The only constant is change.
None of us were around when men worked in the gas lamplighting profession. Men would light the gaslamps on the city streets each evening, and extinguish them in the morning. When electricity was invented, gaslamps went away. So did the lamplighters.
New professions spring forth. Think about all the new jobs that computers spawned.
I saw this machine in Colorado. One stops. Stares. Tilts one's head, puzzled, but only briefly. New sports birth new tools.
It was parked on a slope above the resort's snowboarders' terrain park. Got it yet?
It's a half-pipe groomer.
It took several days to get a good picture. Most of the other attempts were on grey, cloudy, flat-light days. The Etherknitter, after solving the ABC-Along "Z" problem, was giddy. A big smile lit her face, and she pointed her skis into the half-pipe.
Yeah. The flat light made the sky, the snow, and the half-pipe walls all meld into each other visually. I couldn't see where the walls sloped up. Too late, I realized why I was the only one in the pipe.
Picture a gerbil trying to climb the glass walls of its aquarium enclosure. The half-pipe had been groomed and ridden until the surfaces were a sheet of ice. My skis were not the right tool for the job. Terrain park skis are much shorter. Half-pipe riders are much younger. I couldn't tell when up was up, and when down was coming.
While there wasn't frank carnage going on, it wasn't a pretty sight. Humiliation isn't understating my exit from the bottom of the half-pipe, as I desperately scrabbled to stay on my feet.
But I got my Z.
What we don't do to please our readers. Too bad Mr. E didn't have a video camera. You could be on YouTube:-D
Posted by: margene | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 05:15 PM
You are endlessly charming. Great "Z."
Posted by: Kathy | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 05:23 PM
Excellent Z. I've got mine all planned but need to scan the pictures in, once I find them.
Posted by: Kat | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 06:01 PM
haha my favorite Z so far!
man i've got to do my Y....
Posted by: maryse | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 06:29 PM
I think that you win the prize for the most interesting Z so far. Imagine the engineer who had the job of designing that.
Posted by: colleen | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 06:45 PM
I can picture the scene - but yay for a very original Z entry!
Posted by: PumpkinMama | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 06:59 PM
excellent Z --- congratulations!!
Posted by: rho | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 08:24 PM
Boy,what a humbling experience, but so worth it for your "Z" post! What a trip! Better you than me- I would have broken my neck!
Posted by: Manise | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 08:32 PM
Zowie! you made it, I've only skiied the ridge of the pike, never daring to "dive" in. Cheers!
Posted by: Diane E. | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 08:36 PM
No broken bones, so it was worth it! Brilliant Z. I am SOOOO jealous.
Posted by: Chris | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 09:12 PM
Well, I mean.... of COURSE you sacrificed yourself to the half-pipe for the honor of completing the ABC-along. Geez. ;)
And it IS a brilliant Z.
Posted by: Anne | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 09:22 PM
Impressive! The photo, the concept and the image of gerbilyou scrabbling along the ice half-pipe, all for your devoted fans. I needed a good grin today and you provided it. Thanks!
Posted by: Chris | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 09:41 PM
How wonderful! The Z. Flat light and skiing through an unexpected compression have done the same thing to me. Even with the amber lens.
Posted by: Barbp | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 09:42 PM
Wow! I am impressed! And to think you did this last winter shortly after the ABC-along began. Kudos to you!
Posted by: Cathy | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 11:33 PM
Very good! :-) I'm still working on a Z here - got to get Y out of the way first an I am running out of time :-)
Have a lovely christmas
Posted by: Janine | Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 03:57 AM
As far as ice tools go, that is WAY cooler than a zambonie! Thanks for risking your dignity to share! ;)
Posted by: Jackie | Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 09:09 AM
Kinda like a roller coaster ride on skis....You are a tough woman!! Happy Holidays!
Posted by: Cindy D | Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 10:51 AM
We'll all pretend we never saw a thing and tip a wine glass to your most unusual Z.
Posted by: Dorothy B | Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 02:05 PM
I am wondering if I could do a whole alphabet in a week... once again, you will be pleased to know, you have confounded expectations. One would have thought, given that you put people to sleep for a living, that one could guess what your Z would be.
You wouldn't catch me dead on skis, never mind in a half-pipe. You're a braver woman than I, Gunga Din.
Posted by: Lucia | Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 03:51 PM
have you been skiing in colorado?
great z!
Posted by: vanessa | Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 06:14 PM
I wouldn't even have made a pretense of trying to stay on my feet. I'd have been flat on my ass, all the way down, and to hell what anyone else thought.
Posted by: Mel | Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 09:19 PM
That is some machine. Isn't human ingenuity amazing? Think of the complexities of spinning wheels and looms, of the different structures of yarns.
I'm really glad you didn't break a leg in the half-pipe, even though that would give you more time for spinning and knitting.
Posted by: Lynn | Friday, December 22, 2006 at 08:25 AM
Oh dear---that might have been fun to watch :)
Posted by: lisa Co. Springs | Friday, December 22, 2006 at 01:19 PM
I can truly imagine the carnage. Thanks for the smile.
Happy Holidays!
Posted by: claudia | Saturday, December 23, 2006 at 09:17 PM
Wow. Definitely the most unusual Z!
Posted by: Ina | Tuesday, January 02, 2007 at 02:19 PM
My last name is Zaugg!
Posted by: Zaugg | Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 02:01 AM