curiouswombat: (notes from a small island)
[personal profile] curiouswombat
Only a few pictures this week. It has not been weather conducive to going out with the camera, really. We have had rain and gales for much of the week. As the wind blew up yet again on Friday afternoon I said to a work colleague "It's a very good day to not be on the boat." ('The Boat' is local parlance for our ferries back and forwards to the UK aka 'the adjacent island'!)

Then I remembered that my sister and brother-in-law were actually going to be on the boat that evening. It sailed as usual at 7.45pm (Text from sister - 'we must be mad...'). They finally docked at 1.15am (Text from sister 'worse crossing I've ever been on.') I was right - it was a very good day to not be on the boat.

Today is also a very good day to not be on the boat - there are pictures to show you why under the cut. Guess when sister and brother-in-law are returning? Their boat sails from Heysham at 2.am in the morning, and both are back at work at 8.30am tomorrow. But it was a trip they felt they had to do as B-i-l's older brother is terminally ill and, as D-d puts it, every time he manages another month without actually dying they have to go and see him for the last time again.

It is a day for comfort food, today - the sort of weather that gives me the urge to bake. I think it is the comfort aspect of it - even though I can, and occasionally do, bake all sorts of more exotic things, when it is this sort of day I bake scones. Well - I had to really - [livejournal.com profile] dougalsservant gave me some very, very nice strawberry jam for Christmas, and it goes so well with fresh scones! And S2C prefers cheeses scones - so I made him some whilst I was at it. I should have taken a picture of the ones we have just had with coffee - but I did take a picture of the ones that are left.

So - this week's pictures include


This first is a picture of the note S2C left on my laptop whilst I was up at Mum's yesterday. He is on his nights off, but was in need of a nap. Does it give anyone else the giggles?

Message.

At Sunday School this morning we were continuing with the story of David and Saul. I had a 4 year old helping me to bring a 7 year old up-to-date on 'the story so far', as she missed last week. He really had remembered at least something 'David killed a giant with a stone he threw'. Hurrah!

Today we looked at the opportunity David had to kill Saul when David was in the very cave that 'Saul went into to relieve himself' - but the simple version we use with the little ones actually says 'Saul went into the cave to wee'. It goes on to describe David's actions, Saul's reaction, and so on, but I am pretty sure that, by next week, the story of David so far will be 'David killed a giant with a stone he threw, and the King had a wee in a cave'.

After church I came home via the promenade, as I usually do - and took a few pictures just to illustrate why it's a good day to not be on the boat.

Prom high wind 2

Prom high wind 1

Yes - those are waves breaking up over the road further around the bay from where I was at the time - the road is about 20 - 30 feet above the usual high tide level at that point.

The camera focused more on the near posts and railings in that one - this is taken from a few feet further along, with less zoom and nothing between me and the far waves as I was closer to the sea wall. This is why the colours are a bit different in this.

Prom high wind 3

Then I just turned as I was walking back to the car and tried to get a picture of one of the gulls - and was lucky, to be honest.

prom high wind 4

I actually have to drive up near the place where the waves are breaking over the road - so I stopped and took this, from the car.

prom high winds 5

The tiny pale patch top right is sky - all the rest of the blue-grey area is sea spray up higher than the frame of the picture.

Now for the scones - in the front is most of a round of cheese ones, behind are some made with craisins - because I like them, they needed eating up, and they go well with strawberry jam!

scones.

Totally unrelated, but I commented on [livejournal.com profile] azalaisdep's journal that a particular plot bunny would just have to wait in the queue - so as much for my own benefit as anything else, here is the current queue;

Part 2 of A Tale in the Hall of Fire - already 1,300 word written.

A story of the early days in Ithilien before Tindómë and Rumil are betrothed - already 4,250 words long and in its second chapter.

Chapter 18 of Access All Areas - both S2C and I feel we should go back and finish this and are now actively discussing the plot.

A story for the Tolkien Big Bang, due in July, which is likely to be about the preparations to leave Ithilien and sail West. It will be a minimum or 20,000 words long.

And a long time in the future, writing wise, the story of what happens when Tindómë tries to contact Spike using Radagast's 'window'. The first 1,300 words of this have been written for about 18 months.

And, in my head, there are even more. Although, just at the moment, I must dash off and write a drabble for Tolkien Weekly.

Date: 06/02/2011 05:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cbtreks.livejournal.com
Your Sunday School kids are so funny! When I was that age, they didn't mention the bit about Saul having to relieve himself - I can't remember exactly why they told use he went into the cave. (And Rachel sitting on her father's idols under her saddle and not getting up? That was because "she didn't feel well". Though if she really was on her period, she very well might not have!)

Scones look delicious. I really like the wave photos. At first glance, I thought the first one was snow, it's so white.

Date: 06/02/2011 05:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Our lesson books have the story in simple terms for the 4-7year olds, and we even had a chant which included the line 'The King went in the cave to have a wee, wee, wee, wee'!

The scones do taste good, I have to say.

And as for the white sea - a white sea is not something you want to see if there is any likelihood of having to spend hours on it in a boat!

Date: 06/02/2011 05:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] azalaisdep.livejournal.com
Oh, boy, I feel ill at the thought of crossing the Irish Sea in that. Though the photos are dramatic!

Mmmm, scones...

Date: 06/02/2011 06:18 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
I can't say that I envy my sister at all. It is a sea for watching, not sailing on.

The scones are rather tasty, I have to admit.

Date: 06/02/2011 05:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wormwood-7.livejournal.com
Those waves look magnificent! I envy you in a way :)

Date: 06/02/2011 06:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
I love having the sea so close, and I love being able to watch it in all its moods. I especially enjoy looking at it when it is rough - provided that I don't have to go out on it...

Date: 06/02/2011 05:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com
Gah! I've just had a very feeling exchange with my dad about why we're not keen on a Baltic cruise idea Mum has (I love the idea, but seasickness is guaranteed. Guess which of the three of us does not suffer from it?). These pictures are exceedingly close to my nightmares! Gorgeous to look at from land, though!

Yes, laughed at the note. Also drooled at the scones and delicious jam. Baking for one is no fun, especially something like scones that really don't keep too well.

Tindómë and Spike gets my vote. But then, you would probably have guessed that!

Date: 06/02/2011 06:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
I think it would depend on the size of the ship, and the time of year, whether I would fancy a Baltic cruise! But I do love to watch the sea from solid ground, when it is stormy.

I'm glad I'm not the only person who found the note funny.

Scones do freeze pretty well...

I think Tindómë and Spike might have to wait a little. Finishing Access All Areas might come first. That might be more your sort of thing as well. It is the Dawn/Spike follow up to Ten Years After that S2C and I were writing together. TYA is at Twisting the Hellmouth, but the first 17 chapters of AAA are only here on my journal as we haven't finished it.

Date: 06/02/2011 06:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] slaymesoftly.livejournal.com
Hee, fun and informative. The pictures are amazing. Scary waves!
I tried to make scones once (many, many years ago) for a pre-school related fund raiser. Was using a recipe given to us by the school's English born and bred owner. No idea what I did wrong, but they were essentially hockey pucks. Seriously. Inedible and hard as rocks. Never tried it again. Yours look a lot like biscuits or shortcake made with Bisquick. I'll bet they're a lot like the shortcake I make for strawberry shortcake.

Date: 06/02/2011 06:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
No idea what I did wrong, but they were essentially hockey pucks.

My guess would be that any handed down recipe would just say 'flour' - and the default 'flour' in most British family recipes is self-raising. My mother would never bother to specify this, it was a given. The only time any of her recipes has type of flour specified it is because it has to be plain. But I think the default 'flour' in the US doesn't have any raising agent in it... Scones, to my way of thinking, need SR plus an extra spoonful of baking powder (not baking soda!) to each 8oz, to work properly. If there was only that one spoonful of raising agent, or none, then they would be very like hockey pucks!

It took me a long time to realise that shortcake isn't the same as shortbread - so your strawberry shortcake is really more like our strawberry & cream scones than most Brits think.

Date: 06/02/2011 07:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] slaymesoftly.livejournal.com
Yes, I would think it's very much like that. Like a scone with strawberries and cream (or whipped cream) on it. I think shortbread is the name for very tasty, buttery cookies (biscuits to you). We got little packets of them in many of inns we stayed in on our trip, but I've forgotten the name on the package. Something in red plaid, maybe? I also think many "breads" that don't rise (date/nut bread/ zucchini bread,banana bread, etc. are sometimes called "shortbreads". But I"m not sure. I'm more of a consumer than a producer when it comes to baked goods. :)

Date: 06/02/2011 08:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Yes - shortbread is a type of biscuit. Many hotels, especially from Scottish chains or in Scotland, will give you packets on your tea/coffee tray - often by Walkers who have red tartan on their packaging.

Date: 07/02/2011 02:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] slaymesoftly.livejournal.com
That sounds like it.

Date: 06/02/2011 06:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nutmeg3.livejournal.com
<< They finally docked at 1.15am >>

What time should they have docked?

Those waves are actually quite glorious, so long as all one has to do is look at them. And homemade scones...! ::makes grabby hands::

Date: 06/02/2011 06:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
The boat usually takes 3.5 hours to cross - so it should have docked at 11.15pm.

The sea is gorgeous to look at in this sort of weather, I must admit. I'd pass you a scone, but they don't e-mail very easily...

Date: 06/02/2011 06:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dougalsservant.livejournal.com
You are having a rough time with the weather down there; your poor sister & BiL. Things have been calm here since about 05:00 on Saturday morning.
John is coming over to look at hurricane damage tomorrow morning - the list so far:
1 loose fence panel
1 loose greenhouse panel - currently taped into place
1 collapsed sapling - can it be saved?
2 escaped down pipes into the water butts by the greenhouse - I expect they made it to John O'Groats!

Date: 06/02/2011 06:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
You had it harder but for a slightly shorter time. And we are lucky - the main gales were coming in from a westerly direction - and we live on the east-facing slope of the hill!

The Ben made her afternoon crossing in her usual time anyway - I just looked on the webcam at 6.15 and she was turning in the harbour. So with any luck they will at least get in in the usual 3.5 hours on the way back, rather than 5.5 on the way there!

Date: 06/02/2011 06:47 pm (UTC)
kathyh: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kathyh
I love seeing waves like that, but the thought of being at sea in weather like that fills me with rather sickly feelings!

The scones look wonderful.

Date: 06/02/2011 07:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Yes - it was certainly a sea to experience from the shore.

The scones are rather tasty, I must admit.

Date: 06/02/2011 07:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keswindhover.livejournal.com
Your sea pictures look very ominous. Here it is merely blowy, with all the tops of the trees rattling together, and the ducks on the lake bobbing up and down.

I wonder what S2C writes when he wishes to be phoned at a precise time.

Date: 06/02/2011 08:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
It's easing a bit now - there is no sound of the sea when I stand outside the front door. It is a good half-mile away, but when it is stormy you can always hear it.

I wonder what S2C writes when he wishes to be phoned at a precise time.

I guess it might have given me the number of seconds, too...

Date: 06/02/2011 07:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lindahoyland.livejournal.com
I wouldn't even like to be on the river today to be honest, it took me all my time to venture out to church, but the service was lovely so I'm glad I did.

I love your photos of the sea and your scones look tasty.It must be a struggle for gulls to fly!

Date: 06/02/2011 08:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
It seems to be easing down a bit now.

The gulls sometimes seem to be almost enjoying wheeling around in the wind.

Date: 06/02/2011 07:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] petzipellepingo.livejournal.com
I've seen Lake St. Clair with waves like that, very, very bad time to be on water anywhere with waves going over roads.

It must be cranberry day, I put some in the couscous I made for dinner.

Date: 06/02/2011 08:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Yes - sea over the road is usually a sign that it's a good day to keep your feet firmly on dry ground!

I think cranberries go really well with couscous, too.

Date: 06/02/2011 08:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com
Yes, that note is hilarious! Looking at your weather, it's definitely time for something like those scones!

Date: 06/02/2011 09:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Yes, that note is hilarious!

I'm glad it's not just me.

The weather is easing a bit now - but the shipping forecast suggests it might get back to a force 7 or 8 for a few hours - the few hours my sister will be on the boat on her way home... poor J, she really is not the best of sailors, either.

Date: 06/02/2011 08:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] frivol.livejournal.com
I do love a stormy sea! Though not while in a boat on said sea. (I've had a few crossings of that sea, and several that were quite horrendous, from Heysham and from Douglas too. I feel for your sister and b-i-l, but understand their need to travel.)

And my icon is for your scones. They do indeed look just the thing for a stormy day spent indoors.

(The precise nature of the note left for you made me smile!)

Date: 06/02/2011 09:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
I try not to go off-island between mid November and the end of March if possible!

The scones are good - I'd offer you one but they really don't seem to e-mail very well...

Date: 06/02/2011 09:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cairistiona7.livejournal.com
That is a funny note... he's very specific about the time, isn't he! LOL

But what a sea! As someone who suffers easily from seasickness, I'm glad I'm nowhere near there! But the photos are lovely. Those scones look delicious.

Date: 06/02/2011 09:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
When I saw the note I got the giggles and thought 'I really have to share that!'

Sea with that much white on it is for looking at with both feet firmly on dry ground.

Scones are one of those things that are almost always makeable at short notice, as there is usually flour in the cupboard and butter in the fridge, but have a nice feeling of domesticity about them as well as tasting good.

Date: 06/02/2011 09:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] estelcontar1.livejournal.com
Your scones are making my mouth water. They look so delicious.I'm with S2C when it comes to scones. I prefer the cheese ones.

Beautiful pictures. I know exactly what those waves look like because we have the same kind of phenomenon here, and Rio, though not an Island is by the shore.

My sister says the wind was horrible in Amsterdam yesterday too.

Date: 06/02/2011 09:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
Your sister would have caught the very same gales - the wind was blowing in from the Atlantic, sweeping across the British Isles and on over the North Sea.

You probably get even bigger waves than us - they will have travelled a very long way before they break at Rio.

I really should make him cheese scones more often - they really are easy to do - but fresh baked scones or cakes are such a temptation...

Date: 07/02/2011 11:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] estelcontar1.livejournal.com
Yes, I was sure it was the same gale. She said the wind was blowing at around 90 km per hour. Yuck!

I can't say if they're bigger, but when something like that is happening the streets in front of Copacabana and Ipanema beach get closed to trafic, covered with sand, and kind of slippery.

Date: 07/02/2011 06:30 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thismaz.livejournal.com
*shivers* Definitely not a day to be out at sea. We had the most amazing wind the other night, but it came to us after having gone through you, so I'm thinking you and the Pennines took some of the sting out of it. I'm very grateful for that, thank you. *g*

Date: 07/02/2011 08:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
I'm very grateful for that, thank you. *g*

As I wasn't on the boat, it was my pleasure!

Date: 07/02/2011 10:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bojojoti.livejournal.com
Not 6:35 or 6:40! But I suppose 6:36 or 6:38 would have been acceptable?

How much worse would the winds and seas have to be before the ferry declined service? Such fierce photos!

Date: 07/02/2011 12:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
But I suppose 6:36 or 6:38 would have been acceptable?

That was my guess, anyway!

As for the boat, we measure weather using the Beaufort Scale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale) being a seafaring wee nation. The boat almost always sails in a Force 8 and usually in a 9 (depending on the wind and sea direction). It is likely to stay in port by the time we get up to a 10 or above.

Date: 07/02/2011 10:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bojojoti.livejournal.com
Being landlocked, I was totally oblivious to the Beaufort Scale. Thank you for that nugget of information. Now, if I can only retain it!

Date: 07/02/2011 02:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] spikereader.livejournal.com
S2C's note did indeed make me smile.

The waves look wonderful, but I'd hate to be on a boat in seas like that.

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