I didn’t run very far this morning.

I guess that I should clarify that.

This morning I ran less far.

My knee was bothering me a little….not hurting, just twinge-ing a little….feeling like it might hurt more later if I pushed it.

That’s the attitude of a champion.

“Run through the pain” and all…..right?

When I got back….when I was doing my cool down from my really easy run….I heard a big tree drop somewhere back in the deep and dark woods across the road from our house.

The “deep and dark” that is far outside of the light from my neighbor’s porch.

I imagine that I was the only one who heard it fall.

That’s probably not true…..but my perception is all I ever really have going for me.

My perception is all I really own.

Anyway, like that koan says, “if a tree falls ….alone in the forest…does it make a sound?”

This one made a sound.

I was there to hear it.

But it got me thinking……it sho ’nuff got me to thinking.

What if a tree falls….surrounded by a multitude of good and able ears….and no one listens?

Did it make a sound?

Is “all it does” only dependent on how much we notice that it did?

What sound does a tree make that we don’t listen to?

More riddles.

That’s the nice thing about running….once you have your shoes on, it’s really just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other.

There’s nothing too tricky about any of that.

Running isn’t a riddle.

Here’s another riddle: why do things about my past bob up in my memory like a capped soda bottle in a rushing river?

I was thinking about this mall they built a couple of miles from my house when I was younger.

They put a skating rink in the center of it….and the stores were all on the outer edge of the rink.

It seems like they put a high plexiglass wall around the rink a year or so in….maybe hockey practice got out of hand….flying pucks and all….I don’t know.

It was cold in that mall.

Anyway….that was the first place I heard this song.

“send in the clowns” Judy Collins

 

Adolescence….cold fog in a shopping mall….and this song.

How much more atmospheric can you get?

That ice skating rink is long gone….I think that mall is, too.

All these bobbing memories….and falling trees.

Wow.