Lazing on a sunny afternoon

I can see how people get used to a life with servants but nothing could get me used to the punishment that travelling on Sri Lankan roads brings. You arrive at a destination feeling as though you have been pummeled by a boxer and shaken up and down like a rattle. It took me much of Monday to recover from our trip and I was so grateful to Stephen for pointing out to me before I went that I would need recovery time from expeditions.
However, I knew that the following day there was going to be an even bigger expedition so I needed to wash clothes and prepare for what lay head both physically and mentally. While my hostess went out shopping, I stayed at home to do just that. I only ventured out in the later afternoon with Tania to buy some postcards and a birthday card for my host whose birthday was the following day of our departure. She has been very vigilant about not letting me go out alone and I am grateful to her for such care but it means I have had little chance to see Sri lanka except from this cocoon. Although, you cannot miss the reality of the place, even if you don't directly engage with it because its all around you!
In the afternoon, I took up the sketch I had begun of some plants and a water pot in the garden, here. I hope to turn it into a painting when I return. I also re read some of Thomas Merton's Asian journal to give me some idea of his search. I know I have my own agenda for this pilgrimage and I am finding a lot of what I have been looking for. This house has a wonderful silence when you are left to yourself. We live next door to a Buddhist old people's home and the days is punctuated by bells which indicate time for their meals etc. Its like being back at Mirfield and finding one's day structured round the monastic life. I was determined when I came here to be as open as I could. I told myself that I would  not try to force or arrange anything for myself and that I would accept what was happening of the flow and rhythm around me. I have found this enormously gratifying and found that. there is now need to struggle but to see what the next moment brings. Of course, here, I am in unrealistic circumstances. I don't have to take responsibility for the next meal or for clearing up.  Yet, if I was on retreat at home his would be the case so I am seeing this visit as a kind of retreat/pilgrimage in which to listen and learn and hopefully to take some of what I have learned back into everyday life with me.