BONSAI

Japanese Beech. Orange leaves.



Firethorn. Bright red berries!



Ginkgo Biloba. The star I came to see in its stunning yellow fall foliage.

A visit to the Pacific Bonsai Museum to view the gifts of autumn.

TRAINING

After all of the food of the holiday, as well as the aftermath of leftovers and leftovers and more leftovers, it was time to get back to training. Outdoors was freezing fog, so a little indoor workout was in order. The Yi Jin Jing set of qigong exercises set the tone. (Pictured is "Black Dragon Shows Its Claws.")



A sun break later in the morning meant "robing up" and practicing sword drills in the backyard dojo.

THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving was a day of meat, beer, and cookies. Day 12 of sumo's November honbasho. Playing board/party games. Hanging out. Being with family.



To accompany turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, I selected Pelican Brewing's Bad Santa Cascadian Dark Ale.



To pair with pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, I selected Iron Horse Brewery's Cozy Sweater Milk Stout.



Now The Father is watching Grand Sumo too! So we all watched Day Twelve after our Thanksgiving meal. Family members who had no idea what was going on were watching with us and asking questions.



Our favorite rikishi for this tournament.

TWT = Kotonowaka.

The Child = Takanosho.

The Wife = Wakatakakage.

The Father = Oho.

LOADED BAKED POTATO SOUP

A long-standing Thanksgiving Eve tradition is our church holding a soup-and-bread dinner followed by worship. Another related long-standing tradition is The Wife making her Loaded Baked Potato Soup (as one of the choices for said dinner), also lovingly known as "Heart Attack in a Bowl." She only makes it once per year, so it is something I look forward to in the fall.

In addition to the soup itself, the skins that were peeled off of the potatoes are fried in bacon grease. The crispy skins and bits of bacon then go on top of the soup as a garnish.

This is seriously some "A level" cooking!

SUMO

Midorifuji takes down Wakatakakage with katasukashi (under shoulder swing down) during Day 9 (of 15) of the November honbasho (sumo tournament).

Truth be told, our household has gone a bit sumo crazy. It started with me watching Grand Sumo updates a few months ago on NHK World. Then The Child joined in. The Wife claimed to not understand the attraction, but then she was soon alongside us cheering on her favorite rikishi (wrestlers). Now, we check our schedules to see when is the best time for all three of us to watch together, if possible.

TEEFS TWO

Another week, another round of tooth extractions.

Yesterday, The Dog (played here this time by Wrigley) returned home after a teeth cleaning that included having all of his teeth extracted. That was unplanned. We knew that his teeth were bad, but they were supposedly in better shape than Banjo's. It turns out that was not the case.

The vet called me to let me know that it appeared that there was significant bone loss in his jaws and little holding his teeth in place, so they all had to go.

He is about half the weight of Banjo and it took him about twice as long to bounce back from the anesthesia. He went to work with me, so that he could sleep in his crate and have some solo time. He didn't want to eat. He didn't want to drink. He refused his Dairy Queen "pup cup." 

He drank a bit of water right before my work day ended and at a smidge of Fresh Pet and then went back to sleeping. We'll see how everything goes during the next couple of weeks as he adjusts to life without teeth, but, hopefully, with little pain in the short term and overall better health in the long term.

FREED

Tonight, I freed the sageo (strings) of 舌 from the display knot tied around her kurikata (string hole) and saya (scabbard). Along with it, I free my mind of obstacles to training. I seek a resilience and "looseness" even as I operate within prescribed patterns and inherited ways. I begin again. Then I begin again once more.

KIHON and KATA

Iaido in the backyard dojo. A hummingbird friend was visiting the feeder (and watching me), so whenever he came down to drink I froze in place until he went back up onto a nearby tree branch. My calves were cramping by the end of training.

Working on kihon (basics) and kata (forms).



Bonk! Learning the movements of uchi chiburi, the "strike blood flick."



Letting gravity do its work and swing the sword into position, while switching hands.



Resheathing the sword.



Practicing kirioroshi, the downward strike. I'm working on keeping it straight. The left hand is power; the right hand is control.



Tōrei, bowing to the sword.

CUTTING IN

I think it's fair to say that I've started a new "Cutting In" project. I got a copy of a new translation of Miyamoto Musashi's Gorin-no-Sho (The Book of Five Scrolls) and Musashi's other writings on swordsmanship and the martial arts. This is fascinating reading in the wake of new scholarship and research into Musashi and his texts, including the correction of some that were corrupted over time.

NITRO PEPSI

Nitrogen-infused vanilla Pepsi. An interesting concept, but probably an unnecessary one. It's smooth and sugary, but almost too much of both. When I drink a soda, I'm typically seeking carbonation. I want the bubbles! And the amount of sugar in this 13.65 ounce can was 65 grams, which is sweetness squared. I drink much less soda than I once did, and will probably pass on having this again.

KAKU OBI

I bought 舌 a Japanese-made kaku obi ("angled" belt used in iaido) so that she is properly attired when we train.

This morning, 舌 and I learned and practiced uchi-chiburi (strike blood flick)!

POMEGRANATE

Behold: the beauty of a pomegranate.

The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil in the Garden.

The fruit of which Persephone partook, sealing her fate as a part-time resident of the Underworld.

The fruit I associate with mindfulness, specifically with an exercise/game given to me by my therapist, which helped to bring me back from the brink of complete mental breakdown four years ago.

Behold: the mystery of a pomegranate.

TENS

Two steps forward and five steps back. My problematic disc seems to have slipped again. So I pulled out my TENS unit and got one session in last night. And then it died.

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This morning, I picked up a new TENS unit and it is an order of magnitude better. At half strength it is about ten times more powerful than the old unit at full strength.

It allowed me to discover that my back muscles tightened up around the disc after it slid, which, in turn tightened up the muscles even more, which tugged the disc farther out of alignment—a vicious physical feedback loop. The new TENS unit helped to relax the muscles. That allowed me some relief so that I can do my PT exercises.

It will still take some time for everything to completely settle down, but it's three steps forward!

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This evening, while the first November storm raged outside, I worked on slow and control indoors. Yi Jin Jing qigong, iaido, and then the TENS unit. (One step forward.)

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Pictured above is the sixth movement of Yi Jin Jing, "Flexing Paws and Spreading Wings," as I workout with Master Shi Heng Yi of Shaolin Temple Europe via the magic of YouTube.

TEEFS

Yesterday, The Dog (played here by Banjo) returned home after a teeth cleaning that included having 23 teeth extracted. He's a bit of a mess right now. His current vet recently declared his mouth a "catastrophe." He joined our household with bad teeth, and they worsened throughout complications of the pandemic. His remaining 11 teeth are now squeaky clean, and, once his mouth heals, will serve him well. (He lost 8 teeth along the way; at least 4 of those the past two years.)

Today, he got to accompany me to work, so that he could rest and relax in his crate in my office and avoid the craziness of his little brother Wrigley. During lunch, we took a trip to Dairy Queen and he was able to get a "pup cup." He didn't get to eat the hard treats or the cone, but he absolutely enjoyed the ice cream.