STS-126 Endeavour Shuttle Launch 11/14/2008

We drove down from Daytona Beach to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. We figured we were about 10-12 miles from the shuttle launch area and it was getting pretty close to 7:55 pm which was the launch time. We pulled off the road onto a side road. We only waited a few minutes before we saw a glow on the horizon. The glow got bigger and brighter.

A few minutes later, the shuttle could be seen. A little while later, you could hear the thunder of the shuttle.

When we got back to the resort, we found that other people had already posted video on YouTube. It appears that while they were a little closer (just across the water), their video was soon hidden by the clouds.
From where we were, no clouds were visible. This may be because we were north of the shuttle launch site and I believe their video was taken from the south. Or because we were further away than they were.

Baked Alaska

One of the things we took some time to do was to make a Baked Alaska. We used a brownie base, baked in a tinfoil muffin pan. Then froze them, added ice cream, made the meringue. Froze it some more. Then put it into the oven to brown the meringue.
Yummy!

Is that Alligator Alive?

We drove the Black Point Wildlife Drive on
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge near
Titusville, Florida. We saw some great birds as well as some small and one very large alligator. Greg & Justin were sure the big alligator was dead, until it moved, and then they could not get into the car fast enough!

Lots of Ibis, gulls, herons. a couple of kingfishers, a roseate spoonbill, osprey, and a bald eagles nest, and more.

Volusia County Fair

Went with Greg, Justin & Shelli to the Volusia County Fair. Enjoyed a "blooming onion."

We figured at a State or County Fair almost anything deep fried would become an instant hit at the food stands. The ultimate would be a deep fried fat. Take some fat, margarine, lard or something like that, dip it in a batter and deep fry it. What could be more greasy than that?

In the Blue Ribbon building, we say a table setting exhibit. One of the first prizes was for a contrasting table. One side for someone like Greg. Plastic cutlery, camp dish, outdoor warmer vs. lace, china and silverware.

And we saw a whole lot of cute and harey animals.

Mini Butternut

Here are some of the fruit we bought at the roadside fruit stand just before entering Fig Tree Road. We had seen at another stand some butternuts squash. But they were very small-tiny in fact.
I felt like stopping and saying, "How come your squash is so small? My friend from Panama says everything grows so much bigger there, I thought your squash would be huge here, too."
So when we were in a grocery store, we saw some of the small squash, thought we need some vegetables to eat anyway.
Cooked it today, taste was okay, but the squash was so small it didn't have any seeds inside. I guess size isn't everything.


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Antigua Pigeon Beach

Spent one day at the beach here at the resort. We weren't on the the beach for more than 5 minutes when some one came by to sell a catamaran trip. We told Myron we didn't think we were interested. A few more hawkers came by at regular intervals to sell jewelry, baskets, more trips, seadoo rentals. Unfortunately for them, lucky for us, we didn't take any money to the beach.

Monday, we drove down towards English Harbour. We stop at Darkwoods beach and another one were there were horses wandering around.

We passed through Fig Tree Drive. This area is quite rain "foresty". Reminded us of the road to Hana in Maui (but much shorter). Stopped at a fruit stand to buy some mangoes, papaya, pineapple, and custard apples (locally known as honey apple, or as Moya or cherimoya).

At English Harbour we came to the site of the National Historic site of Nelson's Dockyard. We weren't quite ready to do the history stuff yet. We glanced at a tourist guide. Pigeon's Point has a great beach it said. And the map showed it to be right near English Harbour. Went down a side road and found a very picturesque beach. Quiet water, nice sandy area with fig trees for shade. We could sit close to the water and yet still keep an eye on the car. Only one hawker came by but since we were hungry, we were happy to pay for a couple of Roti's.

We saw a starfish near the shore. When it was out of the waves it curled up its arms as if trying to go back to the sea.

Later we did go to spend couple of hours at the Dockyards.

Antigua Jolly Beach

Here we are arrived at our resort on Jolly Harbour. Nice suite, even had fresh flower blossoms in the room and robes laid out on the bed.
We arrived at the airport and picked up our rental car. Good thing I managed to drive in London, England on the "wrong" side of the road. Here at least the car was automatic. The only thing I'm having to get used to is the turn signal is on the right hand side of the steering wheel. The car we rented in London, the turn signal was still on the left side. I keep turning on the windshield wipers when making a turn.

London Trip

We went to London England this summer for the wedding of Rosemary's uncle. We spent a day in London. While at the gift shop at Westminster Abbey, I say a photo of the London bus in red with a black and white background. Hey, I think my camera can do that. After a couple of trials and errors, here are a few of my attempts at the "color accent" setting.

In London there were several things in addition to the buses that were red. The telephone booths and the Royal Mail boxes. And the Royal Guards in their red uniforms.


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Empty Containers & Pita Bread

A few years ago, we were in San Juan Capistrano ago visiting an classmate from Kingsway College Days. While there, Saleem and Phyllis took us to visit the monastery where the swallow return each year. Saleem, a mathematician is originally from Egypt. Phyllis had learned how to make pita bread, and we spent one evening helping and learning. When the dough is placed in the oven, it puffs up like a giant ball. Today, while warming a tortilla in our toaster oven, it also puffed up (although not to a globe-the toaster didn’t have that much room.) Wonder if these breads, or bread-making are similar.

One of the greatest accomplishments in life is the completion of a project, be it big or small. And when it is something that has not progressed for a while.

So for breakfast, a toasted tortilla with the last of the Red Pepper and Peach Chutney that Darrel and Karen brought us from the Horseshoe Valley Trading Company in Craighurst, Ontario. (Ingredients: Sweet and Hot Red Peppers, Peaches, Sugar, Vinegar, Lemon, Ginger, Spices.)

Tastes great and the feeling of accomplishment- the emptying of a container in the fridge.

Canada Welcomes You

Sunrise from the plane as we fly east from Vancouver

Time to Leave

Last Morning, have to leave soon. . . . okay a few minutes at the pool.

The sun was shining brightly, the sky was so blue. . . . the palm trees so green and lush.
The water was refreshing.
So long -- Hawaii

Topical Food

In keeping with the Hawaiian theme, we are trying to keep our ice cream topical or is it tropical? Last week we had Macadamia nut ice cream. This time we found two flavours from Roselani. The Pa'uwela Sunrise has Maui Pineapple chunks in Orange Creamsicle. The Haupia is a Coconut pudding. This one is especially yummy.

We also found Meadowgold yogurt with flavours such as mango, papaya, lychee, coconut, guava. In the little containers, these are great for taking to the beach for a snack. Also for snacking is tapioca pudding.

Sounds of the Sea

"Sounds like you're having a good time" you say. Listen to this video for the sounds as the waves meet the black lava on the Ke'anae coastline. (ignore the human voice interrupting the sea)

More Hawaiian Views

Coast line viewTaro field. Taro is grown in field flooded with water.
Here the sun was so bright shimmering across the water, even though it makes this picture look like it is evening.
Another view along the coast.

Flowers/Plants of Hawaii

Don't know all the name of the flowers and plants but they do give that tropical feeling of lushness and beauty.
Perhaps a hibiscus relative
In an arboreteum, a tree had fallen, an epiphyte growing on the trunk was easy to photograph.
Seen along the road

Saturday in Maui

Sabbath, October 20, 2007
We drove the 'Road to Hana' today - which took us along the Northeast coast of the island. This is the area that gets the most rain, so the vegetation is the most lush, with many shades of green to be seen, and the feeling that you are truly in the tropical rainforest.

Lots of waterfalls to be seen here,
beautiful coastlines, and very winding roads. The tour books say that most people leave the airport area between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m., so to try to get an early start, so we left our place at 7 a.m. to get away from the start of the highway by 7:30. We really were early, because we did not run into a lot of traffic. For the most part, we had clear sailing, though we would meet up with a few other early birds at the different spots where people would stop to photograph points of interest.
Stopped along the way back to visit some beaches. We watched some surfers riding the waves along the north shore and also stopped at some south shore beaches. Got back to the hotel around 5 p.m.

When we were in Hawaii 10 years ago on the Big Island, we had found guavas growing wild along the roadside, and had picked some, and really enjoyed them. Since arriving this time, we have checked out several fruit stands to try and buy some, but have been told that the season is over, and they are not available. On the highway to Hana, we suddenly realized that there were lots available along the roadside, so Gerry climbed the bank, and picked some. For supper, we had gauvas(the pink fruit), and 'Moya', or Custard Apple as I remember it, which we had bought while still in Kauai. Delicious.

Queen's Bath - Hike & Waterfall

According to the guidebooks, Queen's Bath is the size of several swimming pools, and looks very inviting in the pictures. It is a pool in the lava rock, fed by the ocean, which supposedly you can go swimming in. However, it also commented that if you could not recognize it, the ocean was not cooperating with you. This area was located about 5 minute's drive from our condo, so we took the hike late one afternoon. It was fairly steep in areas, though certainly manageable, and quite slippery when wet (which is most of the time in Princeville), as it seems to rain there almost every day. (Apparently they get about 90 inches of rain for the year, which is why they have such lush greenery.) Saw a couple of nice waterfalls on the way down.
We actually found two possible pools that looked like they could be Queen's Bath. A couple of people did go in swimming, so we presumed it was this one. We just compared our picture to the one in the book, and it is the right one. Although we went prepared to swim, we were certainly not tempted to go in. The pool itself may have been somewhat overrated, though it could have been the time of day, but there were some beautiful views to be had.

Beaches and Mac Salad

We spent some time visiting and exploring a number of the beautiful Kauai beaches.

At the Lemongrass Restaurant we enjoyed a Macadamia Salad. Very Hawaiian, very tasty. Salad greens plus silvers of red onion, tomato and red pepper plus chopped macadamia nuts and some fresh pineapple chunks. The salad dressing was a Thai inspired peanut flavoured mix that had a spicy flavour. One of the best salad combinations we have had. (should have taken a photo)

Lighthouse

The Kilauea lighthouse sits on a rocky lava promontory. It no longer functions as a lighthouse, but the area surrounding it has been designated as a historical site and as a Bird sanctuary. There were lots of birds flying around and along the path there were holes in the soil. Someone pointed out that there were baby birds in the holes. All you could see was a ball of fluff or a fuzzy ball.