A lot of our families were off on vacation so our July Test Event was smaller than we're used to.  The diminished attendance did not affect our test candidates excitement.  Both did an absolutely stellar job!  Congratulations to Frances Lin on her promotion to yellow belt and to Alex Spry on his promotion to green belt + one stripe.

 Enjoy the Gallery !

Posted by Skys Sensei.

I posted this gallery a while ago and forgot to link it to our news page. 

These photos were taken at the dinner party held on Friday night held at the Hotel Colorado.  Good eats, great socializing and a bit of dancing.

Posted by Skys Sensei.

Our dojo is so fortunate in having quite a number of folks who support this community with their talents and efforts.  Jason Tsuyemura is one of these wonderful supporters.  For many, many years now Jason has been chronicling our Test Events, seminars and celebrations.  He has literally spent hundreds of hours peering through his camera’s viewfinder.  Having all this experience he understands our basic techniques so well that he is able to anticipant the action, consistently capturing really wonderful moments.  After he has exhausted his right eye and trigger finger on the mat, he spends many additional hours culling and organizing the photos.  He then burns CDs and makes them available to our students on a donation basis with the proceeds going to our general fund.  Jason’s wonderful images fill many of the galleries on our website.  Each time that I finish posting a gallery, I sit back and view the slide show.  Most every time I am brought to tears by the ‘story’ being told.

Last weekend I taught a two day seminar for the teachers and students of Aikido of Modesto .  I had a really wonderful time!  Attendance was a bit light due to 'end of summer vacations' and other conflicting activities.  Yet, spirits were high and we did a lot of good training... and eating! 

Aikido of Modesto_ thank you for opening to the material that I presented... thank you for your focus and sweat... thank you for your graciousness and generosity!

On Saturday evening I got to take in some cowboy culture...