Holiday greetings

          As I've learned about myself over the years it never works to make new year resolutions.  Instead what sticks with me longer is to set a general theme for the new year.  In 2006 the theme I picked was plan ahead.  Yes, that's such a common bit of advice good for anyone, but I never took it myself.  I marked a day on the calender, mid year, for a party I wanted to give.  Then I started getting ready from the ground up.  I did things like cleaning closets, getting rid of excess stuff and painting walls.  I even plotted a count down on the calendar.  To my surprise, things got done.  By the party my house and yard were clean and tidy.  That's how I tricked myself into keeping a resolution, which really wasn't a resolution but a theme. 

          Right now I'm wondering how I can work skating into my general theme, or resolution.  Maybe I'll write "skate backwards with confidence and control."  I will pick a date on the calendar that I can work towards and then set to work to make it happen by that time.  I wonder if that's realistic.  Would it work?  Hmmmm.  Let me see.  Meanwhile, here is my Winter Solstice greeting: a drawing of me skating.  Happy skating!

Still skating

      Even though I haven't posted since October it doesn't mean I haven't been skating. I just haven't taken my camera with me and when I do take it I rarely capture any images worth sharing with you.
       I've been working on posture these days. I'm forever concentrating on bending my knees but now I've added leaning forward with head up and sternum forward. Wow! I had no idea these adjustments would improve my balance so much. Valerie was the one who prompted these adjustments. Two weeks ago as she skated behind me she came up along side and said "where are your eyes." The answer: on the floor. I knew immediately what I had to do. She really knows how to teach in so few words. I marvel.

      Here is video of Valerie skating. Hope you enjoy it.

Yes way Jose

Here is a short clip of me skating with Joe during the couples only dances.  We're both beginner skaters, in fact I think we started skating at about the same time.  He always wears a full set of protective gear, including helmet --very wise.  

Ready to wear

The red skirt has a wine colored cotton
knit panty, fuschia colored under
skirt and red sparkle netting on top.

Made three skirts this week.  The animal print skirt is all Lycra.  It's for Chris.  The other two are for the sister of the girl for whom I made the pink skirt.  She asked for a blue one.  I only had enough Lycra to make the pants but I happened to have yards of this blouse fabric.  Had to singe the edges to keep the raveling under control.  The red one is a bonus for her.  Started out making that one for Chris but it turned out a bit smaller than I think Chris would find comfortable, so I'm giving it to pink skirt's sister.  The blue one has a two layers, the under layer is a matching coordinate.  I bought this fabric about 12 years ago. 

Determined to skate

Took a bad fall in the middle of August. It's taken till now to get the welt on my split lip down to the size of a small pea. My nose still hurts a tad. The post-traumatic-stress is still with me but I'm not going to let it get me down much longer. Had cut back on my skating during the healing time and was terribly nervous at first, but that's easing off.

Now I've two new rules for myself. One, don't skate when the crowds are crazy. This isn't just a numbers factor but the foreboding feeling I get when there are just one too many nuts in the crowd. Two, wear full derby gear during deceptively quiet sessions when children are on the floor. All it takes is one kid who doesn't know how to skate, or follow rules to take you down. When you're on skates children are mobile land mines intent on getting into your path. You can't be too cautious; be pro-active for your safety.

Here is a photo, taken from a video, of me skating with a friend named Joe. He's learning to skate and doesn't want to get injured in the process, thus the derby gear. He is simultaneously learning how to referee for derby so he also skates with them too. Recently he's been at the rink during classic dance skate sessions just to get more skate miles. During the couples only time, which is three songs long, solo skaters sit there and watch some of the dance skaters take the floor, any two hand-holding skaters qualify as a couple, so any ole'duo is permitted. Many wobbly one-time skaters occupy the floor during this time when they'd be better off watching. Personally, I love to watch the particularly fabulous couple skaters dancing by but sometimes I get a bit miffed by having to sit out three whole back-to-back numbers (songs). A few weeks back I decided to ask Joe to skate with me during the couples-only numbers and we've been doing this ever since. I don a helmet and sometimes knee pads, just so we'd look more coordinated. I had a blast; I waved to people I knew as Joe pulled me around the corners. What a hoot! Joe is just learning crossovers so we certainly don't do anything resembling dance, but we do keep moving, and we haven't fallen down yet. It's fun to skate about with a partner instead of sitting on a bench.

Sew tiny

This is my third attempt at making a skirt for the daughter of a skating friend. The daughter is fourteen but very tiny, not just slender but child-sized tiny. I didn’t have my tape measure with me and so eyeballed the first skirt, a child’s size 5. That didn’t look right (never showed it to her) so I adjusted the pattern and cut a six. Unfortunately that one didn’t fit either but I had brought my tape measure with me. The girl’s waist was 22-inches.

The boy-leg pants and attached skirt, fuchsia pink, are of

Lycra. The overskirt is from JoAnn Fabric’s Halloween
collection this year.

The pattern I used for this skirt is McCall’s 6159, girls size 8 (waist 23 ½, hips 28). I used the legging pattern, piece E, cutting it off about 3-inches from the crotch. I drew the skirt pattern by hand. I’m so impatient when it comes to cutting out patterns, especially if I’m going to customize them anyway; it’s faster to draw one than to hunt for one in my collection.

August blues

Sometimes I don't sew for weeks, months even. Then there are times when I start and finish several projects in rapid succession, like yesterday when I made two skating skirts, one for my skating buddy and one for me. The down side was that I set aside another project that has a more weighty deadline, the Renaissance costume for my daughter. The skirt is nearly finished on that but there is still the blouse and corset. I'm ashamed that I chose the instant gratification the two skating skirts represent in the face of the long term commitment to the historic costume.

What's the name of that song?

Thankful

Here I am with my friend, Chris.  Our conversations as we carpool to the rink are priceless.  We solve problems, confirm suspicions, share heartaches and make plans to conquer whatever daunts us.  I am truely fortunate to have Chris as my skating buddy.

My first video

It's difficult for us novice skaters to hold a camera in position while skating. 
And I took this one of her.   Click here  to see my skating pal.

Scrap skirt

This last Thursday was the second week of derby boot camp for DD and DDF.  To assist DDF who works ten hour days and cannot possibly get from her job to her home and then on to the rink by the start of practice I pick up her dogs in the morning, keep them all day and then return them to her apartment on my way to the rink for the evening session. She says she couldn't do the bootcamp without my service.  This makes me feel good; I like to help DDF out. 

DDF's dogs are familiar with me as I've dogsat them many a time, so other than driving them back and forth, the only big thing is to walk them.  No problem.  It was hot that day so the dogs and I spent a lot of time sitting in the shade of the garden.
Around two o'clock I started thinking about skating and wondering what I could wear that would be less warm than my usual black workout pants.  Decided right then and there that I should make a summer skating skirt.  Wasted a lot of time searching for the box of Lycra pieces, thinking I might have some turquoise that would work nicely.  Never did find it but did come across a stray piece of white Lycra in a bag near a pile of unfinished quilts.  Didn't want a boring white skirt so I rummaged about for suitable skirt fabric.  Not enough of any one piece to make a whole skirt.  As three o'clock drew near I had no choice but to give up the idea or make the skirt from odds and ends.  By four-thirty I'd finished the skirt.  Here is what I made. 

left side of skirt, green front, orange back, chiffon and lace

Seventh of ten

Ten girls; no boys.  The first was born in 1930, the last in 1955.  Mama was 16 when she married, 17 when her first was born.  Our parents grew up in Minnesota, had five children there before moving to Oregon where the last five of us were born.  I don't recall Mama ever mentioning any skating forays but I know that Daddy did a bit of ice hockey in his youth. 
There was an ice rink just blocks from the house I grew up in on 6th Street, in Eugene.  Many stories of the fabulous skating costumes Mama sewed for my older sisters, who evidently were stars at the rink, held my wonder.  That rink was long gone by the time I strapped on my first pair of sidewalk roller skates in the mid 1950's.  I didn't ice skate until my adult years and only then for a brief period. 

Here is a picture of me with six of my sisters.  They came all the way to Portland to observe my 60th birthday in March, 2010.  Here were are at Oak's Park.  One is absent because she couldn't make the trip and sadly, two have passed on (the oldest and the youngest).

Skating tips

Helpful advice I've received over the past 13 months:

1. Keep your knees bent.
2. You shouldn't attempt crossovers while skating in a straight line, only do them on a curve.
3. Hold your abs tight while you skate.
4. The bent leg holds you up, it's called the working leg. The other is the pretty leg and may be straight with foot extended to point the toe. It is understood that each leg gets equal time being pretty and working.

5. When you transition from foot to foot, as in a crossover, rest a moment before setting the next foot down. This looks a lot more elegant than the herky-jerky quickleft-quickrightcross-quickleft.

6. To make a curved movement you must balance on your edges. Even a slight lean to one side will cause you to use edges and go in that direction.

7. Never use the toe-stop when going forward; you should employ a T-stop or snow-plow to stop or slow you in a forward motion. Toe-stops are only for stopping while going backwards.

8. Bend your knees. I know I've already said this but it is essential to doing just about anything on skates. It bears repeating and you'll hear it a lot. Strengthen those knees and the other moves come along gracefully.

9. The "and" position is when both feet are brought back together, side by side. This for proper stroking.

10. When going forward, lead the body from the sternum. Keep your neck straight and hold your chin up. Always keep posture in mind and you'll develop other skills properly.

My advice for processing the above guidance:
1. It takes time and a lot of practice to master anything. Be patient with yourself even if you think you aren't making any progress. Bottom line is to have fun and enjoy yourself. Do give yourself credit just for being a good sport and not giving up.

2. Break it down. It's easy to become overwhelmed with the many components of footwork and balance. Focus on one small part of anything you want to learn before adding the next part or step of the sequence.  You don't have to be perfect and there is no clock or calendar counting down the time. Play with it and enjoy the moment.

3. Don't listen to everyone.

4. Watch good skaters.
5. Learn how to take proper care of your boots, plates, wheels, bearings, cushions and laces.
6. Spend as much time as you possibly can skating.

Play clothes

Truth be told, I take skating seriously but I'm not a serious skater. I don't care about achieving any noted levels that require taking lessons and passing tests. It's all about the fun, the sensation of gliding; for me it's an endless carnival ride. Oh, and the clothes. I love colorful socks in bold patterns. Having such fun on my feet it seems logical to dress them up for the occasion.     Sporty, comfortable and good looking clothing is another point of interest to me. I love the look of the classic skating skirt, but I never considered getting one until recently. Yesterday I cut out and stitched one up in about four hours. I had to design the skirt pattern from scratch, I have one somewhere in my many boxes of patterns but I was too impatient to hunt for it. The attached pants (hidden from view) are from a McCall's swimsuit pattern (number 3566). I chose the boy-leg trunks, article F. This isn't the first skate skirt I've ever made but the first for myself.

A breath of summer

Nice summer weather at last!  Here I am at the Oregon Gardens.  They don't allow skating in the gardens so I'm skating in the parking lot of the Moonstone Resort where I'm staying.  I'm here with two of my sisters. 
    I was half expecting some official to come up to me and command that I stop immediately on account of some regulation or insurance policy, whatever.  But no one did. 
   Spent about an hour waddling up small inclines then swivel down inclines and doing backwards toe stops.  Tried a few awkward cross overs.  There were lots of rough patches that you don't notice when you're walking or driving a car.  It's only when you have quads under you and you're whizzing by, so it feels, pulled forward by gravity, that you notice the little pebbles and uneven patches looming up.  Each time I go over them while keeping my balance I marvel, give myself a high-five.  But then I'm quickly brought back to reality when the next piece of gravel is noticed. 

Grey, greyer, greyest

Summer is here, calendar wise, but we have no sunshine.  Solid gray sky. 58 degrees F.  Good for skating and photography, no shadows in Tigard, Oregon.  Here is a photo of the back of my helmet.

Skating in mud

We've been having one of those long springs, day after day of rain.  Being an Oregon beaver/duck, I take rain in stride, but these consistent thick gray skies are starting to get me down.  Next week is summer. Experience tells me not to expect two dry days in a row. This morning, even with this sunshine, bright as it is, it's like fools gold.  I wear boots and put on winter gloves just to walk the dogs. 

Yesterday I wanted to go to the rink to skate the 3-5:30 session but it just didn't fit into my schedule.  Alternate plan, skate the Fanno Creek trail, or at least a portion of it.  I skated in the Skorps.  This is the first time I'd taken the trail solo but I wasn't concerned about that, the blue-tooth was in place so I could get in touch with my family in an instant if necessary.  The sky was solid gray, it had rained in the morning but the pavement was dry, mostly, a few puddles here and there that the Skorps could take without hesitation.  About a mile into the trail it crosses under a minor highway.  The darkness of the tunnel didn't bother me, it was the mud.  I plodded through as it slowed me to a turtle's crawl.  On the other side I resumed my usual pace until I noticed how dark the sky was growing.  Deep menacing gray, and it was getting cold.  No thunder; good. I quickly turned around and decided to hurry back to the car, I guessed it was at least 25-minutes away.  The transit back through the tunnel was awful; I got stuck in some thick mud and nearly couldn't lift my feet.  I kept sliding towards the stream of water in the center.  Fortunately it is fenced off, but only with a wimpy plastic partition.  I feared I might get tangled in it if I didn't stop sliding.  Once I came to a stop it was difficult to keep my balance and get back to the slightly less muddy part of the path.  I probably should have taken the Skorps off at that point, but I didn't.  Once out of the tunnel I looked in dismay at the mud clinging to the scooter sized wheels of the skates.  Wow!  Ugly.  I had to spend some time dragging my feet sideways through nearby grass to dislodge as much as I could.  Dove right back onto the trail, hoping to beat the rain back to the car. 

A few rain drops but no showers developed.  I was pretty warm from the exertion, no jacket; had planned to keep skating despite whatever rainfall.  Oddly it never did rain. 

Total skate time, 55 minutes.  Treat along the way: sighting a small brown rabbit dining on grass at path's edge. 

Work in progress

I've been working on an altered book that I just added some new pages to.  The page below includes snippets from a small flyer I found at the rink.  http://paperstitches.blogspot.com/  

While searching for some copyright free images of roller skating this morning I discovered the National Museum of Roller Skating. Never found any graphics but I see a road trip in the future for my skating buddy and me.  Speaking of favorite roller skating web sites do visit quad skating dot com.  I've learned so much from this site, like the anatomy of a roller skate and how to loosen your trucks, including why you'd want to do this.

Getting in gear

If you're going to skate outdoors you'd better get geared up, as in derby gear.  My daughter encouraged me to take some derby classes so that I'd learn some skills that would come in handy as well.  My rink offered a six week series of drop-in classes in derby style skating that worked perfectly in my calendar.  Didn't take all of them but from the few I took I learned some valuable stuff, like how to fall and how to stop.  I know how to stop in the rink, on my regular skates, but outdoors it's a whole different experience and takes a lot more leg strength.  For sure you're dealing with an unpredictable surface, and you might be going down hill. Snowplow works well for slowing and stopping but it is taking me a while to learn just how to do it right.

In this photo I'm wearing a mouth guard.  I hadn't painted my helmet yet, now it has eyes in the back and pointy teeth in the front so that I look like my head has been eaten by a shark.  My daughter is on the right, in black and white outfit.  She has attended the derby boot camp, so she's a real derby gal to me, even if she's not on an actual team yet.

The burden of compliments

Yesterday I got the best compliment ever. Two of the senior skaters at the Wednesday morning old timers' session said my crossovers were just like they should be and (bonus!) my timing and rhythm were perfect. I was shocked and very pleased. This came from two women, one in her 80's and the other in her 90's, both accomplished skaters.

Don't we all love to hear a positive comment about what we're doing? Yep. The downside is that I get sort of nervous when the praise sinks in; I get flustered, loose my balance, stumble. That's the usual result of a compliment, a virtual land mine. Compliments from other skaters carry a lot more weight than those from casual observers. As a defense when a fellow skater compliments me, especially if I'm just squirreling around practicing some footwork I admonish them, "Shhh! You're going to hex me." Of course I only use this response with people whom I expect to understand this sassy retort. For strangers, children and non-skaters I say thank you, smile. Ah! I love skating.

Quilting aches

Oh my aged aching body. I have arthritis in nearly every joint. Haven't noticed it in my spine, thank goodness, but everywhere else I have experienced swelling and stiffness. A lot of pain. I'm not on a prescription; my doctor wants me to put that off as long as I can. She says that once I get on one I have to stay on it the rest of my life. I agree, that is something I want to put off as long as possible.



I do machine quilting on an industrial machine. It's just a regular industrial machine that I've had for years. Got it before they came out with package set-up of long-neck on tracks for moving the machine about and bars for rolling the quilt around. With my machine I do it all by hand. I wear rubber glove, sometime spandex ones, for grip. It takes me two days to quilt an entire queen sized quilt. I don't do this very often, about three or four times a year. While I’m quilting, my shoulders, elbows and wrists don't hurt; it's afterwards, when I'm resting that they throb with pain. I take ibuprofen or Tylenol to ease the pain. I have included glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM in my daily nutritional supplement for years.


Before I started skating I always took a some ibuprofen before starting any kind of long term exercise, such as hiking, so I could at least make it to the end of the trail on my own, rather than calling for a stretcher, as I’d often felt I needed. Never did, but I have walked so slowly toward the end of a day's hike that slugs, in their slimy glide, could have beat me to the trail's end.


Oddly enough, now that I'm skating eight or more hours a week, I have no more pain from arthritis in my legs or hips. The only place I still have arthritic pain is in my left arm. Doctor says I should go for acupuncture, but I haven't yet. I've been trying to give that arm more of a workout, hoping instead for exercise and regular use to do the trick. For the past few weeks I have noticed that I'm not waking up as much in the middle of the night, due to pains in the arm, as I have previously. My left shoulder and elbow still throbs when it gets hit but that doesn't happen very often.

Newest wheels

New wheels yesterday. Heartless Stalker (88's), narrow, black. Auditioned more than four different kinds before I settled on this one. Delighted with the reliable grip in a narrow profile.

Skorpians

Saturday. After what seem like endless weeks of rain we got one pretty day, actually just a few hours of sunshine that day, but I'm glad I spent them wisely. After finding parking which took a lot longer than we figured it would, DD1 and I put on our derby gear and started down the trail. I thought I'd try my regular boots and outdoor wheels (78's) since the trail is reportedly flat. But after skating just one block I returned to the car to switch to my Skorps. I should have known better; I just don't have the skill to skate outdoors in regular wheels. The Skorpians may look dorky but they are exactly what I need. Each wheel has it's own suspension so it feels cozy --like jumping on a mattress, it's just that comfortable a glide. The down side is their wide profile, which makes me feel as if I'm waddling rather than skating. I got a good work out; we skated four miles that day. I had to stop frequently to rest, which is something I never have to do when I'm skating in the rink because it takes a lot more strength to stoke against blacktop pavement than a smooth floor. When skating outdoors just having to monitor the unknown surface for subtle changes in slope or roughness, puts additional stress on the workout.

Bottom line: I need to skate outdoors more often; it would strengthen my legs. And I'm not sure just how, but I think the tension regarding balance keeping would ease up as well.

My first skates

One Sunday afternoon session, I think it was my 3rd week of skating, the rental counter didn't have any skates in my size. What to do, get a size larger? Heck no. I sat down to think for about 4 seconds, then walked into the tiny skate shop to check out skates and prices, thinking of it more as a diversion till I would check back at the rental counter to see if my size was available. To my surprise DD1 was in the shop trying on skates. She hadn't quite decided on which model to get and btw [by-the-way] she and DDF were going to sign up for roller derby.

The declaration about derby didn't register at the time but I recall feeling the excitement in the girls. It didn't take long before I decide to participate in this shopping fever and buy a pair of skates too. Logic: even if I only skated occasionally I'd never again have to face the "out of your size" answer at the rental counter. At that point in time (June of 2009) I had no idea how much skating would change my life.

Wobbly legs

I wasn't sure if this was from lack of strength or nervousness. Probably both. Despite feeling like a rickety wooden doll I truly enjoyed my first time around the rink. In the process of moving forward without falling, time seemed to stand still. The only weariness I experienced was an aching sensation in the lower legs, in particular the front part just below the knees, but it soon dissipated.

The experience of being so totally absorbed felt like a mini-vacation from my day and all it's problems, demands, whatever. I was totally refreshed upon leaving the rink. I looked forward to coming back.

How this started

Today I observe my one year anniversary of roller skating. I never expected to like it so much, in fact I thought I would just do it, once, to satisfy the invitation my sister had sent me months earlier. She wrote in March of 2009, "please come skate with me sometime. I skate the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month." As the weeks went by the ignored invite gnawed at my conscience till I mentioned it to DD1 [dearest daughter one]. In return she urged me to go, she said it would be fun and even offered to go with me.

DD1 and DDF [dearest daughter's friend] met me at the rink. My sister was elated, waved me through to the rental counter with a pre-paid admission. I hadn't been to a roller rink since I was a single digit. My sister is in her seventies and I'd just turned fifty-nine. This was going to be the dumbest thing I'd ever done. "Let's get it over," I thought.