Month: February 2022

Coffee with Isobel – 28 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Coffee with Isobel in Costa. Always an entertainment.

I was glad the company was good, because the coffee was awful. Watery liquid with no taste of coffee. You should watch some time and see how much hot water goes into the cup and how little coffee. However, that wasn’t why we were there. It was just a chance for Scamp and Isobel to catch up on recent events. Isobel goes for her pre-assessment on Wednesday and was full of questions for Sheila.

After an hour and a half or so, we went our separate ways. Isobel to meet a friend and us to go and get the messages in Tesco. Drove to Craigmarloch and frightened ourselves with the price of petrol. Nearly £1.50 per litre! I don’t know if I can afford to fill up the tank of the wee blue car.

After lunch I went out for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which was another larch flower. It looked as if it and the pine cone were having a discussion, or more likely that the pine cone was giving the new arrival some hints and tips for an easy life in the woods. Or is that just me being stupid again. It’s called Anthropomorphism, just in case you are wondering. Then I thought the larch flower looked like a wee cup cake. I don’t think there is a name for that and I do believe I should severely reduce my alcohol intake in the mornings!!

When I came home and was perusing the photos I’d taken, I noticed the sun had come out for the first time today. It had been noticeably missing when I was out walking.

Today’s final prompt was Happy. This is me sitting at the table trying to think up something to draw for the final sketch of February 2022. I think that this is fitting. I’m happy that I’ve finished all 28 again. As always, it’s been a struggle some nights, but it was good to get ‘likes’ and even some comments, so thank you for your ‘reactions’ as FB describes it. It does make you want to continue and gives value to the sketches and paintings. Also, a thank you to my wife for being my most honest critic. I don’t think I’ll torture myself with an Every Day in March, but maybe I’ll participate in the May edition, if I’m allowed, DV.

Spoke to Fred tonight and he was asking how Scamp was getting on. Then we discussed the quality of work on Landscape Artist of the Year and what we’d have done to improve it. While Fred and I were talking, Scamp was talking weddings and outfits with Jacqueline (Big Jac). Later Jamie phoned and we discovered that the survey of the roof timbers of the house had found that the woodworm was historical and nothing needed to be done, but as usual, other timbers needed strengthening. Good news and bad news. That’s the way of the world. You just hope that the good outweighs the bad, because there’s usually little you can do about it anyway.

So with that thought, I don’t think we have any plans for tomorrow. It looks like rain.

A beautiful day – 27 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

We got up and went out this morning, pointing the blue car at Auchinstarry.

We were lucky to get one of the last spaces in the car park, then it was off on foot along the canal footpath as far as Twechar. Hardly a breeze to ruffle the surface of the Forth & Clyde canal. The path was busy with walkers taking advantage of the first decent day for at least a week. Lots of cyclist, most of whom were sensible enough to have a bell that worked on their bike. I was thinking I should really get my Dewdrop out and give it a run in the fresh air, but that’s all it was, just a thought!

At Twechar we met up with a wee group of boys, about 12 years old hanging over the barrier trying to get passing motorists to toot their horn at them. This must be ‘entertainment’ in Twechar. No TVs, no computers and no Xbox for them. Just a toot from a car sends them into hoots of laughter. One of the boys who may have been twelve but had the seriousness of a 90 year old great-grandfather agreed with Scamp that it was a lovely morning and told us that it was “good to get out in, er, nature”. I think he thought he was taking the mick! Probably another Twechar pastime.

We crossed the road and the sound of the toots and the laughter followed us for a while until we reached to path to take us back to the car. I’d brought the Sony A7 today and I found a great subject for it in the bank of snowdrops just beside the path. So good to see so many of them all flowering at the same time. We walked on, but apart from some shots of the Campsie Fells, there wasn’t much to entice me. Scamp just enjoys the walk and I sometimes feel I hold her back with my constant stops for photos.

Back home and after lunch I wrote to Alex to see if he was up for a photo walk this week. At present, Friday looks the best day. Then I grabbed the A7 with the posh macro lens and went hunting for the mysterious Female Larch Flowers. The female flowers are big and showy in pinks and yellows. They sit upright, usually at the end of a branch, looking like miniature pineapples. The male flowers are fairly insignificant little things that hang down from the branches in groups and are limited to yellow. There were a lot of the female flowers today. I got quite a few shots of them. Last year there were hardly any.

Today’s prompt was True Colours. I listened to the song until about halfway through and switched it off. I decided there was nothing inspirational in there.
No, I had to change my thinking on this one. There is no such thing as a true colour. There is no true blue or red or yellow. Ultramarine blue tend to purple, as does Alizarin Crimson. Lemon Yellow tends towards green, and that’s just the primaries. Once you get into secondary and tertiary colours it’s just a big mess. So that was my starting point for today’s sketch: My watercolour palette. Not one true colour in the box and as you will notice I ignore the teachers’ warnings not to start mixing colours in the pots. I just go for it. All the colours in the box started out as tube colours, squeezed out into pots and they looked pretty for about a day, then as they dried, they darkened and that gets us to a whole new argument about True Colours. Here endeth the lesson on colour theory. Maybe I’ll be a bit “Happier” tomorrow!

Booked for coffee with Isobel tomorrow.

Not the ‘C’ word! – 27 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today the weather started out dull and stayed that way.

Some days are like that, you just have to take them and do what you can with what you have. We weren’t in a rush to go out, but had decided we’d go to Culross in Fife. Then Hazy phoned. She wanted to find out all about the eye op and I think Scamp was happy to relate all the gory details. We also found out about what was happening down south too. Just as we were finishing the conversation she asked where we were going and when Scamp hesitated and tried to hedge round the answer, Hazy gave me the title of today’s blog when she said “Not the ‘C’ word!!” Hazel detests Culross for some reason. Thanks for that Hazy.

We drove over to Fife and tried to convince each other that the clouds were lifting. They weren’t, they were just getting ripped apart by the wind and then joining up again even thicker than before. However, we got parked in Culross and managed a walk along the long path beside the Firth of Forth. Along the way I got a few photos and my favourite was one of the an old chain padlocked to a mooring ring on Culross pier. Not a lot of directional light to give shadows, but you work with what you’re given.

It was cold and on the way back along the path we were walking into the cold westerly wind, so when we got to the car I suggested we try a couple of tacos from a wee stall across from the car park. Tacos were fine, but the stall didn’t sell coffee. What an oversight. Culross in February and you don’t think to sell hot drinks? A lost opportunity there, I think. Drove home and still the weather didn’t improve.

Today’s prompt was Down Under with a link to the Men At Work video from last century. This was the most sketchable or paintable image I could find from the video. To think we laughed at this back in the eighties, because we thought it was funny. I’m sure Colin Hay has made a few dollars from that piece of music, but he’s made a whole lot of better music since, IMO.

Weather tomorrow is to be better than today’s. We’ll believe it when we see it.

Woke at 7am – 25 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

I hadn’t intended waking at 7am.

I was just so tired last night I forgot to cancel the alarm on my watch. It’s cancelled now. Oh yes it’s been warned that if it does that again it’s going out the window. If I’m feeling generous I might even open the window first.

I got a message from Jamie asking how the patient was and telling me that there was a parcel arriving here between 11am and 2.30pm. I reckoned I could keep a secret for a few hours. It was a lovely bright morning. Cold but the sun was shining. We watched one of our neighbours nearly take a tumble on the ice sheet that had appeared overnight on the path outside. That meant we weren’t going anywhere soon, which meant I didn’t have to tell too many lied keep Scamp at home until the parcel arrived. We did go out to have a look round the front garden and that was where I found today’s PoD. One little yellow crocus flower poking its head out above the grass. I’d initially taken it just because it looked good, shining in the morning sun. It turned out to be almost the one picture I took today.

It was after lunch before the parcel arrived. Scamp answered the door and carried in a big blue box with ‘Moonpig’ written in pink. No guesses who had sent this one. Inside was a big bottle of sparkling rosé wine and a box of posh chocolates. They have now been sampled and found to be just as good as you’d expect. Scamp very kindly allowed me to help her test them! Nice card. We both laughed.  We both appreciated these gifts.  You are all lovely people.

After an exchange of messages we went for a walk round St Mo’s and then on to the shops to get a Friday Pizza. It’s going back to the old Friday tradition, I think! We also got a box of ice cream, just in case the pizza, wine and chocolates didn’t fill us up entirely and we were peckish later.

After dinner which was pizza, of course, we watched another uninspired episode of Death In Paradise. As Scamp says, we only watch it for the music and the scenery which is lucky, because the acting is stilted and the plots are terrible.

Yesterday’s prompt was Black & White. I chose a piano keyboard as the typical case of black and white. I know I should have looked more deeply at this subject and researched the hidden meanings in the Michael Jackson song, but sometimes the literal answer is the best one. This is version 3 of the drawing. The first one is generally the best with me, but it was just too rough and version 2 which drawn using a ruler and a 0.7 pencil was too neat and tidy, although the perspective was much more accurate. The ‘Goldilocks Version’ you see here was just right to my eyes and was drawn today, because yesterday had been a long day that started about 6am and finished after midnight. Something had to give and, unfortunately, it was the sketch.

Today’s prompt was The Love Cats.
I don’t really love cats and I’m not a great fan of The Cure either. Having said that, I’d much rather have a cat in the house than a dog, just not this particular cat. This is not a ‘puddy tat’. This is a true Scottish Wildcat and it would do you up a treat, mate, given half a chance. There’s not much love in those eyes. Getting rare now in Scotland and reduced to a few mating pairs in the highlands. Still a fearsome creature to meet on a dark night. This was drawn from a photograph I took in 2005 and I still love that look. So, I suppose, in a way it IS a Love Cat!

Tomorrow we’re hoping to get out for a longer walk.

Out early – 24 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

The alarm rang at 7am and we had to be out before 8am.

A phone call yesterday asking if we could make it in to Braehead to the eye clinic for, say, 8.50am instead of 10am? We said yes, having already planned our leaving time after considering the traffic on the route. Today we were allowing an extra fifteen minutes or so for rush hour traffic. Then there was the threat of snow and high winds, leading to blizzard conditions. Let’s aim for an hour and ten minutes for a trip that would normally take about twenty minutes. The threat of snow had materialised into real snow this morning. We left at about 7.45am and Google Maps though that should be enough.

Snow wasn’t too bad to start with and on the motorway at that time of a morning you’re riding in someone else’s tyre tracks anyway. Just stay in line and keep the pace. Actually we arrived with a few minutes to spare. I walked Scamp to the clinic door, from the snow covered car park and told her I’d see her in about two and a bit hours. Drove home by the alternative route on the M74/M73. Same tyre tracks maybe even the same car, who knows. Took about the same time too. Had a coffee and solved today’s Sudoku then the phone rang. The bloke said the op had gone well, no problem and Scamp would be ready to pick up in about 15 mins. I wasted no time getting into the tyre tracks again and Scamp was waiting for me when I parked the car. Drove home through various clumps of falling snow, some sleety, some large light fluffy flakes, some just dirty spray. I’d meant to wash the car at the beginning of the week. I’m glad I didn’t now, it would have been such a waste of time. Also glad I had fitted the new wipers!

Another coffee and time to relax a bit. I did go out later to get a pair of swimming goggles for Scamp. Apparently they are recommended for patients after eye surgery so they can use the shower without getting their eyes wet. Then I left the car at home and walked over to St Mo’s to take a photo for the PoD. It’s actually one I took from the door step. Miniature daffodils poking through the slush that used to be virgin white snow.

Dinner was a cut down version of Bacon and Borlotti Beans. It was more a “what have you got in the fridge?” version.

No sketch yet, because I’d dog tired and am going to bed. Scamp has already gone to bed she looks shattered, but she says she can see much better now that both eyes are done.  She said there was a ‘gritty’ feeling from the new lens, but that’s sometimes quite usual and it’s clearing up now.  I remember one of my eyes feeling like that after my cataract surgery.  Also there was some water leaking from one eye for a while this morning when she came home, but that seems to have cleared up now.  I’m sure she’s looking forward to getting the eye patch off tomorrow and seeing with both new eyes.

Today the Russians invaded Ukraine. Such a senseless waste. Such a senseless loss of life.

No plans for tomorrow yet. If the slush and the lying water freeze tonight we won’t be going far tomorrow.

Wiping the windows – 23 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

The Blue car needed its windows wiped, so I went to Halfords to see if they had any wipers.

For once it was easy to get the right size and type of windscreen wipers. Just type in your reg and up comes a list of what’s available. Got a 26” and a 14” paid for them and drove home, dreading the next part. How do you fit the bloody things. Every new car has a different removing and refitting technique. Luckily the instructions were in the vehicle manual and I followed them carefully and they worked. New blades on and old ones going in the blue IKEA bag to go to the tip soon.

With that done, it was time for lunch which was yesterday’s leftover curry and then a piece ’n’ fishy jam, which is what my mum used to call marmalade, trying to con my wee brother into believing the little bits of shred were tiny fish. He never believed it, but he used to pretend that he did to make her smile. After that the rain came on and I’d to wait an hour or so to get my daily photography fix. I used the time wisely by finishing Rizzio a short novella by Denise Mina about the murder of David Rizzio, Mary Queen of Scots’ lover. Quite the best historical book I’ve read. If all history books had been written like this, I’d have passed ‘O’ grade history all those years ago.

Not long after I finished the book, the sun came out and the rain stopped, so I got my bare hour in St Mo’s to grab a few photos. A very few photos as it turned out, because I was just talking to one of our neighbours out walking his Scots terrier when the first splashes of rain appeared on the pond. Time to go home, but I was pretty sure I had my PoD, a close-up of a seed head of a weed.

Dinner tonight was paella and it was a nice dry one for a change. I’ve a tendency to make my paella too sloppy. More careful measurement of rice and water helped today.

Today’s prompt was Windmills Of Your Mind. This is the windmill of My mind. It’s a deconstructed windmill. It has most of the important parts. It has sails as most windmills have. It has a circular base (Circles) and it has a Spiral. It has planetary gears (Wheel within a Wheel). The belt drive is Never Ending and it drives an Ever Spinning Reel. Yes, I think that’s what’s going on inside my head most of the time. My mum used to say my head was “Full of wee wheels”. Which meant I talked rubbish most of the time. Some things never change.

Early bed tonight because we’ve an early rise tomorrow for eye number two.

A palindromic date – 22 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

As well as being a date almost entirely composed of 2s, today’s date is a numerical palindrome. 22-02-2022 reads the same forwards and backwards. Check if you want to, but it’s right. I didn’t work this out myself, I found it on that great repository of knowledge, Facebook!

Today was one of those days when the weather couldn’t decide what to do. Would it stay dry or would it stay wet. Would it be windy or would it be calm. It couldn’t decide, so it did all of them, sometime it seemed to do all of them at the same time.

I have been looking for a new pair of true wireless headphones. The ones that are just two headphones that plug into your ears, or hang in your ears with no connecting cables. I bought a pair ages ago and they worked well for almost a year before they started losing connection. It seemed that you had to look straight ahead and not turn or one of the earbuds would switch off. It was really disconcerting, but they were very cheap and probably Tesco’s own make, because I never saw them anywhere else. Anyway, I bought a pair of Skullcandy’s to replace them, but the sound was awful. You’ve no way to check in-ear earbuds before buying. Scamp says it’s the same with earrings. I’ve never had that problem, personally! I had some money sitting in vouchers for JL and fancied a new (better quality) pair. A pair of Sony’s. They’d been out of stock at JL for weeks, but today they were back. Not back in black, but they had them in white and that would suit me fine. Scamp didn’t want to come to Glasgow today, she’s more or less self-isolating, getting ready for Thursday.

I drove through torrential rain all the way in to Glasgow and eventually found someone in JL who unlocked the cabinet and sold me the headphones. I only had to pay £4 odd for them because the vouchers paid off the rest. I’d another reason to go in to Glasgow today. We have loads of books in the house looking for a new home. Scamp has collected lots of them up and they’re sitting in bags in various rooms. I’d brought one of the bigger bags with me today and I handed them over, with bag, to the girl in the Oxfam shop in Exchange Square. Two jobs done. I bought myself another concertina sketch book in Cass Art, an A6 one. Scamp gave me my present A5 book and it’s almost half full with EDiF sketches, but a smaller one that could easily fit in my pocket would be useful. On the way back to the car, I was passing the GOMA and it’s usually a great place to people watch and people snap. Today it was a girl on her fag break or to be more correct a ‘vape break’ and a guy who seemed to be bragging about his drawings, you’ll need to go on Flickr to find him.

Drove back home through more rain. It just seems never-ending these days, although I walked around Glasgow and not a drop wet my Bergy. It’s the wind that makes it so unpredictable.

I charged the headphones when I got home and dumped the photos. The it was time to make a chicken curry for dinner. It turned out fine, but I was toying with the idea of using some Padron peppers to add a different flavour to it, but these padrons were HOT, so rather than risk it, they went in the bin.

After dinner I started today’s sketch. Today’s prompt was Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
I started off copying a shot of Noel Coward, but it just didn’t feel right and he really needed the sun in the picture as well as the ‘Mad Dog’ to fit the prompt. So, it became a sort of stereotypical man who is ‘something in the city’ with his times under one arm and a bottle of MD 2020 under the other. According to its website, MD 2020 is “made with juicy, luscious fruit infused with tasty flavors to create a unique variety of MD 20/20 selections”. Made in America, drunk in Coatbridge! Delicious (so I’m told) served cold in a bus shelter.

The headphones sounded terrible to start with, but once I’d worked out how to use the equaliser they came alive. It didn’t help that they weren’t sitting properly in my ears. Sorted now. Great sound with just the gentlest hiss at times.

Scamp’s telephone consultation with the doc went well this morning. Her meds are being returned to the previous dosage.

No plans for tomorrow, although I might need to get the front wipers on my car replaced.

 

Wild Swimming – 21 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Not us! Oh no, not us!

I filled the flask while Scamp sorted the tea and coffee things and grabbed a couple of biscuits and some crisps, then with a quick stop for petrol we were off to the highlands.

Yesterday Scamp had suggested that if today was as good as the weather fairies said it would be, we could maybe drive to Loch Lubnaig in the Trossachs for cup of coffee by the lochside. I thought it was a grand idea and as the day looked as promising as predicted we drove out past Stirling and through Callander then out to Kilmahog and that’s where it got a bit worrying. The water coming down the River Leny was very high, almost bursting its banks in places. The Falls of Leny which are usually a picturesque series of rapids were a roaring torrent that took up the entire width of the river. As the Leny flows out of Loch Lubnaig, I was beginning to wonder if the car park would be flooded.

When we got there the water was indeed high, but not as high as it might have been, There is usually a beach a about three metres wide before you reach the water, but not today. The water was coursing around the trees that grow two metres from the beach. Yes, the water was high. However, the wee coffee stall was open and the smell of frying bacon was enticing. We had a roll each, Scamp’s was egg, mine was bacon, with a cup of drinkable coffee. I’m not sure if it was instant or filter, but it was strong enough for me and tasted like coffee should.

I did manage to get a few photos, but I think I’ve been to Lubnaig so often that I think I’ve seen it all, however the high water gave a few more opportunities and the one I liked the best was the almost submerged picnic tables. I think diners would be advised to bring waders! That became PoD.

Another sight we saw was a couple, the man with a full wet suit and the woman with wet suit leggings and what looked like a neoprene bra, walking gingerly into the loch. I’d been wearing a pair of jeans, teeshirt, warm shirt, jersey and a lined Bergy jacket when I was taking photos and when I was standing around for about a minute, waiting for a time exposure to complete, I was beginning to feel the cold. I dread to think how that woman felt.

They eventually had had enough of the wild swimming. Yes they did some swimming, but going too far would have been dangerous today with a fair swell in the loch and a fast current too. I think we both relaxed a bit when they got out and wrapped themselves in heavy towel. I’m told that wild swimming in winter is good for you, but I’ll take their word for it, rather than try it myself.

We came back via the Duke’s Pass over the hills to Aberfoyle and from there to Doune and up to get some more shots from the David Stirling memorial. The view from there is quite phenomenal on a good day and it was a good day today. Photo also on Flickr. From there it was just the motorway home.

Today’s prompt was Edelweiss. I do believe I saw one once. Many more moons ago than I’d care to put a number on, when I was in primary school, in fact, the teacher brought one in for us to see. I don’t know where she got it from, because I don’t remember any growing wild in the central belt of Scotland. Dandelions and Daisies, yes, but not Edelweiss. I remember thinking it wasn’t the prettiest flower I’d ever seen. That being the case, I found this one tough to draw and paint, but that’s what this challenge is all about, isn’t it? It’s being forced to work outside your comfort zone. With that in mind, this one’s now complete and we move on to the next challenge, the next prompt!

Scamp has a telephone consultation booked with one of the docs from the Cumbernauld practice in the morning tomorrow to review her meds. The rest of the day is our own and the weather looks reasonable at present.

Another wet and windy one – 20 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

It was raining today when we woke up. What a surprise!

I took Scamp’s car out for a run to Tesco to top up its fuel and to buy some stuff. I had a voucher for groceries that I’d been meaning to spend, so I took it with me too. Scamp gave me a short list of her requirements and I got most of them. Bumped into Fred at the shops and we spent a good few minutes catching up on what each of us had been doing, which wasn’t much. We discussed the merits and demerits of the current participants on Landscape Artist of the Year. He asked after Scamp and I asked after Margo then we went our separate ways him to but more groceries and me to get one of those fancy scanner things everyone in Tesco seems to use these days.

With the scanner beeping away as I recorded all my purchases, I had a great time. Then I realised I didn’t know what to do next. I did what most sensible people do, but what most Auld Guys don’t, I read the instructions which said “bag as you go”. Had I done that? No. I’d just loaded everything into the trolley. However, I planned to use the Auld Guy card when I went to the checkout and plead stupidity. It comes naturally to me. Eventually the girl at the checkout sorted everything out and I apologised to the next couple in the queue, then made a hasty exit after paying my dues and using my voucher. A lot of my stuff was going in the Food Bank box which was now overflowing, but I managed to squeeze it all in. Feeling I’d actually made a difference to someone, I drove to the petrol station where the Wee Red Car got some much needed expensive petrol. After that I drove home. It really is a lovely little car. You can see for miles in it. Probably the best visibility I’ve ever had in a car.

After lunch and after marinading the short ribs I was having for dinner, I wrote an email to Alex explaining the difficulties of being a nurse for Scamp and sending him some of my latest photo offerings. With the email sent, I went for a walk in St Mo’s. I’d hoped to get some decent light, but, of course with my luck, I got the rain that had threatened most of the afternoon but hadn’t appeared. Just as it was beginning to clear, the sun shone brightly and I grabbed half a dozen decent shots looking straight into the light. When they were processed, there was no doubt they were going to be competing for PoD. The one I chose was the easiest to process. No fancy shading or sepia toning, this was virtually out of the camera.

I cooked the short ribs in the Le Creuset in the oven for two hours at gas 6, then for about half an hour at gas 4. My marinade was Salt, Honey, White Wine Vinegar and Olive Oil plus Mustard. (Salt, Sugar, Acid and Oil) You see Hazy. I do remember the important things. By the way, the mustard helps the olive oil and the vinegar to mix. The chemist will probably disagree. They were well cooked, but they had to be, they’d been chilling in the freezer since March last year! They tasted as fresh as if they’d been bought yesterday. Scamp had a simpler pieces of salmon cooked in tinfoil. No fancy marinade. No Le Creuset. Just simple good cooking. Both tasted great with potatoes and a little butter.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard how they survived the recent storms and more work needed in the house. He got an update on Scamp’s eye situation too.

Today’s prompt was Beautiful Day.  Unfortunately it wasn’t a beautiful day where I was today. Rain, wind and occasional bright sun, but beautiful? Not really. I watched the video for the prompt but nothing really jumped out at me apart from this bloke who girned and groaned into the camera. He’s probably someone important, at least important to himself. To me he’s a bloke with black glasses who needs a shave. Before you say anything, yes, I do know who he is. He’s Bozo, no, he’s Bono. Bozo is another thing entirely, not quite human, but still bumbling along, pretending he’s Churchill.

Tomorrow looks like it might be a good day. If it is, we may go somewhere scenic.

 

 

Another day of dropping drops into eyes – 19 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Or rather, eye, singular. The hard work probably starts next week when, hopefully there will be two to do!

Scamp wanted out today. She was fed up with hanging around the house and decided she’d risk a walk to take her new eye on a stroll around ‘The Policies’. We had a short jaunt around the torture machines then back up the hill and home. I think she enjoyed being out looking like a film star trying to look incognito with her dark sunglasses. They were necessary today. The optician at the hospital had recommended she wear them even if the sun wasn’t all that bright and it was really sparkly bright today, shining out of a blue sky and, because there was no wind, it wasn’t too cold either.

Back home and just before lunch, the second lot of drops went in. I remember having to put them in myself. Just getting excited about the clarity of what I was seeing, then having to put up with this milky white liquid blurring everything. It was only for a few minutes, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t annoying.

After lunch I left Scamp to watch one of her Netflix movies and went out for a walk with the A6000. I’d taken the A7 in the morning walk, but didn’t take very many photos. The A6000 actually works really well with both the 50mm macro and the 28-70mm kit lens. Also, it’s about half the weight of the A7. I got a few photos, but my favourite, and PoD, was probably the fungus growing on an old dead tree. I say probably, because I’m thinking that one of the photos in the forest would look good too with a bit of work.

Dinner tonight was Fish ’n’ Chips from the Chippy in Condorrat. It was meant to be a Golden Bowl tonight, but they are closed for a fortnight for Chinese New Year and don’t open until Tuesday. Bummer. But the fish and chips were lovely. Two haddock fillets done in breadcrumbs. A ‘Special Fish’ in Scotland. It tastes great the first time, not so much the second and third time. After dinner, more drops. Then we watched To Catch A Thief. An ancient (1955) sort of whodunnit. The car chases were hilarious. Worth watching for that alone.

Today’s prompt was I Love Paris. I based the Sacré-Cœur sketch on a photo I’d taken in Paris in October 2003. I doubt if it will have changed much in the intervening 18 years or so. The line of trees will probably have grown a bit and there might be a few more tourists around it, but the building itself won’t have changed. I remember being mightily impressed with the architecture in Paris, although this one looks like a fire sale in a turret factory. “Room for just one more little turret?” “Yes, I think we can squeeze one in.” Still a beautiful building. I deliberately omitted the sky to let the building have pride of place. Also, I deliberately left in the pencil construction lines.

Tomorrow looks like it might be wet for most of the day. I believe the rain is practising outside as I write this. We’ll see what we get!