Quick snaps

B is for Burglar,
C is for Crescent.
I've been wondering why the feeder has been going down so quickly recently. I think now that this starling and his mates have something to do with it. I've seen pigeons on the patio, too, but I don't think they could possibly land on the feeder, they must just be scavenging from what falls to the ground. I'd prefer it if the starlings didn't come, because they eat so much - but in this cold weather I am sure they need all the energy they can get. I'll just have to take a trip and get more seed some time this week. And I do enjoy listening to them chattering away amongst themselves. C said he saw a redwing when he was taking the tree out to the collection point - again no surprise with the cold weather.
I was trying to grab a coal-tit photo for the C challenge, but he flew off before I got a decent one. I did see the moon later on; I'd noticed how much of a crescent it was when we were out on Thursday night.

Creative Collection of Cs

The Splitcoast photo challenge this week was the letter C.
Lots of Cs here...

A china cup from a set I have that used to belong to my grandmother. We didn't often use them, but I certainly remember that from time time an elderly colleague of my dad's, and his wife, used to visit for High Tea, and these were the cups we used for them, along with a silver muffin-warmer which I have and still use from time to time.

This cat with his Cheshire grin is a souvenir from our first camping holiday in Kerry in 1991. Some years later my parents moved there, so their little Kerry cat moved back to his home county.

Church, clock, cupola - this is St.Paul's church on Arran Quay, currently not in use.

Graveyard for Christmas trees before they get chipped and spread as mulch on the green areas around Fingal. I love the smell while they are working at the chipping - they come along with a shredder every morning for a week or so. Our tree is heading there this evening - I took all the decorations off this morning and it's now waiting outside the door.

And two abstracts - Crunchy salt along the paths in work (it's been really cold this week. I had to de-ice the windscreen twice yesterday morning, and we had to de-ice it twice in the evening too, as C sprayed it from from the washer just after we started moving, and the water all froze on the screen instantly), and the Chaos that is my desk, even though I give it a general tidy every single day. Thank goodness C is of the belief that being creative = being messy, so it bothers me more than it does him.

Not the eclipse.

There was a partial eclipse here this morning - it was pretty cloudy, and I wasn't anywhere where I could see the horizon, but I am sure that these amazing light effects were part and parcel of the event. As you can see from the third photo, the way the light was catching the vapour looked like sheets of flame - it was really wonderful to see. It really was dark, too. C was commenting on that when he got home from work and I said I had a couple of photos to show him.

Recipe Time

I was so sure this recipe was here that when I wanted to make it yesterday, this was my first port of call. Second port of call was all my sent e-mails - now it's where it should be in my Recipe folder. The amounts are all a bit random because it's a recipe that has developed over the years from a recipe I got for a raspberry cheesecake from a Scottish girl who was over here for a wedding, over 25 years ago.
C's brother was coming for dinner yesterday, and since I've picked up C's cold I wasn't doing anything that was too much trouble - glazed loin of bacon, a gratin of  potatoes and some vegetables. But with a new bottle of Baileys, and cream cheese in the fridge I sent C out to buy some digestive biscuits.

Baileys Cheesecake:

For the base - 8 oz. digestive biscuits crushed, and 4 oz melted butter. Press into a lined 8" tin with a loose base.
Filling: I used 1 leaf of gelatine, which I think is equivalent to one generous teaspoon, (5ml measure) and I dissolved it in the Baileys, in a mug sitting in a saucepan of hot water. With powdered gelatine you should put the Baileys in the mug first and then sprinkle the gelatine on top, and leave for a few minutes before warming to dissolve. I guess I must have used at least 3 or 4 tablespoons of Baileys at this stage.
Beat together one large pack (as close to 250g as possible, because there's a smaller one) of cream cheese  and 2 ounces of caster sugar. Stir in 1 small carton (1/4 pint or150 ml) natural yoghurt. Try not to use one with too sour a flavour,  Greek yoghurt would do equally well.  Gently fold in  one 250 ml (1/2 US pint) carton of cream, whipped till thick but not stiff. Stir in Baileys and dissolved gelatine, adding Baileys to taste - no idea how much I used. Pour over the base and chill.

I splattered this with some melted dark chocolate after removing from the tin. This makes a light cheesecake topping, it will hold its shape when you cut it, but is still creamy rather than set. With slight variations it's the same recipe I use for strawberry and lemon cheesecakes too.

Happy New Year

Hoping your path in 2011 takes you to good places...

and thank you for sharing my (largely pictorial) take on the world around me.

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve night was COLD! We got to Delgany and back safely, although some of the motorway coming home was a bit hairy, and the windscreen washer was frozen up the whole way in spite of the fact that there was quite a high concentration of screenwash in it. Not high enough, obviously. With that cold, dry night Christmas Day was beautiful and frosty and sunny. C was battling with a cold, and we didn't feel like taking the car out, but at some stage he decided he was up for a short walk across the green just to enjoy the scenery. Once we were out, we walked down to the Twelfth Lock and then back along the canal. Boxing Day was warmer, no frost and grey, so we were really glad we'd got out on Christmas Day.

Morning, end of our road

Out walking

Footprints on the canal.

We presumed these were also some type of print, which snow or loose crystals had then drifted around. Except that even most birds don't seem to put one foot right in front of the other, and there were places where we saw a similar formation but just one or two, not a trail.

In the evening the sun tinted all those white trees at the end of the road a lovely pinky/orange.

A few from Christmas Eve...

...which was when I went to the park, not having checked that their were memory cards in my cameras. I have to admit I almost found the snow there too much, and was disappointed with the photos I came home with, but such as they were, here are  a few of the best.

This was just inside Castleknock Gate: normally it would be bumper to bumper traffic.

Over by one of the ponds - the one where I've often taken photos of the heron. The poor ducks didn't have much water left! And the next photo is the trees that grow around that pond.

Between the Ordnance Survey and Farmleigh - behind the lantern you can just see one of the cones they had laid out to mark the road.

And back near the gate again, a lime tree: I loved the swirl in the leaf.

Happy Christmas

Yesterday in the park.
I rushed to get the bus in case I could get the same bus as C, who had given up on the train because the points were frozen. I forgot crumbs for the birds and forgot to check there was a memory card in the camera. Yikes - thank goodness that just this week I put an xD card into the second slot, so even though it's small capacity and slow to write to, there was something in the camera. I keep a spare Compact Flash card in my handbag, but I didn't have that with me yesterday.
But I did remember a foil blanket to kneel on which was put to good use taking close-ups of frosty grasses :D.

Wishing you all a happy and peaceful Christmas season.

Built-in thermals...

but I still feel sorry for the poor little birds in this weather. I heard on the radio that this year there are fewer robins than usual, and it's probably after last year's hard winter.

Another mixed bag...

A few more from yesterday, a couple from today. On holidays now till the 3rd, and looking forward to a quiet Christmas. Weather permitting we are meant to be going to my aunt's tomorrow - the one whose house and dogs we looked after in May/June - and meeting my sister there. Here's hoping the snow stops overnight!!

From yesterday; a bird who didn't really belong in the cold bird miscellany, although he was pretty puffed up, what little I could see of him. I'd stopped on a corner to take a photo of snow on the berries, and as I rounded the bend I saw this little beady eye peeping out - he was snacking away on some berries growing in a little hollow in the hedge. This photo is un-cropped - blackbird and I were up close and personal.

The marina down at the Twelfth Lock, and the railway line.

Snow-ward bound, I'm snow-ward bound...

And from today - waiting 20 minutes for a bus in the morning, which then took over an hour and a quarter to get in to the city.

 

Pre-chilled beer, no cold room required!!

And when I got home again: you can see in the robin photo it was snowing yet again! It's not just that I need to clean the back door, although that also is true.