Be... the tree...

I went to Tai Chi class last night, and arrived much earlier than everyone else. We gather in a nice little shady park in Clayton. My SO had to run home first, so I offered to pick up some dinner, in the form of pre-packaged grocery store Sushi. (Schnuck's and Dierbergs sometimes have these fresh Sushi counters, where you can get a little tray of fresh sushi for a reasonable price. Take THAT, McDonald's!!)

One of our favorite dates used to be trays of sushi, water, apples and sitting in the Turtle Park after work. We even did this at Laumeier Sculpture Park once, with the addition of sparkling juice as a special treat.

So, I grabbed sushi and bottles of water, took everything to our customary spot, spread out one of the velvet coverlets I keep in the car, and sprawled with my picnic.

Mmm. Sushi. Mmm. Park. MMM. Tree. Yay! Squirrel!

I let my zen moment come.

Be the tree. The tree is not static, but it holds still. It sways in the breeze, provides shelter and shade, and just... is. Be... the tree...

Until I was distracted by a squirrel. I can watch those fuzzy little critters all day long. They can stop time to be still, and move very quickly and gracefully... and do the exact same movements slowly when they choose.

It got my head on straight for class. Tai Chi is still really hard, since I can't even get the damn stance right yet, and my muscles are whining at me about having to *work*. I was sweating like pigs don't, and my quads were trembling, and that was just the warm up, but I did it. Not the pain of injury, just the discomfort of unaccustomed work. Then I got to do the "push hands" exercise, with both my SO and my Father.

Papa joined our class. This helps, because he has a very playful attitude about Tai Chi.

Doesn't that just blow the back off of your HEAD? MY FATHER, being PLAYFUL about something?

So this helps, because he can sometimes add the right element to what Sue is teaching, and I get a big face full of my father being playful.

My current goal is to quit being surprised by this.

At any rate, it helped a lot. (As I knew it would. One of the things that kept me going this weekend was the knowledge that I would get to work it all out in Tai Chi class.)

(Breathe.)

Sigh.

( Tiny bit of weekend chaos )

More Faerie Oracle

It seems that my grand vision is too large for Crystal Spiral.

It turns out that there was a request for an encore performance of a bit I did at Lothlorien years ago...

... and there's no way I can re-create it here.

It's probable that I couldn't even recreate it at Lothlorien.
( Here's what I did )

But apparently this is what the audience (and some of my actors) saw:
( And it makes an old hippy cry... )

I don't think I can reproduce this performance on demand. I know I can't do so at a random hotel.
And despite the fact that I just spent a huge chunk of time typing this entry, I don't really like to talk about it and analyze it in front of a crowd.

So I have NO IDEA what I am going to do for Crystal Spiral.

I am willing to take suggestions...