Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

Ahead of our trip to England, we packed for the cold and rain that we were expecting. As it turned out, the coldest weather was somewhere we had not anticipated being, and the most rain we experienced was on Tuesday when we landed back in San Francisco. 

Ruth picked up the cold that I had had, with its long tail of sinus congestion – the first time she has been sick in the eighteen months I have known her.

The family did all gather on the first for my mother’s 90th birthday celebration: her three children with their partners, and both grandchildren, who did not bring their steady partners. My mother speaks less than she did last year, but makes herself known through squeezing hands, and traces of smiles. She spoke the next day of how much she had enjoyed the occasion, and I am sure she will be sitting with the memories going forward.

After all the rushing around on this shorter than usual trip, it was nice to sleep in the same bed for four nights; we tried a little walking and got very muddy. The day after the party, before my brother’s family headed back to Heathrow to fly back to Belgium, we had a morning in the nearby historic town of Wells.

Our train back to London was also a little delayed – someone had driven into a level crossing gate, but again, we had some slack in our schedule before meeting up with my oldest friend in London, at his new place, and getting to meet his new girlfriend. The four of us had a great evening before getting up to head back to the airport.

This flight was smooth – even landing at SFO in the wind and rain. We decided to take a bus to get from BART back to our place, and got soaked in the short blocks between the two. Having debated what we could prepare for dinner with the little we had left in the cupboards, we agreed instead to try a new hot pot place that had just opened at the bottom of the hill – we had seen the renovations going on for months beforehand – which was just what we needed.

The jetlag has kicked in in the usual ways – being very sleepy in the early evening and waking up earlier than usual. I am not sure how coherent I was in my Wednesday meditations; I got through a full day of work on Thursday, despite a rainy commute, and scheduled myself an easy weekend, with a roam to come tomorrow, which should be sunny.