King Tides

The first weekend in February was extra special this year.  It was the weekend of the super tides.  It only happens when the moon and the earth are in a particular alignment. I am not sure what it is but it happens twice a year.  One is bigger than the other.  Last week was the highest of this year.  

It was so high that some of the areas that are right by the water flooded.  Our beaches have a drop-off like terrain so it was not a problem but in some of the areas south of the city the walking paths were under water.  With the very high tides there are also very low tides.  So of course we had to make a couple of walks to the beach.  

We finished our walk of the harbor beaches which was great.  I have kind of a rule that I always look to find something unique on the sand. This walk was no exception.  I saw a starfish.

It is upside down here in the sand. I took a good long hard look at it and realized that there were little things moving on the bottom. So I carefully picked him up and put him back in the water. It reminded me of the story of the boy who was throwing them back.  Anyway, I put him back and we walked on.  It was a fun walk and we saw come incridble rocks we had never seen before.

When we were coming back (about 80 minutes later) we got to the place on the beach where I had put the star back into the water and there it was...this time floating upside down in the water.  I carefully picked him up and put it in my hat.  And took him home and put it in a tub of water.

It was still a bit soft, anyway the tenicles moved back and forth but not up and down.  The next day I put some bleach in the water.  That is required if you want to take them out of the country.  It insures that all the little things are dead too.  And this is what I now have.

To say the least, I am thrilled.  I already have it in a tupperware comtainer that will carry it to the US of A. 

In case you do not know the story of the boy and the starfish, here you go.

The Starfish Story

One day a man was walk­ing along the beach when he noticed
a boy pick­ing some­thing up and gen­tly throw­ing it into the ocean.

Approach­ing the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throw­ing starfish back into the ocean. 
The surf is up and the tide is going out.  If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you real­ize there are miles and miles of beach and hun­dreds of starfish? 
You can’t make a difference!”

After lis­ten­ing politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf.  Then, smil­ing at the man, he said…”
I made a dif­fer­ence for that one.”

~ Orig­i­nal Story by: Loren Eis­ley

Sticker Shock!

After having been here for over 20 months you would think that we would be over the shock of seeing what people have to pay for items at the market.  Take a look at these photos with the amount of pennies required to buy them.

I always considered a Duncan Hines cake mix to be the cream of the crop if you were going to buy one. I was always happy when I could find them for $1 or a bit more.  This is almost insane!

But then take a gander at a single-layer Betty Crocker cake?  They must use a different measuring stick than I ever did!

And take a look at what it costs you to put a pre-made frosting on top of that treat.  I would certainly think twice before I whipped up a batch of cupcakes to take to the sister down the street!

I thought I had seen everything until I went around the corner and saw a display for quart canning jars. 

I just about stumbled.  It certainly would change my idea of going out and trying to find the best bushel of peaches to put in them!  Someone would have to pay me to take their fruit for me to make the initial investment in the jars.  You can only hope that the op-shop (DI) would have them for less or that your aunty had a cupboard of them you could have!

Yikes!