An extra week?

Sunset 4:37 PM. Broadway, NYC.

Somehow it's the 53rd week. Does this only happen during a leap year?

My nieces were visiting from Florida and we were on Broadway in the snow at sunset this evening. (It's a short one because we were very cold).

Happy Solstice 2012

Sunset 4:32 PM. Brooklyn, NY inch by inch... slowly it turns... but we are heading in the light direction. ahhhhhh

4:51 PM and holding!!!

The Solstice is fast approaching- Hallelujah! In the meantime… For the past 15 days or so the sun has set at the same time every night (at this latitude). It has now headed back the other way and is setting later—slowly. Incrementally. However, the sun continues to rise later each day as well- at a slightly faster rate than the sunset is delayed. So the days still grow a bit shorter until Friday. So for your entertainment during the final darker days, I offer 3 moments from the last 3 weeks at sunset.

12/1/12 4:51 PM, San Francisco Welcome Chloe-

Not so interested in the bells - unless they move.

12/8/12 4:51 PM First Night of Hanukkah

12/14/12 4:52 PM San Mateo, CA End of the Semester :) 

 Happy Holidays!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sunset 4:54 PM.  San Francisco

This view of the moon was in the east at the moment of sunset on Thanksgiving. A few minutes later the sky to the west burst into pink. Good thing everything is tied down…

Poor Little Plover

Sunset 4:57 PM. Ocean Beach, San Francisco Poor little snowy plover. This also reminds me of the old smoking sections on airplanes…

Return to the Norm (when normal is not avilable)

Sunrise and Sunset 6:38 AM and 5:08 PM San Francisco Most things dwarf in perspective to a catastrophe like hurricane Sandy. From my safe and undisturbed position on the West Coast I can only sympathize and offer remote support to my family, friends and everyone who were affected. FYI, this week contains that man-made jolt in the wheel of transition to even more darkness. However, if it’s any consolation, we (at this latitude) are only losing one more hour of daylight between now and the solstice—then more light…

Good Riddance!

Sunset 6:09 PM. Berkeley, CA to Daylight Saving time. I hate it. STOP THE MADNESS!! Sign the petition!!! :)

Happy Halloween

Sunset 6:13 PM. San Francisco from me and Norman (and my thumb)

GO GIANTS!!!

Sunset 6:25 PM. San Francisco

Game 6 of the playoffs. We all know what happened. I gotta say it, “GO GIANTS!!!!!”

Hop On Sunset

Sunset 6:33 PM. San Mateo, CA

We’ve started a new tradition- stopping for dinner and waiting out the rush hour after school on Mondays. This week Kazimir chose the restaurant. At 4 years old, I don’t know what his criteria was, but he picked a really good sushi place. (I think he liked the name Hop On Sushi). Perfect timing for the sunset, too.

Labyrinth Sunset AUDIO

listen.

Labyrinth walk at sunset

Sunset 6:37 PM

Grace Cathedral. San Francisco

One Friday each month, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco invites the public to come and walk their indoor labyrinth. Entering just before sunset, the Cathedral is glowing inside with the soft colored light coming in through the windows and from the flickering candles scattered about.

It really felt like a sanctuary, stepping over the threshold into that cavernous, reverberant space, the layers of sounds and years of incense immediately absorbing you into their texture. Karma Moffett was already playing- Tibetan bells- stirring or striking—deep and resonant. I thought, “Oh how perfect. The bells will already be ringing for sunset. I’ll just turn on my recorder when it’s time for the sunset and capture those beautiful bells”.

HA! After playing the bells for more than half and hour, at exactly the moment of sunset (and at the same time as I started recording), Mr. Moffett changed to those long Tibetan horns.

I hope you enjoy listening.

Bell Crazy Boys

Sunset 6:45 PM

Oakland, CA

These boys were having too much fun! After ringing down the sun during a visit last week, my friends’ 18-month-old son talked about the bells for days. So this week we decided to document this evening for the weekly update.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

EQUILUX!!!

Sunrise and Sunset 7:01 AM/PM. 
Ocean Beach, San Francisco.

OK. So here it is. Equal day and night. I thought it would be nice to record the sunrise and sunset at the beach. Like I did in for the Spring Equilux, I again pictured a slow pan from east to west, cross fading half way through the pan as it changed from sunrise to sunset. Unfortunately, I wasn’t awake enough this morning to operate the camera properly, and I apologize to Audrey for dragging her out of bed to come ring the bell with me at the beach. I meant it when I said “Good job, Audrey!” although none of you will actually witness the moment of sunrise. Sunset was a different matter and I hope you enjoy it- equally foggy and non-sun event that it was.

Still lopsided

Sunrise 6:57 AM 
San Francisco 
  Sunrise here in San Francisco was at 6:57AM and the sun will set at 7:07 PM. Still a little lopsided as far as equal light and darkness goes but that’s only because we aren’t at the Equator. The sun crosses the Equator today at 14:49 GMT or about an hour from this moment.

September 11, 2012

Sunset 7:25 PM
Listen. Meditation with Mission Dharma

among the trees

Sunset 7:19 PM. Yosemite Valley, CA.

ahhh

East Side West Side

Sunset 7:40 PM. San Francisco

I was talking on the phone to my father in New Jersey when the sun went down out here in SF. Fortunately he likes this project and observed the moment with me even though it was long dark where he was sitting.

dinnertime

 Sunset 7:50 PM San Francisco


We were just getting ready for dinner when the sun went down.  The sun rises and sets later here in San Francisco than it does in NY. Plus we get almost an additional 1/2 hour of light this time of year. With the amount of daylight shrinking by more than 15 minutes a week, it’s hard not to cling to every bit of it. Fall is lurking.

Clear View

 Sunset 7:54 PM. Brooklyn, NY
Big thunderstorm today. Finally swept away the humidity. Everything is so clear for the moment. And sparkly.

Speaking of light. We’ve lost about 15 minutes of daylight to the darkness in the last week.

Invitation

Where is Du Bois, ILL?

Sunset 8:01PM. Miles above the earth

 It said 6:00 on my iPod when I snapped this photo across the aisle of that last bit of sun coming in the little window. At about 3 1/2 hours into a 5-hour flight from San Francisco to NY, I think “somewhere above DuBois, Ill” is a good guess for where we might have been at the time.

The Old Ballgame

Sunset 8:21PM. San Francisco

Later on this evening at AT&T Park, Giants vs the Mets:

Score is tied, bottom of the 9^th bases loaded, 2 outs, 3 balls, 2 strikes…

Waiting with bells

Sunset 8:23PM. San Francisco

We were in the Mission looking for parking on our way to the Roxie Theater for an evening of post punk music films- This Must Be ThePlace. We were especially interested in seeing the film In The Red that was co-directed by Karen Merchant and our dear friend Liz Keim.

Thank you Hannah for the nice camera work :)

Another Sunset in the Fishtank

 Sunset 8:28PM. San Francisco

Another non-event at sunset, this one in the company of my ancient goldfish, Lucy. 

Pink Leopard Skin Pants- NOT!

Sunset 8:32 PM. San Francisco

My niece from Florida is staying with me this summer, and she joined me for the sunset ringing on Bastille Day.

She wanted to make sure that everyone who sees this photo understands that she was wearing pajama bottoms in this photo and that she would never wear pants that looked like pink leopard skin in public.

(Apparently the internet doesn't count as too public)

Nothing Special

Sunset 8:35 PM. Olive Garden, Stonestown Mall. San Francisco

I kept putting off the documentation, waiting until something particularly interesting occurred at the same time as the sunset. However, the only really unusual thing that happened this week at sunset was the After Dark event at the Exploratorium. And then I was too busy to document it. So here we are at the Olive Garden on Saturday. That place was so busy nobody really noticed the little bells among the chatter and clatter (listen) bouncing off the newly renovated walls.

Day Shrinking from Both Ends

Sunset 8:31PM. Brooklyn
June 29, 2012

Cheers and sunset greetings from
 my friend Bun Ching who was in
Brooklyn this past Friday.

Crossing the light line

Sunset 8:30PM. June 20, 2012

We are half way through the year!

Another nice quiet observance from the Williamsburg Bridge. This time joined by my friend Pamela Winfrey and her two teenage children. Pamela was here as part of the NYAvant-Garde Arts Festival with her play “It All Leads to the Lemon Scene”. She received the award for best play/audience favorite at the end of the weeklong competition. YAY! and congratulations!

My Birthday

Sunrise 5:24AM. Sunset 8:28 PM

Celebrate my birthday by the Williamsburg Bridge with me!

Mars Sunrise

Sunset 8:29 PM. San Francisco

Dirt was the topic at this month’s After Dark event at the Exploratotrium. All kinds of dirt. The sun began to set few minutes before Paul Doherty’s lecture at on Extraterrestrial Dirt. While we all rang bells, Paul used his finger to simulate the horizon during the sunset, slowly raising it to obscure the image of the sun in the slide he was projecting.
However, that was neither a sunset nor the horizon on the planet earth. We were looking at a sunrise on Mars. One interesting thing we learned was that sunrises and sunsets on Mars turn the sky blue- the opposite of the fiery orange that is the normal color of the sky the rest of the day.

Besides learning about the color of the sky on Mars, we got to touch a speck of the very expensive dirt from the surface of the planet that was glued to the head of a pin.

Bill's Birthday

Sunrise 5:19AM. San Francisco

My brother would have turned 50 today so I dedicate this sunrise observance to his memory. If you listen carefully, you will hear the first few drops of rain before the sky opens up. Greetings from heaven?

Double Feature

Eclipse 6:33 PM & Sunset 8:17PM Marin Headlands & Ocean Beach

When Animals are People Too, a talk given by Rachel Mayeri and Laurel Braitman at the Marin Headlands ended, the solar eclipse was well underway. My friend Vangie and I had slipped out a few minutes earlier and were trying to figure out how to watch it without going blind. We tried poking a hole through some paper with a pen; then an earring. Both holes produced teeny tiny images of the sun, already covered by a small black crescent. It was so exciting but sooooo small. Then I remembered Bob Miller and the Exploratorium.

All we needed were our hands, criss-crossed like a lattice. Placing our hands in the air, our backs to the sun and whamo!! Multiple suns images. By the time everyone came outside, we had it down and passed along the pinhole-generating tip. Then someone noticed the images of the sun that the leaves were producing. Even though it wasn’t a full eclipse, it was still thrilling. The last solar eclipse I can remember was the one in August 2008, which I witnessed remotely from the Exploratorium. The museum had sent people to China where they experienced a full eclipse. As remarkable as that was, it couldn’t compare to actually being right there with the little crescents dancing all over your body.

Sunset at Streetopia

Sunset 8:15 PM. Market Street, San Francisco

Opening festivities for Streetopia on Market Street in front of the Luggage Store. I will be presenting What Can You Do? with a small team of performers on June 2^nd from 1:00- 5:00.

Streetopia is “a large-scale group exhibition taking place in venues throughout downtown San Francisco from May 18 through June 23, 2012. Curated by writer, Erick Lyle, and artists, Chris Johanson and Kal Spelletich, Streetopia will bring neighborhood residents together with at least 132 artists, performers, writers, filmmakers, activists, thinkers, and public policy makers in venues in the heart of the city, to address the show’s themes of Utopian aspiration for the city.

One part show and one part elaborate public experiment, the show will spill out of these galleries into the surrounding neighborhood with projects that include public murals, art on area billboards, installations in vacant storefronts, performances in the streets, and events at nearby community gardens.”

My friend Elisabeth Beaird who co-directs Circuit Network is on the far right of the photo.

Last Supper at the Exploratorium

 Sunset 8:06 PM. San Francisco, CA

Tonight was the last Awards Dinner of the Exploratorium at the Palace of Fine Arts, it’s home for the past 43 years. While major donors and former honorees dined out on the museum floor under the skylight, the staff celebrated in the McBean Theater at the other end of the museum. Tiny shades of Upstairs Downstairs- years ago the staff was invited and welcome  to join the guests. Alas the seats were much less expensive then, and after all, those were the old days. These days, however, everyone is looking forward to the upcoming move which is scheduled for 2013 to the new home right on the San Francisco Bay. Ahhhh.

Evernoisy

Sunrise 6:43 AM. Homestead, FL

Waking up has it’s own sound, and I love the cacophony of sunrise in tropical places. Here in the Everglades, the air is thick with birds and insects calling to each other and to no one as they go about the business of beginning another day. Most days sound pretty much the same to my ears. It would be interesting to know what actually changes from day to day. Different routine? New nest? New life? Somebody missing? In any event, for someone who is most definitely NOT a morning person, there is something inspiring and optimistic about this very dense earful of lively nonhuman activity first thing in the morning.

Bouncing the Light

Sunset 7:51 PM. Broadway, Brooklyn

If I am at home when the sun sets, I often just open the window and hang out over the street. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best view of the sun from that vantage point- at least at this time of year. Sometimes people look up if they hear the little bells, but most often they pass by disinterested or unaware. Tonight, I was especially fortunate to see the sky reflected in one of the windows of a building across the way. At first I thought I was seeing the actual sun, but the orange light lingered for so long, I realized it was just glow from the clouds. 

Another sunset from this view in 2008.

Anytime Café

Sunset 7:50 PM. New York City

During each sunrise or sunset this week, I would think, “Oh. I need to document one of these”, and then I’d forget about it. Completely. So this evening as I was sitting in the Anyway Café having dinner with my friend Maria, the sun began to set. I realized it was my last opportunity for the week to capture the moment so this is a spontaneous, rather clumsy grab in the dark from my iPhone. I apologise.

However, this is such a cozy and friendly place that it was a perfect place for the occasion.  In case it’s too dark to see what’s happening, the waitress came over to our table as she heard us ringing. She and Maria rang, sampled and critiqued the bells while I stepped outside to hear the sharp objections of a poor little dog at the end of the day.

If you are ever in the neighborhood, the Anyway Café is a really relaxed and comfortable environment. Good food, no hurry or pressure to give up your table. And for those who may be interested, they have flavored vodka.

Knowing Your Place

Sunset 7:34 PM Chicago, ILL

In order to say what the time sun sets it is necessary to know what time it is or where you are located. When traveling in an airplane several miles above the earth, it is difficult to know either (except for knowing your seat number which doesn’t help much). I have always enjoyed the challenge of trying to pinpoint the time and place of the sunrise or sunset from an airplane.

So when I saw that I would be in transit somewhere during the sunset hour on a recent cross-country flight, I looked forward to figuring it out. It turned out, however, that the sun set during a 4 hour layover at the O'Hare Int'l Airport in Chicago. No problem knowing the time or place of the sunset. Just business as usual on the ground, although someone on the PA did keep asking, "What's your 20?"

Happy Passover and Happy Easter

April 8, 2012 Sunrise 6:45 AM
Easter Dawn


A photo from my backyard with the audio sunrise.



April 6, 2012 Sunset 7:37 PM


Norman rings in the beginning of Passover for Lucy and me. Happy Holidays

Birthdays and Death Days

Sunset 7:30 PM San Francisco, CA



From the time I was young, my grandmother told me that March was the bad luck month in our family. Everybody died in March, or so she said. As it turned out, my mother was born on this day in 1933. 3-30-33. Her father died on her birthday a few years before she herself passed away. I have a little altar with photos and assorted statues, tools and tchotchkes from family and friends who are no longer alive. I wanted to include them in this evening’s ringing and share the photo for the update this week.

Vernal Equinox 2012

Sunset 7:21 PM San Francisco, CA



Every year I try to make sense of equinox around the conflict between what is happening and what we expect or imagine is happening. What is happening is the center of the sun is crossing the equator. We look to that moment as a turning point towards the light, towards spring and the beginning of the end of winter. Many of us also imagine this day to divide the darkness and light in half.

Of course we know that it is impossible for the entire world to experience equal light and darkness on the same day- the equinox. It doesn’t make sense, yet we go along with it. A convenient truth. Close enough.

Until now- at least for me. Because I have discovered the name for the day of equal light and darkness. It’s called Equilux. And because there is a name for it that both distinguishes it from the Equinox as well as relates to it, I feel relieved of the struggle to resolve the conflict between my expectations and reality (as far as this goes anyway).

I confess that I am much more partial to the Equilux than the Equinox (at least in the spring). The time when the light and darkness are balanced for an instant, yet poised to tumble towards the light is a hallelujah moment. Besides, the Equinox always comes after that day for all of us who don’t live right on the Equator. We have already moved into the light by then. It is really anticlimactic if you think about it.

But hey, why not celebrate both days- Spring is here!

Spring Equilux in San Francisco

Sunrise and Sunset 7:18 San Francisco



Today is called the Equilux, and it always occurs before the Equinox in the spring. Think about it. It's not possible for the entire world to experience equal light and darkness on the same day- the moment when the center of the sun crosses the equator. That's the Equinox. You can find when the Equilux occurs where you live by checking the sunrisesunset.com calendar. Get ready for the next one in the fall.

Must Wear Pants

Sunrise 6:36 AM Eugene, OR

This was one of the nicest sunrises I have experienced in a while. At first I thought maybe we wouldn’t be able to film this one as one of the participants didn’t want to wear any pants. But he was easily convinced, and we proceeded as planned.

Such a lovely place. For those city dwellers among us who might not recognize it, that is lichen hanging from all the trees. Not only is it amazing to see in such abundance, the lichen is also an indicator of air quality. As it is unable to grow in the least bit of pollution, you can imagine how pure the air is here.

Not to mention – quiet.

Many thanks to my hosts for a wonderful week.

Leap Day! 2012

6:02 PM, San Francisco



Inspired by the LEAP in Leap Day, I am temporarily hopping over the media bottleneck that is now the month of February and present the sunset observance for Leap Day 2012. Nothing special as the day went, especially compared with last Leap Day (sunrise and sunset) in 2008, but neither did it go completely unnoticed.
Enjoy!

On a Hill in North Beach at Sunset

5:56 PM. San Francisco

One of the few occasions that Sally and I had observed the sunset together was in 2008 in front of the Sushi restaurant in the Sunset District. Today was another non-event, but this time in North Beach. It was right about dinnertime again this time, too. So as soon as we finished ringing the sun down, we launched ourselves in the other direction going UP the hill in search of something to eat.

Early birds catch the first hole

7:09 AM. Litchfield Park, AZ

In his 21 years on this earth, besides the normal bumps and bruises one collects on the way to adulthood, my asthmatic, accident prone nephew has punctured his liver, broken both of his legs (not at the same time), fractured his arm and suffered a serious concussion. One of his more recent escapades was to attempt a stuntman kind of trick with his younger brother. He directed his brother to drive the car straight at him, thinking he would simply fling himself onto the hood and roll over the top of the car- “just like in the movies”. When it didn’t quite work out the way he had planned, he admitted that it wasn’t one of the brightest things he had ever attempted.

So when he invited me to attend his graduation of his second year in The Eden Energy Medicine (EEM) Certification Program in Arizona, I was thrilled. My sister has been a follower of Donna Eden and practitioner of this form of healing for many years and is a well-respected healer and busy instructor. That my nephew is both interested and committed to learning and practicing something that is positive and beneficial to both his own well being and that of others is a great relief to me. I am also very proud of him. He graduated with 100 other students (mostly women) at the Wigwam Motel, Spa and golf resort. It has never ceased to amaze me that there are over 420 golf courses in the desert of Arizona. No matter that it’s a very dry place, it’s easier to turn it green than to make the sun shine.

"In Our Name"

5:37 PM Herbst Theatre. San Francisco



There have not been too many times over the past few years when the sun has set during a concert or performance. It's interesting that two of them have occurred during pieces about war. This is an excerpt from "In Our Name", Annea Lockwood's haunting and powerful setting of poems by prisoners from Guantanimo. Thomas Buckner, Theodore Mook and Annea Lockwood performed the piece at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. The excerpt on the video is from the following poem by Judah Al Dossari, entitled “Death Poem”:

Take my blood
Take my death shroud and
The remnants of my body.
Take photographs of my corpse at the grave, lonely

Send them to the world,
To the judges and
To the people of conscience,
Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded

And let them bear the guilty burden, before the world,
Of this innocent soul.
Let them bear the burden, before their children and before history,
Of this wasted, sinless soul,
Of this soul which has suffered at the hand of the “protectors of peace.”

Sitting there listening brought to mind the performance of Benjamin Brittan’s “War Requiem”on August 2, 2008. The sun set during the early part of the piece where they were playing the chimes in the orchestra.

Malcolm's Grave

5:28PM San Francisco



Malcolm was most comfortable if he could be “nearby”. Within a few feet but not too close. This being the case, he figured in a lot of the sunrises and sunsets we watched from home during the first year of this project.

He was a fierce little cat and had few friends. And though we were few, we were completely devoted. Most people who knew him, however, were afraid of him because he attacked swiftly and without warning or noticeable provocation.

Malcolm died the week before Halloween last year and will be remembered by all who knew him and is deeply missed by those of us who loved him.

PS Those drums in the distance are part of this Chinese New Year of the Water Dragon celebrations

Tasty Bells Sunset Snack

5:18PM Oakland, CA



Soon after beginning the dailybell2008 project, my Godson Kazimir was born, and we have spent as many Fridays together as possible since then. He now has a baby sister who is just about the same age as Kazimir was when he first started to join us for the bell ringing. (In his case, it was a more oral than aural experience).

Now as his sister carries on the oral bell tradition, Kazimir has become more interested in the videotaping than the bell ringing while Krys and I comfortably observe the passing of the day together. (FYI: That's the new and improved mosh pit in the background).

Berkeley Garden Sunset

5:13PM


This place may look familiar from among the last round of daily videos in 2008. Time has not passed unnoticed however. The prayer flags have come and gone and come again. The garden is more wild and varied. The tree is taller, as is Jenny's nephew who is now in the middle of Kindergarten. Welcome back!

First Weekly Post of 2012

Sunrise/Sunset
January 7, 2012




I began this project in 2008 at the beginning of a Leap Year. Since we are here again at another Leap Year, I wanted to do something special to commemorate the anniversary as well as the occasion of our realignment of Earth time with Universal time. It’s amazing how short a period it takes for us to become out of whack, requiring an additional entire day to adjust our tidy and slightly lagging timekeeping methods with the actual planetary movement.

Anyway, I continue to observe and invite others to join the sunrise and sunset each day. I still like ringing the bells and carry a few in my purse and lug a big one around in the back of my car. It’s become a part of my life and a few children I know who have grown up with the tradition think nothing of it when the sunsets to come over and ring the bell in my car or to grab a bell in the house and ring along.

Believe it or not, some people have actually said they missed the updates and little bits of documentation they received as part of the first year. So to both commemorate the beginning of year 5 and to share glimpses of my observances, I am going to document one of the sunrises or sunsets each week this year and post them to the blog. If you have any media or comments you would like to post, please post what you can directly and send whatever you can’t to me, and I will do it for you.

Happy 2012!

Happy 2012!

MIDNIGHT- January 1, 2012
Ocean Beach in San Francisco, CA.

Best wishes for a happy, healthy new year from Ocean Beach in San Francisco, CA. This is the beginning of another leap year! It's also the beginning of the 5th year of daily sunrise and sunset observances that begin with dailybell2008. Please join us in spreading and sharing the awareness of these 2 brief moments that connects 100% of us everyday.