The red rocks (and others) at Entwistle reservoir

I'm jumping because i've had a haircut

 

 

Autumn slides so easily into the departing embrace of summer

An avatar comes of richest bounty borne from echoes of growth
Summers departing haste slighted by a gilted world of deep hues
The coming breath of winter is exhaled softer than a new dawn
Yet it stirs the shedding mantle disrobed by majestied Beeches
And within the prostrated montages of each leaf reflects summer
By winter’s depth to be only skeletal, featherless quills underfoot
The plumage of a Robin set among lichen is again a vibrant fall fire
Reminds us of the hearths ready to be lit again in cinderless grates
All the while I will gaze upon the season more; ere a new one begins

© Edetric Vistal

Kilchurn castle

 

Rainbow over Inverary castle

 

The last Scotland panoramas

 

 

Animal, vegetable and mineral

 

 

 

Ow, ow ow

Oh well they'll grow back - wont they?

Upper left 6 - the deepest rooted tooth in your mouth. Oh joy

Panoraminc views on a 3hr walk today to Darwen Tower. I'm think I'm getting better at stitching these photographs together.

Wayoh reservoir 30 mins ago. Note Robbie in the water - he's taking so much to swimming these days. Water levels are so high at the moment that the overflow is running very well.

Celebration Fruit Cake (8 inch)

 

Makes: 1 x 20cm (8 inch) round or 18cm (7 inch) square cake (see guide for other sizes)
Preparation time: 40 minutes, plus soaking and maturing
Cooking time: 3½ hours
Tools: k beater

 

Method

Grease and line a 20cm (8 inch) round cake tin. Tie a thick double band of brown paper around the outside of the tin. Stand the tin on a baking sheet, lined with a double thickness of brown paper.

 

Wash the glace cherries to remove all the syrup, drain and pat dry with paper towel. Cut into quarters. Place in a large bowl with the currants, raisins, sultanas and candied peel. Pour over the brandy, toss together and leave to stand for 3-4 hours, or overnight, if time allows.

 

Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas 2. Place the butter and sugar in the Kenwood Bowl and using the K-beater starting at speed 2, mix together until light and fluffy.

With the K-beater still turning, gradually add the beaten eggs, a little at a time and continue beating until smooth.

 

Sift the flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and nutmeg together. On minimum speed gradually add half the flour mixture. Stop mixing; add half the fruit and almonds. Mix on minimum until incorporated.

 

Add the remaining flour and fruit mixtures. Mix in sufficient barley wine, milk or orange juice to give a soft dropping consistency. Spoon mixture into the prepared cake tin and level the surface with the back of a metal spoon. Make a slight depression in the centre. This will help to encourage a flat cake, when baked.

 

Bake in the centre of the oven for 2 hours. Reduce the oven to 140°C/275°F/Gas 1 for 1½ hours, or until cooked. Cover the top with greaseproof paper if it starts to over-brown.

 

Test the cake to see if it is cooked by inserting a fine skewer into the centre; it should come out clean. The cake should also feel firm to the touch.

 

Leave to cool in the tin until warm, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. When completely cold, wrap in greaseproof paper, then in a double layer of aluminum foil. Leave in a cool dry place for 2 weeks to mature, or up to 2 months before applying almond paste and icing.

 

Cook’s Note The 25cm (10 inch) round cake can only be made with the Kenwood Major.

For the 25cm (10 inch) round cake, if you have a Kenwood Chef, use the mixer up to the end of step 4, then transfer the mix to a larger container, such as a clean washing-up bowl and mix the flour, fruit and nuts in by hand. Alternatively make the cake in 2 batches, using the machine and combine them by hand before transferring to the prepared tin.

For the 30cm (12 inch) round cake if you have a Kenwood  Major, use the mixer up to the end of step 4, then transfer the mix to a larger container, such as a clean washing-up bowl and mix the flour, fruit and nuts in by hand. Alternatively make the cake in 2 batches, using the machine and combine them by hand before transferring to the prepared tin.

 

Baking Times:
For: 15cm (6 inch) round or 12cm (5 inch) square cake
150°C/300°F/Gas 2 for 1½ hours then 140°C/275°F/ Gas 1 for 1-1½ hours

For: 18cm (7 inch) round or 15cm (6 inch) square cake
150°C/300°F/Gas 2 for 2 hours then 140°C/275°F/ Gas 1 for 1-1½ hours

For: 25cm (10 inch) round or 23cm (9 inch) square cake
150°C/300°F/Gas 2 for 2½ hours then 140°C/275°F/ Gas 1 for 1½ hours

For: 30cm (12 inch) round or 28cm (11 inch) square cake
150°C/300°F/Gas 2 for 4 hours then 140°C/275°F/ Gas 1 for 2-2½ hours

 
 

 

I made the 12inch round cake (7.5kg or 16lb approx) which was in the oven for 7 hrs - this is a good recipe from the Kenwood book or you can find it online here

http://www.kenwoodworld.com/uk/cooking-with-kenwood/recipes/kitchen-machines-recipes/Cakes-Pastries-and-Biscuits/celebration-fruit-cake1/

 

 

 

 

Here's the finished article

 

 

Doubt rises across dusk at the closing of summer; Sunlight and the north-west wind do not make a good union. Totemic and unyielding under this guise are the shorter days and cooling nights. Now the cold seeps into the cracks between layers and enters all the hollow spaces like an invading army of frosty parasites. It touches the core of me and suddenly I realise what winter shall feel like again.

No more 5am coffee in the garden on sunlit mornings, no more butterflies or leaf filled trees. Here now come the hard times of enclosed spaces and biting rain from grey washed out skies. To welcome the looming workless days flowing from lazy mornings that may feed an active mind and perhaps make sense of it all in some kind of uneasy truce with the world.

They were roughly dragged along the dusty floor under the orange glow of the braziers to a small holding cell. They hit the back wall of the cell as they were thrown roughly inside ‘Clang!’ the heavy door slammed and they were left in the darkness save for the ochre glow filtering under the door as though a distant fire were in the hall outside.” How long they lay flitting between the realisation of their ignoble capture and the pain of their captor’s brutal handling they could not remember but the isolating fevered dreams and lucid realisation that played continually during their captivity lasted like an endless day.

Then the goblin guards returned and roughly hauled them to their feet. They had been given no food or water but now one of the guards forced vile liquor down each of them in turn. Despite its acrid taste of mould and fungus it fortified them to enable them to stand without swooning. Without a word they were taken along a sandy inclined tunnel to what Martahu thought could only be the high chamber of the warren. It was always the custom that the high queen lived closest to the escape route out of the warren. Within his mind an idea formed but its execution for the moment failed him.

After a few minutes and many turns they entered the high chamber. A high ceiling mitigated its smallness and opposite the high chair along one end, ran a rough tapestry. Female goblins did not do this work which crudely depicted bestial acts against the human race.  Martahu flinched as he was wheeled round to face the queen. From a small opening above the stars could be seen wheeling their ancient dance around the moon.

The sprite queen Drossa was a fearsome creature. Glassy obsidian eyes set deep into a bony brow framed with the blackest string like hair, long brown jowls and a hooked nose gave her face a misshapen appearance. When she smiled scimitar shaped fangs protruded from her thin crimson lips and every so often a swollen black tongue flicked between them. She looked at us with disdain and spoke, “The world is soon to be once again restored. Yet tis but only game and all you had just the spark of aptitude to play the parts I have set you.”

Pausing to breathe deeply she continued, “Bethink you that I am certainly a fool. Yet no fool could weave such a puzzle that would bring you to me now. Let those with wisdom decipher this moment in the days to come. That is why you can never win - you're arrogance prevents you from seeing that I have been guiding things to this end for decades...”Only those with wisdom see that what you are about to lose is only; that which you never fully understood was yours.

Drossa lifted her head and laughed out to the stars. They shone bright in the night sky but yet looked so icily cold hanging in the blackness. The cold air touched my exposed skin and I knew it was hopeless.

Her eyes took hold of mine and I fell from grace under their gaze. She rose out of the chair and drew herself to full height and continued. “The three separate and yet equal strands are here and whether you will accept it or not, they are woven together. You, I and the doom of Evensul become one. It was ever to be so; for we are familial creatures bereft of choice yet know it not. Think you the foretelling of Arexus”

When the time must come soon to face our fears

Remember the past and shed all your bitter tears
Advice you ignore from your patriots, and seers
Will destroy wholly the nation in only fifty years

She paused and then went on... “The world is not what it was; you know this. Do you wish to see how much has changed? Here are the choices you must make.” With that she rose from his seat and motioned to one of the guards. The guard pulled back the curtain along the far side of the wall to reveal an immense cavern below. Within it stood serried ranks of armoured goblins; tall and hideous like Drossa herself. Statuesque they stood in formation; resolute and unmoving as though carved from stone. Martahu knew instinctively from Drossa’s face that each was her progeny. Goblin colonies are not as others. Rather like a termite mound they are served by queens who hold the whole citadel together.

Drossa continued, “We have been cautious, hidden away in this scomatacacht but now see the result of endeavour. In secret we have multiplied and while ever you thought the old ways and your indomitable spirit would serve you in a future war, see now how utterly false that assumption has been.”

© Edetric Vistal

Sunnyhurst Woods is a collection of bridges and streams - i grew up playing in here. It hasn't changed very much at all and they still serve refreshments at the old england kiosk.

Robbie thinks i am a total amateur at lazing around and is showing me how to relax and enjoy these days off

It was a rare day with a small amount of sunshine yesterday and i did notice the windmills are multiplying

It's been a very wet day - here's some panoramas from my walk 1 hour ago

Finally the last day at work today. They have let us go (with pay) a month early. I am officially redundant now (I have the letter) but I wonder if in 1 year I will look back with anger or gladness that this time of change will be the catalyst for better things. I can only hope.

When fleeting clouds trouble a blue sky

It is always not possible to understand why
The weather sets anew from fair to rain
Signals that now it’s time for change

We had a little art competition on holiday. Here we are stood beside our respective artworks. You be the judge but I think they are all rather good for a first attempt.

The three disgraces posing in Inverary jail (in the wrong order note)