Non-attachment

Cut down the banyan tree of desire with the axe of non-attachment, and it will vanish utterly.                   

                   --Swami Vivekananda‎

Fruit of the Seasons

We have had a surfeit of fruit this summer and early fall, first from the peach trees, then the apple trees, and now the prickly pear cacti.  (Soon the oranges will ripen as well.)  This has been the case even though the birds have taken their share.  But they also contribute--for example, I’ve seen them picking cochineal insects off the cacti, and aphids off the apples, which they presumably feed to their young.