Quotes I've found, and LOVE

"My sleepless mind wanders to the dusty shelves of remembrance, and memories flood my tired mind. I sit sleepless on my bed, fully engrossed in conversation with the crazy maniac inside me, battling controversial topics with myself. Sitting down with a cup of matter-less tea in a matter-less mug patterned with atmosphere, nearly in tears at sweet memories of sweet people. Tears of joy and sorrow roll down my cheeks, and I finally feel the strings of sleep tugging my body down to my bed, and head to pillow.My head hits my pillow and I fall asleep, smiling like an idiot, thinking of good times." Anonymous

I LOVE that quote!! I LIVE it too!!

Another by what is supposed to be the same Anonymous person, which I also LOVE :P and live

"If my mind was a house, it would be lined with tapestries of medieval epics, far away places, and familiar faces."

Another one...


"If my broken heart was a wall, all the chalk drawings of my dreams and fantasies would be washed out with my tears like rain."

I like that one too! But I admit, it is a BIT dramatic, and doesn't apply that much to my life and experiences. But I feel like that sometimes, don't we all?!

I like those quotes, pity they were all written by Miss/Mister/Misses 'Anonymous', one can't really look up 'Anonymous' quotes and expect to find them all by the same author/poet/person, they're are many 'Anonymous-s' in this world. You never know if your next door neighbor was 'anonymously' famous...hmm, interesting thought there. ANYONE could be anonymous!! You never know...*sly smile*

The Making of Maple Syrup...

FROM SAP TO SYRUP; THE MAKING OF MAPLE SYRUP

                                    By Sarah Nilsen

            Recently I had the wonderful opportunity to experience first hand the making of maple syrup, this past Feburary.

            It all begins with maple trees, taps and pails. A hole is drilled two inches deep into the trunk of a sturdy maple. A tap is then hammered into the hole. Sap will drip from this instrument into the pail; the pail will hang from a hook on the tap.

Both a tube and a tap, the blue thing is the tube, the whiteish thing is the tap.

            Sometimes, on larger maples, or groups of maples a tube is used. A tube is a long plastic or silicon hose with tap like attachments that are inserted into the tree in the same manner.  The watery sap will drip from each of these into the tube where it will drain in one place.

A better, wider view of the same tree.

            In order for the maple sap to run or drip it must freeze at night, and the temperature must rise above freezing during the day. The science behind this strange requirement is that when it freezes the sap flows downwards and freezes there, but when it thaws the sap freely flows upwards to the branches and leaves, it is then that the sap will drip out of the tap, or tube into the reservoir.

            Tapping trees does not hurt them, it is has been discovered that even after a ‘sapping season’ only a tenth of the tree’s sap has been removed.

            The ‘sapping season’ is short and limited, the tapping and collecting from the maples must happen while there is still snow on the ground, or when it freezes at night and thaws during the day as I have recently explained. This is normally in February to March, though it varies depending on temperature in the location, as some might experience the prime time to sap as early as December and January.

            Everyday after the trees have been tapped, those who are collecting go check the pails at the warmest time of the day. Most days sap is collected once, sometimes twice if the day is warm, and the sap is running.

And we must not forget the photo op...XP

            Collecting is hard work, but it can be fun! Every bucket on a tree requires one empty pail, though sometimes two buckets are needed to empty a very full pail.  The bucket on each tree is removed from its hook, and the contents of sap are poured into the empty pail.

Me, slaving away...haha LOL actually those pails were empty. 0.o

            In cases of the tube the barrel or large containment unit in where the sap is contained, a small pan is dipped into the sap and poured into each empty pail.

            The buckets are generally emptied into a large agricultural tank, where it is stored during the rest of the collection.

My Gradpa next to his truck, and the agricultural tank is the white thing in the back.

            Next, after all sap has been collected it is pumped into a large sink-like container behind the sugar shack where the sap is filtered then slowly drained into the largest of the sectioned evaporator basins.

The evaporator is inside the sugar shack which is a small typically wooden structure with plenty of ventilation.

My brother, Ben in the sugar shack. It's the best picture I have of it.

            A fire is made inside the brick lined woodstove, beneath the evaporator. The sap entering the evaporator can be changed by turning the faucet handle. A certain amount of sap must be in each of the three compartments at all times to insure a quality batch of syrup.

The boiler, and boiling sap inside of it. It was QUITE the steamy experience! 

            The sap must be brought to a full or rolling boil. The two smaller sections of the evaporator will be where the maple syrup is concentrated.

Another picture of the boiler. It was SUPER hot in there, the crisp winter air was refreshing after a couple hours in there!

            A candy thermometer is placed in one of the small sectors, and must be watched when temperature nears 218° Fahrenheit.

            When the concentrated sap reaches 218° it must be removed from the evaporator. And is filtered through a felt filter, which removes yet more impurities.

The felt filter, which was about the third or fourth filter the maple sap went through.

            The to-be syrup should be moved to a kitchen range for final processing. The sap must reach 220°, then be canned using the proper process.

...and silly me didn't take ANY pictures of the finished product, oh well, all of you probably know what maple syrup looks like :P

Just your average Saturday night with the Nilsen girls

It was a fairly normal Saturday night, and the Nilsen girls had headed off to bed, when Becky had THE idea. The idea of making a tent out of sheets, insipired by a picture she had seen...

Our tent approximately two hours and ten sheets later...

Becky, reading Brighty, drinking invisible tea, and trying not to laugh...

Me, also trying not to laugh, drinking matterless tea, and pretending to be thoroughly interested in whatever book I 
was reading, not sure what it was.


***
...reading in a tent, drinking a cup of atmosphere tea flavored with dust and nothingness, pretending to be absorbed in Brighty of the Grand Canyon, trying to ignore the elephants jumping on our heads, we are the Nilsen girls...

Empty Tanked... in the Azores

June 13, '11

Today me and my sister decided to go snorkeling in the Villa Nova swimming hole, sounds like an adventure already, doesn't it?
Well, we left around two o'clock with towels, sunscreen, water, snorkels and masks. We went in the cute little blue Axiam, and were on our way with indefinite directions.
Leave it up to the Nilsen girls to get lost, and I was supposed to be our 'eyes' while she drove, and was supposed to tell her if I saw any roads on the right side that looked promising. And we of course took the wrong ones, two or three times!
Soon we found ourselves on a one-way-very-narrow road, with tons of turns! We didn't bring a phone with us, so we were hoping we wouldn't get TOO lost. Becky also realized she didn't have her license on her, and neither of us were in the mood to be arrested! It was about then that we noticed the get-more-gas light was flashing and we were VERY low on gas!
We finally got back home, and Ben went with Becky to the gas station, because my sister and I know nothing about filling up cars, none the less that one!
They came back ten euros lighter and with an almost-filled tank, Becky got her license and we were off again!
We were told we needed to be back by 5:30, and it was 3:30 so we had plenty of time! Mum suggested we just go to the beach, so we did just that.
The beach was surprisingly not-crowded, for a Portuguese holiday. One of the ladies from church was there with her two little sons, so we sat by her and chatted for a while...
I went to the water quite soon after we had been there and got my toes in, Becky joined me for a few seconds before we returned to our warm towels.
Logan, who is about four or five wanted me to play in the water with him, so I agreed. I stood ankle deep, then knee, next waist deep, then chest deep, after calling to my sister to take some pics I held my nose and went under! It was SO cold!
I took some really really pretty pictures of the water! Like turquoise and different shades of blue! It was amazing!
I will post pics as soon as the internet stops being slow and evil!

So that was my day, how was yours?
Blog about your day w/ that ^ signature and send me the link! I would love to hear about your day! Any day! Every day!

tHiS iS mY hOmE!

Beneath a sky so vivid blue,

Enjoying view of ocean too,

Warm sun on my face,

Gentle breeze in my hair,

Joyous day so nice and fair,

A sparrows summer song I hear,

From sparrows far, 

From sparrows near,

A quiet warble and a trill,

Some songs, deep, others shrill,

Oh, for summer on Sparrow Hill!

Welcome to my 'Real Life' blog, here I will be posting pictures, real life stories, telling you a bit more about life on my island, and will hopefully soon post book reviews on! I hope you enjoy reading both my blogs, this one, and my 'Elven' blog

I will be posting island and ocean pics quite soon.

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--Sarah 'Camerie Ann' Nilsen