Friday 13 May 2011

would you like to fly in my beautiful balloon

A few days ago, we were treated with a hot-air balloon launch from the grassy clearing by the stream (Wiese--it seems there is no precise equivalent in English--lawn, yard, pasture, knoll). We went down and investigated the whole production, which took quite some time: the lighter-than-air craft did not pop out of the cargo van fully-formed. It was neat to watch the crew unfurl the envelope and prepare it for flight but I realized that it was very labour intensive and not something to be done on the cheap or sadly not spontaneously. When the balloon finally took off and the van went to chase the passengers where the wind carried it aloft, I kept thinking about that poor aeronaut's wife and how the skin would never be folded back or crumpled quite right again for storage, but it does seem to be a labour of love and a lot fun.