I did not expect Paul to have the eko for the tree ceremony ready ahead of time - indeed when I went down to check out front half an hour beforehand, he was busy planting the wisteria - but I had also been fairly relaxed about the preparations, getting stuck into some chidening, which somehow felt more worthwhile than sitting answering emails. The densho was already ringing when he passed me the hand-written words, and I duly passed them on to Tova, as I was going to be wielding the strange but wonderful inkugyo (somehow I thought Greg would have mentioned this back in the day, as it was one of his favourite things, but since he didn't, and since searching Google actually gets you nowhere - try it for yourself - I will just say that it looks like a two-headed inkin, only one half of it is a mini-mokugyo. Just like it sounds really, and just what you need for an occasion like this).
We had a nice little crowd on the pavement (that's the sidewalk for you folks), and the obligatory passing sirens, street-cleaning trucks, curious passers-by, and the less common election day convoys hooting horns at everybody, but we stood firm, chanted the Enmei Jukku and read tree-related poems. We did not, as we had been joking this morning, ordain the trees, but Paul sprinkled them with wisdom water, and we all wished them well in their new home.
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| The new look in front of the building |
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| The altar for the tree ceremony |
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| Technically not such a good picture, but I like the feeling of it |
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| Tova reads a poem |
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