Sheet Forts!

We went to this awesome sheet fort building event at The Apathy Rehabilitation Place. Full of so much creativity and community and the kind of people that make Portland a place I love to live! I mean, what could be cooler than a bunch of adults (and a handful of kids) building sheet forts? There was such a great tribal feeling, and the kids were welcomed and included in everything that happened.

Orion really liked their sign:
We started out by going around the room and telling why we like sheet forts. Then we divided into teams with numbered spaces and a set amount of structures and and supplies. You could use whatever you brought with you - wish I would have known - I would have brought more than just sheets! We also had play money we could buy a bit more stuff with if we chose to. Here is Orion, guarding our tripod.
Akasha watching the goings on.
Fort kids!
Cool upstairs area being "fortified".
There was even an inspector, complete with funny hat and accent, going around checking to see if our forts were safe and stable and making suggestions.
Busy fort builders.
This was our fort on the left. It had a crawl through door. :) One guy had a ball of twine and rigged it up so that yellow sheet could be pulled up and down to open and close. Notice how the sheets are held together with binder clips - a must for any serious fort building operation - must buy some!
Adornments going on at the neighboring fort.
This is our fort, from inside, looking up. Yes, that is a bike light clipped to the ceiling!
During visiting time - I was inside and this was somebody peeking in.
More people checking out our fort, this time from the outside.
This isn't the greatest photo, but I liked it because you can see the glow of the red bike light, and I think the white light looks kinda like a moon!
The kids all wanted to visit the upstairs fort!
Orion wanted me to take a picture of the play money.
Then it was time to tear down all the individual forts and go into freeforall communal turn the whole place into one big giant sheet fort mode! The ball of string we had used was amazingly thrown over this bar in the hopes of hoisting some of the sheets high.
Up, up, up it went, and then... the string broke! It was attempted again with multiple thicknesses to the same result. Oh well.
The scene from underneathe.
And from above.
Orion build this little fort in the corner and declared it a "head fort" because it was only big enough to fit his head lol.
Akasha enjoying some pillow time.

When we were done, there was an interesting discussion about how people felt about the process. It was fascinating to hear how some people enjoyed the group experience while others felt a sense of being out of control. I loved it! I had a beautiful sense of trust that it would come out exactly as it was supposed to. It reminded me of building a community altar. It can be something different with just the addition or subtraction of one person, but it is always perfect.
And how did the night end? With a story of course! That is Orion's head with the brown shirt, right front and center. :)
The dismantling... That is our sheet attached at the top.
It was funny because I had been looking for it for awhile and couldn't spot it. Turns out it was right in the center, integral to the whole design, connected to several other sheets, which were in turn connected to many more. Mmmm, what a nice place to be. Now I am reminded of The Web of Life. Sheet forts - a metaphor for life - who knew?!