Trapeze

One of my co-workers came up to me at lunch saying "OMG, this sounds like YOU!" and handed me a Groupon ad for a flying trapeze lesson at the New York School of Trapeze Beantown. Flying trapeze lessons!?!?!?  Hell yeah! I ran down to my office and bought two Groupon lessons, then came back to lunch and told her "got two!". Two?  "One for me, one for Sean". Did I ask Sean first? "No, but he'll be into it". I e-mailed Sean that afternoon and asked what he thought about taking a flying trapeze lesson. His response: "Woohoo! Sign me up!". Already done!

The school is in a random mall in the Boston suburbs on the other side of an IMAX theater. Pretty smart use of that tall wall!  There was a trippy laser light water show playing in the background, bendy women on silks, and two STRONG people working out on the static trapeze.

Sean and I were the first to arrive. We met the instructors (very nice guys, former gymnasts and divers), signed our lives away, and were strapped into tight safety belts. There were ten students in our class. We got a brief tutorial: this is the bar, hold it like this, when we say "knees up" put your knees on the bar, when we say "hands down" let go, and always LISTEN to us. Noted.  

I was the first up the stairs to the 23-foot high platform.

When you approach the platform the instructors secure ropes to the safety belt so they can slow a free-fall.

You grab the platform with your left hand and reach out for the bar with your right:

Then let go and grab the bar with both hands:

The instructor says "set" and you bend your knees and stand tall. When they say "hup" you jump three inches up and three inches forward. My first jump the guy said "hup" and I jumped back. "Oh wow, sorry, didn't mean to do that". He laughed. "No problem, but you want to jump FORWARD next time". Set, hup, jumped back.  "Really, not trying to go backwards here!". On the third "hup" he kicked my feet out from under me and I was FLYING! It felt AMAZING.
Knees up:

Hands down:

Catch hands and an ear to ear grin:

WEEEEEEEE!

This was my first jump. Had a great time flying, then came the instruction to "let go". Um, what?  Just fall?  I'm 23-feet up! "One, two, three, let go". And there I am still hanging on.

 I took a deep breath, squealed, and dropped to the net. The fall wasn't as far as I thought and the net/mats were soft. It was the unknown that freaked me out. The instructors later told me that once a day a little kid cries and refuses to let go and they have to climb up the ropes and carry them down. Thank God I wasn't that kid!
I was shaking when I flipped off of the net. It was THAT MUCH FUN!  I thought I'd like flying trapeze but didn't count on the ear to ear grin and giggling as I raced up the stairs for my next jump. Loved it.
Sean's turn:

 Knees up:

 Catch hands:

 Flipping off the net:

After two jumps they gave each of us different skills/tricks to work on. Sean and I both did back flips:

And catches:

The two hour lesson flew by (haha) and we signed up for more.
Yeah, we fly:

Maple Syrup

Another old post:
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I am a maple syrup slut. I can think of few foods that would not be improved by a big pour of maple goodness. I put it on oatmeal and breakfast quinoa, on pancakes, in almond butter as a sweet treat, and I've been known to eat whipped maple syrup (aka Maple Cream) standing in front of the fridge with the back of a spoon (because using the actual spoon would be crazy...).
Last Wednesday I came home late and saw a silver "thing" on a tree across the street. Some contraption to feed the goats?  The next morning I got a better look. There were tons of "things" on the trees... and then I got it. Maple syrup taps!!!! Oh happy day! I actually squealed and ran off to find my landlords. "Did you tap the trees for maple!?!?!?" They told me that a "random guy" came by and asked if he could tap their trees in exchange for some free syrup. "He's not very good about coming by to empty the containers and the buckets were overflowing yesterday". Really, overflowing???  Would it be OK if I gathered a little of the sap the next time the buckets were too full?  They said of course!
Taps and buckets on every tree:

The next day I gathered sap from the FULL buckets and made syrup!
Two stock pots of sap. It tasted like water with a HINT of maple flavor:

Before:

Starting to boil:

All of my windows and mirrors fogged up with steam:

A few hours in:

Getting darker:

Combined the pots here:

Six hours later those two big pots boiled down to this:

Maple syrup!!!!! One pint (and a few spoonfulls) from two stock pots of sap. Absolutely worth the time and effort.

Addendum: The freakishly hot weather made this one of the worst maple seasons in memory. There wasn't a snow pack and when the night temperatures rose above freezing the sap stopped flowing. I did manage to make three batches of syrup... and started a kitchen fire.

My Secret Treadmill

Another old unpublished post:
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I am employed by the community health center but am also on the medical staff at the hospital. I have both IDs on one clip and flip the badge over when I go from the office to Labor and Delivery.

Two years ago the hospital renovated the cafeteria and library. They added a little back hallway behind a closed door with conference rooms. And at the end of that hallway, behind another door that requires a provider ID to enter, is the Medical Staff Lounge. It's almost unmarked and if you didn't know it was there you'd never find it. Shhhh, don't tell...

The main lounge area has a couch, a computer with intranet, and a flat screen TV. Basic but a nice quiet retreat.

But, behind that door in the back of the lounge is this:

A workout area!  With a thermostat! And a treadmill and an elliptical!  And a flat screen TV!

I consider this my personal treadmill:

Nobody else seems to use it. Every now and then I'll find the remote in the elliptical but more often than not things are exactly where and how I left them.
It gets even better. In the lounge is a refrigerator stocked with ice cold water, yogurt, and fruit.

And there is a bathroom with a nice shower stocked with towels:

I hate treadmills and try to run outside as much as possible but I don't run in the dark on icy roads-- just don't trust drivers. I've used this space a ton this winter for early morning and late evening crappy weather runs. And while running on a treadmill is mind-numbingly boring I LOVE this secret space. My own private gym :)

Crafting Update

Things have been pretty crazy around here. Long hours at work, triathlon training, hours in the car every weekend, and big transitions are taking their toll on me more than I like to admit. So don't take it personally if you haven't heard from me in while.
Work is... not great. Last week I worked the first half of the week, then had a conference Thursday and Friday. This week I worked two call shifts and one day in the office but was in Philadelphia Wednesday and Thursday for a midwifery reunion. I didn't exactly have any "time off", no relaxing vacations or time on the beach or anything like that, but I was in the office much less than usual (sad that I worked 48-hours this week and consider that vacation) and it's AMAZING how much better I feel. I'm not beaten down or mentally fried. The circles under my eyes are gone, my skin is clear, and I have more ability to process things and cope in general.
I really felt the difference on Friday. Every few months I have a bike power test to assess my progress (or lack of progress) and make sure I am training at the correct intensity. Twenty brutal minutes of suffering. No fun but not THAT big of a deal. My first test in January 2011 was a baseline assessment and I was excited to get my power "zones" (and they were PATHETIC!). The second was in April of 2011 and I was excited to see how much I had improved. Then July. Then again in October. I struggled a little mentally with this one but got it done. But I had a total freak out (like, full on panic attack) at the thought of my March test. Tears. Couldn't get on the bike. WTF!?! In the end I DID get my ass on the bike and my tire blew 14 minutes into the 20-minute test... which meant I had to repeat it. Friday was that repeat. No freaking out, no panic, and a HUGE improvement in my numbers. Like, HUGE. And that is when I realized how mentally exhausted I am from my job and how much happier/mentally stable/physically strong I am when I'm out of that toxic environment.
That's my long-ass explanation for my lack of phone calls and blog posts and communication in general.
I went on here to post some pictures of flying trapeze lessons and the midwifery reunion and found a bunch of unpublished posts. Not sure why I never hit the "publish" button but here they are!

This blog is turning into one long race report. Hmmmm. I still do have other interests: reading, crafting, cooking, etc. So here is a crafting update.
I flew to Philadelphia for the annual Midwife Craft Circle at the Harrison House. Twenty+ midwives knitting, sewing, spinning, weaving, and doll making while eating delicious pot luck and chatting. 

The sewers were clustered on one side of the room:

Potluck. Amazing spread. These women can COOK!!!!

Vicky wore the Monkey Socks I made for her. Nothing makes a knitter happier than seeing her work loved and used!

Vicky, Jessi, and me:

A patient (a young woman who has become quite the breastfeeding advocate) sent me this picture and asked me if I could make her one of these Boob Hats:

I don't crochet but will always support my breastfeeding patients and needed a new little project for meetings.
Got yarn for three different skin and nipple colors and kind of made up a pattern:

Finished hat on a happily nursing Baby Veronica:




Newborn Caucasian version for the adorable RED-HEADED Juniper Grey:

And some of my recently completed projects and things still on needles:
Cubist Socks for Vicky:

Loving these but they require a big chart that doesn't travel well so they are my "knit while relaxing on the couch" project. Since there doesn't seem to be a ton of sitting on the couch anymore I'm making slow progress on these.
Noro Scarf:

I know, I know, I already have two Noro scarves. But they are SO MUCH fun and a gal in NH can never have too many scarves, right?

Shadow Tuque for me knit in Cascade Toboggan.

The picture doesn't do the hat justice. It's the PERFECT hat. Check out these pics online: http://www.interweaveknits.com/galleries/bonus/fall-2011/shadow-tuque.asp . Same hat, mine is just grey.
This came together really quickly and is warm, soft, and fits perfectly-- not too big or bulky or loose or tight. I finished this hat during a supremely boring mandatory inservice on slip and fall prevention by our disability insurance carrier and put the hat right on!  Co-workers ordered yarn for their own Shadow Tuque hats on their phones during the meeting so there will be more of these on the way.

Dark Side Cowl:

Also have a Little Pilot Cap for Baby Adeline and a Clapotis on needles... somewhere!