Had some neighbours around for drinkies today. One of them brought a plate of these rather delicious marzipan stuffed dates. Nom, Nom, Nom..as people seem to say these days.
Saturday, 31 December 2011
1000/686: 29 Dec 2011: Egg carton
Just a bit of semi-abstract fun with a plastic egg carton today. That's it really.
1000/685: 28 Dec 2011: Aquarium - again
Aquarium now has its full complement of fish, and the plants are developing nicely.
Had a bit of a problem with blue-green algae earlier this month but a couple of days in the dark saw that off. It's beginning to look as good as I'd hoped.
1000/684: 27 Dec 2011: Xmas pressie
Wanted one of these little guys for ages and Marion is my Xmas Santa. yay!!.
Not as easy to fly as you might think - this one is missing its rotor after a collision with the living room door. Boo!!
Have always enjoyed silly challenges - so learning to fly this will be fun I think.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
1000/683: 26 Dec 2011: Vintage Port
Call me pretentious but I think it's well worth the money buying decent port. This one is just delicious - where would I be without the Sunday Times wine club.
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
1000/682: 25 Dec 2011: Yay! Christmas Dinner
So...this is how the turkey turned out - and for the record it tasted as good as it looked. Am guessing that turkey curry will be on the menu sometime soon.
1000/681: 24 Dec 2011: My first panettone
Not tried cooking one of these before, but since they cost an arm and a leg in the shops thought I'd give it a go.
Used the breadmaker to do the initial knead and prove then made a bit of a mistake by including lemon juice rather than zest in the extra ingredients so had to adjust the flour content to get a sensible dough. Transferred the lot toa cake tin and cooked in the oven. It seems to have turned out OK though. Will have to give this another try as it smells lovely.
1000/680: 23 Dec 2011: Turkey!!
Think this is the largest turkey (around 14lb) that we've ever bought - and it's clearly going to take a while to defrost. Still wonder why they see including a load of dodgy offal as a selling point - I guess there are some who do something useful with them other than feed them to the cat.
1000/679: 22 Dec 2011: Poinsettia
Pretty sure I did a poinsettia around this time last year. Whatever - who can resist this gorgeous red colour?
Friday, 23 December 2011
1000/678: 21 Dec 2011: Goes well with Indian food
A nice little dish I adapted from a Madhur Jaffrey recipe that goes really well with spicy Indian dishes.
Grated carrot and finely chopped red peppers sprinkled with lemon juice, a pinch of cayenne and a couple of spoonfuls of poppy or mustard seeds (whatever's available). Then leave it in the fridge for a while for the flavours to blend - giving it a bit of a stir from time to time just to make sure it's all nicely mixed. Delicious.
Grated carrot and finely chopped red peppers sprinkled with lemon juice, a pinch of cayenne and a couple of spoonfuls of poppy or mustard seeds (whatever's available). Then leave it in the fridge for a while for the flavours to blend - giving it a bit of a stir from time to time just to make sure it's all nicely mixed. Delicious.
1000/677: 20 Dec 2011: Mince Pie Negatives
Was going to take a photo of the rather delicious mince pies that Marion has been making, but thought it was probably a bit predictable, so went with this pattern from the caster sugar she dusted them with. Like the fact that you can see the 'negative' from the cooling rack as well.
1000/676: 19 Dec 2011: Spirit of the seventies
Power cables to the village came down this afternoon so we had no power until mid-evening. Sense of adventure as we boiled water on the stove (and camping gas burner when we ran out of patience) and sat round reading by candlelight.
Kids has the foresight to insulate my fish tanks - thanks guys - before I got home.
Oddly this brings back happy memories of childhood. I learned to play chess in conditions like this during the dark days of Heath vs Scargill, which probably gives away my age a bit.
Sunday, 18 December 2011
1000/675: 18 Dec 2011: The Church Carpark - believe it or not
Getting rather keen on these low angle panoramic format shots. This was taken in Lorton Street Methodist Church car park just after the carol service this evening. Got a few funny looks from the congregation as they were departing.
The mist cloud on the right is actually the fumes from my exhaust, and the car is stationary - the lights are from a different vehicle.
1000/674: 17 Dec 2011: Looking towards Workington from Maryport Habour
1000/674: 17 Dec 2011: Looking towards Workington from Maryport Habour, a photo by nmonckton on Flickr.
Finally got bored with taking a shot in Skinburness Road every Saturday so went down to Maryport late afternoon to grab this shot. The square block on the left horizon is one of the factories between Flimby and Siddick.
1000/673: 16 Dec 2011: Brown-nosed reindeer
Can't remember when we got this little guy. Most of the year he lives under the bed - we just give him a run out at Christmas to add a little madness to the decor.
Saturday, 17 December 2011
1000/672: 15 Dec 2011: The lookout
Not featured Marmalade for a while - so here he is in all his feline glory. Lighting was quite low so getting him to stay still long enough for a decently sharp photo was an exercise in patience.
Usually cats have more patience than me...but not this time!
1000/671: 14 Dec 2011: Carpet
Thought I'd emphasise the low-angle view by using a panoramic format. Quite like this shot although I'm not sure why.
1000/670: 13 Dec 2011: Oh! The weather outside is frightful, etc
Getting close to the end of Christmas decorating. This rather jolly arrangement seemed worthy of a snap.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
1000/669: 12 Dec 2011: Red and Green
Couldn't resist the play of light through these two wine bottles - so I didn't. Love this kind of semi-abstraction. Life is made up of little details.
1000/668: 11 Dec 2011: Xmas tree time
Youngest daughter has done her usual excellent job of decorating the tree. Now all it requires is for the rest of the house lights and decoration and we'll be done.
Sunday, 11 December 2011
1000/667: 10 Dec 2011: Bird wing
Finding this sort of thing washed up on the beach always makes me a little bit sad - even though I know it's the natural way of things.
Finding this stuff, on the other hand, just makes me cross - because I know it isn't..
Finding this stuff, on the other hand, just makes me cross - because I know it isn't..
1000/666: 09 Dec 2011: Piano practise
Not much to say about this one really. Youngest daughter is doing her piano practise, and I needed something to photograph. Match made in heaven...or something.
1000/665: 08 Dec 2011: Cake!
Marion makes the most delicious fruit cake in the whole world. Sadly - I can't taste it currently, so have to be satisfied with taking a photo. Seems likely that by the time I can taste again the offspring will have eaten it :0(
1000/664: 07 Dec 2011: Atishooo!!!!
After the pleasure there's always pain. Not that the two are related in this case - just had the misfortune to come down with a cold. Rats!!!!
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
1000/663: 06 Dec 2011: Derwent Water and Skiddaw
Glorious view from the hotel bedroom this morning - sadly our last here.
This really is a nice hotel - food is good and service is excellent. Nice personal touch - someone obviously saw our anniversary cards while we were out yesterday and when we got back to the hotel there was a card from the hotel and a box of chocolates waiting in our bedroom.
The least I can do in return is link to their website - and suggest you give them a try.
This really is a nice hotel - food is good and service is excellent. Nice personal touch - someone obviously saw our anniversary cards while we were out yesterday and when we got back to the hotel there was a card from the hotel and a box of chocolates waiting in our bedroom.
The least I can do in return is link to their website - and suggest you give them a try.
1000/662: 05 Dec 2011: 30th Wedding Anniversary
..and what better way to celebrate than with a picture of Marion looking particularly happy.
It says something for her constitution that she can still smile after 30 years of marriage to me.
1000/661: 04 Dec 2011: Lodore Falls Hotel
Decided to pamper ourselves for a couple of days to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Didn't want to travel very far and this place seems to have a pretty good reputation so we thought we'd give it a go.
1000/660: 03 Dec 2011: Spooky
Taken from my usual Saturday morning parking spot on Skinburness Road, Silloth. The sun was catching the paintwork and I deliberately underexposed with this high contrast treatment in mind. Always good when a picture turns out as you planned..
Who says the camera never lies?
1000/659: 02 Dec 2011; Stonehenge with bolt
Not really sure what this is about - if anything. Was toying with the bolt - wondering if I could do anything intelligent with it - when I noticed the way the desk lamp was reflection from the computer screen behind.
Feels a bit 2001 to me - but that might just be my over fertile imagination.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
1000/658: 01 Dec 2011: Rafia
This is actually a laundry basket. I was experimenting with Lightroom and this popped out of the system as I was messing with the various settings.
Quite like the oppressive, rather heavy low-key treatment.
1000/657: 30 Nov 2011: Home Again
..and relaxing with the family. Trying to catch the idea in a slightly different way.
Saturday, 3 December 2011
1000/656: 29 Nov 2011: Through a glass darkly..
Bit of an experimental shot taken through the net curtains at the Park Royal. Not much more to it than that really.
1000/655: 28 Nov 2011: It's Christmas already.
..or at least it is in the hotels I frequent during the week. Actually most are being quite restrained and appear to have waited until the last week in November before getting down and festive.
1000/654: 27 Nov 2011: Blue Glass Bottle
Eldest daughter is coming back to Cumbria in the new year to continue her PhD at Manchester Uni's Dalton Centre at Westlakes. She'll be renting a house in St Bees for the duration and we went to have a look at it today.
Nice little spot on the main street, handy fort all the local pubs - er, facilities - of which St Bees has more than its fair share.
This blue bottle decorating one of the mantelpieces caught my eye in the sunlight though the window.
1000/653: 26 Nov 2011: My developing photolibrary
Surprise , surprise - I have an increasing library of photobooks growing under my computer desk. One thing I've noticed is that since I started the degree courses I'm buying more books about photos and photographers and fewer about techniques.
1000/652: 25 Nov 2011: Twig Catfish
Got a bit behind on my posting, so a bit of catching up is in order.
This is a Twig Catfish (farlowella vitatta)- a female I suspect - from the absence of whiskers, and one of the more recent additions to my new tank. It's about 5 inches long in total - this is the front 1/3 or so as it rests on a piece of nicely blanched parsnip.
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