We spent three weeks in May on our own meditation retreat in a cabin in Pioneer, California.
The cabin was nestled among confers and oak trees, making it the perfect setting for a meditation retreat.
The road to the cabin was named Juniper Court, and we noticed many small juniper trees on the road. We felt like we were in the woods.
The upstairs of the cabin had two rooms: a bedroom and a room that we used for meditation. While meditating we looked out this window.
And we saw this huge, beautiful conifer through the upstairs window.
The weather started out cold, but not as cold as this photo on the wall of the cabin!
We had a few days of rain, which made the pine needles glisten with raindrops.
During our retreat we studied Buddhism. We liked this quote from the Visuddihmagga (Buddhist text):
With a purified vision of the present,
One infers those past and future to be alike.
One infers that conditioned phenomena disappear
Like dew-drops when the morning sun comes up. (Vism. 21.27)
After the rain stopped, the scenery looked beautiful and green.
The wildflowers were starting to bloom.
We saw wildlife too, like this young mule deer. Also from the Visuddihmagga:
No store of broken states, no future stock;
Those born balance like seeds on needle points. (Vism. 20.72)
And there were plenty of turkeys, with females eating and watching out for their babies while male turkeys strutted around.
It was our first time to do our own self retreat, and it was a wonderful experience!
As we left Pioneer and drove back to the Bay Area, we were fortunate to see part of the Tour of California race. Here’s the breakaway.
The breakaway was followed five minutes later by the main group of riders, called the peloton.
We went to Kensington and stayed with Pete’s sister Csilla and her husband Dale. Csilla and Dale have been married for 25 years. In this photo Dale is holding a silver creamer and sugar bowl set, a 25th anniversary gift from Dale’s Mom.
Csilla and Dale are avid birders. They made their own tradition and decided they would buy each other crystal for their anniversary: new binoculars!
In front of their house Csilla spotted a singing Daleo bird, while Dale saw a pink-bellied Chilly Willy.
The four of us and their son Sacha went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). We are in front of I Do Not Know But Am Open to Learning, a colorful, inflatable sculpture by Chris Johanson.
The SFMOMA recently reopened after a three year expansion project, and the new space is fantastic! The first piece that was installed in the new building was Richard Serra’s Sequence, a massive steel sculpture that we walked through. Serra says that his sculpture creates a different relationship to space than can be found in architecture or nature.
Sacha, Dale, Csilla and Pete are next to Isamu Noguchi’s Cronos.
And here's Cronos from another angle. Noguchi is another one of our favorite sculptors.
The SFMOMA, thanks to the Fishers' collection, now has many Noguchi sculptures. Pete is behind Samothrace, which is carved from stone.
SFMOMA has also acquired many more artworks, including a wide range of Gerhard Richter paintings. Sacha, Csilla and Dale are in front of 256 Colors. Richter used chance to determine where each color was placed.
This is Abstract Picture, another Gerhard Richter paining that we really enjoyed.
Pete is jumping in front of Sol LeWitt's Wall Drawing 1247. We are so glad we had time to visit the new SFMOMA!
We were in the Bay Area to celebrate Pete's Mom's 80th birthday. Csilla and Dale hosted, and we helped prepare the food.
Csilla is demonstrating her onion-chopping goggles and looking like an alliumicidal maniac!
Kristina made fresh spring rolls.
Here's Pete's family: In the front row are nephew Jeremy (left), niece Abby and nephew Erich; Brother Paul, mother Csilla and sister Denise are on the couch; Pete, Csilla, Kristina and Dale are next; and nephews Spencer and Sacha are in the back.
Denise bought two cakes, Pete's Mom made the family's favorite chocolate torte, and Csilla made brigaderos, Brazilian chocolate birthday candies, so we had plenty of sweets.
Happy 80th birthday, Csilla!
One of the birthday cards made Csilla laugh and laugh. It was a fun party!
Pete was able to watch our nephew Erich play soccer.
Erich plays on both his high school varsity team as well as in a club. These photos are from a club game.
Erich is a smart and capable player, so it was a joy to watch him play.
We left Kensington to meet our friend Inga for lunch at Fish restaurant in Sausalito. We had met Inga last year at the Tassajara work period.
And here's a closer look at the yellowtail sashimi appetizer in front of Kristina and Inga.
We also had yellowtail collar that was grilled and served over pasta, which was outstanding.
Next we visited our dear friends Sean and Paul in Sonoma. Here they are in front of their new home, and Sean is holding up their new keys. They closed escrow while we were there.
Their new place has almost an acre of land, including this mature stand of beautiful redwood trees.
The house was built in 1960, and Sean and Paul are only the second owners. Everything in the house seems to be original.
With Sean's general contractor skills, they will be remodeling extensively over the next two years. Pete, are you ready to help? Paul looks ready!
The yellowtail sashimi from Fish was so tasty we bought a pound to share with Sean and Paul.
The next day we rode with Sean.
Look at those smiles! Could it be because we were having coffee and pastries in Duncans Mills?
The patio at the bakery was a lovely place to hang out.
It was so much fun to get to ride with Sean!
Sonoma has so many great roads for riding. Here Pete and Sean are looking at the Russian River.
And here Sean is riding on the Wohler bridge, a historic single-lane steel truss built in 1921 that spans the Russian River. It was so nice to spend a couple days with Sean and Paul!
Next we went to Fork Roadhouse for lunch.
We met our friend Joe there, and had fun catching up with him.
The tacos topped with fried eggs were tasty.
After hugging Joe good bye, we started driving to Colorado. We took four days to drive, so we could ride too. This is Genoa, Nevada.
We rode in Genoa the day before Memorial Day, and we saw lots of blooming red poppies.
Originally called the red weed, red poppies became the symbol of Memorial Day after World War I when a Canadian soldier composed a poem that started with the imagery of poppies blowing in a soldier graveyard.
After we rode, we had a picnic in Genoa at the Mormon Station State Park.
This is a statue of Snowshoe Thompson, a mail carrier and the grandfather of California skiing. We saw a statue of him at Squaw Valley ski resort too.
The trees in Genoa were stunningly beautiful, like this black locust in full bloom.
We spent a night in Eureka, Nevada. There were some charming buildings there, like the historic opera house on the right.
The courthouse was across the street.
We didn't stay at this hotel, but we liked their fences made of repurposed metal such as saw blades.
Another section of fence had bike wheels and fenders.
Just outside Eureka we took a ride in the desert.
Even in the dry environment, we saw colorful wildflowers.
Pete changed our first flat tire of the year.
Then we rode some more.
We are having lots of fun riding!
The next day we crossed into Utah, and stopped to take a photo.
Several times during the drive we experienced thunder showers.
After spending the night in Salina, we checked out these impressive rock formations.
There are some dramatic red rocks in the background.
The scenery while we drove was spectacular.
We arrived in Keystone, Colorado and the next day we went riding.
At first we weren't used to the altitude, especially when we were climbing on the tandem. So we took breaks and enjoyed the views. Keystone is at 2,800 meters.
We learned that the Mountain Pine Beetle epidemic here had slowed, but we still saw large barren areas with dead lodge pole pine trunks.
And there was still snow along the bike paths.
This is the mud season in alpine Colorado, caused by melting snow and thunder storms.
We were lucky that we didn't get rained on and so we stayed relatively clean while riding.
Pete is smiling as he rides.
We rode through the Keystone downhill ski resort, and Pete couldn't resist hopping into one of the wagons that are usually used for pulling downhill ski equipment.
We visited downtown Frisco and stopped for a nosh at Vinny's. Pete is next to a statue of the chef Vinny.
It was during happy hour, so the buffalo sausage with mustard sauce over potato salad was just $5.
Kristina is in front of the Frisco Museum. The building originally was the Frisco schoolhouse.
The museum is part of a historic park that has a number of interesting old buildings. We liked the bike racks with metal penny farthings on each end.
It's great how many bike paths they have here.
In nearby Breckenridge we spotted this altered stop sign and cheered.
We are looking forward to more riding in beautiful Colorado in the coming weeks.
