Last Week of April

4/24 AM Sounds in the Neighborhood

I missed the Ferry Building this morning. I set the alarm for 5:25 PM “by mistake”. It was great to sleep in until 6:00. I never thought I’d say such a thing. Anyway. The latest routine is to record audio only if I am in my yard or around my house. It’s nice to just LISTEN for a change.

4/24 PM Passing Ships

Norman and I walked down to the corner so we could look down the street and see the ocean at sunset. There were quite a few joggers out as well as other people just walking around. So we set up the camera to look at the ship on the horizon then walked across the street and back. Ships passing into the night.

4/25 PM 2nd Skin at the Exploratorium

Sunset inside the museum was a festive event. Just a few of us started ringing bells and as people passed by, we offered bells to them. Being that this was the Exploratorium and visitors are used to interacting with strangers, Participation wasn’t conditional on knowing why. They just took the bells and joined in. As if it wasn’t enough noise and wonderful cacophony at that moment, a parade of people on bikes began to ride by. However – not just bikes and not just ordinary bike riders. Michael Brown led a line of huge suspensions of colored fireflies hanging on loose limbed trees attached to the bikes. It made the pedaling wildly erratic. The branches swayed and light bounced and floated in an arhythmic dance. We couldn’t stop ringing and so accompanied them as they careened by.

4/27 AM Are you Sleeping... Are you Sleeping?

We rang from inside the house. It was a quiet morning and we wanted to start slowly. Today is the memorial for our friend Ann Chamberlain and we did a gentle, easy awakening.

4/27 PM To Ann
Because Ann's memorial was planned from 2-4, I thought there would be plenty of time afterwards to go home and get my bells. However, at sunset, we were still sitting in a restaurant with Ann’s family and close friends. So instead of bells we used several wine glasses that were on hand. Catherine took some photos with her iPhone as we very gently clinked our glasses together. Victor began by blowing very softly on a small whistle and we quietly but insistently joined in with our glasses. It was exquisite, and the entire restaurant was quiet for a moment… listening. We were suspended for a moment in a silent bubble- out of time- only the sound of glasses touching surrounded by a high, soft warbling whistle. Another goodbye.

4/30 PM A Divine Toast

Rebecca A. Hoffberger, director of the American Visionary Art Museum visited the Exploratorium today. The American Visionary Art Museum sounds like a unique and wonderful place- definitely check out the link.
After Rebecca’s presentation, we rushed away for dinner and I forgot to bring my bells and the camera. Having recently been at a restaurant in a similar situation, I wasn’t worried. This evening was much more raucous ringing than the other day (silverware tapping not so gently on glasses instead of lightly touching wineglasses). Nonetheless, it was very festive and Luigi documented the moment with his cell phone. When we had finished, it was momentarily quiet in the restaurant (the fabulous Café Divine in North Beach). The other diners were expectant and wanted to know what was going on.
I later realized how perfect this moment would have been to quietly and briefly introduce people to the project. However, at the time, I merely said that the sun had just set and that we did this everyday and had been observing the sunrise and sunset since the beginning of the year. I didn’t have any cards or other information with me either. It was a good lesson—if only I had been a boy scout…