Blog

The Frogs and Fairies Return

Posted on by Zogman

Around about this time of year the frogs return to the pond to mate.

Also around this time some of the local fairies dress up the woodland area of St Mo’s to look like a fairy dell. Today they outdid themselves. Not only little tree houses with tiny wee washing lines complete with pegs and clothes, but also a competition to see how many new red and white toadstools you could find among the trees. I lost count at ten, but I’m sure there were a lot more I couldn’t find. I did take some pictures, though. The last surprise was the cache of ‘Jewels’ hidden among the trees. I chose not to take anything, because you can’t always trust the tricky fairies! We had missed the fairy garden last year because we were on holiday. I’m glad we didn’t miss it this year.

The frogs are back! It’s that time of year again when the frogs start to congregate in the ponds to search for a mate. This one was the first I’ve seen this year, I’m guessing it got there early to check out the venue and the competition. It easily got PoD. This is the first time I’ve used On1 Photo Raw 2024 in earnest. I used the Brilliance filter and then toned it down a bit to retain some detail in the highlights. Most impressed with the result.

Today’s prompt was Champagne
It’s not my usual drink of choice, but it was what was asked for. As usual I started off with a rough sketch to get the proportions and angles and stuff, just drawn on A4 bank with a Pigma micron 02 black pen. Once I was happy with everything I started the ‘good’ sketch on better paper. It looked too clean and tidy and some of the angles were plain wrong. So I retrieved my rough and splashed on some colour and that looked so much better. The moral is Never throw away your rough sketch until you are sure the ‘good’ sketch works.
Note to self: Learn how to sketch running water (or champagne!)

Spoke to Jamie and discussed the videos he sent. Nothing to do with the house this time, just views of the flooded road beside his house. Lucky for them, for once, to have a house, built on a hill and also high above the road. Others weren’t so lucky and the videos of nutters driving full tilt into the floods makes you wonder for their mentality.

Tomorrow Scamp is hoping to see the dentist to get an assessment of the damage to a big old back tooth, now missing its filling.

Dancin’ – 17 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Back in the old routine.

Drove over to Brookfield in that Saturday morning lull in the traffic. Thankfully not too many folk in today’s class, just the usual suspects and Margaret Maciver to throw the even numbers out.

First thing was the LA Swing which we didn’t really know. By “didn’t really know” I mean Scamp had seen it and had it stored in her memory, but it was a mystery to me. Add those two pieces of individual knowledge and divide by two and you get “didn’t really know”. Maybe that’s too mathematical and obscure for this time in the morning. The LA Swing turned out to be a Charleston type of 1920s thing with kicks, turns and lifts. The lifts were optional, thankfully. Simple but fast paced. That took me by surprise. I’m more used to a gentle start to the dancing day.

Just to make it worse, the next set was Quickstep. The teachers’ demo was like a blank page to me. Then, when we started, Scamp reassured me it was just the same quickstep we’d been dancing on and off for weeks, and that’s when the penny dropped and I relaxed a bit. It wasn’t so bad but the language is sometimes so obscure it hides a simple routine. How would you like to be told that the next figure is a Zig-Zag Back Lock Running Finish with optional Fishtails? Confused? I was, especially when they said that the zig-zag wasn’t really a zig-zag. Clarity, that’s what we need, Clarity. I won’t say we covered the quickstep really well, but we made a decent fist of it most of the time. Also, my breath was coming back when we eventually finished after two fast routines.

One short respite of sorts with the Ria Bachata which at normal bachata speed was fine, but was chaos for most when the tempo was increased. For once we were leading this silly wee dance.

The last routine just had to be the Samba. Not so much a dance as a shambles set to music. There is no way I’m ever going to learn this piece of nonsense. It’s a bit like Soca with fancy names for the different routines. The less said about it, the better. Let’s hope Jane had now got it out of her system. If they stick to the same timing next week, I’ll leave early for a walk around the bowling green while Scamp and the rest can dance the Samba.

Driving home was through more congestion, as I suspected it would be. Saturday’s are always a problem on the M8. However, once we were on the M74 it was just a case of following the flow. It’s a slightly longer drive, but at least we were moving at the legal limit.

We had a posh dinner at home to celebrate our 51st wedding anniversary. A big slice of trout for Scamp and a thick rump steak for me. It’s ages since I’ve had rump steak, but this one was exceptionally nice. Lidl at its best. A few glasses of wine, possibly a few too many on my part and I decided to leave the blog until Sunday. Don’t drink and blog. That’s my rule.

PoD was a photo taken from the front window of a poor Alec’s Red rose bud whose stem was broken in the winds. It had rained since we got home from Brookfield and there was no way I was risking getting the camera wet when I could take the shot perfectly well from inside.

Today’s prompt was Coral.
These are two small pieces of coral we found on a beach in Tobago many years ago. Broken but well rounded by the action of the waves and sand, they are more complex in shape than the coral that is to be found on the Coral Beach in Skye. We’d dearly love to go back to Tobago, but being realistic, it’s more likely we’d go back to the Coral Beach in Skye!

No plans for tomorrow.

Looking for mythical creatures – 16 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out in the morning to get her hair cut. I was left in charge of the house.

When she returned looking glamorous we discussed what to do with the remainder of the day. We discussed various options and came up empty handed. Finally, after a long wait I suggested we go shopping in Lidl in Kilsyth. My ulterior motive (there is always one) was that I’d heard tell of a kingfisher frequenting the Garrel Burn.

So after we’d bought our shopping we took a walk through Kilsyth and followed the burn all the way to the main road without seeing any life in the burn whether fish or feathered. We walked back to the car by a different route and found a tributary to the Garrel, but it didn’t look as if there was any activity in it either. I’m not sure if the story of the kingfisher is a myth or not, but I’ll give it another chance some time, maybe going downstream as well as upstream this time.

I did get one decent photo on our walk. Looking through a circular hole in the cast iron bridge over the burn to look upstream through the trees. I just liked the frame the circle made for the burn. That became PoD.

On the way back to the car we discovered the fresh fish shop we used to visit in Kilsyth. Scamp was impressed with quality of the fish and bought a piece of salmon for tomorrow’s dinner. I’d already selected a thick slice of rump steak for mine from Lidl.

We drove home and found a nearly empty car park and had our choice of parking places for once.

Today’s prompt was “Violet”.
I chose to paint some African Violets, at one time my favourite flower. They used to be seen in garden centres all around the country, but now they seem to have fallen out of favour. One of the easiest plants to propagate from cuttings, I may go looking for some once the cold weather has gone.

That was about it for the day. Dinner was the remains of yesterday’s chicken which for some reason disagreed with Scamps teeth and a very old filling came out. It had to happen late on a Friday when the dentist isn’t open at weekends. I think it might be something soft and easily chewed for breakfast tomorrow, maybe porridge!

It appears that the dancing teachers have returned and so have the classes, starting tomorrow.

Cormorant – 15 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It was a wet day today. Nothing really to recommend it, except that there was no mist today, unlike yesterday.

After a lazy start and a light lunch, we drove up to Tesco in the town centre to get some messages. As I’ve said before, there is more of a choice there and why stint yourself when you can add five minutes to your drive and get a far better choice. We bumped into Shona there and remarked on her new hair colour. Then we drove home. Some days are full of exciting surprises and some are days like today.

I went for a walk round St Mo’s because the rain had stopped for a while and I wanted to get out. Scamp was busy booking a hair appointment for tomorrow. Not hair colouring, just hair cutting. Occasionally a Cormorant visits the pond in St Mo’s and it was standing there today holding its wings out to dry. It would take quite a while for them to dry today because although it was mild, the wind had disappeared with the rain. As I said, it was drying its wings, but it kept turning round to see what I was up to behind it and one of those times I managed to get a full face to face shot. Quite pleased with it. PoD done and dusted.

Dinner tonight was roast chicken and it was done perfectly. I also roasted some beetroot we’d bought at the weekend and it will probably go into a salad or on a piece of bread tomorrow. I cut the tops off carefully, Hazy, and they are now sitting in their water bath on the kitchen window sill. The garlic and spring onion were getting leggy so they are now planted in soil in the greenhouse.

I found today’s prompt, Chartreuse, one of the most restrictive this year in EDiF.
Chartreuse is an alcohol based herbal liqueur made by monks in southern France to a secret recipe. It sounded to me like an upmarket Buckfast, also made by monks to a secret recipe. The two main differences are the cost and the colour. Chartreuse is green or yellow and Buckfast is brown with red tinges (or so I’m told). I liked the idea of green wine, but not the cost.

The clock is in the picture because the first time I heard the word Chartreuse was in the track “Clockwork Chartreuse” on the Loudon Wainwright III album “Attempted Mustache” back in the early ’70s. The lyrics are fairly violent and probably wouldn’t be allowed in these PC days.

Scamp is booked to get her hair cut tomorrow morning and I might cut mine in the afternoon. Twins!

Out to lunch – 14 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

But a case of the Curate’s Egg

Today Scamp mentioned that she would like to visit a new garden centre called Homegrown. We’d nothing better to do, so we drove over to Gartcosh to see what it was like.

We found it easily enough, just a few minutes off the M73. It was a new-build rectangular block. We went straight upstairs to the restaurant and were one of the last to get a table. All the other tables were already reserved, but didn’t have any notice on them to say they were not free. We both settled on the soup, Leek & Potato, and chose to have coffee afterwards. The soup was fine, lots of flavour, but apart from the obvious L&P I couldn’t quite put my finger on the other ingredients. When we finished and the waitress was taking away the plate I asked what was in the soup and that’s when things started to go wrong. The waitress just couldn’t answer my question and mumbled “Well, leeks and potatoes … “ Scamp leapt to her aid by suggesting “Celery?” She agreed that “there was celery in it and onions…”

In the end I gave up and we both ordered coffee and a scone. When mine arrived it was absolutely roasting. Just one notch down from glowing red hot. Worse, it was brick hard (probably a fire brick.) The final flaw was that it was baked onto the black serviette it was sitting on, I had to tear the thing off. Scamp said her’s was fine, but a bit hard. When a second waitress came to take away our plates, Scamp mentioned the problem with the scones. The waitress made a few noises, but seemed unable to string the noises into a coherent sentence. We paid and left to see what treats the shop and plants had in store for us.

The answer was “Not Much”. It seemed a bit of a shambles. Shopping trolleys filled with cushions were being wheeled about in quite a tight space and shelves were being re-stacked in the shop area. Some lovely pieces were on display for ‘lovely’ prices. The outside plants area was the same. Lots of workers with wheelbarrows bring in raw materials and the sound of a Stihl saw cutting through sheet steel. Almost everything was overpriced compared to the garden centres we’re used to visiting.  The overall impression was of a work in progress.

Would I visit again? Well, today could just have been a bad day, but there was definitely a feeling of style over substance here. Also, people were being turned away from the restaurant because tables had been pre-booked. That is fine if there is a card on the table to say ‘Reserved’, but there wasn’t. They company might also think of investing in buzzers to hand to potential customers if they want to keep them onside. I’m usually happy to give a company a second chance, but I’m not sure I would for this one.

We drove home. I’d managed to get a couple of grey photos of a grey landscape on a grey day. I turned one of them into a sepia toned monochrome image that would become PoD.

Next task was to get sketches and paintings done for today and yesterday in EDiF.
Yesterday’s prompt was Lime, so being cantankerous, I made it Limes. After a couple of aborted attempts at using salt to give me the texture I was looking for in the lime’s skin, I eventually searched on YouTube and found the answer. I learned that the best way is not to remove the paint using salt, but to add the texture with a fine brush and a stippling action. Lo and behold, the additive method works. I’m done now with limes. I’ll keep them and the salt for Margaritas!

Today’s prompt was for “Rose”. This might have had something to do with today’s date, 14th February is traditionally Valentine’s Day. To me it was just a chance to sketch and paint a rose, more or less freehand with very little pencil sketching. I did it in what an art teacher once called my ‘splashy style’ totally the opposite of yesterday’s ‘Lime’ which was quite tight and calculated. Strangely I enjoyed both techniques.

Tomorrow looks a bit like today as far as the weather is concerned. I’m not sure where we will be going yet, if anywhere.

Blue skies in Paisley – 13 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Out taking photos with Alex.

I was out fairly early today, early for me, anyway. Walked to the bus stop under a bright blue sky and with the sun to brighten my day. Got the bus in to Glasgow and for once it was Alex who was late. His bus was going the slow way for a change. I didn’t mind, it gave me a chance to do some people watching in the bus station.

When he arrived we went for a coffee and discussed our options. I agreed with his suggestion of Paisley but rejected his offer of the Riverside Museum. He suggested we put my suggestion of Bowling on the back burner until the better weather came in. So we settled on Paisley as a destination. We walked down to Central Station bought our tickets and had just enough time to walk along to platform 12 to catch the train.

It’s a short journey to Paisley from Glasgow and so much better than driving there. I remember the pain it was to navigate round the one way system to get to Glenburn when we were just starting going to the tea dances. It was strange that the sat nav would give us directions from the house to Glenburn via Paisley town centre, but on the way home it took us a totally different way. I never did understand that. Anyway, we arrived in Paisley and started making our way to the waterfalls of the White Cart Water for some motion photos before Alex suggested we go for something to eat.

We wandered round Paisley looking for somewhere we could get a decent lunch and eventually settled on The Ugly Duck. A dingy looking place but the food was brilliant. Nothing flash, just a massive cheese burger with two burgers, a slice of bacon between them, pickles, lettuce and a slice of melting cheese. All washed down with a coke for Alex and Irn Bru for me. First time I’ve had Irn Bru for years. Now that we were fed, we made our way down to the White Cart to get some photos.

The weather was still just what the weather fairies had predicted. Sunny with the occasional cloud to give a bit of interest. The water was coming over the rapids at quite a rate, not surprising given the amount of rain that had fallen last night. We spent about half an hour choosing different viewpoints around the rocks.

When we had had enough we walked down to the Abbey and took a few photos there, both inside and outside. We didn’t linger long because the building was closing just after 4pm, but by then we had all the photos we wanted. When we were coming out a bloke stopped me and asked if we were there to photograph the Alien. That is Alien as in the film of the same name. I told him I hadn’t seen it the last time we had been there, so he pointed it out to me. Ha! Hidden in plain sight. I got some shots of it. It’s the spitting image of Alien.

Alex wanted to get some photos of the Town Hall and when we rounded the corner that would take us to it, the sun was displaying it perfectly. Another twenty odd photos and we were almost finished. Another bloke, about my age, stopped to ask if we’d got any good photos and then told me a story about how he and his pal had ‘borrowed’ his pal’s dad’s canoe when they were boys, and paddled down the rapids and on to the River Clyde where they fell in the water after clearing the rapids and travelling all that way. I never thought to ask him what had happened to the canoe!

We were indeed done. We walked back to the station, just in time again for the train back to Central. A cup of coffee and we parted company, but not before I handed him his birthday present which was the bow tie I’d made for him and struggled with for about a week. He’s just sent me a photo showing him wearing it! He really suits it.

Scamp had been working in the garden while I was off galavanting, and seemed to enjoy her day. Dinner was ‘Rats’ for Scamp on a pancake which looked more like a Crepe Suzette thickness than a pancake. I had a couple with syrup and they were lovely.

PoD just had to be the rapids that bloke had shot all those years ago. And I managed to finish off the prompt for yesterday which was Burgundy. I described it as:

“A rather messy glass of red wine and an empty bottle that might at one time have contained an expensive red wine. I enjoyed painting this subject, and I followed my mantra for all edible (or drinkable) still lifes which is to remove the evidence. And that is what I’m doing now. Hic!
Cheers!!”

No plans for tomorrow, but it looks like the weather will revert to rain again.

Going for the messages – 12 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Just going for the Monday shop.

In the morning we drove over in sunshine to Tesco and bought some essentials. Monday is for essentials like milk and bread, except they had no filtered milk. None at all. There is something screwed with our local Tesco just now. Usually it’s no bread on a Monday or no rolls. It’s like the local Tesco is the second class citizen to the ‘Big’ Tesco at the town centre. No filtered milk was a new one on us though. They actually had bread, and rolls for once, but we didn’t want them!

Back home, after lunch, we watched the big black clouds come rolling in from the north west … and just roll past. Then the sun shone again. I could wait no longer, I put my boots on and went for a walk in St Mo’s with the A7. It had clouded over again by the time I got there, but a strong wind was breaking up the clouds quite efficiently and just for a minute the sun shone on the reed beds out in the pond and lit them up beautifully. I got two shots before the clouds closed the good light down again. I was happy with my shot which was just as well, because the sun didn’t come back again until I was home.

Dinner tonight was a plate of Giovanni Rana mushroom tortelloni, and very nice it was too, served with butter and grated parmesan. I’d a bit of work to do with the sewing machine after dinner and after a couple of silly mistakes everything worked out fine. Still some stuff to do to it, but it should be ready for next week.

I didn’t quite get round to sketching the bottle of Burgundy that was requested in the prompt. Instead I splash some paint on an ink sketch of a wine glass, forgetting the ink was water soluble and it all went a bit tricky, but there was no saving it, so instead I spattered more red paint on it and I quite liked the effect. Hopefully you’ll get to see it tomorrow.

PoD was indeed the light on the reeds in the pond and it looks quite good after being in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Hoping to meet Alex tomorrow for a photo walk, maybe in Paisley with the option of going to Bowling for some boat photos some time soon. Scamp has herself a free day to do with as she wishes. I’m intending to travel by bus.

Recipe from the past – 11 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

A dull misty day with occasional rain showers. Oh for some sun!

After a lazy start to the day, and after watching Laura Kuenssberg ripping into more politicians, I decided to go out in the early afternoon and get some photos taken, even if it was raining, but first there was a lamb breast to prepare and put in the oven

I’d found the recipe in my blog for just over a year ago and it had worked then, so it would work again. I had recorded the gas settings and the timings, so I stuck strictly to them. With it safely in the oven, I left Scamp in charge and walked across to St Mo’s

I did the circular tour of the pond and did manage to get some decent photos for a change. Of course it was when I was walking home that the really good light appeared and by that time I’d almost filled the 16GB card that was my self-imposed limit for the day. I did manage to squeeze another couple of shot in just to make the most of the light. As it happened, the PoD turned out to be one of the first shots I’d taken of a group of Cladonia lichen. I didn’t quit manage to get all of it in focus with a single shot, so did the next best thing and took one shot focusing on the nearest stalk and another of the further away one, then blended the two in Affinity Photo which is downright brilliant at this trick.

The prompt today asked for Olive. I did think of painting a picture of Olive Oyl, but I’d painted that lady some time ago in response for another prompt. So instead I tried the easy answer and drew some Kalamata olives in a wee bowl. I love olives of whatever variety, but have to be careful not to eat too many, if you understand what I mean. Luckily for me I didn’t have any in the house, so the temptation did not arise.

The lamb was quite excellent and just as good as I remembered it from a year ago. Served with potatoes, carrots, turnip and cabbage. Scamp, of course, only had the veg.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about his calamitous week with Simonne falling off her skittish horse, but no bones broken, just a bit painful. The latest setback is that there may be a problem with the new dormer windows. All to do with one member of the council being off ill, so no decisions can be made until they return. Really? If this was a company they’d all be sacked and replaced long ago. If it wasn’t for bad luck Jamie and Simonne wouldn’t have any luck at all.

We watched a comedy tonight. It was called Death in Paradise. It’s becoming more of a farce every week. Every ‘actor’ more wooden than the last.

Apparently we need MORE messages tomorrow. I thought we’d bought enough last week and on Saturday, but it appears I’m wrong and we’re probably going shopping again tomorrow.

 

 

Just for a change, the sun shone for a while this morning – 10 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It didn’t last, but it was a sign of things to come, hopefully.

We managed to get out early today, well, early for us at least. I suggested Stirling as the place to go and off we went. I’d checked the battery in the A6500 and it was in fairly good order. I checked the SD card and formatted it. Then we left for Stirling and halfway down the motorway I realised I’d left the camera bag (with camera) on the sofa in the house! Never mind. I had my phone with me that would see me through the amount of photos I’d take.

After cruising around a busy Waitrose car park we finally chanced upon a space and squeezed ourselves into it then we went for a walk round Stirling. We both wandered round our own collection of shops and agreed to meet up later, which we did. Scamp suggested an M&S curry deal for dinner and I agreed. Dinner bought we asked each other, did we really want to go for a coffee? Neither of us were all that interested, so we walked back to the car and dumped the dinner in the boot then went to see what we could find in Waitrose. I got a rolled breast of lamb that will hopefully become my dinner tomorrow and Scamp got a couple of nice pieces of fish. Paid and added the takings to the growing pile in the boot, then made someone’s day bay nudging forward into the long, long queue of folk cruising round looking for a free space. A delighted looking woman in a van was happy to take ours and we drove home.

It’s funny the way weather works. When we were driving towards Stirling the sky ahead of us was much lighter than that behind us. When we were driving home in the early afternoon, the light ahead of us was much lighter than that behind us again! How does that happen?

Back home I went for a walk in St Mo’s WITH the camera this time, but got nothing interesting, so I walked down through the muddy wilderness behind St Mo’s to the shops and bought a load of stuff we didn’t need, but which was well received when I got home.

PoD was a quick phone shot in Stirling of three folk sitting on a bench, each texting on their phones. It’s entitled “Happy Tappers”.

Today’s prompt was “Ash”. This tree might soon be a thing of the past with Ash dieback being so rife these days. In my own street about half a dozen trees were felled in autumn last year. Some of them weren’t even ash trees, which brings into question the integrity of some of the tree fellers the council employs.

Today’s prompt was ‘Ash’. I always liked playing with the ash seeds when I was younger. We never called them Keys, we called them ‘propellers’ because of their shape and also because of the way they spun when they fell from the trees. Let’s hope some clever folk can devise a way to save the trees and staunch the damage done by the disease.

Dinner was that curry and it still looks like the lamb breast will be tomorrow’s dinner for me at least.

No real plans for tomorrow. Maybe Glasgow Green.

We did lunch – 9 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Just an ordinary lunch in Brodens. It was that sort of day. A day for good filling food and a glass of something to wash it down.

I admit that I suggested it because it was Friday and for no other good reason. Also, Scamp had raved about the Fish ’n’ Chips in what used to be The Masonic Arms in Condorrat and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Well, the fuss was all about the slab of Peterhead Haddock in Breadcrumbs served with hand cut skin-on chips and the Breadcrumbs have a capital ‘B’ because they just made the fish great in both our opinions. It didn’t quite knock their Steak Pie off the number one pedestal, but it came very close. The lunch of champions.

The weather was awful. A bitter east wind driving rain that was horizontal at times with no letup all day long. Now at about 11.30pm the rain is tapering off a bit and the wind isn’t howling as much, but it’s still pretty cold.

I did some renovation work on yesterday’s project, but I think I may have to do a ‘Ribbit’ to quote Hazy and rip it all out and start again. Pity, it looked quite good, but it just didn’t work.

Today’s prompt was Charcoal. I hate charcoal. The only time I’ve used charcoal sticks is on an evening class on portraiture in college at the town centre. I found these fragile bits of burnt twig too messy to work with and spent more time cleaning up the paper than putting charcoal on paper. I still have the box you see here with about five of the original twelve sticks and a lot of charcoal chips. Charcoal isn’t for me (and neither was portraiture), so I’ll draw a rather grainy smudged line under it and say no more.

We watched an uninspiring episode of Death in Paradise that had an over complicated plot line and the usual almost ready to retire actors, making a few bob. That is one of the things that keep us watching. “Who is that?” and “What was she in?” Today’s guest appearance was Sean Maguire who was ‘Teggs’ Ratcliffe in Grange Hill from 1978 to 2008. A couple of my readers may remember him. Allegedly he was also in Eastenders, but we never watch is so we can’t verify that.

Basically that was it. PoD was a photo of a bunch of pink carnations with a very old joke tagged on to them. When we were walking back from Brodens I made the conscious decision not to go out for a walk in St Mo’s. I may be daft, but I’m not stupid. Neither did I want to catch a cold from the rain and that vicious east wind. I think I’m with Vixen in the avoidance of bad weather brigade.

Tomorrow looks better say the weather fairies. Not sure I believe them yet. We’ll wait and see.