Showing posts with label Surprises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Surprises. Show all posts
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Saturday, 6 November 2010
I love snail mail...
I have had an amazing week of lovely things arriving in the post... special things. Things that I will post about (I promise) in the next few days.
Surprises.
Etsy goodness.
A book.
A favourite magazine.
Candy all the way from the States.
Tricks and treats.
And whilst I am grateful that this little guy avoided all my wonderful post, I wish he had managed to eat a few of the bills that arrived this week too!
Sunday, 22 August 2010
Finding lost friends the old fashioned way...
Weeks went by and our departure date loomed, and then, just a week before we left... (seemingly) out of the blue, we get an email from Canada! From the very people we were hoping to see!
Seems technology was not the answer, it was good old fashioned snail mail that came to the rescue... sent by silent Dave (my Dad). Without us knowing, he had penned a letter and sent it away to our last point of contact, with a request that whoever lived at the address (if it wasn't them), that the letter be forwarded to our friends! And so it was... by strangers, by friends, by family, and finally into the hands of our friends.
And the letter was scanned and sent on to children (now adults), friends were reconnected and emails and facebook finally caught up with traditional means of keeping in touch! Who would have thought!
And so. For the last few weeks, Mum and I have been trying to co-ordinate a trip to Canada. Three days ago, it was all getting a little bit crazy. Flights connecting from Boston to Toronto saw us havinbg to fly via Florida!!! Thankfully Sharon came to the rescue with some local advice and we are on the way...
And tomorrow we will be sitting with old friends and sharing a cup of tea over 30 years of memories. Not sure how it will be, but have no doubts there will be lots of laughter and probably a few tears too!
Good one Dad , you are awesome!
And full of surprises! xx
The photo is from a trip we did together over 30 years ago. I'll update that sometime in the next couple of days!
Friday, 28 May 2010
Air Mail...
So much nicer than another bill.
Have a good weekend everyone.
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Did I tell you I went paragliding...
I went paragliding at Easter-time and I can't believe I forgot to tell you! Following my most recent mosaic, I received an email from an friend (and regular visitor to my blog) who reminded me I didn't post about my paragliding experience. So here is the update.
Before I begin though, I should just explain, parasailing is the one where you are pulled up off a water based platform and sail along, being towed by a boat. That is parasailing. I went paragliding.
Paragliding is where you go to an elevated area, run until the wind fills the sail, lifting you off the ground and where (hopefully) the thermals carry you higher and further away from certain a death plunge. It's where you glide around in the thermals and eventually (ever so calmly) return to the lower landing area and glide (ever so gracefully) to a stop. That is pretty much what paragliding is supposed to be. In a nutshell. In theory.
...ever so gracefully... hmmm...
1. SignLifeAway, 2. Instruction, 3. Bright, 4. View
I think you can probably tell by my face in the pic, I was pretty nervous... Looking at it now, I can well remember what he was saying... "so, when I say 'GO' you run straight toward the cliff, and keep running until I say stop! OK?"
Do you see the puzzled look on my face? The one where inside my head I am saying "What do you mean run straight toward the cliff and DON"T STOP! Are you !!*?&^# CRAZY? ??? You can't be SERIOUS" (do the "You can't be SERIOUS" in a John Mcenroe voice and you'll get the idea!)
Surely I had misheard? But no, it turns out, my hearing was fine, it was just my legs that were beginning to fail me!
Mal had organised it. As a surprise. Yep. It was a surprise alright! He's a gem hey! Actually to be fair, and not quite so melodramatic, I had wanted to go for ages, so it was in the ranks of a good surprise.
Of course I was nervous. As I signed my life away on the liability forms, I couldn't even spell Malcolm's name.
The writing was a bit shaky too if I remember correctly. But, as you know I survived to tell the tale, and I have to admit, it was an incredible rush.
I was attached securely. Believe me I checked. A few times. I was attached to the sail (the wing) AND to my instructor. (You don't seriously think I was going to do this by myself did you? I'm crazy yes, but not THAT crazy!)
The wing was lifted into the air and collected by the breeze. And we ran. The wing filled and pulled backward. And we ran. And the edge of the clearing loomed and disappeared out of sight. And we ran. And our feet were no longer touching the ground. And I ran. Feet madly running in the open air until I was told I could stop and I was hitched into the harness. And I sat, holding onto the straps and looked around.
It was FANTASTIC. An amazing view. Pine trees way below and mountains around us. Dark clouds at the horizon and in the distance and the township of Bright lay in early Autumn reds. There was a pretty good breeze, cool, but not cold and I even managed to take a couple of quick pics. We could see other gliders circling and riding the wind. We also circled and lifted briefly, but were unable to find any decent thermals and so it wasn't long before we were heading (at a pretty decent pace) toward the landing field.
Did I say field? Did you picture a cleared area with soft grass ready to cushion and welcome us to the earth in a pillow of loveliness. If you did, you would be wrong... So so wrong. It was a landing field - in a paddock. Yes a paddock. A paddock where cows roamed untethered. Where prolonged drought had turned the earth to uneven humps and pockets. Where there was no welcome mat and no soft landing place. Where uneven ground and a tiny gust of wind unceremoniuosly dumped this earth loving sailer into the dust. Where I was dragged for a few meters until my instructor managed to bring our gravel grazing journey to a stop.
So much for the ever so graceful landing. He was rather good about it really, given that I was his first tandem to trip the entire week-end. Maybe it had something to do with the fact his fall was well cushioned! Yes - you guessed it - by me!
Before I begin though, I should just explain, parasailing is the one where you are pulled up off a water based platform and sail along, being towed by a boat. That is parasailing. I went paragliding.
Paragliding is where you go to an elevated area, run until the wind fills the sail, lifting you off the ground and where (hopefully) the thermals carry you higher and further away from certain a death plunge. It's where you glide around in the thermals and eventually (ever so calmly) return to the lower landing area and glide (ever so gracefully) to a stop. That is pretty much what paragliding is supposed to be. In a nutshell. In theory.
...ever so gracefully... hmmm...
1. SignLifeAway, 2. Instruction, 3. Bright, 4. ViewI think you can probably tell by my face in the pic, I was pretty nervous... Looking at it now, I can well remember what he was saying... "so, when I say 'GO' you run straight toward the cliff, and keep running until I say stop! OK?"
Do you see the puzzled look on my face? The one where inside my head I am saying "What do you mean run straight toward the cliff and DON"T STOP! Are you !!*?&^# CRAZY? ??? You can't be SERIOUS" (do the "You can't be SERIOUS" in a John Mcenroe voice and you'll get the idea!)
Surely I had misheard? But no, it turns out, my hearing was fine, it was just my legs that were beginning to fail me!
Mal had organised it. As a surprise. Yep. It was a surprise alright! He's a gem hey! Actually to be fair, and not quite so melodramatic, I had wanted to go for ages, so it was in the ranks of a good surprise.
Of course I was nervous. As I signed my life away on the liability forms, I couldn't even spell Malcolm's name.
The writing was a bit shaky too if I remember correctly. But, as you know I survived to tell the tale, and I have to admit, it was an incredible rush.
I was attached securely. Believe me I checked. A few times. I was attached to the sail (the wing) AND to my instructor. (You don't seriously think I was going to do this by myself did you? I'm crazy yes, but not THAT crazy!)
The wing was lifted into the air and collected by the breeze. And we ran. The wing filled and pulled backward. And we ran. And the edge of the clearing loomed and disappeared out of sight. And we ran. And our feet were no longer touching the ground. And I ran. Feet madly running in the open air until I was told I could stop and I was hitched into the harness. And I sat, holding onto the straps and looked around.
It was FANTASTIC. An amazing view. Pine trees way below and mountains around us. Dark clouds at the horizon and in the distance and the township of Bright lay in early Autumn reds. There was a pretty good breeze, cool, but not cold and I even managed to take a couple of quick pics. We could see other gliders circling and riding the wind. We also circled and lifted briefly, but were unable to find any decent thermals and so it wasn't long before we were heading (at a pretty decent pace) toward the landing field.
Did I say field? Did you picture a cleared area with soft grass ready to cushion and welcome us to the earth in a pillow of loveliness. If you did, you would be wrong... So so wrong. It was a landing field - in a paddock. Yes a paddock. A paddock where cows roamed untethered. Where prolonged drought had turned the earth to uneven humps and pockets. Where there was no welcome mat and no soft landing place. Where uneven ground and a tiny gust of wind unceremoniuosly dumped this earth loving sailer into the dust. Where I was dragged for a few meters until my instructor managed to bring our gravel grazing journey to a stop.
So much for the ever so graceful landing. He was rather good about it really, given that I was his first tandem to trip the entire week-end. Maybe it had something to do with the fact his fall was well cushioned! Yes - you guessed it - by me!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)