The sponge candy saga

On my last post, several of you guessed that I had ordered a batch of sponge candy as a special birthday gift to myself.  I wish it were so.  I would be enjoying a delicious piece of that right now if it had worked out that way. 

Evening Primrose – Tonight’s pics are from yesterdays job of refilling kiosk pamphlets, picking trash, and checking trails on the refuge.

Last winter while I was volunteering at Anahuac NWR, I figured out that I could order sponge candy in my most favorite way, not chocolate covered, from The Vermont Country Store.  I could get three bags of it for about $20.  Since I only ate one piece a day, each order lasted me over a month. 

Wild Bergamot (Bee Balm)  - This flower is in the mint family, and its leaves are used for flavoring in Earl Grey Tea.

Just before I left Anahuac, I wanted to stock up for my journey to the north.  To my displeasure, The Vermont Country Store stopped stocking it.  Oh nuts!  Okay, I’d just wait until I got to Fargo to pick up a box of dark chocolate covered sponge candy at Carol Widman’s Candy Co. 

                          Fireweed – most often found in recently burned or disturbed soil areas.

After I got the rig set up at Tamarac NWR in May, one of my first trips was to Fargo, ND, to visit the Breadsmith Store and Carol Widman’s.  I got the bread that I wanted, but no sponge candy was available.

Red-tailed Hawk posing, and then thinking better about it.  Going…

It seems that in the making of sponge candy, it can’t be done in humid weather or it flops.  Such was the case the last time Carol Widman’s tried to make it.  They would be waiting for lower humidity to make it again.

                                                          …going… gone!

I put in an order for two pounds whenever they could make it.  They thought surely that would happen before my next trip to Fargo on July 15.  Well we’ve had a lot of rain and humidity this year so that didn’t work out.  I’m still waiting for a call.  I hope the humidity goes down before I leave in September.

                                                  Sandhill Cranes in the Chippewa prairie.

Far Side of Fifty suggested I try the Cuzzins Candy Store in Park Rapids for chocolate covered sponge candy.  I may just do that, but I wonder if they have it in dark chocolate; that’s what I prefer if it has to be covered in something.  I’m getting pretty picky in my old age. 

So I’m sure you’ve gathered by now that I didn’t receive an order of sponge candy for my birthday.  Instead, I ordered this:

                                                                           An Apple iPod!

That’s a pretty drastic move for me, and it’s proving to be quite a learning curve.  I haven’t gotten around to syncing in the magnetic Bluetooth keyboard yet.  It was a big enough challenge for me to just set the thing up last night so I could begin to figure out how to use it.  I’m pretty happy that I was able to download two of my favorite word games so I can sneak in some play time during boring times in the VC.  It’s a lot easier to carry around than my backpack with the laptop in it.

I sure wish it came with a hard copy user’s manual.  I’d like to page through it while I’m trying to figure out how to use it.  Could it be that I’m finally getting out of the 90’s??

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy