September 1 - john met a most interesting person while at Creative-Coldsnow Art Supplies this morning. He is Fernando Medina, an excellent artist with commissions around the world. He is just starting his website at www.artbyaco.com . He and john talked about zen and meditation. john had mentioned to Fernando that he had found meditation to be more difficult over the years. Fernando told john that he had spent many hours in meditation himself, but then he decided just to start painting to earn a living. As a result, Fernando told john about "active meditation". Fernando explained to john that maybe meditation hadn't gotten harder; maybe john had changed his meditation from sitting meditation to active meditation. Perhaps that is what zenpond is all about: active meditation? Now that john has nearly completed zenpond after 19 years, he may have switched again to another form of active meditation: acrylic painting. Interesting.

September 20 - john actually watches dragonflies do this all day long. At first, john thought they were getting a drink, but now john thinks they are curious and are just playing in the fountain. john knows dragonflies are curious because they will often fly up and hover in front of him while he is working on zenpond.

A dragonfly will fly up to this position, get caught by the stream, and almost get swept into the pond. Then, he will repeat this same action over and over again. Is this fountain a dragon fly amusement park?

This painting is a composite of several real events.