from the office.
~~~~
Yesterday was the Losar, the Tibetan New Year, aslo known as Shambhala Day to Shambhala Buddhists like me. Let me just say this: I’m really liking the champagne and cream puff experience! Twice in one year, twice in six months I think! Fabulous. There should be more champagne and cream puff days and nights. There were a lot of people I’d never seen before, a few I’d seen just a couple times, a good deal of people I see all the time, one dog I’d never met before and one dog I see at open house a lot. Leo, the fluffy pup, was all dressed up with a purple and an orange ribbon tied around his neck. Sweet puppy.
The Sakyong talked about sangha and basic goodness and love. I got all teary eyed. As he spoke about cutting through our habits to the contrary I fingered my new Manjushri protection cord. Cutting through. Cutting through.
We had a catered brunch from Before and After Thai, RedDancer’s favourite Thai place in SF, and the guy forgot to bring the bill!
After brunch (with the champagne and home made cream puffs) we threw i-ching. Our throw was very close to what was thrown in ‘72 when CTR’s students first came to Vermont and found the farm for sale (which is now Karme Choling). They threw Tail of the Tiger and we threw Tail of the Tiger changing to something about pigs and fishes.
After a short video it was off to the Asian Art Musium for a handful of us. I love that place. We couln’t manage much, but did have some fantastic tea before we left. They do have a had written gold on indigo text about Manjushri which caught all our attention.
That was that for SF, but I did end up going out to Berkeley. I have some great loves in that center, so I wanted to see them on Shambhala Day even if I was really tired already. As I came up from BART, I got a voicemail from Dad about Grandma. They’re going to take out part of her colon.
Grandma’s surgery is Friday, noon Ohio time. But, they always start late. The whole thing should take about an hour and a half. Then the recovery room for a bit, then ICU for a few days, then a regular room for the rest of the week. She’s expected to go home a week from Friday if all goes well. I talked to her briefly today. Very briefly. I don’t think she wants to talk about it, or maybe she’s worried about long distance bills, it’s hard to say for sure. Things are still a bit sketchy; the woman is 87 years old.
Even playing with babies and dancing didn’t quite help me shake the bad feeling I have about all this stuff with Grandma. At least it’s already the new year.