tsukikage

Went to Obon at Como Park with my friend Katie today. It was fun, but I didn't get to do as much as I wanted to do, partly because Katie got pretty pooped and we went home at about 6:45. One of the coolest things was visiting the tea house, but we didn't actually get to go in. Of course, I'm not sure I would have been entirely satisfied unless I actually got to experience a ceremony in there. The other thing that was disappointing was that I never got to do kingyo sukui (scooping up goldfish), since the first time I stopped by I couldn't figure out where the line was, and I thought I'd come back when it was less busy, and the second time all the goldfish were gone and they were doing beanbag toss. I also really would have loved to buy and wear a yukata, but, well, after my trip to Half-Price books to raise some funds (got $28), I really didn't have enough. I did get iced mugicha (which tasted a bit sweet, which I didn't like) from the Tea Source stand for $2; zaru soba, anman, and bottled ocha for $10, and then later some matcha and chocolate roll cake for $2. (Admission to the event was $5.) I was kind of sad to miss the lantern lighting, but, you know, I got to attend Obon in Nagasaki last year, so I'm not really going to complain. I did run into that guy I met when I saw the Bleach movie with

aikachi, one student from the Mori no Ike village weekend, and

akaneko and

cendalire (although I was pretty confident I'd run into those two at some point).
What really has me happy is that I might be on a lead for Urasenke lessons in the Twin Cities. Apparently the Chado Urasenke Tankokai Minnesota Dokokai (Yukimakai), which when reading the pamphlet I thought only consisted of "four meetings/activities per year", also has some members who do bi-weekly practice. Needless to say I'll be looking into that.

[EDIT: I just called the person who runs the lessons, and they're once a month with the next lesson on September 20th. Beginner lessons are $15/session, and later on $20/session. I'll be going in on the 20th to observe. Whee!]

[EDIT 2: I really need to get around to finishing the summer MAS shows.]