Month: March 2015

Tried a watercolour sketch this morning in my painting time.  Quite impressed with the results.  Using acrylic paints as watercolours. Weather was “Scottish”.  Wind, rain and then snow showers.  Will the winter end soon?  I certainly hope so.  If not, I’ll need to take lessons to remember how to ride this bike.

They certainly were nodding their heads today.  65mph winds, driving rain and snow showers to top it all off.  Still the hardy daffodils were glowing when the sun did eventually shine.

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The plan for the day was to paint in the morning and then go out on the bike in the afternoon.   Morning came and brought with it an icy covering on all the cars.  I could hear Scamp scraping her windscreen and really did mean to offer to drive her to work, but fell asleep again!  Woke just after 9.00am and it was raining.  Got the paints out and made some headway with an acrylic painting on canvas.  By the time Scamp returned from work we had had rain, sleet and snow.  So, a reassessment of the plan was needed.  Went shopping instead and then a swift, wet walk around St Mo’s.  Maybe tomorrow ….

Feral pigeon (doo) sitting on a fence outside my living room window. Possibly sitting out a rain shower. One of the many rain showers we had today.

I think this must be a dog rose bush with the old dried up rose hip attached. Liked the bright green leaves with the red bud shells.

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A lazy day after we had changed all the clocks (that aren’t automatic) to the correct hour.  Just an hour in the afternoon to wander St Mo’s.  I went out looking for signs of spring.  There were very few in evidence so far.

At last there are signs that winter is over … or do I speak too soon?

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Lovely glossy plumage on this patient bird.  Waited ages for me to take its picture.

Woke late after the excesses of yesterday.  Cold and windy – the weather, not me.  Managed an hour in the afternoon to drive up to Fannyside and get a few pictures of some sheep.  Not the most interesting of animals, but quite comical today.  Thought I was the farmer come to feed them.  When they found out I had nothing for them they quickly dispersed.  I went back to the car to change lenses and when I came back they returned thinking I was the farmer come to feed them.  When they found out … We could have played that game for hours, but I got fed up with it and went home to add a Darn Sarf gallery to this blog.  Feel free to have a look.

A particularly inquisitive sheep.

A bunch of hungry sheep under scudding clouds

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Busy, busy day.  In Glasgow for a wedding and bumped into an old friend of Scamp’s (and mine).  Sorry I didn’t have time to stay and talk, Mary.  Then back home for a quick glass of Talisker before getting a taxi to the reception.  Immediately saw that we were in the presence of  BBC Scotland royalty, Jamie McIvor no less.  Humbled by his presence 😉  Taxi back home at 11.30pm after salsa dancing, ‘dad dancing’ and ceilidh dancing.  Where did the day go?

Peppers on the window ledge.

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Snow lying when I got up this morning.  Snow in March!  Haven’t we had enough this year?  Never mind, by the time we were up and out, the snow was gone, except on the Campsies.  Did a dummy run to the church where the wedding is tomorrow just to make sure:
a.  We were going to the right place.  CHECKED.
b.  There was sufficient parking.  CHECKED
Looks like we’re good to go then.

Got a chance after we came back to get some photos in St Mo’s.  Met Mr Grey again.  Haven’t seen him for some time, so we had a long talk.  Ok, it was a bit one sided with me doing most all of the talking from the other side of the camera.  The conversation centered around “Stay still Mr Grey.”  “Just one more.”  “Don’t stick your head down.”  Models, you just can’t get them to do what you want for love nor money, neither of which were in evidence.  Still, got the shot, and that’s what counts.

Haven’t seen Mr Grey for a long while, but today I got a few shots of him standing in the late afternoon sunshine.

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Two coots starting nest building on St Mo’s

A quick trip to Perth to pick up some kilt sox for the wedding on Friday – not mine I hasten to add.  Disappointing lunch in Cafe Tabou.  Only the second bad lunch I’ve had there.  Remind me not to have beef cheek there again.

Managed an hour in St Mo’s.  Saw one of the deer with what looked like a fawn.  Must try to get a better photo tomorrow, because Friday will be a wedding fest!

Back home then into Glasgow to salsa.  Motorway was mobbed on the way home so had to rely on the satnav on the phone to get me out of difficulty and find a way through the backstreets on to the motorway at ASDA.  What would we do without this technology now?

Feather trapped on a larch branch.  St Mo’s.

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Today is Scamp’s birthday, so we went in to Glasgow to choose a suitable birthday prezzy.  The day started out with wall to wall sunshine, but that deteriorated into rain and hail showers.  Got soaked on the way home.  Still, we had a good day and lunch in O Sole Mio.  Not a bad day.

Torrential hail shower in Glasgow today.

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The Long Way Home was a children’s WW2 series on BBC, many moons ago, 1960 in fact.  It was the story of a group of prisoners-of-war attempting to get home from Germany.  I remember watching it entranced every week wondering if they would get back home.  Today was similar.  I kept wondering if ntwe would ever get home.

We set off about 9.30am.  Headed for Baldock to the butchers to stock up, then to Tesco to grab some Adnams beer.  After that, it was on to the A1(M) and keep driving until one of us got tired.  Then we’d stop, have a coffee and then back on the road.  We eventually got home at 7.00pm.  Tired, but happy to be home again.

The arches and that glorious frieze make it look like a city hall, but in fact it’s the Tesco building in Baldock. Now isn’t that much nicer than a shiny new Tesco Metro?

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