forcing tulips

     Awhile back i saw a pin on pinterest about how to force tulips in water.  I thought it looked pretty darn nifty, so when i saw a pack of tulip bulbs at dollarama a few months back i thought it was well worth the $2 investment to give it a try!  Flower experiment time!
     The whole process is really quite simple, but before you start the tulip bulbs need some resting time in a cold dark place, i kept mine in my fridge.  I looked around on several different places online to try and find out info and they said anything from a month to 15 weeks, that's kinda a big gap!  My package of tulips did not mention anything about how much time they might need.  I figure they have been in the fridge for at least 10 weeks, maybe 11 or 12 so i thought i would give them a go!
     I had bought a tall glass container to keep them in & i had a previously bought bag of sea glass that i was going to use as a filler.  So, dumped in the sea glass & arranged my bulbs, my container only fit 3 bulbs in it, so there are still 3 more in the fridge to try again later!  My container is fairly narrow so there is not much room for the bulbs to move around & the stocks will be pretty supported by it as well.
     Last step is to fill it up with some water to a level just below the bulbs, so that it is not quite touching them.  The trick is going to be keeping it at a good level while they continue to grow.
     This is what they looked like when i started.

     And this is what they looked like today, just 3 days later!!!

     I am so impressed with how much they have sprouted!  & look, you can see their little roots are starting to grow!  & it has just been 3 days!  I am so impressed with these!

     I will keep you updated.

hi how are you? no.2

     I finished my second edition of hi how are you?!!!

     It is a super snazzy little photo/art/zine/project in a teeny tiny pink envelope & contains 1 more photo than the last one!  They are all hand made by me & there is a limited quantity (though i made more of these than the last one!)  If you want one then send me a note!  (even if you have absolutely no clue who i am, really!  & if you make things thats even better cause we can trade things!) 
    Send me an email or mail me something at:  dystatic / po box 20083 rpo beverly / edmonton, ab canada / t5w 5e6  (do it! do it! do it!)

lunar new year celebration at the muttart

     This evening i went to the lunar new year celebration at the muttart conservatory!  It was pretty fun!  Now, i am sure that i must have been to the muttart at some point in my life, but honestly, i cant remember!  I know that a long long long time ago i took a 1 day class there about natural home care & beauty stuff but that must have been in.. oh, i dont know.. the early 90s?  So it was fun looking around at the different pyramids & seeing all the plants.  (They were actually smaller than i thought they were though.)  Also this was an evening event (with fireworks!) so it was getting dark in there! i thought they would put on some stronger lights but i guess plants need some regulated lighting to grow properly.
     The muttart consists of 4 pyramids, 3 permanent ones (arid, temperate & tropical) & the main pyramid, a larger one that they change periodically with different themes.  Right now they have a lunar new year theme thing going on & today there was a celebration.  I am not sure why it was so early seeing as the new year is on Feb 19th, perhaps today was the opening of the pyramid?  When we got there the first thing we got to do was plant our own little jade plant to take home!

      Then we looked through the pyramids & also got to watch some kids preform some traditional dancing.  I took a few pictures.  Towards the end it was a bit difficult though because of the darkness.  This first one is some sort of succulent from the arid pyramid, i didn't get the name.  The flower is a Camellia Japonica 'Ava Maria'.

     These are from the main feature pyramid.  They had built a little pond in it that was surrounded by flowers & these little lemon trees that had little fruit on them!  I wonder how they get them to fruit when they are so small?  I have some lemon plants that i started from seed, they are.. at least 2 years old, not yet 3, but they are still very small, not as big as the one in this picture.  I am just happy i have kept them alive so long! 

     This fountain above was really cool, it was quite tall and had rocks in it!  I also really liked these metallic ram sculptures!  The 'terra cotta' horse was pretty nifty too!  There were also fancy vases of orchids all over the place, i really like orchids!

     This was part of the trunk of a tree in the tropical pyramid, i thought it looked really cool.  That was the last pyramid we looked at & when we got in there it was really dark, like be careful, watch your footing dark, so i couldnt find a sign to see what this was.  I am kinda surprised the pic turned out as well as it did.

  Then fireworks!!!  Yay!  We climbed up to the roof to watch them.  I ended up stuck in almost a foot of snow, but i was leaned up against a wall & i figured at least then i wouldnt be slipping on ice, so that's good!  The fireworks were great!  There were some that i had not seen before, or at least not seen used in that way!  Super colourful & fantastic!

 (these are the ones i said were new to me, arent they great?!!)

     And lastly, this is a view of the city line from the top of the pyramids!

snowflake photos!~

     Snow!  So, this past weekend i had just come back from the Deep Freeze festival & watching fireworks!  (&visiting with my cousins)

     It was quite cold out that night & snowing a bit, the snow was so pretty!  just sparkly & the flakes were coming down in such pretty distinct little snowflake shape flakes, i just had to try & take some pictures!  I have never tried to take pictures of snowflakes before, but my camera is pretty great at closeup photos, so i gave it a shot!  It was a bit difficult because it was dark out & i just had the light on the outside of the house & there were lots of shadows getting in the way.  It was hard for my camera to focus on things as well.  Also, my fingers were FREEZING!  (i have a bit of raynaud's (can you have just a bit of it?), not formally diagnosed, my mom has it)  So here are a few shots:

     Neat!  I decided to try again in the morning when there was actual daylight & i wouldnt have to worry so much about shadows.  When i woke up the next day i got in a few shots, not too many because i had other stuff to do.  The daylight did help quite a bit & it was still cold enough that the snow had kept its shape.  (though not quite as lovely as freshly fallen)

     Much brighter, but my camera did some weirdness with the focusing.  Now i usually never edit my photos, mainly because i dont really know how & the only photo editing software that i have is an old version of paint.net that i dont fully know how to use.  But!  i decided to try & do something with these snowflake photos because of the wonky focusing.  All i did was crop them & use the 'sharpen' effect though!

     & that was my experiment with snow photography!  I did a quick google search for snow info & there is a tonne at snowcrystals.com!  They have pretty pictures & technical super expensive info on how to take fancy pictures of snow.  (as opposed to my point camera at snow, take picture method) 
     Right now it has got super warm again, today it was up to above freezing (over the weekend it was at about -20), so no more snow pictures for now, but its only january, still have a few more months of winter to go, so hopefully i can try again!

Gardein -- AM/PM Pocket Meals -- Italian Sausage, Roasted Red Pepper & Spinach

     Ok!  My second post on Gardein Pocket Meals!  & these ones are "Italian Meatless Sausage, Roasted Red Pepper AND Spinach!"  That's a lot of stuff!  The title on this box says "AM/PM" & even though i am not quite sure what that means, i do seem to remember at one time doing a search and seeing someone posting somewhere about some gardein breakfast sandwiches (which i have never seen), could those be the am and these the pm?  i do not know.  but i do know that the package looks like this:

     I was a little worried that i  might not like these ones (because i am picky like that) but i was wrong, they are yummy!  From the outside they look pretty much exactly like the pulled porkless ones did.  Each box contains 4 & they are fairly small but pretty packed full of stuff & good for a snack or part of a meal.
     This time i tried microwaving them!  That is the 'ready in 3 min' that it says on the front of the box (though i only microwaved mine for 2 & that was plenty), the back of the box suggests that you cook them in the (toaster)oven for something like 25min (which i did with the pulled porkless one).  The little guy still kinda exploded on me, but the contents did not all burst out!  Microwaving gave it a much chewier texture than baking it, but still delicious!

     Inside was a lovely combination of all sorts of good stuff!  There was the italian sausage, which was not really spicy (good because i dont do spicy, stomach issues), the red peppers & spinach, but there was also chunks of carrot & onion!

     I don't have the box anymore so i cant give you the exact ingredients, but i pulled it apart & took a pic of the insides!  I have to say that i think that this one is my favourite of the 2, it has lots of flavour, good texture & i like the chewiness of the pocket itself when you microwave it!

      Yum. Yum. Yum.

     Also!  I mentioned other products before!  I thought there were 2 other ones, but at the store there was just 2 boxes of the same one, this "Crispy Pocket Meal with Kale, Barley & Sundried Tomatoes".  It came in a package of 1 & is currently lost in the bottom of my freezer.  Ooops.  Hopefully it will be found sometime soon & i will let you know how it goes!

happy new year!

happy new year!

well.  it is now the new year!  i am horrible at posting here.  i thought i would be a lot better at it.  i have ideas & pictures for several different posts that i have not gotten around to doing, things from months ago!  oh well, i will get to it eventually!
(i have a pet bird & right now there are noises coming from the other room that sound like he is getting into some trouble!  ... ugh.  he was eating a foil pie plate!)
anyway!  since its been the holidays & i thought right now i would just post a whole bunch of the pictures!  especially pictures of lights!  because that's what i love to do!
this year was the first year i really decorated my house any, i usually just help decorate at my folks place, but this year i bought some lights online & made some paper trees!  i also made snowflakes with my nieces!

i also put up a little blue tinsel tree that i had from years ago with some dollar store lights!  & check out this super cute little orange guy!  he is a warm fuzzy!  its from a fund raising campaign that the local hope mission had this christmas!

i also made most of my gifts.  all that jam i have been making!  & i made little cups in pottery & filled them with beeswax to make little candles, they turned out pretty good!

these are just some pictures of ornaments.  (i made this little deer from a kit i got at dollarama to do with my nieces, i thought it was cute!  i am a sucker for googly eyes!)

& now for some lights!  these are pictures of the lights on my windows!

these ones are the lights that are on the outside of my parent's place.

these here are pictures of my tinsel tree!

these ones are my brother's christmas tree.

these are pictures of my parent's christmas tree!

these ones are still my folk's tree, but are of the flashing light up star at the top!

i hope you have had a super happy holiday season!  happy new year.   & happy ukrainian christmas if anyone is reading this around the time i am posting it!  we are having our dinner early this year, tomorrow on sunday (the 4th) just because that is when everyone can get together, so now i need to go cook some food for it!  have a happy day!