Sunday Picspam

[curiouswombat]

Biggest news this week around here is that D-d is home from her travels - I think I might be able to share a picture or two with you over the next few weeks. She looks well, and has had a great time. Now we have to work out how we all three live in the same house for more than a few weeks at a time...

I picked her up from the airport about 1.00pm on Wednesday, and mentioned that I had spent time that morning (I had taken a day's leave) making cupcakes ready for decoration when required.

By 3.00pm she was in the kitchen decorating cupcakes... here are the fruit of our labours -






Fresh raspberries, slivers of preserved ginger, gold stars and hundreds and thousands... later that day, and most of the next, she just panned out - but at that time what she most wanted to do was decorate cup cakes.

The rest of the undecorated cakes are in the freezer and can be defrosted and decorated as required...

I've made carrot cake, and some lemon drizzle cupcakes, ready to take to church as there is motorbike racing this week and there will be catering at church. The cupcakes can go, too, if required.

Talking of the motorbike racing - I keep meaning to take a picture of one of our bi-lingual road signs - not Manx/English like many of the others, but one near the roads used for racing -



Yes - bilingual English/German. I like the wee banned alien at the top, too. You can see why a surprisingly large number of Manx primary school children have a smattering of German.

And now to something completely different. I was at a meeting at the Promenade Methodist Church on Friday evening - which is, not surprisingly, on the promenade. I decided to get the camera out and play with it...



That is the Tower of Refuge - which I have mentioned before. Built to save anyone whose ship was wrecked, on those rocks so close to the town, by Sir William Hilary who also founded the royal National Lifeboat Institution. I rather like the current floodlighting - D-d hates it. Each to her own, I guess.

This is the Sea Terminal -



These show one of the sunken gardens, and the fountain -



There are so many lights near the fountain that it is incredibly bright -



Now looking across the bay a little towards the rest of the sweep of the promenade -





Not the best of night time photography - but fun!



And now to go and cook dinner - we had a roast chicken dinner last night - so tonight it is a most un-Sunday-like meal of mackerel.

Comments

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Hee. I love the little alien. And everything looks so pretty, all lit up like that.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

He is definitely an alien - presumably it means only aliens are not allowed to gang along there...!

The prom does look pretty all lit up at night - although they are actually all plain lights.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

That Tower does look rather alien when it's lighted in that fashion.

Oooh, cupcakes.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

It used to have coloured fairy lights - D-d liked them so much that she hates the purpley floodlighting.

The cupcakes are pretty, aren't they? They were very tasty, too.

[jerusha]

The cupcakes look delicious!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They tasted good, too!

[clodia-metelli.livejournal.com]

I love the nightlighting, it's hard to get pics in the dark. Very nice. (And again, splendid cupcakes!)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I was quite pleased with the night ones - and yet felt they could have been clearer...

Have a virtual cake.

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

Lovely!!

I do envy you living so near to the sea :-)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I did miss it terribly when I lived about 20 miles from the coast in Northumberland for a while - I had to go and visit it, sometimes!

[ellynn-ithilwen.livejournal.com]

Wow! I love the tower, and the fountain, and all those shiny little lights along the coast. Maybe it's just my impression, but they look sort of elvish to me.

And the cupcakes... I am full right now, but (again) you put me into a big temptation and you made me want them! :) I *love* raspberries. The yellow cream is vanilla?

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/voirreys_pics/4240297687/in/set-72157623404336211) is a picture of the tower in the daylight - and here (http://photo-scavenger.livejournal.com/208917.html) is one of the fountain by day, too.

And yes - the yellow cream is vanilla - and tasted very good.

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

Oh no, all those pictures are gorgeous. Including the cupcakes.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The cup cakes tasted good, too. And we think I may have just about perfected the lemon drizzle cupcake today... I'll have to take a photo of those, too.

[gamiila.livejournal.com]

You live in such a beautiful island...

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

You'll have to come and visit sometime.

[gamiila.livejournal.com]

I'd like that; and checking flight times, I see I could be there in under 4 hours. Knowing this makes it highly probable that I will visit one day!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

See - not far at all, really!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I could do with a cupcake right now...

Night photography is tricky, but those are lovely.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

What a shame we can't e-mail cupcakes - you'd be very welcome!

I am quite pleased with the night pictures - but I think they could have been even better...

[shirebound]

Beautiful shots!

Yummy yum, those cupcakes look delish.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. The prettiness of the cupcakes is all my daughter's work - I just gave her the blank cakes and left her too it. It was just a big change for her from the only cooking she'd done over the summer, which was a Thai cooking course.

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Your town looks so pretty all lit up like that. And those cupcakes make me hungy. Probably just as well there aren't any cupcakes at casa zanthine!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The promenade does look good - it is over two miles in a sweeping curve, all lit; it looks lovely as you come in on the boat.

Have a virtual cupcake...

[inzilbeth-liz.livejournal.com]

Truly amazing photos, and not least the cupcakes!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Cupcakes are fun because they aren't, really, all that difficult compared with their wow factor.

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

Beautiful night photos! The cupcakes look beautiful and very appetizing. They, and your carrot cake are making my mouth water. I haven't had dinner yet. LOL

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

The cup cakes are all eaten - but the carrot cake smells good...

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

Now you're being very eviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil. LOL

[engarian.livejournal.com]

How absolutely kewl are these. Love the castle on the promontory with the floodlights, and also the last pic with the green castle above the shoreline buildings. These pics are great (feel free to send some cupcakes my way - LOL).

- Erulisse (one L)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Such a shame we can't e-mail cake. I've just made a batch of lemon drizzle cupcakes, too.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

My hips appreciate the distance, my lips don't. :-)

- Erulisse (one L)

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

Cities look so magical lit up at night. I know what you mean about night time photography. I know that a tripod is supposed to help, but I can't be bothered (and my tripod is an unwieldy broken old thing that went with my video camcorder back in the day when they were the size of a suitcase).

I love the photo of the fountain. The water looks so soft!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I sat the camera on the wall each time to take those - still not as firm as a tripod though as the act of pressing the button still moves it a tiny bit.

The fountain does look soft - but I have a few pictures of D-d's of a rainforest waterfall which are even softer looking. I am going to spend an hour or two this afternoon resizing and uploading some of her pictures to Flickr.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I hope that you enjoyed your UK trip; if ever you do get the chance to come this way do drop me a line - I am always happy to act as the native guide.

[ukamikanasi.livejournal.com]

May I please have a cupcake? :)

I love the night photos. Everything looks magical and beautiful in the night lights!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I keep trying to e-mail cupcakes, but it doesn't seem to work :~(

The night pictures came out pretty well - and I rather liked the contrast between the 'illumination' of the Tower and the promenade buildings and the 'working lighting' of the Sea Terminal.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

That floodlighting makes the Tower look like it's made from ice. Very impressive.
Congratulations; you do take a mean picture. My night shots never seem to come out.
Welcome back to D-d. I'm glad she had such a good time.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Id does look rather icy - and a spot fairytale-ish.

I put the camera onto a wall to take these which reduced the wobble pretty well for the long shutter speed.

I will be spamming with some of D-d's pictures over the next couple of weeks - she has had an absolute whale of a time.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

The cupcakes are making me hungry. I'm glad your daughter is safely home.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

She has had a wonderful time - real memories to treasure.

[cbtreks.livejournal.com]

I like the floodlights.

Those raspberries! Are they actually that deep magenta color? They look fabulous on that creamy yellow. (All the cupcakes are gorgeous. "Hundreds and thousands" is a much cooler name than "jimmies"!)

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Oh yes - the colours in the cupcakes are absolutely right - the raspberries are that deep dark colour.