Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

I was going to title this post something like ‘getting back to normal,’ but then I couldn’t help wondering: Is there ever a normal to get back to?

What we can say is that our energy for doing normal things is returning. After the intensity of the last few months, we are both back in our regular routines. Projects and work that have been put off are now getting tackled, one by one.

Last weekend we both thought we might be getting sick, so we practised doing less than we originally had planned, and that seemed to stave it off. 

A part of doing less was going down and sitting in the sun in Washington Square on Sunday afternoon, rather than going further afield as we had talked about. It’s always great people-watching; we got to see some regulars and meet some new dogs, including another English bulldog.

I had imagined that that might be the last day with temperatures of seventy degrees, but the next few days are also supposed to be balmy. The low sun has been very pretty. In between times, a few lashes of rain – with more forecast for next week, with a roam that might be postponed.

The clocks have gone back, so of course I have been awake super early and struggling in the evenings. On the first night after the change, I looked at the watch I keep under my pillow, and saw it was early to be getting up – even by my usual standards – but then I also remembered that I hadn’t reset the watch, so clock time made it much too early. At least I slept for another hour.

Finally I got around to finishing the face of my brown rakusu, which has taken much longer than it ought to have – I am supposed to have everything else finished in less than a year, so I am going to have to apply myself to this much more regularly. I even made it to the sewing class at City Center – though I was already tired from a day of video editing – and got ready for the next steps, as well as collecting my okesa panels. There were a few old familiar faces I was happy to see again.