So, I’m driving to find the Liberty Cafe and the Asheville (NC) Botanical Gardens in the early morning, and we’re stopped at the intersection. In the distance a mower is running, and the sound floats in and out and wavers as the machine pivots and turns, rising up hills and behind buildings and trees.

I am momentarily transported to a meditative space and reminded of the ululations of chant and of the call of a shofar in the distance, even in the midst of American urbanity. Or perhaps a mower is simply another form of shofar, of calling to meditation, to mindfulness, for those who are wont to listen.

Blessed be.