Life of Wry

Getting our little house in order… the one that used to be a two-story play structure for Peter in the backyard.  Jim built it in 2002 and for maybe five or six years it got some pretty good use.  We are now repurposing it.

What was once the ground floor sandbox will now be enclosed and function as a garden shed. The sand was removed last spring and used in grading the new flagstone path.  It may take a little time before this project really grabs Jim’s attention, but I’m persistent. We’ll need the shed once the raised bed is built… another project vying for limited time and attention.

The second floor used to be a fun hangout place for kids, as well as the launch pad for the slide; it will now serve as a hangout for big people… probably mostly me. Frances and I admired our gardening today from the “upper deck.” It was awesome…. peaceful, breezy, cool, and great views. Only thing missing was a beer.

The structure: 

It hides pretty well, but can be seen from the house:

The upper deck: 

 Views:

Looking down on the hammock. The hammock actually, presently, attaches to one of the posts… though it’s going to move because it also hangs right over the path.. we can’t have that! 

It is all coming right along…   all according to plan.  

I think I remember that it was about a year ago, maybe just a little less, that I was having lunch with David at Crepeville and the idea of a compassion tour came up.  I can’t quite remember if we brainstormed it, or if it was an idea he had had earlier and was sharing it with me in its very nascent stages, but we had fun talking about how it would work. 

It seemed like the perfect next step. 

Today, at Crepeville again, we played a bit with the metaphor of being first at the corner, at the intersection, at the crossroads… and now embarking on the road.  He’ll have to work with that one a bit more to flesh it out and arrive at its significance, but metaphors are good. Symbols are important.  Good organizing tools for one’s thoughts and developmental processes, I think. 

So, here we are… nearly a year later. David hit the five-years-in-Davis mark this summer. We had a successful benefit dinner in May, he raised some good support through the Go-Fund-Me site. Posters, postcards, Facebook posts, blogs, video blogs, articles, and media interviews have all raised awareness. Our small group has met numerous times over Google Hangout to plan the various aspects of the tour. We have a Google Calendar to enter cities and events. We had a celebration send off last weekend. Tomorrow he leaves. 

Kind of funny that I happened to capture this image. He’d packed already, but the zipper on his suitcase was acting up, so he found another at the SPCA Thrift Shop today for a couple bucks. It’s empty here, and he’s taking it home, but we can just pretend he’s starting his journey.  Because symbols. 

And because I didn’t get any pictures of myself at last Saturday’s send off, I’m including one of David and me at the Compassion Corner Earthbench dedication ceremony on May 31, 2013.

Good travels, my friend.   

Ah… passion. Let me count the ways.

Two photos of Peter on a quiet Sunday. I just can’t tell you how pleasant it is to have him sitting in my office, schooling me on the ins and outs of music theory. He even let me take pictures (my passion—documenting his charmed life). So, a couple photos, and more than a couple passions in view:

sax, guitar, iphone, pi, baseball….

I’m enjoying the afterglow. A celebration well-celebrated. Left behind was this painting. It’s not mine to hang onto–its new home will be Crepeville, the restaurant at 3rd and C, adjacent to the corner on which David stood for five years–but for now, I get to appreciate it up close.

Painted by Jeff Andrews who’s got both a talent for painting and an almost mystical gift for observing and capturing a moment. He conveyed perfectly all the essential elements of the corner. Look carefully. But most particularly, the gentleness and openness of David.

A bunch of friends gathered tonight to wish David farewell as he leaves next week on his year-long Compassion Tour.

Kristin:

Carrie:

Michelle:

Jeff:

Joe:

Nicolas (and I did not manage to get a picture of Nicolas’ wife Samantha):

Jim (nor Jim’s wife):

Steve:

Dan:

Stacey:

Elizabeth:

PJ:

Nancy:

And Robb:

Everyone brought food:

We decided the tour is really a commencement… the beginning of a journey.

Stay tuned.

You’d think I was a River Cats fan. I’m not, but I can’t imagine ever saying no to a baseball game and can’t imagine not root root rooting for the home team (or whoever) when there. Not rabid, not hugely invested, but for the time I’m there, I can get swept away in fanism. At least mildly, at least enough to “get loud” as directed by the jumbotron in the bottom of the 9th, trailing by two, two men on, no outs.

And then there’s food.

Which, of course, was great, but I binged out, not to mention I ate everything I was going to eat tonight before the end of the 1st inning.

(Whenever I get near sick from eating too much, I’m reminded of Cathy.)

Anyway, 80 degrees and all the trimmings on a perfect night in the waning days of summer.

Some shots — and yeah, lots of playing with Camera + filters. So sue me (people can get so touchy about this form of artistic expression (as expressed by selecting a filter button or two on my phone)… sheesh).

HDR:

Tower Bridge, etc.

Ate so many peanuts..

The last thing I ate, in an impressive succession of ballpark food, was pink and blue cotton candy…. and how funny that 1) you can see the cotton candy vendor in this pic and 2) the sky looks EXACTLY like the bag of cc I ate!

In the end, there were fireworks:

~Hiccup~

Second day of school and first day of varsity fall ball baseball practice.

In honor of the occasion, this throwback shot…

Eric, who is now a varsity catcher, and Peter, who is now a varsity pitcher. At least for the fall..

And for the record, this just kills me. Damn, they’re cute. Probably about ten years old.

… Day of School!

It’s also his twelfth year–counting kindergarten–standing in front of the sycamore (a tree planted when Peter was an infant, nourished by his very own placenta…. a fact I’m sure I’ve shared).

They do grow.

And it’s not like I ran after him down the street or anything … which I didn’t … but I did stand at the end of the driveway with a fully telephoto’d lens. Because being discreet is very important in these situations.

(Walking because he’s still not replaced his stolen bike.)

Tonight David addressed the Davis City Council during public comment. After five years in Davis–much of which time was spent standing on the corner of 3rd and C–he is embarking next week on a twelve-month Compassion Tour.  During his time here, he met and spoke with thousands of people and collected thousands of written concepts of the word compassion. He amassed many notebooks. He observed and learned a lot.

This is what he shared last night with the Council and public:

Farewell dear friends. I am embarking on a journey to bring awareness to compassion in different communities worldwide, an amplification of what I began here in Davis on June 3rd, 2009. I am grateful for all the support at the corner of 3rd and C from passers-by who have shown their generosity and appreciation. I am grateful to the city for the acceptance of the Compassion Corner Earthbench as a gift, recognizing compassion as a value it embraces.

I am here this evening to provide a viewpoint which I believe only I can share.

There is a deep, deep hunger in this city—an appetite for healing.

For the past five years at the corner, I have listened to thousands of people—young college women who struggle with how to eat healthy, other college students bound to graduate with absolutely no solid aspirations afterwards, those that have loss loved ones, young men searching for the guidance of their forefathers, some people whose bodies are stricken with tumors and cancer, men of color who seem to fit the description of some phantom criminal, the agony and despair of a mother whose daughter was raped, and empty skeletons whose derelict bodies roam endlessly, inflated by caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, or meth.

So I feel I am justified in saying there is a veil that exists locally that covers the desperate hearts of vagabond souls. Whether those souls wander indoors or outdoors, they are here within the city, crying out for help.

The answers toward healing do not lie in such things as an armored tank—which is like a parent giving you a gun for your birthday just in case you need to threaten one of your kids—nor in covering street lights so we can gaze at the stars while a human being at our feet begs for security, nor in complaining that someone snores too loudly.

The answer will be found in how we treat one another as human beings with the daily medicine of love and compassion. Compassion begins with truly listening, in acknowledging all people, in coming to a mutual understanding, and taking the appropriate action based on that understanding and doing so with an honest and loyal commitment toward well-being.

The challenge is to release the tranquilizing euphoria of a blinding affluence and engage in heart-to-heart communication to address the reality of human relations that take place in this community. The challenge is to mature beyond the sophomoric attitude taken at the level defined by egotistical analysis, maturing toward wisdom, truth, and a deeper understanding for the well-being of all of Davis’s citizens.

I am an optimist, which makes me confident that, with compassion at the forefront of leadership, this community will bring the power of Love from an ideal to a reality.

Over the course of the next year, David will travel to numerous cities and towns. He will speak about compassion. He will listen. He will share his experiences and observations. I am so looking forward to what unfolds for him on this journey.

First stop: Keene, NY.

Not blue about going home to Davis today (can we get a wOOt wOOt!!) though the beach is truly sublime (yes, sublime). Just commentin’ on the water. And sky.

(Pretty, huh?)