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Sitting in the sun (without a raincoat) – 14 July 2015

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The day started like any other Scottish summer day with drizzle then heavier rain. It didn’t matter to me because I was waiting in for Yodel to deliver a parcel for Scamp. I used the time wisely by starting another sketch from the Italy cruise. One day I will be confident enough to sketch or paint from life rather than from photos, but not today. Watercolour in the rain? I don’t think so. I wasn’t very confident about Yodel, having had a parcel just before Christmas, simply disappear and have to her replaced. However, the parcel did arrive just after midday.

DSC_2903- blog--195.jpgSince the rain had stopped and the sun had come out, Scamp decided to cut the grass. After that she wanted the gladioli to be tied up to prevent them being blown down and broken. This was my task. While doing it and getting cut to pieces on the roses that border the gladioli, I found a stray damselfly on the grass. I don’t think Scamp had mowed it with the grass, but the beastie wasn’t looking at its best. I carefully lifted it up and put it on a rosebud, hoping that it would find some aphids for lunch, but all the aphids on the roses were dead. The damselfly clung on to the rosebud and as far as I know, it’s still there.

DSC_2908- blog--195.jpgAfter the gardening, we got out the lounger (for Scamp) and the camp chair (for me) and we both decided it was Pimms O’ Clock, and had a little refreshment reading and sitting in the sun. I sat for a very pleasant hour or so before I got itchy feet and went for a safari in St Mo’s. I got a few shots of Mr Grey, my favourite is here. I also was lucky enough to get some shots of a dragonfly in the classic dragonflyDSC_2922- blog--195.jpg pose with wings out. There were a few damselflies out, but not as many as in the past few weeks. As July wears on, it’s usual to have a decrease in the numbers of damsels and an increase in the population of dragons. I don’t know if it will be the same this year with our cold summer. We can only hope that today is the start of some warmer weather.

Ants – 13 July 2015

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I was putting some old fruit in the compost bin today. When I opened the lid I was shocked to see a load of white eggs and hundreds of ants. I fed the fruit to the composter and put the lid back on then went in DSC_2893- blog--194.jpg search of Mr Google to see if he had any thoughts on the problem of ants in the compost, and possibly a solution to get rid of the beasties. I was surprised to find site after site extolling the virtues of ants in the compost. Apparently they help with the decomposition of the vegetable matter. They also help aerate the compost and save gardeners the trouble of turning over the compost as they do that themselves. WIth that information, I returned to the composter with my Nikon and a Sigma 105mm macro lens and took the Shot of the Day, then put the lid back on. Welcome ants, friends not foes.

I got a watercolour sketch done today. Not entirely satisfied with it, but that’s the point of a sketch. I’ll try it again tomorrow. I’m not sure now if I will proceed on to a full size watercolour. I may change it to an acrylic using a technique I’ve read about in a book. If I try this technique and it works, I’ll write more about it later in the blog.

Lunch today was the pulled remainder of the meat from yesterday’s dinner. I’ll share a secret with you. It wasn’t really a dinosaur bone, it was an Aberdeen Angus Rib steak. It was delicious again today on a roll with brown sauce. I tried it with mustard too, but it wasn’t as good. Thanks JIC for introducing me to this.

Walking the Canal – 12 July 2015

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After a late start today we went for a walk along the railway from Auchinstarry to Twechar and then back along the canal. Weather was mainly dry with a couple of rain showers, nothing serious. The E-PL5 kept P7120156- blog--193.jpg going on to video mode without me realising it. It wasn’t until I got back home and looked at the pics, I found four short video clips. I’ve now switched off the instant video button on the camera to stop me pressing it by accident. What I did find that was interesting and useful was that when you are playing or scrubbing through a video in Lightroom 5, you can right-click anywhere and get a screen grab from that point. That’s how I got the bumble bee hoverfly shot. P7120148-3- blog--193.jpg

Had lunch when we got home and then read a lot more of The End of the World Running Club that Hazy recommended to me. It’s been a bit of a marathon (no pun intended) read and has taken me the best part of a month to slog my way through it, but I’m getting there now. I’m not intending to write a review of it here. I’ll keep that for Goodreads. Suffice to say that it may have been a long read, but it has kept me interested enough to finish it.

Dinner was the gigantic dinosaur bone that I got from JIC’s butcher. I’ve been holding on to it for ages until I felt I was ready to face this behemoth of the carnivore’s larder. I deemed that today was that day and while it defrosted ready for the oven, I went for a walk over to St Mo’s, armed with the Nikon, the Tamron lens and a Sigma 105mm macro. From the outset, it was plain that the Tamron would stay in the bag. This was a macro day where the weapon of choice would be the Sigma. There were insects everywhere. Some familiar, some not so. I’ve collected a set of them here for your perusal. Apart from the one on the left, the Scorpion Fly, I have no idea what they are. They are currently posted on Flickr and hopefully some kind person will ID them for me. That’s about it for the weekend. The dino bone was delicious by the way and I’m hoping to have the leftover bits for my lunch tomorrow.

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Following the Yellow Brick Road – 11 July 2015

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We had decided to go to IKEA today. I hate IKEA, especially the fact that you have to follow the yellow brick road with little arrows under your feet to tell you how to traverse this enormous warehouse. However, loaded with a host of things we hadn’t planned on buying, but agreed we couldn’t do without, we left with a bag of Swedish Meatballs. All was not lost!

From there we went to Decathlon. From the sublimely organized to the ridiculous. I simply cannot understand how this place continues to draw in customers and revenue. When we went in, a father was explaining to his son why the warning bells were ringing. He told his son it was to warn the security that someone was trying to steal something. Why on earth would anyone want to steal anything from here. The place is full of cheap looking own-brand sports goods with the occasional recognisable brand. Every time I leave feeling disappointed and disillusioned.

P7110136- blog--192.jpgWe stopped in Glasgow city centre for a cup of coffee and to buy some art stuff. We also picked up tickets for the Randy Newman concert in October. Tickets were a wee bit more expensive than we’d expected, but I expect Mr Newman needs to supplement his pension somehow. I managed to get a few shots from the steps of the Concert Hall, so that kind of made up for it. P7110143- blog--192.jpg Before we went home, I also managed to pick up one other little extra. When we got back to the car, it was to find that some kind bastard had scratched the front wing with their bad attempt at parking. This Megane must be the unluckiest car I’ve ever had.

Dinner tonight was a carry-out courtesy of Bombay Dreams. It’s been too long since we’ve had such a good curry. We’ve even got some for lunch tomorrow. How’s that for abstinence?

A pint of beer and a fish supper – 10 July 2015

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Up at 7.30am and out for 8.00am for a Gym and a Swim. The weather at that time of the morning was very misty and there was little to see from the panoramic windows round the swimming pool. By early afternoon the mist had lifted and the sun was making it a much more pleasant day. We needed milk, so Scamp and I walked down to the garage to get some. On the way we stopped at the Broadwood and had a beer and a fish tea. Well, I had a beer but Scamp opted for the more ladylike glass or red wine. Very nice and not too expensive either.

On the way back, I took a detour into St Mo’s and managed a few shots of Mr Gray cooling his feet in the pond. It seemed like he wanted to ignore me and didn’t fly off in a strunt like he usually does. I think he knew he was safe standing in the mud in the middle of the pond.

Walking back from the garage, we had noticed that the traffic was much heavier than usual on the local road. When I walked to the motorway bridge, I found out the reason. For miles in both directions it was wall-to-wall cars. Presumably a lot of these were hoping to go to T in the Park. It looked like it would be a long journey. I hope it was worth it.

A Morning Walk – 9 July 2015

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DSC_2852- blog--190.jpgI had intended to do the Gym/Swim thing this morning, but I’d had a fair deal of pain in my hip during the night and it (the pain, that is – the hip was there too!) was still DSC_2835- blog--190.jpg there in the morning, so I decided to give it a more gentle exercise with a walk over St Mo’s. An early walk too. I had hoped for some pics of the deer, but they were nowhere to be seen again. I did, however get a couple of shots of damselflies in their mating embrace. By contrast I took a contré jour shot of a jaggy thistle. Other than that, it was a warm(ish) day with no rain for a change. Typically, as I write this, it’s raining. However it did have the good grace to keep away during the day.

Gym, snails and insects – 7 July 2015

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For once I did carry through yesterday’s intentions and went to the gym this morning. The gym was hard work, but the pool was mobbed. Why do they allow other people in when I’m there. For heaven’s sake,

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they just crowd the place out.

Picked up my incredible artwork from Fred and got a phone call from the GOMA asking if they could exhibit it if we could agree a fee. Then I woke up and had lunch, and went for a walk in St Mo’s and got some wet photographs of butterflies and damselflies. Weather was wet, dry, sun and wind. Scottish with warm temperatures.DSC_2807- blog--188.jpg

One of those days when not much happens. There are days like that.

A daunder to Dumbreck – 6 July 2015

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To paraphrase Facebook, “A lot has happened since you last walked to Dumbreck Marshes”, so I took myself off there for a walk this morning. A lot had happened. The trees were in full leaf. The Red P7060085- blog--187-1.jpg Campion and Ragged Robin were flowering well as was the Meadowsweet. The Himalayan Balsam was growing wild, partly due to me flicking the seeds everywhere last autumn and the Dog Roses were wide open enjoying the morning sun. In short, Summer was in full bloom. There were butterflies dithering around all these flowers

P7060069- blog--187-1.jpgand slugs climbing trees. Slugs climbing trees? Yes, Google it and you’ll find lots of theories about why these molluscs put on their climbing boots and scale the trees. I’m not convinced by any of the arguments, I think they just do it because they are there. If it’s good enough for us humans, it’s good enough for a snail. If you’ve got the time,

read Germaine Greer’s interesting piece about them in the Telegraph online.

While I was there (at Dumbreck) I got a verbal warning from some gulls that I was straying too close to their nesting grounds. I hate gulls. They are noisy, strutting, arrogant Stasi of the bird world. In Dundeethey are known as ‘Shite Hawks’, a very apt description. Anyway, thankfully they didn’t live up to their nickname today and I got away unstained. By the time I got back home it was time for lunch and then a quick trip to Larky to pick up my glasses which are much more laptop-friendly than the last pair. While I was there I bumped into my old HT who, believe it or not was just coming from the very opticians that I was heading to. Neither of us live in Larky. My claim to being there is that I was born

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and brought up there ‘behind the wall’. His nephew was the new partner in the optician’s business. Such a small world.

When I again returned home, Scamp was back from work and the gym. This made me feel guilty that my only exercise that day had been a four mile walk. Must get up early tomorrow and do the Gym/Swim thing.

Dancing at night and I’m now ready for bed, because my feet are dead on their feet.

An abstract day – 5 July 2015

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By the time I got up this morning, our visitors had gone. Back in to Glasgow to get the 10 o’clock bus back to Skye. We had all had a good time last night comparing cruises and places and generally P7050037- blog--186.jpg discussing the folk we’d met and marvelling at how people become so used to the food and the luxury of a cruise, but still find something to criticise. As Murd said “These people are eating far better than they would at home, but they’re still not satisfied.” It’s so true. I think that’s what’s wrong with the world today. No matter what we get, we are never satisfied.

Fred and I were booked into an abstract art class in Cass Art today. Abstract is not my favourite art form, in fact I haven’t tried it since I was at college at least. We got to mess around – probably not the best P7050047- blog--186.jpg terminology – with a variety of media from thick body acrylic to very liquid acrylic ink and taking in spray paint along the way. I can’t say my final piece was in any way planned. Can you plan an abstract? I suppose you must have some idea of what the final creation will look like or feel like, but I was just splashing paint on to see what transpired. It was an interesting couple of hours and although there were only three of us in the group, our ‘creations’ were quite varied. I was the least skilled and it showed. I did manage to get paint all over my hands and a couple of blobs on my jeans. If I’d thought about it I would have realised that this was a situation that required old clothes. Anyway, we had a good time and I was really impressed with what Fred produced. He said he didn’t plan it, but I don’t believe him. He’s done this before. I’d go back to another of their classes even if it’s quite a blatant attempt on their part to sell you stuff. The enthusiasm of the tutors keeps you interested.

When I got home, the good weather of the morning had gone, washed away by the rain. We watched the F1 Grand Prix from Silverstone. In the boring bits, and there were a few of those, I watched the rain. I also watched a couple of old crows sitting on the roof opposite us, thinking, well at least I was in the dry.P7050056- blog--186-1.jpg

After dinner when the rain had stopped and the sun was setting I ventured out into the swamp that is our garden and got a few shots of the rambling rose at the back door. I liked the way the raindrops were hanging on to the rosebuds. The raindrops acted like little lenses distorting the sky and clouds. Quite impressed.