This post has been in my draft folder for at least two months now but while I was in the third trimester of my pregnancy I lacked any sort of energy to finish it. It’s saying something that now, sleep deprived from caring from a newborn and recovering from major surgery, I have more energy I currently have more energy than I did back then.
Anthony and many of our friends engage in a sport we’ve always referred to as “piping” but is widely known as fighting with homemade swords called “boffers.” Anthony used to be really involved in organizing a leading a local group of people who met in the park on Saturday mornings for the express purpose of hitting each other with lightly-padded PVC pipe until his injured shoulder forced him to stop. Our friend John (also known as Funky Jesus) has since become very active in the piping community down in Fresno and still fights regularly, so a few months ago he came by our house with another friend to work on making weapons with Anthony.
Isobel had spent the earlier part of the day with Ama and when my mom’s car pulled up to the house Isobel burst out, ran up to Caleb and John and said, “I want a flower sword! I’ll go get the materials for you.” Fortunately John is a kind soul with a generous heart because he immediately took time off from making his own weapon to craft this amazing flower sword out of items from our yard. The blade of the sword is make from a long stick covered in iris leaves, the handle is made from a branch of our giant succulent plant, and it’s adorned with a rose and some snapdragon blooms.
Almost the instant it was done Isobel further requested a “nature shield” and John, ever obliging her imagination, set to work. He constructed it out of the blue foam used to shape and reinforce the boffer swords and addeda sturdy handle in the back. It is adorned with leaves from our rosebushes and Mexican sage plants. The berries come from a flowering shrub in our front flower bed (no idea what they are) and at its center is a rosebud so perfect it looks like it was created in a bakery out of frosting.
Isobel immediately wanted to pose for pictures.
I don’t think John has ever created weapons like this before, which makes it all the more amazing he whipped them up so fast out of virtually nothing. Even more amazing is that although the sword leaves aren’t as vibrantly green anymore and the snapdragons and pink rose fell off, the sword is still firmly intact and usable, and so is the shield.
I don’t know if it was intentional or not, as John is a big gaming nerd, but the shield looks like something straight out of Zelda, and the sword would be right at home in a Final Fantasy game.
Perfect weapons for our little Flower Guardian Princess Warrior.
