WonderFools!

Check out my performance group: www.wonderfoolarts.com

Juggling in Tucson!

I've settled back in the Southwest for the winter. Back in Tucson. After I graduated from college, I thought I would never come back until my twilight years, but new friends, two juggle clubs a week, and an ample supply of warm sunshine got the best of me, and a "passing through town" ended up a "stay for a while." Time will tell how long that while is. Probably until it's too hot to juggle outside anymore. But if you're passing through and want to pass some clubs or learn to juggle or something, meetings are every Wednesday from 3pm-dark on the UofA mall, and Sunday from 3pm-dark at Himmel Park. It's a solid group, lots of regulars at all different skill levels. Good times.

Belly Acres part IV - Circus Workshops

We were invited to stay on the condition that we would leave once the aerialist workshop arrived. They had rented the whole place and there would no longer be any space for us. We made arrangements to stay with someone nearby, but a few days before the workshop began, Graham invited us to stay up at his place. It worked out that there was an extra Jungalow available for Becky and me, and Melissa stayed in Graham's spare room. Our new Jungalow was even better than the last two. It had electricity and a kitchen and ceilings high enough to throw triples. Fancy.
So we stayed and we worked, largely methinks, because Melissa was working at rebuilding their website (which is totally beautiful! LOOK), but also because we are hardworking and charming individuals.
It was great for us because we wanted to be around for the workshops, aka The Hawaii Circus Retreat. It is becoming an annual event and the ladies who run it are amazingly warm and talented. They're from Toronto and are accomplished teachers and performers. We became friends with them and they invited us to do some work/trade with them so we could participate in some of their workshops despite our empty pockets. They scheduled a few circus workshops with the children in the community and asked us if we would teach the juggling component in exchange for picking whichever focus of theirs that we would like to learn. I chose the trapeze class and went up on the swinging trapeze for the first time in my life. It was fun, but boy does it hurt. All of that climbing, and hanging, and swinging in the air stuff hurts. I'll stick to juggling.
They also invited us to tag along on an excursion they were taking with their group to Waipio Valley. We weren't blessed with the greatest weather, but it was beautiful and we had the opportunity to work on our team building skills. To get to the long stretch of beach we aimed for, we had to ford a river. It was difficult for me and even more so for some of the other members of our party, so on the way back, we built a human bridge (more of a human hand-rail system really). It took us a little while, but it was fun and made everyone feel a lot more secure.
It was a great experience and I'm already trying to figure out how to make it back next year.

Belly Acres part III - Work Trade

We worked three hours a day, Monday through Friday. Belly Acres is a 12-acre parcel of land that was missed by the lava flow in 1955, therefore, it has dirt and trees and plants while on either side of it is solid rock with only the beginnings of growth and neighbors have dirt trucked in if they want to grow anything. Most of the power is solar (all of it once new panels get installed at SPACE) and water is all collected in catchment tanks from the copious rainfall. Food is grown and chickens are raised making it the most self-sustaining community I've ever visited.
The work we were asked to do was varied and kept things fun and interesting. My jobs included stripping the bark of of felled trees; moving logs to dry areas; picking fruit and rescuing coconut trees from the clutches of strangling vines; moving good, rich dirt from under giant mango trees to the green house; catching just hatched chicks to cage them away from mongoose consumption; and building a new roof on the community kitchen. I was also asked to barbecue chicken for another party as my work trade. I developed a reputation as a grill master of sorts. Not a bad way to spend time in work trade... with a beer in my hand.
We also spent a good amount of time flying around the property with Graham in his golf cart, checking things out and listening to stories of times before and plans for the future. There is such a good energy to that place and the work barely ever felt like work. More like satisfaction.

Belly Acres part II

Our first two days at Belly passed and our time was up, but we were invited to stay nearby at the home of our new friend Joel (pronounced Jo-el). After a week of camping then the two days in our rugged, screened-in jungalow, Joel's place was like a palace, decorated to the nines like a Bali influenced, South Pacific paradise. I, of course, forgot to take any pictures except for Melissa with her new lizard friend. She discovered him while working in the garden.
We wanted to thank our host back at Belly for sponsoring our two days, and it was decided that we would return to prepare a large farewell meal for some of the members that were leaving. I grilled the meat outside (to rave reviews, toot-toot!) and the ladies made magic in the kitchen. As we were eating, Graham, the full time resident and HJIC (Head Juggler In Charge) of Belly Acres, invited us to stay a little bit longer as some space was opening up from the departing members. We agreed to 15 hours each of work trade for a week when a crew of workshopping aerialists were coming in for a couple of weeks and taking over the joint. Great!
Melissa went back to the jungalow that the 3 of us shared on our first two nights, while Becky and I were upgraded to a slightly more romantic one, complete with finished wood and the ever-romantic mosquito netting over the bed.
On our second night back, there was a show at S.P.A.C.E., a clown show by our new friend Iman, called Basquette Quese. We had been hanging out and juggling in SPACE, but it was something else to see it transformed into a venue. We ended up seeing several shows there, partied there, juggled there, taught and received teaching there, and every Saturday, attended the Farmer's Market. SPACE is an amazing space.

Belly Acres...part I

We were invited by a member to stay at Belly Acres for a couple of nights. February is members only month, so it was a rare and much appreciated invitation. Belly Acres is 10 acres of jungle on the west side of the island. A bunch of jugglers and other performers bought it about 25 years and carved out a little jugglers paradise. Others bought in since then, but it has been closed to new members for the last several years. There are a few other long term renters who live on the property while the members are away and there's only one member who lives here year round. Blah, blah, blah. We've been welcomed with open arms and here's some pictures.

Also... Hawaii Hairdo

Serendipitous, Beautamous, Hawaii

Pele received us to the island with a warm and embracing hug. We were met at the airport and whisked away to an already set-up campsite by the friend of a friend named Pamela Sue, surely an angel in disguise. A better hostess could not be imagined. She met our fiend River on this very same island a few years back via the juggling community here called Belly Acres which we have yet to visit but are anxiously anticipating.
We arrived after dark, threw our things down and went straight to the ocean for a full moonlight skinny dip. Beautiful!

We awoke the next morning to dolphins playing within reach and whales waving their tails at us from a stone's throw further. Beautiful!

On a short walk to see a blow hole in a rocky shore, we met two locals tending to some property who offered us coconuts, avocados and tales of growing up on the island. We've been gifted avocados twice since, big and delicious. Beautiful!

A man approached our picnic table (a common occurrence in our friendly campgrounds) recognizing P.S. from the other side of the island where they both live. Turned out he was another person we'd been in contact with through another friend. He had been casual with previous contacts, but has no invited us to stay at his place for a few days later in our visit here. Beautiful!

We were caught in a rare rain storm on the "dry" side of the island and took refuge in athe shelter of some nearby campers, one of whom is a singer, dancer, and ukelele player that used to work with "Iz". He told us great stories and serenaded us in English, Hawaiian and Japanese while we shared food and laughter. Beautiful!

After scrambling up some lava rocks above the beach this morning, Becky and I explored the depths of an old lava tube, a cave hollowed out by flowing lava years and years ago. It was so dark and quiet inside that light and sound seemed practically nullified like in a black hole. That is, what I imagine a black hold would be like having never actually entered one. It was both creepy and cool in equal measure. Beautiful!

Its nice to be out in the world again, its nice to slow down, remember my breathing and open myself to whatever opportunity presents itself. When I am open the whole world is open to me. Can't wait to see what finds me!