I took this shot last week, put the file aside, then opened it up today not remembering where the file had come from. My first impression was “what the heck is all this, some kind of blood cells or bacteria?” But no, it’s just spring-time in New Jersey, a detail shot of a tree in bloom. You can notice something about mother nature; when she wants to get something going, she uses crude devices (who knows how many of these blossoms are going to make it into some kind of fruit, and from there, find some fertile soil where a new tree could take root; it’s a very inexact, hit-or-mostly miss process, no environmental scanning and intelligent targeting behind it). But she takes a lot of shots. And somehow, her world keeps on going.

So far, anyway . . .

A few days ago, I posted some thoughts about the dog-mu Zen koan. Here’s a grungy shot of three real dogs, in their little front-yard triangle off of Market Street in Newark. I started noticing these guys a few months ago, as I pass their humble abode every day on my way home from work.

So, does the dog have Buddha nature? I don’t think that these pooches particularly care about that, on this rainy spring afternoon. All the more reason to suspect that they possibly DO have Buddha nature. As much as any of their human (all too human) bosses might.

We’re now past the first week of April, the unofficial end of the snow season around here. It’s going to be warm for the next 8 months or so. It’s finally time to put the snow shovels and driveway salt away. Here are some of those things basking in the sun on a fine spring morning; waiting to be stashed in a dark corner of a garage or shed, to lie in wait until the cold breezes, long nights and dingy gray clouds find their way back to this corner of the world. As they surely will. For now, though, it’s time to ignore such thoughts and enjoy the sun, trees and flowers, once again.