Every day is a good day.

Yunmen gave a teaching, saying, “I’m not asking you about before the fifteenth day of the month. Why not say a word about after the fifteenth day of the month?”

He answered himself, “Every day is a good day.”¹

— Koan #6 from the Blue Cliff Record.

I have not taken any fresh photos for a few days now….because life.

So today I am packing my camera and a picnic lunch and taking my girl and my dog for a spring drive out to visit a tulip farm
(Location: ///orators.nearer.terms).

Tulips used to be my favourite flower until they were usurped the day I bought a bunch of sunflowers from a local market that lit up the house for weeks.

Sunflowers rule.

–ooOOoo–

The other day at the gym I listened with amusement as these two jacked-up gym junkies (one of whom had definite underworld vibes and the other looked like a cagefighter) were in a heated discussion over which types of flowers were the best for a Canberra garden. You don’t see that on UFC.

1. The translator, Matthew Sullivan, explains the significance of this question:
   In the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, the first of each month begins with the new moon. The fifteenth is the night of the full moon. Since the full moon is often used as a metaphor for the awakened mind, it is tempting to think Yunmen (864–949) is asking his students to describe the experience of enlightenment. What happens after the full moon? ↩︎