In my years of going to the seminar (6 times in 7 years) I have been able to make friends and build relationships with some of the other practitioners. I have also been able to do this by hosting our own seminars to try and improve our skills, and spread these martial arts across Canada. This year I was the only one going from Calgary, so one of my friends (Pam) on the Ontario side of things offered to let me stay with her.
I could fly into Kitchener, get a ride to Guelph, and from there I'd be off and running. That is what happened, and it went very smoothly... well, there was a minor hiccough. Usually I book my flights out of Edmonton because it is much closer to me than Calgary, and that is what I thought I did. I am glad that I looked at my ticket a few days before my flight, because it greatly changed my plans to be flying of Calgary and not in fact Edmonton. Wow.
So, I drove to Calgary, I took my flight over, and I was picked up by friends. We went to a hamburger chain they have out there called Licks and I ordered a burger with back bacon and with bacon bits (which is evidently uncommon). The burger was good, the company was good, and afterwards we headed to Kim Taylor Sensei's house. The Taylor's have done a rather drastic renovation to their house since I was last there. Actually... the doubled their square footage! They did this by building another floor onto their home. Amazing.
We sat around, caught up, and just had a gay old time. Kim and Pam were slightly delayed in joining us as they were picking up the Japanese Sensei from the airport, but when we were all there we stayed up long into the night... which I am not sure Kim's kids appreciated...
The next day we worked to start getting the seminar set up. SDK Supplies and ProSwords both have booths at the seminar, so we were oiling weapons, packing gear, and moving things to the University for the seminar. It also so happened that there was a Jodo class that evening. It was supposed to be for the dojo leaders/higher ranked students, but it was crashed by just about everyone. Whether I was supposed to be there or not I received some excellent feedback from the Japanese Sensei. I am not sure what he said, but with his hand motions, grunts, and repositioning of my body I got the gist of it.
That night was relatively calm. We got together for a quiet supper with just the Sei Do Kai crew and we had a good time. That was the last relatively calm moment I would have until the weekend was nearly over.
Saturday morning... up early... We had moved the goods to the University but it was time to set up the stores, and to set up everything for the seminar, and really just get things going. This was kind of fun. I have not been at the heart of the Sei Do Kai as they run their seminars before so this was exciting. It was also one of those years at the seminar where you don't have to grade. Non-grading years are way more fun than grading years.
When the Sensei and everyone arrived we started training. Iaido for a few hours, a pizza lunch, Jodo for a few hours, and Iaido for a few more hours. It doesn't sound like that much when it is just two lines of text, but imagine 7 hours on your feet swinging around swords and sticks... by the end of the day... you are tired...
Residence - Side of the Auction/Pot Luck
After training we were rushing around to get things ready for the auction. People from across the world bring donations for the auction, and the proceeds go to help pay for the seminar. This year there were fewer items in the auction than usual, but that meant that each item go its due time... instead of everything going for like $1 a piece at the end of the night.
It was the typical stuff for sale, calligraphy, pottery, books, clothing, dolls, keepsakes, misc... etc. I didn't have a ton of money but there were a few things that caught my eye. One thing was a colourful looking jacket/shirt in the classic Japanese style. What it turned out to be was a Japanese fireman's jacket that is over 100 years old. It is not flame retardant at all, no, the Japanese firemen in Tokyo would come around at 2 am with clapping things to make a nice racket to remind to to make sure that your fire is out. If a fire did break out they would not go fight the fire with water, instead they would run ahead of it and rip down the next two blocks of houses. This jacket intrigued me before I knew the story, and afterwards... I was sold... or rather... it was sold... to me. Oh yeah, and I definitely picked up a set of those irritating clappers too.
The night went on, and I didn't think I would bid on anything else. Well, there was a piece by Kim Taylor (who does excellent photography) but that was a want, and not a need. What was a need, was a small porcelain statue of one of our Sensei. Another of these statues (they are limited edition) was brought for auction last year, but it was dropped, and it, like the hearts of everyone present, shattered. Pam actually managed to glue the fragments back together, but that was very close to being the humpty dumpty of no return. Well, another of these statues was for sale. This Sensei is one of our Sensei! He has taught me! With Kim to back me if I ran out of funds, I bid until the statue was mine (and I have since printed off pictures of Sensei to compare with the statue, including a picture of him and I in the same picture! Yeah, one of the like 100 people in the same picture... but both he and I!!!).
It was a great night, a great auction, and there will forever be great memories. Good food, good company, a beautiful soloist act on the violin by Kim's daughter, and just good everything.
Rush, rush, rush, from the auction to bed, from bed to setting up for the seminar, from that to training (Jodo, Jodo, then Iaido for me I think), and then rushing to set up for the pot luck. Well, before that there was supposed to be a dojo reps meeting, but one of the senior classes went over so we needed to reschedule.
By the time we got to the barbecue/pot luck I was exhausted. This was less arduous than the quartering 50 chickens the night before (team effort), but still I was tired. This was a more relaxed night. There were less people than usual, but there were enough people to have a good time.
At about 10 pm we got the idea to have the dojo reps meeting, so we met, and met, and met until it was 1 am and we were all exhausted.
Sleep. Up. Setting up the stores. Pam and Liz (another helper like myself) were grading, so I took the lead on lunch. Training, driving to get lunch, arriving at the pizza place, and wait... its closed?! Turns out that the oven broke at that pizza place. As we were standing in the parking lot, dumbfounded, a middle eastern chap screeched up in his car with 10 large pizzas in the back. He happens to own two pizza stores, and when one failed he went to the other. Relieved we brought back the pizza and ate.
Outside the Athletic Centre
An Epic Illusion
That was it for me. There was another training session in the afternoon, but I did what is my custom at the end of the seminar and I peaced out. I showered, packed, and headed off into the University of Guelph's Arboretum.
The Arboretum
That is without a doubt, one of my most favourite places on the entire planet.
A Quiet Place
Canopy
Leaves
Old and New
The Maple Collection
Special
Ferns
Green
L'amour?
New Growth
The Still Haunted Swamp
Specks
Tiny Beauties
Bloom
I went in for a minute, and hours later I came out again. It is an amazing place, and I will let my pictures do the talking. I have no pictures of the seminar, as it is hard to take photographs when you are participating, but I have many photos of the arboretum.
I returned to the gym for the final demonstrations, was off to the airport, to Calgary, and then en route to Drayton Valley. It was a very late night, and I was a mess for a few days, but it was amazing.
Always.
Amazing.
p.s. There were less flowers this year in the Arboretum due to an early heat wave, but it is still beautiful. Also, I managed to take some Maple seeds to replenish my bonsai collection of trees collected across Canada (since a few unfortunately perished over the winter).
