L. and Fino have been enjoying shooting arrows with a couple of used bows they picked up recently. So when one of her friends came over yesterday, L. wanted her friend to try it too.

After reviewing the safety rules of the activity (i.e., don't go after arrows until everyone's bow is on the ground and don't point arrows at each other), Fino sat back and watched them try to hit the target - which wasn't very often he told me later.

With L. being a lefty (actually both girls and Fino are, I'm the oddball being right-handed) can be tricky with some activities (like trying to teach the girls to knit!), it's taking her a little while to learn to aim her bow correctly (no groove on the bow on her shooting side). Since buying specialized equipment designed for a southpaw is not typically in the family budget, Fino usually tries to find a way to make what we have work for him and the girls.

Neither of the girls hit the target much but they had a good time trying.

At one point L.'s friend came close to hitting a chicken and that was cause for a lot of laughing and bad jokes about dinner and the intelligence of poultry. Well, it was funny until G. heard about it. She was distressed at the possibility that one of her beloved chickens could have been injured. The archers were getting tired anyway so opted to stop shooting and give the chickens free reign over the yard again.

L. reports today that she's hitting the target more but now she has a blister on her thumb from "practicing too much."

It's rough learning to be an archer.

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