JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

Yes, this is the reason why my hands hurt…

I’ve been bending bones!

Actually, the picture above is the result of soaking a (cooked) chicken bone in vinegar for ten days. Acid depletes the bone of calcium, making it rubbery and easy to bend. A fun experiment for the kids to try, although at first they were repulsed by the stench of ten-day-old decay.

I’m not sure why I seem to be having pain on my right hand and arm. It isn’t from bending bone in some superhuman fashion. I suspect it is my youngest child who wants me to carry her around as if I had Wonder Woman’s arms.

Of course, the other reason might be that in addition to carrying around my child, I also spent at least an hour at work on the microscope, turning knobs while trying to find focus. Earlier this summer I acquired a microscope. It’s an older model, older than me, but a Cadillac of its time, in good condition. The price was right (free!) and I was thrilled to have my own instrument for explorations. It has taken me a while to remember certain details, but I feel I am beginning to get my skills in shape again. I had written an entire post about it, waiting until I could polish it to post it, but I think for now I will leave this simple paragraph to suffice for my passion. It’s been fun to watch our daughters get excited about discoveries under the microscope. MD , I’ve been thinking of you. Wish you were here! 🙂

It’s all been a part of our fun summer of exploration, including a jello model of a cell. A plum nucleus and grape mitochondria along with raspberry cytoplasm. This model may not be precise in its accuracy but at this stage of life, it is the basic principles and the passion that I want my girls to receive.

Speaking of principles and passion, I feel I have been neglecting this blog. I will try to publish some posts now while I can…