Month: June 2013

Just finished a wonderful informal discussion with Francis Takahashi Shihan, About openness, curiosity, vulnerability, support, and beginner’s mind.

Had a great pre-breakfast training session With Chuck Hauk sensei. He taught yokomen-uchi shiho-nage, starting from blending spinning around your partner, like an amusement park ride. :-) Very much like how we do it at our dojo, plus a few additional comments and cautions. Nice way to start the day, and it’s great to be training with so many friends. Now off to breakfast, and some real coffee.

This is what the walk from the student housing to the dojo looks like.

This afternoon we had registration, and then dinner. Because it’s a small campus, the dining hall is about the size of the snack bar at San Diego State!

We had our first training session tonight. Two hours – 30 minutes with each Of the four primary instructors: Craig Fife Sensei, Greg O’Connor Sensei, Kimberly Richardson Sensei, and Michael Friedl Sensei.

Off to write some notes in my training journal for the evening, and then to bed as quickly as possible. We are back on the mat at seven in the morning, before breakfast!

The campus is beautiful, and they have an extensive Equestrian and outdoor recreation program. Those fields you see in the photo are horse pastures, and a few cows too.

The town of Quincy is very small, but it’s really cute. Wi-Fi here on campus is iffy — it’s just took almost 15 minutes to upload the previous photo. But it’s a lovely place to have a retreat!

My in-laws, Charles and Joni Eskin, very generously invited me to fly in and stay with them on Saturday, and then this morning drove me from Roseville up to Quincy.

We arrived early enough to poke around town a little, and to have a very good lunch at Patti’s Morning Thunder restaurant.

Getting to campus today involved a spectacular drive along the feather River.

Waiting at the gate to head to Sacramento, and from there on to Quincy for the Aiki Summer Retreat. Packing for a trip reveals one’s priorities. My carry-on bag contains 4 gis, my belt, enough daily-wear contact lenses for the week, my buckwheat filled pillow, (without which I would be a physical wreck), several small notebooks, and a handful of new pens. I have my wallet, my iPhone, and my iPad in my purse. :-) Everything else is in my checked bags, and can be replaced if need be.

I got to the airport almost 2 hours early. Check in went smoothly, and I’ve spent about half an hour talking to a woman on her way to Vegas, about travel, business stuff, and managing workgroups. Now sitting in the floor. There are chairs available, but I’m going to have to sit in a chair for an hour and a half once I get on the plane, so I’m avoiding them.

I think they are calling for our boarding. I’m almost last. Should be interesting.