A Poem

Don’t Cry for me

Don't cry for me now I have died, for I'm still here I'm by your side,
My body's gone but my soul's is here, please don't shed another tear,
I am still here I'm all around, only my body lies in the ground.
I am the snowflake that kisses your nose,
I am the frost, that nips your toes.
I am the sun ,bringing you light,
I am the star, shining so bright.
I am the rain, refreshing the earth,
I am the laughter, I am the mirth.
I am the bird, up in the sky,
I am the cloud, that's drifting by.
I am the thoughts, inside your head,
While I'm still there, I can't be dead.

Author unknown.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

-----

Aikido Seminar Musings

Aikido is not just what we do in class. It's in how we live and take on roles of uke and nage in real life. It's in how we assess what one person is offering or giving and how we respond to that offer. How we exchange energy. How we receive. How we redirect, if necessary. How we blend and adjust. Who we are in the mat reflects who we are off the mat. How we behave outside the dojo is in turn a mirror of how we treat others inside it.

Aikido This Week

Tuesday: Fifth kyu requirements review for Paul

• Shomenuchi ikkyo omote and ura
• Shomenuchi iriminage
• Katate dori shihonage omote and ura
  

Thursday:

• Yokomenuchi ikkyo
  
• Yokomenuchi shinonage

Last Week's Dinners

Just writing for me. Pretty sure no one reads this anymore. That's ok.

Monday: Three Cheese Tortelloni with Calamari Sauce
Tuesday: Salmon in Foil, Steamed Asparagus, Garlic Fried Rice with Egg
Wednesday: Creole Jambalaya
Thursday: Homemade Pizza, one with Olives and Mushrooms, one with Smoked Sausage
Friday: Fish Sticks and Chicken Nuggets
Saturday: Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil

trade-off

I wonder if doing a 20 minute ab workout does anything to negate the chocolate I ate right before working out.

Also, how did it get to be March 15th already?

Reading Update

Holidays are over. Sniff. However, I did make some progress on my reading list.


1. Skipping Christmas - John Grisham

- a quick, fun read

2. The Leap - Rick Smith

- still not done but interesting

3. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt

- very interesting, made all the more so by the fact that it's a non fiction book

4. the curious incident of the dog in the night-time - Mark Haddon

- good read, told from a unique point of view

5. Buckingham Palace Gardens - Anne Perry

- gripping mystery set in Victorian England

6. Ciao Italia Pronto! - Mary Ann Esposito

- yummy recipes but haven't tried any

I have a new pile of books but I doubt that I'll get through them as quickly as I did the previous set. Still, the best books I've read in recent years are

The Thirteenth Tale
The Time Traveler's Wife

Aikido? Still going.
Running? Got to start again. It's been about a month since the last good run.
Swimming? Been dry for a while.
Biking? Last road bike ride, November 2009. Still riding my mountain bike on short trips around work.
Races for this year? None on the horizon. Did do 5 K in October 2009 for a sports charity.
Goals for this year? 2nd kyu

Holiday Reading List

I look to my right, at my bedside table, and what do I see? A pile of books just waiting for me!

What could be better for a holiday break?

1. Skipping Christmas - John Grisham
2. The Leap - Rick Smith
3. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt
4. the curious incident of the dog in the night-time - Mark Haddon
5. Buckingham Palace Gardens - Anne Perry
6. Ciao Italia Pronto! - Mary Ann Esposito

Role Reversal

Tomorrow is test day at the dojo. I am not up for testing as I don't have nearly enough time in to even think about my next rank. I will, however, be participating in the test. This will be my very first time serving as uke for another student. I must admit, I was both flattered and slightly anxious when C asked me to be her partner for her 5th kyu test. I figured, 'Why not?' There's always a first time. It might as well be now.

I'm also bringing the gigantic bottle of hand sanitizer I got at Walgreens last weekend. Another form of self defense. Ethyl alcohol-style.

Self-Defense

Today, Doran Sensei taught an all-kotegaeshi class. From all kinds of different attacks - same side wrist grab, opposite side wrist grab, double arm grab, punch and side strike.

What stuck with me though is what he said right at the end of class when we had bowed out and were gathered in a circle. Self-defense is not just defending against a strike. It's also about defending against sickness. So, bring some hand sanitizer into the dojo and wash your hands and wrists before stepping on the mat. Sneeze into your sleeve, if you have to sneeze. Don't touch your eyes, nose or throat with your hands.

Don't get sick. Don't make others sick.

That's also self-defense.

Wise words.

Three Flats and A Snake

It was too good not to blog about this. My friend Debbie and I went for a bike ride on Sunday. First, she was about a half hour late because when she walked out to her bike to load it into her car to drive over here, her rear tire was flat. With no spare inner tube, she took it to the bike shop down the street and had them change it for her. I had to pump up my tires which were very low due to disuse.

We hit the trail. About 1.5 miles in, I spot something small, black and wriggly in front of me. As I tried not to swerve and just keep riding, I realized, "IT'S A SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" OK, it's a snake the diameter of a Twizzler, but "A SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!" Thirty seconds after I recover my breath, Debbie slows down saying, 'I feel paranoid but I think I hear my tire.'

Oh, her tire was just fine. Mine, on the other hand, had two big punctures in it. Flat number two. Part of me was expecting to see a snake fang buried in the rubber but, fortunately, that was not the case.

We started to walk back somewhat dejectedly when I realized that I had all the necessary bits for a tire change. Why do I lug these things around if I'm not going to use them?

So...

We are women, hear us ROAR! We changed the tire! On a road bike! With a little bitty hand pump to pump up the new inner tube. Considering I hadn't changed a tire on my bike in two years, I was pretty darned proud of the two of us.

In celebration, we turned our bikes around and rode.

When we got back home, we had a nice glass of water and then it was time to say goodbye. As Debbie wheeled her bike out to her truck, I looked down at her front tire.

It was flat.

Summer is Here!

Yup, today it finally hit the 90s at lunchtime. Time to start running earlier in the day. I can't believe there was a time that I'd go our running in the full sun at noon when it was 95 degrees outside. It's a miracle I didn't collapse of heat stroke along the way.

Summer camp time is here, no more homework, no more school books! Hurrah! Sometimes I don't know who dreads homework more, the kids or the parents. It's certainly nice to have a break for the next 10 weeks. Part of me wants to give D a break from all things school related and part of me wants him not to lose what he learned in third grade. His teachers told me at the end of the school year, "Expectations in fourth grade are very high." Good grief! How could they get higher than in third grade? What are they going to be doing, calculus?

We have grand notions of a daily journal and a half hour of math here and a half hour of reading there but I don't think I'm going to push it any time soon.

Sometimes, summer vacation is meant to be just that: V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N.

Outdoor Art

Here are a couple of pictures I couldn't resist taking or sharing. With a few hours to wander around Berlin during the conference, we zipped by the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial, Unter Den Linden and Checkpoint Charlie. There are lots of pictures all over the 'net of these sights. Then we turned a corner and came upon this:







It was like something out of a fairy tale. like someone had rolled up a house and everything in it and tied it up with twine. If you can see the umbrella on one side, you can guess at the size of this ball.

Pretty cool. Kind of hidden. Not your typical sight.

A Sunday Flower

Just recently, I was in Berlin for a conference. Aside from attending the meeting sessions, there was a little time to sightsee. The Botanical Garden was my favorite spot and this little flower in the huge greenhouse is my favorite picture out of all those I took at the garden.

Enjoy!

My Test on Tape

I came back from a week away at a conference to find a CD with my 3rd kyu test in my mailbox at work. I eyed it with a hint of apprehension. Later that night, I popped it into my disc drive and had a look.

Impressions:

1. "Man, this was longer than I remember it!" The footage lasts about 20 minutes. No wonder I was pretty winded by the jiyuwaza at the end. In my mind, there was no time. There was just the test.

2. I skipped through most of the jo techniques because I still can't face looking at them. I did see the last couple of techniques and they don't look as bad as I feared.

3. I do kind of look like I know what I'm doing. Kind of.

4. More practice.

5. I look like I'm having fun.

Thanks to one of my friends who always brings her camcorder for tests, I now have copies of my 5th, 4th and 3rd kyu tests. Something to look back on in the future. Something to learn from.

3rd Kyu

Whew! All done.

I tested at the beginning of last month and, just like the last test, it pretty much was a blur. What do I remember? I remember my jo hitting the mat during the 20 jo suburi, doing tsuki kotegaeshi instead of the called out tsuki iriminage. I remember the mistakes. I suppose it's the perfectionist in me that chooses to dwell on what I missed rather than on what I got right. (Why does this sound just like my third grader? Augh! He must get it from me, poor kid!)

I also remember the first day I stepped on the mat, in jeans, no less, and joined in class. I remember the welcome I felt from the teacher and the students. I remember the confusion about what to do with my feet and my arms.

It's been three years and though I've come along, I still think a whole lot about what I'm doing when I'm doing it. The techniques are more natural than they were before but I still find myself struggling with them. I suppose that is the way it will always be - there is a constant process of learning and improvement.

But there's also a heck of a lot of fun.

Last Thursday's class brought a whole bunch on newcomers to the mat. We warmed up as usual with the basic blending exercises, slowly progressing through some very slow throws into back sit falls and then deconstructing katate dori shihonage, the four-directional throw. At one point while we were practicing, our instructor came up to me and asked, "Can you take a high fall from this?" I grinned and said, "Can we do a practice one first?" We did and then he called for a break and called me up as uke.

"Now we shall work on the fall," he said, and proceeded to throw me into a high fall right smack onto the mat. I landed with a resounding thud.

Cue: bug-eyed newbies.

"No, not really."

Aw shucks. Well, we do want them to come back so maybe next time.

New Look

OK, so it's one of the 10 or so defaults that Blogger provides but I thought it was time for a new look on this blog. Maybe it will inspire me to write more often.

So while I'm here, here's a silly haiku:

Cookie dough to sell.
No trans fat I do proclaim.
Little League does well.

Spring is Coming

Conversation last night:

Papa: "See the tree outside? There are two flowers that have already bloomed. In a few days, that tree is going to explode with flowers."

thirty second pause

P: "Mama, I want to see the flowers go BOOM!"

Third Grade Grammar

(A) Earth is one of the nine planets that ORBITS around the Sun.


OR


(B) Earth is one of the nine planets that ORBIT around the Sun.


My son's teacher: B
My son: A
Me: A

The American Heritage Book of English Usage: waffly, but either appears to be accepted, with "...92 percent of the Usage Panel preferred the singular verb in such sentences."

I shall not raise this point with his teacher. Or should I?

Last-Minute Dinner

This week we ate a lot of chicken and rice. By Thursday night, none of us could look a grain of rice in the eye (plus we didn't have any left) so I surveyed the fridge and the larder and came up with:

Sausage Frittata

Ingredients:

3 frozen mild Italian sausages (left over from last week), thawed out and cut into pieces
1 large Russet potato, cut into small dice
one large onion, diced
7 eggs, beaten
garlic salt
pepper


Saute sausage, onion together in little bit of olive oil in an oven proof skillet. Add potatoes. Cook stirring until potatoes are done. Season with a little bit of garlic salt and pepper. Add eggs, stirring gently into the meat/potato/onion mixture.

Preheat broiler to high.

When eggs are almost done, and just a little bit runny on top, place skillet under broiler. Cook until top is lightly browned.

Slide out onto serving plate. Slice and serve with a nice green salad.

YUM!