Small events early in the morning

Every morning that I go to the zen center, I spend a few minutes on the sidewalk across the street stretching. There's a house with an iron bannister on its steps that is perfect for hanging onto and loosening up my legs and back. At a certain moment when stretching, I always arch my back and look straight up. Last week I was bemused by the sight of stars for the first time in months, and they're only getting brighter. It's late enough in the summer now that it's still dark enough at 5:50 a.m. to see the stars. This morning there was also a moon.

A morning without fog is a predictor of a warm day -- the last little heat wave of the real summer, as opposed to the "Indian summer" that comes in late September and in October.

I walked down the steps and into the zendo and found a new guy sitting in my place. That's like a big event at Hartford Street -- someone new in the morning. I can count the number of new people in the last six months on two hands.

I went and sat somewhere else. It's not like there isn't plenty of room -- there are about 18 places and usually only 4 or 5 people present. My sitting has been good this week, meaning a minimum of drowsiness and restlessness. Then on Wednesday as part of the "service" -- the new guy left beforehand -- we do a long chant, the Genjo Koan. It's so long that we skip the "work period" that concludes the morning service, even though the "work period" never lasts more than five minutes.