Category: St Mo’s

Spending money – 31 March 2026

Posted on by Zogman

At least it was money I was spending this time.

I’d had two lenses break down on me recently. One lens I’d been using almost solely and another older lens that had a limited range, but which produced lovely clear photos.Two within a week. I couldn’t believe it. I think I read every article that existed, trying to find a solution but couldn’t find anyone who would admit to having the same problem as me. I thought I could just run them until they completely failed, but then realise that would be damaging the cameras too, so I stopped using them and fell back on another pair of older, but solidly performing lenses for a while. But they weren’t the same as the two broken down lenses. The final straw that broke my camel’s back was when I took one of the lenses to a reputable repair company in Glasgow and was told how much it would cost to repair it.

Today I paid for one new lens. It’s exactly the same make and model as the one that failed me but this time I have a 2 year warranty and a guarantee from John Lewis that covers me for accidental damage. I hope I never have to use it.

Alex was the first person I’d heard talk about Buyers Remorse. The feeling, just as you leave the shop or when you remove your credit card from the machine, that you’ve made a mistake. We’ve all felt it at one time or another, but for some reason the feeling wasn’t there this morning. Scamp had run me to the train station. I was intending to go to JL to see if they had the lens and even if they did have it, I’d have a try with it. Even if I liked what I saw, I’d still walk up the hill to WEX to compare it with the one I knew they had. But I didn’t do that either. I just checked there were no scratches on the metal mount, no fingerprints on the lens glass and bought it there and then. It was mine. Even more was what the tech guy in the repair shop had said. “Don’t buy second hand. It’s false economy.” He was right.

The PoD was one of the first shots I took with the lens today. Looking through the front blossoms to focus out the flowers and then to have the blurred image of the flowers behind. It worked exactly like I planned it.

Tomorrow I may get Buyer’s Remorse tomorrow, more than likely I will, but it will disappear.

Scamp is intending to go to a ‘Witches’ lunch tomorrow and I may go and take some photos.

A dull, windy day – 30 March 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I had great plans for today, but none of them came to fruition.

Neither of us could settle last night. Scamp seemed to have the ‘Rumbling Tums’ and I was wide awake and just couldn’t get to sleep. I think it was the changing of the clocks in the middle of the early Sunday morning that caused it.

I’d half thought of going in to Glasgow to look for a new lens that would work on all three cameras. Then I looked at how to Reissue the SSL and Reinstall it on my Namecheap account. That’s when I realised I hadn’t a clue what any of that actually meant, so I left it and had a cup of coffee instead.

It was another blustery day to begin with, but as the day trundled on, the windspeed gently dropped away. In the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got good use of my little rechargeable hand warmers. Lots of Canada Geese again, more than yesterday, so I’m guessing they are getting ready to fly north again although the temperature isn’t as high as I’d expect now that we’re on the edge of reaching April. Not a lot of buds on the trees here, so I’m thinking there might be another spell of cold weather to come yet.

Despite the increase in the waterfowl groups, PoD was Colt’s Foot Daisies. One of my dad’s favourite wildflowers. Every spring when I see them, it reminds me of him, showing me how the stems looked like horses shoes.

Dinner tonight was Mince and Tatties again with a few slice of beetroot. Scamp had a Fried Egg wit her Tatties. Later in the evening I had a home made Tattie Scone made with yesterday’s leftover potatoes. Scamp has left her’s and if she doesn’t grab it by midday tomorrow I may be tempted to snaffle her’s too!

No dancing tonight, because Kirsty is having a fortnight off. It was good not to have to drive over to the town centre for an hour’s dancing. I do enjoy it, but she sometimes repeats and repeats the steps. We could do with a bit of variation in the classes.

Tomorrow we may make that trip to Glasgow. Both the lenses I have are now useless. I’ll just have to bite the bullet and spend some money on one new one, at least.

Another wild old day – 29 March 2026

Posted on by Zogman

The clocks went forward an hour in the middle of the night, but we were deep in sleep then, so we must take other folk’s word for it.

It may have been the start of British Summer Time, but it certainly didn’t feel like it this morning. A howling wind and lashing rain doesn’t really fit very well with the concept of Summer in any country. Not that it mattered much because neither of us were going very far today.

Sunday lunch is usually Black Pudding, Bacon and maybe a fried egg for me. Today we both had Poached Egg on Toast. Me, because my stomach was a bit upset and I wanted to have a lighter lunch than normal. Scamp, because she wanted to be up sides with me. It must be about a year since I’ve had a poached egg and today’s was just excellent, because Scamp cooked it!

The furthest I got today was a walk around St Mo’s pond with my Tamron 70-180mm, watching the swans chasing the Canada Geese away from the area where they were nest building. Although the swans seemed to be winning, I felt that the geese were just giving them the run-around. Eventually the swans returned to the nesting area, but not before one swan puffed itself up and became quite threatening to me. I took Jamie’s hint and left sharpish, but only because my portable hand warmer had run out of charge … honest!
That swan made PoD.

When I got home, Scamp was just finishing off a sponge cake and allowing it to cool. Today’s main for me was Mince and Tatties with the usual addition of sliced Beetroot. Scamp had a slice of Salmon with mashed potatoes. Dessert was the Sponge with custard. Delightfully light sponge. Again, Scamp’s work, not mine – as if I could make something like that!!

Spoke to Jamie and heard that he was planting out his seeds in the greenhouse. Although it was cold down there too, I think it wasn’t quite as cold as we’ve had for the past couple of weeks. A planned power outage from his council was going to mean that he had to work from home later in the week.

Tomorrow we may go out somewhere. Kirsty’s class is cancelled for the next two weeks for Easter holidays.

Dancin’ – 28 March 2026

Posted on by Zogman

We drove to Brookfield for today’s lesson.

We drove through rain and hail to get to Brookfield for today’s lesson which was less than scintillating. To much recapping of dances we’d done before. Nothing at all that was new. I felt it was disappointing and a lot of treading water, meaning that for the second dance we’ve had, it was a bit underwhelming. I didn’t enjoy it.

I enjoyed the drive back home, even less. It seems that every time we drive to or from Brookfield, the route is slightly different. Different road layouts and longer queues. I gave up in the end and went via the Clyde Tunnel. At least you are driving between 30 and 40mph for most of the way and there are traffic lights to ensure that you get your chance to get on to the M8 at the end. Driving over the Kingston Bridge is a lottery. Some days the traffic flows slowly, but it does flow. Other days it’s just a car park with the occasional chance to move forward by a car’s length. I hate driving on a Saturday!

We did get back home in about an hour which is quite good for a Saturday when there’s football on. After that, I fell asleep on the couch, so don’t ask me who won, or even who were playing! I was just glad to be off the main road,

I went for a walk in the late afternoon and managed to get some photos of some Salmonberry flowers near the outfall at St Mo’s. I know I’ve photographed them before, but they are pretty little flowers and deserve a place in the sun, and there was sun today.

Dinner tonight was home made Fish & Chips. Two lovely big slices of haddock fried in batter with homemade chips. We watched the Japanese F1 GP while we had dinner. Not as exciting as the previous ones, but Suzuka is a scary looking race track. Today was the qualifying race, hopefully the race tomorrow will be just as exciting.

No real plans for tomorrow. If we can avoid the rain we may go for a walk.

Sunshine and Showers – 27 March 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was off to FItSteps this morning. Possibly the last of these classes for a while at least. I think she’ll miss the company and the banter.

I stayed at home and took some photos of a bunch of Tulips, like Parrot Tulips with layers of flowers. They were a birthday present for Scamp and had their bulbs still attached to the stems. I’d never seen a plant like that before and neither had Scamp. The sun was angling down in the living room and I liked the stripes on the carpet. A really interesting composition that definitely needed photographing, so I did it! PoD captured and posted before 10.30am!

Somebody, at some time had left an upstairs window open (probably me). It had swung over and knocked three geranium plants off the window sill. I attempted to refill them, but the soil was very dry and I just refilled what I could and left them for Scamp to fix properly, then I used the Dyson to clear up the resulting mess. That’s when I realised the Dyson wasn’t working at its best. Presumably that will mean another trip to Currys for a replacement. It’s been a hard working machine and doesn’t really owe us anything. It’s just another item to add to the bills.

When Scamp returned we had lunch and she fixed the geranium plants. Meanwhile I was thinking about taking the 16-35mm out for a walk in St Mo’s. That was until I looked out the front window and saw the rain streamers and clouds blowing along the Campsie Fells and decided that I should maybe give it fifteen minutes to blow past. It took about half an hour before the sun came out and I went out to meet it.

I was hardly over the road to St Mo’s when the clouds returned and this time they’d brought hail with them and started pelting me with the snow pellets. It would have taken me too long to go back to the house, so I zipped up my Rab jacket, pulled the hood up and faced the onslaught. Just like the rain before it, the hail didn’t last long and I walk around St Mo’s in a field of sunshine. Got a few shots, but didn’t really need them because the PoD was already posted. This was just for the fun of it.

Back home Scamp had made Slow Cooked Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms for dinner. It was delicious fall-off-the-bone and just melted away. Scamp should be on Masterchef!

That was about if for a lazy Friday. I’m guessing we may be dancing tomorrow although snow and ice warnings are coming from the weather fairies. We’ll just have to grin and bear it.

Blossom – 15 March 2026

Posted on by Zogman

A wet and windy day, but the cherry blossom is in bloom.

Today was Mothers Day and Scamp had breakfast in bed. Then Hazy phoned and I made a quick exit to avoid getting in the way of two ladies talking!

There wasn’t much chance to get out and get some photos today. Lots of wind and rain. The rain, coming in waves, was heavy for short spells and was driven by a blustery wind.

Thankfully we had a quite exciting F1 GP to watch in the early afternoon. For the first time in ages we had not one, but two interesting race days recently. It felt like F1 used to be, years ago. Let’s hope the officials don’t spoil it by adding in restrictions.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the rain clouds, but eventually they did blow away and I got the decent shots I’d been looking for. I guessed the Cherry Blossom would be in bloom and I was not wrong. I managed to get some good photos of the flowers on two cherry trees. A spell of warm sun helped brighten the flowers and made them stand out from the background. PoD sorted!

Scamp made dinner, which was Sea Bass with Lemon Pepper Butter, Potatoes and Cauliflower. I made dessert which was Meringue with Fruit Salad, Diced Kiwi and Ice Cream. The whole thing served with Coffee and Kahlua for Scamp and black coffee for me.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard that things may be brightening up for the pair of them. Hope it all works out, because you do both deserve a break after some long drawn out wrangling.

I believe we may be going shopping tomorrow.

It was a dancing day today – 14 March 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Drove over to Brookfield for the first dance class in ages.

Traffic was quite heavy this morning when we went to Brookfield. First worrying sign was that everyone still had their outdoor jackets on. While I was signing in, Stewart broke the news that the heating was off. Something had gone wrong with the Hive heating system and this in a big hall is not a good thing.

Stewart suggested we start with a House of Bamboo to get us moving. Not my favourite line dance, but at least it warmed us up. Next was a much more complicated ‘Hobie Quickstep’. I remembered the name, but couldn’t remember the actual steps. Scamp remembered part of it, but it was just a blur to me. Also, it went on for ages and I was getting really fed up with it. A new Waltz was next. It might be named Britannia or it might not. It was really just a bit of fluff to keep us on the dance floor and moving. The final dance was Rona’s Rumba, named for an enthusiastic dancer in the class, who passed away a few years ago now. This was one of Jane’s creations because she and Rona were great friends. We finished with two old favourites, Midnight Jive and the mental Fireball. I excused myself to go to the toilet instead of chancing the Midnight Jive because although it gets your heart pumping, it’s a bit of a nothing dance. Fireball is just a fun dance, in fact I wouldn’t even call it a dance. It’s just an attempt to be the person or persons who can shout “Oi !!” and “FIREBALL” the loudest.

With that we were done and returned the hall to the poor bowlers who must have been freezing sitting in an unheated room discussing this year’s competitions. Rather them than me.

The drive home was a nightmare with two lanes being squeezed into two and a crawl for about ten miles before everything started to thin out with no rhyme nor reason for the problem. Sometimes it’s like that and some day I’d like to view the motorway from a helicopter to try to understand the flow of traffic ( or the lack of flow ).

Back home I went for a walk to stretch my legs and got today’s PoD which was a Sycamore seedling pushing its green head out of the leaf litter in St Mo’s. I thought it deserved a photo. Walked home in the rain. By the time I got home the rain was going off! Sometimes life is like that.

For ages, since I got this new iMac I’ve had the feeling that the colour balance wasn’t right. Today I found out why.  I fixed two switches in the “Displays” part of “System Settings” Here they are for when I next need to use them:

Brightness set as suits the display.
Automatically adjust brightness – OFF
True Tone – ON
Colour Profile – Adobe RGB (1998)

Remember that ya Numpty!

No plans for tomorrow, but I might see if Alex is free next week.

 

Wild, Windy and Wet – 13 March 2026

Posted on by Zogman

That about sums up the early part of the day.

Scamp was out at FitSteps in the morning. While she was out I made a fair attempt at cleaning up the living room table. It’s still quite tidy now, but I’m going to attempt to clean it up before I go to bed.

When Scamp returned I couldn’t decide whether to stay home or go out for a walk. The weather sorted out that problem for me with heavy rain showers that came and went for most of the afternoon.

I finally decided to go, and got a few shots of the Grey Heron that seems to have decided that there’s good fishing to be had in St Mo’s pond. It’s a few years since we’ve had herons fishing in the ponds. I hope this one stays. They are such leisurely birds in the air with their large wingspan. I managed to get some photos without being caught in the rain showers. Also, the wind had dropped, but I was on my way home by then.

The heron didn’t get PoD. That went to a Hawthorn leaf on a tree. The green leaves seem to have appeared really quickly this spring, but the trees are holding back on the leaves just yet, at least until May arrives. I suspect.

I’d ordered some coffee beans from Henry’s a couple of days ago and complained about the likelihood of it not being delivered until tomorrow, or even Monday, but when I was leaving the house to go on my walk, the man was just coming along to deliver it, so I had to eat my words this time. I still don’t trust Royal Mail.

We got the sad news that Marion’s mum passed away a few days ago. I think we only met her a few times, but we’ve know John and Marion for a long time.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go to our first dance class in about a month. I hope we manage to get my left foot and right foot sorted out before we go!

Visiting Isobel – 12 March 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It was a very windy and very wet day.

Scamp had intended meeting Isobel at Costa as usual, but a call from Isobel saying that she didn’t want to go out today because of the wind meant we’d go for tea and biscuits in Isobel’s house. It didn’t look as if I was going to get many photos today, so a blether with Isobel would be fine. Scamp had lots of photos to show her of the visit she and Shona had to Edinburgh. I hardly got a word in edgeways as Scamp and Isobel hogged the conversation. Nevermind, the coffee and biscuits made it worthwhile.

Drove home and picked up some apples and a cake for Scamp and a bag of scones for us both to share. By the time we got home, the weather had calmed down a fair bit, but squally rain showers made the chance of photo unlikely. However, after lunch the sky started clearing and I thought I’d risk a half hour walk round the pond to see if there was anything interesting to photograph.

Once round the pond and just as I was thinking that the cloud scapes were looking interesting, the first spots of rain fell. I got a few shots of the clouds before the heavens opened up and I got soaked. I did think of sheltering under the big pine trees, but by the time I reached them the rain had done its worst and I decided to walk home.

I dumped the photos in the computer after I’d changed my clothes and made a foolish mistake when I was uploading the photos. Thankfully I must have pressed the “Fixit” button and it seems as if it’s all but repaired. I’ll know for sure tomorrow.

Scamp made a really interesting Sweet ’n’ Sour dinner tonight. We must check the recipe and try it again some time soon.

The cloudscape made PoD and it looks as if it got through its problem.

I think Scamp is going to FitSteps tomorrow. Other than that, we have nothing planned.

A windy day – 11 March 2026

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Scamp was out in the morning.

Scamp and Shona were catching a train to Edinburgh, although Shona didn’t know that because this was a surprise visit. I wasn’t going although Scamp had offered me a seat on the train. I decided they would be better without me, and anyway I had some computer stuff to work on.

As it happened, I dropped the pair at the station then headed over to the butcher’s in Muirhead. I was looking for some decent stewing steak, an equal quantity of mince, some fish and a couple of beef olives. I could have shopped closer to home, but I trust the Muirhead butchers because they had never let me down.

Back home I assembled my cables and drives to decant February’s photos but couldn’t find the connector to fit the iMac. Eventually I gave up and sat down to work through Wordle and was surprised when I finished it in three guesses.

The next thing on my list was to order some coffee from Henry’s coffee company. Another small company I’ve used for a couple of years. Recently they have been waiving the delivery cost if you spend more than £30 and delivering to our door. Unfortunately I noticed they now use Royal Mail for their parcel deliveries and that is not good. Royal Mail are one of the worst companies I’ve ever used. They lose orders, deliver the wrong order and generally just make a hash of everything. I may have to resort back to a collection system. At least I’ll know it’s my coffee that I’m drinking.

I did think I might go out for a walk with a camera in the afternoon, but one look out the window made the decision for me. Horizontal rain is not my idea of fun, nor is sleet, nor hail and all three flew past my window as I watched the day go down the drain. I eventually did manage a dry half hour round St Mo’s and the PoD I got was a photo of a Salmonberry which are apparently related to Brambles.

No real plans for tomorrow, but it seems to be wet and windy.