Cavalia

Wow

March 23, 2010

The white tent went up at the state fairgrounds last week. The signs appeared all over town and the full-page ads appeared in the paper…Cavalia was coming to town!

What, you may ask, is Cavalia? The shiny official brochure calls it “A magical encounter between Man and Horse.” Some have described it as “Cirque du Soleil with horses.” It isn’t affiliated with Cirque du Soleil, but it was created by one of the Cirque co-founders, Normand Latourelle. The show takes place under a castle-like white tent, billed as the largest touring big-top tent in the world. Twenty-five hundred tons of sand and dirt make up the stage area.

I read about this show in a magazine article a couple of years ago, and promised myself I’d go if it ever came to a town near me. Saturday, I was able to keep that promise when a barn buddy and I went to the afternoon show at the state fairgrounds in Tampa.

All I can say is wow. The troupe of human and horse performers thrilled us with lavish costumes, unbelievable displays of horsemanship, acrobatics and romantically beautiful or humorous scenarios.

My favorite section featured one trainer working with nine horses at liberty (wearing no tack of any kind). The horses trotted or cantered on stage by ones and twos, and spent the first few moments being horses: sniffing the ground, grooming each other, reinforcing the equine hierarchy with flattened ears and other body language. The trainer entered and took control. The horses moved in a circle around her, around the larger stage, responding to her almost imperceptible cues. Poetry in motion!

Other highlights for me were the trick riding and Roman riding (riders stand on two horses, with one foot on the back of each).

My friend and I agreed that having some knowledge of horses helped us to appreciate the difficulty of what we saw on stage. But anyone who enjoys the beauty of horses or seeing the close relationship man and horse have developed, will enjoy this show. To learn more about Cavalia, visit http://www.cavalia.net/. Or click here to see a short video.

Two happy audience members

Pets

Good-Bye, Crusher

March 17, 2010

I’ve been putting off writing this week’s first blog post because I’m afraid I’m going to cry. Crusher, our little parakeet, died this weekend, and we are all in mourning.


You might not think a little creature weighing only an ounce or two could have much of an impact. But this little guy’s effect on our lives was much larger than his size.

About five years ago, our son asked to have a pet bird. We waffled a bit, but eventually decided that we would indulge him. We bought Crusher (more about his name later) at a local bird store. Out of a cage containing at least 20 parakeets, our son pointed at “that one”—and the store clerk caught him for us. When we got him home, he was immediately friendly, pecking bird seed out of our hands, and acting more curious than scared about his new surroundings.


Crusher got his name from a joking discussion between me and my son. We were trying to come up with the most incongruous name for a tiny bird. I suggested Crusher, after a character in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. (Remember the cartoon where Bugs ended up as a wrestler? One of the other wrestlers was called “The CRUSHER.”) My son and I cracked up thinking about calling a parakeet Crusher, and the name stuck. Crusher seemed to try to live up to his name, too, being just about fearless for a little parakeet.

We kept him in our family room, which is open to the kitchen, and Crusher often chose the time I was making dinner to sing. I loved hearing his little voice chirping and trilling while I chopped vegetables or sautéed chicken. He loved bells, and when we heard him dinging one in the morning, we knew it was time to uncover him. He occasionally came out of his cage and joined my son in his bedroom, perching on the computer monitor, or sat on his little jungle gym with my husband and me in our office. He received Christmas presents, just like every other member of the family. (It’s good to be a pet in the Johnson household.)

Soon, I hope, I will be able to remember the cute things Crusher did without getting a lump in my throat. Soon I hope the happy memories will outweigh the pain of losing him. But right now there is a small, bird-shaped hole in my heart.

Everyday adventures

Art Therapy

March 12, 2010

This week I completed one of Laure Ferlita’s Imaginary Trips—this one to the beach. Imaginary Trips are online video watercolor sketch classes, with such destinations as Paris and England, as well as the beach class, and one called “Autumn.” You can read more about them here.

I took this class for fun, but also so I could learn skills I’d need to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time: keep an illustrated journal. I’ve kept a written journal for years, and I take lots of pictures, too, especially when we travel. Now I want to learn how to draw what I see, either here in my neighborhood or while we’re on a trip. I think I really begin to see a thing when I attempt to draw or paint it. To sketch something, I have to slow down and pause in the hectic pace of my daily life. (Learning to draw using pencil, pen and ink and my waterbrushes is also on my Six-Year Calendar of Happiness.)

The class was great, and my classmates were even better. What I learned from it (and them) went beyond adding pigment to paper or learning to sketch quickly and confidently. I learned not to give up on an assignment even when I felt it was turning out poorly. I learned to make adjustments to a sketch to make it more personal, instead of just copying the instructor. I learned not to panic when I made a mistake—most mistakes are fixable, even in watercolor. I learned that art is therapeutic, even if you have an emotional meltdown in the middle of a picture. And I learned that there’s always something you can like in a sketch, even when it doesn’t turn out like you wanted it to. Here are three of my assignments:



Is there something new you’d like to try? What are you waiting for? Do you want to learn to knit? Play a new sport? Explore a new place? I urge you to do it—open up to something you haven’t tried before, and see where it takes you. And come back here and share your experiences with me!

IWD

Celebrating Women

March 08, 2010

Myspace Graphics
Image courtesy of wishafriend.com

Today is the 99th official International Women’s Day! Yay—a day to celebrate being female (without having to be a mother). So what, exactly, is it?

“International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future,” according to http://www.internationalwomensday.com/. And according to the United Nations, “International Women’s Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men.”
First observed in the U.S. in the early 1900s, IWD is now celebrated all over the world. It’s an official holiday in many countries, including Bulgaria, China, Russia and Vietnam, and is widely observed in many others. In some countries, it is also observed as a day equivalent to Mother's Day, and children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.

More seriously, on this day every year, events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. Every year, the United Nations selects a global theme countries can choose to use in their events and celebrations. (2010’s theme is “Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all.”) Governments, women’s groups and other organizations are free to choose their own themes to reflect the issues they feel are important.

You can read more about International Women’s Day here and here, as well as on the International Women’s Day Web site (see above).

“If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.”
--Margaret Thatcher

“The fastest way to change society is to mobilize the women of the world.”

--Charles Malik

Horses

The Great Turkey Terror of 2010

March 06, 2010

All was confusion and chaos in one of the horse paddocks at the barn yesterday morning. The two ponies and the Thoroughbred gelding were frantic, trotting around and foamy with sweat under their winter blankets. What frightening mishap had occurred? What monster lurked in the back 40? Get ready…a hateful, horrifying, horse-eating…turkey. Yup, that’s right. One. Turkey.

That turkey's been around for a while.  We’ve been hearing gobbling in the fields next door for a couple of weeks. Apparently, hearing and seeing are two different things. After finally chasing away the offending fowl, Mary Ann and Holly had to hose off the sweating horses, cover them with a light blanket since it’s still chilly and windy, and move them to stalls so they could recover from their terrifying ordeal.

Honestly. Wouldn’t you think that a 1000-pound animal could figure out he was bigger and stronger than a turkey, and the turkey was no threat to him? But horses don’t think like that. They are prey animals, attuned to the smallest changes in their environments, and used to running first and asking questions later.

We’re so much smarter than horses, aren’t we? We reason, have the ability to weigh pros and cons, deal with what challenges we face in life. But how many times do we still work ourselves up over what turns out to be nothing? Or worry ourselves sick about things we have absolutely no control over?

When I worry and fret over the homeless in Haiti, rising tensions in Iran, the state of the world economy, or even what grade my son will get on his next Spanish test, I’m like those horses churning around fruitlessly in their paddock. My worry does no good to anyone in need, and merely saps the joy from my own life. What I now do instead—when I’m functioning well—is take a deep breath and ask myself if what I’m worried about is in my control. If it is, what can I do to improve the situation? If it’s not, I let it go.

“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained,” said Arthur Somers Roche. I don’t want to fill my mind with worry and anxiety, allowing it to color and shape my thoughts. I want to focus on the good and uplifting in my life and the world in general.

Wishing you a happy, peaceful weekend. Don’t let the turkeys get you down.

Gratuitous picture of Tank.  He was NOT afraid of the turkey...