My Blog

thoughts while I drive a 1000 miles

Jennifaerie — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:36:29 GMT

For us, driving a 1000 miles all at once is a common occurrence. These are some of my thoughts on over development of land. Since we travel basically the same routes each year it gives us an opportunity to notice the changes. We get to see it all at once. All the chain stores, housing developments,malls and defunct farms for sale. It's so drastic in some areas. I see it with eyes removed from the trickle of daily life. In some places it's hard to find anything but a chain restaurant. I've also noticed that the more over-developed a place is, the more we get strange looks. We do roll around in a 26 foot green bus that says Nevada Division of Forestry Fire Crew on it, but there is a difference between people who are amused by us and smile and those who stare with a shocked, "oh my", kind of look. Those looks of fear of something different are most often found we get to areas that are more "normalized." One attendant at a rural gas station we pulled into at 3am took a look at us and said, "You're not on vacation, (thinks for a second)...you're on tour right?" I told him he was right. He definitely smiled when he saw little ol' me get behind the wheel and drive the bus away. Now that I think about it, there are way more smiles than strange looks of fear. We must be going to the right places.

all on my own

Jennifaerie — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:21:32 GMT

What does a mama do with a week all to herself?? PLAY! Last week Michael and Ayden were away at a music festival, so I chilled at the NY Ren Fair and made a resolution that I would take my poi with me everywhere I went. Everywhere. It was great, I learned a bunch of new stuff and had lots of fun with it. Ohhh, the harmonic zen of play! Wed. night we had a drum jam and a friend had a hoop and well, that was fun too. Most challenging thing I'm playing with right now: hooping and sphereplaying. It works great until I drop the sphere because there really is no way to get it and keep the hoop going. Very fun... of course, I was really happy to see my family again when we met up in Danbury, CT. Ayden and I spent the day playing and playing and playing. Imagination games and cookie baking and art projects. Hide and Seek and Red Light, Green Light. There are limitless possibilities when playing with a 4 year old (at least our 4 yr old), it sets a great example for living life with a open heart.

SphereCamp East 2007

Jennifaerie — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 04:28:09 GMT

Here is our announcement of SphereCamp East 2007. Finally! Welcome to another exciting SphereCamp! SphereCamp is an opportunity to meet, learn, share and play with other sphereplayers and manipulation artists in a really relaxed, creative and playful way. It is a group directed experience. Contribute what you can and learn from others. Beginners, experts and anyone in between will leave with new experiences, new skills and new friends. TryOut Toys will provide spheres and other toys for playshops, so you can play even if you have no toys of your own. We hope you will join the fun as we endeavor to “think less” and “play more”! The circus is coming this year! We are very excited to have the energetic and creative performers of O’Circus contribute their manipulation and circus skills expertise to SphereCamp. It is sure to be an exciting adventure as they facilitate several playshops on Friday and until 2:00 pm on Saturday. When: June 22 – 24, 2007 Where: Tarrywile Park and Mansion 70 Southern Blvd. Danbury, Connecticut 06810 www.danbury.org/tarry/ Airports (all within 60 miles) Bradley- Hartford, CT Stewart - Newburgh, NY LaGuardia - Queens, NY Train Station (a 5 minute car ride from the Park) From Grand Central, NYC take the Metro North Line to Danbury. You will likely have to transfer in Stamford, CT. Let us know and we’ll pick you up in Danbury. Our number is (603) 996-1047. Car Directions can be found on www.danbury.org/tarry/ Playshops Let’s have Playshops instead of workshops and leave that 4 letter word at home! All Playshops are 45 minutes long with a 15 minute break before the next. Each Playshop will have a facilitator whose role is to keep things focused and allow it to be a group experience where everyone can contribute. Here is the flow of the playshops for the weekend. Of course, since it is SphereCamp, the focus is on Sphereplay. This year we thought we’d add in skills that can compliment and enhance Sphereplaying. On Friday we will have some body movement and awareness. Saturday we will add some skill toys/circus skills. Sunday we will explore combinations of Sphereplay and everything else. An example is Contact Improv on Friday, then lots of Sphereplay on Saturday, then a Sphereplay Contact Improv on Sunday. Schedule of Events June 21 (Thursday) Early bird camping starts at 7:00 pm. June 22 (Friday) Registration opens 9:00 am 10:00 – 12:00 Arrive, Relax and Play 12:00 – 12:45 Playshop 1 Contact Improv – O’Circus 1:00-1:45 Playshop 2 SpherePlay for Anyone - One Sphere - Jennifaerie 2:00 – 2:45 Playshop 3 Acrobalance – O’Circus 2:45- 5:15 Open Play/Sphere Games /Lunch Break 5:15 – 6:00 Playshop 4 Belly Dance – Olivia Hand Health & Two Spheres – Michael Glenn 6:15 – 7:00 Playshop 5 Advanced One Sphere – Andyman Beginning & Advanced Poi – Jennifaerie & Friends 7:00 Pizza Dinner 9:00ish Movie – “In Isolation” June 23 (Saturday) Registration opens 9:00 am 9:30- 10:15 Playshop 6 SpherePlay for Anyone - One Sphere – Michael Glenn Body Movement Awareness- Adam Dipert (O’Circus) 10:30 – 11:15 Playshop 7 Sphere Isolations - Erny Intro to Mime – O’Circus Beginning & Advanced Poi – Jennifaerie & Friends 11:30 – 12:15 Playshop 8 ` MultiSphere 2- 4 spheres- Ewok Hula Hoop with Olivia Juggling – O’Circus 12:15- 2:00 Open Play/Lunch Break 2:00 – 2:45 Playshop 9 Advanced One Sphere – Michael Glenn Juggling Sticks – Alien Jon 3:00-3:45 Playshop 10 Sphere Passing – Michael Glenn & Jennifaerie Diabolo for Anyone – Eric Girardi 4:00 – 5:30 Talent Showcase 5:30 – 5:45 Raffle 5:45 – 9:00 Group Games/Open Play/Dinner Break 9:00 ‘til late Campfire & Music Fun June 24 (Sunday) Registration opens 9:00 am 9:45 – 10:45 Playshop 11 Meditation & Intro to Internal Arts –Rev. Ocean-of-Wisdom 11:00-11:45 Playshop 12 Sphereplay Surprise - Alien “anti-spin” Jon 12:00-12:45 Sphere Machine Group Game 12:45 - 1:30 Playshop 13 Sphereplay Contact Improv – TBA MultiSphere 5 - 8 spheres - Andyman 1:30 -3:15 Open Play/Lunch Break 3:15-4:00 Playshop 14 Sphere & Staff – Michael Glenn 4:00-5:00 Open play/Group Games 5:00 Thanks and Happy Travels Home! Sleeping, Eating and other info Eventually, after all this playing, we will all need to get some sleep. There are a couple options here. Camping • Bring a tent and camp under the stars. Camping is in a nice, grassy field. • Your registration fee includes camping starting at 7:00 pm the night before. So if you arrive after 7:00 pm on Friday, you would only pay for Saturday (and Sunday too if you stay). • It is primitive camping, so there are no showers at the park and we’ll be visiting the privy (aka porta-john) after 10:00 pm when the building closes. Hotels • There are at least 10 hotels within a 10 minute drive from the park. Our search at www.mapquest.com for hotels near the 06810 zip code yielded many results. Food Ahhhh, yummy food…. Learning from our past SphereCamp, we realized that food preferences vary a lot from person to person. We also realized that if we keep it simpler on our end, the happier you would be with the food choices. Please bring what you like to eat or join us for a food buy in. At SphereCamp TX last year we decided as a group what type of food we wanted (sandwiches, pizza, Chinese, Middle Eastern, etc) and had a group buy in. Generally it averaged at about $5 or $6 a meal. Please bring whatever you need to keep energized and hydrated. We will have a grill available for everyone to use. The more stuff we all bring to share, the more it will be like a big picnic party. Here is what we will provide: Saturday Campfire Smores Fresh Fruit Peanut butter & Jelly Water Coffee There will also be menus from nearby restaurants available in case you want some one else to do the cooking. Weather A rain day at camp just means we’ll play under tents. A really hot day means we’ll just play under tents. Either way, we’ve got you covered. Fun Stuff Friday Night Movies - We will show the newest manipulation DVD, “In Isolation.” See and be amazed by a dozen European performers doing amazing and inspiring routines. Talent Showcase – There is some amazing talent among us, let’s share it! Everyone at SphereCamp is invited to contribute. Performances will be limited to up to 5 minutes and a total of 15 slots are available on a first come/first serve basis. All talents are welcomed and encouraged, if fact, having other routines besides a Sphereplay routine would be great for diversity. Please email us if you’re really interested. Camp Fire – A campfire is all we need for inspiration to play with our fire toys. Drumming, smores and maybe some good sphere stories. SphereGames – It wouldn’t be camp without some goofy group games! We’ve thought of some team games and individual player games. Competitive or cooperative, let’s get creative. Give us a shout if you have an idea for a good sphere game. Here’s a sampling: Pyramid Races Pyramid Obstacle Course SphereMachine Balancing Races Balancing Lots of Spheres Things to Bring SPHERES Toys Sunblock Bug repellent Water to drink and wash Cooler (no alcohol please) Food to enjoy & share Drums/Musical Instruments Sleeping Bag & Pillow Chair or Ground Blanket Big Smiles and finally….Cost It’s simple, just show up and register at SphereCamp. Student: $20.00 per day (college students please bring school i.d.) Participant: $25.00 per day Observer (parents/partners): $10.00 per day Saturday Night Talent Show Only: $5.00 Kids 7 & under FREE! Thanks and we’ll see you at SphereCamp 2007! Playfully yours, Jennifaerie & Michael Glenn Sauvageau play@tryouttoys.com 603-996-1047

dislocation and relocation

Jennifaerie — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 22:54:39 GMT

First my shoulder was dislocated. Then relocated, then dislocated, then relocated and then one more round of relocating it back into the socket. I am now aware of how incredibly painful a dislocated shoulder is. It also has prevented me from sphereplaying for 3 weeks now,but I think in one more week I'll be able to play again. I did a tiny bit of sphereplaying and poi spinning yesterday and it didn't hurt too much. We are now at the Scarborough Renaissance Faire outside of Dallas, TX. It's been cold and on the first weekend it even snowed for the first time in about 25 years. That was quite a sight to see. Our 3 1/2 year old son, Ayden, started going to school for 3 hours a day 2 to 3 times a week and that is super exciting. There is school at the fair that is Montessori - based and he loves it. We love it too. Now I know how parents get things like work (and a little play) done. We are really into the homeschooling thing, but it's nice to have the away school too. Speaking of Ayden, guess who just got home....

my first blog. awwwww....

Jennifaerie — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 23:30:23 GMT

It's really all about love and play. It seems that the more I play, the more I love and the more I love, the more I play. If you are holding back, then you are refusing to love. That's no fun. And if you're not having fun, then what fun is it? Right now I'm loving and playing in Arizona. In two weeks it will be Texas. After that, the Northeast. Every once in a while I have doubts about our travelling gypsy life. Then all I have to do is look around and I'm thankful all over again. hmmmm, I think this blog thing could be fun....