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Well, that was the best way to attract readers who might be interested in sword, women in martial arts, etc. And all three practiced Aikido.
Add one more, whom I admire greatly, even though I spoke with her only a few words to thank her after seminars at Ray Farinato's dojo here in Stamford. She is Lorraine DiAnne and is well known here on the East Coast. I hope she is my friend! The smile seemed to say so! Often among friends words can be few, but with the other three, there have been many words indeed. I think I will write more about Lorraine in a later blog entry, but for now, I will go back in time for those who enjoy "my memories, as they refer to them...."
The first is Cassandra, one of my senpais at New York Aikikai, starting in the late sixties. She had been an artist, maybe a sculptor before we met her, I and my other friends.... and after she stopped training many years later (pains in feet and hands, maybe arthritis, I hope she's okay now) she took up Japanese paper flower making. What a dedicated art form, the paper is a bit like crepe paper, but stronger, and miniature trees are also made by wrapping , well it is beautiful and I would say indescribable.
Of the many arts she studied, including Japanese classical dance, she practiced kendo, and also iaido at the American Buddhist Academy which also had judo, probably karate and maybe even naginata for a while, on Riverside Drive on the upper west side of Manhattan. In whatever we were discussing
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05-27-2012 08:50 AM 
