The Wee Boy – 2 April 2017

Another day of wall to wall sunshine, well, it was sunny for most of the day, but there were a few April showers too, but much shorter and less sharp than of late.

Today we had planned to go to the Art Galleries in Kelvinside to hear one of our friends from salsa, singing in her choir.  Scamp was going to hear …. , I was going to sketch.  We walked down through Kelvingrove Park from Kelvinbridge Underground station and it really did feel like spring, with blossom on the trees and families having picnics on the grass.  After a quick coffee in the Galleries cafe, Scamp got settled in the audience and I headed off to find a subject.  I chose a knight’s helmet and got stuck in.  I wasn’t all that impressed with it until a wee boy and his mum came along.  He asked me if I was an artist, but when I said, “No, I just like drawing.”  He didn’t seem disappointed and said “You’re really good”.  I thanked him, but I don’t think he realised how much that meant to me.  Wherever you are, wee boy, you made my day!

After that, I messed up the sketch completely, trying to render it with a marker pen, so went looking for other subjects.  I’ve always liked the rear entrance to the Galleries and preferred it to the entrance from Argyle Street.  Allegedly, the architect had agreed with me and also preferred that entrance.  A man of taste, obviously.  Anyway, I chose the rear entrance stairs as my sketch of the day.  It was a difficult one with angles, arches and lots of Victorian embellishments.  I’m not all that keen on the finished sketch, but I will certainly go back and try it again.

I took some photos of the choir and our friend in particular.  I also enjoyed some of the singing.  I didn’t enjoy the organ recital.  I hate organ music, but Scamp likes it and I was quite happy that she enjoyed it while I sketched today.

Embra – 25 March 2017

We took the train to Embra this morning in the sunshine that was predicted would last all day.  It did.  Blue skies over Embra, but also over Cumbersheugh which was a greater surprise.

Wandered up the Grassmarket and decided that we’d just have an early lunch at Petit Paris, except that it was 12.00 and we were half an hour too early.  Rather than be disappointed like yesterday, we sat in the Grassmarket in the sunshine and waited until nearly 12.30 and then made our way down to the restaurant.  Scamp had Soup de Provence and I had what I always have there, French Onion Soup because they do it so well.  For main we both had Poisson de Jour which for Scamp was Coley with Red Pepper Sauce, served with mashed potatoes.  Mine was the same, except they had run out of Coley, so I had Cod.  Same difference.   Scamp had a crêpe with Grand Marnier for pudding and I had coffee.  I took a risk and had a glass of house red with my meal.  Ha, ha Nick the Chick, I wipe my nose with your drink driving limit!

Walked back down the Grassmarket rather than go up past the Royal Mile and all the twee gift shops, because, to be honest, the only reason we were there was to have lunch.  Got a book I’ve been looking for, for ages in Waterstones and then got a cut-price Bergy jacket in Tiso’s.  Actually it’s exactly the same as the one I’ve had for ever except it doesn’t have inside pockets.  Same style, same material almost, even same colour.  Boring, that’s me.  It was a bargain.  You can’t let a bargain go past, can you?

Back home we watched Best Marigold Hotel again.  Still has the same magic as the first time we saw it.

A lazy day in the sun.  Bought some fat hand made sausage rolls and some pork sausages too at the Farmers Market, so that’s tomorrow and probably Monday’s lunch sorted.  Hoping for more sunshine tomorrow.  Always hoping!

Lost and Found – 23 March 2017

Sometimes I feel that the day just got brighter.  When I look back on it to see what it was that happened to make me feel that way, I realise that it’s not what happened, but what didn’t happen that made the change.  It’s like finding something I was certain was lost.  I haven’t actually gained anything, just not lost it and that subtle difference changes everything.

I drove in to Glasgow this morning to drop Scamp off at the hospital to have a *bite* as the dermatologist described it, taken out of her arm where the mole had been.  This was to be a larger excision than the one she had before we went to Trinidad in January.  Neither of us was talking about it on the way in, but it was playing through our heads, that was obvious.  As she was going to wait for an hour and a half before she would go to the theatre, and as she had company in the ward, I took my leave.

I wandered round the town, seeing nothing very much to photograph or to take my mind off the day.  Totally by accident, I walked into the exhibition room of Cass Art and admired the portraiture of the winner of the Sky Portrait Artist of the Year and especially his portrait of Graham Norton.  I saw the bloke who sits on the toy horse outside the Apple shop ‘blacking up’ ready for a hard day in the saddle.  I watched one of the beggars who’s hands shake all the time outside Buchanan Galleries pluck a smart phone from her inside pocket and hold it to her ear, steady as a rock, then remember to start shaking her other hand holding her cup.  I walked back through to the car park and grabbed a few shots of the city skyline through the glass panels of the bridge and that’s what you see above, slightly edited.  Well, considerably edited.

Drove home and found it strange to be sitting alone in the car going along the motorway.  Lunch was a *piece ’n’ banana*.  Not long after I got the text from Scamp to say that she was back in the ward with a BIG bandage and then the text to say that a taxi was required.

Since she had been a very brave girl she got to choose tonight’s dinner, which turned out to be a fish supper with a pickled onion and a tub of Tablet Ice Cream as pudding.  She deserved it.

Windy Willie – 20 March 2017

Windy Willie was Scamp’s explanation for strong winds when the weans were wee.  No need then for Storm Agatha or Storm Benjamin.  No, when the house was shaking in the gusts, Windy Willie was out there, that was enough explanation.  Windy Willie was out today.

Scamp was singing again with Gems today.  This time in Stepps.  I had intended to go sketching in Glasgow to get back to more architectural subjects, but when I got there, the horizontal rain and hail put me off, so instead I drove to the Fort to get some cheap pens and not so cheap painting stuff.  I say *painting stuff* because Inktense sticks are difficult to categorise.  They are part pastel sticks and part aquarelle.  Aquarelles are usually in the form of pencils and these are just sticks of pigment in a binder and are like pastels, except when you add water to them they turn into watercolour.  Worth a few quid to try them out and see what kind of mess I can make with them.

I drove back past the old Gartloch Hospital, a scary looking ex asylum on the outskirts of Easterhouse.  I kind of want to photograph it, but it comes into the same category as graveyards for me.  I often feel uneasy about photographing graveyards and most times don’t get the camera out.  It’s almost as if I have to ask permission to take photos there.  I can’t really explain it.  Some day I’ll make time to go to Gartloch and get some images.  Whether or not I’ll keep them I can’t say.  I might just format the card after they’re taken.  I will say this though, it will be a bright sunny day I go there.

Only two photos worth showing today.  One of contrasting textures between the grey sky and the grey aluminium of  the M&S building at the Fort and another of an old knife with a couple of beads of jam on it (not blood!) sitting on the draining board at the sink at home.  I just liked them both.  PoD was  the knife.

Before salsa tonight, I was enlisted to help with beginners Bachata which Cameron was teaching, and teaching quite well.  He still needs to relax, but his voice control is much better and he also needs to realise that he doesn’t need to show off so much.  It all looks like a lack of self-confidence to me, but I’d never tell him that.  Enjoyed it.  Salsa was fast and furious.  New move tonight was Tresario Doble, I think.  Interesting and counter intuitive at times.  We need to practise it.  Also Cubaa Se from last week.  Good fun.

No plans for tomorrow.  Snow and ice forecast with Windy Willie around too.

A walk down The Green – 12 March 2017

We decided, well I suggested, last night that we go for a walk down Glasgow Green today.  It fitted with the new regime of getting up that wee bit earlier, especially if we were to miss the hoards of ‘Billys’ and ‘Dans’ who would be heading for Celtic park for a local derby, AKA a punchup, because that’s what usually happens.  Actually, although Celtic park is close to Glasgow Green, I’d rather drive there than Ibrox which is the Rangers park.  Both Scamp and I know lots of short-cuts we can take to avoid most of the Parkhead traffic, but if Rangers are playing at home, the motorway becomes one big car park with all the maddies desperate to get there before anyone else.  I imagine living near Ibrox must be a nightmare, no matter which team you support.  I can just imagine all those cars parked everywhere.

So we drove through the green and white hoards to The Green and got parked without any problem.  Walked down to the McLennan Arch at the far end, then back along the side of the Clyde past the rowing clubhouse.  The high flats on the far side of the Clyde always impress me.  They seem to catch the light so well, especially in the winter and spring.  I took some pictures of them, but preferred the shot of the washing drying behind the perspex screens.  Lots of rowers out today and an unusually large number of ‘8s’ with the self-important looking coaches cycling along beside them shouting through tannoys.  Stood on the suspension bridge watching the coming and going of the different boats with their varying skill sets.  Then went up the hill to the People’s Palace.

Went for the usual lunch of Roll ’n’ Sausage for me and two rounds of Toast for Scamp.  My sausage was inedible.  That’s the first time that’s happened to me.  I think it must have been left over from New Year’s Day and had been ‘nuked’ in the microwave once a week since then to heat it up and kill of the bacteria.  I left it on the plate.  I value the few teeth I’ve got left and wasn’t going to risk damage to the expensive crowns.  Maybe I should have complained, but, like I said, this is the first time it’s happened, so I’ll cut them some slack.  Did a quick sketch of the inside of the Wintergarden.  It’s still got its emergency sheeting in place to prevent any further risk of falling glass panels.  I expect that sheeting will become a permanent feature, which is a shame, because it does detract from the look of the wrought iron trusses, but safety before beauty, I suppose.  I am quite pleased with the sketch because the perspective is fairly correct, but also I managed to include a couple of people, something I must practise.  Walked round the plants and took a few shots.  Smiled when I saw a wee girl with her wee sister and a point-n-shoot camera. Talking into it as if she was conducting an interview, finishing with “… and that’s it for this visit to Glasgow.  Handing you back to the BBC in London.”  Imagination.  That’s what it’s all about.  The camera wasn’t even switched on.

Came home and dumped my photos, then the sun came out.  It had been raining on and off all morning, but now the clouds had rolled away and the sun was coming out.  Scamp was ‘Tidying Up’ and I didn’t want to get involved in that, so I too the ‘Big Dog’ out to St Mo’s to see if there was anything interesting there.  Some coots building nests, but they were too far away to make anything of.  A cormorant, but it flew away.  No deer to be seen, but load of frogs.  Spent a wee while watching them, watching me.  I took some photos of some of them, but didn’t notice them photographing me.  Maybe they did and have posted them on FrogFlickr.  Maybe they’re writing in their blog about the BigBloke with the BigCamera who they saw today.  Who knows.  We are not alone in this world.  Might go back for some more photos tomorrow.

Dinner tonight should have been Tuna steak, but neither of us were impressed with it.  It just didn’t taste right, so we ditched it.  It looked so nice too.  Last time we’ll go to that fishmonger – it wasn’t even Tesco!

Hoping to go in to Salsa early tomorrow to get some ‘messages’.

A Posh Lunch – 11 March 2017

Scamp had booked us a posh lunch today at the Blythswood.  It was an Itison voucher lunch, but a posh one, none the less.  This was our second posh lunch this week.

As it happened, neither of us were over impressed with the Blythswood or the lunch.  Now don’t get me wrong, the food was good, just not great and the surroundings were nice, just not all that impressive.  Maybe we are being over critical or maybe places like this aren’t trying all that hard for the voucher brigade.  I don’t know what the answer is.  The food was Smoked Hake starter for Scamp and Chicken Liver Parfait for me, followed by Chicken Supreme for both of us.  Like I said, good but not great.

After lunch we got the subway out to Byres Road and walked through the Botanic Gardens which are celebrating their bicentenary this year.  Usually we just walk through the Kibble palace, but this time we took in both glasshouses.  Oh, it was almost like being back in Trinidad with the heat and the humidity.  However, alas and alack, when we came out it was just Glasgow humidity.  It was raining.  Not heavy rain, just a Scottish smir.

We thought we had nothing more to do than dodge across the street and go for a drink in Oran Mor.  Unfortunately, that was not to be.  The place was mobbed.  Not a seat to be had anywhere.  Most of the punters seemed to be engrossed in Scotland getting gubbed by the english again, at rugby this time.  Instead of a drink, we walked down Byres Road and got a piece of Tuna for tomorrow’s dinner, then got the subway back into town and walked up to get the bus home.

Just as the driver started the engine, I saw this wee wummin running across the road, arms outstretched like a scarecrow, carrying two bags in one hand and one in the other, trying frantically to catch the driver’s eye.  As he put the bus into reverse to exit the stance, I saw her visibly deflate as she realised that she had another 30 minute wait in front of her, because he wasn’t going to open the bus doors.  I don’t know what she said, but I’m sure it wasn’t “Oh dear”.

<Technospeak>
Back home, I think I’ve parted company with Dropbox.  It seems that my temporary term with 10GB of storage is rapidly coming to an end and the 2GB I’ll have in a week or so just won’t cover my requirements.  So I have to move my backup to Google Drive which generously gives me 15GB.  There is a ‘but’ and the ‘but’ in question is, ‘but it is the very devil to set up’.  I’d read up on it last night and didn’t understand a word.  Tonight I found a YouTube video explaining in words of one syllable how to do it, so I got started.  After an hour and a half of setting up a project, getting a ‘secret’, authorising it, failing, authorising it again, failing, resetting my ‘secret’ before authorising again and this time succeeding, it now seem that I have a new home for my WordPress backup.  I felt a bit like the wee wummin.  I had just thought I’d caught the Google Driver’s eye, but then he pulled out of the stance.  Never mind, it’s done now and I hope the wee wummin is home with her three bags full.
</Technospeak>

Today’s photos are from the Botanic Gardens and also a couple from Tobago.  You see Hazy, Shug and Tam did go on their holidays.

Celtic are at home to Rangers tomorrow.  We’re hoping to go for a walk down “The Green”.  Need to go early to avoid the battles.

Spring? – 5 March 2017

There’s a smell in the air around the end of August, beginning of September.  It’s the unmistakable smell of autumn.  Possibly an amalgam of the smell of fallen leaves, beginning to decay and that sharp tang of the first frosts.  I notice it every year.  What I’ve never analysed is the smell of spring.  I recognised it yesterday.  It’s a warm, happy smell.  It may be the fragrance of the new growth and of the first flowers, daffodils and crocuses for the main part, but it is definitely there.  The promise that winter is on the way out.  It’ll be snowing tomorrow, just to prove me wrong.

It was a bright sunny day after a rainy damp start.  When we got up, I started the slow cooking of the lamb shank I was having for dinner, while Scamp went for the messages.  When she got back, we started making the pudding which was to be Pineapple Snow.  I say WE were making the pudding, but I was just stirring the sauce while Scamp did the clever stuff.  We had decided to go to Will’s styling class at the Garage before the Sunday Social, so that defined the shape of the day.  However, as the afternoon wore on and we I got involved in the making of the pudding, it became obvious that we weren’t going to make that early class.  That left with the opportunity to walk through St Mo’s and hopefully get some springlike photos.  I took ‘Big Dog’ (the Nikon) with ‘Wee Dog’ (the Oly 5) in my pocket.  Best of both worlds.  No sign of any deer or of Mr Grey.  There were a couple of cormorants in the pond, probably visitors from Broadwood Loch where there are a strong contingent now.  What I did get were some photos of Sphagnum Moss fruiting bodies or the flowers to be precise sitting on some very bright green moss.

When I got back, we drove into Glasgow, watching a gigantic pall of smoke all the way in.  It turned out to be a fairly extensive fire at a scrapyard in Govan.  While I was glancing at it and not knowing at that stage what was causing it, I was thinking that by the colour of the smoke, it was some dirty and probably heavy duty stuff that was burning.  If that was so and all that muck was being lifted by the heat into the atmosphere, where would it eventually condense out and what damage would it do when it landed?  When we found out the cause of the smoke, I began to think about the toxic chemicals in that smoke drifting across the sky.  Makes you wonder what effects it has on wildlife when it eventually comes back down to earth.

After we parked and were walking down Sausage Roll Street, the light on The Beresford was beautiful and I grabbed a couple of iPhone shots.  Salsa was good, and at times relentless.  I was quite pleased when Scamp called a halt.

The slow cooked lamb shank was delicious, but the star of the show was definitely the Pineapple Snow.  Quite the most stunning dessert, mainly due to my expert stirring.  If there’s one thing I’m good at it’s stirring!

Out to Lunch – 22 February 2017

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.

Is this your minky? – 11 February 2017

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.

Pigeon Point again – Still no pigeons.

9 FebOut early again and got to Pigeon Point before the resort was fully open!  The benefit of getting there early is that you get your pick of the beach huts.  With our one selected and with sun screen slathered on, Scamp and I went for a walk in the shallows.  The water was cold, but then it was just after 9am.  The sea was much calmer today, so it was time to grab the mask and snorkel and head out to the reef.

Despite the lack of wind and only a slight swell, there was still a fair bit of silt in the water and visibility wasn’t that great.  However, IMG_3755it was good to swim in the sea without getting hypothermia.  After a while I swam back to the shore and met Scamp who wanted to have a deeper paddle and test the improved buoyancy you get from sea water.  We just messed around in the fairly shallow water for a while and she did try a few strokes before we got out again.  Sat watching the colours in the sea and sky for a while then had an early lunch of biscuits and cheese, washed down with some fruit juice.  After that Scamp and I went for a walk along the beach and watched the pelicans diving for fish.  Scamp found a wee bit of coral to take back and then she found a sea urchin shell.  Walked back to the beach hut and did a quick sketch of the lifesaver’s hut.

Back at the beach hut, a hoard of americans arrived (lower case shows my respect for them).

  The older ones were about our age and were quiet and quite biddable.  The younger ones were noisy and american.  What more can I say.  Each one seemed to want to project their inherent stupidity louder than the last.  Big Chief Stupid had his hair shaved at the sides and left long on top.  Such a good look.  I may grow my hair long this year and emulate him.  I won’t, however, plaster my arms and legs with ‘artistic’ tattoos.  To quote from Lou Reed “Stick a fork up their ass and turn them over, they’re done!”  Actually Lou was quoting from his friend, Donald, so maybe that’s a cyclic quote!?  We stayed a bit longer, I had another snorkelling mission then I went looking for a Sarong for Scamp, it being Thursday. Bought one from an old guy sitting on the beach with the sarongs hung up and drying in the breeze.  He even demonstrated the different ways to tie it.

Back at the apartment, I wanted to go out and get some pics of the pelicans fishing from the beach that had disappeared yesterday.  Today was better, but the waves were now attempting to cover it.  Walked along to where the pelicans were, and found a white bull in the field behind me  – no fence!  I said bye-bye to the bull and made a hasty retreat.  On the way back, I found a dragonfly, right next to me on a bush.  Dragonflies in February, now there’s a thing!  Got lots of photos.

Out to Karawak again for dinner.  Two waiters instead of waitresses tonight and it was Cajun Chicken for me and Mahi Mahi fish for the others.  I didn’t enjoy it as much as last night, but I was in the minority.

Back at the apartment, Jaime, Scamp and I went to watch the limbo dancer.  I think now we saw him the last time we were here, but he was entertaining with his fire eating and his clowning around.

We went to bed early because we’ll be up early tomorrow for the plane back to Trinidad.