Weather Systems

We had a fair amount of rain last week; much needed it was too, and I enjoyed its presence, even though I got soaked several times out on my bike. Luckily it had blown through by Sunday morning. Unusually I hadn't fixed my bike itinerary in advance; setting out with various options in mind, and encountering a fierce cold headwind from the north, I changed my plans to minimise the suffering: instead of grovelling up Highway 1, which is very exposed, I came up inland, and thoroughly enjoyed riding with a strong tailwind as I started back south alongside the Bolinas lagoon. Today it turned warmer and sunnier, so I felt relaxed for my midweek hour around town, although when I got up to one of the high points of the city, I could see fog along the ocean and under the bridge. And that is probably the last time I shall be out on a bike for ten days.
We are heading towards sesshin, and I have a big all-day meeting tomorrow on an unrelated topic. I have previously noted how this kind of conjunction tends to cause me stress, so I am paying attention to that, and hoping to stay spacious with it.
There haven't been many personal words on the blog in the past week, and there are a few reasons for this. Time has been a little tight, and I have also been involved in a number of what we call 'difficult conversations'. These kinds of situations tend to bring into sharp focus our intention to practise mindfulness and compassion, towards ourselves and others, and for now I will just say that they have taken up a certain amount of time and energy this past week, but that there have been opportunities to communicate constructively on the different topics, which has allowed the energies to shift, and that has felt good.
I feel like there hasn't been a sky picture for some time, and while I didn't manage to get up on the roof this morning, where there were wonderful bright mottled clouds, I did catch this on Sunday: