Category: A Walk

Deteriorating weather – 27 February 2017

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Scamp wanted to go shopping for a birthday present for one of her friends.  She had set a time limit of 10am.  We had to be up and out, presumably dressed, by then.  We achieved this with 1 minute to spare!

We drove to Robroyston in sunshine and went our separate ways when we got there.  Her to her favourite shop, me to Homebase to look for a birdbath.  Didn’t find one, but she found exactly what she wanted.  Coffee in Costa and then back home via the garage to book the Megane in for MOT and service, and the weather was still holding out.

Scamp then wanted to refresh her skills, recording some piano music with Audacity.  Then we spent almost half an hour trying to get the stupid Media Monkey software to find the DVD drive.  Even worse, iTunes couldn’t find it either, so we had to email the MP3 file to me so I could burn it on to a music CD.  Eventually it worked, but now I have to find out what’s wrong with the burner software on her PC.

Clouds were beginning to mass over in the west when I was making my lunch which was two butterflied sausages in between two slices of my delicious bread.  Stunning!  While she was out gathering the Gems from around Cumbersheugh, I got away for a walk.  By the time I got to Auchinstarry, the clouds had covered the sky and I was struggling to find anything interesting to photograph.  Got a couple of shots of dried up and frosted plants, but still no sketch.  Penultimate day in the 28 Drawings … challenge.  On the way back, I thought, why not attempt the bridge over the canal.  Viewed it from both sides and decided the view from the west was best and set to.  It was an awkward bugger.  The bridge is on a slope and doesn’t cross the canal at 90º, making the perspective very difficult.  When I finally finished it, I photographed it so I could check vanishing points when I got home, and it’s a good job I did, because a couple were a wee bit out, but they were easily corrected.  Also, the shading needed altering.  Fixed it sharpish and now I’m thinking it’s really a situation for curvilinear perspective.  I may redraw it some time using those VPs.  For now, it’s done and posted. Fin.

Salsa was complicated tonight and although Cameron and I had a near collision on the dance floor, it all ended well and was great fun.  New move is Trompo which means Spinning Top.  Ma heid wiz spinnin’ and no mistake!

After a deteriorating day today, tomorrow seems to be the opposite with gradually improving weather, or so the weather folk say.  As ever, we’ll wait and see.

Dorothy – 25 February 2017

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Today we drove down to see Dorothy.  She was looking well, although her leg seemed to be giving her bother and her hand looked as if she was suffering a bit from rheumatics.  Still, she was sharp as a tack and quick to tell Colin off if he strayed too far in his stories.  A pleasant wee hour although I felt bad that we hadn’t been to see her for a long while, but there was nothing we could do about it, either Colin was busy or we were.  A case of life getting in the way again.

Stopped at Waitrose on the way home to buy a chicken and ended up with two bags full of other stuff as well as the chicken.  We were shocked that Waitrose, in addition to allowing Neds into their stores are now stooping to this gutter humour to advertise their mugs.  What is the retail sector coming to.  (No, it wasn’t me who did it, I just photographed it.)

When we got home, the daylight was still there, so I grabbed the chance of an hour in St Mo’s.  Startled a couple of deer, but chose not to pursue them because they were on the motorway side of the fence and I didn’t want to be the reason for them running across the carriageway and causing an accident.  Other than the deer and the ever present buzzards, there wasn’t much of interest.  The overnight rain had increased the water level in the pond and part of the boardwalk was under water, so that, at least, made an interesting shot with the 9mm lens.

A curry from Bombay Dreams provided dinner because neither of us could be bothered cooking and today’s sketch was a disappointing pencil drawing of my mouse.  I like the curves and lines of the mouse and felt the pencil rendered it well, but it’s a bit of a stopgap really.  Not the most interesting drawing I’ve done in the month.  Only three more sketches to go in the 28 Drawings Later challenge.  Like the Inktober challenge, I’ll miss it when it’s finished.

Tomorrow looks wet.  At least we had some sun and blue skies today.

Storm Doris – 23 February 2017

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We didn’t actually have Storm Doris, we just had the snow that she was dragging with her.  Woke to a winter wonderland.  Lovely white snow everywhere.  Unfortunately Fred and Val and I were supposed to be going for coffee this afternoon, but when Fred sent me a text at about 10am, I knew it was bad news.  He couldn’t get out of his estate and as there is no bus service there, we agreed to postpone.  I phoned Val to tell him the bad news, I don’t think he was all that impressed, but if there’s one thing that retirement is good for, it’s not having to go out when you don’t feel like it, and we didn’t feel like it.

Sat around for a while watching the snow quickly turn to slush. Put the cases up in the loft.  Defrosted a couple of loaves and set them to rise.  Had the rest of the soup for lunch.  Walked over to Condorrat and then back through St Mo’s but found little to photograph, eventually settling on water droplets on the trees.

It was a bit of a wasted day, really.  Finally settled on snow as a subject for today’s sketch.  Even that took two attempts and by that time the snow was almost gone, but a bit of a watercolour wash rescued the few pen lines I used and made it look decent enough.

Bread looks as if it’s baked well.  Made one loaf into rolls and they look and smell a bit like Jaime’s Hop Bread.

Sitting eating Jub Jubs – sweeties from Triniday.  Jub Jub was my mum’s word for gums or jellies.

Tomorrow we will, hopefully, go out.  Somewhere.  Anywhere.

Out to Lunch – 22 February 2017

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It was another beautiful day.  Cold, but beautiful.  After seeing the fun the birds had at Madeleine’s birdbath in the garden in Trinidad made us decide to get one for our wee postage stamp garden at home.  Today we set out to see what was available and at what price.  We could also have lunch.  Two birds, one stone, no killing was done.

I’d initially thought of driving to Dobbies near Bearsden, but decided to change our destination to Oakwood Garden Centre.  We’d been there before and the food was good.  You can see now that the real reason we were going was for lunch.  Bird bath was just a ruse!  Enjoyable drive through the countryside just north of Glasgow.  Got there and the cafe was full, but they took our name and we were soon seated, with Scamp getting the good view out the window across the fields to the hills.  Food was good, maybe mine was not as good as last time, but that’s being picky.  This place serves real coffee.  Strong, rich Columbian.  Just the way I like it.  Browsed the bird baths available and although I liked the one with the two cherubs, Scamp scowled.  It will be a plain one, I think.

Drove home and dropped in at Lidl for some veg to make Minestrone soup.  With it simmering away and Scamp ensconced at the ironing board, I went out to get some photos at St Mo’s.  Thought of doing a sketch of the front / side of the sports barn, but it started raining, so I walked over to the pond instead.  The rain didn’t last, so I attempted a sketch of the rear / side view and that’s what you see here.  I think I should have stuck to the front view as the perspective gets a bit dodgy here.

There wasn’t much to photograph at the pond or in the trees, but I did get the shot above which I quite like with the contrast of hard and soft textures.

Salsa was good, if exhausting tonight.  Almost the whole of a level 2 class, followed by an advanced class.  I think I’ve finally mastered El Niño, but I won’t know for certain until Monday night when it will be put to the test again.

Storm Doris is heading our way – didn’t it drift our way when we were in Trinidad?  Maybe it got lost.  Anyway, amber alert for snow for Central Scotland tomorrow!  Don’t think I’ll be going far, except possibly a walk to St Mo’s again to get some photos if all goes well.

No Dough – 20 February 2017

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Scamp was at the physio this morning. I started a wee watercolour of the hills at the back, because the light was wonderful with wee floating cloud shadows drifting across them. It turned out better than I anticipated.

I’d taken a frozen chunk of dough out of the freezer last night and left it to defrost and rise overnight.  It did defrost, but it didn’t rise.  I tried to encourage the yeast to start working again by warming the loaf tin in some warm water, but it resisted my attentions. I eventually turned on the heating and put the embryonic bread on the radiator to warm up.

By then, Scamp had returned with her ankle strapped up and we had lunch before she went out to get Gems.  I was swithering whether to go out on my bike, go to the gym or go for a walk.  I’d a pain in my back and any of these would help.  However, as the sun was still shining, I decided that the gym was out, and as there was a gusty wind, maybe cycling would be a bit difficult.  So, by a process of elimination, a walk was the winner.  I was looking for somewhere that would produce a photo and also a sketch.  I finally settled on the railway again, because it’s near the hills and I quite fancied a photo of those cloud shapes on the land.

I got the photo, but saw nothing that encouraged the sketchbook out of my bag, then I saw the old house that I’d sketched before and that became my SoD (Sketch of the Day).  It’s a strange house, with dormer windows, extensions and an old, old wall round it.  There’s ivy too clinging to the gable end.  The sketch is quite representative, but I think the chimney is a bit out of scale.

Salsa tonight was hard work.  Hard work remembering the moves and hard work keeping going for a full hour after three weeks of lazing around.  Still very enjoyable and although we only stayed for an hour tonight, we may go for two hours on Wednesday, all being well.  Surprisingly, all the moves had names tonight!

No real plans for tomorrow, but we’re probably going food shopping.  Oh what fun.

The bread?  Oh, it rose perfectly, then it stuck to the loaf tin and just wouldn’t come out.  I should have realised it had its own plans for the day when it took so long to rise.

Carrigan’s – 18 February 2017

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I went out for a walk along the railway in the afternoon.  A dull day with little prospect of any photos, and that’s how it turned out.  I took one photo before I went out and that was my PoD.  It was of a plantlet on the spider plant that lives in the downstairs toilet.  It reminded me of the Trinidad jungles!

On the way back along the railway, I stopped to sketch the house beside the canal with it’s extensions and odd angles.  It was a better viewpoint from the one I’d done a few months ago and it was looking quite good until the rain came on.  As I was closing the sketch book I realised that I was blotting the ink, but by then it was too late.  When I got back to the car and took a look at the damage, it actually looked quite good.  The rain had added texture to what would have been an empty page!

We were meeting Margaret and Billy Kent for dinner tonight in Carrigan’s in Hamilton.  It was a great night. Just nattering and eating all night. Right now, I’m feeling pretty full.  I may never eat again after a heavy three course meal, the star being the tablet ice cream!  Peppermint tea to settle my stomach then bed, I think.

Happy Anniversary – 17 February 2017

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Today we got the bus in to Glasgow.  The X28 no less, the real express bus that doesn’t touch the hovels of Moodiesburn or the ice cream dungeons of Muirhead.  No, it just goes straight down the M80 into Glasgow, after picking us up in Condorrat of course.  We were going to celebrate out 44th anniversary.

After a coffee in Nero watching the tiaras and bouffant hair pieces sauntering past, we walked up Sausage Roll Street because I thought I’d seen a drawing book in the book shop there, but I was mistaken, it was in Waterstones at The Fort.  The girl in Waterstones checked for me.  Meanwhile, Scamp was in M&S getting a bargain – a new swimsuit.

Me disappointed, Scamp delighted, we walked down to Argyle Street to get some more of the bowtie print, bowtie material, some dark grey thread and a pair of dressmaking scissors.  Now don’t get excited Hazy, the ballgown is still a little way off yet.

Lunch was in Sarti’s and it was delicious.  Mine was shin of beef done in Italian beer.  According to the waiter, the secret is to marinade it for 48 hours and slow cook for 2.  Scamp had seabass cooked in orange and honey.  She said it was ok, but the spinach mash and the lentils was the star.

Walked back up to Sausage Roll again to buy Upwords.  It’s a game I’ve been playing on the iPhone.  It’s a bit like Scrabble but different.  There, that explains it totally.  Anyway, I went in to WH Smith to get a magazine to read on the slow bus home and, there was the book I was looking for!  Bought it.  That will save me a trip to The Fort tomorrow.  I bought the magazine too.

Went to get the bus back home, like I said, the slow bus.  That is when we re-met the hair pieces and hair extensions and little tiaras on legs.  Spray tanned legs on little Irish dancers.  Ten year olds, made up to look like midget twenty year olds.  All of them chaperoned by seriously overbearing and totally focused mummies.  Apparently today was the semi-finals of the dancing competition.  I think we’ll be going anywhere but Glasgow tomorrow to avoid these distorted little girls.  Childhoods stolen.

Slow bus home.  Today’s PoD was of a sunflower fixed into a crack in the new pavement being laid in Union Street.  Also, today’s sketch shows that I did learn something from the new book.  Curvilinear Perspective is a strange beast.

Status Quo – 16 February 2017

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Not the group with the repetitive lyrics, but just getting back to normal.

Off to the hospital this morning to find out the results of the biopsy on Scamp’s mole.  As expected, it was indeed malignant, but was caught early enough to prevent a more serious situation.  Still some more work to be done, but the long term view is very good.

To celebrate, we had lunch at the Garrion Bridges antique centre with all the other antiques!  Cheap and Cheerful, that’s why the place was very busy.

Drove home and I went out to get some photos and hopefully a sketch.  I went down the Luggie Water and found some snowdrops and that became my PoD.  There was little else there of interest.  I drove to Tesco and tried to sketch Cumbernauld College, but it looked like a disaster, both the sketch and the building and I gave up on it, so it was later in the night I got the sketch completed.  A bottle of Joker!

Feeling a bit more ‘normal’ whatever that means now.

  • Jet Lag gone.
  • Cases unpacked
  • Stressball burst

Hopefully bussing in to Glasgow tomorrow to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

Jet Lag – 15 February 2017

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This is the first time I’ve experienced Jet Lag.  You don’t get it flying from European airports.  You’re only out by an hour, two at the most.  Flying from Triniday, it’s a ten hour flight and then there’s a four hour dime difference added to that.  My wee brain just couldn’t handle that.  Added to the Jet Lag was the howling wolves next door for a couple of hours in the morning.  Not good.

Scamp went to Tesco for essentials.  I went to St Mo’s to get some photos and to get today’s sketch done for 28

Image may contain: drawing

Drawings Later.  Scamp got the messages.  I got the photo(s) and I got the sketch done, then wrote the wrong day on the sketch.

That’s about it.  Other than finding that some little rodent has been helping itself to the bird seed in the cupboard.  I’ll have to get the mouse trap out again and also block up the hole too.  I hate doing it, but we have to be realistic about health issues with mice in the house.

That is it.  Tomorrow will be a stressful day and hopefully the Jet Lag will be behind us by then.

Is this your minky? – 11 February 2017

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11 FebToday we set off after breakfast for Chaguaramas to walk into the Bamboo Cathedral.

I don’t know what I expected, but I wasn’t ready for the sign warning us to

  • Walk in groups
  • Don’t display cell phones or jewellery
  • Stay in well lit areas

I thought we were going for a leisurely walk.  I forgot to pack the AK47 and stab proof vest.  Bummer.  However, once we walked past the entrance gate, I forgot all about that.  This was jungle!  Well, jungle with a wide tarmac road through it.  The trees round us were enormous and there was some bamboo too, but nothing ‘cathedral-like’.  Then we turned a corner and there was the bamboo.  Not one or two clumps, but hundreds  – everywhere.  Now I could see the ‘cathedral’ reference.  The bamboo arched over our heads from both sides and met in the middle making it look and feel as if we were walking through a green tunnel.  We walked the length of the bamboo tunnel and then started climbing the hill at the end.  As far as we could see, the bamboo was finished.  We turned to go back and Madeleine stopped to ‘rescue’ a piece of vine from the depredations of some weeds.  Jaime managed to wrap some banana leaf round it and tie it off with a bit of creeper to keep the roots damp until we got it home and could replant it.  It was a rescue vine.  We walked back through the Bamboo Cathedral and just before we got to the high trees, Madeleine notices movement in the bushes at the side of the road.  I started mentally ticking off the warnings on that sign, then we all saw the monkeys.

Madeleine said they were Capuchin monkeys.  I was too busy trying to get a decent shot of them in the low light that filtered through the canopy.  Eventually, I gave up, switched on fast continuous shooting and fired off seven or eight shots at a time, gave the camera time to deal with them then fired off another seven or eight.  I tried a video, but the Oly 10 isn’t really up to that kind of task, and when I checked later, there was nothing useable on either video.  Everyone had a great time looking for new groups who seemed to appear from nowhere, climb high into the branches above our heads and jump the gap across to the other side  Adult and babies all made the journey without injury although some were better at jumping than they were at catching the branches on the other side and there were a few almost tumbles.  Once they were all over, they started feeding and it was time for us to move on.  Great fun for all.  All the time we were watching the monkeys, people were passing by, all saying “Good Morning” and none really batting an eyelid at the monkey gymnastics.  I’m guessing this is a normal occurrence here.

When we got back to the car, we drove on to Macqueripe Bay where we descended the stairs, under the screaming people on the Zip Wire above us, down to the beach.  Lovely little beach with what might have been a harbour at one end and a sort of short promenade above the sand.  The water looked lovely and clear and I wished I’d brought swimming stuff.  The whole place had a strange 1950s look to it and reminded me of the Lido at Bothwell Bridge near Hamilton.  Lots of folk swimming and just enjoying the sun, but then it was Saturday after all.  I got photos of some crabs before they dived down their holes.  They were well back from the sea and I wondered if they sneaked down the steps onto the beach at night.  From the promenade you could look out past an island to just see Venezuela in the distance.

After the short visit to the beach, we walked back up to the car and Madeleine drove us home via the supermarket which seemed to stock a lot of Waitrose goods. Which made me wonder if it’s an offshoot of that business.  We saw all the usual supermarket stuff and then some things you don’t get back home, like Chicken’s Feet again.  Scamp even took a photo of the aforementioned delicacy to show to the disbelieving ones back home.  On that subject, I did spot a cafe on the road advertising Cow Heel Soup.  Apparently it’s a local delicacy and the soup is really good.  I just hope they wash the cow’s heels well before making the soup, having seen the stuff that cows walk through!

Lunch was stewed chicken with fried plantain and salad, followed by coconut ice cream.  Maybe a notch down from the ice cream we got in Karawak, but still better than anything we get at home.

IMG_3767_3768Today’s sketch is of the house across the street with a bit of M&J’s house added in to set the scene.  Actually, after I was finished, I preferred the lightness of M&J’s house to the lumpy looking other house.  The perspective is much more pronounced with the viewpoint closer to the small house.  Worth another go, I think.  Maybe tomorrow.