Base jumping?

Ever heard of base jumping? It's an extreme sport where you strap a parachute to your back and jump off the side of a mountain. Well, minus the parachute and the fact I didn't jump willingly, and you have an extreme form of gardening in our front yard!

Yes, I base jumped from the top of our wall, as I was removing a sapling tree by the roots. I only fell about 3 metres down the 6 metre drop, but it was the fact the side of my face collected the dirt as I somersaulted down, which left me feeling sore and sorry for myself.

You can see the offending tree at top of the brick wall. It was formerly at the top of the footpath I was carving out, when I decided it had to go. I cut off many of the roots that were holding it in place, but it was the tap root I was finding harder to get to. Solution, push the tree forwards.

Believe it or not, I took precautions too. I only pushed as far as I could still hold my weight on top of the footpath. I mean, it would be silly to push so far that you couldn't stop yourself from falling if it snapped! Unfortunately, it decided to snap just as I was making sure my feet were in the right place so that I *wouldn't* fall over.

This is the picture taken from above. It all happened so quickly too. I heard the crack just as my feet were changing positions. There was just enough weight in the favour of gravity to tip me over the edge. I can remember thinking, "I hope I don't crack my head on the wall," but then the side of my face made contact with the dirt - doing a neat little somersault and landing on my butt again.

Thankfully my head came nowhere near the concrete blocks, LOL. But boy, my face was sure throbbing afterwards. To top it all off, I had an eye full of dirt too.

Dave was inside, and received quite a freight when he came out and saw me at the top of the brick wall, holding the side of my face. I have to say, he was very calm. He got our daughter to collect my shoes, which had fallen off, and they both helped me hobble inside. My heroes!

After a shower and a couple of aspirins, I was back out in the garden watching Dave turn the compost again. Do you want to know the funny thing though? After 3 years living here, I am the first person to Christen, falling from the top of the wall. I hope to be the last as well. As soon as the footpath is cut, we'll be putting a full railing in.

Although my ligaments feel a little stiff today, I have to say my recovery has been relatively quick. Apart from a scratch on my leg and some minor grazing on my forearms (plus one slightly numb cheek bone) I was very lucky. Dave said it made him realise how quickly things can go wrong. We've agreed we won't be doing any more digging on the wall unless both of us are present.

I've got to say though, I think I'm in love with our wall - more than before. It has made our experience here, all the more richer. I hope it won't be the death of me, LOL, instead, I hope we remember the extreme sport of putting it all together.

Our wall...our beautiful; often painful; wall of bruises and memories.