Coney Island

Day 119: A few days ago, a good friend asked me if I had a woven band appropriate to put on her new teal blue felt hat. "The colours in the lanyard you made me work just fine," she said. "Well, come on down and take a look at what I have," I replied, and then went off to arrange all of my rolled bands in a display tray for her easy viewing. Sounds like this should be fairly straightforward, right? She showed up in due course, having forgotten to bring the lanyard with, and after perusing my collection, was a bit mind-boggled by the wide array of colours and patterns. She decided to make a second trip, lanyard in hand for comparison. We settled on a design, and then came the challenge of selecting colours. I thought it might simplify the process if I invited her to my own private Coney Island, i.e., the cupboard in the Loom Room where all the weaving materials live.  One after another, we sat cones of cotton side-by-side, rejecting some, leaving others in a "possibilities" pile and, after twenty minues or so of dithering, settled on a deep loden green for the background, bluish-grey for the pattern threads and black for the border. By bedtime, I had the warp on the bonker and had woven roughly a foot of band. Only then did one of my mother's primary tenets echo in my brain: Never give a child under twelve a choice of more than one.

Zip Trip Adventure

Day 295: Four of us met at my house this morning in time to be first through the gate at Northwest Trek, lining up to purchase tickets for the zip-line Adventure Course, second only to the Sensation Course in terms of difficulty. I'd completed the Discovery Course last week and was ready for something a bit more challenging. Ian was an old hand at zip-lines, and Maureen was excited by the prospect of a thrilling ride. Her cousin Kathleen might not have had quite as clear a picture of the day's agenda, but was game to try something new. Standing at the base of the first obstacle, a 30-foot climbing wall, she may have had some doubts. Maureen led the way, followed by yours truly, then Ian, and then Kathleen came up and was met with our cheers of encouragement.

Ian reaches the top of the wall

There were some suspension bridges to cross, each one gaining a bit of altitude between platforms, and there were also cargo nets to clamber through. The course is just that: an obstacle course. Over the next hour and a half, we'd progress from the easier challenges to tougher ones, with six different zip-lines up to 650' in length to give us a break from our physical exertions. Trust me, climbing through cargo nets on an incline isn't easy, especially when there's a gap between two of them on the way to the next platform.

Kathleen in the double nets

Previously, I'd been told I couldn't take my big camera with me, so today I brought along my little Sony point-and-shoot. If the photos aren't up to my usual standard, blame the camera!

As mentioned earlier, the difficulty in surmounting the obstacles increased as we worked our way through the course. I've tackled some pretty scary suspension bridges in my day, so those didn't bother me. However, swinging steps were something new, and I would have gotten through more easily if I'd remembered to check if there were stoppers on the cables before proceeding across. Clipped in, I got the carabiners stuck on a stopper, and then had to back up a step (yes, backwards!) to free it.

Swinging steps

The only other real problem I encountered was the tightrope. Although I'd breezed through an easier version of it last week, I tackled this particular challenge a little too directly. Halfway across, I did an unintentional pirouette. Maureen, waiting in the wings and gathering her courage, must have felt it falter just a little as I regained my balance. Ian crossed behind me with the grace of a dancer, and then Maureen followed suit. It was her most uncomfortable moment on the course (as it was mine).

The tightrope

Finally, two long zip-lines took us back to solid ground. There may have been some touchy moments, but not a one of us took a fall. I handed my camera off to Ian so he could get a shot of me zipping home. This course was both fun and exciting!

As the Crow flies