Dear friend

1)  In the middle of July two weeks ago, it was hot and humid. 

Basement was the only place to feel relieved. 

It is cool in the mornings in the end of July. 

Summer is about to go. 

2)   In the afternoon at a mall,  a fancy restaurant put a sign which says there are gluten free menus Become curious about new menus I entered the restaurant. 

I ordered lunch size fried fish. When delivered, it looked brightly yellow. What kind of flour was used?  Corn flour, a waitress answered.  Ah,  corn contains no gluten. Yet, corn flour fry was out of my imagination. The meal was tasty. 

I cooked tempura with fine corn meal. It was not successful enough. There must be a secret. There are quinoa flour, rice flour, and tapioka flour on the shelf. They are worth trying soon.   

3). I used to mow grass every other week. I did not know rules for mowing, nor never mowed in my country. in spring and summer grasses grow quickly.  If being lazy,  a garden would’ve become a jungle. To keep garden low,  two time mowing a month  was necessary. To mow whole garden took more than 4 hours.  

Beautiful grasses in England are well known.  They are products of mowing for centuries, a teacher said. They are green, clean,  and  comfortable. Likewise, Zendo had green grass surrounded with green woods. 

Tired of mono color environment,  this year I tried not to mow grass throughly or frequently. As a result many kinds of flowers were seen born and dead.  Colorful plants in the garden were recognized. Red, yellow, white, purple colors rose and fell one after another in large and tiny patches. Nature already has supplied abundant varieties.  I did not need to buy flowers.  

We have two lawn mowers. Each did not work well by different reason. Machines sometimes stop working. On the other hand nature never stops working. 

Regards.

Eishin Ikeda

Valley Zendo