I needed one like birds need boots, you say?
Well, it’s something I’ve thought about for years, long before my health crashed, long before weaving. 40 years if you count my playtime in the woods, but seriously contemplating it for quite some time.
I think I’ve even mentioned NOT doing it in this blog, yes, here.
AND I’m fed up with the regular exercises from the PT, AND I feel like I should get it off my bucket list now, not when I’m 65 years downhill with unknown issues. Since I’ve already been made plenty aware that such exists.
So there. I’ve embarked on my new carreer path as Roberta Hood. I’m starting out lightly with a budget 20 pound longbow model (that’s the draw weight, not the actual bow), testing if my muscles improve to the next weight or not. I’d really like something like this, a 48″ “horsebow”: *
Supposedly the recurve type above kicks your hand less, which I think will be good for me. I think I can work my way up to 30, which is still very light.
Time will tell if I can afford and be able to shoot more powerful bows, but for now I have to stick with the toys.
I’ve decided I don’t want to find a club and rent my first bows, because besides the chitchat being in the way of wanting to use the shooting as “meditation and focus”, my muscle fatigue probably won’t let me practice more than 10 minutes. So if I want to get anything out of it, I have to do it every day. Besides, I don’t really like those modern steampunk versions of bows! Archery for me has a beauty which requires beautiful tools to be complete. Simplicity. Silence.
Anyway, short bow for a short girl is (maybe, see below) on the wishlist, and also in case I do end up with another horsie. Keeping all options open.
In the meantime, not so short (well, actually now that I see the photo, I’m thinking this 30# not very big at all, and the 25# is much shorter):
I don’t expect this to become a regular topic on the blog, but then you never know. I may at least mention it again, once or twice. Right now I’m completely overwhelmed with the technical data of choosing the right arrows (and of course the ready made types are geared for sports/hunting and the average sized adult, unless they’re straws with a rubber sucker for a tip). I thought I could just go out and shoot and be all zen-like, not have to study a whole new craft… Very scientific, who would have thought?
In allowing myself to go ahead with this, I’m also doing a bit of “belief purging”. Telling everybody about it is yet another step towards that end. And well, my brain does tend to go all sparkly and happy when I learn new things, so that’s 3 in 1!
What “silly” things do you have on your bucket list, and when is the right time to do it? (as in: “This is awesome! I want a cloak and leather boots to go with it!” LOL – not really, but I think you get the notion)
* Ok, between starting this post last week and actually shooting a bit over the weekend, my wishlist now includes an even longer 62″ bow! It just never ends with the expensive hobbies it seems… For now the 2nd warp beam and my tooth are on the backburner.
Colour Cottage 
What an awesome hobby! And I can see how it would be great exercise too. I don’t really have a bucket list, and I’m trying like mad to think of some silly thing that I’d like to do, but all my wishes feel serious and heartfelt. I guess its time to bring more silliness and lightness into my daydreams, lol!
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Well, note my “”. Because adding silly means we belittle our choices, and why is that? This brings me joy, so it’s not silly. Away with all the bourgois notions, own your passions!
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P.S. I don’t really have a bucket list either. But if I did, this would be on it. What the next thing will be, I have no idea until it happens.
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Loving it. Just do it, and you’ll still be Ranger’s apprentice 😉
Bucket list: Bow-shoting for me too. I already have a cloak 🙂 Rifle shooting; shooting a deer, making it into a meal – or several – and curing the hide;
Horse-riding, woodturning, climbing Ayer’s Rock, Parkour, learn Japanese and travel to Japan.
Many more, but those are on top right now.
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Great list. I do think I’ll pass on the parkour though, I never was that athletic. My brother gets a six pack just thinking about exercise and I was the one always picked last, and grudgingly, for teams in gym class. 😉
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Well, that sounds just like me. Now I’m clumsy, plump, 50+ … but dreaming is allowed 🙂
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It looks AMAZING when you see people do such things, and every time we both say “wish I could use my body like that”.
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Terrific Pia! I hope you do write a bit more on the blog about archery. It sounds like great exercise but also a great opportunity for focus and meditation. Bucket list for me? A wilderness trip to Labrador and Newfoundland perhaps, I’ll be thinking about this! Have fun and good luck with your new skill!
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Wilderness trips sounds wonderful. For some reason, no cities are on my list! 😉
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Ha, nor mine….always into the fields and woods I go, that’s where it’s at! Have fun with the bow, for sure!
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The tranquility that surrounds me when I shoot a bow, keeps me positive… So much so I wrote a post about it! http://outdoorsmaninsuburbia.com/benefits-great-outdoors-tranquility/
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Thanks for visiting, Michael. Perhaps you could advise me which distances to begin target practice at, short, then gradually move out, or a variation? Any difference for different archers? (small and big) The sky is the limit here, but being able to find the arrows are of course useful. 😉
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Without knowing your archery goals, here is what I suggest with my students. In the beginning, it’s all about fun and building the foundation to be a good archer. This doesn’t have to take long…10 minutes a day is ample time. I recommend shooting at a distance you will succeed at. It’s no fun missing the target every time. 10 feet is good place to start. Research blank bale archery for the benefits to your form. I enjoy shooting at red solo cups and my son and I compete to see who can get the most in the center. Here’s another link to showing a pic. http://outdoorsmaninsuburbia.com/target-tuesday-4152015/
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How very cool! I would *so* love to try this! I’ll enjoy it through you, Pia, so please do keep on mentioning it. 🙂
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Well, if you ask, you shall receive. I hope other adventures are out there waiting for you! 🙂
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That looks like a great hobby, I think I would enjoy this. I made a lot of bows and arrows, as a child, I was convinced that I really was a Cherokee warrior, just born in the wrong place. I don’t have any bucket list, but I would love to cycle through Europe. I also want to go to a glacier here in northern Norway called “The place of heavenly peace”. Since I don’t have time for training now and going there implies carrying up skies, tent and food 1200 altitude meters up a ravine, I think I will have to stick to picking mushrooms and berries as a past time.
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Yes, I did the same with sticks and string. Does it make me sound very confused if I identified more with Robin than Marian? 😉
Those plans of yours sound very exhausting. Could you bring horses? Those “fjordings” are so comfy…
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Definitively not, I always liked Robin better as well. Sitting around waiting to be rescued sounds awfully boring 😉
Fjordings are nice animals, would have to learn to ride first, though.
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Another adventure! 😉
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P.S. I have the funniest photo of me on a fjord, from when I was 10…
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the horse bow is awesome and definitely on my wishlist too. Welcome to the archer tribe ^_^
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Thank you! It’s very exciting.
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yay!!
wait, how’s it related to my cello? lol wood and string? ;D
In allowing myself to go ahead with this, I’m also doing a bit of “belief purging”.
excellent.
aaaand, I do archery as well! ok, not at the moment, been on hold for some time. i’ll get back to it after we move home, so after next winter unfortunately. i love field archery, going into the woods and shooting at make-believe wooden animals.
for me, archery is similar, silence, nature….
i never had a thing about bow strengths though. beautiful ones yes, but just happy with whatever suits my strength. short bows for me.
enjoy enjoy!
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Well, you use a bow for the cello, right?
I’ve got a case of cake arm, so I really need to begin with ultra light – unless I want to stop after 4 arrows, which isn’t that much fun.
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You are going to have such a good time. I haven’t picked up a bow in years but I was an archer from my teens into early adulthood. It’s splendid fun!
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Truthfully, right now it’s turned into frustration. I returned one bow, to be exchanged for another weight, then called the next day to change it to a different bow. All good, just make a new order and we can subtract the value of the first bow from that. What do I see this evening? Full amount charged, no returns on the account. And I have the tracking number to prove they signed for return of the first bow. I just hate this kind of unresolved issues before bedtime! 😉 😡
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It’s fun, isn’t it? We’ve got a butt set up in the back yard. 😀
Anyway, life with one (or five or six) hobby is boring, right?
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Ah, a horse and a bow. Can I hazard a guess that you are also a Sagittarius? Or maybe you have Sagittarius rising. I don’t know if that would do it – I’m not really an astrologer. I guess the only thing on my bucket list that isn’t already in progress is to get to a point in my life where I never** have to get on a plane again. Oh, and think I have a couple books and a stage play inside me wanting to get out.
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Stage play, huh? Now that sounds intrigueing!
Totally wrong on the astrology account, although both those interests have been with me since childhood. 😉 I’m a summer child! But I have to admit, I haven’t really ever been able to match a lot of things to the star signs, so I ignore them.
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