Bellydancing at Tantra, August 09
Cairo on the Coast, my dance troupe, did our usual gig with Mei’attah Raqs at Tantra Tapas & Sushi last night. The crowd was huge and enthusiastic, so thanks to everyone for making it a great evening! And I finally had my new green costume all put together!
I was super tired because I worked a morning shift that day and took a nap between work and bellydancing- when I woke up to my alarm, I was extremely disoriented and thought I was in highschool and had to get up, put on a uniform, and go to class. I was very upset until I remembered that I’m not a high schooler, I’m a bellydancer.
As usual, there was a token drunk lady running around. She danced by herself between our sets of dances. She was pretty into it. Unfortunately she didn’t do anything hilarious like the last drunk lady who poured a drink on her head and then went and barfed on the huge glass windows of the super expensive restaurant next door, but drunk dancing is pretty good anyway. She tried to dance with Nicole during one song and was promptly escorted off the stage by a waitress. I must say, though- apart from whoever the drunk lady is on any particular night, Tantra is a pretty classy place.
My friends and I have a tentative plan to have an art show this fall featuring belly dance art and the local troupes. It will mainly be a collection of our own work- but we will probably also have a call for entries as well. So if anyone has any belly dance art or ideas, start getting them together 
Back Home
Well, it certainly has been an ordeal to come back home and find the AC is completely broken. Thank God for window AC units! I couldn’t get anything done for several days due to the unbearable Savannah summer heat, but I gave in and bought one, because its going to take a long time for the central air to be repaired. Its expensive.
- Radiating Glory and Emitting Cool Air
On a happier, more adorable note, I have brought this fuzzy thing home with me:
- Meet Figwit
Figwit is my cat from Atlanta. She is very small and adorable and has the sharpest little claws that she never seems to retract. We rescued her out of a tree in 2002 on Christmas day- She was so high up, poor thing, that she couldn’t get down and we couldn’t get her either so we tied a rope to a tennis ball, threw it over a branch, and hoisted a basket up to her filled with catnip and tuna. After much hesitation she jumped in and was lowered down to safety, and she has been my favorite ever since. My parents have been begging me to take her home with me for years and I finally did!
My roomie’s cat, Lucius, escaped one day and after a long rescue mission he was covered in mud, tuna, and possibly fleas so she gave him a bath. I took pictures because I’m a jerk. Wet cats make me giggle too much- I feel a little bad about it.
- Rinse and Repeat!
- Its over!
We dried him with a sham wow. They’re not as exciting as the informercials make them seem. Wet cats, however, are very exciting.
I put the books I make up on Etsy! Check out my store! The book below is one I made for a friend.
- Double Button Hole Binding
I’ve been slack about doing art all summer, but I painted a mailbox recently for my summer camp. Here it is:
Now I’m working on some sketches for murals for the camp, fixing my portfolio up a bit and getting it printed nicely, and starting to paint with acrylics again. Soon I will have a lot more artwork to post!
Photos from the Ranch this Summer
I spent too long not blogging and taking awesome pictures, so I’m going to post the pictures and let them speak for themselves. Enjoy!
Valley View Banquet Invocation
I wrote this for my camp’s Banquet, which happens at the end of each session. Its kind of the last hurrah for the campers, and the last night of fun before saying goodbye. A counselor or staff member is always asked to do the invocation, and this was my first chance to do it- after being on the ranch for 13 years. It may not mean much to anyone who has never been to the ranch, but I hope this speaks to anyone who reads it- I think most people have been to a place that they feel similarly about. <3
I remember the first time I was alone here at camp on a session break years ago- I think I was fourteen. As I wandered around the empty camp, I was profoundly unnerved by how quiet it was without the laughter and noise of the campers and counselors. There was something there, in the quiet, that I couldn’t quite put my finger on- but it intrigued me. It took me a while to realize what was there- what was left when the company of friends and the riding lessons were all gone, and I was left only with myself and the land. There is a profound peace that lies quietly beneath everything on this ranch.
Stop and look around every now and then, and listen when the ranch is quiet. Believe in the peace and you will find it, and it will become a part of you. The peace has followed me home for many years now and I often hear it echoing in the hoofbeats of my carriage horses as they walk through loud, busy city streets. When we head back to the barn at night and the streets are dark, empty and quiet, I find myself singing camp songs to my horses and the gripes of city life leave me. And there is peace because I am, in my mind, back in these vast green fields once again.
Where there is peace, there is no room for hate or fear- only for love and trust. As we leave this place, we step back out into a world where conflict and wars have made themselves far too well known and peace is a quiet voice that many people choose not to hear. Take the peace home with you, and let it grow. It will take root and spread to everyone around you. If peace can prevail here, there is no reason why it can’t in the rest of the world.
As you leave, take everything good that you’ve learned with you. And though we will miss this place, smile- because that means that a part of Valley View exists within you and wherever the roads may lead you from here, know that someday… The mountain will call you back again.
