365 Project Week 44.
3 Jan 2010 04:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
curiouswombatThis week included my birthday and New Year - oddly, the pictures don't really reflect either of these events!
Instead they include
Monday was my birthday. I was very old. I had a lovely day, including an excellent meal out with S2C and D-d. The picture was taken mid-morning, however, just after I dropped D-d off at the gym.
I have shown pictures of Sir William Hillary's tomb, and the memorial to the rescue of the crew of the St George - and it occurred to me that I should include a picture of the Tower of Refuge. The Conister rock is in Douglas bay, quite close to land, and had caused the loss of ships and lives over the centuries as vessels attempting to get to the harbour, or to shelter in the bay, found themselves driven onto it by high seas or high winds. That is what had happened to the St George.
After that particular rescue, with a crew of volunteers in a large rowing boat putting their own lives in danger, it occurred to Sir William that there was another way. He began a public fund to build a tower of refuge on the rocks - a bit like a lighthouse, but unmanned and without the light! It was a sturdy building with easy access to floors that would be above water in even the harshest weather.
The idea was that the passengers and crew of any vessel foundering on the rock could disembark (not necessarily all that easy, but feasible), and get inside the tower - where food, water and kindling were left. They could then be rescued when conditions improved.
I have tried to find out how often it was used - one site says that it was never used at all - and this wouldn't surprise me, to be honest, as the rock, usually partially or totally submerged, must have been a lot more noticeable once the tower was built. Presumably ships' masters could more easily avoid it...
Anyway - this is The Tower of Refuge -
Tuesday's picture is taken in the back yard - I didn't go out much all week, it was lovely! I threw the remains of the bread onto the roof of next door's garage (it is part of the boundary to our garden!) It was too windy for the gulls to get down into the lane, so slightly smaller birds got a chance. This guy was the first arrival, and so got first choice -
Wednesday's picture actually shows a couple of my birthday presents - I took it as D-d asked me to clear the coffee table of books as she had friends coming around for the evening, and wanted to be able to put glasses and a plate of brownies and biscuits down on it. I thought that perhaps our idea of coffee table books might not be exactly what the phrase usually means.
You can see 'The Christmas Companion' (full of useful, and useless, Christmas facts!), 'A Country Christmas' by Miss Read, an incredibly battered copy of 'The Fellowship of the Ring', 'The Regency Underworld', 'Unseen Academicals', almost hidden, and in the front two birthday books - 'Simon's Cat' and the 'Betty's Cookery School Year of Family Recipes'. All things I had been reading over the previous week or so - you can tell who it is in our house that leaves her reading lying around...
Thursday was New Year's Eve. S2c was at work, D-d was at her friend's house, where they always celebrate New Year - and the cat and I were together, strangely I was quite happy with this. The picture is taken from my seat on the settee - it is one of my many Christmas angels -
I saw in the New Year by writing, drinking Bailey's, and watching BBC Alba - and was content.
On Friday my Mum came to share New Year Dinner. We usually have a goose from her neighbouring farm. This year was no exception, but I fear the goose had done a bit too much working out, as he was a bit tougher than usual... I have, however, just had the last of him for my lunch today, and cold, thinly sliced, it was actually much less chewy!
D-d had arrived home about 3.30a.m. - but was remarkably not hung-over and asked that I take her picture with my mother, as she wanted more family pictures to have in her room at York.
So that is the girl and her granny.
Yesterday's picture is another indoor one. It is actually taken in our bathroom, where D-d's posh frock that she wore on New Year's Eve was hanging up to dry after she had sponged a couple of marks out of the under-layer. I simply like the contrast between the deep pink and black against the bright white of the wall.
Today I took D-d down to the airport for her flight back to Manchester and then on to York. they still have their Festival of Trees on display. I took more pics than this, but I thought that this was actually the prettiest one -
It was made and decorated by a local 'land reclamation and landscaping' company - the decorations included bit of reclaimed wood, stones, and paper as well as a few other things they have found when reclaiming such as the traffic cones - and yet it is so pretty.
My plan for the next few days on my journal is to show a couple more pictures of the festival of trees, post the next chapter of the Winter Tale, and do some serious squeeing about the Middle Earth Fanfic Awards...
Instead they include
Monday was my birthday. I was very old. I had a lovely day, including an excellent meal out with S2C and D-d. The picture was taken mid-morning, however, just after I dropped D-d off at the gym.
I have shown pictures of Sir William Hillary's tomb, and the memorial to the rescue of the crew of the St George - and it occurred to me that I should include a picture of the Tower of Refuge. The Conister rock is in Douglas bay, quite close to land, and had caused the loss of ships and lives over the centuries as vessels attempting to get to the harbour, or to shelter in the bay, found themselves driven onto it by high seas or high winds. That is what had happened to the St George.
After that particular rescue, with a crew of volunteers in a large rowing boat putting their own lives in danger, it occurred to Sir William that there was another way. He began a public fund to build a tower of refuge on the rocks - a bit like a lighthouse, but unmanned and without the light! It was a sturdy building with easy access to floors that would be above water in even the harshest weather.
The idea was that the passengers and crew of any vessel foundering on the rock could disembark (not necessarily all that easy, but feasible), and get inside the tower - where food, water and kindling were left. They could then be rescued when conditions improved.
I have tried to find out how often it was used - one site says that it was never used at all - and this wouldn't surprise me, to be honest, as the rock, usually partially or totally submerged, must have been a lot more noticeable once the tower was built. Presumably ships' masters could more easily avoid it...
Anyway - this is The Tower of Refuge -
Tuesday's picture is taken in the back yard - I didn't go out much all week, it was lovely! I threw the remains of the bread onto the roof of next door's garage (it is part of the boundary to our garden!) It was too windy for the gulls to get down into the lane, so slightly smaller birds got a chance. This guy was the first arrival, and so got first choice -
Wednesday's picture actually shows a couple of my birthday presents - I took it as D-d asked me to clear the coffee table of books as she had friends coming around for the evening, and wanted to be able to put glasses and a plate of brownies and biscuits down on it. I thought that perhaps our idea of coffee table books might not be exactly what the phrase usually means.
You can see 'The Christmas Companion' (full of useful, and useless, Christmas facts!), 'A Country Christmas' by Miss Read, an incredibly battered copy of 'The Fellowship of the Ring', 'The Regency Underworld', 'Unseen Academicals', almost hidden, and in the front two birthday books - 'Simon's Cat' and the 'Betty's Cookery School Year of Family Recipes'. All things I had been reading over the previous week or so - you can tell who it is in our house that leaves her reading lying around...
Thursday was New Year's Eve. S2c was at work, D-d was at her friend's house, where they always celebrate New Year - and the cat and I were together, strangely I was quite happy with this. The picture is taken from my seat on the settee - it is one of my many Christmas angels -
I saw in the New Year by writing, drinking Bailey's, and watching BBC Alba - and was content.
On Friday my Mum came to share New Year Dinner. We usually have a goose from her neighbouring farm. This year was no exception, but I fear the goose had done a bit too much working out, as he was a bit tougher than usual... I have, however, just had the last of him for my lunch today, and cold, thinly sliced, it was actually much less chewy!
D-d had arrived home about 3.30a.m. - but was remarkably not hung-over and asked that I take her picture with my mother, as she wanted more family pictures to have in her room at York.
So that is the girl and her granny.
Yesterday's picture is another indoor one. It is actually taken in our bathroom, where D-d's posh frock that she wore on New Year's Eve was hanging up to dry after she had sponged a couple of marks out of the under-layer. I simply like the contrast between the deep pink and black against the bright white of the wall.
Today I took D-d down to the airport for her flight back to Manchester and then on to York. they still have their Festival of Trees on display. I took more pics than this, but I thought that this was actually the prettiest one -
It was made and decorated by a local 'land reclamation and landscaping' company - the decorations included bit of reclaimed wood, stones, and paper as well as a few other things they have found when reclaiming such as the traffic cones - and yet it is so pretty.
My plan for the next few days on my journal is to show a couple more pictures of the festival of trees, post the next chapter of the Winter Tale, and do some serious squeeing about the Middle Earth Fanfic Awards...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 03/01/2010 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 03/01/2010 05:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 03/01/2010 05:05 pm (UTC)And great pics in general - as always! (What are you going to do when Week 52's been and gone?)
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Date: 03/01/2010 05:32 pm (UTC)I envy you your Mum's visit, and your goose! My sister hates goose, and that's a downside of having her host all the familiy dinners. O the other hand, we had three guests at New Years: Miss Perfect's boy Bailey, and her ex-boy Adrian, with Valerie, Miss p's good friend Adrian's currently dating (should have been four, but the Manchild's Girl had to work, and had a huge plastic sack of theater waste break over her head and shoulders, and so could not be presentable before midnight, poor Cinderella).
And the Tower of Refuge should be officially recognized as a monument to the Law of Unintended Consequences, perhaps?
Julia, posh dresses are always good models
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Date: 03/01/2010 05:49 pm (UTC)I'm really not sure what I'll do at the end of week 52 - I think I might keep up the weekly picture post, but not necessarily one a day!
(Edited for a 'p' - you might say...!!)
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Date: 03/01/2010 05:56 pm (UTC)I really like goose - but so many people just don't know how to cook them, and then they are greasy - whereas I always think of them as a good lean meat which, as a by-product, provides the best fat for roasting potatoes for all the rest of the year!
It's good when they stay on friendly terms with the exes, isn't it? Especially if they tend to date from a limited pool! But poor Cinderella indeed.
The crowd of them have always gone to Jenny's at New Year - from when they were about 14 and we used to go and walk her home at quarter past midnight. This year Jenny herself arrived home from Stockholm just in time to host!
The Tower of Refuge really is a monument to the Law of Unintended Consequences - in the best possible way.
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Date: 03/01/2010 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 03/01/2010 06:10 pm (UTC)Julia, especially since I went into social overload in August, and haven't had him over since then!
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Date: 03/01/2010 06:29 pm (UTC)The 'summer boyfriend' had that effect on me...
It makes me happy to know that people are still playing proper d&D anywhere!
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Date: 03/01/2010 06:31 pm (UTC)I do look like my Mum, and like my granny before her. (see icon!) What surprised me is that D-d looks quite a lot like my Mum in that picture - my husband says she looks more like his family than mine, and I have usually given him that!
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Date: 03/01/2010 06:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 03/01/2010 06:38 pm (UTC)Lovely dress!
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Date: 03/01/2010 06:48 pm (UTC)Love the greedy jackdaw!
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Date: 03/01/2010 06:51 pm (UTC)I like the idea of the Tower of Refuge -- I'll file that away for later use. And I've saved the picture of D-d's dress (which is lovely, btw), so don't be surprised if you see that again!
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Date: 03/01/2010 07:26 pm (UTC)The dress is gorgeous, isn't it? She got it in a sale in Jane Norman in November.
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Date: 03/01/2010 07:27 pm (UTC)The jackdaw did look silly, I thought.
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Date: 03/01/2010 07:30 pm (UTC)The picture of Mum and D-d is nice - and I can see them a bit like each other in it, too.
The dress fabric is really pretty - it would make a good background.
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Date: 03/01/2010 07:41 pm (UTC)Sweet picture of your daughter and mother. Patterned tights are all the rage here, too. Love the posh frock!
Happy Belated Birthday! We December babies have such a fun season in which to celebrate. Like you, our family celebrates non-stop come December.
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Date: 03/01/2010 08:01 pm (UTC)You can paddle out to it at low tide - the water would only get up to about knee level - but then people do that, take a picnic, and get stuck... the inshore lifeboat, or just someone with a rowing boat, rescue people at least once every summer!
I should have taken a picture of the daughter in the posh frock, but, somehow, didn't!
The only problem with my birthday is that I never get a birthday cake as there is so much Christmas cake. Still at least this year's one has candles on it! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/voirreys_pics/4218576463/)
We have our last celebration on Twelfth Night, when it is my mother's birthday.
no subject
Date: 04/01/2010 12:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 04/01/2010 01:11 am (UTC)And serious MEFA squee posts are fun, aren't they! I'll have to do mine tomorrow.
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Date: 04/01/2010 04:19 am (UTC)Reading through your list of books reminded me that I read Miss Read's "A Country Christmas" once upon a time, long enough ago now that I can't remember when. It was before Borders and Amazon, though, because I used to get her books from the library here, as many as I could get my hands on.
I see what you mean about the Tower of Refuge--that piece of rock it sits on is fairly low in the water. Well, if it saved lives, one way or the other, it was worth the building.
That's a very enterprising bird... :-)
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Date: 04/01/2010 07:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 04/01/2010 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 04/01/2010 11:04 am (UTC)To preserve the old ones I really should swap the two sets around!
And you most certainly should do some serious squeeing yourself!
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Date: 04/01/2010 11:08 am (UTC)That particular copy of A Country Christmas actually came free with a magazine!
The Conister Rock can be totally under water at high tide, and so it is easy to see how, before the modern harbour was built, ships could easily hit it - the tower is, as Julia says, a monument to the Law of Unintended Consequences - saving lives in an unintended way!
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Date: 04/01/2010 11:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 06/01/2010 11:10 am (UTC)I like the tower - I thought it was a submarine for a second when I first scrolled by and clearly you have good taste in reading matter.
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Date: 06/01/2010 01:31 pm (UTC)I think we will be back to less festive, but possibly more seasonal, greys this week...
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Date: 06/01/2010 11:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 06/01/2010 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 06/01/2010 11:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 06/01/2010 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 06/01/2010 11:59 pm (UTC)http://www.iomguide.com/towerrefuge.php
no subject
Date: 07/01/2010 12:08 am (UTC)