Month: July 2024

Wet and Windy – 3 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Another day when the weather was wasn’t very like the July we all used to know.

Hurricanes in the Caribbean and temperatures almost in single figures at home. This isn’t at all like the summers we’ve been used to. What happened to summer? Did I blink and miss it? We’ve struggled through a wet, windy and cold winter, only to find at the end that it was at times, warmer than it is this summer. Personally I blame the government!

I did go out for a while in the afternoon hoping it would stay dry at least, but it didn’t. Luckily the trees are all in full leaf now, so I could shelter until the worst of it was past. I did get a couple of decent photos, despite the wind and the rain. Best of a reasonable lot was a photo of a Drone Fly, a kind of Hoverfly, feeding on the flowers of a Cow Parsley head. Probably not the prettiest of insects, but the new lens delivered a sharp image of it. There’s another of a ‘spider house’ on Flickr that gave the drone fly a run for its money.

That was about it for the day. Scamp didn’t even go out to prune her roses. It was that kind of day. I think we were both a bit tired after two hours of almost constant dancing yesterday.

We did a bit of digital tidying up. Moving photos from Scamp’s old computer on to a storage SSD and from there onto her new computer. Now it’s her job to complete the tagging of the photos before copying them to OneDrive. I suppose, grudgingly, I have to admit that there are things that OneDrive can do very efficiently.

Dinner tonight was the ready-roasted chicken we bought in Troon yesterday served with potatoes and cabbage. It made a decent meal and the chicken was lovely.

Tomorrow we may be meeting Isobel if we don’t get blown away, because there are more gusty winds predicted.

 

A wee surprise – 2 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We had agreed that we should go out somewhere today.

I suggested to Scamp that she might like to go down to Troon to test out the dance floor there. There are two dances a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays and since we were committed on Thursday, why not go today? By the time I’d rinsed the breakfast dishes, Scamp had laid out prospective dresses and shoes, so I guessed the invitation had been accepted!

The dance started at 1pm and finished at 3pm. The drive down to Troon was without event and by the time we got there the sun was shining. Even better still, there was a parking space next to the hall. After heading in to the wrong building by mistake we were given detailed instruction on how to get to the hall which was next door, but was hidden round a corner. Booked ourselves in and paid a tenner for both of us, probably the going rate for us Auld Yins!

We found a large dance hall with the compere and keyboard maestro ready for action on the stage with his three keyboards. He had a good sound system and the sang to all the tunes he played, and he played a lot. We were used to Stewart & Jane’s setup where they played pre-recorded music and there was tea at half time. Not so today. If you wanted something to drink, you had to provide it yourself. That way participants didn’t lose any dancing time.

I think we danced for almost everything he played. The only things we stayed seated for were the ‘school dances’ Military Two Step and Canadian Barn Dance. We also avoided the Viennese Waltz which isn’t in our syllabus. We even added in a Salsa track and a Bachata, just for fun. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. Ronnie and Millie seemed surprised to see us and we had a bit of banter with them.

For once in a dance class, the time seemed to fly. I don’t think it was because my dancing was stunning, because it wasn’t, I think I was just enjoying dancing. But soon it was time for the last waltz and we assured everyone we spoke to that we’d be back, despite the long drive.

Since we hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast, Scamp suggested we go for a late lunch at the Lido in Troon: Mussels for Scamp and Italian sausage and pasta for me. We had stopped at Morrison’s on the way home to buy a loaf and ended up with a trolley full of stuff, as usual.

The run back in  the rain, took a bit more time than the drive down, but I’d expected that. Much more traffic on the road and a lot of congestion coming off the M74 on to the M 73. I’d hate to drive through that every day.

I only took six photos today and kept only four of them. PoD was a bloke sitting on the wall at the seaside having his lunch.

We have no plans as yet for tomorrow. I’m sure something will turn up.

White Rabbits (x3) – 1 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

The first day of July and for about an hour tonight, it actually felt like summer.

In the morning, it was that cold wind again that took all the heat away. There really wasn’t much encouragement to go out and take some photos, but I did anyway, but not until well after lunch.

I struggled again to understand the purpose of the three available settings on the new camera, but eventually gave up. I think from what I’ve read that a lot of these settings are more for movie filming than stills photography.

I took the camera and the new lens out for a walk in the afternoon, but the wind was the problem again. Nothing like what’s happening in the Caribbean just now with 130mph winds, but our breezes were annoying too. More than half the photos ended up on the cutting room floor.

Dinner for Scamp tonight was yesterday’s Ratatouille reheated with some tinned tomatoes and some passata added. Mine was yesterday’s Spaghetti Bolognese magically turned into Chilli con Carne with the other half of the tomatoes and passata. Both were fine served with rice. I even had enough left over from my chilli to to go into the freezer for a day when I fancy something different!

The light was lovely about 7.30pm so I took the camera and the new lens out for a walk. I managed to get some more interesting photos this time in the Golden Hour. The best by far became PoD.

No real plans for tomorrow, but hopefully we won’t have to wait so long for the sun to shine and we’ll get a chance to go out somewhere.