I never did like the circus but...

I went to the circus last night.

The Cirque du Soleil's new show, Kooza, opened here in Montreal at the beginning of May. My sister took me to last night's show as a belated birthday gift. I went without expectations, since this was my first time seeing them live - yes, I admit to being a born and bred Montrealer who has NEVER see the Cirque LIVE even though all their shows are premiered here.

I loved it. All the acts were wonderful, although my two favourites were the contortionists, three rubbery girls who are as strong as they are bendable. Here they are in one of their more reserved poses: (photo: Jacques Grenier)



And the wheel of death, which featured two crazy men with red belly-buttons on a contraption similar to what you'd see in a hamster's cage - only a little more dangerous: (photo: Olivier Samson Arcand)



My palms were clammy throughout.

There were lots of clowns in this show, interacting with the audience, and they were actually funny in a very slapsticky, in-your-face, scratch-your-butt kinda way. The only other circus I've seen is the Shriners' Circus when I was around 6 and those clowns made me cry. Too much scary make-up.

What I found truly impressive was the "in-betweens." The minute one act is over something else immediately starts to distract the audience from the set-up for the next act. Everything is beautiful to watch, every moment and and movement is a show.

I'm sure everyone who see le Cirque feels this way, but I was inspired, I really was! By the physical beauty of the set and the characters. By the strength, grace and humour of the performers. By the non-stop rhythm and pace of the show. It gave me hope; makes me want to be a better taiko performer, makes me want to create more original pieces, makes me want to push my limits and better myself. Lofty goals.

If Kooza comes to your city, do your best to go and see it.

Had a good week-end. (^_^)



The taiko group that my husband and I are members of, had two performances to do on Saturday (this photo of us was taken a couple years ago at Montreal's Botanical Gardens). We were loading the drums into the truck at 6:30 am, on the road by 7am and returned to Montreal for lunch at 1pm. We only had to meet for our next show at 7pm so I thought I'd have enough time to do some work at home. I had plans to list some new things on my website, take some photos, maybe even make something...

Ha!

We took a nap, and I ended up just relaxing before heading out for our second performance at night. And that's ok, right?

Yesterday I did some errands in the morning and afternoon and went to a friend's house for a bbq dinner. Ate too much. But that's ok once in awhile, right?

It's a beautiful day here in Montreal, a warm 18 degrees right now (55 degrees farenheit or so). I mailed out some card orders this morning and have to get back to work on a custom order. And I listed these lovelies this morning:





This is the first of several posts this week. Yes, several, I did say several :)

Not too stressed... surprisingly

Well, preparations for the craft show continue. And not as stressed as I usually am. Hmm, something must be wrong. There's always tomorrow, plenty of time to stress out.

Made some new cards and listed a few on Etsy. I've had cat cards among my designs for a few years and dog lovers have been asking when I would start making dog cards; well, here is my first! This happy little guy sold a few minutes after I posted him on Etsy :)

The little figure on the card below is called a jizo. In Japan, a jizo is most well-known as a guardian of children, and also a protector of women and travellers. Jizo may comfort anyone dealing with sadness or the loss of someone dear; you often see these little statues placed at children's graves. My husband gave me a little jizo statue when my mom passed away, which is the inspiration for this card :)

This Happy Thoughts/Positivity card makes me smile - corny but true. I think it's because it was created when I was coming out of a rather dark patch. Finally able to feel a bit of peace, and that's what this card expresses...
Made a few origami cranes, or orizuru, and I like the way they look all lined up waiting to be packaged. Tomorrow will be for packaging, labelling, pricing and sign-making.

Gotta get back to it now...