Mateel Aikido 25th Anniversary Gathering

Some of the Sensei’s relaxing a bit!

Michael Friedl, Frank Doran, and Russel Wisby

The potluck was fabulous, and also a birthday party for Frank Doran. What a great bunch of people and what an honor to Russel and Forrest Kan and the rest of the Mateel Aikido dojo to be honored with such a full house. A great weekend!

More photos online at Mateel Aikido’s Facebook page.

I haven’t been off the land to town in over 44 days now! Thank the goddess for internet as it seems to be my main social contact. I try to phone someone every few days, but talking on the phone is just not my thing. And my throat / voice has been stressed and strained and talking just makes me cough more.

I am now on day 3 of antibiotics (AGAIN) for the tickle – wake – me – up all night cough – all day cough, that developed as I was finally getting rid of the ‘end of summer colds’. I obviously have something going on that is causing this, (bacterial infection?) but no diagnosis.

I want to wax eloquently about how great a garden we had this year, we actually made tomato sauce to can last week end. I picked off 4 large flats of green and pink tomatoes to ripen off the vine. We dug some red potatoes a couple days ago that were just sooo goood. (carrots too) and peppers. I have 10 good sized butternut squash to store for the winter, and several acorns to eat up. I love being able to go into the garden to determine what’s for dinner, but those days are over for this season.

November is just around the corner. Russel’s Aikido school, Mateel Aikido will be celebrating 25 years this month. There is a big retreat planned for the weekend of Nov 19 – 21, with Sensei Frank Doran headlining. There is a Mateel Aikido facebook page that one of the students put up, that you can check out.

I have been dreaming of a warm sunny relaxing massage filled sauna taking swimming several times a day eating only good food retreat with mountain views. Just a few days (maybe more!) to detox, relax, and rejuvenate. Maybe southern California, as I need to get my passport redone before I can go to Mexico. But this is just a dream at this point.

Election in few days.. will be interesting to see where the ‘collective we’ end up with regards to Prop 19, CA governor, and some local issues.

So in early May, Russel’s sister Carol, came to visit, (May 5-9) and Russel was running back and forth into town to bring Carol out here.

It was a nice visit and the weather was good, sunny and warm, but the evening we were to go to Shelter Cove, my 4 Runner wouldn’t start. I had had some problems with it the day before in town, and we figured out the alarm system, that we never used, decided to say a door was open and wouldn’t let us start it up.. quite the drag. I stayed home and Russel took Carol out to the cove for dinner.

Then it rained again.

I took the 4 Runner to be fixed by Leo’s. Sunny breezy day after a good rain in May. I need to focus on the rest of the garden planting.
And returning to the Bruce bubble .. where life is just sublime.
I spent the next week working on www.cockburnproject.net, and staying in that Bruce bubble.

I was feeling pretty good for me, and starting to plan out all the projects I wanted to accomplish this spring, before Russel leaves for Aikido Summer Camp on June 13.

On Friday, May 14 – I went into the Farmers Market. How fun! So many happy smiling faces, and lots of good connection. Feels good to be out and seeing people on a sunny bright day! And preparing for the Russel’s upcoming Mateel Aikido workshop at Beginnings this week end and potluck on Saturday. I prepared a non-bean enchilada dip and a pesto, pasta and pine nut salad for the potluck. It was a warm and sunny day on Saturday too, and as always the Mateel Aikido potluck was a blast with good friends and lots more socializing.

2 days of socializing had taken its toll on my, throat hurts from talking so much, my life in general is so isolated that 2 very social days in a row wipe me out! Which is how I felt on Sunday.

Then it rained — again.

By Monday the May 16, I definitely had a throat pain (not a sore throat) and a dry light cough…. fast forward for 3 whole weeks… still with the cough. I figured it was a viral bug, threw every herbal remedy I knew at it. Many nights sitting up in recliner so i could fall asleep with the antihistamines and cough syrup. Mostly just doing what I had to.

I finally went to clinic on June 8th, they say not whooping cough, pneumonia, flu…but some kind of seasonal allergy..which I have never had before. Mind you I do not have a lot of congestion or mucus or anything else but a mostly dry unproductive cough that until the last few nights, has keep me awake a lot at night. No rest, no sleep for me means zombie land during the day.

I hadn’t been to town in 3 weeks until yesterday to the clinic. Thankfully I work at home so at least the paying jobs that came in could be done. I haven’t had the brain power to continue working in WordPress backend on this blog or future sites.

The clinic say to take ‘this type of antihistamine’ and you may need to take it every day for months! I don’t usually use that type of stuff, to be told this is going to be an ongoing state of being is very disheartening. Still digesting that info, and will start looking for alternatives to the still undiagnosed cough. I did try it, but seemed to just make me feel uncomfortable.

So that is why I haven’t been here. I have been keeping Facebook up to date, and today was looking for a good way to back FB up. I need to go back through the last year and half and pull some of the content from there to here, as this blog is still a journal of my life, even if it does go in other directions at times. So I may be adding more old post dated content here to try and fill in some gaps.

As of today, June 14, I feel better today than I have for several days. I hope this is the end of this thing whatever it was. Russel is at Summer Camp and I want to spend the alone time making headway into this blog, other websites I run, and household chores and to do lists.

Gone from mystery into mystery
Gone from daylight into night
Another step deeper into darkness
Closer to the light

~ Bruce Cockburn, Closer To The Light

Wave on wave of life
Like the great wide ocean’s roll
Haunting hands of memory
Pluck silver strands of soul
The damage and the dying done
The clarity of light
Gentle bows and glasses raised
To the charity of night

~ Bruce Cockburn, The Charity of Night

His bright light of being will be missed.
Randy and Sarah with their Aikido family at Benbow in 2004.

I love the pounding of hooves
I love engines that roar
I love the wild music of waves on the shore
And the spiral perfection of a hawk when it soars
Love my sweet woman down to the core

There’s roads and there’s roads
And they call, can’t you hear it?
Roads of the earth
And roads of the spirit
The best roads of all
Are the ones that aren’t certain
One of those is where you’ll find me
Till they drop the big curtain

Hear the wind moan
In the bright diamond sky
These mountains are waiting
Brown-green and dry
I’m too old for the term
But I’ll use it anyway
I’ll be a child of the wind
Till the end of my days

Little round planet
In a big universe
Sometimes it looks blessed
Sometimes it looks cursed
Depends on what you look at obviously
But even more it depends on the way that you see

Hear the wind moan
In the bright diamond sky
These mountains are waiting
Brown-green and dry
I’m too old for the term
But I’ll use it anyway
I’ll be a child of the wind
Till the end of my days

~ Bruce Cockburn, Child of the Wind

Russel’s Aikido teacher from the bay area is here this weekend for a retreat. The potluck was last night and good food was had by all.
He is wrapping up the schools classes. In 3 weeks he will go to Aikido summer camp in the south bay for a week. I hope to have a lot of energy and maybe some money to do some interior work on this house.

The Michigan trip is booked for June 25 -July 11. Dad does have even more cancer. The melanoma keeps spreading, there are spots on his lungs which nothing can be done about, and a lump in his neck that is some kind of squamous, but not skin cancer kind. There is at least one more surgery ahead, if he chooses to do it. Probably just before we get there.

I have started to speak it out loud, that he may die soon… or not .. as he is a tough old guy (86) going on 60. But I need to prepare myself. This one will be hard to let go of.

My friends T and Ter from Florida are actually saying they may come visit this way this summer. I am so hoping that they do. I need them too. I need to see T… just feels like it must happen.

Not a lot of photos to brag about. Haven’t been using my camera much. Got this one in april through the hazy kitchen window:

I have been working a lot.

And Bruce Cockburn, www.cockburnproject.net is out on a short tour which is being recorded and filmed for a new LIVE-Solo CD and DVD. Wish he was doing some shows on the west coast for this, but he’s not.

There is also a lot going on locally. Too much to really go into here, but here is a link to a local blog who keeps everyone informed at least to what is going on with code enforcement, diesel concerns, 2nd district elections and Reggae wars, to name a few. I use it only as a means to being alerted and seeing what some (few) people are thinking about these issues. I do not generally agree with a lot that is posted over there as opinion.

It really was one of the best meals I have had in ages. It was then time for Aikido class and I did a few errands and returned to the hall.. and surprise !!! Birthday cake ice cream and balloons He was happy. It was a good day.