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Exercise, Fuel and Pink Pigs – 16 February 2016

Posted on by Zogman

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAToday we did it. We got up and went out to find some exercise. To be honest, it was such a terrible day, the gym sounded like a good move. I may regret it tomorrow, but for today, it felt good to do some honest exercise.

All that exercise needs food to fuel it, so we went directly to Muirhead where the award winning butcher has his shop. Jic, we may have found a Scottish butcher that’s the equal of Chapman’s. Bought a fair load of meat and Scamp bought some fish. Even better, she got a haggis pie for lunch and I got a bridie. As I said at the start, exercise needs fuel. The fuel tasted fine. Almost as good as petrol does to a Crojian (probably only understood if you were brought up in Cumbersheugh)! After our low calorie lunch, we didn’t do much. The rain had been torrential when we left the gym this morning and it wasn’t getting any better as the day progressed. For a while I tinkered with that Nexus I was trying to do CPR on a week or so ago, but still no luck. What I did find was a fairly probable sounding explanation from a supposed IT specialist on a Nexus forum. Long story short, it’s a hardware issue that can’t be fixed at home. It would, of course, cost more than the value of a new Nexus to repair it. This time it goes into its pink folder and that goes into its poly bag and it goes back to its owner marked BER (Beyond Economic Repair).

Couldn’t get out to get a photo today, so I’d decided early on that today was a still life. Then, look, I even managed to include some architecture. Not real architecture, but straight out of my imagination. Last week I’d passed the Art Store in Glasgow and noticed the 50% off sale. I wasn’t greedy (for once) only getting a couple of Pink Pig sketch pads. I really like the texture of the paper and Fred has introduced me to A4 pads. The combination of good paper and large pads are good to draw and paint on. Hence today’s picture.

Had intended going to Embra tomorrow, but judging by the weather forecast, that may be postponed. We’ll see in the morning.

By the way, Happy Anniversary to Hazy & N D’Ag.

Broken Promises – 15 February 2016

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combo bSo much for getting up and out early today.  To be fair, I did get up earlier than I have of late, but the ‘out‘ didn’t materialize.  What I did do was put the Christmas decorations up in the loft because that was overdue.  This isn’t the latest it’s been.  I think one year it was March before I got round to it.

When Scamps crowd of ladies came round for their practise I couldn’t decide whether to go for the Gym/Swim option of a walk in the sun.  The sun won, because I can go to the gym any day and the swim option is best selected on a dull rainy day.  Best to get out and get some foties taken, so that is what I did.  I walked along the railway from Auchinstarry and when I got to Dumbreck Marshes, the silence was deafening.  I really mean that.  It wasn’t a total silence.  It’s hard to achieve that anywhere in the UK although parts of Skye come close.  No, there were sounds like the grass rustling and the occasional small bird singing, but no road noise or aircraft noise, because the breeze was from the east, so planes were taking off to the east and by the time they were overhead, they were already at 5000 odd feet and not making as much noise as when they were on their final approach at under 2000 feet.  It was a lovely afternoon with hardly anyone about.  I even managed a small ink sketch of a house in a stand of trees.  Very relaxing.  You don’t get that sort of silence at the gym or the pool, and I still had to walk back so I was getting some exercise too.

Got a few photos, but not many.  I’m finding it difficult to motivate myself with this 365.  Maybe I need a year off, but I’ve started now and I need to see it through.  As Scamp says, if I stop now I’ll regret it later.  No doubt I will, but I need to find a new set of subjects.  Something other than landscapes and macros.  Maybe architecture would fit the bill.  I don’t fancy portraiture.  Still life was working for a while there, but that’s quite a difficult subject to get right and an easy one to turn into a cliché.  I’ll think about it.

Tomorrow is to be a gym/swim day, we’re both agreed on that.  We need the exercise, as if the hour of salsa and another hour of bachatta wasn’t enough tonight.  Good fun, but tiring.

Ice is Nice – 14 February 2016

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combo bSome days you can only just manage to drag yourself out to take one or two photos, other days the opportunities are endless. Such was it today. When I woke, the sun was battering at the window trying to get in to lighten our morning. After breakfast I couldn’t resist it any longer and I took the Oly out to play in the snow. Great light, but treacherous underfoot with about 20-25mm of ice on paths and roads. I’d only put on my boots, not my crampon things. I detest them, but they are useful on days like this. Anyway, once I got to St Mo’s, it was a bit softer and safer walking on the snow than the ice. Spotted some deer, but not before they saw me and raced on ahead. No chance to even take the camera out of the bag, but it was just as good watching them run throught the trees, occasionally lit by the morning sun.

Today I concentrated on the little bits of light and ice sitting on grass stems and branches of low weeds. Managed one shot of a grass stem with a bead of thawed ice on it. For once I got the focus just right with the grass slightly blurred, but the aerial image in focus. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to get this effect, and this morning I achieved it by accident. Also liked the oversharpened and oversaturated shot of the cowparsley head covered in beads of melting ice. The contre-jour shot of the leaf was a no-brainer. Warm coloured subject against cool background colours. Simple. Just getting back up again from the crouch that’s needed to take the shot, that’s the challenge for me.

Back home for lunch and a coffee, then Scamp wanted to go for a walk to Condorrat. More walking over the icy crevasses, and then one last look for something interesting with the Nikon this time, but the light was too low by then, so I got nothing worthwhile. Up early and out. The early bird gets the worm (and the good shots). That should be my motto from now on, providing it’s not raining. Click on the shots above to see the images better on Flickr.

Snow – 13 February 2016

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt snowed today. We were meant to go to Embra, but we decided it would be better to stay local. We finally agreed to go for lunch to Vecchia Bologna, yes, I’ve mentioned it before. Anyway, we drove through a bit of snow to get there, had lunch, went to Waitrose and then drove through a full scale blizzard to get back. No matter how bad it got, you just have to keep repeating “The holiday is booked, The holiday is booked …” That gets you through a lot of stuff.

Built a lens tester to check that bloody Tamron. Results are inconclusive. I think it’s back focusing, but I’ll need to re-do it in better light. Basically I don’t think I care any more. It’s not doing what it should. I’ll send it away to Tamron and get them to check it. If that doesn’t make it any better, I’ll drop in and the camera down the stair and claim it on insurance – only kidding Mr Insurance Man (Fingers crossed behind my back).

It’s flooers today for a PoD (Photo of the Day if you hadn’t worked that out). I don’t know if the greater the number of flowers, the greater the depth of ennui. If so, I should have switched to wide angle and photographed the whole bunch. Hoping the snow stays until tomorrow when I’ll go out and get some black and white snowy shots. Tonight I had a bottle of Adnams Broadside. Thank you Jic for introducing us!

Booked – 12 February 2016

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combo bWe finally got a holiday booked for Scamp and I.  We were beginning to think that we wouldn’t get away at all, but now we are good to go.

Went in to Glasgow today.  Couldn’t decide at first whether to go to Stirling or Glasgow, but I wanted to have a look at a camera and I was pretty sure I could get my hands on it in Glasgow.  There was no chance of seeing a camera in Stirling.  With that in mind, we headed for Glasgow in the afternoon.  Other than visiting the travel agent and then Jessops, it was just a quick trot round the shops, then home.  There was one surprise, the Art Store in Queen Street was offering everything in store at 50% off.  That may sound good, and indeed there were bargains to be had, but it made me wonder if this is another independent art shop that has gone to the wall.

The camera was not as good as I had hoped it would be.  It was an Oly E-M5 and I got my hands on it in John Lewis.  First impressions were that it felt a bit clumsy and not as neat as the E-PL5.  I then tried it’s newer sibling the Oly E-M10 in Jessops.  It was neater and more ergonomic than the older E-M5, but still didn’t make me want to part with my money.  I had no intention of buying the camera from either of these shops.  I only wanted to use them to get my hands on them and give them a bit of comparison.  If I was going to buy one, I’d go to one of the second-hand dealers on the net like MBP in Brighton.  Anything I’ve bought from them has been really good quality and was at least a third off the price when new.

Three shots today from our walk around Glasgow.  Nothing outstanding, just a few candids.

Cold and bright in Glasgow.

A day of ups and downs – 11 February 2016

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combo bA sunny, cold start again. This time it started with the mercury not quite managing to crawl above the zero line. To use less prosaic language, it was about -1.5ºc at 8.30am.  The good, cold weather stayed most of the day.

Scamp went to arrange a spring holiday for us. I went to meet Fred as the world needed setting to rights again. After we both returned, I thought the world had indeed been set on its axis again, then Scamp told me that the travel agent’s phone and internet wasn’t working and even worse, the holiday she was going to book was no longer available. Fred and I had spent over an hour and a half making sure everything was sorted and then BT steps in an screws everything up.

Bean soup for dinner. Which begs the old joke: “I don’t care what it was, I want to know what it is now”

Tomorrow we were going to Embra, but it looks as if we are going holiday hunting now. Hope BT have got their act together.

Today’s photos are the results of my recent painting.

 

 

Bright again – 10 February 2016

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combo bAnother bright day, but frosty this morning. Thermometer was showing only 0.1ºc at 8.30 when I was making breakfast, so just a wee bit cool.

Scamp was going out visiting today, so I had the afternoon to myself. I did venture out, but only as far as the supermarket and then back to do a bit of painting. Nothing for general consumption yet, but enjoying slapping the paint on. Later on I decided I’d better try to get some photos taken. I went down the Luggie burn for a change and got a decent shot of the only snowdrop I’ve seen down there. There are more to come, but none want to show themselves yet. Probably waiting for warmer days. I also found lots of catkins of different varieties. So if the snowdrops are out and the catkins are out, hopefully spring will be just around the corner.

I’m still not happy with the images I’m getting with the Tamron (Sorry to harp on about this Jic), so I decided to build myself another lens tester. For some reason I’ve deleted (or more likely a dodgy program called File Juggler – avoid like the plague) has deleted the AutoCad files for it from my PC. Then I found that some kind person had uploaded a PDF of almost the same model as mine. I printed it out last night and am hoping to assemble the model tomorrow to check if the D7000 is back or front focusing, which might be causing the lack of sharpness. If it’s not that, then the lens is going back to the Tamron hospital to have it looked at.

An hour of good light – 9 February 2016

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combo bWe had intended going to Ayr today, but the weather said NO! It rained all morning, then as predicted by the weather men (and ladies) it stopped at midday. Too late to go to Ayr, or anywhere else really, so we took some rubbish to the council tip. Hmm, not exactly exciting or scenic. However, it was worth a walk over to St Mo’s.

I spent an interesting and worthwhile hour in St Mo’s. The light was good, the ISO setting was reasonably low and I got quite a few shots. From the 70 odd shots I distilled the four above. Top left is a group of Cladonias lichen which will forever be called Green Trumpets by me. Top right is a wummin walkin’ her big dug. Try getting Google to translate that! Bottom right is a coot looking for some bread. I had none today. Bottom left is a rare Scottish Pink Haggis – the female of the species. It was grazing on grass near the old BMX track. They will feed on grass if there is no heather available.

Hoping for more sun tomorrow.

Cycling in the sun – 8 February 2016

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combo bHeavy rain when we woke, but then the rain cleared up, the sky lightened and blue sky appeared. It was too good an opportunity to miss, so I got the bike rack on the car and drove the bike to Auchinstarry.

When I got there, I noticed right away that there was a strong westerly wind. A head wind for me. Oh well, better to have a head wind going and a tail wind coming back rather than the other way round. It was a cold wind though! Made heavy weather of the outward run and got some interesting photos at Dumbreck, including the shots of the swans. I just missed getting shots of their take off, but it was a joy to see in the scattered afternoon sun. Cycled as far as Shirva Farm but the going was tough with the headwind and the fact that they were “upgrading” the canal tow path. Upgrading apparently means digging it up and leaving it like that. The path was a quagmire. I turned and came back along the canal, then crossed at the path through the plantation and back to the car. I was really pleased that I’d taken Scamp’s advice and brought a flask with coffee. It was a more pleasant run back, not fighting the headwind, but the coffee was welcome.  I even washed my bike when I came home.  The first wash it’s had in a long time.  I hope it still works.

Salsa at night and then Bachata for the second hour. It’s getting better. I’m beginning to relax into it. Much less frantic than Salsa, but not as enjoyable. Too regimented for my random brain. Rain forecast for tomorrow.

 

Curry – 7 February 2016

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combo bI had to drive in to Glasgow today to go to a curry making afternoon at Cafe India in the city.  It was a really interesting two and a half hours which started with making pakora – Potato, Spinach and Chicken varieties.  After we sampled them, we moved on to mains.  I made the Lamb Lazees (pronounced Layzee) which was really rich and a little bit creamy.  I think I’d he hard put to make it myself, but it was an experience discovering just how quick these dishes are to make.  Granted the meat was all pre-cooked, but one woman was vegetarian and she made a standard vegetable curry in the same time as the rest of us, which was about 10 minutes.  Next was a demonstration of making nan bread and chapatis.  We didn’t get a chance to make our own, probably on health and safety grounds as the tandoor oven operates at 300ºc!  Finally we had a sit down lunch where we got to eat the fruits of our labours.  I’ve told Scamp that the next time she sees this offer, she should go and then we can compare notes.

We should have gone to the Sunday Social today, but I couldn’t be bothered and Scamp was feeling the after-effects of yesterday’s late night at Kul’s surprise birthday party at Gusto in Bothwell Street in Glasgow.  Table should have been ready for 7.45pm, but the restaurant were running late.  Finally got our mains at just after 10.00pm.  I don’t think we’ll be back there again.  My main was good – roast chicken, but the meat was finished before they brought the potatoes and veg.  Totally disorganized and not cheap either.  So, we agreed to forego salsa but did have a practise at the bachata steps we learned last week.

Only got one shot today in a dull rainy Glasgow.  It wasn’t raining in Cowcaddens underground where I got today’s PoD.  It should have been the full view across both tunnels, but I was rushing and didn’t notice the camera strap obscuring the left hand tunnel.  One of the problems of the 9mm lens is the remarkable field of view.  Sometimes it’s too big a field.

Saw a couple of lovely paintings in the restaurant (top right) and tried to copy one tonight.  Not totally successfully, but an interesting diversion from my usual “style“.  Yet another work in progress.