You did what?

It was quite cold today, although not as cold as yesterday. Yesterday was a good day to stay inside and be prepared to keep warm. And surf the web of course, which is where I found this, about blowing bubbles when it’s really really cold.

I had not heard about how to make bubble mixture with sugar in it so I rummaged around and found this as a guide.

And then I bundled up and went outside and tried it. My problem was that I didn’t have any bubble blowing wands and I didn’t have any straws. I did have some funnels and some funnel-like spoons used for filling salt and pepper shakers and herb jars etc. Would it work?

frozen bubbles
frozen bubbles 2frozen bubbles 3

It did, although it was hard to direct the bubbles to land on anything close enough to see. The bubbles would float away and sometimes I could see them freezing and then they’d fall down and break. The ones that landed close by without breaking were quite cool (literally!) and became leathery. When they started to break they tore instead of popping and peeled away.

I’m going to go out later when it’s colder and try again with the rested soap mixture.

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Human meets Technology

I was trying to reply to a former co-worker’s tweet about someone he’d seen wearing plastic grocery bags over UGG boots. I don’t much like UGG, but when I replied, auto-correct did this:

uggs

which I think just goes to show that my technology has learned that I probably know more about Norse mythology than I do about current fashion trends.

And it’s a great auto-correct to start off 2014!

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Deep in the Heart of Winter

There are recordings out there of my Dad, saying “Man is it cold” when it was minus twenty or so. One day in the later eighties or early nineties, here in Brainard NY I got to experience minus thirty-five one morning. I remember how squeaky the snow was and how I wore many layers and a winter coat with my shaker cloak over the top of the whole thing.

Last night was quite cold and windy and it had snowed during the day and promised more during the night. And sure enough, a nice little power outage to boot. Oh National Grid and Fairpoint you just never fail to deliver. National Grid has a website you can access to see where the outages are and expected time of return of service. The power kept coming on for just a moment, almost every hour. Came back on to stay around two in the morning.

Outages

The cats and I were quite comfy but if it had been out much longer I would have had to start shutting off water feeds etc. I left the heat on a little higher today just to help avoid problems.

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Happy Birthday J.R.R.

Hard on the heels of part two of Peter Jackson’s portrayal of The Hobbit, here we’ve reached the annual observance of J.R.R. Tolkien’s birthday.

…the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master’s, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodo’s side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep.

~~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, Book II, The Land of Shadow.

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Books of Our Youth

I don’t know why this book ended up with me. I just remember that it was always on a bookshelf and that it has lots of markers of mine in it. Do they still make books like this? I can’t begin to explain everything this book has in it: Sonnets from the Portuguese, excerpts from Les Miserable, Oscar Wilde, Lincoln, Wordsworth. A gazillion quotes. Many many poems. The previous post from Fra Giovanni. A taste of many things. A story called The Master of the Inn which is dear to my heart and vaguely set in the Albany area.

One Thousand Beautiful Things

I only know that if you need a little read, this is a great book.

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