River Cruising Water Cooler

[Coral]

5 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Pysanky. Ukrainian Easter eggs.

 

Chris got her pysanky-making tools out on Sunday. After mixing up the dyes, she made this one to get warmed up.

 

 

 

I tried making one too. It had been over 10 years so I was definitely out of practice. Ended up dropping it halfway through the last step and breaking it. That was disappointing. 

 

Last night we went back to it and I made this simple one. OK for a kindergartener... And so far, I haven't dropped it.

 

 

Chris tackled a more challenging design for her second one. This took a few hours. 

 

 

Another view. 

 

 

It was fun. I'll have to see if there are any more simple designs that are within my capabilities. 

Did you blow out the eggs first?

 

They are lovely! Some people have far more talent than I do!

 

I know when I have been in Russia - I have bought painted eggs which I think were made of wood. I have no clue where they are. I loved that egg store in Salzburg! They were so delicate!

[Coral]

6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

The bonfires are of pagan origin, way way back. Burning effigies of winter. Similar idea is the burning wheel that is sent down a hill.

 

Dinner was lovely, thank you. Lamb prepared with garlic, rosemary and thyme. Done in the oven in that lovely Malbec. Boiled potatoes, Yorkshire puddings (a very British staple adopted by this German girl) and fresh garden peas. Those were so tasty. And then my first German strawberries for this year for dessert. Ever so succulent, a real treat. I was going to post that late in the evening but after more Malbec, (decaffeinated) coffee and chocolates I was a bit tired.

 

I hope you are feeling better now. Ham and gratin potatoes sounds nice. We do not tend to make this type of ham Anglo-American style. I only ever have it in Britain.

 

notamermaid

 

Your meal sounds amazing! I love popovers/Yorkshire pudding! Some of my absolute favorites!!

 

I ended up not making the ham and potatoes. I just didn't feel up to it but will probably make it this weekend. I do feel better and went back to work today (we had yesterday off for Easter).

 

Thanks for the info on bonfires. I did not know.

[jpalbny]

2 hours ago, acwmom said:

@jpalbnythose are gorgeous! Stress relieving?

 

Yes and no. I was pretty stressed after I dropped the first one! And relieved when the second one was done and still intact. They are nice to look at, and mostly fun to make. So overall, I think they are stress-relieving.

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

Did you blow out the eggs first?

 

They are lovely! Some people have far more talent than I do!

 

Chris has all sorts of talents. And far more patience than I do.

 

We leave the eggs intact while dying them. Otherwise they would not sink into the bowls of dye. After the eggs are finished, you can poke tiny holes in each end and blow out the liquid contents, if you want. Or just leave them to dry out over several months. Once they are completely dry you can varnish them.

[Second seating]

I could not do this, I am more into cookies.  My Christmas decoration for DHMC Children's Hospital, I am behind I should make one next year!

Second seating

[Host Jazzbeau]

On 4/18/2022 at 1:16 PM, Gopherpharm said:

@Host Jazzbeau are the tulips blooming now? Two weeks ago it was just hyacinths and daffodils. I loved the orchid show in the Beatrix pavilion. 

Absolutely!  If a picture is worth 1,000 words, I would need 1,000 pictures to show it in all its glory.  Here's one:

 

[Canal archive]

Beautiful but oh the dead heading - or don’t they bother.

[Gopherpharm]

@Host Jazzbeau beautiful! Did you take the airboat ride or bike around the fields at all?

[Gopherpharm]

I’ve been having a lot of fun (and sometimes been frustrated by) this game lately, in case you haven’t heard of it: https://worldle.teuteuf.fr/

[Second seating]

6 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Beautiful but oh the dead heading - or don’t they bother.

They do deadhead I was there in mid April 2011 and it was the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen!  All I could think about was all the work!!!  I will see it again in early May this year.

 

Second seating

[ural guy]

We had a pretty amazing Easter in Ponte de Lima, Portugal.  Staying at a Farm/vineyard a few miles outside of town.  We have an apartment in a 17th Century bldg, the host's family has been in area since 1570's.  Everything seems to be in bloom, and we have kittens, dogs, turkeys, geese to keep us company.  Homemade jam and bread every morning to go with fresh turkey eggs.

 

They still do the blessing of houses, where the Parish Priest and procession make the rounds through the neighborhood.  We were invited, then this is where we shared snacks and wine.

 

 

The Priest didn't stay long, many houses to visit.  But our host, who produces enough grapes for 15,000 bottles, wanted us to stay, visit, and sample.  Which we did for the next few hours over great conversation.  With this as the backdrop:

 

 

 

Sorry, turn head sideways?

 

Having a blast, such a pretty country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ural guy]

Jazz-  Glad you enjoyed Keukenhof with seemingly perfect weather, it really is a special place.  I went in '19 on a recon, and Covid canceled my escorting the Mrs in April 2020.  So that is a place I really need to get back to (with herself this time!).

[jpalbny]

21 minutes ago, ural guy said:

Having a blast, such a pretty country.

 

 

Beautiful! Is that the famous staircase in Lamego? We climbed it in a rainstorm. Your view looks much prettier. 

[ural guy]

JP- Yes, it is Lamego.  I was there in 2019 with daughters, we wimped out of climbing stairs due to rain.

 

This time, there was construction on the bottom steps, so we cheated and drove up.  The town has a nice castle and archaeology museum that are also worth checking out.

 

If you do make it back, I think you and Chris would enjoy the Paiva walkway, it is an 8 km boardwalk, at one point you go up 532 stairs.  Beautiful walk through a Unesco Geological site.  It is also where the 516 bridge is located, it only opened recently (world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge.)

 

 

 

 

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/world-longest-pedestrian-suspension-bridge-portugal-arouca/index.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2022 by ural guy
spelling

[notamermaid]

What lovely photos from travels, good to see you people getting out and about. Have not left my country in I think eight months and the border is only down the road, literally down a motorway two hours by car. But I have seen some nice small places. So get ready for some half-timbered houses.

 

On 3/24/2022 at 7:25 PM, notamermaid said:

So the trip to Würzburg may well be postponed but I used the opportunity and the fine weather to have a day trip out. The place has a tower with a gruesome history, a fabulous "Gymnasium", two rivers, a very friendly cat and lots of half-timbered houses. Needless to say really, as a result I had a fabulous time. The town is called Idstein.

Würzburg has been moved further into Spring, perhaps May. Idstein was a nice treat, so let us have a look.

 

Day trip to Idstein part 1

 

On a lovely sunny day in March I went to Idstein which is in the Taunus hills in Hesse, the state bordering on Rhineland-Palatinate to the East. I had decided on the place as I only knew it from the motorway exit sign and had seen a few nice photos on the internet. In short, it is a pleasant, not stunning but picturesque old town with a few nice shops. We parked in the modern underground car park and emerged to find ourselves in the modern extension outside of the old town. Which does not mean much as the town is so small that the old buildings are just round the corner. The white facades contained some nice shops and it looked clean and pleasant:

 

First thing to find was food. This tiny bakery had chairs outside and nice big rolls with ham or cheese:

 

While we were sitting there, I saw a sign that intrigued me:

I do not know what the colours mean, but the top sign turns out to be the long distance path from the North Sea to Lake Constance, leading right through this street. Now that is quite a distance, nearly 1,900 km: https://e1.hiking-europe.eu/en/e1/stages/germany

 

With food to sustain us, it was time to explore the architecture. I really struggled with the angles in this photo as the building is literally askew or I think in this case the preferred word is crooked, the "Schiefes Haus":

 

On the square is this splendid edifice, the "Killingerhaus":

 

And this is where the theme that would follow us through Idstein started: the hunt for the fridge magnet.

 

To be continued...

 

notamermaid

 

[jpalbny]

Love the pictures @notamermaid!

 

And wow, that is a long hike.

[Canal archive]

Interesting architecture but one crazy painter and one shall we say sane painter. Your right Notamermaid taking photographs at that angle does play havoc with the perspective, plays games with your eyes.

[CPT Trips]

More positive news. All 39 passengers and the two trip leaders had negative COVID test results, so we will all board the trip tomorrow. Due to forecasted rough seas the captain decided we will board in Nice rather than here in Marseille as originally scheduled.

Marseille by day and upside down night. 140 stairs from parking lot to the church, be forewarned. 
 

 

 

[jpalbny]

A few more that we made last night. Chris's has much more intricate detail. I don't have the patience to make one that fancy.

 

 

 

 

 

Hoping to have time for a few more this weekend.

[notamermaid]

So lovely to follow the shapes and lines on the eggs. Soothing actually.

 

I am working this weekend, tourism has returned. As I will be at a computer screen I think I will have a look at the photos again. Sneak them in to calm my senses when I get annoyed with whoever gets on my nerves.

 

Idstein part 2 will have to wait.

 

Bye-ee. ☺️

 

notamermaid

 

[Coral]

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

A few more that we made last night. Chris's has much more intricate detail. I don't have the patience to make one that fancy.

 

 

 

 

 

Hoping to have time for a few more this weekend.

They are definitely stunning! So are these fresh eggs or hard boiled eggs?

 

Chris definitely has incredible talent though you do also! I think if I did this and posted my end product, someone would think a 3 year old did it!

 

Definitely stunning. I am guessing this is a stress reliving project! Thanks for sharing.

[jpalbny]

6 minutes ago, Coral said:

They are definitely stunning! So are these fresh eggs or hard boiled eggs?

 

Chris definitely has incredible talent though you do also! I think if I did this and posted my end product, someone would think a 3 year old did it!

 

Definitely stunning. I am guessing this is a stress reliving project! Thanks for sharing.

 

They are fresh eggs, uncooked. There is always the option to blow the contents out at some point but usually we just leave them and eventually they dry out. Once they are completely dry you can varnish them to preserve the colors better. However you have to be careful to wait long enough - if you varnish them too early before the insides are totally dry, the water vapor inside the shell will build up pressure and it can't escape through the varnished shell. Then they will explode! Speaking from experience - we have lost a few that way.

 

Chris is really good with these though it's been at least 10 years (and maybe more like 20) since we last did them. We still have a few of the last batch. It is a fun process. You use a "kistka" which is a writing tool with a hollow brass tube filled with beeswax. You melt the wax in a candle flame and scribe the design on the egg using the molten wax in the kistka. They come in varying sizes so you can have finer or thicker lines.

 

First you cover all the areas that you want to remain white, then dip the egg in yellow dye. Once the egg is yellow you repeat the process using the kistka to cover all the areas which will remain yellow. You progress through green, orange, red, and then use a final color which is usually black. Each dye progressively covers up the previous dye so you have to go in a specific order.

 

Once the dye process is complete,  you hold the egg near the candle flame and wipe away the wax as it melts, to uncover the colors and see the final design. That is my favorite part, unless I drop the egg and break it during that stage... 

[Coral]

27 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

 

They are fresh eggs, uncooked. There is always the option to blow the contents out at some point but usually we just leave them and eventually they dry out. Once they are completely dry you can varnish them to preserve the colors better. However you have to be careful to wait long enough - if you varnish them too early before the insides are totally dry, the water vapor inside the shell will build up pressure and it can't escape through the varnished shell. Then they will explode! Speaking from experience - we have lost a few that way.

 

Chris is really good with these though it's been at least 10 years (and maybe more like 20) since we last did them. We still have a few of the last batch. It is a fun process. You use a "kistka" which is a writing tool with a hollow brass tube filled with beeswax. You melt the wax in a candle flame and scribe the design on the egg using the molten wax in the kistka. They come in varying sizes so you can have finer or thicker lines.

 

First you cover all the areas that you want to remain white, then dip the egg in yellow dye. Once the egg is yellow you repeat the process using the kistka to cover all the areas which will remain yellow. You progress through green, orange, red, and then use a final color which is usually black. Each dye progressively covers up the previous dye so you have to go in a specific order.

 

Once the dye process is complete,  you hold the egg near the candle flame and wipe away the wax as it melts, to uncover the colors and see the final design. That is my favorite part, unless I drop the egg and break it during that stage... 

Thanks for explaining the process. It is far different than I expected.

 

They are gorgeous!

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

So we just completed the AMA Tulip Time cruise, and we’re on the Thalys train to Paris for a 10-night Scenic Seine cruise. I will post more later when I can compare them. 

[Canal archive]

Jazz enjoy Scenic Gem and your cruise of course, I’m with you in spririt.