Hey - It's Fat Tuesday!

54/365. Can you believe I've been at this for 54 days already?

Happy Mardi Gras! Just having fun today.

Fun Facts about Mardi Gras:

• Mardi Gras is always scheduled 47 days before Easter (the 40 days of Lent, plus seven Sundays.)
• In 1857, the first krewe was organized. The Comus organization coined the word "Krewe" and established several Mardi Gras traditions: forming a secret Carnival society, choosing a mythological namesake, presenting a theme parade with floats.
• In 1872, Rex, the King of Carnival, selected the official colors of Mardi Gras: Purple, Gold, and Green Rex assigned a meaning to each in his 1892 parade, entitled Symbolism of Colors.
• Purple represents Justice
• Green stands for Faith
• Gold signifies Power
• The colorful worlds of Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology are the sources for many krewe names.
• A visit from the Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff was the partial inspiration for the first appearance of Rex in 1872. The King of Carnival immediately became the International symbol of Mardi Gras.
• The final year of the past century (1899) saw snow in New Orleans on Fat Tuesday, which fell on St. Valentine's Day. Legend has it that Rex paraded with a frozen mustache.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the start of 40 days of Lent. Catholics practice denial during this time period. We "give up" something as a way of repentence and cleansing. In the past I've usually given up soda, because it's one of my vices. However, seems this past Lent really helped me kick the habit, so I'm now having to think of something else to give up. Still thinking...

On our way to black belt...

Hello my dear friends. It's been too long since I've posted and I promise to catch up! On Saturday, Pat and I tested for our 1st KYU belts in Shito-Ryu karate. This is a belt between brown and black. From this point, we must wait six months before we can be invited to test for our black belt. During this time, we'll review all 18 katas, take downs and self-defense moves we already know, learn one new kata and bring all of it up to black belt level.

Pat and I both are just thrilled to have reached this level of karate and we would have never predicted we would have climbed this far. We both have backgrounds in Shotokan and even studied under the same Sensei, albeit at different eras in our lives. I really believe that our training under that Sensei gave us an advantage when learning Shito-Ryu. We've grown to truly love this style of karate and I believe a lot of it has to do with the fact that our Shihan is an excellent model and teacher of the art. He not only teaches us the katas, but also the bunkai - which is applying the techniques into "real life" applications. Our tests include kata (also called forms), terminology, take-downs (my favorite), self-defense and kumite (sparring). We managed to get a few videos of our test - thank you John! Here, for your viewing pleasure, is Pat sparring one of the black belts known as "Sempai Spidey" because he moves like Spiderman...




Shihan's wife was commening on how quickly we've risens through the ranks. It hasn't even been two years since we started training in this style. Because of our Shotokan experience, Shihan allowed us to test for three belts our first test. This, obviously, gave us a huge jump start! I'll never forget that first test. An orange belt watched me do my take downs and when I stepped off the mat (to the standing ovation of parents) she asked me "how did you learn to do that?" I may only be 5'2" but isn't there a saying that "good things come in small packages?"

I have to admit that I was really worried about my back during this test, having re-injured it about three weeks ago. I definitely was not my best during kumite. I was telling Pat that I think I have a subconscious self-defense mechanism in my brain that prevents me from letting loose when I fight. I'm so afraid I'm going to bring on that excruciating pain that I get when my back gives out! Every time I pass a test, I give myself an assignment to work on one special thing to improve in karate. This past time, it was my kumite. I know I improved, but I feel I let myself down during the test. I'm my worst enemy being a perfectionist, I know. But I want to be the very best I can be.

Now a long and arduous process begins to see if we can make it to black belt. Wish us luck - these two middle aged old farts are gonna need it! =D

One more thing - on the way home from our test, John, our son the black belt, made it a point to tell us how proud he is that his Mom and Dad have come this far. That was the best thing I heard all day!

Catching up...

It seems like time has just gotten away from me the past few days - I can't believe it's Wednesday already! Pat and John and a couple of guys from the dojo drove up to Ocala this past weekend to attend a seminar given by Soke Koze Kuniba from Japan. They really enjoyed it, although Pat said it was somewhat frustrating because Soke would speak in what he though was fluent English, but in reality, nobody had a clue what he was saying! LOL! Other than that and a cold shoulder from one of the instructors, they had a great time. Here's Pat with Soke...

John was so fired up from the seminar, that he asked me to take a few photos with his new sword. Having just built a backdrop last week, we put it up and went to work. The backdrop kept falling over! Guess we need to do some re-inforcing... Here's the result of our photoshoot...

There's more, but you get the idea...

Then yesterday I did my daily photo for my Project 365. Pat has been bugging me to do some "sexy" pictures, but I've been resisting. So, I went outside my comfort zone to shoot a self portrait for the Self-Portrait Tuesday group and here's what I came up with... kind of a prelude to Valentine's Day. I'm not all that great in photoshop, but I managed to add a filter to the photo to make it look more artistic. I think my friends on Flickr who follow my photostream were left a bit speechless! LOL! It's not my usual style. I think I'm getting the hang of taking a self-portrait, although I really would love to get a wireless remote.


Oh and I almost forgot! While the guys were out of town for the weekend, I went to the Fakahatchee Strand boardwalk in hopes of finding some wildlife to photograph and I managed to get an awesome shot of this Red Shouldered Hawk:

Pretty cool, huh? Well I hope you are all having a decent week. I'm off to figure out what to photograph next...

I Miss You...

Today is the one year anniversary of my dear Devo's death. I'm amazed it's already been a whole year since we had to say goodbye to him. I still feel the loss deeply. Being an animal lover, I've had many pets through the years, but none have captivated me like Devo.

He was the most amazing dog I've ever known. We bought him when he was 9 months old from a prominent show breeder. She actually cried when we took him, even though she had 25 dogs at the time. She knew he was special and that's why she had kept him so long. He was from a long line of champions that included a Best in Show at Westminster.

Devo was a gentleman in the truest of ways. He always waited for permission to jump on the bed or hop in the car. He would sing for us, forming his doggie lips into an "O" and woo woo wooing - it was a riot! He loved my Garlic Chicken and actually stole the entire chicken off my plate more than once... He had a stubborn streak, and would huff and puff if we did something he didn't approve of. He'd lay under covers until he was panting and pink all over. He was the perfect Alpha - gentle but firm. He kept the other dogs in order and accepted the rescues we brought in from time to time. But the single most thing I miss about him is that he was "connected" to me in a way I can't explain. He could sense when I was upset and wouldn't leave my side. He would try to nudge me and give me solace as if to say "I'm here, it'll be alright."

When we found out he had hemangiosarcoma (cancer of the blood vessels), I immediately drove through the night taking him to an oncology hospital to see what we could do. The news was devastating. His only chance of survival was if we removed his leg and part of his pelvis, and even then, he would probably only live six more months. I would have done anything to save him, but there wasn't anything anyone could do. He wasn't eating and he was in pain. I brought him home and found a vet who agreed to come to our home so that he would leave this world in a peaceful and familiar place. His favorite spot was to be next to me on the bed. I laid his favorite blanket down and laid him on top. I made him a big pan full of scrambled eggs and, even though he refused to eat anything for days, he gobbled them up - almost as if he knew this was the last pleasure he would enjoy. The vet arrived, and as we told him how much we loved him, he left us.

It was the single most difficult thing I've ever had to do.

I feel fortunate to have known such a wonderful, giving animal. I still have one of his nephews that lives with us and he reminds me of Devo in many ways, so I feel that I still have a part of him with me. There have been many times when I think I hear Devo barking or feel his presence. If you have a special pet, give them a hug and cherish them...they're only with us for a very short time.