While the picture above is of the Fox Coffee House in Wrigley (where I was when I started this post yesterday), I am now in Steelhead Coffee over in California Heights. Have already met and networked with Kate from Fix Long Beach, an agency that provides free spaying and neutering to low income residents of Long Beach (a very timely meeting as Ramona’s dog Grace is currently in heat), Shoshanah from Sugar Mama Sweets, and Katie from Galileo Innovation Summer Camps. One of the biggest barriers in the way of my getting any blog entries out is the fact that I so easily get involved in conversations!

Now about that update. Nothing much new on the triceps front. Still not cleared to do any kind of physical therapy, but I have been doing yoga minus the down dogs and chaturangas, and as of this week I have added in an extended plank into my morning practice. Currently at a minute and a half, and plan on staying there for a while.

The feet have made some real progress. I have been working for a year now trying to transform my gait from the pirate’s waddle that it had degenerated to into something more much more parallel and straight ahead, and that is coming along well. My right foot is now mostly okay with the new burdens that have been placed on it, although the first metatarsal seems to still be prone to complaints.

I have been doing barre work, hill work, and walking in the sand to strengthen them and getting some good results. The pictures are the imprints of my feet from my last sand walking, and I think that they look pretty good for someone whose podiatrist had written them off as hopelessly flat some years ago.

I have also been taking a ballet class from Carri Burbank Glen at Elevation Studios on Saturday mornings. The first two classes after the break were positively torturous on my feet, and I was hobbling out of class by the end. This past Saturday, however, my feet finally got sufficiently warmed up and ready to work like feet again. I was glissading and echape’ing and saute’ing across the floor with alacrity, and my pas de chats were positively catlike! Felt real good! I’m thinking that with my improved stability and movement that I may take up slacklining next.

Final bows at the Boobie Trap

On the fun and recreation side, I have been frequenting events involving local performers. Most notably the Fox Coffee House open mics on Thursdays and Saturdays, and the monthly Speak it Easy:Creative Food for the Soul event. Did meet up with Kerry Winston Ward, the Fabulous Morgans (Gary and Bonnie), and Jack and Jeri Kalvan a couple of weeks ago for Scot Nery’s Boobie Trap, an event that I really do want to do a full blog post on at some point in the near future. My latest escapade was a trip to Long Beach Live, another entertainment potpourri that has been added to the spectrum of local events as of last month and is currently housed at the Mirage Cafe in Bixby Knolls. I am including a link to video that I shot there. It includes segments from the notable performances by spoken word poet Tiffany Dawn Hasse, singer Deja Nichole (a favorite of mine!), and comedian Wyatt Cote.