CVO Art & Dance Therapy

Well before I get to the therapy part let me just say the time in the Career Closet was awesome (it's upstairs from Albin's Plumbing on 9th). It hadn't occurred to me what fun it is making outfits for people. The Soroptomists and Altrusans have nice stuff to offer, and it's a really nice space, too. Before anyone showed, Molly and I had a chance to fill each other in on our lives, and I learned the reason she has so much joy and lives big is because she is a cancer survivor.

Her daughter and son-in-law took 18 months to travel around the world and have a blog to show for it. I ckecked it out and guess what - they used flickr to post photos.

We had one client come in. Her hands were shaking and she fumbled with her words, but then our eyes met and she locked in and held. I recognized what was in those eyes, and she felt more at ease. We went straight to the item at hand. She was a size four and was going to New York compliments of Pfizer to give a speech on wellness. Apparently she's a poster child for their schizophrenia drug and lives two lives. One on disability in Oregon and the other First Class with limos in New York. (I just realized the irony in that. ...ahem!) It was fun to watch her transformation as we put together a suit for her. Black skirt, white blouse, black shoes.......but something was missing. Molly had been walking around with a black pin stripe jacket, but had put it back because the matching skirt was missing. Let's try it anyway, I said, and.... it worked. This shaky little woman suddenly stood tall and proud. She had found her power.

As if that weren't highpoint enough, the art was calling. I went down with only less than an hour of time while the artist booths were open, but that didn't stop me from visiting the wine tasting booth to learn about a winery in Philomath. They're having their big open house the weekend before Thanksgiving, which means double your pleasure for me, two weekends in a row to visit wineries! I promised her I'd see her then. Even tho the Pinot Noir wasn't great, the promise of a beautiful vineyard will get me there.
Onto the booths with a nice buzz, and there was a different draw for me. I walked right past the pottery but couldn't stay away from the photography, and photographers........This woman Denise W. Ross uses the old cameras with the slot thing and black draping - you know, the real old kind. Black and white film then she digitally colorizes each one herself and adds a musical component to her views......completely original and astounding. She calls this one hope. Pretty cool, I said send hope and there it was. I couldn't get over it. She said it's an amazing time to get into photography, the field is wide open and there are no rules. I commented on what a generous outlook that was, and she said, while it would be competition, it is more of a selfish thing because she wants the world to be full of happy, peaceful artists. Hmn.....can't argue with that.
Next it was the Balafon Marimba Ensemble's last performance and there was dancing in the streets. People of all ages - dancing in unison - it was a primal, yet most gentle, of crowds. I loved every minute of it! Veronica's clowns turned out to be her date, Bill. ha ha Most of all, I enjoyed this one kid - about 12 or 13 maybe - who came out onto a balcony. He had that awkward hesitation, then just started busting out some moves, like Steve Martin's doing the Egyptian. My friends and I tried to encourage him, echoing his every move, laughing uproariously. He turned around, stuck his butt out, and gave a nice little shake!shake!shake! then ran back inside with embarrassed glee.
Square 2 of 6 today to celebrate being done with cleaning the house, laundry and paying the bills -- in other words, being on the downward slope toward getting away!