Day 183 - Halfway House

tada

June 15th - exactly equidistant between my 50th, and 51st birthday...my 6 month blogaversary!

183 days in, and I have still to miss a day - it feels like a milestone, and I'm really chuffed to have made it this far.

To celebrate, we spent a couple of hours messing around in the garden...can you guess what we're all doing?

directing traffic?

Kim looks very focussed...

thunderbirds are stop

Whilst Christina looks like a puppet on a string...

holding his tongue right

Roob seems to be getting down and funky...

don't shoot

Anna gives herself up...

gimme five up high

Whilst I solicit an optimistic high five...

ba-doom tish

And Kim finishes with a flourish...


Those of you who have been paying attention will of course have realised by now that we've been slacklining...and great fun it's been.  

It's quite hard but we all made some progress...and it's notable how stable you can appear in a still shot!

poise

Kim looking graceful...

ease

Christina asking what all the fuss is about...

radical, dude

Roob casually surfs the line... 

the tao of anna

Anna demonstrates her perfect balance... 

halfway there!

Whilst I seem to be heavier than everyone else...

Those pictures belie how difficult it is, though...these action shots are more representative, and more fun!

touchdown imminent

Kim's controlled dismount...

tai chi feet

Anna's ninja pose...

still waiting on that five

Am I getting on, falling off, what?!

banzai

Anna attempts an extravagant french dismount...

And so, a good time was had by all...I expect we'll feel it in the morning!


And there it is, the halfway mark...

6 months down, 6 months to go...I can do this!

:-)

Day 155 - Walk the Line

another afternoon slacking

This afternoon, having spent a couple of hours sorting through 900 photos from my 50@50, sifting the wheat from the chaff, I was ready for some outdoor action.

I've been waiting for an opportunity to try setting up the slackline I got for my birthday (thanks 'Stina and Louise!), and sometime mid afternoon I realised that today was that day!

Of course, Try Slacklining is on my list of challenges for the year...I feel as though I'm a bit behind with them...but that may be just because I'm a little behind on them.

Some I've failed on already...I'm not going to Florida now, so I won't get the chance to swim with dolphins now, (although I'm really hoping that Anna will)...

My other two blogs have fallen by the wayside, as this one has taken over my life somewhat...I haven't managed to keep up with my weekly blog, nor with my weekly Thanks You's and Presents...I'd like to say I haven't had time, but I've found time to do this blog...although in fairness, they did take up huge chunks of both time and mental capacity.

But still, I do feel a little ashamed to have let these two go.  

I must think about reviving them in some form, maybe get up to twelve posts, to round it out to  on per month...hmm there's a thought. 

Anyway today it was a beautiful early Summer's day, and I wanted to spend some time outside...and I also wanted to explore possibilities for setting up the slackline in the garden. 

With the judicious use of a few bits of climbing gear (some rigging rope and a screwgate 'biner), and a little experimentation, I eventually managed to get a functional slackline up and running. 

Slackline's are similar to tightropes, only, you know, they're slack, not tight (do you see what they did there?)...

You can progress to do all sorts of tricks (if you look on Youtube you'll find video's of people doing somersaults and all sorts on them), but initially, just getting on is challenging enough.  

After faffing around for some time trying to get the tension right, I realised my slackline is a bit too long, so I improvised with an old kitchen chair I found in the shed. 

The slackline is pretty stable near the end, but as you get towards the middle it wobbles wildly, making it very difficult to relax (which is exactly what you need to do)...



To be honest, I didn't make too much progress beyond this, and I clearly need to reconsider the chair situation...

Mostly, though, I'm now waiting for Anna to come home so I have someone to play with!

Still, another challenge completed!

B-)