Wrapping up

Splendid weekend. I'm wrapping up loose ends, sitting next to my cat - who is talkative & squirmy on the edge of a chair & listening to The Drum Major Instinct by John Hollenbeck. The latter is a combination of jazz music & the sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr. I like it because he talks about how people want to excel & his view of how it can be done.

Today, I joined the Blind Shoemaker's Union in a song at Folklife. They went on to do their set & I got some pictures, here. After almost a week of rain, the sun was out. We danced & sang along - saw most of the folks from our turn class. It was a blast.

I spent most of the weekend immersed in the latest (in some ways the oldest) astrological theories at the NorthWest Astrological Conference (NORWAC). There were folks there who have been doing astrology for 30 or more years & folks who have become scholars in the areas of astrology that require them to learn greek or cuneiform to continue their studies. It was a bracing experience that I fully enjoyed.

Apart from the intellectual stimuli, the people there are lovely, funny and full of life. Next year, I'd like to grab some folks for a get together at our place. I got to soak in all that and still come home to J & Jema at night, exhausted & usually speechless, but ready to use this experience to shape another year of astrological study & application. I spent today sending e-mails to folks I'd like to stay in touch with - and making dates with local cats.

We also got to visit with family this weekend; Jason's Uncle & Aunt came out for a ferry to Alaska & we caught up with them at brunch before they left for the airport to fly back home. They had only good things to say about the trip & we were able to get news on the upcoming 60th anniversary of J's grandparents. We're heading to NC this summer and I can't wait!

After all that excitement, back home, the garden needs tending. Rasberries and blueberries are beginning to form. We've got a wasp's nest to get rid of in the greenhouse shed. There are still dandelions a plenty to eradicate. I wandered about, after re-planting an errant potato. It will take a day or two to get everything back up to where we left it.

I took some time to sit on a log in the back of the garden & just look around. It will be a while before my mind settles & it was great to have a moment of silence to look at - you know, sort of aspire to.

Well, the music has gone off & Jema is back upstairs in bed. I think I'll head up there too.

Blooming

Good couple of days - the Blind Shoemaker's Union debut(husband's band)was great fun, J & I worked in the yard together today, my Mom's gift of a trip to the garden center yielded lots of container plants along with seeds for our first go at growing our own herbs & spices.

Tonight, we're heading up the street to the $3 theater to see Syriana. I'm eager to see Capote, but even though it's out on DVD, it hasn't hit the cheap seats. The race between Netflix & the $3 theater is on.

Still to do: more on the studio, prep cd packages of photos, prep containers & plant.

I'm so glad that Spring is hear. Whew...

Friday wrap-up

Trying a few new things here:

First, John Lee Hooker's Hobo Blues, live courtesy J & Youtube.com



Now, the news of the week:

J & I took some time to put together a packet for J's bro's wedding - pictures & sound for family folk. We're popping them in the mail this weekend.

That led to me tending a big 'ole backlog of images that I owe folks from last year. I've gone through 6 cds so far & haven't calculated the total I will go through. Some have ended up on Flickr.

The Blind Shoemaker's Union is coming together. That's the band J is in. They are having an open house sort of thing next week. They want feedback cause they can't hear themselves anymore. J's been making cd's of their weekly practices & we listene dto one last night going for a food run for a late supper. All the elements are there, but there's still more shaking out to do with the vocals.

Jema just came upstairs. She's so old. 16 years this year, tho I fudge the numbers regularly because she's just 3 or so to me. A former room-mate's cat died this week. Same age as Jema. There's something so vulnerable about the relationship between a cat & their person. Not to get all cat lady on you, but there is. My cat is ridiculously important to me. She's super independent, but we're really close. So my friend's loss hit me.

This weekend, J & I have few social commitments & hopefully it won't rain, so I'd like to spend some time in the garden. I did some cutting back of plants earlier this week & so much is happening in the yard, it could use another look. We've got daffodils, crocuses (croci?), hyacinths, tulips & more peeping up throughout the yard. There's no telling what else is planted there - should be a very fun Spring/Summer plant-wise.

"You just don't know how to have fun..."

Tonight, J & I went out to see a musician in the trendiest section of town. Fortunately for us, it was not the trendiest venue -- we didn't have to fight off dissasociated hordes, nor did we have to play it cool. We went to a local importer's shop & saw a sufi performer (I hear) that played and played for us tonight. The best was that I so needed to dance.

Even though it's technically one day after a 3-month sabbatical, I'm raring to start my new work. That work is not what I have done for the last three months & also deviates from the norm in significant ways, meaning I don't have a boss telling me what to do.

Now is probably the time to say that my last boss was terrific, he trusted me to do the right thing and pushed me over my own limitations more times than I can count. I can't thank him enough & I can't help but notice an eerie resemblance to my current sitch. Being that I can't count on someone coming out of the woodwork & saying "Hey, here's an opportunity. Why don't you go and get that one??".

So, thing is, I've been raring to go and my first art show is in November -- my first job interview (part-time, presumably non-profit) is a week from Tuesday -- so tension has been building up. It very much got released tonight, when hand touched drum and foot touched ground. I could've turned all night to the funky beat that was being laid down & I wouldn't have been alone.

We were invited by pals in J's band. They suggested that we join the musician that made such an impact on Mike during the Bumbershoot festival. By the way, I have a theory that "Mike" is the most common sufi name. I am so confident of this trivial fact that I've recommended, more than once, that J take "Mike" as his official, sufi name.

We arrived, after a dinner of homemade albondigas. Immediately, it's obvious to me that we can turn at this event & so, there's no hesitation. J is more circumspect & takes up an instrument instead -- eventually helping out E (5 yr old) with his drawings of eyes. I'm ready to stop, but this musician is not & encourages me along with the other sufi folks in the crowd. We turn together & apart -- and for a long time (2 hrs?) before the music has exhausted itself & it's time to go.

We finish up the night at Sophia's. We've brought treats, but Sophia is the bomb & makes pasta with marinated tomatoes. E doesn't like those (5 yr old, remember?) and so chit chats instead, about his nascent desire to become a ninja, favorite movies (Porco Rosso, Return of the cat & what sounded like "Pompoko") and where he lived when he was three. Good times all around, and J & I go home. He's snoozing now, but I'm up, having misjudged my energy levels & taken a nap earlier.

The punchline? I said to J that I hadn't expected the evening to be so boring. MB suggested that I just don't know how to have fun...

This weekend looks chock full & I'm cool with that. Friends, house-hunting and more await us & so I leave you all...

Good weekend -- take care