161. Lemons and Carrots

William only woke up once last night. Then he woke up around 7. I got up, and meditated a little. We had 9 o’clock tickets to the Machu Pichu exhibition at the Field Museum. It was a cool exhibit, the Incans flattened their children’s foreheads when their skulls were pliable, and there was no negative effects to it. Makes me want to go there. Imagine you’re the Yale assistant professor who “discovered” it for the world. William looked at things, and wowed the ladies. He’s quite the flirt. We looked at the Native American exhibit, including a Pawnee dwelling, where we got to sit on real buffalo beds, and there were guides who talked about it.

I yearned for a life more connected to nature, before humans multiplied so much and were less in control of their environment, more worshiping it. We fed William at the café after splurging at the shop. Then we went to the Japanese and Tibetan exhibits. I found it slightly offensive, decontexualized, and I didn’t think they had to write “saint” for bodhisattva, they could just explain a bodhisattva. When we went on, I went back to look again. I felt a good connection to all the Buddhist art, the icons, etc. In the shop I bought a little tiny Buddha and posters of Manjushri and Green Tara. I lectured Rich and Diana on it some, and I could see their interest wane. William fell asleep, and woke up.

We went to an Indian restaurant for lunch, and I stuffed myself on the buffet. William threw a fit to get at Diana’s salad, and ended up with a carrot slice and a lemon wedge in his hand. We waited for the lemon wedge to really effect him, but he ended up alternating them. Carrot, lemon wedge. He’s not supposed to have citrus, but we hope it wasn’t a significant amount. It amazed everyone, lemon and carrot.

I took a long nap, very deep. William took a few short naps. They’re trying to give him a bath right now, but he’s scared of their bath.