Surprises

Hello Dear Reader,

Surprises. An interesting topic and an intriguing word. This past few days, I have had a couple of very pleasing surprises, hence my choice. Surprises can appear in a number of forms. The first surprise was at a recent archery county training day. Now, for those who don’t know, I am becoming very passionate about archery. I guess it was there since I was young, watching Robin Hood on films and television. It took me far too long before I found it as a sport myself.

In the past, many of my archery blogs concentrated on my progress or training. This particular day, the county squad had planned a series of coaching, equipment talks and practice. The surprise came in three parts really. First to find that Lloyd Brown, the head coach of Archery GB had kindly given his time to talk and coach.

The second surprise was how much of a confidence boost I felt from just 5 minutes of coaching with Lloyd. Like everyone else, I had the chance to be watched and given advice on what to work on. It is surprising just how much you can get from the best in a short space of time.

The third surprise came at the end. Having spent most of the morning shooting, I reckoned about 120 arrows, I had the privilege of demonstrating the warm downs. I was given only a few moments notice which meant I had no chance to worry. To do these exercises in front of 50 other archers was fascinating as one character might say. There was one exercise, the Superman, which demanded great control. Feel free to google it. I managed it. Surprised me I could still do them.

So the day had many pleasant surprises all of which made me feel very good.

The next surprise again was a pleasant one as well. Another passion of mine is astronomy. In fact some say I have a few too many passions and not enough time. Astronomy is full of surprises. You look up into the night sky and see the wonders. I have a small telescope which I do use from time to time. I decided to try my hand at something. I have observed the Moon often, seen the details of the craters, the seas and the mountains. It is amazing to see. My telescope has allowed me to view a few more distant objects such as Jupiter and Saturn. I set the telescope on the Moon, it was half full and bright. Then I took my iPhone and attempted to capture the picture. The results were remarkable. For a hand held device, held over an eye piece here is one of the shots I got.

It was a surprise just how good they turned out. I surprised myself. Another good surprise at that. A few others have seen the main picture which is on the sky at night web page. It is interesting when you try things and they turn out better than expected.Surprises come in many forms and ways. The past few surprises have made me feel very good. You do have to take surprises when they come along especially the good ones. There is always that nasty surprise lurking in the background. The problem with a surprise is it’s very nature, unknown. Adapting to that change meant I took in a lot in a short time.

This weekend will also bring Oscar surprises. The Oscars are often well contested in their own way. This year the clear winner appears to be a slice of American history. However, which part of that history might just be a surprise. At the BAFTA’s, the surprise came in the film Argo. I think that will be the surprise of the night. Will the same surprise be in store for this years Oscars? Only time will tell. Some will certainly want to forget the surprises of the night, I am very sure of that.

Tagline – Surprises. Small moments of joy or times we wish to forget.