Category: A Walk

Talking gardens with Isobel – 4 July 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Today we were meeting Isobel for coffee in Costa. Not my favourite place, but it suited us today. Just a place for the ladies to have a blether.

The conversation was wide ranging, about family and the difficulty for young folk to find a permanent job, but eventually it all came round to flowers, plants and gardening. Isobel is a really dedicated gardener and I’m sure she and Scamp could spend all day talking about plants and different regimes for planting, feeding and disposing of unwanted plants. She is quite a hard task master with no quarter given. If a plant isn’t performing, it either gets cut down to the ground to force better growth next year, or it gets ripped out and dumped in the bin. There’s usually another plant ready and waiting to fill its place.

When the talking was done Scamp went to get a new cover for her phone and I drove Isobel home, then I went back to pick up Scamp and we drove home. She told me that everyone in the shops wanted to sell her a wallet type cover but she stuck to her guns and got the cover she wanted, not one they wanted rid of. I know where she gets that attitude from, Isobel!

After lunch we walked up to the Polling Station and handed over our bus passes as proof of identity, then put our cross in the correct box. Strangely we used to be quite coy about who we had voted for, but now we were much more open about it and both of us had gone for the same party. Spoiler Alert: It wasn’t a Conservative!

It was a wild day with gusty winds and heavy rain showers, but thankfully we got up to the Polling Station and back again without getting wet. That’s a miracle in itself these days.

I managed a walk in St Mo’s later in the afternoon and although it wasn’t very wet, the cold blustery west wind wasn’t great to walk in and I was glad to get back home with a couple of photos. This time I’d fixed the new lens on to the A6500 where it was a bit overbalanced by the Tamron. It still produced a decent shot of a little wee yellow flower which became PoD. I must look it up to see just exactly what it was. While the lens copes quite well with these almost macro subjects, it’s not really suited to them. It’s more a large landscape lens or a means of isolating a subject from the background. Maybe I need to get out into the wider world to test it properly.

Dinner was Savoury Rice which is basically “What have we got in the fridge?” with some rice cooked in a chicken stock. It was very nice. I had it without any additions, but in retrospect, maybe a dash of Soy Sauce and maybe a splash of Yorkshire Relish would have lifted it.

That was about it for the day, except for Andy & Jamie Murray’s doubles exit from Wimbledon, against a better pairing. I’m not sure if he will continue to the mixed doubles now.

No plans for tomorrow yet, Just waiting with bated breath to find out who wins the poisoned chalice of the house in Downing Street.

 

Wet and Windy – 3 July 2024

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Another day when the weather was wasn’t very like the July we all used to know.

Hurricanes in the Caribbean and temperatures almost in single figures at home. This isn’t at all like the summers we’ve been used to. What happened to summer? Did I blink and miss it? We’ve struggled through a wet, windy and cold winter, only to find at the end that it was at times, warmer than it is this summer. Personally I blame the government!

I did go out for a while in the afternoon hoping it would stay dry at least, but it didn’t. Luckily the trees are all in full leaf now, so I could shelter until the worst of it was past. I did get a couple of decent photos, despite the wind and the rain. Best of a reasonable lot was a photo of a Drone Fly, a kind of Hoverfly, feeding on the flowers of a Cow Parsley head. Probably not the prettiest of insects, but the new lens delivered a sharp image of it. There’s another of a ‘spider house’ on Flickr that gave the drone fly a run for its money.

That was about it for the day. Scamp didn’t even go out to prune her roses. It was that kind of day. I think we were both a bit tired after two hours of almost constant dancing yesterday.

We did a bit of digital tidying up. Moving photos from Scamp’s old computer on to a storage SSD and from there onto her new computer. Now it’s her job to complete the tagging of the photos before copying them to OneDrive. I suppose, grudgingly, I have to admit that there are things that OneDrive can do very efficiently.

Dinner tonight was the ready-roasted chicken we bought in Troon yesterday served with potatoes and cabbage. It made a decent meal and the chicken was lovely.

Tomorrow we may be meeting Isobel if we don’t get blown away, because there are more gusty winds predicted.

 

White Rabbits (x3) – 1 July 2024

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The first day of July and for about an hour tonight, it actually felt like summer.

In the morning, it was that cold wind again that took all the heat away. There really wasn’t much encouragement to go out and take some photos, but I did anyway, but not until well after lunch.

I struggled again to understand the purpose of the three available settings on the new camera, but eventually gave up. I think from what I’ve read that a lot of these settings are more for movie filming than stills photography.

I took the camera and the new lens out for a walk in the afternoon, but the wind was the problem again. Nothing like what’s happening in the Caribbean just now with 130mph winds, but our breezes were annoying too. More than half the photos ended up on the cutting room floor.

Dinner for Scamp tonight was yesterday’s Ratatouille reheated with some tinned tomatoes and some passata added. Mine was yesterday’s Spaghetti Bolognese magically turned into Chilli con Carne with the other half of the tomatoes and passata. Both were fine served with rice. I even had enough left over from my chilli to to go into the freezer for a day when I fancy something different!

The light was lovely about 7.30pm so I took the camera and the new lens out for a walk. I managed to get some more interesting photos this time in the Golden Hour. The best by far became PoD.

No real plans for tomorrow, but hopefully we won’t have to wait so long for the sun to shine and we’ll get a chance to go out somewhere.

Dancin’ – 29 June 2024

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An enjoyable dance class for once.

It started with a few Butterfly Jives. The teachers need to realise that some of their pupils are not as young as they used to be. After the third one, I was beginning to think this was a bad move. After sitting in a car for forty-five minutes with the only movements being my feet on the pedals and a few hand movement on the wheel, the toe-taps, spins and toe-heels were raising my blood pressure and overworking my lungs. But as soon as it started, it finished … thankfully!

The next dance was a gentle Foxtrot. It must be my favourite dance, slow and gentle. While it didn’t have anything energetic, it certainly had a lot of technique with Sway and CBMP. I don’t have a clue what CBMP is other than it’s when you move in one direction while your body is trying to go in another. The teachers make it look so easy, but then, they would. They’ve been practising it for ages. I still enjoyed it.

Stewart managed to squeeze in a couple of Tina Tangos when it seemed we were all losing the place with the Sway and the CBMP. The first one was to Ed Sheeran’s Shivers just to please Scamp.

Last ballroom tracks were for Joy’s Waltz which everyone thought they’d forgotten until we’d danced it through a couple of times and then it sort of fell into place. All down to Muscle Memory.

A couple of fast tracks finishing with Fireball! complete with clapping and shouting “Oi”. Great fun. An almost totally enjoyable class. Just a bit too much theory for me in the middle.

We drove back home via Cowcaddens where we parked and went to pay for and pick up the Tamron 70-180mm f2.8 Di III VXD G2 lens. It might have been Buyers Remorse, but when I got it home, it wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped it would be. I’m not totally sold on it and it may not end up being a keeper. Only time and a few hundred more test shots will swing it one way or the other. Today’s PoD was taken with it. Just a green leaf but one with lovely curvature.

Tomorrow looks better than today, but no plans for what to do with it yet.

Out for a walk – 26 June 2024

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Today I was meeting Alex for a walk around Glasgow.

For once I was early at Buchanan Bus station, so early that I had a chance to go for a walk down Buchanan Street and grab some street shots there. When I returned to the bus station Alex was waiting for me and we went for a coffee as usual. He wanted to visit Princes Square to get some photos and I didn’t mind going there too. I chose different subjects though. He was interested in the criss crossing escalators at the far end. I was photographing the little coloured glass plates attached to the wrought iron railings. Each to his own.

From Princes Square we walked down Queen Street and turned left into Argyle Street, then Alex decided it was time for lunch so we went to Paesano for a very filling pizza each, ad as I had bussed it in to the town, I could have a glass or wine with my lunch. Alex is TT, so he had Coke. From there we went to the GOMA the second of Alex’s choice of places to go today. He wanted to go up to the gallery and take a shot looking down to the ground floor, taking in the elliptical handrails round the edge of the gallery … except, when we got there we found someone had hung a long banner from the middle of the roof light right down to the ground. There would be no photos of the elliptical galleries today. I felt sorry for him, because he’d brought a special fisheye lens for exactly that shot. As we were leaving the GOMA I got the PoD which was a line of folk sitting on the steps of the building with only the front two in sharp focus. Just one shot that worked really well.

I’d ordered a lens from WEX to check out on Sunday and it was due to arrive today, so we walked up to Blythswood Square and down to Bath Street, then left to take us to WEX and the lens. We both had a play with it with the bloke holding my 24-105mm as surety. Then we tried it’s new younger brother, the more expensive G2 model. Without any prompting, Alex said what I was thinking. “Wow! That’s solid as a rock.” What he meant was there was no shake in the lens the electronics in the camera and the lens were working together to hold the camera sensor steady on the target. We went back in and I told the salesman I’d take the G2 model. Unfortunately they didn’t have one in stock, but he’s ordered one to be sent up from Norwich and it should be with me by the weekend. It’s not been paid for, yet. Not even a deposit was asked for. Looking forward to trying it out properly.

We walked back through the barricades on Sauchiehall Street, had another coffee in Waterstones and a long natter about lenses and Buyers Remorse, then walked down to the bus station where I just missed the X3. It didn’t matter, I had my phone with Spotify and a pair of good earbuds. I listened to a varied and mostly interesting selection on the way home.

Scamp hadn’t had as successful day as far as food was concerned. Her lunch with the Witches wasn’t all that great. I get the feeling that Mac ’n’ Cheese in Brodens would have fitted the bill better. However, like me, she was there to exchange gossip, although, if asked, Alex and I would say we were sharing photographic information.

We watched the Sewing Bee and saw another contestant’s hopes of glory dashed on the cutting room floor.

Tomorrow Scamp has dentist in the afternoon, so I have to come up with something to keep her mind off it and she has to keep my mind of a Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VC VXD G2 that just might arrive tomorrow.

Plume Moth – 25 June 2024

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It was another dull day, but a bit cooler than it has been of late.

Hazy phoned in the morning and told us about her interview and the way it was conducted. Totally different from the last one a couple of years ago. She seemed surprised at how relaxed it was, but I doubt she, herself, or Neil would be relaxed. I imagine the whole experience made her uneasy and she’d need a good few days to recover.

Scamp went out afterwards to look for a new phone. Not the iPhone that Hazy teased her with, but a sensible Android. First question Hazy asked later was “What colour did you get?” It’s a running joke in the family. Phones are so much smarter these days. It only took less than an hour for the phone to download everything from the old phone and install it in the new one. The most difficult thing was trying to get her Versa 4 watch to sync with the new phone, but then the Versa was made by Fitbit which has now been taken over by Google who haven’t made any improvements or updates in a couple of years. They just keep pushing their Pixel phone. That’s just how the world turns these days.

In the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s, looking for insects to photograph, I did find a Plume Moth which became PoD. Plume moths don’t fold their wings, they roll them up when they land. They look quite otherworldly with their long spindly legs and those rolled up wings.
I’d intended to go for a longer walk into the woods, but the clouds that were surrounding the park were looking rain bearing, so I wandered home instead. It was getting dark, too although it was just about 5pm. The ISO reading on my camera was 12,800. Normally in June you would expect a reading of about 125. Quite a difference!

That was about it for another dull and at times very dull day. Watched Bake Off – The Professionals and saw the Scottish duo kicked out. A pity, but it was deserved.

Probably meeting Alex for a photowalk tomorrow.

A dull morning that became a dull day – 24 June 2024

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Another white sky day. I spent most of the morning writing the catch-up blog for yesterday. While I was doing that, Scamp drove to Tesco to get the messages and by the time she came back, I had almost finished yesterday’s story. I helped bring in the messages and then realised I’d forgotten to tell her to get porridge. Finished the blog and posted it, and then it was lunch time.

Lunch was a dodgy bake-at-home pizza from the Pizza Express range. This one was a BBQ Chicken flavour. If you ever see it, pretend you didn’t and walk on. Probably the worst pizza I’ve eaten for many a long year.

After I got the taste of it out of my mouth, I went for a walk in St Mo’s. The weather was really muggy and uncomfortably warm. As I was walking over I did feel a couple of spots of rain, but it didn’t come to anything so I just continued on. I was carrying the A7 with the heavy 105mm macro lens bolted to it. That meant the most comfortable way to carry it was in my rucksack. Having the rucksack meant I could carry my raincoat too, just in case. However, I didn’t really need it a few spots now and again was all that troubled me.

No wildlife around in St Mo’s not even a few damselflies. The nearest I got to something interesting was a black and white Pellucid Hoverfly. I don’t remember ever seeing one before and I only found out what it was, by copying one of my photos of it into Google Images and discovering it that way. The PoD went to a plant I see quite a lot of in St Mo’s in the boggy areas beside the boardwalk. Quite a pretty plant, but decidedly difficult today when a bit of a breeze got up.and the whole thing started to gyrate.

John, next door had watered the garden on Friday, or was it Saturday night. Anyway, it was our turn to return the compliment. I fitted the hose for the first time this year and doused both our front gardens, then finished off by watering the back garden, I think that’s one of the problems with plants in pots, as opposed to in the ground. It takes longer to get round all the different pots and check that you haven’t missed any.

After that, and with the hose and connector put away for another week or so it Monday and my turn to cook. I made White Pasta or Pasta Carbonara to give it its proper name. I thought the sauce was too watery, but Scamp said it was fine.

Wrote to Alex and arranged a photo walk for this coming week.

No plans for tomorrow yet.

A dull start to a Sunday – 23 June 2024

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It was a white sky day again today. Warm with just the risk of rain in the air.

We’d planned to go down to Glasgow Green, but never really got organised enough to go, then after lunch I was moping around looking at a couple of lenses which had dropped considerably in price when I noticed that WEX in Glasgow was listed as being open on Sundays. It had previously been a Monday to Saturday shop. I thought I’d risk a phone call to see if they had one of the lenses available for testing. They did have. That put a different complexion on the day!

Scamp didn’t want to come into town with me, being more interested in getting the front grass cut, so I drove down to the station and was just in time to get the express train to Glasgow. The day was brightening up and the sun was poking holes in the cloud, so I walked up the Bath Street hill and down the other side to WEX. Unfortunately, it was the expensive lens that they had on display, but I tried it out, just in case it would be worthwhile. Lovely bit of equipment. Almost perfect for what I wanted, but just a little out of my price range. However Baz, who was the salesman I spoke to said they could get a lens sent up from the warehouse for the middle of next week. I agreed and went home to dream about things I couldn’t afford!

I grabbed a couple of candid photos in a walk-by shooting spree on Sauchiehall Street and another couple of more planned shots in Buchanan Street, then walked through to the station, where I bumped into Cathy Donaghy who used to be in the office at work along with here daughter. They too were waiting for the Croy train to arrive after the previous one had mysteriously disappeared from the display board. We talked for a while and I found out that Danielle, her daughter was getting married in September and that a few of the teachers we knew had retired, as had Cathy. It was a really good catch-up with folk I hadn’t seen for years.

Back home, Scamp was sitting in the back garden with a Soda & Lime having done a great job on the front grass. I told her my tale of woe of the wrong lens and of meeting Cathy and Danielle then recharged her glass with Pimms and filled mine with Birds & Bees Summer Ale. We then soaked up the sun that had cleared the sky of clouds for an hour or so until it was time for dinner.

Later in the evening we watched a processional Spanish F1 GP. Which was won by the usual suspect. Later still just as the Scotland vs Hungary football was starting, Jamie phoned and we discussed work and the prospect of Simonne getting a job with a more localised area. That wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Finally we watched a lacklustre Scotland losing to the better team, Hungary. Apparently Scotland were robbed of a penalty because the referee was from Argentina?? I think that’s just clutching at straws. Anyway, what difference will it make. They didn’t win and that’s it for this year at least.

One of the Sauchiehall street shots got PoD. As usual it was a mash-up of two photos!

A few too many glasses of wine, brandy and beer last night meant this blog was carried over until today! My appy-polly-logies. Hicº

Hopefully another warm but sunny Monday for the start of the week. We have no plans.

 

Back in the old routine – 22 June 2024

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10:15am found us driving towards Glasgow and on to Brookfield. We were going to dance class.

When we got there the ickle girls were being presented with awards for being the best ballet dancers in Brookfield Hall while Stewart & Jane looked as if they were about to blow a gasket. I could understand why. We lost ten minutes of our dance class to this little frippery.

Jane was the one to call a halt to the celebration when she started clearing away the unnecessary seats and allowing us to get out of our trainers and into our dance shoes while the little charmers went charging round the hall. Then we danced a little bit of fluff, the Blue Angel Rumba It wasn’t blue, I saw no angels but there was a little bit of rumba there. Next, as we’d expected, we went through the Butterfly Jive. Again, I must complain because there were no Butterflies although there were a few Jive steps. It’s quite complicated and it’s FAST. Far too fast for my poor feet. They’ve only just learned how to waltz and foxtrot, but aren’t experienced enough to handle a fast Jive. Neither am I come to that. I managed to get my phone to record the routine and hopefully between now and next Saturday we’ll have had a chance to learn the steps and assemble them in the correct order.

Next was a new ‘improved’ version of the Tango we’d learned ages ago which had a ‘Prom turn to Rock turn’ added to it. I’d never understood what a Prom turn to Rock turn was, something to do with 6th years leaving party added to Mick Jagger’s on-stage antics. Actually it’s just fancy word for a turn and then rocking back and forward. Next Jane added ‘The Chase’ which I didn’t understand and still don’t. Just a whole pile of pirouetting on the dance floor, much like the ickle girls were doing earlier. Thankfully Scamp managed to make sense of this new dance language and we got through it.

We finished up with another couple of sequence dances, a Midnight Jive and a Bossa Nova. I can handle them.

I was so relieved when the teachers started clearing up, because my little brain was full after we did the Blue Angel Rumba and I was beginning to get a nagging headache.

We drove home through the lightest traffic I’ve ever seen on the M8/M74. In fact, when I glanced over to the Kingston Bridge, the traffic on it was travelling at about 50mph. Unheard of on a Saturday afternoon.

I was absolutely beat and feeling quite down, when I got home. A piece ’n’ egg helped, but didn’t cure it. Scamp suggested I take a couple of paracetamol and I did and I felt better. Went for a walk in St Mo’s later and got a few photos. That’s where the PoD came from. It’s what my mum called Purple Vetch, so that’s what I’m calling it too.

Dinner was provided by Golden Bowl, Chicken Chop Suey and Fried Rice for Scamp and a Special Chow Mein for me. Both quite, quite delicious. A large glass of red to wash it down helped too.

The walk in St Mo’s lifted my spirits and the Golden Bowl helped too, but the heavy lifting was done by Scamp, as always. Thank you my love for talking me out of a bad day … again!

Nothing planned for tomorrow, but I think we need to practise the Butterfly Jive. Who knows, we may even find the butterfly!

Birlin’ roon Stirlin’ – 21 June 2024

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It was a dull start to the day with low white cloud.

We had a quick discussion about places to go, but we finally settled on Stirling and a walk up that big hill to the castle. We weren’t driving today, we parked at the station and took the train to Stirling. It was a long walk from Stirling station to the castle, but after a coffee and a cream bun we felt energised enough for it.

With barely a stop to catch our breath, we reached the castle. Scamp wanted to see the Scottish tapestry and I wanted to take some photos from the ramparts. I took the first batch of photos and then we went and visited the hut at the back of the castle where we had watched the ladies weaving the tapestry at least ten years ago. After wandering back along the high ramparts we found our way into the bedchambers of the king and queen and it was in the Queen’s Inner Hall we found the actual tapestries, looking resplendent, hanging on the walls. They were commissioned in 2001 and work began in 2002. The seven tapestries were completed in 2016. They are really worth the entrance fee (and the walk).

All that climbing and walking was making us hungry, so we walked down the hill by a less circuitous route that took us down to the Indian Cottage restaurant in the town. We haven’t been there for years, but the food was just as good as we remembered it. Another wander through the city centre, because Stirling is a city now, and then we walked down to the station just as the rain came on.

Got the train home. Not the busiest train in the world, but I assume it covers its costs. Stopped on the way at Tesco to take on badly needed supplies and by the time we got parked at home the rain was getting heavy.

An enjoyable day. PoD was the view from the Ladies Lookout. Allegedly this is where the ladies of the royal court of Stirling Castle stood to admire the view. So did we!

Dancin’ is planned for tomorrow in Brookfield. Hopefully not too much of the Butterfly Jive!