Juggling Snowballs

Today I got to juggle snow balls for the first time. Even with leather gloves on, it was easy. The snow    was fluffy and packed well into balls. I don't think I even dropped any. This is the first time since I learned how to juggle in 1977 that I've lived somewhere that had snow.

Juggling At the Arroyo

I lucked out and took some interesting self-portraits of four ball juggling at the Pasadena Arroyo at the archery workshop before it got crowded. I had my juggling bag sitting on a picnic table and then I nested the camera facing up towards the juggling pattern.

kiss

Robert Nelson RIP

Back in the 80's when my boyfriend and I were obsessed with juggling, one of the must see jugglers was Robert Nelson (aka Butterfly Man).  He was a fixture in the San Francisco street performers circles.  I knew of him from that and also from his work as MC with the International Juggler's Assoc.  Did he ever know me by name? Probably not. But I was sad to hear that he'd just passed on. So I give a silent 5 ball reverse cascade for you Robert Nelson.  I just found out he had a Facebook page. I wish I'd known earlier.

Still juggling after all these years.

Juggling Practice

Practicing four beanbags.

It was so sunny and nice outside that I decided to juggle.  But I wasn't feeling that great. The grass was wet; the neighbors let their dogs poop all over it, and the sun was so bright. In short, I have to be comfortable to juggle, and I wasn't. I asked my boyfriend to take some photos. Most of them I hated but here are 2. The problem with the juggling photos is my body is in them, and I just feel lumpy. I just wasn't happy in my own skin today.

Getting Ready For World Juggling Day 2010

Getting ready for World Juggling Day on June 19, 2010 with some deadly and dangerous teddy bear juggling.

Why juggle? It makes me feel joyful.  It relieves stress.  It makes me feel young again. It fulfills my circus fantasies. It makes me money. It's more interesting exercise than a lot of things. I get to play with toys. People laugh. I get to follow my bliss. People remember me. It fights against gender and age stereotypes. It helps me feel like I'm in show biz. I get labeled talented a lot. It improves my balance. It gets me out of the house. It's fun.

Juggling in the Dark

I did a little club juggling tonight. I wanted to see if I could juggle clubs in the dark and then have a flash go off and keep juggling. Boy was that tricky. Of course I wasn't thrilled to be getting so fat, but what can I say, I'm juggling at least.