Happy Solstice 2013!

December 21, 2013. Brooklyn, NY
Sunrise 7:16 AM Sunset 4:31 PM 

This is a little bracket of the shortest day of the year- observed through my kitchen window by the Williamsburg Bridge. 

FYI The sunset time had flattened out for several weeks while the sun continued (and still does) to rise later each day. That's why the days were still shrinking-- not because of a closing in from either end. By this time next week, the sunrise and sunset will be moving away from one another once again and what has been a very slow creep into darkness will start to open much more rapidly into the light.

So Happy Solstice- And here we go again!

First time in 125 years!

November 28, 2013. Albany CA. 

Sunset 4:51 PM

A once in a lifetime (or 2) convergence of Thanksgiving and Chanukah. Celebration at sunset. Happy Holidays!

All Souls Alert!

Remembering the Dead ... (and also to turn the clocks back)

sunset 10-31-13 6:13 PM

I was planning to capture the sunset on Halloween 

and the sunrise the following morning on Day of the Dead. (That’s also All Saints’ Day, which has quite a different flavor than Dia de los Muertos, especially here in San Francisco).

sunrise 11-1-12  7:35 AM

But then I had a quick peek of the last bit of sun sinking into the ocean that I saw from the Safeway parking lot on what we use to call “Mischief Night” – the day before Halloween. So I grabbed that, too.


sunset 10-30-13 6:14 PM

Today, November 2^nd is the third day (All Souls' Day) of Hallowmas—traditionally a period in many cultures dedicated to remembering the dead. So I make this little 3-day offering in that spirit (even though the whole thing is shifted by a day).

The fact that we turn back our clocks later today, on All Souls Day, seems especially significant somehow- gaining an hour of life (which most of us will happily sleep away).

Happy Equilux?

San Francisco: Sunrise 6:57 AM; Sunset 7:08 PM

This week we tip over to the dark side.

As you can imagine, it’s not possible for everyone to experience the equal division of the day into light and darkness on the same day. That event only coincides with the equinox at the equator. For everyone else on the planet, it depends on where you are located.

If you would like to know when you will experience the balance of light and dark, have a look at www.sunrisesunset.com. You can enter your location and see which day has the sunrise and the sunset separated by 12 hours. That will be your Equilux. 

(Did you see a green flash? Just before the sunset titles? The moment of sunset?)

Fading Fast

Sunset 7:26 PM

A little snippet from the sunset observance just before our meditation group at Mission Dharma in San Francisco. We are losing more than a minute of light per day and rapidly growing darker.

Invitation to share your sunwatch

this moment was observed and shared by Lynne Piade

Stop doing that!

Sunset 7:44. San Francisco


The sun set while we were waiting for the previews to begin. So rather than miss anything, we observed the moment by ringing bells from our seats. Unfortunately it was to the annoyance of one of our fellow patrons who was way into the JC Penny back to school advertisement.

Sunset with Friends

Sunset 8:01 PM. Brooklyn, NY
August 10, 2013

SHARE YOUR SUNWATCH-
Inspiration for invitation from dailybell2008 to share your sunrise or sunset in a small effort to remind and unite us of our connection to each other and to this world which we seem so determined to destroy.

Sunrise- real life in real time

This was the month for mixed and merged realities. Hard to keep track, but the sunrise was a nice constant.

Sunrise 5:27AM. Troy, NY July 12, 2013 
This sunrise is from was the first of 3 days for the Art and Science of Deep Listening held at the EMPAC center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY. The conference was held in celebration and as an exploration into Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening practice from practioners around the world. It was an amazing 3 days and hopefully it will only be the first annual conference of more to come.
 
Bjorn Eriksson (aka miulew) and I rang in the sunrise in the dorm parking lot. A nice quiet affair (except for all the air conditioner blowers). Afterwards, I just went back to bed but Bjorn went on to take advantage of David Arner’s birdwalk. Later in the day we performed with the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse. This was the first time that so many of us were present together in Real Life (Tina Pearson aka Humming Pera, Viv Corringham aka Zonzo, Norman Lowrey aka North Zipper, Bjorn and I aka Groucho Parx) along with our avatar counterparts and the other Second Life performers from around the globe

Sunrise 5:50 AM. Brooklyn, NY July 30, 2013 

Another opportunity to ring in the morning with another member of the AOM, Tina Pearson.

DETROIT-- Summer Solstice Sunrise and Sunset!

At the time of the Solstice, the mornings were already creeping forward, expanding the territory of darkness. However, the evenings were also moving forward so we could still revel in the same amount of light- temporarily holding the light line. Sadly, now however, the evenings have leveled off and the sun will continue to set at the same time for another week before it joins the mornings to shrink our daylight. Ahhhhh. It was really wonderful to be at the western most edge of the time zone and just a bit farther north while in Detroit. Sunset after 9PM—glorious! (It’s so close to Canada)

Sunrise 5:56 AM
Hamtramck, MI

While in Detroit for a residency at MOCAD, I stayed at the dflux house as a guest of Jon Brumit and Sarah Wagner. Dflux is in the neighborhood called NoHam which is short for North Hamtramck. Thank you Jon and Sarah! This is an incredible endeavor- the dflux, your garden, animals and shy bees. I wish you much success, happiness and safety. It felt very good to be in your neighborhood and in the company of your family. Many thanks again.

Sunset 9:13 AM 
Detroit Institute of Arts Museum 
I took a short break from the Shirin Neshat exhibition to ring down the sun. I loved this museum — beautiful Diego Rivera murals and recently renovated building. A live acoustic music performance in the evening—the museum was packed.

The Clock

Sunrise 5:50AM 

Waiting in line at SF Museum of Modern Art to see Christian Marclay’s “The Clock”. For the first 3 hours of viewing this morning, we got to watch the world wake up on film. What an amazing piece.

bells at Mel's

Sunset 8:20 PM. San Francisco

I got so excited because the hostess had joined us to ring bells that I left my cellphone at the restaurant.

The jukeboxes don't really work anymore

For the benefit of all beings...

Sunset 7:59 PM. San Francisco


Another month of violence. Here in the US and all over the world. Commonplace and it seems with increasing frequency. And while this small quiet observance does little to alleviate the intense suffering and grief too many people are experiencing first hand, I would still like to offer it as a moment of reflection. A time out and a tune in to something larger than ourselves. A breath. A pause. 
This evening's observance is in the garden of The Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist in the Mission.

What do you know?

95%

Wish I was there!!

Sunset 5:50 PM. Hermosa Beach Pier, CA.

Thank you, Lynne for sharing that sunset. It's easy to see why people want to live in LA.

Happy New Year of the Sssssnake!

Sunset 6:01PM. San Mateo
Just checking in with a little update from February. This is my Godson Kazimir who was born in January 2008, the first year of dailybell. Since we’ve been doing this all of his life, it’s completely normal to him to ring bells at sunset wherever we happen to be. I just love it. So here we are at a local restaurant having dinner. We took pictures of each other as we rang down the sun, and then Kazi took a photo of the remaining food. I’ll be posting something every month, just to stay in touch. In the meantime, I am working with Everglade Records to produce a DVD of the media from the first year of the dailybell. It’s slow going, but we hope to have something ready in a few months.

Universe holds it's breath?

The sun has been rising at the same time (7:25) every morning for the past 2 weeks here in San Francisco. In New York, it flat-lined for about a week starting on New Year's Eve and has just turned around a few days ago.

This gradual slowing down and holding pattern for the sunrise time happens just after the Solstice in the Winter (at least at these latitudes). In the Summer, it's the sunset time that is suspended.

Like the holding of a breath that's just about to start leaking out again, we are poised at the last moment before the sun finally begins creeping towards the horizon a little earlier each day on Monday.

Hallelujah!

Exploratorium on the Move

Sunset 1/2/13. 5:02 PM

The Exploratorium closing. San Francisco

This is the beginning of the 6th year of the dailybell sunrise and sunset observations. What had begun as a year-long project in 2008 has become what I hope is a life-long practice. And while the focus has shifted to something more personal, it is still my deepest wish and hope that a communal practice of this daily observation could transform society in a profound and positive way.

So in service of this aspiration, I would like to continue to find some ways of sharing observations as well as any benefits that I stumble upon in the course of this activity. While I have not yet figured out what form that will take this year- perhaps some documentation, writing, invitations, etc., I would like to make one more offering in the spirit of last year's weekly documentations.

This is a very special one for me as the sunset coincided with closing time on the final day of the Exploratorium’s location in the Palace of Fine Arts. As one of the many fortunate people who have had a relationship with this museum, I joined the almost 10,000 other visitors that day to say goodbye. Thank you Robyn Higdon for the public bell ringing! This was a glorious piggyback ride for the dailybell and a really lovely sounding experience as well.

I hope you enjoy. Happy New Year!