Summer in February is definitely a thing in San Francisco. The forecast showed a spike in temperatures due to start last Wednesday, and lasting a very typical five days (today is supposed to be cooler again). I have come to appreciate over the years how fundamental these warm, sunny spells are to my well-being, and made sure to be outside as much as I could be. With the Zen Center class over and no other extra teachings on my calendar right now, I have felt like I have plenty of down time.
First of all, on Wednesday, with my commitments all being in the morning, I scheduled a supplementary roam. Membership of the Meetup has bloomed considerably over the past few months, and since I keep numbers limited, many people haven’t had a chance to join. I have been planning to add a few more into the calendar, and thought it would be worth trying a midweek date. A handful of people came along, whom I took on the route I used for Airbnb before the pandemic. We had city views from Kite Hill and Tank Hill, plus ocean views from the latter; with no wind it was delightful to sit at each location.
On Friday I took an early ride over to Twin Peaks, then went downtown to remind myself of the route for what was planned to be the next roam, and in the afternoon walked up to the park with a teacher friend having a starting-to-be-regular catch up chat.
Saturday also started with a ride, which went through Golden Gate Park and Lincoln Park, where we had been on the previous roam, and Great Highway. I returned to Golden Gate Park later in the morning for a joyful rally to support JFK drive remaining car free, and then went over to Crissy Field for a walk. The beach was mostly packed, and the tide was low enough that it was possible to walk on sand towards Fort Point – what I always think of as the Vertigo stretch.
Sunday, naturally started with a ride as well. I followed the Bay Trail south of the city on a dazzling morning, before riding over the hill towards Pacifica, and back via Great Highway. The rest of the day was pretty lazy, mainly because I was procrastinating on finishing off my monthly recordings for Core. I have been trying to do some writing, and been quite hampered by the space bar on my laptop barely functioning, which I find frustrating and laborious to deal with. So much so that I typed most of this post on my phone, while keeping half an eye on a football game.
One result of this great weather is that spring is farther advanced than expected, and that has prompted a schedule change for roams: when I was planning dates for the spring, in the middle of the damp, cold period of winter, it seemed fanciful to think about magnolias blossoming, but they are already starting to peak, a month earlier than I had anticipated. We will be doing this roam on Sunday now, and the downtown one will be a month from now.
In other news, I have some dates lined up for Wilbur; this is one of the things I have most missed during the pandemic, and I can’t wait to see it again, and sit up on the yoga deck. The first of these dates is right after my time at Tassajara, so I have a lot to look forward to, as long as we don’t get derailed by another variant.
Shundo David Haye 