wide angle mirador, spirit of the stones etc

Today I went around with friends who are here on holidays in their rented car. While fully understanding the benefits of not having a car (we all are a lot healthier after those six months for a start), sometimes I really miss driving. It gets you there a lot faster than public transport, biking or walking, and sometimes it just gets you there, full stop. I am not about to bike to Betancuria, for instance, while I am still sane.

On the other hand, once the car is there, you feel tempted to drive it even for small errands, and that's not that great.

Anyway. The view above is taken from Mirador de Morro Velosa with Sigma 12-24 borrowed off one of my friends. I know what to add to my (suddenly almost-empty) wishlist now (benevolent universe: hint hint?)

Puerto del Rosario - colors

Pictures from Puerto del Rosario - this time with more color in them. The shoes I bought yesterday I tried today at salsa class, btw - they are a bit stiff in a way new shoes tend to be, but work fine, good balance.

I find this yellow of postman (and postwoman) scooters very touching

Puerto del Rosario - white hot

We went to Puerto del Rosario today, to get more bits of paperwork done. We haven't done what we intended, but got forms, a list of docs to bring over next time and an assurance that we are not needed there all four of us, just one representative will do. So we considered it a success.

When we started from home, it was a bit overcast. It started to heat up when we walked to a bit - in the direction of the shopping center (Las Rotondas), because I needed some dancing shoes. Inside the center it was cool and on the darkish side, and easy to forget how hot it is outside. Which it was

Grassington

First time (and the only one until a week ago) we visited Grassignton with our friend, on almost the first drive around in the UK ever, fifteen years ago. I don't remember much from the first visit, apart from some bunting across the streets.

This time there was no bunting, but the village (or town if you insist on being correct) is almost too pretty. We went for an extremely short walk to the Linton Falls, then a little way along the river Wharfe and then turned back into the village (yeah, town, I know) in search of a cafe

I saw some activity on the river and couldn't figure out what it was - and now wikipedia tells me they are restoring hydroelectric plant there. Well done, I say.

Luton carnival 2011

Second year we go to Luton carnival and it second year it rains on their parade. You can see the rain in some pics. Stupidly, I didn't take an umbrella out of the car, so we started moving pretty fast just as soon Acro Iris went past us, and didn't see the tail of the parade properly. It's a nice event though, rain or not.

would smell as sweet?

Once setup for "black mirror" photos is set up, so to speak, it's difficult to stop making small still-life images with it.

The rose bud is from our garden, rosebush came with the house. The plant is very old and the trunk base is as thick as a small tree's. Flowers are not particularly pretty, they open too quickly, loosing the central swirl, most attractive feature in a rose flower to me. But they are highly scented, so much so that it seems almost unnatural. The scent is so strong that it reminds me not so much of other flowers, as of a small tube or essential rose oil that we used to have in our house in Moscow, years ago.

I just looked up the rose oil, and think that maybe "our" rose is related to rosa centifolia (cabbage rose) that is apparently one of the two main sources of the oil.  Well, all roses are related, but some more'n others

black mirror images on shutterstock

pea plants — tendrils

I guess I’d better give them something to cling to before they suffocate each other

More pea tendril pics at Shutterstock

splashes

there are a lot of splashing fruit&veg pictures around, but they are always fun to make, because the results are somewhat unpredictable. I like taking pictures of smoke for exactly the same reason.

knit fast, die warm

Couple of days ago a lady electrician came to check wiring and fitting in our house. She noticed that I have a stash of knitting yarns (I readily admit to compulsive yarn-buying, me) and mentioned a wool shop in Saffron Walden. It happened to be in one of the nooks you hardly go to, unless you have a specific place in mind - a passage between King Street and High Street where Mocha cafe is. It doesn't even show on the googlemap as a separate track.

Of course I felt I must go check it out, and today I did. The motto "Knit fast, die warm" was on a blackboard outside. The shop is small and cute, with a lot of interesting yarns, considering the available space. For example, the blue ruffle scarf is made of a pre-kitted strip of loose netting, which you crochet tightly on on side. I never seen one of those yarns before, and spent a minute trying to imagine how much time it must have taken to knit that much ruffle in what looks like a very fine yarn (came up with "an awful lot" figure ). With that strip thing, you can make two scarves a day, if you feel so inclined :)

Non flowering lake and more flowers

My visit to Norway was short (less than one full day), but there was no plan, only a vague idea that I want to see more white flowers (wood anemones that is). So when we went to a lake and didn't find any around, it was decided that we will go back to Tønsberg were they we in plenty. There were also lily-of-the-valley, just starting to bloom. We met a guy in his fifties who was collecting them. He probably was not supposed to do that (I know you were not supposed to pick them round Moscow when I was growing up), which probably explains why he produced some sort of vague mumble instead of articulated words. But I understood him - he just wanted a few for their beautiful smell :)

Egg tree of Stavern

We went to a little town (village?) of Stavern to have a little walk and some food. There is a fortress there, main building of which is on a small island (or maybe it's a peninsula, I am never sure with those scattered large rocks in the sea). The main visual impression on me was made by the row of large yellow sheds (maybe used to store ammunition, or maybe not. Sadly, I don't know Norwegian) and by a lilac bush branches hang by easter eggs, which somebody put on a bench just outside of them. Somehow, it seems sweet that they went into trouble of giving branches some soil to hold on to. Lilac responded well - you can see green leaves

London marathon, part two - supporters

A few more pictures from the marathon - observers, charity support groups, police and ambulance. Para-marathon, so to speak.

Those ladies were really not supposed to sit like that - there's about 6 meters drop on the other side, into the Tower's moat.

Puck's Valley and smoked salmon

bluebells

Photobucket was down for a day or so, and all the images dissappeared from my blog. So, this is me trying things inside blogger itself. If I understand correctly, images go to picasa album, but I might be totally wrong.

Anyway - bluebells were not yet fully open but already in bloom yesterday

Buddha's Birthday

Went to Milton Keynes to see Buddha's Birthday celebrations at Buddhist's Temple by Willen Lake. I won't pretend I understood the ceremony, but the location, the season, the temple, the gardens around it and the atmosphere were all very agreeable. Never been to Milton Keynes before and still can't say we've been really, what with the temple being on outskirts, but we liked the small part that we've seen







various UK photos on shutterstock

gardening's going to be difficult

As our move to Fuerteventura approaches, I start thinking about all the stuff that I'll miss. And plentiful supply of fresh water is going to be one. I like growing things. Granted, occasionally I neglect my plants, but I do like the fact that I can grow them.

Yes, I can grow cacti there, but, you know, somehow that doesn't seem like proper gardening.

There is water on Fuerteventura, of course, but not in plenty.

Anyway, I was thinking (mind you, I am no engineer, so what follows is probably completely impossible, but bear with me): You get a cold beer on Fuerteventura, you have a lot of condensation on the glass, so humidity's not zero, and this water can be used. But I can't possibly water my plants by getting a fresh beer every ten minutes or so. So, maybe some sort of solar-power operated device exists? Like of the doodle below - sun battery operates *something* that cools a surface where condensation is formed, water drops drip to the ground and there you are.

Now, it is entirely possible that it's not only doable, but is, in fact, done, and I can't find those things for sale because I don't know how they are called etc - looking in the wrong place (then please tell me if you know where to look). It is also possible that an efficient enough refrigerator (that's what it is, right?) is not possible. I would want to know that, too.



pics from Fuerteventura on shutterstock

directly overhead

today is the first time this year that I could give my right elbow a chance to tan by sticking it out of open car window while driving. And we had our late morning coffee outside. Maybe spring finally started for real. Or maybe not, if I look at bbc forecast for tomorrow

spring flowers on shutterstock

Chinatown again

Since we went to London Chinatown for Chinese New Year, Timur insisted on going there again. He had stuff to buy, basically, and wanted to have a closer look at many small, bright (and, to be honest, useless) things that are for sale.

I must admit that displays of many brightly-colored things have similar effect on me. I tend to start thinking that I surely need at least one of them. It is an effect that I observed in Venice, too.

Well, now I have a lucky cat (small one!), Timur has a pair of Baoding balls and Yuri has a mysterious vase-shaped, small object, expensive for its size. It may even be a vase - for one really small flower.

To quote Cat: All in all, a 100% successful trip!

paella

well, ok, maybe not quite. The pan's not right, there's no saffron in there and I added way too much liquid, but - it was delicious. Proof of the paella.

It's the first time we gave this cast-iron pan a try. It is a flattish wok, very nice looking (the reason for buying it in the first place). I think it worked beautifully

food images at shutterstock

cookies

I love making those cookies. They turn out slightly differently depending on type of chocolate and probably a few other less obvious factors, but they always taste nice.

I got the recipe (in Russian) from here, and that blogger took it from Anita Chu’s Field Guide to Cookies. I haven't made any other things from that book, but if this one is something to go by, it must be a great book. Won't mind getting one for Christmas.

Update: and here is the recipe I use in English, since I was asked for it. Mind you, it's a product of two translations by now (English>Russian>English) and I am not sure about my source, but I definitely omitted couple of small things, so it's best to get hold of the original book. But still

170 g chocolate, broken - any kind, depending on your preferences. I use dark chocolate.
60 g softened butter
95 g sugar (I use vanilla-flavoured sugar and omit vanilla essence from my source)
2 eggs
195 g plain flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt
icing sugar (generous small plate) for dusting.

Melt chocolate and butter together, mix well. Beat eggs and sugar together, join with choc-butter and mix well . Sift flour, baking powder and salt, add to the mixture, mix well. Put the dough into a fridge for couple of hours to make forming of cookies easier.
Heat the oven to 170 (160 for fan-assisted in the original recipe, but mine is temperamental). Line a baking tray with baking paper. Roll dough into large walnut-sized balls and roll in icing sugar, covering the surface. Don't flatten the balls - they will spread a bit as they bake. Bake for 12 mins or so. Leave to coll on a rack

baking-related images at shutterstock