Autsit 2016

We had another retreat of five participants, with the zendo again upstairs in the living room. We conducted the retreat more or less as we did the year prior. Inspired by a recent retreat in Bolinas we added paper to the windows. Participants again committed to three periods of sitting in the morning and two in the evening, with optional periods throughout the day. Food and other arrangements were as before.



We had a range of weather, everything from flip-flop hot to cool enough for a fire.



Yoga was a new addition this year.



Too many cooks make a good broth:





There were repairs to make. Here a homebrew Raspberry Pi borescope checks for sewer blockage:



The Falls were robust.



Animal life was abundant, including a first-for-the-area (and still very rare) tick, a possible gift of climate change:



For two days Sarah calmly reported there's a caterpillar in my room. In turned out to be this bristly personage.
It may not be the famous mukade endured by monks in Japanese monasteries, but it's getting there...
A wilderness retreat is not for the faint of heart!



Punxatawney Phil (actually a marmot) took up residence at Glen Alpine this year.



The water was fine for swimming as usual...



but still cool... Anlor measured the temperature at 66F.
(For you Dolphin Club members, San Francisco Bay runs about 10 degrees colder.)



The wilderness beckoned,



so we hiked up to Angora Lake,



where we drained a pitcher of the famous fresh-squeezed lemonade to be had at the little resort there.



An intrepid few headed into the Desolation Wilderness,





where the Crystal Range wore plenty of snow,





and then David took the easy way home...



...except for a dip in the creek.



Weather threatened the return,



but Tom rewarded all with his signature homemade ice cream.   : )