I wonder who invented jam. They must have been pretty brilliant to have such an astonishing brain-wave.
Or maybe they just wanted to satisfy the cravings of their sugar crazed kids. Either way really.
The first road-side strawberry stand makes me feel like summer is really here. I remember feeling so grown up as I strode across the parking lot with a fistful of change and asked the nice teenager for a bucket of strawberries. Sometimes on the way back to the car I would be able to sneak one out of the basket. Not only do the road-side stand/U-pick berries taste so much better then the imported-from-Faraway-Land ones in the grocery store, you got all the different sizes.
See, most of the berries in the little containers in the stores are all one size - medium-large. They pick out the ones that are just the right size for one big bite, and though that's all well and good, the smaller ones seem to have more flavor. Plus, you miss out on the scary mutant berries. It usually just happens in strawberries, since they are the weirdest berry (seeds on the outside? really?), and you'd think that some one Crazy Glued four berries together.
And that's just the berries.
Picking isn't that exciting really. Though there's usually this unsaid competition between me and my sisters to see who can get their basket full first. Or maybe that's just me.
Making jam is fun. And sticky. First you cut off the top of the berries (not very fun) and cut them into bits (fun). Then you add sugar and lemon juice and MUSH THE BERRIES INTO A PULP (very fun). My favorite part in making strawberry jam is the foam. After you boil the berries mush, pink foam floats at the top. It has to scooped off into a separate bowl, and, so as not to waste anything, we eat it. It's basically pure sugar that tastes like strawberries with a hint of lemon. Very healthy for you.
Every year we try to make enough jam to last through the year. Sometimes we make it, but most of the time we fall a little short. Usually because we've been scarfing it down. This year we were reduced to using store bought jam. I only had peanut butter and brown sugar sandwiches.
The only bad thing about the whole making jam thing is that all the berries get used. Unfourtunately, that means we need to go back for more.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Dolphins!!
Yes, I know I'm not doing the events in order.
On the 9th day of our vacation, we went to a place called Discovery Cove. It's an extension of Sea World, and I thought it was nicer. Mostly because it was so quiet. We were going for a 30 minute dolphin swim, and while that might not sound like much, the place a bunch of other things to do for the day.
The pathway after you get your passes is very pretty. There is bamboo growing on either side (we saw a lot of bamboo down there) along with tall palm trees and other various plants that make it feel like a jungle. After eating a complimentary breakfast, we wandered over to a station with lockers, change rooms, and a place to get our wet suits/vests and bags of swim stuff. They acted as a really thin life jacket, but it worked pretty well. We had a few hours until our dolphin swim time, so we went over to a pool of water. There was a few islands, which you weren't allowed on, and what looked like a reef at the bottom, but from the shore, you couldn't really tell what else was there.
After we had picked a nice place with a few chairs, I checked out my gear bag. Inside was a mask, snorkel, and a pack of special sunscreen. We weren't allowed to bring our own sunscreen, because there could be chemicals in it that would hurt the animals. While I waited for my sunscreen to dry so I could start swimming, I heard Meghan call out. She was up to her ankles in water and just a short distance away from her, a manta ray three feet across glided by. I joined her, and noticed some smaller rays a little ways off and some yellow and blue fish swimming around.
I also noticed some thing else. The water was COLD. Ok, it wasn't that cold, but I still disliked it. I learned later that it was 75 Fahrenheit, which about as cold I can go if we are swimming in my pool at home. But nothing drives a girl on then being able to swim with rays. Once I got in there, it wasn't bad. I hardly had to kick, because of the salt water & the vest helped me stay afloat. Though keeping your mouth close was a good idea, partly because it was salt water, and partly because the coral had algae growing on it and little bits of it floating in the water. It tickled my lips.
Since we got there early, most people were still eating or checking out the other pool across the way (which was a much warmer swimming pool with a sand beach). So we didn't have competition for getting to the best spots. There were at least three different kinds of rays, spotted ones (like the one in Finding Nemo) blue ones with the same body shape, and pancake shaped ones that scooted along the bottom. We were able to touch them, sometimes the rays came so close we touched them without even trying. The touch is really hard to place. Kind of like rubber, but very slippery. We learned later that we weren't supposed to touch those rays, and there was a separate pool for touching smaller ones. Oops.
We did a full circuit of the pool. Dad showed me how to snorkel, but I wasn't very good at it. He also showed me a pelxi-glass wall in the part of the shallows which let you look in on sharks. At first glance I saw two or three nurse sharks at the bottom and a few other sharks swimming in the background that i could really make out. Suddenly a shark swam right by the glass. I think my heart skipped a beat. This was so cool! That was a black tipped reef shark, which was three or four feet long.
After swimming for a little less than an hour, I was kind of hungry and thirsty and I needed to get the taste of salt out of my mouth. Dad pointed me in the direction of the snack bar. See, with our passes came a free breakfast and lunch, plus unlimited access to the snack bar. I got some Oreos and a lemonade, and it felt kind of weird just asking for a drink and grabbing some cookies with out paying.
Then Mom came back from the lazy river. She told me it went through an aviary and had sunken things to look at. I was definitely hooked. Lyss was still swimming and Dad was resting in the sun while he waited for her, so Mom, Meghan and I went. It got to eight feet at deepest so it was an easy swim, and the warm pool water felt good after the chilly salt-water pool. We went through a waterfall (to keep the birds in the aviary) and I was surprised when a bird swooped right over my head! There were birds like king fishers flying above the stream, and we saw a peacock, some sort of ground fowl, and parakeets perched on branches. We passed under a bridge and I noticed a handler feeding the king fishers fish. She threw some in the air, and about half the time the bird caught it. If it missed the food, sometimes it dove to the water and picked it back up, but occasionally they didn't get the fish back. So there were some fish bits floating in the water. Yuck.
We went through another waterfall and passed by some sunken jars that looked they were from the Greek times by their shape, and a life sized cannon. After going through a small cave, we ended up at the start.
After a bit more of snacking, lazy river-ing and hanging around, it was time for our dolphin swim. We went over to the Starfish Cabana where we weer going to watch a short movie, get briefed on rules, etc. When we got there, we weer approached by a keeper. She told us that our swim time was being post-poned because it was spring and the dolphins were, uh, more interested in the other dolphins than doing what we wanted them to do. So, they were giving them all some alone time to calm down and give them a break, and we could come back in 30 minutes or so.
30 minutes later!
We watched a short video on dolphin, got briefed on the rules (listen to the trainer, touched the dolphin behind the blow hole only, things like that). Then we (us Glennie and four others) met our trainer who took us down to the water, which was the the same temperature as the ray tank. The pool was very big. There was a gate the was partly submerged on the side opposite us, with trainers on top. Past them I could see more pools for the dolphins to swim in. I say several fins cutting the water near the bridge, and I got really excited then. I'd never touched a dolphin, but I had touched a beluga before. Would this be similar?
The trainer told us that the dolphin we would be working with was named Copper, who was one of the younger dolphins. We waded out a ways and the trainer told us to get in a curve shape, close together so it would be easier to touch her. A dolphin longer than me swam up to us. She was a light gray with the naturally smiling face all dolphins have. She swam slowly past us and we stroked her softly. She felt like hard but smooth rub
ber, similar to a beluga and very distantly reminding of the sting rays. She came by for a few more passes before the trainer pointed out her blowhole. At a signal I missed, Copper made a high pitched squeak, followed by a farting noise. We all laughed at that. The trainer said, "Does anyone want to kiss her?" I put up my hand, and I came forward. The trainer should me how to lift her head up, I gave Copper a kiss. It was definitely the saltiest kiss I'll ever have.
After stroking her more, she started to get distracted. The trainer said that since she was the youngest dolphin, she had a short attention span. Plus she missed her mom. So Copper was sent off and a new dolphin was brought in. His name was Lester and it was surprising how different the two dolphins were. Lester was almost 40, so he had lots of scars from fighting with other dolphins, and he was much darker then Copper.
Once we had inspected Lester, me and Meghan followed another trainer out into the open water. We waited for a
bit, t
hen Lester came swim up next to us. Meghan got to ride him back to Mom, Dad, and Lyss first, then I took a turn. My left hand held on to his flipper, and my right went on his dorsal fin. It was a very smooth ride, and I could feel the dolphin swimming through the water. The ride was way to short, but it was loads of fun.
Once everyone had gone on the dolphins, our swim time was over. For the rest of the day, we swam with the rays, went on the lazy river, ate strawberry fruit-sicles, and made sand-men (well, I did anyway). We also bought an underwater camera to use, and we got some good pics from that.
All in all, it was a terrific day! No long lines, not many screaming kids, and a maximum of one thousand people per day. A nice and relaxing time, with lots of water!
On the 9th day of our vacation, we went to a place called Discovery Cove. It's an extension of Sea World, and I thought it was nicer. Mostly because it was so quiet. We were going for a 30 minute dolphin swim, and while that might not sound like much, the place a bunch of other things to do for the day.
The pathway after you get your passes is very pretty. There is bamboo growing on either side (we saw a lot of bamboo down there) along with tall palm trees and other various plants that make it feel like a jungle. After eating a complimentary breakfast, we wandered over to a station with lockers, change rooms, and a place to get our wet suits/vests and bags of swim stuff. They acted as a really thin life jacket, but it worked pretty well. We had a few hours until our dolphin swim time, so we went over to a pool of water. There was a few islands, which you weren't allowed on, and what looked like a reef at the bottom, but from the shore, you couldn't really tell what else was there.
After we had picked a nice place with a few chairs, I checked out my gear bag. Inside was a mask, snorkel, and a pack of special sunscreen. We weren't allowed to bring our own sunscreen, because there could be chemicals in it that would hurt the animals. While I waited for my sunscreen to dry so I could start swimming, I heard Meghan call out. She was up to her ankles in water and just a short distance away from her, a manta ray three feet across glided by. I joined her, and noticed some smaller rays a little ways off and some yellow and blue fish swimming around.
I also noticed some thing else. The water was COLD. Ok, it wasn't that cold, but I still disliked it. I learned later that it was 75 Fahrenheit, which about as cold I can go if we are swimming in my pool at home. But nothing drives a girl on then being able to swim with rays. Once I got in there, it wasn't bad. I hardly had to kick, because of the salt water & the vest helped me stay afloat. Though keeping your mouth close was a good idea, partly because it was salt water, and partly because the coral had algae growing on it and little bits of it floating in the water. It tickled my lips.
Since we got there early, most people were still eating or checking out the other pool across the way (which was a much warmer swimming pool with a sand beach). So we didn't have competition for getting to the best spots. There were at least three different kinds of rays, spotted ones (like the one in Finding Nemo) blue ones with the same body shape, and pancake shaped ones that scooted along the bottom. We were able to touch them, sometimes the rays came so close we touched them without even trying. The touch is really hard to place. Kind of like rubber, but very slippery. We learned later that we weren't supposed to touch those rays, and there was a separate pool for touching smaller ones. Oops.
We did a full circuit of the pool. Dad showed me how to snorkel, but I wasn't very good at it. He also showed me a pelxi-glass wall in the part of the shallows which let you look in on sharks. At first glance I saw two or three nurse sharks at the bottom and a few other sharks swimming in the background that i could really make out. Suddenly a shark swam right by the glass. I think my heart skipped a beat. This was so cool! That was a black tipped reef shark, which was three or four feet long.
After swimming for a little less than an hour, I was kind of hungry and thirsty and I needed to get the taste of salt out of my mouth. Dad pointed me in the direction of the snack bar. See, with our passes came a free breakfast and lunch, plus unlimited access to the snack bar. I got some Oreos and a lemonade, and it felt kind of weird just asking for a drink and grabbing some cookies with out paying.
Then Mom came back from the lazy river. She told me it went through an aviary and had sunken things to look at. I was definitely hooked. Lyss was still swimming and Dad was resting in the sun while he waited for her, so Mom, Meghan and I went. It got to eight feet at deepest so it was an easy swim, and the warm pool water felt good after the chilly salt-water pool. We went through a waterfall (to keep the birds in the aviary) and I was surprised when a bird swooped right over my head! There were birds like king fishers flying above the stream, and we saw a peacock, some sort of ground fowl, and parakeets perched on branches. We passed under a bridge and I noticed a handler feeding the king fishers fish. She threw some in the air, and about half the time the bird caught it. If it missed the food, sometimes it dove to the water and picked it back up, but occasionally they didn't get the fish back. So there were some fish bits floating in the water. Yuck.
We went through another waterfall and passed by some sunken jars that looked they were from the Greek times by their shape, and a life sized cannon. After going through a small cave, we ended up at the start.
After a bit more of snacking, lazy river-ing and hanging around, it was time for our dolphin swim. We went over to the Starfish Cabana where we weer going to watch a short movie, get briefed on rules, etc. When we got there, we weer approached by a keeper. She told us that our swim time was being post-poned because it was spring and the dolphins were, uh, more interested in the other dolphins than doing what we wanted them to do. So, they were giving them all some alone time to calm down and give them a break, and we could come back in 30 minutes or so.
30 minutes later!
We watched a short video on dolphin, got briefed on the rules (listen to the trainer, touched the dolphin behind the blow hole only, things like that). Then we (us Glennie and four others) met our trainer who took us down to the water, which was the the same temperature as the ray tank. The pool was very big. There was a gate the was partly submerged on the side opposite us, with trainers on top. Past them I could see more pools for the dolphins to swim in. I say several fins cutting the water near the bridge, and I got really excited then. I'd never touched a dolphin, but I had touched a beluga before. Would this be similar?
The trainer told us that the dolphin we would be working with was named Copper, who was one of the younger dolphins. We waded out a ways and the trainer told us to get in a curve shape, close together so it would be easier to touch her. A dolphin longer than me swam up to us. She was a light gray with the naturally smiling face all dolphins have. She swam slowly past us and we stroked her softly. She felt like hard but smooth rub
ber, similar to a beluga and very distantly reminding of the sting rays. She came by for a few more passes before the trainer pointed out her blowhole. At a signal I missed, Copper made a high pitched squeak, followed by a farting noise. We all laughed at that. The trainer said, "Does anyone want to kiss her?" I put up my hand, and I came forward. The trainer should me how to lift her head up, I gave Copper a kiss. It was definitely the saltiest kiss I'll ever have.After stroking her more, she started to get distracted. The trainer said that since she was the youngest dolphin, she had a short attention span. Plus she missed her mom. So Copper was sent off and a new dolphin was brought in. His name was Lester and it was surprising how different the two dolphins were. Lester was almost 40, so he had lots of scars from fighting with other dolphins, and he was much darker then Copper.
Once we had inspected Lester, me and Meghan followed another trainer out into the open water. We waited for a
bit, t
hen Lester came swim up next to us. Meghan got to ride him back to Mom, Dad, and Lyss first, then I took a turn. My left hand held on to his flipper, and my right went on his dorsal fin. It was a very smooth ride, and I could feel the dolphin swimming through the water. The ride was way to short, but it was loads of fun.Once everyone had gone on the dolphins, our swim time was over. For the rest of the day, we swam with the rays, went on the lazy river, ate strawberry fruit-sicles, and made sand-men (well, I did anyway). We also bought an underwater camera to use, and we got some good pics from that.
All in all, it was a terrific day! No long lines, not many screaming kids, and a maximum of one thousand people per day. A nice and relaxing time, with lots of water!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Stuff to say
I'm not apologizing for not updating, cause I know I'll do it again.
Needless to say, a bunch of things have happened. I'll get to my vacation in a minute.
Tomorrow will be full. We'll be heading into town to set up for the Good Friday service. Right after that, I'll be leaving the church with a group of youth for No Other Name. It's a youth event from 11 to 10 ish where we hang out, do workshops, and worship. Last year I had a lot of fun, though I'm never going to volunteer when they ask for 'brave souls' anymore.
My bass is coming along nicely. I'm learning the kind of stuff right now that is boring and annoying, but I need to learn to become a better player. I like playing it, and I taught my self to play 'Happy Birthday' and 'Toeknee Chestnut'. Yeah, not that amazing. :)
I've been driving tractor on occasion. Not long distances, just around the farm yard when we're cleaning out brush and things like that. It's fun and not as hard as I worried it would be. The big difference between it and a car is that it's much easier to run over things and people, so even though the tractor moves slow, you need to be careful where you're going.
We have a new dog, Meme. She's a small German Shepard, and she looks even smaller next to Sam, who is big for his breed. But she's really sweet, quiet, and friendly, and her and Sam get along ok.
Sadly, after getting a new dog, we had to get a new hamster... Meme's first Sunday at home out of her kennel wasn't a good day for our other pet, Sparrow. Our new hamster's name is Cappuccino, Cappi for short. She's a light cream and white color, with black blotches on her ears.
I've finished the Percy Jackson and Olympian series after buying the last book. I liked the series a lot. It was creative and funny, with good battle sequences (a very important part to me) and use of Greek mythology. I'm looking forward to getting the next series of his. I also just finished The Sword of Mercy and Inkheart. I liked them both very much, and I proffered the book Inkheart over the movie.
Now. My posts about my vacations will be in separate sections, to make reading easier. The first one will be posted soon.
Needless to say, a bunch of things have happened. I'll get to my vacation in a minute.
Tomorrow will be full. We'll be heading into town to set up for the Good Friday service. Right after that, I'll be leaving the church with a group of youth for No Other Name. It's a youth event from 11 to 10 ish where we hang out, do workshops, and worship. Last year I had a lot of fun, though I'm never going to volunteer when they ask for 'brave souls' anymore.
My bass is coming along nicely. I'm learning the kind of stuff right now that is boring and annoying, but I need to learn to become a better player. I like playing it, and I taught my self to play 'Happy Birthday' and 'Toeknee Chestnut'. Yeah, not that amazing. :)
I've been driving tractor on occasion. Not long distances, just around the farm yard when we're cleaning out brush and things like that. It's fun and not as hard as I worried it would be. The big difference between it and a car is that it's much easier to run over things and people, so even though the tractor moves slow, you need to be careful where you're going.
We have a new dog, Meme. She's a small German Shepard, and she looks even smaller next to Sam, who is big for his breed. But she's really sweet, quiet, and friendly, and her and Sam get along ok.
Sadly, after getting a new dog, we had to get a new hamster... Meme's first Sunday at home out of her kennel wasn't a good day for our other pet, Sparrow. Our new hamster's name is Cappuccino, Cappi for short. She's a light cream and white color, with black blotches on her ears.
I've finished the Percy Jackson and Olympian series after buying the last book. I liked the series a lot. It was creative and funny, with good battle sequences (a very important part to me) and use of Greek mythology. I'm looking forward to getting the next series of his. I also just finished The Sword of Mercy and Inkheart. I liked them both very much, and I proffered the book Inkheart over the movie.
Now. My posts about my vacations will be in separate sections, to make reading easier. The first one will be posted soon.
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