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What a day! – 15 August 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It was raining, heavily when I left the house about 10.30 this morning.

First I got a message from Alex to say he had a wee problem. He had a found a wasp’s nest in the loft and the wasps were coming in to the bedroom. He had been stung quite and was going to phone ‘the experts’. I suggested he contact Environmental Health and let them fix the problem and he agreed. He was apologising that he wouldn’t be able to meet me for a photo walk today! That would be the least of his problems.

I was taking the blue car in to Macklin Motors in Glasgow were it was booked for an MOT. I was driving down the M80 with headlights and wipers on full, the rain was so heavy. I dropped the car off at the garage just around 11am and was told it would be ready around 4pm. Not wanting to hang around for five hours, I walked back to the bus station. By the time I got there I was soaked from head to toe. Luckily I got an X37 almost right away. In the bus, I took off my, no longer waterproof, jacket which, although soaking had protected me from the worst of the rain. Purely by luck the bus took an alternative route to avoid massive roadworks in Condorrat and Mollinsburn which have been going on for almost a year, and by a quirk of fate dropped me within easy walking distance of the house.

Back home the rain had lessened and I could change into dry clothes. Scamp wasn’t far behind me and after lunch we settled down to wait for a message from the garage to say whether the blue car had passed or was needing money spent on it. That phone call never came, so around 3.30pm I took one bus to the town centre and another from there to Glasgow, saving a good half hour from the X3’s journey time.

By now the rain was gone and it was all blue skies and white clouds. So still not having heard from the garage I wandered down Buchanan Street and took a few photos of the entrance to the subway. A great subject for humans and reflections. I got a PoD which is the view looking down Buchanan Street, with the the reflections of people and buildings in and by the glass and marble entrance to the subway station.

Then I made my way up the hill to Macklin Motors, only to be told it would be nearer 5pm before the tester was finished, so I took my seat along with a couple of others in the same predicament. More than an hour and two games of Sudoku later, I got the call. The car passed but the advisory note told me they thought it needed 3 new tyres and would I like to arrange a day to have them fitted? I said I’d hold off on that for now. If it took them six hours to do a two hour MOT, how long would it take to fit three tyres?

But the joys of motoring weren’t over yet. It took me about twenty minutes to clear Glasgow and get on to the M8/M80 and the road home. How can people drive in Glasgow at rush hour? It’s absolute madness.

Finally got home and parked and found that Scamp had made Carrot & Lentil Curry with Pitta Bread. Absolutely the best food for such a stressful day! She is a gem!

I got a message from Alex tonight to say that Environmental Health are coming to visit him tomorrow. He said he’s been stung between fifteen and twenty times, but managed to kill two wasps!! He sent a picture of his swollen hand that you don’t want to see, believe me!

Tomorrow we may take the car out for a spin.

That was a hot one – 14 August 2024

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We’d intended getting the train to Edinburgh today, but waking late put the skids under that plan.

Instead of Edinburgh, we went shopping in Tesco. I’d a pile of books to give to Fred, because I often meet him in Tesco, but today, when I was prepared, Fred wasn’t there. Still, we did get a few things we needed and I got a Ginsters, half of which would provide my lunch.

After lunch Scamp was pruning bits off the big rowan tree at the back of the garden. She was complaining that the branches were hanging down over the pedestrian path. Then she mentioned that a bush that separates our next door neighbour from us was also becoming a bit of a nuisance and should be trimmed. I said I’d do that one and used a block of Imperial Leather soap to lubricate my old trusty panel saw and had the offending trunks and branches cut down in no time. Then we stripped the branches from the big trunks and heavier branches and piled them into one of our expanding nylon bins before chopping up the trunks and heavy branches. I volunteered to take them over to the council skips and empty the bin there. This must be pruning time, because the enormous skips were full of tree branches.

One of the reasons I volunteered was to give me a chance to get some landscape photos up at Fannyside Moor, and that’s where I headed once the chopped up tree and bush branches had been disposed of. It really was a lovely day. Blue skies and fluffy clouds with just enough of a gentle breeze to keep me cool. I did get a few landscapes and also some macro shots too, although I didn’t have a true macro lens with me.

After I came home I wasn’t feeling too good. Too much sun without a hat to provide some shade and probably not enough water as well. Scamp is always telling me I don’t drink enough water and she’s probably right. A rest outside, reading WITH a hat on let the worst of it disappear.

Scamp was making a fish curry for dinner using a Spice Tailor mix or one of its offshoots and while it wasn’t all that spicy, it had good flavour and the fish was delicious in it.

Last night we watched the first Mastermind of the new season and tonight we watched the first University Challenge. Both great standbys and so much better than Eastenders or River City. One is depressing and the other is just a packet of fairytales.

PoD turned out to be thistles entangled in barbed wire with a nice sky.

Tomorrow I’m intending taking the car in to Glasgow for its MOT, meeting Alex and hopefully bringing the car back home tomorrow night. That’s the outline plan anyway.

 

Birlin’ round Stirling – 13 August 2024

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Scamp wanted to go to Stirling today, but couldn’t remember why!

Spoke to Hazy in the morning and found out about Neil forgetting his passport for travelling to Cologne and having to get his dad to drive with it to the airport. Silly boy!

We didn’t get as far as Cologne, we drove through the rain to Stirling and managed to find a parking space in the Waitrose carpark. Others weren’t so lucky. We walked in to Stirling proper because Scamp thought I need a new shirt. M&S was a disappointment in the Mens department. Very few shirts, in fact, very few of anything. Slaters on the other hand is unassuming from the outside. When you go in you’re met with a steep stair taking you up to the shop. Suits, shirts, shoes, jackets and jumpers all for men! No women’s department. Refreshing!

We stopped for coffee and a bite to eat in Caffe Nero before we went back to Slaters. I did get a shirt I liked. I haven’t tried it for size yet, but even if it doesn’t fit, I know I can exchange it for a better fitting one in any of their shops.

Then it was back to Waitrose for The Messages and as usual we came home with a lot more than we intended, but really, we expected that, it’s what usually happens. The drive home was again through the rain showers and the gathering wind.  Then when we got to Cumbersheugh the rain dried up, but not for long.  Soon the rain was hitting the window again  However, I managed to time a walk round St Mo’s well for a change and had a walk, got some photos and was back home in the dry. It’s not often I manage that.

PoD was a drone fly taking off from a Knapweed flower. Just a ‘lucky’ capture.

That was about all the excitement we could manage today. Better weather is promised by the weather fairies for tomorrow. If it appears we may go out somewhere.

 

Cutting the connection – 12 August 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Heavy rain and hail during the night, but thankfully no thunderstorms.

I was off to the doc’s for a diabetic blood check. That took me out of the house and got me moving. The nurse who took my bloods said she hadn’t heard any thunder either but she’d heard on the radio that the afternoon was to a lot brighter than the morning. She must have known something I didn’t because when I was walking in to the surgery the clouds were gathering, but when I left it was to blue skies and white clouds. Things were looking up.

After lunch we did our usual Wordle and Spelling Bee and then Scamp was checking our bank balance and found that BT were taking more than usual for our BT account. After a few checks and some simple arithmetic we discovered that we were paying for at least one service we didn’t need. Long story short, we phoned BT and were shuffled from one department to another with a ten minute wait each time. Eventually when one department warned us that it was a 40 minute wait I’d had enough we gave them the nominal 10 minutes and hung up. Enough was enough. I think we’ll be cutting ties with BT. We only use the landline for talking to two or three folk and those two or three use mobiles anyway. Also with the impending change to the new digital network, landlines will soon be dead anyway. Bye bye BT.

I eventually got chucked out of the house about an hour later so that Scamp would have peace and quiet to do the ironing. I walked over to St Mo’s and got a few shots of dragonflies basking in the summer sunshine – Yes, the nurse had been right. The sun did come out and stayed out. I walked down to the shops with the knowledge that I had at least one photo in the bag.

Came home with some fruit and veg because it was my turn to make the dinner, pasta with tomato sauce. It turned out looking a bit of a mess, too many ingredients, but I’d got some chorizo in M&S and I slowly fried it in a separate pan and added it to my portion of the dinner. Still not delicious, but very nice.

The PoD was a male Common Darter demonstrating a yoga pose. I think it was downward-facing dog.

Tomorrow we may be going shopping somewhere.

 

Gardening – 11 August 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Actually it was Scamp who was doing most of the gardening on this beautiful sunny day.

I think my contribution could be better described as “pottering”.

While Scamp was cutting the front grass and moving all the pots around herself because she knows exactly where they go and in which direction they face, while I’ll just plonk them in a spot with the same shape as the shape of the pot base. Unfortunately that doesn’t work with circular pots which have two axes of symmetry. I’ve given up offering to help, because I know it will be refused.

Anyway, while the cutting was going on, I was in the back garden photographing butterflies on the Buddleia bush. The bush has been flowering for about a month now and not one butterfly has ventured near it. Today, after I’d cut away a lot of the flowers that were going to seed, not one, but two butterflies were climbing over each other to get to this nectar rich plant. A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly got PoD.

Earlier I was spraying the big splat of seagull diarrhoea that had been dropped from height on the passenger side of the car’s windscreen. A few of scooshes of screen wash and it started to melt away quite nicely, but it left unsightly white streaks all down the bonnet. The easiest thing to do was to wash the car, and that’s what I did, the old fashioned way with buckets of water lots of detergent and a sponge. Buffed it dryish with those green mitts and left it to dry completely in the sunshine.

Back to gardening again and I emptied out our final potato bag and collected 650g of Charlotte potatoes. Scamp’s and my favourite variety. Since I had the garden table set up and the big black plastic tray, I potted up five wee chilli seedlings that were looking a bit poorly after being planted some time in the spring. I blamed the compost Tesco sold us to plant them in. It looked more like floor sweepings than compost. Anyway, they’re in better stuff now. Good compost mixed with sharp sand and Perlite for drainage. Hope they enjoy the view from the bedroom window.

Spoke to Jamie tonight and heard about Simonne’s visit to the Olympics while Jamie worked from home and did some gardening. Good to hear that the green beans are growing and the cobs of corn are ripening hope the squirrels give them a chance this year.

Tomorrow I’m intending donating a thimbleful of blood for my three monthly checkup. Thunder showers are forecast for most of tomorrow.

Windy day and Driving – 10 August 2024

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It was a bit of an uninspiring day. Gusty winds again and the threat of showers that never came.

I just couldn’t get out of the bit today. Nothing physically wrong, I just could not shift myself from the sofa. Maybe it was the thought of driving in to an evening dance at Brookfield that failed to inspire me or maybe it was a hangover from yesterday. I still had the sore back, and I think that is caused by carrying a heavy camera bag. Maybe I should listen to my body more!

Eventually we did the same as yesterday and walked down to the shops to get dinner. I had decided to have a venison steak that had been languishing in the freezer since May, but I had no appetite. Then Scamp suggested something simple like a baked potato and that worked for me. It was a heavy bag I was carrying back from the shops and was reluctant to hand it over to Scamp, so we both walked home, with me carrying a bag with two bottles of no-alcohol (and no-taste) beer and a heavy camera bag (then I wonder why I’ve got a sore back!).

When I got home I just turned around and walked halfway round St Mo’s, then back again, about half an hour it total, but happier now that I had a couple of fairly decent shots in the bag. PoD went to a Common Drone Fly, or so said Mr Google and friends, lunching on some cow parsley flowers. By the time I got back we just had enough time to have a baked potato each and then we had to get ready for the evening’s entertainment.

We were driving the Brookfield, but as we were driving out of the estate I saw the big splat of seagull diarrhoea on the passenger side of the windscreen. A couple of scooshes of screen wash told us it was stuck firm and there was no point in damaging the wiper blades on it. A job for tomorrow. On the M80 first it was a police car with blue lights on travelling in the same direction as us, next a 40mph speed restriction flashed up on the overhead gantry then about two miles later the next message was “Pedestrians”. Never a good thing on a motorway. However for the rest of the drive in to Glasgow there was no sign of police vehicles or pedestrians. We carried on regardless. Of course everyone had obeyed the 40mph sign 😉

The rest of the journey was just normal Saturday evening busy. Until we came to the Irvine turnoff, our turnoff. Then ahead was two lanes of red lights for as far as we could see. For the next five miles it was first gear and stop, first gear and stop. Then the blockage seemed to clear and we drove the rest of the way unhindered. We later discovered there had been a two car crash somewhere ahead of us and we were the lucky ones who joined the queue when it was at least moving, if slowly.

The dance itself was really great fun, mainly because we were at the same table as Barry & Cath plus Cath’s sister and Niahmat & Audrey and another couple we’d met at a dance weekend in Perth. The table was a bit congested, but the jokes and laughter lifted the evening. We danced a few ballroom dances and, I think, all but one of the sequence dances. For once, the night really flew in, although as we neared the Last Dance there was a bit of a lull sometimes. As if the energy had gone out of the night.

I almost always enjoy driving home at night from a Brookfield dance. Absolutely no need to drop out of 5th gear, even across the Kingston Bridge. We parked and I had a wee dram while Scamp, unusually had a decaf coffee before bed. Something in the dancing put my back right again and something about the night put me on the right road.

Tomorrow I might was the car, or the windscreen at the very least.

Wild Weather – 9 August 2024

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We woke to high winds with gusts in excess of 45mph. Wild weather.

Scamp was out to FitSteps in the morning. Wild winds couldn’t stop her doing her keep-fit exercises. I stayed home to read and to challenge myself with Wordle and Spelling Bee. After that my whole day turned. I just felt deflated and had no wish to do anything. I don’t know what caused it. It wasn’t my “Black Monkey” feeling, I was just totally fed up, and nothing Scamp did when she came home could lift me out of the hole I was in. Even worse, I couldn’t lift myself out either.

Eventually after lunch she Scamp she was going to walk to the shops and invited me to join her. I did exactly that and we walked and talked as we fought our way against the gale. On the way back, as sometimes happens she sent me on a walk round St Mo’s while she carried the messages back home.

I did feel a bit better when I got home although I had a sore back and a bit of a headache, but after a couple of hours snoozing on the sofa, I woke to sunshine, internal sunshine at least. The ‘ennui’ if that was what it was had gone. Maybe my snoring had frightened it away or maybe the Black Monkey had stayed in St Mo’s to pester someone else. I don’t know. All I can say is that I was much happier than I had been this morning and glad to be back home again.

While I was in St Mo’s I got a PoD which was, as you can see, a bee busy collecting pollen from some pink Knapweed flowers With those 45mph gusts today I wasn’t expecting to see many insects, but a bee’s gotta do what a bee’s gotta do, I suppose.

Dinner was Coconut Curry with Haddock. It’s one of the dishes Jamie & Simonne made during the holiday. Another thing that probably helped brighten my day with is cheerful colour scheme and spicy flavours. I recommend it to you once the recipe gets to Neil to be included in the Foodies Book.

The wind outside has eventually died down and we have peace in the garden for a while. Hoping to go dancing tomorrow, all being well.

Dancin’ again – 8 August 2024

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A day that started well, but inevitably the rain spoiled the afternoon.

Scamp was out in the morning to get her hair cut. I was stuck at home tidying up things I should have done last week. Not real things you can touch, just computer stuff. When Scamp returned looking beautiful, we got ready and drove in occasional sunshine to Glenburn. Our first tea dance in about a month.

It was more a blether than a dance. Lots of folk there, folk we hadn’t seen for ages. A few faces were missing, but this is still school holidays in Scotland and some folk had other places to go.

We did dance a fair bit. We struggled through the Four Seasons Waltz, but made a poor show in Kirsty’s Waltz Nioli. We were agreed that more practise is required. I think we danced more sequence dances that ballroom dances, mainly because the repetition in sequence means that muscle memory takes over after a while. Of course you still have to keep a watchful eye on where you are in the moves, because autopilot is not one hundred percent perfect, as we found out today.

It was a good day and I really enjoyed it. Company was good and we bumped, not literally, into a couple of folk we knew. By the time we were leaving at 3.30 the rain had drifted down from the Gleniffer Braes and a misty drizzle made driving a wee bit less enjoyable than it usually is.

Dinner tonight was an M&S stirfry. My turn to cook and for once I was quite well organised, with everything to hand more or less

By about 7 o’clock the rain had fizzled out and I was trying to get some moody shots of the wet rose leaves on the climbing rose, but for some reason, the focus ring was controlling the aperture. It happened on both cameras and I just couldn’t understand what was happening. A chance comment by one person online told me what was wrong. There is a three way switch on the Tamron that can be programmed and a month or so ago I’d set it to switch between focus and aperture control. Then I’d forgotten all about it. I pressed the button on the lens and everything went back to normal. So glad I found that because I’d have looked a proper numpty if I’d taken the lens back to the shop and told them it wasn’t working as it should!!
If none of the foregoing makes any sense, don’t worry, it’s just photog’s nonsense.

PoD was indeed a rose leaf, backlit and with raindrops still on it.

Hoping against hope for a decent day tomorrow, but it doesn’t look likely.

Wet and windy – 7 August 2024

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After yesterday’s beautiful clear skies, today was back to white skies and occasional rain showers.

The breeze was getting up too and the combination of all three gave me cause to forget any ideas of wandering the countryside looking for interesting views. I may have been completely wrong and the weather in St Mo’s microclimate might have been sub-tropical, but I didn’t think so.

We drove to Tesco, but the weather there was just the same as at home, but we got some milk and eggs and a couple of apples then drove home again. After receiving a royal wave from Sir Fred the artist as he drove away in front of us.

Lunch was beans on toast. Nothing wrong with that, but it was a measure of the day. Jackie phoned Scamp later in the afternoon and while they were having a chinwag I played around with a set of acrylic pens Fred had given me yesterday, or maybe the day before. I wasn’t really taken with them, but he had sent me a couple of pictures he had painted with them, so I felt duty bound to try them out. Maybe today just wasn’t the day for them. Instead I chanced a couple of photos during a dry spell and a Cerinthe flower made PoD. Strange purple/blue flowers that look a bit like Shrimp Plants. By switching to manual mode on the a6500 I managed to get a fast enough shutter speed and a deep enough aperture to get a couple of decent shots in the wind that was blowing.

We couldn’t decide on what to have for dinner, then one of us, probably Scamp suggested fish ’n’ chips from the chip shop. By the time we had decided to go to the chip shop, it was really too late. We decided to leave the food until we came home from dance class.

Tonight, Kirsty was revising the Rumba before turning it into a Cha-Cha, a fast one at that. Lots of lovely little twists in it that made the two routines totally different. Lovely, that is, when you could manage the switch. I think I have it now, but we’ll find out tomorrow. We’re hoping to go to the first tea dance in about a month. But back home and today, we had our fish ’n’ chips after dance class and it was delicious. I’ll probably suffer for it tomorrow, but tonight it’s fine.

Tomorrow Scamp is booked for an early session to get her hair cut, and as I said, we’re hoping to go to a tea dance in the afternoon.

Culross (Sorry Hazy) – 6 August 2024

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We couldn’t decide where to go today, once we realised it really was dry outside!

After discussion and after rejecting A Walk Down The Green and after accepting Dunfermline only as a last resort – there’s nothing there now except the park and the peacocks. I suggested Culross.

I follow a Canadian photographer Gaetan Bois who almost always uses a cinematic 2:1 format (two units long to one unit high) and often shoots with a wide angle lens. I’ve tried his method and while it doesn’t always suit my subjects, it gives an interesting frame for a photograph. I just knew I could get some nice wide angle shots across the Forth estuary from Culross.today that would work with the 2:1 format. Thankfully Scamp agreed without knowing my reason and off we went.

Culross was very busy. The carpark was almost full, but we found a space and with blue skies and fluffy clouds above us, we went for a walk. Keeping the Forth on our right hand side we walked in the general direction of Preston Island which, if you’ve read the blogs before, you’ll remember is not an island any more, but has been reclaimed using slag from the now defunct Longannet power station. No, I was lugging a heavy camera and two heavy lenses today, so no long walks thank you very much.

We did walk along the path beside the old rusty railway and crossed at the gate, then walked further on until we found a seat. Some of the views south, across the water to Bo’ness, are quite stunning, but today the tide was well out and it wasn’t so inspiring. That didn’t stop me from taking plenty of photos, of course!

One of the reasons for going to Culross was that we could have a spot of lunch, either at the Red Lion pub or at the Biscuit cafe, so after our rest we walked back the way we’d come to find somewhere to eat. The first possibility was the Red Lion. It had been busy when we were walking out and when we reached it on the way back, it was possibly even busier. No free seats in the marquee, so it would be the Biscuit cafe.

We got there just as a table was being cleared, so at least we’d have a seat. After a look at the menu, Scamp settled on a scone and a latte. I fancied a bacon roll and a flat white. When the girl came to take our order Scamp asked for a scone with jam and cream. No scones – sold out. I asked a bacon roll. You guessed it, no rolls. The girl was very apologetic. There were more people than they’d expected. I ended up with a flat white and a bowl of very good soup. Scamp had a latte with a slice of my bread. Still, it was a lovely day and we needed a good day after yesterday’s rain.

We had a look in the pottery shop downstairs, but the prices were a wee bit more than we were willing to pay, so we returned to the car and drove home, still in sunshine, but with a few black clouds now on the horizon.

Dinner for me was Sunday’s stew with potatoes and cauliflower. While Scamp’s was Cauliflower Tomato Cheese a new twist on Cauliflower Cheese from an old Rose Elliot book. We watched a few folk running races and some bikers too at the Olympics in Paris

PoD was a view across the Forth to Bo’ness, just as the tide was beginning to come in. It just didn’t inspire me once I’d messed around with it in Lightroom. The colours just didn’t work, although the 2:1 proportions worked for me. However, once it was reduced to black & white, I liked it and that’s what made it PoD.

An hour ago we had a really heavy shower of rain. It only lasted ten minutes at most, but dropped a fair amount of rain in that time. I’m glad we didn’t get caught in anything like that during our walk today.

We’re hopefully going to dance class tomorrow, other than that, nothing planned.