A leap of faith

December 12th, 2010 by dad

It’s the end of Dorje’s first year of school proper, and the Grade 1 parents in Dorje’s class got together to give his teacher, Ruby, a present. If a wormy apple is supposed to be a sign to the teacher, I’m not sure what to make of this one. For her present she was asked to leap off a mountain. Safely tied to a paraglider of course, with an instructor to boot.

I’ve tried to climb Lion’s Head with Dorje once before, but about 100 metres in started complaining about his sore legs. There was no backing out this time though if he wanted to see teacher take her leap of faith.

The class gathered for a final photo – of the year, that is.

Ruby and Grade 1 before the jump

The instructions are simple. Run, don’t stop, don’t sit, just run. A surprising number of people apparently get it wrong, sending instructor and passenger tumbling into the bushes. Ruby got it right.

Ruby leaping

The take-off point is about a quarter way up Lion’s Head, and after taking off the paragliders usually soar on the updraft towards the summit. Dorje and Sankara kept a close eye to make sure she didn’t crash on the top. Dorje kept asking me if we could climb higher, so he was probably half hoping she would land there rather than Camps Bay beach below.

Where is she?

No such luck, and we raced Ruby to the beach. Most of us got there before her, but, being a Saturday afternoon, it was quicker to get to Camps Bay then to find parking, so by the time we got to the beach, Ruby was sitting safely, waiting for us.

Where is she?

I look forward to next year’s present:

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The Golden Moneymaker

December 10th, 2010 by dad

Dorje recently made a card for a friend. The birthday girl is just finishing her arts degree, and, to my knowledge, without any prompting about struggling artists, Dorje made her a golden moneymaking machine.

Moneymaking machine

News is that it’s already working. I quite like the eco-friendly design. Note the dirty smoke pouring out the bottom being sucked in again, and being converted to clean air.

It also doesn’t need a power socket as it’s driven by people power. I can vouch that it’s a good workout too, since my contribution during the testing process involved labour, not design and engineering.

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