Fourth Week of July

7/20 AM A Little Help From My Friend...
Another typical summer day dawns in San Francisco- which means- fog. This morning we also had a little extra drizzle. None of that deterred Malcolm who is always so anxious to help supervise any activity (audio).

7/20 PM Trees in Common
It was already pretty dark and dreary outside just before sundown. This, after a long, sunless day. I figured our little tree could use some excitement, so I rang some small bells for it while Norman rang the big one for all the others. I’m running out of ideas for things to do around the house. Our bell ringing has become such standard behavior on our street now, our neighbors take it in stride. It would be even nicer if they would join us sometime instead of just waving to us. But it’s a start.

7/21 AM Naked Ladies on the Way
While walking around the yard (audio) during this morning’s sunrise, I spotted a single naked lady pushing up through the sand. She’s brand new and not yet blooming. Ann had given me a half dozen of those naked lady bulbs several years ago in an effort to help beautify my yard. Those flowers are still the only thing growing out there besides the super aggressive blackberries and the tall grasses that now form the straw mat on the surface of the sand. That one little flower is the first to arrive this year, and will be the first to bloom since Ann died. Hello, Ann and thank you, again.

7/21 PM Coaxing the Ladies
At sundown, we walked back to where the first naked lady has appeared and saw another one just coming up. We just stood there and rang the bells for the flowers.


7/22 AM Hello from the Crow

In terms of the light, time and weather, there’s not much to distinguish this morning from yesterday. However, from time to time, the huge tree that takes root two doors down provides a platform for some local crows. Loud mouth crows. And one of them just happened by this morning at sunrise. He’s hidden deep among the branches, but his voice is plenty audible. You can see that tree from google earth. It’s really big.

7/22 PM Laid Out
This was my first time back at meditation since the accident. During the break, Norman and I went out to the garden and quietly rang the bells. We had placed them on a bench and looking at them like that reminded me of a tiny, old cemetery.

7/23 PM Tintinnare Tom Bickley @ Meridian Gallery
Sunset occurred this evening during the third part of Tom Bickley’s interactive bell exploration and performance of Tintinnare. Tintinnare means “to ring a bell” and that’s what everyone who attended the performance at Meridian Gallery did for almost an hour and a half. In the first section of the piece we were invited to explore a variety of bells, chimes and gongs that had been placed around the gallery. At all times we were asked to ring and listen with care. Next we slowly walked up to the 3rd floor with the bells of our choosing, letting our motion activate them. The sound and movement reminded me of animals, only instead of walking in a line along the ground, we moved vertically through the space. We arrived on the 3rd floor to find the bell sculptures of Bruce Hasson displayed around the space. Once seated among the sculptures, the audience listened as Tom rang a single Japanese bowl gong. As he slowly and steadily played the gong, he captured, multiplied, layered and changed it’s pitch so that it sounded like many different bells- some large: some small. It was during this section of the piece that the sun set. A few minutes later an alarm sounded, and all hell broke loose as everyone rang his or her bells simultaneously. The piece ended with a long slow section where each person sounded their bell every few breaths for as long as Tom struck the gong. By structuring the piece as he did, Tom guided us through a careful exploration and immersive experience with the bells while gently calling our attention to the ways in which bells have been traditionally used. Thank you, Tom, for a really beautiful evening.


7/24 PM No Need to Plug it in
Someone threw out a couple of televisions up the block. They have been sitting on the sidewalk for a few days and nobody wants them. As we walked by we noticed the western sky reflected in one of the dead screens. So we stopped there and rang in front of the abandoned TVs for a few moments.

7/25 PM Why Bother?
We decided to go see the new Batman movie at the last minute. As we slammed the front door and were running down the steps to the car, I realized that I didn’t have bells or a camera with me. Go back or be late? As we sped to the theater, I shook my keys in the truck for a minute or so as the sun was setting. Not that the movie needs any promotion, but if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a link to the trailer.