Sunday Sesh

We spent this Sunday afternoon at the park.  My work threw a barbecue by the river, at Kangaroo Point, under the Story Bridge.  Callum loved the jumping castle and spent almost all his time in it, with only a few breaks for drinks and food.  Anya's favorite part was the pile of hula hoops, balls and frisbees.  We had a great time throwing the balls to each other -- she was especially good at throwing the nerf vortex (a whistling football with tailfins).

At one point, Callum said, "Can I do that? Can I do that?" and pointed in what seemed a really random direction until I realised that he was pointing out one of my coworkers spraying colour on a girl's hair.  So we went over and sprayed gold on Callum's head.  Then we sprayed silver glitter on Anya's hair, and red streaks in my hair.  (It felt weird, but I thought it actually looked really good.)  Our car's interior is still glittery, and I suspect it will be so for quite some time.

About Time

I’ve been untrue.  To myself, that is.

All my life I’ve been a writer, reader and artist, and lately I have been none of those things.  Why?  I’ve been knitting.  It’s not like I think that knitting is so much more fabulous than writing, reading or drawing.  It’s just that the knitting grows slowly, too slowly to finish in an afternoon, but just fast enough that I can see how it’s going to be so much bigger in just a few more days.  I think, “If I just do two more rows right now...” and the next thing I know, it’s way past when I should have gone to bed.

Anyway, that's my attempt to explain the lack of blogging.  The other reason, of course, is my new (-ish) job with longer days and more intense involvement.  When I’m not knitting, I seem to spend a lot of my spare time thinking about work or doing stuff around the edges to try to keep the work on track.  I guess that’s one benefit of knitting.  It’s something completely different to be thinking about and concentrating on.

A friend taught me to knit and crochet last October.  I started simply, with a couple of scarves (I didn’t mean to make two, but each child claimed one), then progressed to a small pair of pants for a six month old (my first experience of shaping a garment),and most recently I completed a baby blanket with a lace pattern (my first experience with cabling, too) which took over three months of my spare time.  Now I’m finally making something for myself, the “Sideways Top” (Jo Sharp, Saturday).

Other than that, this weekend I went rollerblading -- with the rest of the family on bikes – David gave me some new blades for my birthday, as my old ones shattered when I put them on a month ago.  I’ve only had them since about 1990, so I guess it’s fair enough.  Rollerblading is just about the right speed to keep up with the kids and a huge improvement over running.  I am just not a runner.  All that foot impact and wobbling bits just feel wrong to me.

We also attended a massage course.  I’m still sore!  Not from receiving, from giving.  It is hard work giving a massage.  I went first, and was practicing on David for about two and a half hours.  By the end of it, I was starting to feel overheated.  After lunch it was my turn to lie on the table, and I passed out in the middle of it.  We have a massage table at home, so I’m looking forward to many practice sessions.  (No doubt, so are all our friends and family...)

David's birthday weekend

David's birthday was this weekend.  I think he had a good time. 

Acrobalance

Yesterday, I learned to do this:

Someday, I dream that I'll be able to do this:

The Ultimate Abs Workout

So forget your Wii Fit Plus; forget your pilates devotions; forget your fit ball. THIS IS IT: hula hoops. After doing this for just 20 minutes in circus class tonight, I swear I can feel washboard ridges forming already.

Two Days in the Sun

To everyone living on the "top side" of the globe: yes, it is glorious summer here! Example: this weekend. Saturday was spent hanging about (literally) at Kangaroo Point, where locals like to rock climb, bike and rollerblade. We managed to do two out of three, and also fit in a barbecue breakfast with friends, as they had organised a 40th birthday celebration. I haven't been up a cliff face in over a year, so it was a slightly nerve-tingling experience. It was also a bit hard to concentrate, as Callum wailed like a banshee the whole time that I was aloft -- he didn't like my going up there! David had a turn as well, and could be heard commenting several times, "I might fall on this bit..." I told his belayer, "Don't worry, he says that all the time."

Anya achieved a personal best, riding her bicycle (with training wheels) along the bike path, making it her first real bike ride -- previous efforts have been cut extremely short with her hopping off her bike after just a few pedal pushes. Callum, meanwhile, tried out his scooter, but has only ever pushed it across the kitchen before, so he soon decided walking was more effective. We were all pretty red-faced after the very hot morning out, and had to cool off with chilled water baths at home.

Sunday was spent over at our in-laws, who have a pool and air-conditioning. Bliss! We had a mid-morning swim, and a big family lunch, then just as I was reluctantly concluding that we ought to head home, I got the brilliant idea of asking permission to stay. Callum had his afternoon nap on the big queen bed, and Anya jumped back into the pool for a second round of swimming. She was in heaven, especially because her cousins and a house guest (3 young teenaged girls + 1 ten-yr-old boy) played with her all day. It is really wonderful to see how confident she is in the water nowadays.

David and I, being the OLDIES we now are, each fell asleep at some point briefly in the afternoon, but that, too, was all to the good.

Circus Stuff

I can do an Amazon, Mermaid, Monkey Roll, Gazelle and Shoulder Stand, among other things. Don't know what I'm talking about? Check out my latest obsession at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaguarish/tags/circa/

You can also check out the training centre at:
http://www.rocknrollcircus.com/

Suffering for Art

I enrolled in circus classes through Circa a few weeks ago: "Conditioning" on Monday evenings and "Beginner Aerials" on Wednesday evenings. (Thanks, David, for singly shouldering the evening duties!) The Conditioning class has been truly the toughest and most challenging class I have ever done, and I don't just mean in a boot camp sort of way. To impart acrobatic fitness, the class includes a lot of flexibility moves combined with strength -- like Pilates on steroids. I was really worried that I would get injured in the "warm-up" part of the class, which involves first running up and down four flights of stairs, then hopping up them on one leg.

Instead, I got injured in the kind, gentle Wednesday class! Normally they just get us to play a game that will warm us up, such as throwing around a fitness ball. Last week, the instructors swung a long rope while the students skipped in and out of it, initially hopping three times before moving off, then twice, then once, then graduating to other more challenging moves such as crossing over in front of each other, tumbling into the skipping area, cartwheeling out, and so on.

I, however, did none of these things. I couldn't get the hang of simply running in and starting to jump, and the rope would stop dead on me every time. After several rounds, the instructors gave me the advice that I needed to start jumping immediately when I walked into the skipping spot. On my next try, I ran eagerly in, all set to jump on cue, and... rolled my ankle.

I spent the next fifteen minutes watching everyone else get more and more proficient at skipping while icing and elevating my ankle. It didn't feel that bad and looked OK (the ice was doing a great job), so I decided to stay for the actual aerials training. To my horror, the next morning I was in excrutiating pain. Had I made a foolish decision and exercised a broken ankle?

David stayed home and shepherded me to the doctor, the x-ray clinic, and the doctor again (amazingly this took almost all day). Anya tagged along and loved shopping and lunching with David while they waited for me. Callum stayed home with his grandma (it being a "grandma day" anyway). Luckily it turned out that my ankle was not broken, which was a huge relief.

Today I am back to class for more aerials, but I've dropped out of conditioning for the rest of the term - still can't walk at normal speed, much less run and hop up the stairs!