wonderflee

Okay, gosh, golly !

Alright, I won’t say I forgot about this, or about you today. No, that’s not it at all. It’s mostly that I am on a slight, albeit slight lack of sleep. Now the lack of sleep could have something to do with the fact that I stayed out late in the marshall spirit of karaoke late Saturday night with a slew of other performer expats from our annual charity event -that I’ll get to later, or I could be smashingly tired due to the fact that my house-living space is a bit cold and a bit dry in the night and I couldn’t quite wrestle well with slumber last night. That is, I couldn’t sleep due the cold and dry air in my house.

But ho !
Listen, I am involved in taiko here in town. And as a member of our local taiko team we have since been preparing for just this last weekend’s charity event that took place at our local community theatre and performance hall (to be honest I don’t really know what to call the building. The building is something of a mix between a concert hall and a recreation centre and it’s spankingly brand new).
So Saturday rolled around this last week and I was happy to find myself in town, in town meaning I was saving money and sitting on my keester which has been all but a little bit tired from work in the past week !

But Saturday at about six pm we all gathered and floundered backstage at community theatre only to meet people dressed as magicians, singers, flashy retro suits ready to song and dance, comical baka-tonno Japanese outfits, kimonos, yukatas, fake eyeglass and moustaches.. you name it it was backstage.
It was a little like when you visit your grandparent’s home for a Christmas dinner and while wandering through their ancient house you pull a heavey old story book from the shelf and the book slams onto the floor, pages flutter open and you find yourself wound up in a world of story book characters and dancers, dragons, magicians, undersea waterscapes -oh?

Sorry, has that never happened to you? Well, maybe you should watch Disney’s Pagemaster and refresh your creative thinking on that one.
Anywho, that was backstage on Saturday night. We had a blast stretching and gearing up for our two song taiko performance. Black bandanas donned, matching t-shirts, festival coats shouldered, it was beautiful. There is something magical I must admit sitting in wait behind the stagefall curtain (that heavey main curtain that rises and falls with each opening and closing act) that just captivates me every time.

Okay, so the perfomance went well. So good ! One of the songs we played was a song from my taiko group back home in Canada. Props to them ! After all the drum beating and sweating was done, just like that we cleaned up shop, took to the stage one last time and had a group farewell and send off to thank the audience for coming to see our event.

What a grand thing it was.
The moments of sitting backstage in the dressing room, sharing a drink whether a beer or hot water with locally cured honey stirred in to aid an overused singing throat there was magic all around.
Did I mention someone gave me about nine pounds of deer meat? Maybe I really am living in a story..
Well, I am most greatful and I will be fed for at least a month on that. Oh, the joys of living in a small community. Just like home.

Haha.
But hang on a float, the after dinner once all the clean up was done was a great time. We sat in at a local ‘Snack’ as it is called, a place that offers food, drink, chatter and karaoke. Nibbling on simmered squid stuffed with local mochi-gome rice, local mountain veggies simmered in fish stock, more squid and daikon rings, the food was fine and the fare was fun.
Peformers were amongst our post-event celebrating crowd. And just as people trickled in, once the clock hit midnight and everyone had sung at least one karaoke song before the bunch, people began to trickle out and leave into the cold night and find their ways back home.

So that one turned out to be a late night but it made for the most fun of all. Gosh, what a weekend it was.
Sunday made for some late sleeps and good rests and a fresh look at the coming week.

Have I bored you? I hope not. For I solemnly promise that there is more to come in the following week-days.

I hope you are having a fine time where you are at. I know that these days I am thankful for warm covers and the prospect of finally buying a kotatsu, or blanket covered table with a sure little heater underneath to warm chilly limbs.
What are you looking forward to?

Again, photos to follow.
And all my best to you,

Ciao.