Monday, April 09, 2007
Little Trips
Our second trip:
Just recently, on a cold April morning, a caravan of cars headed towards a sugar shack.
Anxious children and I assume also some lovers of sweets were as anxious to taste their first maple syrup on pancakes that were served.
Ahhhhh..... the warmth near this furnace could be felt that far away. Didn't I come closer with my leather glove, I had to remove it right away as the heat on my fingers was too much. We wanted to stay there, the three children and I to smell the sugar water boiling.
I had already read stories about the sugar shack to the children before coming over even how in the olden days if they boiled the syrup longer, they would get maple sugar. That's what they used to make apple pies and other desserts.
The three children I had that morning wanted a closer look inside some buckets. So we had to search for some lower ones.
And here they are trying to peek inside. Even with a cover on, we spotted a few bugs floating on top.
That's the sap that will become maple syrup eventually. It takes 40 buckets to make a little amount of syrup. Just imagine the work involved for such a small amount and yet it's all worth it in the end.
The aboriginals knew all about the sap running and how to convert it to a syrup and then sugar. They were the pioneers and I say "chapeau" to them.
Just recently, on a cold April morning, a caravan of cars headed towards a sugar shack.
Anxious children and I assume also some lovers of sweets were as anxious to taste their first maple syrup on pancakes that were served.
Ahhhhh..... the warmth near this furnace could be felt that far away. Didn't I come closer with my leather glove, I had to remove it right away as the heat on my fingers was too much. We wanted to stay there, the three children and I to smell the sugar water boiling.
I had already read stories about the sugar shack to the children before coming over even how in the olden days if they boiled the syrup longer, they would get maple sugar. That's what they used to make apple pies and other desserts.
The three children I had that morning wanted a closer look inside some buckets. So we had to search for some lower ones.
And here they are trying to peek inside. Even with a cover on, we spotted a few bugs floating on top.
That's the sap that will become maple syrup eventually. It takes 40 buckets to make a little amount of syrup. Just imagine the work involved for such a small amount and yet it's all worth it in the end.
The aboriginals knew all about the sap running and how to convert it to a syrup and then sugar. They were the pioneers and I say "chapeau" to them.
Little Trips
Our first trip:
Every year, our school takes little trips. Two so far I have been able to take pictures of. The first one we went to is at the Biodome in Montreal.
The favorite section we all drifted to, because we were cold and wanted a bit of summer warmth, was the tropical rain forest. 
We stayed watching these littlest monkeys called the marmosets for quite a while. They were chasing each other, catching insects and eating them, making noises. And then we spotted another kind of marmosets which is the lion marmoset.
We knew that our time was quite limited and couldn't stay to watch a new baby that was just being born two days prior.
I didn't touch the colour on this bird at all. This is it's real colour. To see this bright red bird flying in front of your eyes is quite something. There also we wanted to stay and see what he would do. His objective was the little stream below.
A meany meany was camouflaged so well that we had to look hard above the rocks as some children kept pointing up. This one was not taking a siesta yet. He was too busy thinking and plotting.
Just couldn't resist these ducks while we were finally heading towards the Canadian side. The cold artic air could be felt as we were getting closer and closer.
Yep. Penguins. Tons of them. Some were swimming, courting, sleeping and just being penguins.
They were also popular among our elementary children as they were studying and writing about them.
Every year, our school takes little trips. Two so far I have been able to take pictures of. The first one we went to is at the Biodome in Montreal.
The favorite section we all drifted to, because we were cold and wanted a bit of summer warmth, was the tropical rain forest. 
We stayed watching these littlest monkeys called the marmosets for quite a while. They were chasing each other, catching insects and eating them, making noises. And then we spotted another kind of marmosets which is the lion marmoset.We knew that our time was quite limited and couldn't stay to watch a new baby that was just being born two days prior.
I didn't touch the colour on this bird at all. This is it's real colour. To see this bright red bird flying in front of your eyes is quite something. There also we wanted to stay and see what he would do. His objective was the little stream below.
A meany meany was camouflaged so well that we had to look hard above the rocks as some children kept pointing up. This one was not taking a siesta yet. He was too busy thinking and plotting.
Just couldn't resist these ducks while we were finally heading towards the Canadian side. The cold artic air could be felt as we were getting closer and closer.
Yep. Penguins. Tons of them. Some were swimming, courting, sleeping and just being penguins.They were also popular among our elementary children as they were studying and writing about them.
