The Zen of Happiness Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it. David Lee Roth, American rock musician. To be sure there are people who are largely unscathed by our global pandemic and their happiness seems unblemished. … [Read more…]
Romancing the Mushroom pine mushrooms live a thousand years in one autumn Den Sutejo 1633-1698 (translated by Makoto Ueda) Autumn in Melbourne is a fine time to take a trip to the Prahran Market and visit the wild mushroom man, Damien Pike. For many years he’s been sourcing and selling mushrooms. Much … [Read more…]
‘He who loves not women, wine and song remains a fool his whole life long’. Martin Luther – Professor of theology, author, composer, Augustinian monk. Trees of Paradise Historians believe our Christmas trees might be a close relative of the Medieval Trees of Paradise that appeared in Western Europe around late December in … [Read more…]
Hello Sailor As the Water Rat in Wind in the Willows, advises the mole, ‘Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.’ I messed around in boats when I learned to sail on a lake. It was comedic right … [Read more…]
Forest Bathing My mind keeps wandering to the empty spaces and forests that will still be there when the pandemic retreats. Dreams of whispering trees and rustlings in the grass. When I was living and working near Tokyo a few years ago, I got to know a Japanese bullet train driver. Roshi is … [Read more…]