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Saturday, August 20, 2016

Gold

Fall classes begin next week, so I thought I'd squeeze in a last drawing for Illustration Friday where the prompt this week is "gold".

The prompt was probably inspired by the Olympics, which I have enjoyed watching.  I was one of the skeptics wondering if Rio could successfully pull them off, and I'll say that, from my living room anyway, it's been a good show.

It's been thrilling to see Usain Bolt get three more gold medals, and let's not talk about doofus Ryan Lochte.

My drawing, however, is not an Olympian, but a belly dancer.  The gold referring to all the jangly coins and things they wear.



I think belly dancers are classier versions of strippers.  Where I find strippers and titty bars in general quite sleazy, belly dancers are kinda cool.  I was on a date once, long time ago, at a Greek restaurant.  A belly dancer came out and danced among the tables.  All the while, she balanced a lit candle on her head while still making all those coins she wore jangle away.  My date stuck a dollar bill in her ample cleavage.  It was a fun night.




And speaking of athletic endeavors, today is the running of the Pikes Peak Ascent where runners race 13 miles to the top of the peak.  Wolfgang decided to do it again with a couple of friends this year.



He'd probably be the first to admit that he didn't do a whole lotta training.  I asked him last weekend if he was ready, and he replied with a tentative, "yeah?"

I went out for a run this morning and it was noticeably chilly.  I looked toward the peak and may have seen a dusting of snow on top.  But the skies were clearing and it looked to be a good day for the event.



So in full mom mode, I went to the results site and kept on refreshing the page until I'd seen that all three guys made the summit - in pretty good time too, considering the lack of prep.  One nice feature is that there are checkpoints along the way, so us couch potato lowlanders can know what section of the course our participants of interest are in.  Afterward, I asked Magnum how moms coped back in the old days??

Tomorrow is the marathon - race to the top AND back down again.  Some people do both races back-to-back, but they exist in a different realm than I do.  Similar to ample cleavaged belly dancers.


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8 comments:

ShadowRun300 said...

I like your belly dancer. Much classier indeed.
I have to admit I thought Rio might be a bust, but it turned out so well! I mean, other than Ryan. Lochte. And he's STILL in the news. Sheesh.
But yeah, watching Usain do so well, and Michael Phelps, and Simone, and so many more, was incredibly fun.
Glad to hear Wolfgang made it to the top in a reasonable amount of time. And yes, it's so much easier to be a mom these days with all the technology. I really DON'T know how my parents did it.
I don't live in any of those realms either, but if I could choose one, it would be the ability to run back-to-back races. Ample cleavage isn't all it's cracked up to be. (So I tell myself....)

Sparkling Red said...

Your belly dancer is beautiful! You captured a look of intensity in her face.
My 60-year-old massage therapist is in a belly dancing group. She and the other ladies sometimes dance at events, but I don't think any of them would be accepting tips into their cleavage. They have a lot of fun, though!

Abby said...

There was a short time in my life I wanted ample cleavage, but not anymore. Because gravity...

Abby said...

Your massage therapist sounds like a fun lady, regardless of what's going on with the cleavage!

agg79 said...

Beautiful sketch of the belly dancer. Seems like it a bit of a lost art in today's world. We see more people twerking than dancing like that.

I was skeptical of the Olympics as well. Glad to see they turned out better than the naysayers predicted. A fair amount of excitement and a few surprises. Too bad that the off the field drama probably got more attention than some of the events.

Kudos to Wolfgang for making the ascent. Thirteen miles uphill is a pretty good feat. The Engineer in me assumes that the runners had a way to get back down after they made the summit.

Abby said...

Ugh, twerking!
Wolfgang and his buddies had a good time. The morning was chilly and overcast, but soon enough they were running above the clouds, which made it nice and memorable. There are shuttles that take racers back down the mountain, but one of the guys' parents drove up and brought them back. If they do it again next year, will it be our turn to drive?

Ginny said...

I know I say this all the time but I love your art!

People run up mountains? I wouldn't last a mile.

Abby said...

Aw, thanks. And the woman who was fastest female on Saturday returned to take fastest female on Sunday. I have no idea what planet she's from.