Hi y’all,

Well, this is interesting. I’m trying to include a table in this post, and that apparently is tricky.

So, as I’ve written below, I want to include an ‘alternate week’ post on this blog. It’s a way to provide you with recommendations about books and music, and to add suggestions about Bodywork, sexuality, and other topics of interest.

This issue has two book recommendations, as well as a note about “The Lilac Festival,” complete with photos.

I’ve included links to Amazon.com and Amazon.ca for your convenience. If you’re considering buying either of these books, please use the links below and help support our work!

Hardcore Zen

A couple of months ago, I subscribed to Shambhala Sun, and found a mention of this book. I was intrigued by the title AND the subtitle, which is “Punk Rock, Monster Movies, and the Truth about Reality.” I ordered the book, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Brad Warner, the author, makes it clear that all that there is, is all that there is. Nothing and everything is sacred, nothing and everything is profane. Unless we get this, as an internal ‘felt sense’, we are doomed, as is the world. And the thing we ‘get’ is that living in our heads as opposed to in the essence of the moment, is the cause of our distress.

You really want to read this book!

The 4-Hour Workweek

Another elegant book, and I’m frustrated, because the author is 29. He’s figured out a way to leverage his Internet business into an outsourced huge income, freeing him to live his life anywhere in the world. He asks us to question the wisdom of slaving for 40 years in order to ‘enjoy’ a retirement that may never happen.

If you are considering a close examination of how you are living, what you are putting off, and what you are settling for (the cubicle nation, perhaps?) have a look at this book. You just might find a way to pack it in and join us next year in Costa Rica!

The joys of Canada, Hiking, and the Lilac Festival

Darbella and I have gotten back into the ‘weekend 10 km. hike’ habit. Last weekend we discovered a bike and hike path in Kitchener (where we live) the runs along a former railroad right-of-way. We hiked 5 kliks, had lunch, and hiked back. We even met one of my favourite clients on the way. Yesterday, we headed off to Burlington, to the Royal Botanical Gardens. It’s ‘Lilac Festival’ time, and we had a riot smelling, then going to a 10 km hike through lovely Ontario bush.

thought you might like to see a photo or two: