365 Project Week 41.

[curiouswombat]

This week has been a week of working and baking - neither of which immediately show up in the photos! But there is a bonus picture to do with the baking...

So we have

Monday - I was at a meeting in the middle of Douglas, very near St George's church. I popped into the graveyard with my camera and took a few pictures - I'll post two or three more tomorrow or Tuesday. The most famous person to be buried there is Sir William Hillary, founder of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution - this is his grave -



There are many people alive today, or who have lived long, full lives, thanks to Sir William Hillary and there is a Memorial Service held at his graveside each January as his birthday and the anniversary of his death are then. It is always a cold, bleak day; which, in some ways, is actually very fitting.

Tuesday's picture is something of a contrast - these geese live at the end of a lane where I was visiting a patient. I wonder if they are destined for Christmas dinner? And yes, that is the sea behind them - it makes its way into the pictures one way or another every week.



Wednesday's picture is taken just after 4pm, looking towards Peel. On the west coast of the island, Peel is famous for its sunsets. You can see why, as this was purely a 'grab camera from car and take a picture as I get back into the car' job, again after a visit to a patient at home!



Thursday's picture is taken whilst I had lunch at home - it was a dry day, and I thought it interesting to show that there are still a few flowers in bloom in the garden - there are a few geraniums and a couple of wallflowers - but I liked the 'other-worldliness' of this close up of a cyclamen.



Friday's picture - all week I have been thinking that I really like the look of bare trees against the sky - but never seemed to be able to stop the car in the right places when a particular one caught my eye. This is not such a good shape as some of the other, unpictured, ones, but was near where I park my car when I do my clinic session in Ramsey...



Yesterday I was up bright and early to go to church where there was a coffee morning to show off the church flowers. (You can see them if you click on the church link in my sidebar, choose St Andrews from the hoepage and then Christmas flowers...). I was, with my two fellow teachers and a scutch of small people, running a cake stall to raise money for Water Aid. The bonus picture at the bottom shows some of the cakes - we had some wonderful donations, which kept coming, so if I had taken the picture a little sooner or a little later the cakes would have been different.

However Saturday's picture is actually one taken later. I decided to go and do some of my Christmas shopping, at last. I started at Tynwald craft centre, and did buy presents for some furry friends at the pet shop, and a couple of books, but not a lot of other stuff. But I realised that if I went into town then, at about 4.15pm, it might be easier to park... which it was. I did a quick flash around M&S and got all the Sunday School presents, a couple of bits for D-d, wrapping paper, cards to supplement the made ones, scented nightlights... a totally successful 3/4 hour spree!

Even better, though - as I came out I was greeted with -



Ellan Vannin Pipes and Drums were playing outside the shop! They are in their Manx tartan kilts. I love the rich sound of the pipes and drums - 'Little Drummer Boy' was just wonderful. I have to admit to preferring them to the Silver Band 100fold.

Today I rushed around at church organising next week's Nativity, and then, after lunch, decided that it really was time to start decorating for Christmas. So - this is the green and red stuff that goes on the shelves above the television -




I'm sure I should have been able to take a better picture... I also put most of the cards onto the wall behind the settee, and redid the door wreath - so progress has been made!

Progress has also been made in the writing - the next chapter of Brotherhood, which is winding to a close, is now with my beta and I should be able to post it tomorrow or Tuesday, and there is a RoTK-verse Christmas/mid-winter story on its way too.

Hopefully progress will also be made writing Christmas cards - but don't hold your breath...

Finally - here is a bonus picture - cakes, and more cakes -





Hmm- I think I may have just heard the wreath falling off the front door - I didn't wash the door before I started, and so the suction hook might not have sucked quite as well as it usually does. I was just boasting the other day that it always stays put, and you know they say pride goes before a fall - well I think this time it might be quite literal!

Oh, and the fair wind? Ellan Vannin Pipes and Drums used to be called Cair Vie - Manx for Fair Wind - a good name for a pipe band, but probably prone to being mixed up with the fishing boat of the same name from Ramsey...

Comments

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

Mmmm. Lemon Drizzle.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I think Cheryl made that - we will miss her baking skills as she is heading off to run Palliative Care in Gibraltar in January... and it's a bit far to send cake home!

But the very best lemon drizzle cake I've ever had is this one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/voirreys_pics/3646972033/in/set-72157619307978445/).

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

I was thinking it would be nice with lime too.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Mmm - I must have a go at that sometime, it would be good.

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

Might be nice with some coconut in the sponge too. Yum Yum.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! We may have just invented a new cake recipe.

[quinara]

You two should go into cake busines; this sounds so good!!

The sunset and cyclamen are very pretty too. :)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Coconut and lime drizzle cake. After Christmas, maybe!

[quinara]

You have to report back.

[spikesdeb.livejournal.com]

Your pictures of the Isle of Man always make me want to go back there. I will one day, I'm sure. I spent many happy hours there...although a lot of them were either in pain (hockey injuries!) or in...drink. :)

I too love bare trees against the sky. I love to simply stand and look at a solitary tree crowning a hill against a very white sky. That always makes me happy. Simple things...

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Do come back sometime - I do guided tours...

And I know some very nice bare trees.

[spikesdeb.livejournal.com]

Done! I bet things have changed so much since I was last there, so I'll need some guiding :)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Just book me in advance...

[debris4spike]

Love the sunset.

Yes, I ride past a load of geese most weeks - and we commented last week as to how much longer we shall be seeing them!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It is a rather nice sunset, isn't it?

I know we won't be eating any of those particular geese - our New Year dinner lives in a field across the road from my mother's house!

[desdemonaspace]

How beautiful it is. I cannot imagine flowers in December. Your pic posts are always lovely.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

There aren't a lot of flowers in bloom - but cyclamens usually do flower over winter here. One of my roses, the dark red one, is still in flower too - but they are tending to get to semi-open and then stay there, get too wet, and drop off... And I noticed, today, that there are already signs of life from some of the bulbs!

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

My folks had neighbors with geese-- not my favorite animals. Very ill tempered! I think I liked the llamas better...

The baked sale makes me hungry!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Geese make very good guard dogs... if you see what I mean. I used to hate getting stuck in the outside toilet on my great aunts farm, as a child, by the geese all standing outside the door and hissing. I am quite happy to eat them!

There were some lovely cakes - although quite a lot of Rice Krispie cakes and similar as the children did help to make stuff.

I found the ultimate money maker - those gingerbread shapes they helped decorate last week? They all got their parents to buy their own ones back!

[hesadevil.livejournal.com]

I find guard geese extremely intimidating but have never eaten one.

The cyclamen shot is so beautiful. Quite dreamy and (as you say) 'other worldly'.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Eating them is karma...

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

Your bare tree looks a great deal like the young damson in my yard; Older trees have more extravagently twisted shapes, but that looks like a nice healthy tree.

Bother. I meant to say: Deirdre who comments in my journal grows Cyclamen hederafolium, which I think is what that photo shows; I try and despair, because the squirrels will come out with people about to eat the tubers.


Julia, too busy the last few days to even carry my camera; treats of snow drive me to virtuous enterprise

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I think it is a fruit tree - an apple maybe? I recall seeing it in blossom earlier in the year.

The cyclamen is actually growing in a wicker basket on the table in the yard. But we don't have squirrels (which is why I still find them 'cute', of course!) and so it is safe there.

We haven't had even a hint of snow yet - we did get down to about 1.5C briefly up on the tops, but it was a blessedly clear night.

[calizen.livejournal.com]

So lovely. Good ideas for my own thoughts about how to make this place Christmasy -- if you can call 70 degrees F(is that what? 20C) with palm trees Christmasy

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Ah - there is a palm tree further down our street that usually has Christmas lights in it!

The greenery with the red ribbons and tiny red decorations always manages to look festive - that's why it is the first thing to go up.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

My, that's quite a holiday food spread.

My crazy Iris is still on its stalk although now it's in a freeze-dried state.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

There was a chocolate yule log, too - but I bought it,then put half in the freezer, and S2C and I ate the other half. Can't beat lots of chocolate butter cream to get you in a festive mood...!

I am rather fascinated by the idea of a freeze dried iris.

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

Beautiful view, fabulous cakes, dreamy cyclamen!

And very self-important-looking geese, but then they always are, a bit. Geese (and beans) were the last things my family cultivated on the old family farm (sold about 5 years ago after my last great-uncle died). They don't need a lot of TLC; hard to get fond of though.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

As I said to someone else in the comments, I have never been particularly fond of geese since, as a child, I used to get stuck in the outside toilet at my great aunt's because the geese would stand outside the door and not let me out. And, of course, the family would all be too busy talking to wonder where I was - if they wondered at all they would presume that, as I often was of course, I was in the barn with the cats or whatever.

[ningloreth.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they are destined for Christmas dinner?

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

I haven't seen your photos for weeks... I will have to do some back-tracking. (I have tomorrow as a day's holiday, so I'm unusually relaxed tonight, despite the fact that I haven't written today's piece for the calendar yet).

Those cakes are good value!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They won't be my Christmas dinner - or even my New Year one - he lives, with the rest of the flock, across the road from my mother's... shop local and all that!

The lady who made the lemon drizzle cakes priced them herself - then the mini Christmas cakes were £2.50 - the big one was £7.00, the decorated sponges as the far end were £3.00 and the small cakes were all 30p each. Much money was made - about £130.

[melegyrn.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have thing about trees as well and love their bare branches in winter. They reveal a lot about the individual character of the trees, and they're especially nice against a delectable winter blue sky. Thanks for that one.

I like Wednesday's as well--it has a very nice mood.

Hmmm...those geese do look rather edible. I don't know why but I'm struck by their necks, which somehow are thicker than I would expect... The neighbor who lived in back of us when I was growing up had a few geese, and I remember getting nipped by them a few times. Often enough for me to avoid them if I could. Better to hang over the back fence and watch them. Always hoped I could sneak into the yard without the geese seeing me if I was going to visit.

I do like the cyclamen. I always feel I've seen something special when I see them growing outdoors. There's a hardy variety that some folks grow here but even those aren't seen often.

And thanks for the Ellan Vannin Pipes and Drums--I can almost here them, all the way over here!

Mmmmmm, cakes. Church bake sales are one of my Mom's favorite places to shop for goodies. Wish we could have dropped in!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The geese have a lot of muscle in their necks - all the better to peck you with, I reckon!

The pipe band sounded very like this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg6Qxp-UQRg&feature=related) - who are, strangely enough, at the university of Mobile...!

[slaymesoftly.livejournal.com]

As always, the pictures are interesting, beautiful and teach us something about your fair isle. :)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you - it's my pleasure.

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

That's great that there is still a memorial service every year.

Those geese look far to lovely to eat [unlike the cakes which I could dive right into!].

Wonderful sunset.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Our, now retired, minister used to go to it every year to represent the free churches - and it seemed to always be a bitterly cold day, or a very wet and windy one!

The cakes were very good - well the couple that I brought home were, anyway! They sold well...

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

Bagpipes, what a treat! I am a big fan. So you Manx do tartans and bagpipes, I didn't know that.

BTW, the sunset picture is wonderful.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The pipers are mostly ex-pat Scots, although I know one or two younger people have learnt to play. Manx tartan, rather like most of the Scots ones, is a fairly new conceit - designed somewhere in the early/middle of the last century for production in a local woollen mills (http://www.iomguide.com/woollenmills.php) - but if you now look on kilt-makers sites it is referred to as Ancient Manx...

I rather like that sunset, too!

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info on the pipers and the Manx tartan.

[gillo]

Butterfly cakes! Yum. Love the sunset too. And you have a remarkably similar photo of a daughter to one we have...

Can Christmas just be postponed a week or so now please? I am nowhere near ready.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I didn't have any of the butterfly cakes - but they did look exceedingly good!

You will notice that I bought the wrong sized frame for the graduation photo - and still haven't bought any more black paper to fill the gap. Still, I have until Friday... postponement seems a very good idea, all things considered.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love pipe & drums! And all that baking... now I'm hungry!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The music at the end of shopping was unexpected but greatly appreciated - such a rich sound.

There were some very good cakes. I resisted the urge to buy vast numbers of them!

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Those geese are stupendous!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! They were nicely huddled together around their puddle.

[winsomeone.livejournal.com]

There is just something about older grave sites that invite me in. And the weather did sound fitting.

It seems you've done quite a lot towards the holiday and the shelf decorations are lovely.

The baked goods looked delightful, although not enough chocolate was depicted.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I have a few more pictures from St George's - I plan on posting them tomorrow.

There was quite a lot of chocolate - probably more even in the picture than you'd notice - the white tin and the tupperware tub have two different versions of chocolate krispie cakes, the near ones have chocolate smarties on top as well...

And there was a rather luscious chocolate yule log that I bought to bring home for S2C.