First you zip, then you sip!

Many interesting things happened this weekend.

1) I fell asleep before Jonathan and when he finally lay down I (apparently) said in perfect Tamil "Come, get under the sheets". I don't recall this at all. But that's not the weird part. The weird part is now that I'm awake I honestly don't know how to say that in Tamil (and I'm thinking really hard!!!!). Jonathan kind of understood it though and was wondering what had gotten into me. So strange!

2) We went Zip Lining to the Shawnee National Forest!

I got called Meghan (story of my life) so I changed the name on my helmet to Meg. 

 

Our gear

 

Getting strapped in!

 

All of us

We zip lined through the canopy, the longest zip line being 1000+ feet. It was exhilarating! Our guides Tyler and Dalton were fantastic and fun.We also had to walk across 3 suspension bridges which was scary but it just added to the entire amazing experience! Tyler of course started bouncing up and down on it to make the entire bridge violently shake which made me cling on to the bridges' ropes extra tight even though falling was impossible since we were all still attached to the zip line cable. I was of course a source of great entertainment as I gingerly made my way across the bridge looking nervous. Someone spotted a snake curled up on a branch which was quite unnerving but interesting nevertheless! We had such a wonderful, exciting time and I highly recommend the Shawnee Bluff Canopy Tour. 

3) After zip lining we made our way to a nearby vineyard called Blue Sky to do some wine tasting and eat since we were starving. I have never been a fan of wine but I was game. The vineyard was extremely pretty and I was intrigued by the rows and rows of vines with huge bunches of grapes hanging off them.

 There was also a small lake  by which we sat drinking our wine and chatting. It was a beautiful evening - not too sunny - and we were enjoying the light breeze and the view. 

I tasted 3 wines - Chambourcin Blush (a sweet wine), Misterioso (a semi-sweet wine that is supposed to be really really good) and Cream Sherry (a dessert wine). I, of course, picked Sherry since it was nice and sweet. 

My sherry 

There was a wedding being held at a small area adjacent to where we were sitting and believe it or not, I witnessed my first American wedding (in person) right here at Blue Sky Winery! 

 

The 'altar' for the wedding

You know the popular belief that wine/champagne is supposedly OK to drink versus other alcohol? Well, whether Jesus drank it or not, wine can get to your head equally, if not faster, than any other alcohol and at most parties I've been to, the craziest people were sipping on glasses of wine. This held true even at the vineyard. Well-dressed folks slurring over their bottles of wine, clapping and talking loudly as the poor bride walked down the aisle to Train's famous song 'Marry me'. The setting was indeed beautiful but I honestly don't think that the bride thought it through when she chose this to be her venue. 

^ Everyone watching the wedding, clapping and loudly talking about one groomsman who had a rather ... odd beard. 

 

Bet the poor guy had no idea his beard was the topic of discussion for the longest time

 

The vows

 

Mr & Mrs

I have no idea who those people are but I (and the other 50 odd people at the winery) have pictures of their wedding :-P . 

All in all, it was a fantastic day :-) !!

Zucchini bread ?!

We finally managed to wake up early enough to go to the Farmers Market this morning. For those of you who don't know what those are, farmers markets are outdoor markets where farmers sell their fresh produce to customers - fruits, veggies, preserves, jams, bread, meat etc. It's held every saturday morning and nearly every city has one.

I made a huge mistake though - my fridge is still stocked with veggies and meat so I didn't really need anything! Next time I go, I'll make sure my fridge is empty and veggie-free so I can stock up on all my produce at the farmers market instead of walmart.

There were two interesting things I saw though - granola and zucchini bread. Yes, you heard right, ZUCCHINI bread. Now zucchini is a nasty looking vegetable that I thoroughly dislike. It's long, green and ugly and I am definitely not a fan.

So the first question that crossed my mind when I saw this was how in the world did someone think this veggie would make good cake?!?!! Sheer curiosity makes me do a lot of things and buying zucchini bread was one of those things. I simply HAD to find out how it tasted. Vegetable cake?! 

And whaddaya know. It actually tastes quite nice. The awful zucchini taste is concealed by cinnamon and the other stuff in it. It's a bit dry but I still like it! Vegetable cake .. who would have thought! 

The other thing I bought was granola to put in our oatmeal every morning. It's healthy and has flaxseed which is supposed to be a great source of protein, good for building muscles which I so desperately need :-D. 

P.S - 

   

In case you were wondering about my 'muscular' ambitions, this is not the look I'm aiming for :-P. My current definition of 'muscular' basically means being able to open bottles and doors on my own.

Being able to flex a muscle or two would be awesome but for now, if I can manage to open that darn ginger garlic paste bottle from the indian grocery store I shall be the happiest girl in lil ole Murray, Kentucky.

Helicopter hunting, bananas & minions

After our weekly friday night dinner with his friends, Jonathan and I decided to walk to 'Yogurt Your Weigh' to indulge in some frozen yogurt :-D . On the way we stopped off at the education building in the university because Rebecca had mentioned that Jonathan's picture was on a poster in there! 

Spot the differences :-D . 

We also stopped to admire the flowers on the way 

 

On the way home we saw a helicopter overhead, possibly flying in from Paducah. We suddenly thought that it began descending and was about to land on the Quad (a grassy area in the middle of university)! At this moment we were sitting on a bench, eating yogurt and yelling "BANANA!" every time we saw a yellow vehicle :-P (don't ask :-D). When we saw this we quickly raced across the road to the quad. But .. there was nothing there. We couldn't even hear it anymore. We hunted around a bit longer for our missing helicopter but eventually gave  up. By this time our frozen yogurt was more like chocolate soup and disappointed, we strolled home.

On a side note - if you love the movie Despicable me you HAVE to buy a happy meal from McDonalds for their cute, minion toys :-D . When I pull the banana the minion says "BA-NA-NAAA .. OOOO" - like this video and this video :-D. It's hilarious and we spent thursday night watching minion video after minion video like five year olds ^.^ .

I'll end this blog post with the trailer of Despicable me. Enjoy :-D . 

I saw Ellen DeGeneres while camping out - 4th of july

I've never been camping before so I had a good time despite the bugs and such ^.^

The Hart twins picked me up and Jonathan just joined us at the camping site a few hours later since he was driving straight from Nashville.  We got the tent set up and the canoe down to water (by we I mean the Harts ... I kind of just stood and watched because I'm a weakling) .

I learned how to properly skip stones and canoe, make smores, and avoid sitting on poison ivy while trying to use the back of a bush as a bathroom :-P .

We also managed to watch the beautiful sunset over the water :) 

Throughout the night I heard a constant buzzing sound. It soon started driving me nuts! I woke Jonathan up and he told me to go back to bed and that it was just the insect repellent machine. I wasn't too convinced though because the buzzing was loud! I kept waking up and looking around for the insect that was making the sound but to no avail. Just could not find it! In the morning I realized that we had pitched our tent ON the insect and it was directly under me! Jonathan finally believed me when I poked the area I was lying on and the creature started buzzing again. So I was right after all :( !

The twins had hammock tents that I thought were so cool !



The next day we went to 'Belews' for lunch and I saw Ellen DeGeneres getting out of a convertible Pontiac. Well, at least I thought it was. Turns out it was a teenage boy in wayfarers. A common mistake, I'm sure :-P.

My husband the squirrel murderer

I forgot to mention this in my previous blog post.

We were on the way to our friend's house to go fishing when I suddenly saw the cutest little squirrel with the bushiest tail ever dart across the road. I was admiring it saying "Awww, look!" when it suddenly disappeared and I heard a little thud as the car wheel hit something.


Jonathan consoled me by saying that the squirrel could not have kicked the bucket but was just probably stunned. So I was happy again!



But then I saw him smirk.





In other words, there is now a squirrel shaped smear on Furches Trail, Murray, KY.

Fish eat hot dogs too

On Sunday, a friend from church  invited us over to her house this week to do some fishing. So that's what we decided to do today!

She has a barn in her backyard that houses two PONIES and a huge horse called Gabriel :) This was the first time I had ever been in a real barn and seen actual ponies so I was very excited! The horse kind of scared me but the ponies were adorable and small. 

She also has a huge pond in her backyard and a green meadow next to it for her ponies and horse to run about and graze. 

We used hot dogs as bait to catch fish. This is America. Even fish eat junk food. 

We threw our lines into the water and before we knew it, a fish was tugging at mine! 

After I caught mine, Jonathan pouted and sulked and kept sighing sadly for a long time because he was having some rotten luck and not catching any :-) . Feeling sorry for him, I put my fishing rod down and waited for him to catch one. That was, however, in vain so I eventually picked my rod up again, put a hot dog on the hook and threw the line into the pond. And AGAIN, before I knew it, I felt a big tug and reeled in another Blue Gill. Poor Jonathan was not pleased :-D. He did, however, manage to eventually catch some :). We caught 4 Blue Gill each. 

Unhooking the fish to throw them back into the pond was unpleasant. Jonathan and I are scaredy cats. But, in our defense, touching a fish is really not fun! Scaly, slimy... ugh! And the way they thrash around, gasping for air, gives me the heebie jeebies. So we figured out a way to do it without actually touching them. We reeled them in, laid them flat on the wood and, without touching them, slowly eased the hook out of their mouths. Once the hook was out, the fish would jump into the water itself or we would push it into the water with a flat rod. 

We also managed to catch the beautiful sunset and watch the horse and ponies race about the meadow. I don't think the horse liked me very much because every time I went near the fence to look at it and take a picture it would stare at me suspiciously and stomp its foot on the ground. I guess my good luck ended with the fish. 

Here are more pictures - 

Look at that willow tree ^ ! :-)

All this happened in her backyard :-) . Imagine that! After 23 years in congested Chennai this was beyond unbelievable! 

Berry blue

Quick update about blueberry picking yesterday.

Matt, Jonathan and I went to some place nearby. We picked around 5.5 lbs each and it was fuuun.

Some tips for berry picking:
1. Wear a hat and sunglasses! It may get pretty hot.
2. Take plenty of water to drink.
3. Take a bucket/bag to put all your berries in, to take home
4. Wear clothes you dont mind dirtying. It won't get very dirty but you never know! When I was picking I had to squeeze myself between bushes to get to some big berries. So occasionally my T shirt would get caught on branches.
5. Wear closed-toed shoes! Sometimes there are spiders and bugs on the plants. You want to concentrate on picking rather than a pesky spider climbing on your toesies.
6. Take small change - dollar bills, five dollar bills, ten dollar bills. Noone at a blueberry farm is going to have change for a $50 or $100 note.
7. Take your camera :-) You don't want to miss capturing these moments on film :-) !
8. If you're a girl it's better to tie your hair up in a ponytail. I left mine loose and it keep getting caught on branches :-O !! Not a pleasant feeling to extract yourself from a big blueberry bush.