Image 20181003

Had a difficult day on many levels.  Had a discussion with all the volunteers this morning and they are very upset about various things.  Two of them, a couple, are going to leave on Monday.  I think a lot of the problem was that I wasn’t here/had only just arrived myself when they arrived.  I also think this is compounded by the fact that they find the work really hard and we have not given them sufficient explanation and help.

When I looked up at Pierre’s house this morning I got this flash that it was covered in greenery.  That somehow Buddha Garden was encapsulating him like the body surrounds a thorn with pus before it is ejected by the body.

Light in the clouds 20181002

I seem to have spent a lot of time talking today.  There was a Farm Group meeting this morning, talks with various people in Buddha Garden and with an ex volunteer who is back in Auroville and wanting to become a Newcomer.

I think the picture of the cloud seems to go with all of this.  Inevitably we talked about difficult issues.  But often I had the sense of there being a glow of light at the same time.

Creating a photo 20181001

I used my new gimp software to create the above photo for our page on the Auroville website.  I really like it and am very pleased that at last I have managed to use the software to create something.  I think the problem is that the software is I far more powerful that I need to do the simple things that I want to do.  A lot of the time I am confused with all the possibilities.

The original picture was taken with the help of the students from the Kolkatta school that came to help this morning.

Squirrels 20180930

I managed to finish the weekly video as well as doing things in the house which included sorting out yet another squirrel’s nest.  This involved taking the nest off the back of one of the pictures as well as sewing up the hole in the mosquito netting where the squirrel had managed to get in.

Despite this I heard it pattering around in my room later in the day.  Its just that I never manage to see it.  Much less know how it gets in and out.  I’ve examined all the windows very carefully and cannot find another hole.

I took this photo yesterday and wondering if I should use it at the end of my videos for the credits.  I don’t like the fact that it makes me look as if I am wearing a dress.

School visit 20180929

Unusually for a Saturday we had a group of 25 school students come this morning.  They were lovely students from a Sri Aurobindo school in Kolkatta and they seemed to enjoy themselves.

Have at last sorted out the volunteers’ financial stuff for the time being at least.  Even if it did make something of a hole in my account as they insisted on having their money returned and there was nothing in the Buddha Garden account. 

Cashews 20180928

Still sorting out the financial problems with volunteers.  But hopefully it will be clear soon.  I wonder how long two of our supposedly long term volunteers are going to stay.  They seem to make heavy weather of everything that happens to them.  I think as a result they will take off quite soon.

Seem to have worked on a lot of different things including finishing off the videos of my UK trip.  Those have all been sent off the family and now I’ve only got the Buddha Garden weekly video to do

While looking at the Palmyra fruit yesterday Rajan showed me these cashews.  According to Vivek it is a late harvest rather than a second harvest.

Using what we have 20180927

Walked around Buddha Garden today with Rajan and was surprised and pleased to see that he has found a use for all our discarded palmyra fruit.  If they aren’t eaten while young they are generally a nuisance as they are difficult to compost.  But Rajan says that the new root shoots are considered a delicacy.  So he has laid them out on the top of the soil and covered with a little earth.

All we have to do is wait about three months for the roots to grow.  Then we cut them and sell them.  According to Rajan the Tamil Aurovilians will love it even if no one else does.

I think the money is now all sorted out as far as the volunteers are concerned.  Went to Transition School to talk about the second year of the garden project that will start on October 10^th.