Arriving by boat to Port Townsend Washington
What a difference a couple of weeks makes; last trip to see our Tai Chi Chuan instructor Michael Gilman the Ferry shut down due to high winds and snowstorms. This Weekend, it was sunny, 65 degrees and beautiful.
Myself and another Dojo Rat were joined by two other Rats from the Seattle club for a class with instructor Gilman that hosted around twenty students. Michael has been teaching seminars on the various "energies" in the practice of Tai Chi Chuan, and we have gone over Peng-Lu-Ji-An in great detail. The focus this time was more directed to Ji and An, and the Yang-style push-hands patterns.
Michael Gilman, assistant instructor Stephanie, and a pack of Dojo Rats
The seminar wrapped up with a lively session of push-hands with the warmer temperature really bringing the sweat on! That of course necessitated replacing our vital body fluids with the elixer of life; Beer. Now, Port Townsend has a brewery that produces one of the finest IPA's I have ever had. I usually start with that then move on to something a little lighter. No matter how I tried, nobody joined me in drinking the Beer that made Washington State famous: Olympia in the can. Oly is light enough to fuel the Rat all night long, which is pretty much what happened as we watched a great R&B/Funk band and closed down two bars.
Looking south towards the Olympic mountains. The paper mill you see is where Deborah Winger was rescued by Richard Geere in the movie "An Officer And A Gentleman", which was filmed in Port Townsend. (The movie had a couple of great fight scenes). I think half the brown-paper bags in the United States come out of this plant. Below the grass headlands on the right is a beach where in 1981 I lived in a small travel trailer (until the Cops kicked me out).
And finally, here's a pic of the great little Kala Soprano Ukulele I picked up in town, which really came in handy as some of us had a late night train wreck of a music jam up in the hotel room.
All-in-all, a very successful mission!
For more information on Tai Chi Chuan in Port Townsend, check out Michael Gilman's Website.
Beautiful town. You go to the wooden boat show when it happens? (Or are they still having it? Been twenty-five years since we lived there.)
ReplyDeleteSteve;
ReplyDeleteYes, the Wooden Boat Festival is probably the largest of it's type in the country. Last one a cab driver told me they were expecting 20,000 people visiting in two days. I went to the Wooden Boat school years ago, when I was a young and troublesome Ratlet. What a great town!