More Barcelona

It seems that Giliell’s photos of Barcelona have inspired Opus to share a few pictures of his own.

I was struck by the Sagrada Familia pictures and dove back into my picture files. These are from long before I purchased my first ‘real’ camera, but the nighttime shots of Casa Batlio are still among my favorites. If you need one for the front page I’d suggest Casa Batlio 2, but I’m biased: too much time with this as a child:

Reptiles and Amphibians Familiar American Species

Casa Batlio 2 ©Opus, all rights reserved

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Tummy Thursday: You gotta celebrate them all!

As promised: cake. Or at least pictures of cake. The kids get to ask for a special cake each year, a chimaera born of my love to bake and the working mun’s eternal bad conscience. As a result, my cakes are legendary, at least among people under 15.

This year the little one asked for a Pokemon party and so she go a Pokeball cake.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

It’s a tad egg shaped. I underestimated the volume of the metal bowls I used as baking tins and as a result I was short on cake and since I didn’t weigh the batter, one was bigger than the other. To fill in the middle I baked another cake and cut out circles. As things weren’t 100% even, the bottom is a bit larger than the top, though I must say that on the inside the two cakes together really worked out well:

©Giliell, all rights reserved

Chocolate and vanilla cake with Italian meringue chocolate buttercream.

And, what’s inside a Pokeball?

Pokemon!

©Giliell, all rights reserved

I had ordered small Pokemon toys and hid them inside the Pokeball to the surprise and amazement of the kids.

©Giliell, all rights reserved Some of the cut off cake tops were turned into Pokeball cake pops

And to have something a bit lighter:

©Giliell, all rights reserved

Powder Puffs. With lemon curd buttercream. You may notice a few repeating themes: the leftover lemon curd got combined with some of the Italian meringue that I didn’t need for the cake.

I actually had to bake them twice because the first time i fucked up the sponge, which is why you should never laugh at people failing at baking shows.

Jack’s Walk

Hosta La Vista ©voyager, all rights reserved

We had a lovely bit of sunshine this afternoon, but it didn’t warm things up one little bit. Except perhaps inside the car where I started to sweat underneath all of my layers, which today included a pair of silk long johns and undershirt, a sweater and yoga pants topped off with a puffy winter coat, tuque, scarf and mittens, but not yet double socks. I really dislike feeling cold and have a tendency to overdress. Jack wondered what the heck was going on when I pulled over to take off my coat and then put it on again once we stopped. Jack thinks clothing is a human vanity, which is true, but clothing is also a necessity for a naked Canadian ape like me and he doesn’t get that part. He says silly things like “you’d stay warmer if you didn’t shave your legs” or “you need a little more fat to insulate.” Bubba, if I never shaved again and gained a hundred pounds I’d still want the long johns and winter gear. “Bah,” he says. “Humans are soft.”

Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

It’s time to check-in and see how much hair Bubba has grown since our last photo on October 3/19. Hmm… doesn’t look like much yet, does it? This is really unusual for Jack. Normally his neck ruff would be filling in by now, along with a thick all-over undercoat. This year he’s without both, and the weather is getting colder. At the moment, he’s relying on his fat pad (shhh… he’s sensitive about it), but’s that’s not going to be enough for much longer. He does have a stylish red coat to wear if it gets super cold, but he doesn’t like it, and we’ve only used it a few times in his life. Hopefully, he’ll get growing soon, and once it starts, it should fill in fast. I’ll update you in another few weeks.

I think that Jack looks puppyish without his neck ruff, probably because he didn’t grow his first one until he was about 3 years old.

Tree Tuesday

Tree Tuesday went missing while my mother was sick, but it’s time to get things back to normal, so we’re back. This week’s tree was sent in by Avalus, and it’s a beauty. I absolutely love the light and the perspective in the first photo. It seems to capture a bit of the tree’s personality. The second photo of the bark of the tree was surprising to me. Thanks for sharing, Avalus.

This is a 135 year old redwood tree planted in a park near the town of Dörrenbach in the palatinate. What an amazing tree! I found the bark especially peculiar with all these tiny ripples.

©Avalus, all rights reserved

©Avalus, all rights reserved

Holidays: de fiesta 2

To us, the highlight of the festival was the “Dance of the Dragons”. Groups from the city itself and the surrounding communities would come with their dragon figures and “dance”. They put fireworks into the mouths and talons of the dragons and danced through the streets with everybody following them, with bands and music and everything.

It was an amazing experience. Only the pics are bad and in between my batteries gave out.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved Whoever the person inside is, I hope they got a nice beer or beverage of their choice afterwards. Or a dozen. They deserve it.

©Giliell, all rights reserved Music band

©Giliell, all rights reserved Breathing fire

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved Many kids were dressed up as devils and well protected with ear protection.

 

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

And a gif. It was easiest to post it to Twitter

 

The Art of Book design: Fancy Work for Pleasure and Profit

Today’s book was sent in by Anne, Cranky Cat Lady and it comes from her own library. It’s a beautiful old book that’s chock full of bright needlework patterns along with the directions for making them.

Adelaide E. Heron. Fancy Work for Pleasure and Profit. Chicago, Thompson & Thomas, 1905

Adelaide E. Heron. Fancy Work for Pleasure and Profit. Chicago, Thompson & Thomas, 1905

Adelaide E. Heron. Fancy Work for Pleasure and Profit. Chicago, Thompson & Thomas, 1905

 

The Book is available to read at The Internet Archive

 

Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

The past few days have been cold and damp with heavy grey skies that look full of gloom. Temperatures have been hovering around 8° during the day and a mere 3 or 4° at night and it’s been the sort of weather that works its way into your bones and keeps you feeling chilled. November has definitely arrived and so far it’s been a bit unpleasant, but I really shouldn’t complain. Overall, it’s been an enjoyable autumn this year. There’s been plenty of sunshine, lots of warm days and the changing leaves have been ablaze with brilliant colour.  Conditions were my idea of perfect right through the whole month of October. Now, if I could only find the repeat button for that…

Falter

I’ll begin with my apology to Avalus for taking so long to post this photo of a beautiful moth (falter). I received it in August and promptly misplaced it. It popped up at me today in an unexpected place, and I am happy to post it at last. You might say that I faltered in posting this falter.

Here is a black and white moth on the bark of a birch tree.

falter ©Avalus, all rights reserved