Ice throw

My parents and aunts and uncles used to spend nights sitting around the kitchen table. They would have a good time talking and reminiscing. One of my favorite things to do was sit and listen to them when they were all together. I loved the stories, I love the grand ideas, the righteous indignation, and the jokes. But mostly, I knew something awesome was going to happen. One night we tried to put my aunt's fairly short and very curly hair into a princess ponytail - which was only semi-successful. One night my uncle shared his "ultimate shoulder rub" which was almost unbearably painful, but he promised that "it will feel so nice when I'm done." Most nights like this involved some sort of singing (in at least 3 part harmony and must include the song "sentimental journey".)

But the best night of all was when my uncle showed all of us kids one of the mysteries of science. It was a winter night - so cold. He had my mom boil some water on the stove and poured the boiling water into a cup. Then, he opened the sliding glass doors and threw the water into the air. To our astonishment, the water instantly turned to snow before it hit the deck. The effect looks something like this:

Tonight, after checking that the weather was sufficiently cold (-15 F) I decided to recreate the ice throw that my uncle taught me so many years ago. I boiled the water and stood on the balcony of my 3rd floor apartment in my knit boots, shorts, sweater, and stocking cap and threw boiling water into the air. Before it hit the ground a couple of stories below - it had turned to snow. Pretty awesome.