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Journal
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Sunday, November 25, 2007  Two steps closer to Africa - visas obtained! This year's itinerary is: December 19 - Arrive Nairobi Sweetwaters (2 nights) Samburu (3 nights) Masai Mara (3 nights) Zanzibar (3 nights) Depart for home on New Year's Eve - arrive home 1pm New Year's Day  Still need to visit the travel clinic and also figure out our strategy for packing. Brussels Air canceled our outbound flight so we've been re-accommodated on British Air - we're flying on free tickets so we certainly can't complain, but now we have to go through London which has this ridiculous "only one carry-on" rule which kills our "don't check luggage" approach. So, we have to figure out how to fit all the camera gear and essentials into one cabin-worthy bag. Sunday, November 18, 2007 I keep seeing this commercial for Pancake Puffs (which, let's face it, are rebranded aebleskivers) so I decided to make some this morning. 2 egg whites 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 tablespoon white sugar 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons butter, melted 2 cups buttermilk Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, sugar, melted butter and buttermilk at one time and beat until smooth. Gently fold in the egg whites last.  Wait for them to bubble, then turn with toothpicks.  Split in half and serve with butter and jelly. Yum! Wednesday, November 14, 2007 Last weekend was our last session of glassblowing and because the furnace was having issues we got to skip the dreaded "long necked bottle" and instead made ornaments using cane.  These thin tubes of glass are heated on a plate in the glory hole and then rolled onto the end of a punty.  Then, you seal the other end and blow it out like a normal bubble. Using cane you can create perfectly striped patterns that aren't achievable any other way.  Once you have a sphere, you drop another dollop of glass on top and bend it over with tweezers to make a place for an ornament hook. Then they go into the annealer (oven) where they are slowly cooled to room temperature. Will post pictures when we get them back. And from two weeks ago, I present: "very delicate plate that is sure to break soon and creamer-ish vessel" 
Monday, November 05, 2007 More glassblowing this weekend - this time we attempted plates. Basically, you make a bowl, heat it up, and then spin it wildly so the centrifugal force pulls the sides outward.     And to follow up from last week, here are our Seussian attempts at a cone shape. 
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 A picture every few days or so... Well, there's also this, but more details on that to follow. 
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