Happy 2016- the 9th year begins!

Ringing in the New Year! (from summer solstice sunset bell ringing at Chapel of the Chimes)


The dailybell project/practice has been quietly amazing- despite the bells.

Each New Year's Eve, I have decided to recommit to the daily observation of the sunrise and sunset, and this year is no different. The original premise- that it is possible to affirm our connection to one another and to the natural through participation in a shared, elemental experience hasn't changed.

However, as each new year dawns, I like to come up with a different way to share the project. 2016 is a leap year, as was 2008 when the project began. It seems mildly auspicious and a good excuse to propose something major.

SO--Would you consider a daily practice of sunrise and/or sunset watching yourself? 

There are only 2 things you need-
   1. Keep this link handy
   2. Remember to stop for a minute or so when the time comes.

There are many ways to go about it. Quietly as a personal practice. Invite friends (and strangers) to join you. In public or privately.

Eight years may sound like a long time, but as far as the dailybell goes, it's been oddly timeless.

Finally, for anyone who is interested in participating but doesn't want to commit to a daily practice, I am setting up a monthly calendar on this blog and on the dailybell sunwatch FB page. Each month, I will issue a different challenge/invitation for observing the sunrise/sunset that you might enjoy performing.

Happy New Year! Brenda

PS- Here's a photo from the first sunrise at the beginning of the project on Jan 1, 2008

Greetings from Fairyland

December 18, 2015.
Sunset 4:52 PM. Oakland, CA


We’ve passed the dip into the earliest sunset and are on our way up! However the sunrise is still outpacing the sunset, also moving later each day- so the daylight continues to shrink. But only for a few more days. We can almost hold our breath now.

In the meantime: here's a chance to celebrate the sunset at Fairyland in Oakland with the Pacific Boychoir.

Happy Holidays!

The light IS coming!

November 29, 2015.
Sunset 4:52 PM. San Francisco, CA

Almost at the low point. We are approaching the lower end of the curve for the earliest sunset of the year.

At this latitude,  the sunset has lingered at the same time for several days in a row. And at 4:52PM, it’s one minute away from the earliest sunset, which will occur on December 1st.

The sun will then continue to set at 4:51 until mid December, when it will tip forward and continue to creep later into the evening.  However, the days continue to grow even shorter until the Solstice because  the sun continues to rise later and later each day.

The light is coming!

Where have all the goblins gone?

October 31, 2015
Sunset 6:13PM. Oakland, CA


Halloween madness with some amazing birds and a couple of princesses- one ballerina and one with a bucket.

First sunset

October 29, 2015 
Sunset 6:15PM. Alameda, CA 

 
Farewell my dear friend. I'd hoped to find or be somewhere nice at sunset this evening, but I was in my car in an unfamiliar neighborhood- So this is it- an ordinary street on the first sunset with no Sally in the world.

Blood Moon Total Eclipse- (you just can't see it yet)

September 27, 2015. 
Sunset 7:01 PM. San Francisco 

Today was the day- Sunrise and sunset were both at 7:01-
slicing the day in half.
I lured Norman and my nephew Paul from Montana up onto the roof with the expectation that we would all see the partially eclipsed blood moon rising opposite the sunset this evening. Too bad there were all those buildings and trees in the way. The plan was to watch the sun set into the ocean (fog along the horizon obscured that) and then to turn around and see what would have been a 3/4 eclipsed moon rising behind us.

Well, you can imagine it, and it was really nice up on the
roof anyway.

The last few minutes of light

September 23, 2015. San Francisco
Sunrise 6:58 AM Sunset 7:07 PM

Fall Equinox (equal day and night at the equator). At this latitude, however, we still have a few extra minutes of light.  Our day of equal light and darkness- the Equilux- arrives on the 26th or 27th depending on the source. Stay tuned.

Celebrating Sunset #25,568

Sunset 8:04 PM. August 15, 2015
San Francisco


How many times has the sun set during your lifetime so far?
Norman was born on August 14, 1945,the day Japan surrendered to the Allies. We celebrated his birthday this evening while he was out enjoying one of his favorite things: driving around in his car. 
Happy 70th Birthday and Happy 25,568th Sunset!

Old friends- vicarious sunset

Sunset 6:00 PM. July 2, 2015
Quepos (near Manuel Antonio), Costa Rica

From Joe: Here’s where I was standing-

Joe was one of my brother's best friends, and they spent many a wild day together in their youth before setting down to family life. We have stayed in touch since my brother passed away several years ago, and here is a sunset Joe sent from a recent family trip to Costa Rica.

The last of the latest

July 3, 2015. Sunset 8:31 PM
Brooklyn, NY

This it: the end of the latest sunsets (10 in a row) for the year in Brooklyn. Now we begin turning in towards less light from both ends. Fortunately, it still feels like a lot of light and the progression is pretty gradual. Plus the kids still have a lot of summer left and don’t really care about any of this.

Speaking of kids, there is some ecstatic bell ringing and little Doppler near end of this.

Congratulations Mia and Neil

June 27 2015. Sunset 8:31 PM
Long Island City, NY

Wedding bells!

Solstice Sunset at Garden of Memory

Sunset 8:34 PM. Oakland, CA
June 21, 2015

ckusalsa from YouTube shot a better quality video than I did so I hope they don't mind my sharing it here. The whole evening was amazing. Many thanks to Sarah Cahill and all the other performers who made it possible.

And hooray and thanks to all who participated in the sunset bell ringing. What a fabulous noise!!

Happy Summer Solstice - loud and clear!

Sunset 8:34 PM. Chapel of the Chimes 
June 21, 2015. Solstice. Oakland, CA  
My video of the sunset bell ringing didn't turn out too bad after all so here is another view of the sunset observance. It was really great!

Earliest Sunrise Bottoms Out

June 10, 2015 

Sunrise 5:47 AM. San Francisco, CA

Beginning today and for the next 9 days, the sunrise will be at its earliest moment for the year (at this latitude). By the Solstice, it will already have been rising later, squeezing daylight away from the morning side of things.

I love how this happens. The longest day is on the Solstice, but that is not because it is the earliest sunrise and latest sunset of the year. It’s not that symmetrical. Check out this chart from 2008 to see how rates of slowdown and expansion work for each end of the day and enjoy the sound of the earliest sunrise of the year. (It’s been the same every year so far)

Listen. It was raining this morning!!!

If you are interested in finding out when sunrise in your location “bottoms out”, go to sunrisesunset.com and plug in your location.

May Day May Day

May 1, 2015

Sunrise 6:15 AM.

Although it may seem trivial or silly in the light of the tremendous weight and darkness and horror of what is happening in the world, Lucy, my goldfish of 20 years passed away recently. She outlived 2 companions, several tumors and spent the last year and a half partially paralyzed from a stroke. An enthusiastic eater and cheerful companion to the end - we miss her.

Sunset 7:59 PM

 
The Cardew Choir celebrated their 14^th Anniversary with a concert this evening at Berkeley Arts. Named in honor and in the spirit of Cornelius Cardew, the ensemble is deeply committed to values of community and egalitarianism and May Day is an especially significant day as it commemorates International Workers Day. As always, I enjoyed the ensemble’s well-rehearsed performances and commitment to their original ideals and inspiration. Many thanks for beginning the evening with a sunset bell ringing!

Anzac Day 2015

April 25, 2015. 

Sunrise 6:21AM. Nobby’s Beach, New Castle, New South Wales

This sunrise video was taken by my friend, Lynne Piade at the Dawn Service commemoration of Anzac Day. Originally a day of remembrance for the anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli in 1915, Anzac Day is a day of observance for all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all the “wars, conflictsand peace keeping operations”.

Good Morning Austin!

April 23, 2015. 
Sunrise 6:56 AM. Austin, TX.

Thank you Ginger Miles for this quiet, green morning. So many birds!

dirty cars and parched earth

April 22, 2015. Earth Day. 
Sunset 7:51PM. San Francisco.


My little piece of parched earth.

Is it Spring yet? Please

April 6, 2015
Sunset 7:24 PM. Brooklyn, NY 

Even though I announce the time and call it the sunrise- it’s really the sunset. 7:24 AM happens in deep, dark winter. And today felt like the tipping point into Spring- No buds on the trees yet and I know there will be one more snowfall this month (there always is) but it felt great!
I love these bells.

Light Balance

March 18, 2015

Sunrise and Sunset 7:04. Brooklyn, NY

  

This Friday, March 20^th we celebrate the first day of spring and the vernal Equinox. And unless you live at the equator, you should also be able to celebrate the fact that we have already passed into longer days. It may be only by a minute or two, but we’re headed into the light.

FYI-Another bonus is the supermoon that will rise on the evening of the 20^th. And if you live on the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic, you will have a great view of the total solar eclipse during the day. (partial eclipse location info here)

It’s an unusually big kick off this year- Happy Spring!

PS Nice photos of the supermoon

Sprung ahead 2015

March 8, 2015

Sunset 7:09 PM. San Francisco, CA

Well, this is the first of many sunsets in what has become the predominant time schedule for the year. Every year brings an outcry to kill off the sudden jolt to DST. However, as we now spend almost 8 months of the year observing Daylight Savings Time, while making only a brief nod to what used to be Standard time during the darkest days of the year, it doesn’t seem very likely we will stop. 

I do like the idea of a smooth, continuous cycling through the year- with no abrupt changes. But, which way would we go? Where would we stay? In Standard Time with earlier sunsets in the summer? I really enjoy those late night twilights. Or in Daylight Savings Time, where if we maintained it during the winter, it would still be dark at 8:00 in the morning.

SMIP: Syntex Made It Possible

March 4, 2015

Sunset 6:05 PM. Woodside, CA

Besides the revolution in reproductive freedom for women, the work and legacy of Carl Djerassi continues to make many things possible- including this gentle moment. Pauline Oliveros makes this sunset offering during a gathering at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program as part of the 20^th anniversary of Other Minds. 

  

More quiet times...one month later...

February 15, 2015

Sunset 5:34PM. Lambertville, NJ

 Sitting in same chairs. Watching same TV. Dog still sleeping.  What's changed? It's much colder outside. The sunset is 45 minutes later. There are 3 of us (besides the dog) ringing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (instead of Blue Bloods). 

Waking up the groundhog?

February 2, 2015
Sunrise 7:05 AM. Brooklyn, NY

Snowy and dark. No groundhogs in sight. Not a bad idea.

Quiet times

Sunset 4:58 PM. Lambertville, NJ

Just sharing a quiet moment at sunset in New Jersey with my dad, his friend’s poodle and Blue Bloods.

PS- If you would like to subscribe to the dailybell this year by contributing your own observations, please let me know by leaving a comment here. I will add you as an author to that blog and you can post as often as you like.

2015 Subscription plans

Today is the beginning of the 8th year of the dailybell!

This year, I would like to invite you to subscribe to the dailybell by making a non-monetary contribution.

This subscription is one where you contribute by pledging a day or series of days to observe and share a sunrise and/or sunset of your own. All you need to do is observe the sunrise/sunset of your choice and share it in some way. 

If you like, you can let me know that you would like to subscribe and I will add your name to those with posting privileges. Then you can post it yourelf, directly to the dailybell subscription blog. Please include at least the date, time and location. Any other information would be great!

Or you may want to share/post it with other dailybell observations on the dailybell sunwatch page on Facebook (if you have an account). 


THE SUBSCRIPTION PLANS:
1 day per year- good plan for commemorating a birthday, anniversary or dedication
___ sunrise
___ sunset
_________ date

1 day per month- a nice way to track the seasons and change of light
___ sunrise
___ sunset

1 day per week- dedicated practice
___ sunrise
___ sunset

daily- diehard
___ sunrise
___ sunset

As often or infrequently as you like
___ sunrise
___ sunset

If you would like to be a regular contributor and would like a reminder, please let me know.

Sunrise Sunset Calendar: Type in your location and it will tell you the times the sun rises and sets wherever you are.

New Year's Eve on Broadway in Brooklyn.

January 1, 2015. 

Followed by sunrise at 7:20AM from the same intersection. Ghost sounds of celebration linger into the morning.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, peaceful and fun 2015!