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Tinkering – 12 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today I started tinkering about with the innards of the iMac.  Not a clever thing to do.

<Technospeak>
There is a new version of Lightroom just out and I fancied installing it, but my operating system is too old.  I could have just wasted an hour of my time by installing it on the SSD that runs my system, but being a cautious individual where these things are concerned, I thought I’d install it on a backup instead.  It didn’t work because of the technique that was used to build it in the first place.  So, I found a way to use Carbon Copy Cloner to install the system from my working SSD into the backup disk.  That almost worked after an hour of watching a white line crawl across the screen.  I found a fix and that made everything work.  So at this point I had two SSDs, both running the same old system. Now I needed to install the new system, called Monterey for some reason, into the backup SSD (I did warn you.  I did put the <Technospeak> warning up).  After the same hour and a bit it got stuck and so am I.  I am thankful that I didn’t attempt to upgrade the working SSD. At least I have one working drive.  I’ll have another attempt tomorrow, because I think I have cunning plan.

To Be Continued …
<\Technospeak>

Scamp and I went shopping after that.  We both needed our meds from the chemist and Scamp was dropping off used clothes for the Salvation Army, then we went proper shopping on a small scale, just bread, milk and stuff for dinner, plus a bag of doughnuts for me and a packet of rasps for Scamp. Lunch was soup and it was very good.

Later in the afternoon I drove to B&Q to get a bulb for the fridge which thankfully is working fine now and we can even see inside it!  Then I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got a pretty good shot of the sun coming through the trees and that became PoD.  So, morning wasted on tech, but afternoon a better prospect.

Dinner was a hashed up, but perfectly satisfactory chicken and prawn paella. I had another half hearted attempt at fixing the mess I’d made of the SSD, but I was running out of time.

Prompt for today was Spicey (not how I’d have spelled it) and I sketched some of my fiery hot looking chillies for it.  Great chillies that came from Jan’s Vans in Portree, believe it or not!

We may be going dancing tomorrow … in a church of all places.  Only for oldies, none of those under 65 whippersnappers allowed in. My main worry is that we’ll be the youngest dancers there!

 

 

Oh what a beautiful morning – 11 October 2023

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And the makings of a beautiful day.

Scamp was out in the morning to have coffee with June. While she was out I found a subject for today’s Inktober prompt – “Wander”. I started work on it right away, drawing on a Seagate A4 sketchbook. I usually draw ideas to begin with in a cheap sketchbook, but have been caught out many times by working up a good sketch in them, then when I put a watercolour wash on them the paper soaks up the water, buckles and the sketch becomes a disaster area. Now I’ve learned to draw on decent quality paper that will hold the watercolour without falling apart. Yes, the paper is more expensive, but it saves a lot of swearing!

Lunch, when Scamp came in was, soup. Quite delicious soup. Then with the sun still shining I walked over to St Mo’s and found myself surrounded by dragonflies. Yesterday’s unseasonably warm weather coupled with today’s sunshine must have released a hatch of the insects. Mainly they were Common Darters with a few Black Darters too. I grabbed a few shots with the 85mm lens which performed really well, even if it didn’t allow me to get as close as a macro lens would. I also found a big clump of mushrooms that had appeared overnight. Again I think it was the weather than had encouraged them to sprout. This time it was the combination of warm weather and lots of rain, two things fungi thrive on. The mushrooms got PoD.

Back home Scamp was talking to her sister in Skye on the phone, but I didn’t hear much of the conversation because I was trying to scan in today’s sketch and post process the photos from the afternoon. We were going out to Kirsty’s dance class tonight, so I knew I had to get everything done as early as possible.

A photo of a tree beside the Luggie got ‘Explore’ on Flickr. I was quite impressed. It was almost OOC (Out Of Camera, meaning it had minimal processing). Second one in about a month!

Dinner tonight was a rather excellent fish ’n’ chips with beetroot. Not the best beetroot, but the fish made up for it. A lovely slice of cod!

There were only two couples for class tonight, but it was very useful. Plenty of room for dancing and also lots of tips from Kirsty about the little dance nuances I frequently forget. Lessons learned. She even got the chance to give us a quick and very short Quickstep routine to work on. Next week it’s Tango. Must remember a rose to hold in my clenched teeth!

Came home and opened the fridge door and the internal light went off. Oh No! Has the fridge been listening to us discussing replacing it? However, it was just the bulb that had blown. We’ll have to go out and source one tomorrow.

No other plans tomorrow. We’ll see what transpires.

 

Out for coffee with Val – 10 October 2023

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Up fairly early … for me.

Set off to pick up Val just before 11am and we drove to Costa. Not the Costa I was expecting to go to, but eventually we found the right one of the three Costas in Cumbersheugh. Sat there and drank coffee, ate cakes, discussed kitchens and showers. Then found that we had both bought the exact same dishwasher. First one for Val, third one for us. After an hour and a big bit it was to take Val home. We should do this more often and we will do this more often if I have my way.

Drove home via Tesco to get some fruit and veg and a slice of brie which, along with a few slices of our own apples and a generous spoonful of honey made the filling in a brown bread sandwich for my lunch. Scamp had already had her lunch while Val and I were blethering.

After lunch and with the sky seeming to clear, I went for a walk in St Mo’s with the A6500 having a shot of the 85mm. The close ups the pairing produced were good, but the surprise was the way it handled a long shot across the pond to catch a bloke on his phone, sitting on the Living Lounge seat nearly half a mile away. I later enlarged it and it’s ready to be viewed on Flickr. It didn’t get PoD, that went to two spiders on a web.

Scamp offered to help me get more of the workload finished at a sensible time by making tonight’s dinner which was her signature Prawn & Pea Risotto. Best one for ages, Scamp!

Today’s prompt was “Fortune”. I tried to draw a Fortune Teller’s view of a crystal ball. I thought this would be a fairly easy sketch to do. How wrong I was. The left hand was fairly easy, but have you tried drawing your right hand with the pen in your left (reverse that if you’re left handed) It’s impossible. I even tried photographing my right hand and sketching from that with only slightly more success as you can see here. If I’d only had a crystal ball I could have seen the mess I was going to make!

It’s Scamp’s turn to go out for coffee tomorrow with June. I might try to update the laptop to Monterey. That’s where it happened, you know! Google it!

A better looking day – 9 October 2023

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It was a much better day today. Almost dry for a while.

After yesterday’s late night watching a weird F1 GP where new rules were unleashed on the unsuspecting drivers on race day, meaning that tyres had to be changed every 18 laps or less. Also, ‘track limits’ enforcement seemed to far stricter than normal. Both of these regulation changes seemed to reduce the freedom the drivers had to race. Sometimes there are just too many rules in this sport.

So, after getting to be around 1am, we had bit of a lie in and a more relaxed morning in general. After lunch the sky was definitely brightening and the rain had stopped ages ago, so I took the opportunity to drive down to Greenfaulds station, leave the car there and go for a walk along the Luggie Water. I went kitted out with the 85mm lens and the 16-35mm with the A7. I thought I might get some slow shutter shots of the waterfall at the end of the path, so I’d taken the precaution of carrying my mini tripod, the Gorilla Pod.

The water was indeed rushing down the waterfall and it was that lovely creamy brown colour that you get when a spate is just running off and beginning to drop some of the silt it carries. I got a few shots with the 85mm and was pleased with them. I was sure one of them would be PoD.

With a few in the bag, I walked downstream under the bridge and on to the old railway bridge. It was leaking water like a sieve and at the risk of getting not just me, but also the camera wet, I grabbed a few shots of the ferns that grow out of the mortar lines on the stonework of the bridge. They looked good from the 85mm, giving a lovely softness to the out of focus trees in the background. Further on I chanced on a little bit of sunlight shining on one of the big beech tree and switched over to the wide angle lens to get it all in. That was a good shot too.

I walked further on to the path that leads to Condorrat, but there were no more opportunities, so I headed back to the car and home because it was my turn to make dinner.

As it happened it was the shot of the fern that got PoD. Very pleased with what the 85mm lens did there. The other shots of the waterfall and the tree are on Flickr if you’re interested.

Today’s Inktober prompt was “Bounce”. The first thing that sprung to mind was a Space Hopper. A big bouncy inflatable pear shaped thing. Coloured bright orange with a slightly demonic look which probably had something to do with those horns. Great fun I’m told, but I never really mastered it!

Tomorrow I’m hoping Val and I will have a chance of a blether, a coffee and maybe a cake! Unfortunately Fred can’t go because he’s taking Margo for a hearing check in Falkirk and no word from Colin yet.

A better day – 8 October 2023

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A wee bit drier today.

Scamp went out in the afternoon to get some ‘messages’. Just the essentials for dinner. When she got back I took the A7 and the new toy for a walk in St Mo’s. PoD turned out to be a retake of a shot from yesterday. This one was much better. Still not very much direct lighting, but at least it was dry. I’ll take that any day.

In the last week I’ve damaged another SD card trying to fit into the reader’s slot in the back of the iMac. It’s a stupid place to put the slot, but it makes the computer look sleeker, apparently. Probably there is an argument for removing the neat little door in the back of the iMacs that allowed you to upgrade the memory at home. Apple can be thoughtless ba$tards at times, and that dollar sign is the reason they for it. They just don’t care about anything else. Anyway, luckily Mr Bezos was able to send me a plug-in card reader that now sits in an easily accessible position next to my mouse mat.

Dinner was a ‘heat at home’ curry from M&S. Mine was a lot hotter than Scamp’s, but both were fine.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard about the heatwave they had been having while we two days of rain. Still, at least he made good use of it by getting everything tidied up in the garden.

Sketch for today was a Toad, as requested in the prompt. Not a bad sketch I think. Not brilliant by any manner or means, but not a bad likeness considering I didn’t have a toad handy to act as a model.

It’s 00:29 on Monday morning just now and I’m writing this blog while I glance at the Quatar GP. Later today we may go out for a walk if it stays dry!

The day that the rains came – 7 October 2023

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The rain was relentless today. Morning until night it never stopped.

All those lucky southerners who had 25º and sunshine enjoyed their Indian summer while us north of Hadrian’s wall had to put up with 10º less and rain. There’s no justice! In addition to that I had a bit of a head cold today. A bit of sunshine would have eased that, but there was none to spare, so I took some vitamin C tablets instead.

There was no point in going out to Red Deer as we’d planned today, so lunch for both of us was banana on toast and a cup of tea. By mid afternoon the sky was lightening and I was feeling better so I reckoned if the improvement was maintained, I’d manage a circuit of St Mo’s and a walk to the shops. Scamp was busy making an apple and blackcurrant pie with our own apples and blackcurrants, but had used up almost all the butter in the fridge, so I took my cue from that and put my boots on and grabbed the A7 with the new lens and went for a walk round the pond and then a gentle walk to the shops to get butter and bread.

The new lens is a strange beast. It gives great separation between the subject and the background, creating almost a 3D feel from the images. It produced the PoD which is a bush with the leaves just beginning to change colour. Other good points from the lens are the ability to use manual focus, almost without thinking and a very positive link with the focusing mechanism. I realise that means very little to most folk, but I might just remember to say that to Alex. He’ll understand!

I did manage to remember to get the butter and a loaf as well at the shops. For some reason the musician Bo Hasson had been in my head recently. I’d looked up the name and found that he died in 2010. Scamp and I both liked his music back in the early ‘70s and the walk back from the shops in the rain was so much more interesting listening to his Lord of the Rings album.

Dinner was Chicken and Mushrooms with Cream and Rice. A Scamp speciality. It was followed by the Apple and Blackcurrant Pie which had the lightest pastry I’ve eaten in a long time.

Watched Strictly and found fault in just about all the competitors dances. We are almost professionals ourselves, you see! I did today’s sketch, ‘Drip’ while occasionally glancing at Strictly. This is how I described the sketch:
“After a day of torrential rain I feel the prompt for today is quite appropriate. A late afternoon walk gave me plenty of time to observe the drips forming and falling from the trees and to enjoy the feeling of them running down the back of my neck! Yes, that was sarcasm.”

Later we watched the F1 GP from Quatar. One of those stupidly over complicated sprint races. I’m not a fan, as I’m sure you have gathered.

Tomorrow we may go out if the weather continues to improve or we may stay in if it doesn’t. That’s as much as I’m willing to say.

A Toy off the Rack – 6 October 2023

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A new, well, nearly new lens.

So, I slept on it, as I said I would, and decided to add the Sony 85mm f1.8 to my armoury.

Scamp was out in the morning to go to her FitSteps class. I phoned WEX in Glasgow and asked the lady to put the second hand Sony 85mm f1.8 lens aside for me and I’d be in to collect it in the afternoon. When Scamp returned from her class, just over an hour later we drove in to Glasgow.

First we went to John Lewis to have a serious look at fridges, freezers and fridge-freezers, the trio we’ve been mulling over for the past week. I don’t think either of us was fully committed to the idea of a combined fridge and freezer. If one part of it breaks down, does that mean the other half dies with it? Scamp seemed reluctantly resigned to an undercounter freezer and separate fridge. The two of them were sitting beside each other in the JL basement, like Tweedledum and Tweedledee. We were really looking for a Goldilocks fridge. The ones on show were either too big or too small and she wanted one that was in the middle of the height range. Eventually,Scamp spoke to an assistant who very helpfully went away and returned with a model number for a fridge that was indeed the nearest thing to a Goldilocks. Now we need to find a picture of it, or better still, somewhere that has it in stock, because JL in Glasgow didn’t have one.

Feeling we were another step forward, we left JL behind and walked up to WEX, checked the lens I’d play tested yesterday and paid my half of the money. Of course I immediately knew that I’d made a mistake as the Buyers Remorse kicked in, but I just ignored it. I had a toy off the rack.

Coffee in Nero on the way down a Sausageroll Street that was being chopped up, dug up and generally destroyed in ‘improvements’. They’d even cut down most of the trees. Sometimes I fear for the sanity of these urban planners, other times I know they are all just morons.

I had a look for a new raincoat to replace my old faded blue one that’s not as waterproof as it used to be, despite being proofed regularly, but didn’t find anything that impressed me. Heavens some of them only had two pockets. TWO? What use is that to me?

Drove home and that was when the rain started and it’s still raining. It doesn’t look like I’ll get a chance to try out the new toy until at least Sunday. Heavy rain predicted for tomorrow.

Today’s PoD was one of my regular shots of the changing face of Glasgow. It seems that every month there is another change to the skyline. Some are for the better and some are not. I think the call it progress, but I’m not sure. Anyway, after a bit of jiggery pokery again, I had a photo that looked interesting.

Today’s Inktober prompt was “Golden”. It’s my wedding ring which, over the years, has been chopped off my swollen finger, soldered back together and then chopped and soldered again to make it slightly smaller to stop it from falling off my finger. It’s definitely Golden.

Tomorrow rain is predicted, lots of it. We may go out for lunch and not discuss White Goods.

A coffee, a walk and a blether – 5 October 2023

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A coffee, a walk and a blether

Going out for the above with my brother.

Another wet day, but Scamp offered me a lift to the town centre to hopefully catch a bus into Glasgow that would take less than an hour to get there. I did catch the bus and it did take significantly less than an hour for the journey. Scamp herself was off to meet Shona for coffee and a blether too. It must be blethering weather.

In Glasgow I was early and I used that time to see what JL had in the way of freezers and fridge-freezers. Actually, they had a fair selection and I took some photos of the price and size labels, both are important to us. I also took a selfie of me standing in front of two freezers. Not because I like taking selfies in shops, but because Scamp would get an idea just how tall they fridge-freezers were. Some were taller than me. How’s a 5’9” high bloke meant to get things out of the top shelf of that fridge?
JL’s main door was locked and the shutters were down when I was walking over and I thought “Oops! Maybe these tales of the High Street closures are coming home to roost”. But it seems that there was just a problem with the doors.

Walked back to the bus station and met Alex coming off his bus. We had our usual coffee in Nero and I told him I’d found a lens I fancied was available in WEX in Glasgow. We intended getting a bus up Bath Street to the shop, because it’s a fair walk, but there was a lot of work being done on the pavement all the way up Bath Street and temporary bus stops everywhere, so we chose to face that mountain and walk up the hill in the rain.
Found the lens in WEX and gave it a good try out on the A6500. It looked fine and I was sure it would do the job I intended it for, but I wanted a second opinion which I got from Alex. Still not sure about splashing the cash (or plastic) I said I’d sleep on it. I’ve not done that yet, so I’ll see how I feel tomorrow, all being well.

We walked back to the city centre and went to Paesano for lunch. Number 5 (Cooked ham – No cheese) for Alex. Number 3 (Anchovies and Olive for me). Since I was bussing it today, I had a glass of red to go with lunch. We sat and talked about family, cameras, life in general and, of course, the lens.

Alex wanted to visit a wee old second hand shop on Trongate and I wanted to get freezer bags for Scamp, both in that direction so we took our time. I got the bags, Alex had a browse round guitar amps. He’s found his old electric guitar and enjoyed playing with it even without an amp. I think I’m a bit to blame telling him about Crawford and I jamming!

I had one more shopping trip and that was Cass Art for a couple of cheap sketch books. Got them and walked in the general direction of the bus station after a coffee in the Nero in Queen Street. I got PoD which was red and black wrought iron chairs and black wrought iron tables covered in rain splashes outside the Counting House at George Square. Nice easy wide angle shot.

We both went our ways at the bus station and I just got the X3 as the driver was opening the bus. Perfect timing.

Back home it was a baked potato for dinner, just the potato with butter. Lovely. Then it was time to work on the sketch for today which I admit I’d roughed out yesterday. The prompt was “Map”. My take on it was a fictitious map that had been well used on yellowed paper with the standard ’X” marks the spot mark on it. I liked the effect of the fold lines.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps as usual and I might make a phone call to reserve a lens.

 

A Wet Day – 4 October 2023

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We knew it was going to be a wet day, but there was no respite today.

It was a dreich day and no mistake. It started during the night and continued all day. There’s not a lot more I can say about the weather, so I won’t.

Spoke to Hazy in the morning and we caught up with all that’s happening down south. Oh yes, and she was phoning us on her new iPhone 15. Not that I’m jealous or anything, but it does look good. Wish you health to use it Hazy and a new one when it’s done! We discussed Nelly, the Pleiospilos Nelii or Split Rock she gave in June. It’s changing its shape and Hazy thought it was going to flower, but on closer inspection it looks like it’s getting ready to split and push out two new leaves. I look forward to seeing that happen.

After we said “Cheerio”, Scamp and I had lunch. Scamp had a cheese sandwich and I had the remains of the lamb shank I cooked on Sunday. After carefully warming it in the microwave, I added some gravy granules to thicken the juices that had appeared in the bowl and made a decent lunch out of it. A toasted slice of rosemary and green olive sourdough finished off lunch. Rosemary and green olive sourdough? What would my mum have made of that? I’m sure she would have tried it, but would she have liked it? I think she would have. I don’t think my dad would have thought!

With Nelly still on my mind, I set up a tripod in the back bedroom and photographed that strange wee succulent. If you look carefully at the photo you can just see the spotted pale green leaves beginning its push up towards the light. That was PoD sorted.

I spent what was left of the afternoon sketching out my take on Dodge, today’s prompt. Yes it’s another cartoon, but it’s just for fun anyway. I never said I was an artist and maybe this proves it.

We drove up to the dance class in intermittent rain. I think this was our last full attempt at the Waltz Naioli. I’m feeling much more confident about it now and I think we could dance it in public now. It was a struggle at the start, but Kirsty is a very patient teacher who goes over and over the tricky parts of the routine. She’s nowhere near as patient as Scamp is though, but between them I can see the progress I’ve made. I didn’t want to come off the floor tonight, that’s how much I’ve enjoyed this dance. Thank you ladies!

Alex and I were supposed to be going to Paisley tomorrow, but the weather looks like a watered down version of today. The water being rain. So we’ve decided to meet in Glasgow, have a coffee and go for lunch. I think that sounds really sensible.

Just Chillin’ – 3 October 2023

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Today we went in search of more white goods.

Scamp and I prefer to see our intended purchases with our own eyes, rather than believing the hype the so called reviewers give us. Nor do we really believe the photos we see in online adverts. So we took our own eyes with us to Currys in Bishopbriggs to find out what they had in the way of freezers, fridges and fridge-freezers.

Inside Currys it was like walking down a canyon, not that I’ve ever walked down a canyon, but it was what I imagined that would feel like. Great towering monoliths on both sides of us, nearly all the same shade of grey, probably the ubiquitous Space Grey. They had big freezers, small fridges and fridge-freezers with various different arrangements of fridge and freezer. They even had an AI fridge-freezer! I don’t think I’d feel comfortable with an AI fridge watching me every time I went in to get the butter. Would it know that I keep my Toblerone on the top shelf and only allow me to have one triangle each day? Would it count how many blueberries I put into my porridge? It’s a scary prospect.

We were just on a recce mission today. No money changed hands, no card was tapped and no PIN was typed in. Today was just about looking in the most convenient white goods (or should that be Grey goods) store to get an idea of what’s out there and would it fit into the available space. We got some answers and a whole lot of confused messages from Currys who seem to stick any bit of paper on an article and then presend it’s the God’s honest truth. Like the fridge that was labelled as A++ for efficiency, but on another sticker as E for efficiency. Personally I’d give Currys a Z for efficiency.

Scamp left to go shopping in the new M&S food store and I went to browse the ‘toys’ in Currys. I wasn’t really considering buying anything other than an SD card reader, but I did have a play with the iPads until I saw the price of them. That’s when I left without the card reader I’d come to buy.

We drove home through an improving weather picture and had a late lunch back home, discussing what we’d seen in the shop and thinking that we might go to John Lewis tomorrow to see what they had in the store.

The weather was looking a lot better with a fair amount of sun so I took my A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s. That’s where PoD came from. It’s just three trees with the low sun shining through them, but it was quite effective. Low viewpoint, low sun and an ultra-wide angle lens.

Today’s prompt was Path and I tried painting and sketching in ink but finally settled on a daft wee sketch that was done in about fifteen minutes. Easiest is best, sometimes.

Tomorrow is going to be wet. We don’t have any plans, but might go visiting JL to see what their chilling boxes are like.