Atmosphere

Well, we had a tornado warning on Saturday to go with the recent earthquake and tsunami alerts a couple of weeks ago. I guess I was in the minority of people who was already awake when it sounded, and hopefully in the majority of people who were glad of the warning even if it was a little misplaced (I have memories of the famous big storm in England in 1987).

I had been tracking the forecast perhaps even more closely than usual, for a couple of reasons. With the filthy weather, and still recovering my full complement of energy, I relaxed around not riding so much last week (and noticed how many more hours it gave me to do other things), and enjoyed the football on Saturday morning while keeping my fingers crossed that the rain would end, as predicted, in the early afternoon, as I did not want to cancel the Marshall’s Beach roam. About half the people who had signed up did bow out though.

I got very wet riding down to the bus that took me from Fisherman’s Wharf to the bridge, and a couple more showers passed through as I waited for folks to arrive. Once we got underway, though, the skies cleared somewhat. There was a little concern at how the waves would be. In the end, the tide did not seem quite as low as it had last year, so while a few of us got right up to the north end of the beach, I didn’t feel like I wanted to tackle the last stretch to the bridge footing.

The sky was glowing as the sun was setting, and then it appeared from below a cloud layer to sink into the ocean, with many gorgeous colours. The moon also appeared through the clouds as I was riding home. All in all, another beautiful afternoon.

This was a moment I got to test out my new waterproof boots – which stayed dry.

My other reason for wanting to monitor the rainfall was to know how the Tassajara Road would be on Monday morning when we drove in to the Shuso Ceremony. The forecast was such that I decided not to bring my umbrella, though I later regretted that a little. I came down from the city with Zachary and Kim, where we got ahead of rain, and had a beautiful sunrise on the way down. I had been asked if I would take the town trip truck in over the road. It seemed that less rain had fallen than up in the city over the previous few days, and the road was in pretty good shape. It took me a mile or so to get the feel of the vehicle, which like its predecessor is very bouncy unless it is well loaded, but after that I pretty much enjoyed the drive.

Even though the Practice Period had been small, there were a number of people who had come in who I was happy to catch up with. My seat was adjacent to the platform where Mike, in the hot seat, was striking the staff with plenty of vigour between questions (and someone later said he was asked to go a little easier after the rehearsal). The whole-hearted energy was palpable, as was the love in the sangha (which gave me an idea for the dharma talk I have to give early in the New Year). As in all the best ceremonies, the emotions ranged widely, but the important part was the sincerity and openness.

As the doors opened, we could hear the rain falling, and there was a brief question as to whether we would be able to take the photos outside, but in the end the shower eased off – only to return as we made our way to lunch, and to the cars afterwards.

The drive back of course made for a very long day, and I was feeling it the next day. Thursday is my last full day of work until the holidays, though I still have a number of my usual events happening. There has been thick damp mist hanging over the city on recent mornings and evenings, which feels very wintry.