Sunday 19 November 2000 16:20 I've got devil's pitchforks all over me. I was sitting by the heron's pond practicing my storytelling, and when I finished practicing— I told the story to the turtles and the crows five or six times. Unfortunately, they were unimpressed. I guess I have a bit more work to do on the presentation. — I discovered I'd been sitting in the middle of the pickies. I've got most of them off me now, but I know I'll keep finding more. It's getting cold out now the sun's going down. But it's not just that, the air has changed, too, and that colder weather we've been expecting has begun to settle in. There seems to be a chill haze in the air... It's too bad, but winter is inevitable. I will have to turn the heat on, and leave it on. And I will probably have to practice t'ai chi indoors. On some days, at least. I don't know why it is, but this year I've been noticing how long the shadows are. Even at noon they seem long, and the sunlight looks so pale and far away— Wholly cow! Will you look at that sunset! The sky is ablaze with orangey-pink fire! I hope you're paying attention. Look at how quickly the colors change with the light... Now that was something like! Later: My left shoulder aches something terrible. Even Jo's magic fingers and the tiger balm haven't been able to get the chi moving freely through that spot for more than a few minutes. Unfortunately, though the epiphany in the bookstore cleared up the hurt in my gut, it didn't touch on whatever it is that's stopping my chi dead in its tracks, messing up my qigong practice, and giving me a headache to boot... I've been reading a lot about chi and t'ai chi and chi kung. And I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the information. But mostly I'm getting depressed because I don't think I'll ever live long enough to learn all I want to learn... It must be something I just don't want to admit to myself. The pain in my shoulder, I mean. It's got to be emotional in origin. Probably something I can't do anything about, even if I admit it's bugging me... Rats. I'm going to bed. Wish there was someone up there waiting to give me a massage.   Copyright © 2000 New Moon Please feel free to comment at: The Madwoman's Message Board