my last practice....

…outside my home of ten years.

Yes, it is moving time in (from) Japan. One month to go – and that means moving out of our nice little two-story rental house of a decade, into a tiny, one-room apartment for the final month. There are only three of us moving now, as we carted the cats off to a cat motel for the final month.

So, I should have been packing and cleaning. But knowing that Tuesday night Sha Style sword class would almost certainly include my performing the Chen Style Dao form for scrutiny by the instructor, I went outside for “just five minutes” to buzz through the form. After all, I had given it good attention at last Saturday’s all day practice (oh, yes, should have been packing and cleaning).

But one time led to another and I spent a perfect hour outdoors with Chen Style Dao. The space is not great – it is paved, basically large enough to park one really big car, and it is shared by four homes. However it is my practice space and just outside my home, the biggest advantage.

I fired up some trusty mosquito coils and got to work. Dusk was falling and a heavy breeze was loosening dried leaves from their branches across the street. Many good final memories – the sound of the trains down the street, a huge and intricate spider web waving in the breeze (the seasonal joro gumo – more on that spider elsewhere).

I can’t say that my final run through the form was perfect, but I was feeling good.

And indeed, my instructor gave the form a very close look later that night. It looks like I will need to find another practice space right away.