This ended up being more about the dive than the fall, but anyway....

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Step to the end of the board and turn around. Weight up on the balls of the feet, then ease backwards to the very edge.

Flex the board once to prime it, bend the knees, leap up and out and over. Head back, watch for the water to come into view.

Time stretches as the world rotates.

From the top of the dive there is time to spot the aim point, time to straighten the knees and point the toes, time to enjoy the fall.

Then time rushes forward and the hands come together just before they hit the surface.

For the curious, Hubby demanded equal spousal rights to his email, so this is the first I've gotten back to the 'puter. File sent to deb and she can open it. Damn, her impatience is gratifying.

She said tantalizing. Hee.

A diving drabble! How cool is that?

connie, backsent to you.

Free-falling:

Douglas Adams got it a little wrong when he wrote "The trick to flying is to throw yourself at the ground and miss." Throwing yourself at the ground and missing is orbiting, moving forward so fast that the curve of the Earth drops away from you as fast as you drop toward it.

I want to see what it's like first-hand, but I've come to accept that I will never be young enough, or smart enough, or rich enough to ever make that dream come true.

So I hang on the news of every crewed space flight, living vicariously.

dcp, that's lovely. I remember being very hopeful in the 1970's that I might get to spend a little time in orbit someday. About the time that I realised we weren't even going to save the Hubble, that dream died a nasty, painful death.

Question for you writer-types:

My brother has taken to writing Middle Ages-set stories. He's a geek, and a teenager, so I figure no use trying to fight type, but he could desperately use any sort of reference guide for life in that era (His entire impression comes from reading fantasy novels, which, as his primary reading diet, has left him with some odd writing habits on top of that.). Very basic, day-in-the-life kind of info. Any suggestions?

It may be easier to point him at some fiction first. Brother Cadfael is well-researched and definitely a different take on the "Medieval" lifestyles. Both L. Sprague de Camp and Poul Anderson wrote fantasies set in the Middle Ages and knew their stuff as well.

I've gradually come back to pretty journals and hand-writing, which is working for me in short snatches of time on public transportation and waiting in odd places....

I like writing longhand, although I always find that I don't get stuff transcribed that I want to transcribe as fast as I'd like to.

Thanks on the other. I'll try to pimp them to him (I'm having a hard time getting him to read Earthsea, though, so no bets on my success. The boy just doesn't listen to me)

There is a series of books entitled "Every Day Live in ..."--blanking on the authors--which includes some volumes on medieval and renaissance life. They're not aimed at scholars so should provide some good grounding.

Seconding the Brother Cadfael books rec. Also, since he's a geek, you might try getting him to get some research off the net:

Some sites:

Life During the Middle Ages

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