I adore living in the country. There are always surprises. Things that you have never seen before. Just at this moment there’s a big galah in our bird feeder which is shaped like a wire cage and way too small for the creature to get into the seed at the bottom. Nevertheless, he’s trying, and a rather funny-looking bird seems even odder with half of him in and half out. Earlier today, I walked down to our wetland which is rapidly drying out as the La Nina pattern swings to El Nino. The clay creek was just damp enough to hold the prints of some wallabies who we suspected were around but we hadn’t ever seen them. There were also some large bird tracks that I would have sworn were big enough to be emus, but, of course they aren’t from around here. (Or, are they?) The great thing about this life style is that the environment – Nature – keeps calling us to pay attention. I love sitting out on our deck in the morning with no agenda and simply focussing on the landscape. Is this meditation? The goat who I can see from my desk at the moment can illustrate how concentration flows into mediation. Cardy (Cardigan) the goat is staked to one spot and this represents concentration (dharana). He moves around and the rope winds onto the stake – voila – a constrained state replicating meditation (dyhana). And finally, Cardy has no option but to stand still completely – and this stopping could be likened to contemplation (samadhi).