Geri Larkin's New Book

Anna and I drove downtown today to attend a reading at the Elliott Bay Book Store. We parked several blocks away so I could get a bit of a walk in. I can’t walk very far these days without pain but I need to walk or the consequences are likely to be more pain. We passed a store with dry soda displayed in the windows. This is a drink prepared by a woman in Tacoma who saw a need for a drink to occupy people’s hands but who are not wine drinkers. There was a recent article about her in the Seattle Times. We saw at least four flavors; kumquat and lemon grass are the ones I remember. Not for me but I wish her success. Next we passed a fine wood furniture store where a simple bench was priced at $950. Beautiful things but one should be prepared to pay for them. I saw a lovely rocking chair but was afraid to go inside and see the price. I might have fainted dead away and never reached the reading.

The reading was for Geri Larkin’s new book, The Chocolate Cake Sutra; Ingredients for a Sweet Life. I’ve read all of Geri’s books which are Zen in nature. She attended a Buddhist seminary in Toronto where she was ordained. She was given transmission (permission to teach) by a Zen Master in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I had thought that she might be a little reserved. Not so. She was very welcoming, very outgoing, easy to smile, laugh and tell jokes on herself. She has recently moved to Seattle after being the founding teacher for a Zen Buddhist Abbey in the inner city of Detroit called The Still Point Center. She answered questions readily, read a couple of sections from the new book. She currently is not teaching but she said "Who knows what the future will bring?" I was struck by her very down-to-earth nature.

We celebrated a fine Seattle afternoon by having dinner at Dinos, a fine Italian-Greek restaurant near our home.