If you’re not living life on the edge, then you’re taking up too much space.
Living in a family of extreme sports enthusiasts, I’ve spent many years worried at home while others went rock climbing, scuba diving or sky diving. No more. I figure the best way to stop being anxious about others is to do something extreme myself. But what?
My grandmother was an expert at ironing shirts. As a young woman, she had worked in a boarding house for lawyers and doctors and had spent her days doing laundry and ironing. It’s a skill that’s seldom learned or appreciated in our permanent press world. My friend Faye, who is always crisply dressed, believes she’s one of the last people on the planet who still irons.
Like most other skills, ironing requires attention to detail and patience with some knowledge of technique. It’s considered a boring tedious activity by many, which is why many people do it while watching television, if they do it at all.
Although ironing is usually done indoors, about a decade ago, some daring and creative men in the UK decided to transform ironing into an extreme outdoor sport. Since then, people from all over the world have ironed in all kinds of crazy places, from the top of Mount Everest to the bottom of the sea. I don’t know if I would do anything so radical but I figure it’s worth a try.
So… before the summer ends I’m going to see where I can do some extreme ironing in Cow Bay. If you’d like to join me in this activity in your neck of the woods, the more the merrier. Here are some things you’ll need:
- An ironing board that’s at least a metre (39 inches) long.
- A working iron – travel irons are supposed to be ideal.
- A piece of clothing that’s at least the size of a shirt.
- A photograph of yourself doing the ironing outdoors in an unconventional place.
What do you think? Are you up for the challenge? No prizes this time. Kookiness is its own reward.
For the Wikipedia entry on Extreme Ironing, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_ironing
Text and photographs copyright Amy-Lynn Bell 2009
Very interesting challenge – I don’t know if I can find a place to iron that is that interesting – though I do have a nifty stone wall on one side of my propery – maybe I’ll try that- it should at least get the neighbors’ attention. 🙂
JoAnn, if the stone wall idea doesn’t work out you could always try going to the peak of Mount Baker 😉
I’m sure anything you can come up with from your corner of the world will be interesting.
I am one of those folks who are completely intimidated by them. Oh I have one and have used it on occasion. I usually try for about 5 minutes before I got frustrated, turn it off and just throw the article of clothing in the dryer with a damp towel. Voila no more wrinkles and I am not tempted to throw the iron. LOL
Jessica, Jessica, Jessica…
With all the how-to-iron videos available online there is no excuse to not knowing how to iron. HOWEVER… your idea of throwing the garment into the dryer with a damp towel seems like it might be more efficient. Clever girl 🙂
I’m ashamed to admit that I have never learned how to iron. Well, not properly anyway. When I *have to* iron a shirt or a pair of pants, it’s usually because I’m embarrassed of wearing a shirt or trousers that has emerged from the wash looking like they’d been crumpled up wet in the back of the cupboard for a week. And then I give it my best shot.
So I regard *any* ironing, never mind *extreme* ironing as quite enough of a challenge. I’ve got a board, though! Now if I could just persuade hubby to help me lug it into the forest or down to the beach or up the mountain. Hm… I might have to bribe him with a thermos of tea and a picnic basket containing some chocolate croissants and a punnet of fresh strawberries with cream.
Yeah, I think that could be arranged. Will let you know!
Reggie, same goes for you as for Jessica.
It seems to me that this extreme ironing activity is a two person job. If everyone made a picnic like the one you’ve suggested, they could probably find lots of volunteers to assist in the task.
I was thinking of doing some extreme ironing in Tiny World, but haven’t resolved the technical difficulties yet. Will let you know if I manage it. In the meantime, the Cowboy begs to know please what is a punnet? And is it a very large quantity of strawberries? The Cowboy is fond of strawberries.
Lol.
A punnet, according to the Great Fount of All Knowledge is “a term used in Britain, Australia and New Zealand to describe a small basket for displaying and collecting fruits or flowers. Farmers’ markets sometimes sell fruits and berries in plastic punnets. Decorative punnets are often made of felt and seen in flower and craft arrangements. In recent years, the plastic punnet is being replaced by the molded fibre and microflute products so as to encourage the use of renewable resources.”
The one we bought yesterday was 400g, but often it’s only 250g.
It’s unfortunately a smaller quantity of strawberries than one would wish for if one were fond of strawberries.
I just noticed that they left out “South Africa” from the list of countries in which the term is used. That should be changed.
Gerry, what is Tiny World? Is it a miniature park?
Oh, Amy, I am desolate. I never saw this question until just now, when I was searching your blog for an entirely different subject, but I digress. If you are still interested, you may see Tiny World in all its glory here:
http://torchlakeviews.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/dinosaurs-and-dr-seuss-trees-in-edenshores/
Aha! So that’s Tiny World! It looks like a marvelous little world of wonder, though that primal ooze appears a bit nasty. I wonder what inspired Dr Seuss’ art work. Maybe he spent many an afternoon liverwort-gazing as a youngster.
I’ve never really minded ironing. Odd, isn’t it? Maybe that stems from the fact that by the age of 12, my mom had taught me how to iron my dad’s white dress shirts and had turned that task over to me. It has never seemed all that onerous or threatening to me.
I do enjoy the idea of “perma-prest” clothing, however, especially as I raised four kids. 😉
Since I do a fair bit of sewing, ironing as I go is a must for a nicely-finished garment. My ironing board and iron are always “at the ready!”
As for this latest challenge, Amy, I don’t know if I have the energy to drag my ironing board down from the third floor and traipse all over creation with it. I think I will content myself with enjoying the photos others come up with. ;-D.
Change of subject: You’ve got to see this!!!
You sometimes post photos of “your” squirrels. Have you seen the cute photo that may be on the internet by now? It was published in a Vancouver, BC, paper today.
A couple from the U.S. was travelling in Banff National Park here in Canada. They set up their camera to take a timed photo of themselves in front of a beautiful mountain lake scene.
An inquisitive squirrel, intrigued by the clicking of the camera’s timer, came within inches of the camera to investigate. The camera shifted it’s auto-focus to the squirrel. The result was a priceless close-up of a very startled Ground Squirrel, with the laughing couple blurred in the background.
Joan, I’ve never minded ironing either. Sewing certainly requires a lot of it.
Thanks for the heads up about the squirrel story from Banff. Here’s a link to the video:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Banff+squirrel+photo+gets+huge+attention/1889605/story.html
P.S. I’ve looked at some of the online photos of Extreme Ironing. Does it qualify if the iron isn’t even plugged in, and therefore cannot possibly iron the shirt???
Joan, some of the irons used by extremists are battery operated. I got rid of my cordless iron years ago as I found it didn’t get hot enough. I wonder if the battery operated irons are similar.
I was wondering about the same thing. We don’t have a battery-operated iron either, and I was curious to hear whether hubby would have to macgyver a wind generator or solar panel?
In the old days, I think one used to make a fire and then heat the iron on the coals… but we’d probably be arrested if we made a fire on the mountain!! I can just imagine having to explain to the forest ranger what we’re doing… and the newspaper headlines the next day… Aiii!
😀
Reggie, the Extreme Ironing Bureau might have higher standards but I think that if it ‘looks’ like you’re ironing, that’s good enough.
Oh MY GOODNESS! This is GREAT! What a fun idea and blog. You win the award for the most creative blog this week! Unfortunately, I will not be able to participate. Darn. That would be so interesting. But our ironing board is a homemade wooden affair attached by a chain to the basement wall. It would seem to be counter-productive to tear it off the wall just for this challenge. (and, btw, have rarely ironed for years and years now. Once we left the iron on heading off on a trip and had to TURN AROUND and come home. That was a low point in life.)
Sorry you won’t be able to participate Kathy. Maybe you could have ironed something in your bathing suit in Lake Superior!
My grandfather built an ironing board into the wall in the kitchen. It was so cool as it was completely hidden from view when not in use.
I have to take out my iron and board and put it all away once I’m done. Maybe that’s a good thing after all as it minimizes the chance of leaving an iron on. That must have been an awful experience.
Amy-Lynn, you are too funny! The adventure of ironing is one I engage in once or twice a year, but it takes a distant second to a hike in the woods.
On second thought, your idea might be good for me. I don’t actually abhor ironing and have, in fact, envied friends with LAUNDRY ROOMS, especially when the room in question has had enough space in it to LEAVE AN IRONING BOARD UP all the time. It’s dragging it out, finding an outlet, getting in the way of other furniture and having that furniture in my way, etc., that makes ironing such a frustrating task. But outdoors? Hmm, you may be onto something. Maybe I could store the ironing board in the garden shed!
Ironing outdoors is a great way to enjoy the sunshine while getting work done. However, I was surprised at how quickly little insects started landing on the ironing board while it was outdoors. You definitely would have to watch out for those. A few squished bugs on a nice white shirt would make all the frustrations of indoor ironing seem trite in comparison.
I am one of the DO NOT LIKE IRONING clan. I think it was because I had to do our family’s ironing as a teenager.
Somehow I think it might be more bearable in the setting you have photographed:)Great pic!
Thank you Shelagh. Many activities are not only more bearable, but more enjoyable outdoors (as long as the mosquitoes aren’t too bad). Picnics are one example. Studying outdoors is even supposed to help retention. It makes you wonder why we spend so much of our time indoors.