Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

It seemed like a good thing that July 4th fell on a Friday this year. In other years, the fireworks would start the weekend before – if not earlier, before June had run its course even. This year, I don’t remember hearing a single boom or crackle before Friday evening; there was a brief reprise on Saturday some time after we had gone to bed, which had Georgie barking, but otherwise it was way less disruptive than usual. 

As always for a holiday weekend, I planned a couple of rides. Initially we were due to attend an event near Sacramento on Sunday, but we ended up not going, and suddenly we had that great gift of unexpected free time. On Friday I set off along the sunny east bay shore of the city, and climbed into the fog and wind of San Bruno mountain. On Saturday I set off through the fog of the city until I reached blue skies around Millbrae, from where I climbed up to the Crystal Springs trail, which I have rarely visited in the past couple of years as it has been closed so often. I also included some of my favourite roads and trails through to San Mateo, but unlike previous years, I took the train back from Burlingame rather than slog another hour into a headwind to get home. With the extra time on Sunday, I did a foggy loop of the city from Crissy Field to Land’s End and back over Twin Peaks. All of which was satisfyingly tiring. 

Mostly I spent Monday wrapping up loose ends so that I can leave for Tassajara, where I will be from Tuesday to Sunday, with nothing to worry about. As with the recent weekend at Wilbur, I don’t intend to take any projects down with me to work on – not screen-based ones in any case, since I do plan on continuing my sewing. I haven’t yet been asked to give a talk there this year, but am thinking of some topics just in case. Plus, I will be giving the Saturday talk on August 9th at City Center, so any ideas that stick around will probably get included there. My student group will get some more time studying the Bendowa, so that may well be the focus.