The Third And The Fourth

For the ino, the fourth of July means first of all a Suzuki Roshi Memorial service (as a non-American, it does mostly mean an extra day off for me, though I don't make myself so popular around here for saying that). I have written before about how tricky it can be to get the quorum necessary to perform the ceremony when it happens over the weekend; this time we had lined up a certain number of people for the key positions, and they all showed up, which was a great start, and people who had offered to help, even though I hadn't given them a specific role ahead of time, were also there to fill in. I was also pleasantly surprised at the number of residents who attended as well, so it all felt good, even if I was sweating just from standing in my robes.
I had been marginally grouchy in that I had been over-ruled on the time for this morning's service, and it took place at eight fifteen rather than seven fifteen as I would have preferred. The person who made the decision correctly pointed out the reason for my attachment to the earlier time - so I could get out on my bike earlier. When the weather is this fine, I like being out as early as possible, and yesterday was on the bridge by seven on the way to Mount Tam, where I happened to meet Zack, who may have got an even earlier start than me. So it was a little frustrating for me to have to hang around so long, having woken up at five anyway, and a number of other people seemed to be ready for action at seven as well. It was already warm enough to make me realise that my planned climb of Mount Diablo would be very hot work by the time I got there, so I adjusted my plans to a shorter ride up Mount San Bruno, which gives me the added opportunity to visit the beach at the end. While I was waiting, I took some photographs, as it is nice to have time to do that with this strong morning light, and watched the Tour de France - I was worried that the stage ending would co-incide with the ceremony as well, but when we came out they were just in the last kilometre, and I was happy to see Tyler Farrar winning his first stage at the race - I think he was happy it was the fourth of July as well.

Sunrise this morning from my room

Courtyard maple

Buddha Hall big bell

The umpan - rung to announce meals