Our life living off the land in our log cabin, breathing fresh mountain air, and getting back to basics.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Frozen Bubbles

There are many things that can be done inside when it's below freezing all day and stepping outside means risking frost bite...but not many people would think of this...my creative cousin Laurie did this with her daughter before school this morning, and I had to try it...and I must admit, it was great fun and I giggled effervescently like a little girl...I played with the bubbles for as long my fingers would hold out, would head back into the cabin to stand by the stove to warm up and turned right back around, bundled up again, and played some more!

I must have had beginners luck, because my first bubble stuck to my soap dish (I used dish soap and water to make the bubble liquid and a straw to blow the bubbles) though it did pop before I could watch it freeze...
...the second bubble landed on the table and froze but popped right away...
 ...I was surprised by how delicate and paper-like it was!

After a quick trip inside to warm up, the bubbles didn't want to stay on the straw or hold their shape for long and many of them landed and popped right away...the wind did pick up a bit at this point, maybe it was the culprit in popping the bubbles, but I decided to go add a little soap to my liquid to thicken it up (plus the wind was pushing through my pants and I decided to wrap a blanket around my legs).

Ah ha, I seemed to have found my magic again...
 ...how pretty this bubble was...
 ...and it froze to the straw for a while...
...until the wind whisked it away and it shattered when it hit the deck...wish I could have captured that, it literally cracked and unfolded...

After a few more attempts I had a bubble freeze and pop while still on the straw...
 ...and another one flew off the straw, landed on the table and popped right away...again so delicate and paper-like...

After many bubbles flying through the air and popping, and another warm up trip inside, I created the  egg bubble...this bubble flew off the straw and landed on the table, froze...
 ...and stayed there long enough that I could touch it...it made a little hole and crackled the top...
 ...I was engrossed...
...and decided to video what happened next (if you receive these posts by email, you may need to click on the title to see the video)...

...it didn't take long for the wind to blow it away, but I was delighted!

My last bubbles were small and flew with the wind, but it was starting to get colder (it had been 19F when I started playing but had gone down a degree while I was out there) and the bubbles froze as soon as they disengaged from the straw...this is focused on the deck floor but you can see the bubble in the center, now frosty because frozen.

I had so much fun playing with the frozen bubbles, thanks Laurie for the idea and I can't wait for Liam to visit when it's winter so we can play with frozen bubbles together!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

9 comments:

Dawn said...

Great post! It's wonderful to act like a kid again. Thanks for sharing!

Lulume said...

It made me giggle, too! Great photos and thanks for the shout-out!

Vicki Lane said...

Oh, my! What fun! I'll try this tomorrow if it's still below freezing...

Osage Bluff Quilter said...

I love it when the kid in us comes out!

I meant to make some colored balls but I was so busy trying to keep warm I think my brain was froze. You put food coloring in a balloon, fill with water and let it set outside. When frozen remove the balloon and they are beautiful crystals.

We had -5 with -25 wind chills!

Have you seen where you take a pan of hot water in the freezing temps and throw it into the air? It makes instance snow. Yahoo even had it on, apparently, some people were not good at throw hot water and got burnt.

Have fun my friend, there's 2 new things for you to play with.

Keep warm.

Dad/Pepere said...

Love the idea of frozen bubbles...never thought about it...never did it. Thank you for sharing, as we hopefully will not be able to make frozen bubbles here in Sarasota. Hugs!

Brenda Kay Ledford said...

These are beautiful photos of the frozen bubbles. Thanks for sharing these lovely photos. I hope you are warm and staying well during this cold snap.

Lise said...

Thank you Dawn, helps keep one young!

Thanks for the inspiration Laurie, it was great fun!

Vicki, it's worth the effort:)

Ah Patti, I should have known you'd have some tricks up your sleeve! I'll have to try those "games". We are beginning to warm up, hope you are too!

You'll have to come back here to see frozen bubbles dad...anytime:) Hugs back!

Thanks Brenda. Hope you are warming up now, seems like the worst is over (for this round at least).

Powell River Books said...

Guess with all the freezing weather you had to figure out things to do to keep your brain warm. We have been fortunate to only get rain so far. We've had one of the driest winters in decades. There's not even enough snow yet for the ski area on Vancouver Island to open. Even so we are heading to Arizona for a week of sun. - Margy

Lise said...

So true Margy...whatever it takes to keep oneself busy! Enjoy AZ! Hopefully you will have a little snow when you return to your cabin:)