Not having taken part in the previous three weeks’ photo challenges I decided to put all four topics in one post for the end of this month, with each topic having two photos though there’s a common theme running throughout. I have to confess though that this time none of the photos are my own, they have all been sourced from the internet so the quality of some may not be too good.
May 7th – Space
Growing up through childhood to secondary school age, as a family we didn’t have a tv until I was 11 years old. I was brought up listening to the radio, although my parents did have quite a good and wide ranging record collection so I learned to appreciate different genres of music from a very early age. One of my favourite tunes from the early 1960s is the instrumental Telstar; featuring a clavioline, the early forerunner of today’s modern synthesizer, the tune was named after the Telstar communications satellite launched into space in July 1962.
Fast forward now to 1987 and Star Trekkin’, a space related novelty song which parodies the first tv series of Star Trek and features the catchphrases of some of the characters. I first heard it on a compilation tape of Michael’s and it greatly amused both of us at the time.
May 14th – Mirror
Not having any particularly photo-worthy mirrors in the house I’ve resorted to using an image of a book cover for this topic. Alice Through The Looking Glass and its predecessor were both favourite books when I was young and I would read them over and over again – and even after many years I can still recite Jaberwocky in its entirety.
Mirrorswas one of my favourite songs of the late 1970s. Written and sung by Sally Oldfield, sister of Tubular Bells composer Mike Oldfield, the song features a prominent bongo rhythm which was very uncharacteristic for styles of pop music at the time.
May 21st – Rain
Back to the 1960s now and a song which features the distinctive sound of a celesta, an instrument looking like a small upright piano and which produces a sound similar to a glokenspiel but with a much softer tone. Although released in 1962 Rhythm Of The Rain didn’t become one of my favourites until much later on in the decade.
Back in the late 1980s as an adult I learned a tap dancing routine based on the title song of the 1952 film Singin’ In The Rain. Surprisingly, and I don’t know why, I’d never actually seen the film before then but I made it my business to watch it the next time it happened to be on tv and I’ve liked it ever since.
May 28th – Music
Another group whose songs I liked back in the late 1960s was The Beach Boys. I Can Hear Music was originally recorded by The Ronettes in 1966 then The Beach Boys released their cover version in 1969. Although I like both versions I prefer the Beach Boys one as it has a more upbeat tempo.
And finally, I’ve managed to find a photo of the exact model of 1950s Ferguson radiogram which started my love of music all those years ago. The radio had three wavebands – long wave, medium wave and VHF (Very High Frequency) and behind the drop down front was a 3-speed turntable on the left and space for records on the right.
The launch of Radio 1 in the late 1960s gave me an increasing liking for pop music, much of which my parents weren’t particularly fond of, so my dad rigged up a speaker system running from the back of the radiogram in the main living room. One speaker was in the front room while the other was in my bedroom, and an isolator switch on the radiogram itself meant that I could listen to pop music in either room without my parents being able to hear it.
Well that’s just about it from me for this month, I hope everyone likes my choices for each topic. Time to put the kettle on now then I’ll pop over to Astrid’s blogto see what interesting things others have come up with for this week’s topic.
Last summer a new shop opened in the town centre, and having discovered exactly what this stuff is I have to admit it’s not something I fancy as a drink but apparently lots of people love it, so as I’m never likely to go in there I’ve had to pinch this photo from the local news.
Next is a bit of a weird one. I don’t know what the creature is supposed to be but I found it painted on a wall at the end of a short alleyway in Manchester’s NQ. I did feature a cropped version in a previous post but to include the speech bubble I’ve had to blank out the words.
Speech bubble
The soap in my bathroom soap dispenser was getting low recently so I topped it up with water, gave it a good shake and photographed the results.
Bubbles in the soap dispenser
I recently went back to my previous hobby of Postcrossing after a 2-year absence and though I still have lots of postcards to send to people I wanted something a bit different. I found a bundle of 100 modern postcards at a good price on ebay and when they arrived I was pleased to find one which fits this week’s topic perfectly.
Well that’s it from me this time, I’m now looking forward to seeing what next month’s words will be. It’s a bank holiday weekend now in the UK and so far I have no definite plans, though no doubt I’ll end up somewhere with the camera; I hope everyone enjoys the weekend whatever you do.
The topic for this week’s photo hunt is ‘earth’ and after first thinking “what on earth am I going to do for this one” I managed to take a few photos all within the last three days, so here goes.
First are the tyre tracks made in the soft earth at the side of the lane leading down to where I work in the mornings. The lane has a sharp bend halfway down so any wagons going up tend to stray onto the soft verge in case there’s something coming the other way.
A couple of weeks ago Michael was taking a short cut home from work and walking along a nearby riverside when his foot accidentally kicked a bottle lying on the ground. It wasn’t very big, possibly a medicine bottle, and seemed to be older than today’s bottles so he brought it home, cleaned it up and was surprised to find the date 1860 on the neck. So he now has a new hobby, digging for bottles on his way home from work, and he’s found quite a few in the earth by the river. It’s possible that some aren’t that old but he’s found several fancy ones which look older, though I don’t know what he intends to do with them.
A friend of mine has a great interest in the planets and the solar system and a while ago bought herself an illuminated desk top globe. Now I must admit I have no interest whatsoever in the solar system and my brain switches off whenever she talks about it but a desk top model of the earth on a wooden base made a good subject for a photo.
The weather here over the last couple of weeks has been glorious – a few frosty starts but sunshine and blue skies every day so I’ve been leaving the van at home and walking to and from my morning job, a very pleasant walk which takes me through woodland and along a riverside. Arriving early at work yesterday I found I was the first one there so while I waited for the boss I mooched about in the nearby woodland, and as it was apparently Earth Day I thought a shot of the trees on the steep bank in the early morning sunshine would be quite appropriate.
And finally, a bit of cuteness to end the post – one of Earth’s creatures which ran across the lane in front of me as I was walking up from work. I fully expected it to disappear before I could get the camera out of my bag but it sat on the fence for several minutes before it jumped down and scampered up a nearby tree.
Well that’s my lot for this week, I’m linking up to Astrid’s blog again and I’ll be popping over later to see what interesting things other photo hunters have chosen.
Starting this week’s photo hunt post with some shots taken at the local open farm which is just a short walk from home. Originally a dairy farm for many years – I remember walking through the farm yard on several occasions when I was a small child and my dad would lift me up to look through the shippon window at the cows being milked – the open farm was established as a visitor attraction in 2001 with various farm animals to see and feed.
Granted a zoo licence in 2009 the different species of animals increased from normal farm animals to include reptiles, owls, meerkats, skunks and llamas to name just a few, and with indoor/outdoor picnic and play areas, bouncy castles, donkey and tractor rides, a cafe, gift shop and ice cream shop, the place is extremely popular and has gone from strength to strength. The admission prices aren’t exactly cheap but there’s no time limit once you’re in there and you can stay as long as you want.
Travelling up to Cumbria now and a lovely out-of-the-way camp site where I stayed a couple of times in 2019. It was part of a family-owned chicken farm with a huge number of free range chickens used to supply eggs for supermarkets, shops and even McDonald’s, and though with so many birds you would expect the place to be noisy it was actually very quiet.
At the other side of the hedge from my pitch was a large field which had been cut for haylage and on two consecutive days I watched the farm machines at work, baling and wrapping. I found the wrapping process quite fascinating to watch, and with my interest in tractors I would have loved to operate that one. The following morning the bales were all picked up and stacked elsewhere on the farm and the field became available for any campers to exercise their dogs off-lead.
And finally, I couldn’t end this post without including a bit of cuteness. The farm had three pygmy goats in a small paddock, two were long haired and I liked them all but my favourite was the smallest and youngest of the three.
Well that’s just about it from me for this week, coffee awaits so with mug at hand I’m off to Astrid’s blog now tosee what everyone else has chosen this time.
I’m sure it’s no coincidence that with the first photo hunt for April falling on the Easter weekend the subject is ‘chocolate’. I originally had another post partially written for today but something unexpected happened earlier this week which ties in nicely with the photo hunt subject chosen by new host Astrid so I’ve had a change of plan.
A couple of weeks ago, without being asked, Michael brought me a couple of bars of white chocolate from our local corner shop. It was a brand I’ve never heard of, possibly produced for cash-and-carry outlets, and it was only cheap but surprisingly it was very nice, though as I don’t eat a lot of chocolate anyway the second bar remained unopened until yesterday when I took the photo.
One day last week I got a rather puzzling text from Michael’s girlfriend to say there would be a delivery arriving for me on the Saturday; it turned out to be a long box containing a large and rather lovely bunch of flowers with a card and a miniature box of chocolate seahorses. The flowers are now brightening up my bedroom unit though the seahorses have yet to be eaten.
Back in mid March I got an online newsletter from an Oxfordshire company I’ve dealt with several times since 2008. The newsletter contained a 10-question quiz with all the questions and/or answers relating to Easter; first prize was a Lindt Easter egg with assorted chocolates and there were three smaller runners-up prizes. The answers had to be emailed in by March 24th and quite surprisingly I knew them all without having to resort to Google, so I sent them in just for fun; if I’d had to start looking things up I probably wouldn’t have bothered.
On Monday morning this week I got an email from the company to say my name had been picked as first runner-up and my prize, a pack of Cadbury’s creme eggs, would be sent out to me straight away. They arrived on Tuesday and as I wouldn’t eat them all I gave a couple of them to Michael.
I don’t often enter competitions as I very rarely ever win anything so getting the creme eggs was an unexpected but nice surprise, though I have to say they are now a lot smaller than they once were and they don’t seem to taste quite as good as years ago. And for someone who doesn’t eat a lot of chocolate I now feel like I’m being inundated with the stuff!
The last Friday of the month and I have to admit that this week’s topic was quite a challenge, especially as recent events round here have meant that I haven’t been able to devote too much time to trawling through the thousands of photos in the archives or ‘thinking outside the box’ for new ones, so this time there’s only a handful of shots rather than the dozens I usually put in a post.
Starting off with a shot I took just ten days ago, the moon in a still-light early evening sky as I arrived home from work, followed by one of a series I took after dark in May last year between 10pm and 11pm one night.
Next are two shots of the Custom House at Custom House Quay on Dublin’s River Liffey. The first was taken on a grey and cloudy day in November 2016 and the second one, showing the lights of the illuminated building against the dark night sky, was taken during a December evening the same year, both from a coach as I travelled through the city.
Next are two shots of the same view taken while on holiday in 2009, one in daylight and one after dark showing the illuminated castle and the lights of the small harbour. Malcesine (pronounced Mal-chez-in-ay) on the north east side of Italy’s Lake Garda was a favourite holiday destination for many years from 1995 and was, to me at least, one of the nicest towns on the lake.
And finally, a couple of shots taken on my recent foray into Manchester to photograph street art. The sunburst lights above the escalators in the city’s Arndale shopping centre were designed, made and installed to client specification by the local company where I have my morning job. Not having been in the centre for many years I’d only gone in to see what the place looked like with the shops closed and no-one around and I’d forgotten about the lights until I saw them.
Well that’s it from me for this week, short and sweet as the saying goes. Sadly this is the last time Kate will be hosting the photo challenge as her life is now too busy to devote enough time to it, so after five years at the helm she is handing over to another participant in the challenge, Astrid of Dragon Stitches and Stuff. Thank you Kate for continuing to host the challenge for so long and I wish Astrid the best of luck in taking it over to make sure it continues.
It’s hard to believe that we are almost at the end of another week and the photo challenge has come round again – where does the time go? A search through the archives produced more sunsets than sunrises and a few of them have been used on the blog before, two quite recently, but I couldn’t resist using them again.
Starting with the sunrises, the first one was taken in early June 2013 while staying on a lovely small camp site on the Scottish highlands coast. The dawn chorus had wakened me at 2.45am and an hour later it was well on the way to becoming daylight; peering out of the tent window I could see the deep colours of a very early sunrise over the hills behind the site so grabbing the camera, and in pink fluffy dressing gown and furry slippers, I walked a few yards along the nearby track and took a couple of shots before disappearing back into the tent.
The next three shots were all taken before 7am at California in Norfolk, overlooking the beach just down below the camp site where I stay. The first was in mid September 2015, the other two were taken a day apart in mid September 2016.
Next we go to Benllech beach on Anglesey and a shot taken on a very early morning at the end of May 2016. There was just me and my two little dogs, Sophie and Poppie, and a vast expanse of beach to ourselves, with no sound other than a couple of seagulls overhead and the gentle lapping of the shallow waves on the sand – it was a perfect start to the day.
Further north now and to the camp site in Cumbria where I stayed for Easter 2019. The weather was glorious for the whole of the long weekend and I woke very early one morning to see the deep colours of a lovely sunrise over the fells beyond the site. It was a photo worth taking so I went out to stand in front of the van and snapped a couple of shots before the sky became light enough to lose all its colour.
Staying local now and a couple of shots from a series of six taken early last month and which I featured right at the beginning of this month.The colours of a lovely sunrise were just spreading across the sky as I drove down the lane to the works premises one morning so leaving the van in the car park I walked back for a short distance and took a few shots through the nearby trees.
On to the sunsets now and the first three were taken just after 8pm on an evening in late August 2008, overlooking one of the fishing lakes at a lovely and peaceful caravan site a few miles from Huntingdon. I stayed there again two years later, and while I don’t fish I liked the site just for its peace and quiet and ‘get away from it all’ atmosphere.
Back into Lancashire now and the next shot was literally a quick point-and-shoot job taken in mid September 2008 at a lovely caravan site by the side of the Lancaster Canal and less than an hour’s drive from home. I was sitting in the awning one evening when I glanced out of the window and saw the colours of a lovely sunset over the canal so I grabbed the camera, ran round to the canal side and snapped the shot before the light changed.
Back to the Scottish camp site now, and while the area had some nice sunrises it had some stunningly beautiful sunsets. The end of the site went right down onto a gorgeous beach with views over to the Small Isles of Eigg, Muck and Rum and the next four shots are from a series of a dozen taken just after 10pm in early June 2013.
Over to Ireland now and first is a shot of the sunset above the clouds, taken just after 5pm on a day in late November 2016 when I was flying back from Dublin to Manchester. The sunset disappeared completely not long after I took the photo and by the time we were over the English mainland again it was almost dark. The second photo was taken through the window of a moving coach as I was on my way back to Roscrea after a day spent exploring Kildare and Portlaoise in late November 2017.
Back to Anglesey now for the final shot which was taken in mid July 2017 from my pitch at the Benllech camp site where I always stay. I’d just been to fill my large water container from the tap at the top end of the field and noticed the lovely sunset over the trees as I got back to my pitch – it was a photo not to be missed.
Well that’s just about it from me for this week, as usual I’m linking up with Kate’s blog and I’ll be back later on to check out the sunrises and sunsets chosen by everyone else.
This week’s photo hunt combined topics were relatively easy for once as I have literally dozens of photos taken looking up at things or looking down on them so any difficulty has been in deciding which to include. I finally narrowed it down to ten ‘pairs’ for the sake of getting this post published today but I may very well add a couple more over the weekend if time allows.
First is a visit to one of my favourite places, Anglesey, and Parys Mountain located a couple of miles south of the coastal town of Amlwych. Originally a huge copper mine worked from the 1760s until 1904, the mountain landscape with its diverse range of very rich colours looks very much like it could belong on another planet. At the highest point is a Grade ll listed windmill built in 1878 to aid the removal of water from the mine shafts; 35ft tall and with a cellar 7ft 7ins deep it was unusual in that it was constructed with three doorways and five sails. The windmill operated until the mine closed but later fell into a state of disrepair and by the end of 1920 was described as being ‘a capless shell’.
The Great Open Cast is roughly in the centre of Parys Mountain and is a vast and impressive chasm which was opened up during the early stages of mining. Created by workers using little more than picks, shovels and gunpowder the Open Cast hides many miles of underground tunnels, shafts and caverns, and any visitors adventurous enough to try it can explore a lot of these with an experienced guide.
Look up – Parys Mountain windmill
Look down – Parys Mountain open cast
Staying on Anglesey and underneath the Britannia Bridge are four huge Egyptian-style stone lions, two at each end. Carved from limestone each lion is 25ft long, 13ft tall and sits on a 13ft high base; put there when the original tubular rail bridge was constructed in the mid 19th century a rather modest and amusing short poem written at the time stated “Four fat lions without any hair, two over this side and two over there” which was relevant from either end. After the bridge was partially destroyed by fire in 1970 it was rebuilt with the modern day road running above the rail line, meaning that the lions are now hidden from view and can only be seen very briefly from a passing train – road users will actually drive just a few feet above them without ever knowing they are there.
A mile to the east of Britannia Bridge is the Menai Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford to carry road traffic between Anglesey and the mainland and pre-dating the Britannia Bridge by 24 years. With a narrow pavement along each side of the road pedestrians can walk across the bridge and get a great view looking over the Menai Straits down below.
Look up – one of the lions at Britannia Bridge
Look down – view from the Menai Bridge with the mainland on the right
Across the sea to Ireland now and Kildare round tower situated in the grounds of St. Brigid’s Cathedral. Built in the 12th century the walls are over 2ft thick and at 108ft in height it’s Ireland’s second tallest tower and one of only two which can be climbed. The doorway is 13ft off the ground, accessed by a steel staircase, and once inside the climb to the top is made via a series of six almost vertical ladders, two of which have been in place since 1874. With the tower gradually narrowing in width and the top two ladders having only one handrail it isn’t a climb for anyone with claustrophobia or a fear of heights but the views from the top are worth it.
Look up – Ladder 4 in Kildare round tower
Look down – one of the views from the top of the tower
Staying in Ireland and a visit to the 13th century King John’s Castle in Limerick. Between 2011 and 2013 it underwent a massive redevelopment to improve the visitor facilities and now has a new visitor centre and shop, interactive exhibitions and a café with views of the courtyard and river, with a self-guided tour leading through a modern exhibition to the castle itself.
Look up – a modern spiral staircase in King John’s Castle
Look down – a River Shannon view from a castle tower
Back over to Anglesey now and a visit to the Marquess of Anglesey Column not far from Britannia Bridge. Erected in 1817 to commemorate the 1st Marquess of Anglesey’s important role in the Battle of Waterloo it was finally topped with a bronze sculpture of the Marquess in 1860. Standing almost 100ft high access to the top of the column is by a spiral wooden staircase of 115 steps, with a small door leading out onto the surrounding balcony which gives extensive views over the island and the Menai Straits. It was lucky that I did the climb in May 2013 as due to the deterioration of parts of the staircase the column has been closed since 2014.
Look up – the Marquess of Anglesey Column
Look down – the keeper’s cottage and garden
Heading up to Scotland now and Ardnamurchan Lighthouse on the most westerly point of the British Isles. Designed by Alan Stevenson, uncle of writer Robert Louis Stevenson, it was completed in 1849 and at 118ft tall is the only lighthouse in the UK built in the Egyptian style. Access to the viewing balcony at the top is by 152 steps of a steep but attractive spiral stone staircase and a final short almost vertical ladder. Apparently it’s possible to spot whales and dolphins from up there but when I visited in June 2013 there wasn’t a fin or a flipper to be seen anywhere.
Look up – the attractive stone staircase at Ardnamurchan lighthouse
Look down – view from the lighthouse balcony
Heading to East Anglia now and while camping in 2014 at California in Norfolk I climbed the tower at the 15th century St. Mary’s church in the coastal village of Happisburgh (pronounced Haze-brough). The tower is 110ft high and the first part of the climb was a steep and narrow 95-step spiral stone staircase up to the bell chamber, with the second part being a new but just as steep steel spiral of 38 steps. The views from the top were worth the climb though, and on a clear day it’s possible to see 30 churches, 2 lighthouses, 7 water towers, 5 corn mills, 5 drainage mills, 3 wind farms, Trimingham RAF ‘golf’ ball’ radar station, Bacton Gas Terminal, Sea Palling reefs and the spire of Norwich Cathedral just over 16 miles away – now that’s certainly some view.
Look up – steel spiral staircase in Happisburgh church tower
Look down – view from St. Mary’s church tower
Returning to Anglesey yet again and the stainless steel Celtic Gateway Bridge at Holyhead. Opened in October 2006 for pedestrians and cyclists it connects the railway station and ferry terminal with the town centre. Futuristic in style with one shallow incline as well as the steps it’s 520ft long, 23ft wide, completely accessible for wheelchairs and prams and is illuminated at night.
Hidden from view below a cliff the old Porth Wen brick works, which I explored in 2018, were established in the mid 19th century and produced fire bricks to line steel making kilns. Production ceased sometime during the first half of the 20th century and the buildings have been left to the elements ever since; the ruins include two chimneys, an engine house, brick kilns, the main building and a loading quay. This place isn’t classed as a tourist attraction and is so out of the way that many of the locals don’t even know about it – it wasn’t the easiest of places to get to either and the route down the cliff involved a narrow path overgrown with brambles and a steep rocky gulley which had to be negotiated almost in a sitting position but my efforts were rewarded when I found myself standing on a wide ledge looking down on one of the strangest and most unique places I’ve ever been to.
Look up – part of the Celtic Gateway Bridge, Holyhead
Look down – brick kilns down at the derelict Porth Wen brick works
Close to home now and the residential village of Barrow Bridge on the north west outskirts of my home town. Created during the Industrial Revolution as a model village for the workers in the nearby mills the managers’ houses were built overlooking the brook while the mill workers’ cottages were built in terraced rows at the top of a steep slope, with access to and from the main road via 35 wide and shallow stone steps. The village is a place I often go to on a dog walk in summer and going up the steps on one of my visits there last year I noticed above my head a cat looking down at me from a cottage balcony; at first I thought it had its head stuck in the railings but just after I snapped the photo it twisted round and got up.
Look up – a cat on a cottage balcony just above my head
Look down – steps leading down from the terraced streets to the main road
A final visit to North Wales now and Llanddwyn Island at the end of Newborough beach on the south west corner of Anglesey. Llanddwyn Island is named after Saint Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of lovers and sick animals and is said to be one of the best hidden gems in Britain. With two old lighthouses, a ruined chapel, a row of old boat pilots’ cottages and several stunningly beautiful beaches it’s a lovely place to explore, and the stone cross makes a great vantage point to see the views over to Snowdonia on the mainland.
No visit to Anglesey, whether it be virtual or in reality, would ever be complete without taking in a view of my favourite beach just a short walk from the Benllech camp site where I always stay. Set back off the short promenade is a large car park which has a couple of flights of wooden steps leading up the cliff at the back; a left turn at the top leads to another car park but turning right gives a great view over the beach looking towards Red Wharf Bay, Pentraeth and Llanddona.
Look up – the stone cross on a rocky outcrop, Llanddwyn Island
Look down – Benllech beach from the cliff top
Well that’s just about it for this week’s challenge, I hope everyone likes my choices this time. It’s actually taken longer than I expected to do this post and it’s now nearly time for bed so I’ll hop over to Kate’s blog tomorrow when I have more time.
The weekly photo hunt is continuing through March and this month Kate has provided two similar subjects for each week with a choice of using one or the other, or both. A timely walk at the beginning of this week provided one of the photos for spring and a trawl through the archives came up with some autumn photos which have never been on this blog before.
The first two photos were taken in mid February 2019 in the grounds of Lytham Hall. I’d gone there to do the Snowdrop Walk and the carpets of snowdrops were indeed very beautiful though I was quite surprised to see a couple of clumps of very pretty crocuses popping up on the edge of the woodland. The climate on the coast must be much milder than inland as here at home there was no sign of any crocuses at all so early in the year.
The butterfly photo was taken in mid March last year. The weather was warming up considerably and while on a dog walk near a local golf course I was surprised to see the peacock butterfly which flitted past me and landed on the path just a few yards away, but before I had chance to focus the camera it flew off again so I kept walking. This happened several times but eventually it landed and stayed just long enough for me to snatch a reasonable photo of it.
The daffodil shot was taken on Monday this week while walking round a local reservoir. Up until recently much of the reservoir has been surrounded by pine forest but the clearance of a lot of the trees bordering the path on one side has opened everything up and it was just off the path that I spotted the small clump of miniature daffodils. I always think of daffodils as being ‘happy’ flowers and these were a lovely and unexpected sign of spring.
On to autumn now and all four of these shots were taken at Bolton Abbey in October 2012. As part of a group of solo and single-parent campers I was staying at a lovely site four miles from Skipton, and while we all got together in the evenings for fun, food, good conversation and impromptu entertainment the days were very much ‘do your own thing’, so not being one to hang around on site when the weather was good I took myself and the dogs to Bolton Abbey one day. I’d been there a few times in previous years but this was the first time visiting on my own, and with the sunshine and autumn colours in the trees I got some really nice photos.
Well that just about wraps up my selections for this week, time for an early breakfast now then later on I’ll pop over to Kate’s blog to see what photos have been chosen by others this week.
This week’s photo hunt word is ‘delicious’ which to me usually signifies some form of calorie-laden dessert or a moist and tasty slice of cake, with or without cream. However as I now very rarely have calorie-laden desserts and I’m now on Day 37 without eating any cake – not so much as a single crumb – I’ve had to resort to the archives for the very few photos I have.
The first one is a photo I used early last year. On one occasion when Michael was popping down to our local Asda store he asked me if I wanted anything while he was down there, so I asked him to get me a bit of cheap cake which would go with a brew – I was thinking along the lines of maybe a box of individual apple pies or Viennese whirls as a couple of those go well with a mug of coffee. However he came back with a leopard print party cake which, according to the box, would serve 14 and it was all for me as he didn’t want any of it.
At first I couldn’t see how it would serve 14 people as it wasn’t really that big, but having sampled the first slice I realised why it would. It was very sweet and not the sort of thing you would want a lot of at once so a thin slice was quite sufficient, though I did add some squirty cream with every slice I had after that – and it turned a ‘nice’ cake into something quite delicious.
The second photo is rather more recent. We always have a trifle at either Christmas or New Year, and while I would prefer to make my own the cost of the individual ingredients works out more than the cost of a ready made one from Asda so one of their own strawberry trifles does the job nicely. I wouldn’t normally photograph a trifle but for some reason this time I did and it’s proved to come in very handy for this post.
Over to Italy now and some of the delicious desserts I’ve had while on holiday at Lake Garda in previous years. The first one was an ice cream sundae I had at a cafe-bar by the lake at Garda itself – I can’t remember their particular name for it but it had sorbet at the bottom, chocolate and vanilla ice cream in the middle with whipped cream and chocolate sauce on top.
The next dessert was something I could only ever find in one certain cafe-bar in Sirmione at the southern end of the lake. A deep meringue nest filled with thick chocolate ganache, coated thickly on the outside and top with whipped cream, dusted with chocolate powder and topped with chocolate curls it was the absolute last word in ‘I’ve died and gone to heaven’ delicious. Of all the towns on Lake Garda I only ever found it in that one cafe-bar in Sirmione and I would quite happily make the two-and-a-half-hour ferry trip down the lake just to have one.
Back to the lakeside cafe-bar at Garda now and my favourite of all the desserts I had there. Fresh strawberries in the centre topped with vanilla ice cream surrounded by thick whipped cream and decorated with banana slices, strawberries and strawberry sauce. The photo was taken in 2008 and I offset the calories that year by cycling 98 miles right round the lake.
Well that’s the last photo hunt post for this month, I hope everyone likes my choices and no-one has piled on the pounds just by looking at the photos – now it’s time to see what delicious things have been chosen by everyone else this week over on Kate’s blog.
Life In The Mouse House 