Welcome to a World of Spiritual Harmony

I got home on Monday afternoon to find an autographed copy of the brand-new Puff the Magic Dragon propped up against the door. A nearly-all green cover really made it pop out and be seen.

I was surprised and happy - or maybe not too surprised. A good friend is another lover of fairy tales, and had talked about going to Joseph-Beth to buy the Peter Yarrow version (complete with CD of Puff and other folk songs).

Puff looks just the way I always knew he did - energetic and beautiful. And Jackie Paper jumps, bounces and is bowed to by noble kings and princes. The sad ending of Puff slipping into his cave here finds the friend-needing dragon discovering a small girl peeking around a rock, with a grown-up Jackie looking on from a discreet distance.

Much Better! All is well in Honalee!

I woke up somewhere between 3:30 and 4 this morning, eager to see the bright full moon as it began its journey into eclipse. Sure enough, the brightness was receding, from the top down - it was looking about 2/3 of its normal size, and squished. So I went back to sleep, expecting to wake up in an hour or see and see the burnt orange I’d observed in previous eclipses.

I reckoned without the fact that I live in Tree Central. I had marked the position in my mind, and have followed the trajectory for many years now in this place where I live. And the moon was evidently in the deepest part of the leaves and not visible at all from my vantage point.

I walked around the yard, on high ground and low, looked out of every window in the house. It amazes me how different the moon’s position will appear to be, depending on my earth bound position. Nothing availed.

So I replayed in my mind the entire night I had spent watching an eclipse several years ago in the Hocking Hills, on a winter’s night where trees were irrelevant to viewing.

That was an eclipse to remember!

I’m going to blog the tennis tournament backwards - I’m starting with what happened after Roger Federer won the final.

During the trophy presentations, Federer was gracious and interesting, as always. At one point, he and James Blake were sharing a chuckle as they waited on the ceremonies to begin. Afterwards, with all the ritual accomplished, I expected Federer to do what all champions do - sign some autographs, shake a few hands and move on to the showers.

So my friend and I took a walk around the stadium, rather than rushing out to the traffic jam in the parking lot. We got our last lemonades, and made our last promenade. As we came around between Center Court and the Grandstand, we noticed a crowd still inside - a good 30 minutes after the presentations were over. There was Roger still signing autographs! He signed the inside of a purse, the bill of a hat, a lot of those big yellow tennis balls made just for signing.

He moved to our side of the court and signed more paper and clothing. Then he gave the pen to someone, picked up his bag and started to leave. On the far side of the court, several people unrolled a Swiss flag, so he walked over to them, and ended up autographing more stuff.

He then started down the tunnel, where even more folk - kids and adults - were waiting. I was astonished, recognizing his humility and humanity.

Imagine my surprise at dinner this evening when I learned from a friend that after that 45 minute session, which for most winners would have been 5 minutes at best, Roger gave three different press interviews in three different languages.

What a Champion!

My friend Cindi Andrews commented on one of my tennis blog entries - I liked her take on her tennis experiences, so here’s her comment for you:

Hey, Pat! Got your email and was curious to see who you liked in tennis. I’m a casual fan of tennis generally but just love seeing it live in Mason.

I was there once right after Andre and Brooke Shields had split up and I happened to walk past a door the players used just as he walked out and he was immediately swarmed by obnoxious kids yelling “How’s Brooke,” etc., and I gained instant appreciation for the crap famous people have to endure.

And then another time, I was watching an evening game with a friend early in the week — not many spectators — and we were in the front row and my friend reacted to a shot, and Todd Martin paused between plays, looked at us and said, “That was a good thing.” It truly is amazing that you can see such world-class talent up close and personal in Warren County, of all places.

My favorite these days is James Blake, followed by Rafael Nadal. James is such an inspirational story, and the smoldering Spaniard is the only true competition for Federer.

Anyway, have fun! I may try for a spur-of-the-moment trip up one morning.

From Pat: And note, everyone - it is as easy as that - a spur of the moment decision - so Just Do It!

Roger Federer is definitely the best in the world and has been been for the last three years. He is likely the GOAT - the Greatest of All Time.

Graceful and powerful, always perfectly balanced, instinctive and always thinking, growing his tennis skills and growing as a human being. Roger is well-liked by the other players on the tour - amazing when you realize that he is vacuuming up almost all the Grand Slam, Masters and every day titles around.

He is always kind and supportive of other players. And journalists are always amazed at how easily accessible he is - no 2 months’ wait and then canceling at the last minute from Roger.

Every now and then, Rafael Nadal gets to win a title, mostly on clay. Roger is the best player on every surface on the planet - except - he is only second best on clay. At the moment. We’ll see next spring in Paris.

A record of some sort is broken now almost every time Roger steps on court. He’s been Number 1 consecutively longer than any other, will soon be just plain Number 1 longer, has several winning streak records on several surfaces. Tennis is full of records, both obscure and obvious - Roger is breaking them all routinely.

It is pure pleasure to watch him play - you should come out to watch him this week at the only Master’s Series tournament in the entire midwest - the Western & Southern. He has a first round bye, so likely won’t play until Wednesday. I will definitely be on hand when he does. See you there!

The subtitle of this wonderful book by Jason Elliot is Journeys in Iran. He is a young Brit much traveled in the Middle and Near East, and a fluent speaker of many languages in the area.

His first book, one of the best travel narratives I’ve ever read, is An Unexpected Light - telling us about his travels in Afghanistan just on the heels of the departing Russians and as the Taliban were emerging. Reading it, I fell in love with the Afghani people, quirks and all, for their hospitality, creative poverty, curiousity. And the country, the land itself, felt part of me.

So I looked much forward to this book and really enjoyed getting to know every day Iranians, not the newsmakers, but those living their lives, caring for their families. And getting to know the fabulous mosques, market places, ancient ruins - like Persepolis - that I had read about in other travel books.

Jason did not let me down, and even came up with a theory for Islamic art that made sense, rather than the usual it’s-all-decorative discussions. And his interweaving of ancient history and today is once again masterful.

Iran, as everywhere, is full of quirky people, making their own culture while living inside a set of rules they know how to avoid. If you want to know more than the evening news will tell you, read this latest Elliot book. You’ll be glad you did!

My favorite American male tennis player won his 23rd singles tournament yesterday in Washington, DC. Andy Roddick’s mighty serve defeated the serve of upstart American player John Isner, who just joined the ATP tour in May, after finishing college - which by the way, is almost unheard of in tennis.

Andy is a big guy, and carries himself with all that cocky assurance that is so American. Andy is also smart, with a wry and self-deprecating sense of humor - and a great gift for both satire and imitation. There’s a great YouTube clip of him becoming Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe - and even his new coach, Jimmy Connors.

A generous human, Andy started a foundation early in his career, now run by his mother. He gives time and energy to that and many other charitable activities.

He is a player who is generous in defeat and in victory. He’s also always learning, trying new strokes, beginning to come to the net, willing to look at the game from fresh perspectives.

He is the third best tennis player on the planet at this time. Without Roger Federer, he would have 5 or 6 Grand Slam titles - he’s a natural on grass, and so would have 2 or 3 Wimbledon’s. He already has one US Open title, and would certainly have collected another by now, plus at least one Australian.

My favorite memory is his win last year (2006) in Cincinnati - I was there, of course - it was a hard fought match under steamy conditions and it didn’t look like he was going to win a lot of the way.

He dropped to the court, gave it a kiss, and then got up and high-fived as many fans as he could reach as he jogged around the perimeter.

A class act, an outgoing and generous guy - I’m looking forward to seeing Andy at this year’s tournament - he says it’s one of his favorites.

Andre Agassi was my first tennis favorite. I was at a friend’s house and wandered into the living room where the television was on - this long blond haired 17 year old kid was so graceful and beautiful and perfect at his sport. Just hit the ball at the right instant with an easy swing - instinctive, one with the ball. A long low forehand that touched the line as it sailed out of reach.

That he turned out to have a unique turn of mind and phrase and life, that he was willing to share it all with us, as he morphed into many different selves. That made it all even better.

But that initial instant of grace - reminded me so much of Mohammed Ali and Oscar Robertson, my only sports heroes to that time - so beautiful in their movement and power and mathematical elegance. No extra movement, yet nothing left undone.

Beauty.

You will love this play. You may also laugh so hard that you fall out of your seat. Or get the hiccups, which is what some folk do when they overlaugh.

Now playing at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company on Race Street, through August 12, Tuna is the story of a small town in Texas, with 2 actors playing 20 or more folk. Perfect summer fluff - and a delight on that level. The great acting, the quick costume and character changes - technically it is well designed. Excellent theatrically.

It’s also a story about human behavior, about bias and bigotry, dysfunction, anger and despair - told with a keen eye. So I laughed my way through it on Thursday - and have now spent all day Friday thinking about it.

That is a good play! Don’t miss it!

I have to write about the quote on the Tibetan calendar that hangs in my office before I turn over the July page to August.

“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck”, says the 14th Dalai Lama. I’m sure we’ve all had that feeling - perhaps when we wake up from a total infatuation that didn’t work out and realize that our friends were right after all. Or when we don’t get the job that our logic was insisting was the right one - and we didn’t give our heart a vote at all. So luck took over and made sure we ended up in the right place at the right time.

I always try to copy my friend Carolyn’s example, and claim everything that happens as a blessing - whether I think it’s good or bad at the time, I affirm that it came to bless me.

It works for Carolyn, it works for me - and obviously it works for the Dalai Lama.