Tommia's Tablet

Fall’s Carpet by Tommia Wright

While most brave and crazy souls dare the entertaining, forever going lineups at the mall,

I will be quite content with my usual day and drive that is satisfactorily small.

Black (and Blue) Friday.

Sunset By Tommia Wright

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. ~Psalm 118:1

Flight by Tommia Wright

The gust of wind at your feet, the roar of it all around while awaiting your turn on the bench just outside the chamber, many onlookers surrounding and looking in. The short lessons, the signal reviews and suiting up led to this when the time came:

Chin up, hands close and just fall into the wind.

It was an impulsive thing of sorts. I originally planned my extended weekend to include ‘one big slumber party’ and ‘one big adventure.’ The writers’ retreat was fantastic, motivating, fun as our ‘marathon’ to reach and keep a certain goal became our mini-contest. The big adventure was going to be for the next day away from work.

Then I thought about it – why not make this weekend a ‘flight of fancy’ (or folly if I listened to certain folks)? I enjoyed a stroll across one suspension bridge (thank you Becca for that reminder!) when I looked at a map for another. I walked as close to the river as one could allow, snapping a few shots here and there.

So, writing on land, shots of the water…I boldly took to the air.

I don’t have a fear of heights, just a fear of falling (up the stairs no less). Since I know it will be quite some time before I ever find myself trying to fly a plane, sky diving felt and seemed like the next logical level. That’s how I stumbled upon iFly.

Ten of us filled the classroom, made our preparations – goggles that began to fog up, earplugs to muffle the surrounding sounds, suits baggy enough to be one’s own personal parachute of sorts, bare hands all the better to feel the rush of the wind – and hopefully have control of the flight, and then took our places in the chamber.

The first minute required finding the right balance, the perfect posture, the letting go of other fears. Floating on air, actually flying (and occasionally ‘crashing’)…It was liberating!

The second flight was smoother, having learned what not to do, what one can do from the first time. The instructor, Ben, took hold during the last twenty seconds of flight, and the winds increased, carrying me up higher in the chamber.

That was it, time to decompress, time to slink out of the suits, back to our street clothes.

Time to make plans for another flight!

A few photos taken while wandering about.

Fall Veil 1 by Tommia Wright

Framed Flow by Tommia Wright

Mid-Air Pause by Tommia Wright

A collection of shots from the return of a hike in the middle of the writers’ retreat:

Bridge1 by Tommia Wright

Bridge2 by Tommia Wright

Bridge Frame by Tommia Wright

Sweet Success by Tommia Wright

Nothing says ‘fun’ like a feeling of fun and accomplishment after a night of ‘writing on the road’ with fellow writers. Many words were added to the story (well. stories) in progress and encouragement and laughter were plentiful.

The Fall City Roadhouse and Inn staff were fantastic hosts for our entire stay. The brunch above was the ‘topping’ of the time spent before writing resumed elsewhere for four hours more.

Challenges were presented, words invented and a chance to enjoy another part of the Valley definitely kick-started a splendid weekend.

To the fellow NaNo’RhiMo’s – CHARGE (as our group enjoys/attempts to keep our current standing in the average word count – #10!)

Standstill1 by Tommia Wright

While I thought Fridays would be for ‘ficlets and fragments,’ I found that the frenzy of NaNoWriMo has my mind flying in many (too many?) directions at once.

Being mindful of how some recent shots were taken, rest assured, the car was in park…

Standstill2 by Tommia Wright

Or, in the case of ‘distance learning’ with a colleague, some shots taken from the ledge:

Standby1 by Tommia Wright

Standby2 by Tommia Wright

Standby3 by Tommia Wright

Standby4 by Tommia Wright

Standby5 by Tommia Wright

Now weary of just standing by, very tempted to do something bold – right after a “Night of Writing on the Road” with some fellow NaNoRhiMo’s.