Hooping in Washington Dulles airport
My two weeks in the States had hooping as a subtext. In between moving, Thanksgiving, wedding, set decoration, and banking I spread the hoop love as thickly as I could.
In Pittsburgh, Jean swept snow off the patio so we could hoop. She liked it and we found a hoop class not too far from her. Cousin Goldie, who I discovered is a certified NIA dance instructor, hooped it up in the living room with me. I didn’t have hoops to leave behind there, but I hope I planted a seed of desire.
At Jenn’s we decorated hoops that I’d had delivered from Betty Hoops. We had ten naked hoops and a box of fabric and tape. Our different personalities really came out. Mom’s hoop was neatly and beautifully cross taped in sky blue and yellow. Helen patiently patchworked a hoop with all different fabrics and shiny tapes. I did two hoops with different designs. Jenn used purple fabric and pink tape on one of hers, and attempted a candy cane spiral on the other but ended up with a zebra striped hoop instead. I snagged a third hoop to decorate later and left the remaining three for them to decorate and enjoy.
Jenn & Helen learned to hoop in time to work off their Thanksgiving dinner.
Jenn’s living room is just big enough for two to hoop carefully, or if three people line up just right, we can all do vertical hand hooping. The day before the wedding, Jenn & I bundled up and hooped in the backyard as the sun set. I clocked myself good on the side of my nose and had this funny red square on my face for the rest of the trip.
We took the hoops by car to Mom’s house in Ephrata. Hoops are not so car-friendly, especially with luggage involved. They sort of fit in the back of Mom’s station wagon, did not fit in the town car we rode in to the airport (Tod sat with them around his neck), did fit into the capacious trunk of a Volkswagen Jetta, and did not get anywhere near fitting into the trunk of a Tokyo taxi (I sat with them over my legs).
I’d hoped to meet up with some Harrisburg-area hoopers while I was in Ephrata, but I was conscripted/volunteered to help at the theatre and there was no time for hooping.
Kris & I show off our hoop matierials.
When I got to Chicago, I gave Kris one of the hoops I’d done at Jenn’s and we played indoors and outdoors. When I suggested we could make more of them, we ran around town for hoop-making supplies. 3/4” 160 psi polyethylene tubing is available in Chicago, but not common.
I called in an order to Grainger, a B-to-B wholesaler who kindly accommodated my needs, and we were the only women in line at the warehouse will-call window. The guys at Home Depot were interested in our project, too. I wonder if they checked out the YouTube link I suggested?
Shiny, pretty hoops in progress
The FoxCam captures winter hooping action
I came home with four new hoops, 75 feet of tubing and a ratcheting pipe cutter, too. For the record, hoops travel well by air when tied into a bundle and wrapped with bubble wrap.
“Oh, no! I left the travel hoop in the car!” I remembered at O’Hare
Sorry, Tracey. I will be buying you a new travel hoop in the very near future.
Posted by kuri at December 09, 2008 11:49 AM