Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

It has been nice to be home, and to pick up my usual schedule. As I mentioned last week, I had a busy calendar for the days after I was back, so I tried to manage my energy as much as possible for the spaces between events. I certainly felt better once we had got some of our normal food in, and I had got used to the taste of my coffee again. We slept fairly early as we adjusted back from east coast time.

The weather has been typical of San Francisco in the summer, mostly pleasant temperatures, but you are never far away from the fog, and the wind picks up every day. I wanted to start getting a little sharper on the bike again, and took short rides each morning of the weekend, even with roams on Friday and Sunday, and a wedding on Saturday afternoon. This was down in Saratoga, so I had a bit of a drive to get there. Naturally it was much hotter down there, but the venue was well shaded, and I didn’t sweat too much in my robes. 

I also wore my robes to a wedding in the city on Wednesday afternoon – with a different flavour. The couple, older gay men, wanted to get married at an alley with significant history for the city’s leather community. I was happy to oblige, but wasn’t sure how to get there: I couldn’t ride down, as there was nowhere to change into robes. Since I don’t have Uber or Lyft, I thought that maybe a Waymo would be the answer, so I downloaded the app and took a driverless car to and fro.  Both times the route chosen was not one I would have taken, but probably no worse than any other way of driving around the city. 

It was an intimate little occasion; the person who had chosen me was a great story teller with connections to England, so it was a pleasure to chat with him during the planning and execution of the ceremony.

The roams have been well-attended, with some nice newcomers, and some returning regulars who I was happy to see again. Even if my energy for planning them sometimes flags – and I spent a lot of time trying to decide the finer details of where to go on Friday’s roam – I still find inspiration every time I ride around the city.

Teaching sessions at Mukunda’s new space, at Alchemy, and my various online offerings have gone well. I also have a talk at Zen Center on July 1st that I am percolating ideas for.