The Week in Planes :: 14

Trojan, 05.04.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: good



Harrier, 06.04.11
Foldability: OK
Flyability: so-so



Swept-Wing Fighter, 08.04.11
Foldability: difficult
Flyability: good, stable

The Week in Planes :: 13

B-2 Spirit, 28.03.11
Foldability: OK
Flyability: not good



Drone, 31.01.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: good



Space Orbiter, 01.04.11
Foldability:good
Flyability: better than expected

The Week in Planes :: 12

Double Eagle, 23.03.11
Foldability: difficult
Flyability: poor


The Double Eagle stumped me again. Clever S was able to figure out that I had folded one part the wrong way and helped me solve it. Kinda anticlimactic, really. But I'm glad I know how to do it now. Thanks, S!

The Week in Planes :: 11

You may start to recognise some of the airplanes. As the calendar promised, there are over 40 models with different variations, which means that I'll get better at folding them as the year goes on...!



Piggyback Jet, 14.03.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: OK (better with some tape to hold it together)
Design: still my favourite



Mirage, 16.03.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: OK



Arrowing, 17.03.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: good, smooth



Flying Boat, 18.03.11
Foldability: complicated, did it better the second time around
Flyability: so-so

The Week in Planes :: 10

Orion, 08.03.11
Foldability: fine
Flyability: so-so



P-51, 09.03.11
Foldability: difficult
Flyability: surprisingly, satisfyingly good



Nighthawk, 11.03.11
Foldability: so-so
Design: cool
Flyability: awful

lessons about hot water bottles

I asked for a hot water bottle for xmas. I have never used one before, and it took until now to try it. S, my human heater, does not understand why I would want to add more warmth to the bed, so I took the opportunity to use it last night while he is away for work.


The instructions made it clear that I should not use boiling water. I'll admit, I was doubtful that hot water from the bathtub would be effective, but if anything, it gets hotter inside the bottle. It's still warmish this morning. Score 1 for the instructions!


I also discovered that it is not very moveable - once you curl up with it, it'll be there until morning. I tried to shove it to a different position, but it doesn't slide very easily between the sheets. In the end, it was easier for me to move around it, rather than the other way around.


I don't think S will enjoy it very much, but I have something to keep me warm when he's not around now. Thanks again to my sister-in-law for the gift!

The Week in Planes :: 9

P-47 Thunderbolt, 28.02.11
Foldability: difficult
Flyability: bad



Sideslip, 01.02.11
Foldability: fine
Flyability: fine



Wildcat F4F, 02.03.11
Foldability: OK
Flyability: OK



Loop, 03.03.11
Foldability: fine
Flyability: supposed to do stunts but couldn't get good results



DC-9 Airliner, 04.03.11
Foldability: difficult
Flyability: better than expected

The Week in Planes :: 8

Wombat, 22.02.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: OK
I still don't see how this resembles a wombat...



Skylark, 24.02.11
Foldability: fine
Flyability: OK



Delta Dart, 25.02.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: not great

The Week in Planes :: 7

Space Orbiter, 14.02.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: spin, spin, spin, nose dive, crash!
Good thing NASA designs better space shuttles than this!
But the paper version looks good on a desk...



Hammerhead Dart, 15.02.11
Foldability: a bit fiddly
Flyability: surprisingly good



Starship, 16.02.11
Foldability: OK
Flyability: OK

birthday necklace

38 is off to good start... Thank you, S!

happy valentine's day!

lavender cupcakes

If I had to pick a favorite floral aroma, it would be a close tie between lavender and lilies. But as far as I know, you can't eat lilies...


I made lavender cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. I wish you could smell them from the photos... they're heavenly.


The recipe calls for whole milk infused with dried lavender flowers, preferably left overnight. I bought a bunch of lavender last weekend. I wonder if the woman who sold it to me had any idea how I planned to use it. It took about an hour to cut the flowers off the stems and stuff them into the milk jug yesterday.


This afternoon I started with the nesting bowls that M gave us for xmas.





Hard not to feel happy with such fun colors and smart design.





The infused milk goes into the batter for the cupcakes, as well as the frosting.





While the cupcakes cooled, I made the frosting. It's not easy to make purple food coloring; I had to be careful not to oversaturate it. But I was pleased with the end result.





Delicious! So fragrant and sweeeeeeet.


The only downside to making lavender cupcakes for Valentines/my birthday this week, is that it all but guarantees S won't send a box of cupcakes to my office again... Gotta make the lavender ones last. Good thing I have enough infused milk for one more batch!

The Week in Planes :: 6

Wide Wing, 07.02.11
Foldability: difficult
Flyability: so-so



Dagon, 08.02.11
Foldability: fine
Flyability: good



B-2 Spirit, 09.02.11
Foldability: OK
Flyability: so-so



Glider, 11.02.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: great, very smooth

The Week in Planes :: 5

Arrowing, 29.01.11
Foldability: fine; cut sheet into 2 pieces and folded together to make the plane
Flyability: good



Seaplane, 31.01.11
Foldability: difficult; not sure I got this one right
Flyability: so-so



Ladybug, 01.02.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: good



B-52 Stratofortress, 02.02.11
Foldability: difficult
Flyability: good



Double Eagle, 04.02.11
Foldability: stumped!


For the first time, I was not able to finish folding a plane. And unfortunately there was no plane for 3 Feb - someone took it from my desk!

The Week in Planes :: 4

Falcon, 25.01.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: great - smooth flights and long distance



Comet, 27.01.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: very good but not quite as reliable as the Falcon



Shuttle Carrier/Piggyback Jet, 26.01.11
Foldability: easier than it looked; my favourite design so far - two in one!
Flyability: so-so

The Week in Planes :: 3

The planes got more difficult this week, involving scissors and tape. Unfortunately, the better they looked, the worse they flew - or maybe I just need to refine my throwing technique.



DC-9 Airliner, 17.01.11
Foldability: difficult
Flyability: I wouldn't want to be a passenger on this plane... Most flights ended up crashing nose first into the ground



D'Artagnan, 18.01.11
Foldability: good
Flyability: the simple design makes this the best flier so far



A-4 Skyhawk, 19.01.11
Foldability: difficult
Flyability: tends to curve to the left



Orion, 20.01.11
Foldability: OK
Flyability: so-so. Nice paper (love the star design) but the folded plane resembles a manta ray more than a plane.



P-51 Mustang, 21.01.11
Foldability: difficult
Flyability: not great, but it looks good...