I'm working on it !!....

... my "thing" ..... for the photo a week theme......"I made this".  What a perfect theme for someone who does some crafty stuff.  But, I want to photo the latest ...and I've been so glued to the Olympics for the week that I have done almost nothing else except some working out..... treadmilling, crunches and free weights etc... ...which only gets done because there is a tv hanging on the wall in my exercise room.   Whew...thank goodness there is that.  Today I forced myself not to turn it on til I finish something.  And.... I even have laundry on the go... and some bathroom cleaning....

I'm fascinated by things that require such dedication, determination and motivation and in some cases, just downright stubborn-ness and refusal to quit...  I cry at the stories about some of the athletes... am shocked at the extent of the injuries and surgeries they have had to endure...and cheer on the underdogs at every turn.  I am amazed at the cross country skier who, despite a punctured and collapsed lung and 5 broken ribs still continued to compete in several more races after her injuries... she fell into a gully .. why wasn't there some fencing to prevent anyone from doing that? Where is the common sense in safety procedures and protection?  And, the poor poor Georgian luger and his family.  Just should never happen.

My only effort at competition was many years ago...  all my young life I had wanted to be an archer.  Finally I got up enough nerve to join a small archery club in Kelowna.  There was only one other girl in the club.  The guys were a strange, mixed bunch.... who delighted in teasing and ribbing us two girls.  My first shot with a bow almost took my left breast because they did NOT instruct me not to pull back the string past my breast.  The asses.  Anyway....  not to be deterred... with bruises on my arm and my tit I showed up for my second night.  They knew I meant business when I assured them I would be learning to shoot in spite of their childish antics and they definitely would be in trouble if anybody tried something that stupid again.  Diane took me under her wing and after a few attempts to kill the already dead and stuffed moose head hanging on the clubhouse wall.... I was getting close to the bullseye on the targets.

A few months later....I was in city finals....and two months after that .... provincial finals... and then... Summer Games...   How did that happen? .... sheeesh....

The girls I shot against at the event were a bit ticked that an upstart they had never heard of managed to outshoot them and take the gold medal.  Some of them had been shooting for 15 years.  The following year...I shot over 200 points better and only managed a silver.  Goes to show that some new blood in a sport sometimes gives the older competitors a shot in the arm.  They really picked up their game.

The best thing about the archery club?...it's where I met Mr. BV....

My hair still had colour.... now it's white....

The category is called Barebow, which means it is a simple bow with no sights, no wheels, pulleys or weights.  My theory was that it would be simpler to tell if it was me or the equipment when a shot went astray.  With sights, etc... there was just too  much that could go wrong and I wanted to get the basics down pat first.

This is Greg's bow... called a Compound.  You can see the difference.  The weight to pull it back is more than mine initially..but, once this bow reaches a certain point in the draw... the weight lets off to about half...and you can hold it longer and easier to aim.  The arrows also go faster and in a straighter line than my barebow...sometimes at long distances with the barebow, I was aiming at clouds to hit the target.  And..if there was a wind?.... it was a guessing game where the arrows would end up.   Take cover!

Mr. BV in the early days...even before we were an "item"....  look at all that hair!!

For years I wanted a medal or a trophy of some sort...for anything I suppose.  My sister had some...my brother had some... and I darn well wanted one!  Yay me...finally I had one.  Now... where is that bow?  hmmm... the two of us shot for one more year after this...and then... school, work, motorcycles, and life got in the way.  We haven't had our bows out of their cases for a lot of years.  It's like golf... one of those things that you can do til you are ancient.  If you've ever wanted to try it... check if there is an archery club near you.  It's great fun.   Remember not to pull the string back too far... there is a technique!


Okay...gotta go watch men's X country finals...!! back at ya later..... or...tomowwow.......

NB:::  have to clarify.... it was Summer Games.... not the Olympics.  I did wonder when I saw that in the comments.  I must have been thinking Olympics so intently that's what I wrote.  Didn't mean to mislead....