Wanaka, NZ

After travelling for about 2 weeks, we're getting a little tired, so we've stopped for a bit of rest in Wanaka, on the South Island. This is on a lovely lake and is where locals come for vacay. We're staying at a little motel that has a trampoline for free use of the guests, and is located right next to the most awesome little cinema you've ever seen! You can watch movies from a VW bug, or on old lazyboys. One of the photos below is a large paper mache sheep standing on the roof of the cinema for the home grown NZ Black Sheep movie, which we are going to go see tonight.

Over the past few days we drove down the west coast, getting bit by sand flies and checking out glaciers and the Southern Alps Mountain range, though it was a bit rainy most of the time so our view of the peaks was a bit obscured. It is clearing today though, so hopefully tomorrow we will have a lovely scenic drive.

We went for a walk along a never ending trail through rainforest (and over a dodgy bridge) to penguin habitat, only to learn that the Fjiordland Crested penguins that nest there leave in early March to parts unknown, not to return until July. Oh well. Was a lovely walk and we met some of the cheekiest forest robins and fantails!

We're making our way back to Christchurch over the next two days. JoAnna would really like to pet a sheep before we leave, so that is our goal for tomorrow.

Cheers,

- Bill (and JoAnna)

Gators Galore at Okefenoke N.W.R

Today we checked out Okefenoke National Wildlife Refuge and rented a canoe to explore a very small part of the swamp. Mostly what we saw were alligators- lots of them. But there was a fair number of white ibises, egrets and finally at the end of the day we were lucky to see a pair of sandhill cranes from the lookout area. We could not find any red-cockaded woodpeckers, but we did see a red belly, and a bunch of turkeys, 2 GBH (closeup) and what we think was a little blue heron.

-Kelly & Chris

Hello from Cumberland Island

We just spent 3 days on Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia. Beautiful place -and very quiet. We saw a bunch of armadillos, wild horses, an alligator, dolphins, deer, variety of shorebirds, and no snakes(thats good). We camped 2 nights, spent some time hiking and hanging out on the beach, and visited old ruins of Carnegie Mansions. Now we are back in St Mary's on the mainland, which is also a very nice, quaint, southern village. We spent most of today relaxing around town and drinking sweet tea (yum) Tomorrow: explore Okefenoke Swamp and see how the canoeing is there.

Hope everyone is well!

Chris & Kelly

Can't...leave...Marlborough!

We were only planning on stopping through here for an afternoon.....it's four days later and we are still enjoying the wine and amazing local fresh produce of the area. Harvest time is a great time to be in N.Zed's best wine region. It's like heaven here -- 72 and sunny every day. New birds fluttering around (my fav has been the white faced heron). New trails to be tramped upon. We've been searching for something awful about this place and have been severely dissapointed.

No photos today. Just imagine the most lovely place on earth and then make it twice as wonderful with more amazing wine and food than you could ever taste. Photos wouldn't do it justice anyways!

We ate mussles! And pate!

Heading down the west coast tomorrow (most likely!) to see the southern alps and Mt. Cook.

Hope everyone is well!
- JoAnna (and Bill)

Hello from the future!

For those of you who haven't yet experienced it - we'll tell you a secret - March 23 is a good day!
We visited Mount DOOM and Mordor today. It was lovely. 70 and Sunny in the land of evil, though it did smell a bit of rotten eggs. Fun time in an active geothermal area too. Mordor has a winery, that Arnold the Governator apparently really likes. (JoAnna too!)







Haven't seen any sheep yet (not!) Basically the entire countryside is one big pasture. Or tree plantation. Or volcano. Or something else equally beautiful. Here's some pics. Spending tonight in Palmerston North on the North Island before we make our way to Wellington and the Interisland ferry tomorrow. I am going to try to have Beef Wellington while in Wellington.



Hope everyone is well!

-Jobi

Interesting Movie

I would like to make a wild Tequila dance website for movie reviews....what we liked..what we didn't...what are some that you would never hear of in the "normal" channels. I'm going to see if I can use Google webpage for this. I hope everyone will contribute.

Carrie and I got a movie from netflix called "Kinky Boot". Good movie with a well developed story. And it is English to boot! I would highly recommend it. And if you are not using netflix you are missing out. We have had it for a few months and love it. Every movie you can imagine. No late fees. Quick turn around. And inexpensive.

Check it out "Kinky Boots" is a delightful film based on a true story about the travails of a shoe manufacturing factory set in Northampton, England. When Charlie Price (Joel Edgerton) takes over the family shoe business, he discovers the company is practically out of business. After laying off a bunch of people, one of the young women he's making "redundant" tells him the company needs to find its niche. He finds it by accident when he helps a drag queen named Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who's about to be attacked by a group of men. After watching Lola's shows, Charlie decides the niche will be shoe wear for "a variety of men," i.e., drag queens et al., who have trouble finding womens shoes that fit. He invites Lola to Northampton to help design and test the shoes.

Funny, warm, with characters you care about, "Kinky Boots" says something about societal attitudes towards those who are different and what it truly means to be a man, but doesn't beat you over the head with it. It has a great story, lots of humor, and excellent acting, particularly from Chiwetel Ejiofor and Joel Edgerton. While everyone else in the film complex was at "The Da Vinci Code" and "MI: 3", several of us were being royally entertained by an old-fashioned story. We loved every minute of it.

St. Patrick's day = Postponed

The 2nd winter storm of the season delayed St. Patrick's Day in Albany. We have about 1.5 feet of new snow. Not as bad as the storm on Valentine's day but not so nice. I spent most of today digging out car..Carrie's first and then mine. Winter is holding on around here.

So the parade was rescheduled for next week. I will post some pictures then. But in honor of the holiday I finished my pair of knickers. They compliment the kilt from last year. Check out the picture.

Now the question: Do I have the balls to wear them out?

Kevin

Grey Squirrels and Scottish Blog

I am on a weekly listserve that highlights invasive species in the news. The one below was included today- what makes it uncommon from the usual news articles typically included is the blog that is with it and the comments submitted.

http://news.scotsman.com/aberdeen.cfm?id=399152007 Fury over city's squirrel cull
FRANK URQUHART
Grey squirrels will be trapped, put in sacks and clubbed to death as part ofa controversial cull of the animals in the north-east of Scotland. Aberdeen City Council yesterday became the first local authority in Scotlandto declare war on the grey.....

Everyone Loves Pi

Thought you would like to know that today is Pi Day. I learned about this on the Metro last week. Most appropriate time to celebrate -- at 1:59, making it 3.14159. I am sure you could get really crazy and start figuring out milliseconds and all that... I am more a fan of pie than pi but its still a good thing. Here is a website in case you want a t-shirt with pi on it. www.piday.org

And don't forget tomorrow is the Ides of March. Et tu, Brute?

St. Patrick's day parade.

... held a bit early down here. Alexandria always has a good one though.

Mmmm.... Beer

Ok, so the food obsession continues. Many of you have sampled my brews and I thought you might be interested in seeing what the process is for making a 5 gallon batch. I took the opportunity spring break has presented to try the latest recipe, a Belgian White - think Blue Moon. The whole process, from setup to clean up, took about 4.5 hours. One thing I cannot convey via the net is the aroma which is very pleasant, especially with the Belgian White because of all of the different hops and spices.

In 6 weeks, assuming I get to bottling on time, we can be sampling some. This will be just in time to celebrate the end of the semester - or maybe not...


The first step - soak the mash (assorted grains and malts) for an hour at 150 degrees.


Step two - sparge the mash by slowly pouring 2 gallons of water (heated to 170 degrees) a few cups at a time to rinse the remaining sugars off the grains. Appearently you can use the spent grains for making bread or granola bars. Sometime when I have more space, I will probaby try this.


Step three is to bring the mixture to almost boiling, turn the heat off and dissolve the malt extract (sugar).


After bringing the mixture (which is called wort - not the most appetizing name...) to a rolling boil, the first batch of hops are added. This is kept at a rolling boil for (in this recipe) 40 minutes.


Another round of hops, some of the seasonings (lemon and orange peel and corriander spice), and some Irish Moss, which helps beer clarity, is added and boiled for 15 minutes. The last batch of hops and spices are boiled for the remaining 5 minutes.


Here the wort is chilled using a wort chiller - cold water in, warm water out - to 70 degrees before the wort is poured into the fermenter and the yeast is pitched. Someday I will find a way to put the warm water to good use because this process is very water intensive.


The wort in the fermenter after the yeast has been pitched.


And finally, here the wort will rest in a closet with an airlock while the yeast do their magic (make beer!) for the next week or so. After that time, I transfer it to the secondary where more of the sediments will settle out.

Violence of the Lambs

I've recently been on a horror/comedy movie binge. It started with Snakes on a Plane and then I recently enjoyed Slither. While we are in New Zealand, Bill and I are going to check out Black Sheep.

If you also enjoy the over-the-top horror movies, the hilarious trailer is available here. I think it takes a lot of talent to make sheep scary and I am very much looking forward to catching this at a Kiwi theater.

So funny.

Dinner is Served

Dad sent this to me a few weeks ago. I thought those of you out there who are birders would appreciate it. We are not sure if it is a Cooper or a Sharpshinned (size is one of the only distinctions and without any reference, it is hard to tell). Michael has tossed out the idea that it might be a Merlin. Anyone have any ideas? Whatever species, I think these are pretty cool shots.

Also, what's with my obsession with food lately?

Jingles Update

Jingles passed her final evaluation today and is now officially "In For Training"

Joe?

That last post got me wondering if Joe knows about our blog? Anybody have an answer for this?

Food, Glorious Food

I have been reading the book Slow Food Revolution, which is about the Slow Food movement www.slowfood.com. The movement celebrates culture, quality food and conviviality. This got me thinking about our group of friends and its genesis. While I know that ESF brought us all together and presented the opportunity for us to meet, I also believe those hours (this isn't a typo, the s is supposed to be there) long dinners in Sadler and Brewster Boland (we made it down their a few times to eat with Chris) proved to be important in establishing the bonds that we still value highly today. While the food (at least in my opinion) was never very good, the setting of eating provided the social context for us to laugh, cry, debate, console, and grow. Who can forget the antics of Joe, who I believe caused more than a few of us to wonder if we would choke to death as we laughed with him? While these dinners did not happen as often when we moved out of the dorms, we all got together for food social events when we could (St. Patrick's Day and other holidays, birthdays, Grandma Noetscher's, etc.) Out tastes got more sophisticated than Sbarro's pizza night but the social essence remained the same.

I feel strongly that this is why we each value quality time together spent around preparing and eating food. This has grown into our hobbies, whether it be beer brewing (I started with Chris at Planet 504), bee keeping, wine making, or the gourmet cooking each of us tries in the backcountry and around dinner tables. When we get together, it generally involves eating well prepared and delicious meals. (I am craving some gnocchi right now just thinking about it). We eat, drink, socialize all around the table and the kitchen, something that is near to us perhaps dating back to the ESF/SU dining hall experiences.

I guess maybe what I am seeing is that we are our own 'convivia' which is a very good thing.

Site meter...

...I also added one of these. Click the icon on the right for all sorts of stats for this blog. If anyone doesn't like it, or feels that it shouldn't be there, feel free to take it down, or let me know and I will.

If anyone wants to do anything at all to the template or add various widgets, feel free!!!

Upgraded... :-\

So - I've been upgraded by blogger. Despite fearing change, the upgrade seems to be OK, provides for a little more flexibility, I think. Try out the new blogger and see what you think. More posts!!!