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Thursday, December 31, 2020
Monday, December 28, 2020
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Week one Cycling in VR with VZ Fit Explorer, Oculus Quest 2, and My Exercise Bike
I LOVE VZFit Explorer...
The Oculus Quest 2...
And my Exercise Bike!
I LOVE bike riding, and I always get depressed in winter when I can no longer hop on my trusty bike and go for my rides. I love taking my camera along and exploring new paths.
A few years ago I got an exercise bike for Christmas, and while I was initially excited about it, the excitement wore off as I found it sooooo very boring, lol. Plus the seat hurt my butt. A lot.
Well, last year I got into VR (Virtual Reality), when I got the Oculus Go for Christmas. I LOVED it and soon upgraded to the Oculus Quest...because I wanted to try an art program that wasn't available on the Go.
I had a blast and used it almost EVERY day during the Pandemic. If ever there was a year to escape to virtual reality, 2020 was it.
Then this year the Oculus Quest 2 came out and I decided to get it right away so that I could at least have it for awhile before they came out with the next upgrade, lol. It was cheaper, lighter, with far better graphics and I regret nothing. I still use my Quest 1 for Beat Saber (because I always run the battery down) and I even jump into my Go sometimes, although the graphics are not great compared to the new Quest 2...it's still fun and I still love it.
It's no lie to say that bike riding and Virtual Reality have kept me (relatively) sane this year. So when I learned about a company that connects bike riding with VR...I had to try it. I just had to order a sensor from Amazon first, to connect my exercise bike to the app...and it was under 20 dollars.
The company's name is VZ Fit and I LOVE it. They have two apps; VZ Fit Play, which lets you play racing games on your exercise bike, and is fun and VZ Fit Explorer, which lets you go for a virtual bike ride anywhere that the Google Earth Car has gone, which is just about everywhere. There are over 10 million miles to explore. 10 MILLION. That's crazy!
There are many premade rides but so far, I am really enjoying creating my own rides, in my own area. It is such a blast to cycle down roads I recognize, and to see familiar landmarks.
I created a series of rides that go along the Trans Canada Highway, starting at my house, and heading North, with a lot of the drive ride beside the gorgeous bays of Lake Superior.
I can't ride much more than half an hour at a time so I made them shorter rides, less than 15 km per ride, for each stretch, but I'm having a blast and have cycled over 82 km this week alone...and I took the day off for Christmas day.
Part 1/Day 1 of Superior VR bike trip:
It's super cool that I can choose to start at my house, so that's exactly what I did for the first section of the ride.
This section of the trip gave me beautiful fall colors and bright blue skies. It was so beautiful!
When I finished the ride, I was able to take a photo of my avatar going through the finish line. Part 1 of my Superior Ride was 12.6 km.
Part 2/Day 2:
Day 2's section of ride was cloudy, but I got to pass some pretty scenery, like this river.
This is the section of the map from day 2.
And this is my avatar going through the finish line of part 2/day 2.
Part 3/Day 3:
Day 3 had me riding past the turn to our family cottage. This bridge on the highway is so familiar to me; when I was a very little girl...pre kindergarten, I used to sing "Look at the water! Look at the water!" as we crossed the bridge. It was soooooo cool to cycle under it in VR, while riding an exercise bike!
Here's my Strava map of my route for Day 3.
And here's my avatar going through the finish line. When I ride, I don't see my own avatar; she only shows up when I take a photo via the "upload photo" part of the app. I ride my bike in first person, and when I look down, I can see my bike, and ring the bell on my handle bars. When I look ahead I see the road, and when I look side to side, I see each side of the road. Looking up shows me the sky, and often times birds flying over head. It is so cool.
Part 4/Day 4:
On this section of the ride, I tried out the TRAINER feature. You can choose a male or female. I chose the male because he was bigger and easier to see when he goes up ahead, lol. He can talk and give encouragement, but I chose a strong silent type instead. There are various types of training you can choose. I chose the one where I am supposed to maintain a steady pace with the trainer. But every time I stopped to take photos, he went on ahead and I had to pedal hard to catch up. It is so cool that the faster I pedal, the faster I go. When I stop pedaling, my VR bike stops, If I pedal slowly, so does my VR bike. It's so cool to have that much control. It really feels like bike riding.
This was a pretty section of the ride, with big rock cuts, lots of forest, and lakes.
You can see on the map that this section followed the lake pretty closely. It was such a pretty ride.
But it was over soon enough. Each ride takes me about half an hour. My butt hurts too much to go longer. I ordered a gel seat cover and am hoping it will come in the mail soon so I can ride longer.
Part 5, Day 5:
I chose the male trainer again on Day 5.
There were some really gorgeous sections to this ride, too.
This was my longest ride of the week, at 15 km.
It was so much fun, and I can't wait to continue on.
I also did other random rides earlier in the week. Strava counts from Monday to Sunday, so today was my last day of the week. I only missed one day; Christmas day.
Here are my Strava stats for the week:
The light gray bars show how much I cycled each day. Friday has nothing because it was Christmas Day and I didn't cycle that day. The green bar shows that today is Sunday. I did 83.7 km this week. I am thrilled, absolutely thrilled with that.
I'm much faster on my exercise bike than I am on my real outdoor bike. My real bike is a Townie by Electra, and it's a comfy but heavy bike. Plus I carry about 10 Ibs of stuff on my bike on a normal day; more if I'm going far and need to pack a lunch and extra water. The exercise bike has no weight to push, and there is no elevation.
I've been riding on a difficulty level of 5. I'm not sure if I'll up the difficulty or not because there are over 10 million miles to explore and I want to see as much as I can, lol. So even though I'd like to up the difficulty so I'm slower, in reality, if I were riding a speed bike, I'd be able to ride faster than I do on my heavy bike. I need to think about it.
I am so happy that I found VZ Fit. We're back in lockdown because of the pandemic, and even though we can leave the house to exercise, there's a ton of snow out there so I'm happy exploring the world from the comfort of my living room.
Thanks for spending time with me. I hope everything is OK with you guys.
Take care :-).
Saturday, December 26, 2020
Friday, December 25, 2020
Thursday, December 24, 2020
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Monday, December 21, 2020
Sunday, December 20, 2020
Saturday, December 19, 2020
Friday, December 18, 2020
VR Bike Riding on Oculus Quest 2 & VZfit Explore
New Fitness App
VZFit Explore
So, I am so excited! About 3 weeks ago I ordered a cadence sensor on Amazon so I could attach it to my exercise bike and try out a fitness app called VZFit Explore. The app lets me wear my Oculus Quest 2 headset and explore the world on my exercise bike, and simulates bike rides anywhere that the google car has gone. It's based on Google Earth and it's very, very cool.
I was going to buy a one year membership myself, but my parents wanted to do something special for me for Christmas and I didn't want them going in stores so I mentioned the app and they got me a subscription for a year.
This is where I got it: https://www.virzoom.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAw_H-BRD-ARIsALQE_2Ot2C_7q8YGO06yBpKQFO42LoSbmNh4zvDDyJSrAyUCfMckQhNW0C8aAk_KEALw_wcB
First Ride...my home to Belleview Park
For my first ride, I decided to do a ride I do on my regular outside bike...home to Belleview Park, a pretty riverside park across town. So, I set my address as the start of the ride, and the park as the end of the ride, and the app made my route. Next thing I knew, I was simultaneously sitting in my living room, and also outside on the street in front of my house, lol.
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| My house in VR/VZfit Explore |
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| The underpass |
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| Top of Pine St. Hill heading toward Bay St |
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| Belleview Park |
Once I made it to the park, it was overcast and cloudy, lol. It was so cool. I am super excited about th is because I bike ride outside spring, summer, and fall, and miss it a lot in winter. I hate riding the exercise bike, but now I'm going to enjoy it.
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
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Sunday, June 7, 2020
Lilac Jelly, Homemade and Yummy!
Lilac Jelly
Lilacs are my favorite flower. I love the look, sight, and smell of them. Several years ago, I discovered they were edible and that I even like the taste of them...but only as jelly.
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| Lilac Jelly, June 2020 |
I first made Lilac Jelly back in 2013...7 years ago! Wow, where does the time go? I didn't have the proper canning equipment and reversed the numbers in the directions and cooked it for way too long, ending up with more of a candy than a jelly, but it was still yummy, albeit hard to spread, lol. You can read about it here Lilac Jelly, take 1, 2013
This year, I was better prepared because I bought the Bernadin Home Canning Starter Kit, for 49.99 at Canadian Tire.
It came with everything you see in the photo above, except my canning utensils are bright green, not blue. It's a nice starter kit, with everything I needed.
I used a different recipe this time; one that I found online at Homestead Acres. I chose this one because it had plenty of good reviews (43), and because it called for 4 cups of liquid instead of 2 cups of liquid, like the last recipe. I made Dandelion Jelly a few weeks ago and it also called for 4 cups of liquid and it came out great, so I wanted to keep the same basic jelly recipe.
*****
If you just want the recipe that I used, it's very simple.
1 litre of lilac petals (no green)
Pour 4 cups boiling water over petals. Let cool, then place in fridge for 24 hours. This makes a lilac tea. I added more than 4 cups of boiling water to the mason jar; I completely filled it.
The next day, strain the liquid from the petals using a strainer and a coffee filter. If you don't end up with 4 cups of lilac tea, top it off with water until you get 4 cups. (I ended up with 3.5 cups of lilac tea so had to add half a cup of water).
Place the lilac tea into a sturdy pot, big enough that it won't boil over. Add a quarter cup of lemon juice (I used Real lemon) and 1 package of powdered pectin (I used Bernadin pectin).
Bring to a boil, stirring. When it comes to a boil, Add 4 cups of sugar. Keep stirring and bring back to a boil. Cook for 1-2 minutes. (I cooked for 3 minutes).
Remove from heat, skim foam and throw it away.
Pour into sterilized mason jars. Wipe rims and add lids.
Put in water bath canner. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes.
Remove from canner. Done.
******
OK, now for those of you who might be interested in my photos, read on, lol.
First I picked the lilacs.
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| Our backyard, with lilac trees |
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| lilacs |
Then I pulled the petals off and put them in a litre mason jar.
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| Lilacs in my yard, used to make lilac jelly |
I sat on the swing to do this and enjoyed relaxing in the sunshine. Every bird in area plus one black squirrel watched me with interest, lol.
It took several hours to get a full jar of lilac petals.
The entire process was relaxing, and it smelled heavenly. Just amazing. I was watched by birds and a squirrel the entire time, lol.
Next, I went inside and boiled a pot of water (about 5 cups). I poured as much as I possibly could into the litre sized mason jar, which ended up being just over 4 cups.
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| Lilac tea/infusion |
This is how we make lilac tea or lilac infusion, which is used in the jelly making process. I let it cool and once cool, put the lid on the jar and put the lilac tea in the fridge to steep for 24 hours.
It turned a very dark purple. I felt kind of bad pouring boiling water over the petals.
The next day, I prepared my canning supplies, and sterilized the jars and lids. I had to sterilize the jars in boiling water, but the lids in only hot or simmering water, as per the instructions online.
Then I strained the lilac tea so that no flowers were left; only a clear liquid. Sorry I didn't get photos of that step. I poured it into a measuring cup and had just over 3.5 cups of lilac tea. I added hot water to the tea to bring it up to 4 cups.
I put the 4 cups of lilac tea into a heavy stainless steel pot and added a quarter cup of lemon juice, which instantly turned the tea a bright pink. Then I added the package of pectin, which turned it a more muted pink. I felt like an alchemist, lol.
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| Making lilac jelly |
I stirred and brought this up to a boil. Then I added 4 cups of white sugar.
I brought that up to a boil, stirring constantly. I used a wooden spoon to stir because I wasn't sure what else to use. Once it came to a boil, I asked Alexa to set the timer for 2 minutes. After the timer went off, it still seemed very thin so I cooked it for 1 more minute (for a total of 3 minutes).
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| Making lilac jelly and feeling like an alchemist, lol |
I turned off the heat and fished the mason jars out of the canner and placed them on a towel.
Then I used the funnel and a scoop to fill the jars, leaving a quarter inch breathing space. I used tiny jam jars (250 ml jars) and ended up with 12 full jars, and had some left over. I quickly sterilized 2 bigger 500 ml jars and was able to get 1 full jar, and about 1/3 of the other jar.
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| Beautiful lilac jelly, before being put in the canner for processing |
I put the 12 little jars into the water bath canner and left the 2 bigger jars out to be refigerated and eaten first. I'm glad I did as I learned something.
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| water bath canning lilac jelly |
*The jars that were NOT processed in a water bath canner stayed a pretty pink color. The jars that were processed for 10 minutes in the water bath canner turned almost clear (indoors). When I took the jars outside for photos, they looked yellow.
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| Lilac jelly, the little clear jars have been processed in a water bath canner for 10 minutes; the larger pink jars have not. |
I don't know how you would keep the pink color if you want to water bath can and preserve the jelly, aside from maybe using food coloring. I don't know if you can make freezer jelly; maybe that is an option? I don't know.
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| Lilac Jelly outside in the sun to see the colors. The yellow has been processed in a water bath canner and can be safely kept on a shelf until opened. The larger pink jar was not processed and has to be refrigerated and eaten first. |
Anyway, I ended up with 12 little clear (or yellow) jelly jars (depending on the light), and 2 pink jars.
I haven't tasted the yellow jars yet, but the pink one is delish! Absolutely gorgeous.
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| Delicious pink lilac jelly |
The jelly is nice and jiggly and not too firm, just perfect. It tastes light, slightly floral, and slightly citrusy. It reminds me of candy apples. This batch is not as sweet as the last batch I made, which used only half of the liquid. I'm glad about that. It's still very sweet, but so yummy.
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| The lilac jelly looks pink in the jar, but in the spoon you can see the light lilac hue. It is really gorgeous. |
I really love this jelly and will definitely make it again!
If you make it yourself, let me know how it turns out.
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| Lilac Jelly |
Thursday, June 4, 2020
Belleview Park Goslings and Ducklings
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| Family of Canada Geese at Belleview Park, Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada |
The other day my Dad and I had to go do a curbside pickup. I order almost all of the stuff we need online, and get it delivered or else book a slot for curbside pickup. I have to go with my Dad because he doesn't have a smart phone and I need the phone to show the receipt at most places.
On the way home, I asked if we could stop at the park so I could walk around and get some fresh air, and see the river.
Luckily my Dad agreed and it was a gorgeous day; warm but not hot, with a nice breeze. Best of all, the ducks and geese had babies! I love seeing the fuzzy ducklings and goslings so very much!
The geese were way out in the river and I called to them and told them they had a beautiful family, and they swam right over to me.
They even got out of the river.
The babies walked right up to me. They were so cute and so fluffy! I wish I would have had some birdseeds with me.
The duckpond was a lovely shade of green, because of the trees reflecting on the water.
I just love the way the water looks.
So pretty!
I was able to walk right up to this seagull! I was inches away. I swear he was posing for me, lol.
It was so nice to see blue sky, water, and green grass and trees. I wished I could have stayed there forever.
On the way back to the truck, I saw a big freighter in the St. Mary's river.
I zoomed in...
And then zoomed in even more, to see the name of the ship.
It was so cool!
I didn't want to leave...
But Dad was waiting in the truck. He didn't feel like walking and said he had a nice time sitting in the truck, watching the river.
When I got home the sun was setting.
It was a lovely day.
I hope you are all OK and staying safe. Take care.
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