Monks!

This week a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks are in residence at the Norman Miller Center for Peace at St. Norbert College in DePere, a small city about 5 miles south of Green Bay.  They're creating a sand mandala, you can watch it live-streaming on YouTube, or go over and watch in person.  I went this morning.  It's amazing to watch and incredible to see the intricate design created by trickling colored sand out of a metal cone shaped holder onto the table with the design drawn on it.  Durwood wanted to know how long until their eyes give out.  I wonder how they avoid a permanent backache.  DIL1 works in the building where the mandala is being created and even got to add a line to the community mandala that art students, etc. got to help make.  On Friday afternoon they'll have the closing ceremony during which they'll destroy all their work, distributing half of the sand to people, and putting the rest into the nearest body of water (the Fox River is not 100 yards from where they're working) so that the peace and healing will spread throughout the world.  I'm hoping she can nab a little of the sand for me.  God knows I could use a little peace and healing right now.





She took LC to see the mandala the other afternoon and LC was thrilled to see that they'd brought "treasures" along.  I availed myself of a few treasures while I was there today.  I had put some "mad" money into my pocket just in case.  Evidently one of the monks told LC that he lived in the mountains where it's snowy and she proceeded to tell him all about her trip to the mountains to learn to ski.  I predict that young lady will seldom be at a loss for conversation.


After supper I used a stray knitting needle to join the edges of the Montparnasse sleeve start and, well, you can see why it needed to be frogged and restarted.  I cast on 1/3 fewer stitches and have about 3 inches knitted.  Once again I'll get to 5 or 6 inches and wrap it around my wrist to see if that's a good number of stitches.  I can't say enough about how the April program at knitting guild made me feel about my ability to work out how to knit a sweater that fits.  Up until now I've just gone along with the stitch count in the pattern in the size I thought would work and ended up with some unsatisfactory sweaters.  Oh, I wear them, don't get me wrong, I'm not putting that much effort and yarn into a box and forgetting about it.  It'll be a treat to make a sweater that fits the way I want it to, though.

April 12--Maximilien Luce, Construction on Reaumier Street.  

Everyone's in the street.
Scaffolding crowds the sidewalks,
buildings grow inside the support
behind fences covered in signs:
"Post No Bills"
is nearly obliterated by
notices, ads, posters
as if the sign read:
"Free Space for the Message of Your Choice."
~~~~~

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th.  It's supposed to rain all day, turn to freezing rain overnight, then sleet on Saturday with the wind ramping up to 50 mph gusts, and finally snow on Sunday, 8-12 inches of snow.  Ha ha.  Very funny, Friday the 13th, no plague of locusts or rain of toads on the horizon?  I wouldn't be a bit surprised.  At this rate I won't get my garden even laid out until the middle of May.  *sigh*
--Barbara