As we settle now to a more normal pace of life we're finding some snippets of time to catch up. Here are some photos from our spring Ohanami Cherry Blossom Viewing Tea Ceremony and Taiko demonstration.
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| Tea ceremony demonstration in the lobby of the historic Vance Hotel,Old Town, Eureka. |
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| Origami crane "adoption" table, with Johnson Tilghman and D'har. Gary Thawatchai Ronne begins his taiko performance. |
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| A curious onlooker watches Gary Thawatchai Ronne as he demonstrates taiko. |
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| One of Gary Thawatchai Ronne's taiko drums, made of a wine barrel. |
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| Detail of one of Gary's drums. |
The skies threatened to rain on us, so we held our demonstration indoors at the then-vacant Vance Hotel lobby. The Eureka-Kamisu Sister City Association benefitted from our "Adopt A Crane for Kamisu" campaign and we shared cha-no-yu with about 45 people. Taiko performances by Gary Thawatchai Ronne were a special treat.
Many thanks go out Gary and his lovely family for adding the new dimension of taiko to our demonstration; to Johnson Tighlman and the students of Eureka High School who are working to re-boot the Eureka-Kamisu Sister City exchange student program; to our friends (both old and new!) who support our efforts to share tea in Humboldt County; and especially to our "Tea(m) Horai" volunteers without whose help we could not offer these demonstrations.
And yes, the cherry trees were lovely! More photos are on our Facebook page.
