Tag Archives: Kinetic Sculpture Race

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Superlative Spectacle

I am still enjoying my photographs of The Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race. Above we have a Kinetic Kop in action, just as the parade is starting! Stop the cars! The sculptures are on the move!

All of the color and costumes are so fabulous, especially after quarantines and isolation. Red, orange and yellow predominated!

Talents show up! Walking on stilts in costume with wings!

These racers are having a grand time!

A serious discussion on the Kiwanis Train.

Kop Kar, I mean, Kykle.

Mud, mud, glorious mud, nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!

Waiting for their turn at the Mud Bog.

Superlative Feathers!

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: superlative.

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I am the princess

I woke this morning thinking about a poem my sister wrote, titled I am a princess guarded by dragons snorting and grumbling and rumbling in wagons.

I am the princess guarded by dragons snorting and grumbling and rumbling in wagons

I am the princess guarded by dragons
snorting and grumbling and rumbling in wagons
I am the princess surrounded by briars
with wretchedly nasty folk starting briar fires
I am the princess with long, tangled hair
I cut it myself and I climbed down from there.

I am the princess, asleep ’til a kiss
woke me, he shoke me, all after was bliss
I am the princess who sat at her wheel
spinning, my fingers bled, hating the feel
I am the princess for whom you fought wars
Raggedly, jaggedly, murderous spars.

I am the princess, a wildvirginqueen
commanding with glory that none had foreseen
I am the princess who made wild things grow
I fought for my daughter, in winter below

I am the princess, I wore a great gown


Now cowboy pjs, I’d rather dress down.

by Christine Robbins Ottaway

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I did not want to be a princess when I was a girl. It seemed like a dead end career. The happiest day of a girl’s life was when she got married and what happened after that? Well, in the Disney animated movies, all adult women were either evil witches or evil stepmothers, or dead in childbirth. Until recently there were no live adult women on the throne who were not evil. And certainly the Queen in Frozen II has been attacked mercilessly by the Internet for being a woman without a man. Perhaps it would be okay if she were named Elizabeth.

I wanted to be a superheroine, not a princess. A secret identity was great and Spiderman had just as much angst as I had. I could be myself AND a superheroine. Princess seemed impossible and you had to be nice all the time and you had to talk to mice or spin straw into gold or be the daughter of a king. I did not want it.

Once I went to the Unitarian Church and my minister gave a sermon on each of the four types of Unitarians. That day was about mystics. I thought “Mystics, what hooey!” but by the end of the sermon I thought, oh, I’m a mystic. And a secret romantic. How exactly do I square that with my refusal to have anything to do with Princesses.

My sister was much more comfortable with the Princess Archetype than I was. I wanted a career that would support me and children, because even if my wedding was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, I still noted that half of marriages ended in divorce. And what about men? Almost no one celebrates the virgin male and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything about marriage being the happiest day of a man’s life. What is the story there?

My version is titled: I am the princess

I am the princess guarded by logic
By science, degrees and words pedagogic
I am the princess staying in school
seeming obedient to misogynist rule
I rack up a degree, residency next
study the landscape, study the texts

I am the princess who longs for a kiss
various frogs taste worse than horse piss
I am the princess flaying a man
who was already dead, to learn what I can
I am the princess, no wars fought for me
I fly under the radar, no one can see

I am the princess, perhaps I’m a queen
hide in a small town, nearly unseen
Treating my people while staying awake
Try to avoid being burned at the stake

I was a princess hiding from most
raising my offspring, I’d rather not roast

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The photograph is from the Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race and is not me or my sister.

My sister’s blog: https://e2grundoon.blogspot.com/2009/01/chemo-not-in-vain.html

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Strangels

Angels can take peculiar form.

This is for my Ragtag Daily Prompt: angel.

These Strangels are spotted at the Kinetic Sculpture Race in 2015.

This is during the water trial, to make sure that they float. The sculptures have to be human powered and have to move on land, through mud and through water. The water temperature is between 50-55 degrees, which is cold.

The Strangels are support for this Kinetic Racer.

We have angelic Kinetic Kops too. Sometimes the structures look so peculiar that people forget that they can weigh tons. You do not want to be run over by one.

A Kinetic Kop with wings.
Another racer. It’s a lot to paddle.

Hooray for Strangels and all the other racers. I hope Kinetic can happen in 2022.

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Kinetic Koterie

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: coterie.

I love the Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Sculpture Race.

There certainly is an in crowd, a coterie, but everyone is welcome! Hapless tourists wondering what the heck is happening are protected by the virtuous and kostumed Kinetic Kops. The sculptures have to go by land, by sea and through mud. Some of them are heavy and with the silly costumes people forget to stay out of the way! The sculptures have a water test and a brake test, down a steep hill. There is a parade, competitive bribery of judges and fierce competition to win the Most Mediocre!

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squat

For the Ragtag Daily Prompt: squat.

What comes to mind is Taj Mahal’s Squat that Rabbit, a song that always makes me want to dance!

I also want to know what it means. There’s a rather nice discussion at mudcat.org.

The photograph is from the Kinetic Sculpture Festival. And here’s a bonus… Squat that Octopus.


person dressed as octopus
squat that octopus
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nana rat

Happy Friday! And back to the Kinetic Sculpture Festival!

I took a photograph of this delightful rat and her ride:

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I decided to name it a Banana Rat, but there actually ARE Banana Rats. Images. They are also called hutia and live in the Caribbean Islands. I have never heard of hutia before.

I learn wonderful new things every day!

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Kudos to Kops

The Kinetic Kops do krowd kontrol for the Kinetic Sculpture Race. Mostly to keep spectators, especially spectators with cameras, from being run over. Some of these machines are large and heavy and may not stop on a dime. Some of them went down to the water fast, gathering momentum, with spectators lining the way. People get distracted by the costumes and glitter and forget that these are built to climb hills, go through mud, go on water, human powered.

So Kudos to Kinetic Kops for protecting us all!