Birthday Blog

Well my birthday came and went yesterday. Thanks to all who came to class and offered a happy birthday. To friends who called. And those who texted. To my sister Judy who phoned. And to my daughter Jenny for a wonderful post-evening class dinner. As birthdays go this was seamless and fun. A busy period is coming up. The Menlo Retreat next week. The Santa Cruz Retreat in early July.

Post sixty is a combination of many things(62 for me). I told my daughter that I am currently without any chronic pain. Although the body does tend to stiffen up if one sits for long periods. Every couple of years the back goes out and needs a couple of days of rest. There was one of those periods recently. Fortunately I got a bodywork session from my friend Dianna, which speeded up the recovery quite a bit. Then just a little rest.

I find that just because one can do things, and even do them well still, one should not OVER do. So so far so good. At my age Osensei was in Iwama during the World War Two years farming and training. So these years can be active and powerful.

The picture of me above is current. Lily and I are currently staying with friends in the Santa Cruz mountains around the summit area. She seems very happy

Here is a video that I posted a couple of years ago. It is shot in Sebastopol. I think it was early fall of 2008. Of all the music or non-aikido videos it is by far the most successful, having over 600 posts. And it has gotten a couple of very positive comments: