Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Maps



There was a time when I found marbles and nerf bullets in every nook and cranny. Now it's maps. On the kitchen counter, in the kids' cubbies and on their dressers, saved in special drawers, strewn around the desk, or at the bottom of backpacks.



After all the effort that goes into following a map for an event, it's hard to part with a map at the end of day.




To write this blog entry, I walked around the house and collected just a few of the maps I found lying around.






map for 1 leg of the Taranaki 6-hour event


       




Oak also prides himself on owning out-of-print maps that show trails which are no longer maintained, but which are fun to explore.

Girls created this map for their Map Game.



Oak recently came home with this giant case full of maps to study for an upcoming event.  They practice planning routes on old maps to help them plan quickly and well when they get handed their own map.  The race time starts when maps are handed out.




Because of my kids, I can now recognize a thumb compass, a map board, and a sport ident.

thumb compass
thumb compass
 
This is a picture of a commercial mapboard,
but everyone around here just makes their own.  


Oak's map board from school



sport ident

During orienteering events, the ident records
when the athlete reaches each checkpoint.
Sport ident needs to be punched by the orange marker
on the left of the photo above.
When Mercy and Oak go to a sprint event, they do a long course and go for speed.
Sage and Joyce just try to finish the short course in less than an hour.   



Nothing like comparing maps after an event...

Oak and Jason in the foreground.
Nick, the ultimate map guru, in the background.


Books of the Week



Swapped primary texts with an atheist friend.




Girls and I listened to this on the way to and from the temple last Saturday, along with the other people in our van.

One interesting moment...After finding herself alone on her island, the main character must decide whether or not to make weapons to defend herself against wild dogs.  The tradition of her people strictly forbid the making of weapons by women.  The main character can specifically remember her own father saying that if a woman makes a weapon, it will fail at the moment when it is most needed. I asked the Mercy and Sage if they thought she should make weapons or not.  Both girls answered at the same moment.  Sage, emphatically, "I WOULD!"  Mercy, thoughtfully, "I don't know..."



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