Month: September 2015

I’m really beginning to enjoy these early morning walks.  Today was a bit later because I didn’t waken up until about 7.20, so I wasn’t out until about 7.30.  It’s nice to think that just over a year ago, I’d be driving to work at this time in the day, and not in a happy frame of mind either.  Two and a bit years ago, I’d still have been driving to work, but I’d have been a lot happier.  That’s what happens when your school is taken over and you just know that everything is going to the dogs.  I couldn’t have worked for the despot who took over the running of the school and I consider myself very lucky to have made my exit before his dictatorship began for real.

I don’t think anyone believes me when I say that I’m superbly happy now that I’ve retired.  It’s great being able to do what you want, when you want, and if you don’t fancy doing anything, there’s nothing and nobody forcing you to do it.  So, with a smile on my face, I headed off to St Mo’s to see what I’d find.  Again, there was no sign of the mist that was there on Monday, but the light was so much better than Tuesday.

I wasn’t sure which of the cow parsley shots looked best, the mono or colour version, so I put in both.  The backlit trees were taken with the 9mm wonder lens.  Snails seemed to be the topic of the day.  There were snails everywhere today.  Big ones, small ones and tiny wee ones too.  Not slugs, but real, honest to goodness, shell carrying snails. The walk took about an hour, but I got a lot of shots and was happy with the results from both cameras.

Larger versions of today’s pics are available for viewing on my Flickr account.  All photos copyright of Donald Campbell and are digitally watermarked and therefore are not available for use by anyone except me.  If you wish to use them, please contact me in the first instance by using the comment section on this page.

I gave in and did the decent thing. We went to IKEA to look for Billy. We had a bit of a problem getting Billy into the car, but between Scamp and I we managed it.  Then I spent the afternoon with Billy, fitting his plugs, screwing in his cams (Ooh!) and finally managing to get him vertical and ensconced in his new room. After that it was down to Scamp to decide where the shelf supports would go, because as you probably knew, Billy is a bookcase. Picked up a wee LED desk lamp, a shopping bag and a picture frame too. Scamp got Billy and some storage boxes. It doesn’t take much to keep us happy.

Up at 7.00 and out for 7.15. Walked over to St Mo’s to catch the early morning mists on the pond. Hoped to see some deer, but there were none. Loads of spiderwebs, though. It set me thinking just how many spiders there are in a small patch of rough ground like that. Lovely image of a jenny-long-legs covered in dew. It might have been dead, or just awakening from the cold of the night.

The rest of the day was consumed with gym & swim and a spot of reading, the excellent Urban Watercolor Sketching by Felix Scheinberger. It’s an interesting and slightly off the wall art book that gives no ground to sentimental landscape painting, as hinted at by the book’s title. It has certainly given me the urge to get out and paint.

If the weather allows, I would do the early rise walk again to get some more autumnal shots.

Since we were going out for dinner to friends in Hamilton tonight, we were set for a light lunch out today, so we had agreed to go to Falkirk. Not the most interesting place in the world, but it does have the best tea shop in the world. Tea Jenny’s. So that’s where we went. Roll on scrambled egg for Scamp and roll on flat sausage for me. Vanilla slice as cake for me and a massive, and I mean MASSIVE

meringue for Scamp. A bit of shopping and then home. Scamp wanted to play with her new edging tool and I wanted a run out on the bike with the new 9mm toy.

When you cycle near to a railway track, you get used to the sounds of the trains passing a few feet away from you. Today I heard a really rattly sounding train approaching from the Glasgow side. I was totally amazed to see a black steam engine pulling one maroon carriage at a fair lick of speed. I just managed to get one shot of it in the distance. I’m guessing it was taking the carriage from somewhere to Bo’ness to the privately owned steam train railway there. I can’t remember when I saw a steam train running at full tilt on national track.

I made the 9mm work for its money by trying some landscapes. If you use an downward angle, you can create a hill from the horizon and, as you would expect, a valley if you point the camera down up. The fish eye effect creates some great skyscapes.

Home, shower and out to dinner. A good day and a steam train too!

Went in to town early on the train – the only way to travel into Glasgow. In fact, it may indeed be the only way to travel anywhere as it looks like the X3, our only bus is being taken away. Perhaps it will be replaced by a whole fleet of X buses, but it’s unlikely. Use more public transport they say. We can only do that if there is actually public transport to use.
Anyway, went in to town on the train. Browsed John Lewis, but they weren’t offering any Mac Book Pros for a fiver. Wandered into Jessops, but they didn’t have the Oly 9mm f8 body cap lens for a tenner off. Wait a minute! They do have it, and it’s a tenner off! Got my hands on it and gave it a really good testing. Went for a coffee and confirmed my suspicions that that they had only been experimenting with the 15mm f8 lens. This was the real thing with real GLASS lenses, not the plastic junk in the 15mm. Decision made. Get it before they sell it to someone less worthy than me. Rest of the morning was wandering around town amazed at the effects I was getting with this minuscule wonder. It’s a real eye opener. Sure there’s curved verticals (and horizontals if you try really hard) and there’s a heap of CAs, but that’s all part of the charm of a ‘fish eye’ lens. Returned on the train, still having trouble believing just how good this lens is.

Oh, yes, and I got my hair cut too!

Moral of the story: The early bird gets the worm

Today we had booked a table for lunch at The Cotton House. It was Scamp’s suggestion. The last twice we went for lunch without a reservation, they were full and we left hungry with me in a bad temper – such an unusual state for me 😉 Today was different. We had a good lunch as usual in TCH. China tea to finish the meal. It’s probably the only place where I would have this tea. To be recommended – The Cotton House and the tea.

Previously, I’d been out fairly early to St Mo’s to get some pics of dragonflies. I saw a dragonfly egg laying. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. It was good to go out early rather than at the end of the afternoon. Light was good then and with the sun a bit lower in the sky, it was easier to get good shadows and textures. It’s all about the light.
Today’s picture is of a dragonfly’s wing. So often I feel that I must show the entire insect, but just stop and look at the detail in that wing and wonder at the refinements that have taken place in the 325 million years they have flown over this earth.

Earlier still I got a text from Scamp asking if our water was running normally. It appears that the main water pipe to Abronhill had fractured and the water supply to half of Cumbernauld was either undrinkable or nonexistent. Ours was ok, but the burst had caused a landslide that affected the railway to Falkirk and Forrest Road was closed. Luckily it had happened early in the month before the ‘Abronhillers’ have their monthly bath.

After lunch, yes I know that this is a bit disjointed, but that’s the way it goes – it’s my blog not yours, so to get back to today …
After lunch, I went to Dobbies and got some Cyclamen and an edging tool for Scamp. As the family gardener, she was delighted.

A mixed up day for me as much as for you.

A day to recover from the biz of the last week. A day when I didn’t have to go out which was just as well, because my stomach was in pain and decided to alert me to the fact at regular intervals. Something I ate or the change of water, it could be either. However, the upside is it gave me a chance to update both my Flickr account and my blog. Both are now almost up to date. Just today’s photo to get sorted and that’s me done. Aye, there’s the rub. Can’t gee myself to take anything. Nothing of interest here and there’s been hardly any decent light all day, just that Scottish milky sky. No texture, no shadows, no highlights either. Just some garden flowers trying to brighten the day.