Category: Close-up

Magpies and mushrooms – 13 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Photography started really early today.

While I was making breakfast today I watched a magpie struggling to peck some fat from the bird feeder in the garden. It was sitting on a low branch, too low for it to reach the bird feeder, but it didn’t have the sparrow’s and blue tit’s ability to hover and feed. They aren’t quite as elegant as humming birds, but they do get the job done. Poor magpie eventually gave up, but not before I’d taken a few shots.

After breakfast we drove up to NEXT to get a parcel Scamp had ordered and was delivered to the shop. We were still waiting for the other parcel that should have been delivered to the house on Friday. It was a Christmas present for Nancy who we visited on Saturday. That’s why alternative arrangements and prezzies were required. Next we drove down to Tesco at Craigmarloch and got Scamp’s meds, plus some food necessities. Milk, veg, yoghurt, two bottles of rum and a bottle of wine, oh yes, and bread. Just the essentials!

Back home and after lunch I booked an engineer from Virgin to come on Thursday and see what can be done about the modem. Then it was time to go for a walk in the woods with a camera or two. My favourite from that trip was a close up shot of some deformed mushrooms. They almost look as if they had deflated, like a burst football. It was that image that made me think they might be ageing Puffball mushrooms. They became PoD and I’ve just had a message on Flickr confirming that they are indeed puffballs. It’s good to have experts on hand, even if they are virtual experts.

Not a lot else done today. It was quite dull with no texture in the sky until quite late in the afternoon, then the setting sun found some blue sky and proceeded to change its colour to a lovely shade of violet. Dark at the top and lighter lower down. It was such a pity there was nothing to give a focal point of interest, although I did of course photograph the sky anyway. Not long after I arrived back home the missing parcel arrived. Allegedly it should have been here by 1pm. It finally came around 4pm, but at least it did come!

Tomorrow we have an appointment with a consultant to hear what he has to say about Scamp’s eyes. Hopefully he will be able to give us a more realistic time frame for the procedure than the NHS.

A miserable morning – 1 December 2021

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But then it changed completely, just as the weather fairies had predicted.

I was out fairly early this morning. Collected my meds. Tuesday must be sick day because today, Wednesday, there was no queue outside the chemist and only one person in front of me inside. Next I posted a small parcel down south, Hazy. I’d a short list of things to get in Tesco while I was there and with that done, I drove home with the sky lightening all the time. It was beginning to look as if the weather app on my phone was going to be on the money with its claim for sunshine by 11am.

After a morning coffee I sat and wrote an email to Alex. Just keeping in touch and moaning about the weather. Then I grabbed my cameras and went for a walk in St Mo’s looking for something scenic in the sun.  It was cold, but at least the sun was shining and the sky was blue. On the way there I took a shot or two of the Snowberry bushes that grow beside the paths near the house. They’re well named with their bunches of white berries that look like little balls of snow. Since I was out fairly early, I thought I might get a shot of one of the St Mo’s deer. I did, but it was just a tiny speck in the distance. If you didn’t know it was there you’d miss it. The wee pond up next to the motorway exit slip road was looking good with the blue sky reflecting in it and the rusty coloured larches contrasting. I took quite a few of that scene, knowing that most would be culled in the first editing pass. Took some macro shots of the cow parsley seed heads, but I know I sometimes overdo them. I take so many, most of them fall on the cutting room floor too.

Back home, the DPD man came and took away another, larger parcel away to go down south.  It must be somebody’s birthday soon.  Then, and after lunch we discussed what to have for dinner. There’s not really much to debate, it’s Wednesday, so it’s got to be fish and probably chips. That’s when the postman arrived with a parcel for us from Hazy. It was a culinary advent calendar. Instead of doors, it has little cardboard holders with a sachet of spice or herbs in each one. At least that’s what we’re guessing is in them because Hazy has carefully covered the list of what’s in each day’s sachet. Smart girl! Scamp opened today’s which tasted like curry leaves in sea salt. I chose to make potato wedges instead of chips with the fish and we usually sprinkle them with a basil and salt mixture that Val brings back from Rome for us. Instead, today, we sprinkled Fleur de sel (Roasted Sesame, Coriander, Garlic, Cumin and Fenugreek). It was totally different from our usual basil salt and made a refreshing change. It’s my turn to open tomorrow’s packet. Thank you both!

Today’s PoD turned out to be the Snowberries. I liked it right away, which is always a good sign.

Tomorrow I think we may go shopping. Maybe just to Tesco, although we did book a Tesco delivery today too, but that’s for later in the month.

A dull day – 9 September 2021

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Heavy rain through the night and more during the day. The whole of Scotland looked as if it was under the blanket and didn’t want to come out.

We went out. We drove to The Cotton House for lunch and by that time most of the heavy rain had headed off in a northerly direction. What rain was falling was sporadic and didn’t worry the windscreen wipers. The car park was full when we arrived and we had to park away up the top in the wilderness area, but at least we were in a space. Scamp had booked a table last night and we were soon choosing from the menu. Unfortunately we were sitting immediately under the air con fan and I was getting its cold draught. When Scamp complained about it too, I knew it was time to go and get the hoodies from the car. I understand that in these Covid times a through draught of air is seen as a good thing, but this one was irritating and just a tad too cold.

The food was quick to come and just as good as it usually is. My eight quid hoody did the trick and kept the arctic winds at bay, but when we got home I started to feel shivery. The only think I can put it down to is that overenthusiastic air con. As the afternoon wore on I wasn’t feeling any better an eventually I took Scamp’s advice and went for a walk in St Mo’s, partly to get some photos and partly to just have a walk. A hot shower when I came home was great and two paracetamol started eating into the aches and pains. Typical this should happen today.

About seven pm I went upstairs for a snooze and when nurse Scamp woke me about half past eight I felt better for it. Only two decent photos from the afternoon which was a miracle in a way given the conditions, mine and the weather. PoD went to a partly post processed photo of a seed head of cow parsley, well, what else would it be.

Having a bit of a ding-dong battle with Flickr at present. Found out yesterday that some bloke has started an Inktober 2021 group which is legal. I don’t have absolute right to that name. What annoys me is that he bodily lifted the entire description and Admin’s Blast (The hook that attracts you to the group) from my site. I tried contacting Flickr admin but no answer from them yet. If that was print medium, it would be plagiarism. At best it’s bad practice. We’ll see how it pans out.

I’m finishing now with a wee hot toddy beside me and another couple of paracetamol in my system about an hour ago. Tomorrow is in the balance. Will we, won’t we?

 

Lazy Sunday – 5 September 2021

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Just as the weather fairies predicted, dull with the chance of wet later.

Last night when I was reading in bed I felt a scratch under my watch strap. It was a little eight legged friend, an arachnid, but not a spider. A little tic. It hadn’t actually pierced the skin but was wandering around looking for a good place to do so. I managed to get it on to my finger and from there on to my bedroom cabinet where its wanderings came to an end. I’ve now worked out how and where it got onto my hand and for that reason I wasn’t going to re-photograph the fungi I saw yesterday.

Instead, I made some bread. Complicated bread with dried tomatoes, garlic granules, dried basil, grated mozzarella, a medium egg and 120ml of milk as well as the usual bread flour, yeast, salt, sugar and warm water. When mixed together in the correct proportions, proved, rolled and lots of other things it was baked and produced a Pane Bianco. It smelled lovely after it was baked and tasted quite good too. Maybe not quite as good a the smell promised, but certainly worth the effort.

The furthest we walked today was down to the shops to get some veg for dinner. All today’s photos were taken in or around the house. My favourite and therefore PoD was a slow shutter/low ISO shot of a Berberis bush in the back garden.

Dinner was a chicken pasty with potatoes and mixed greens. Down to earth food is sometimes best. Watched the Dutch GP and was pleased that Verstappen won convincingly. Also like that Bottas showed a bit of spirit by going against team orders. It looks like he won’t be at Mercedes next year, so he has little to lose now, and possibly everything to gain. Good man.

That was it for a lazy Sunday. There could be worse ways to spend your time.

Tomorrow we may go out for a run if it’s dry and take some interesting landscape shots to get away from constant macros. It’s raining now. Just like the weather fairies predicted.

Dancing first, then IKEA – 4 September 2021

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Saturday is dancing day and as we almost pass IKEA on the way home it made sense to visit the yellow and blue store.

Dancing started with the Bellissima Cha Cha which we know fairly well and can dance with a fair degree of confidence. That’s what we did. It wasn’t perfect, but it was done with confidence which is sometimes the same thing. Next was the Foxtrot which we agreed was becoming a lot smoother. I’m not sure the teachers would entirely agree with that, but it felt that way to us. For the break in the middle it was the Rumba One which is a gentle bit of fluff danced as a sequence and apparently everyone was on the same beat for once. Next was waltz and we were told we were making things too difficult for ourselves, but we were trying to emulate the teachers in the video they sent us. We both agreed today wasn’t the time to say that, so we just kept quiet. Finally it was a Cha Cha line dance. Something I’d have baulked at before, but now I find I can do quite happily … as long as I’m not at the front! Good class, lots of stuff learned. No class next week as the teachers are off to Tenerife for a week in the sun, lucky people.

IKEA is on the way home so we stopped off there for re-sealable poly bags, a photo frame or two and some cheap serviettes that I use when painting watercolour as blotting paper if I overload my brush. Just useable stuff today and we whizzed through the checkout without a problem. We even managed to use a couple of shortcuts to save the “Yellow Brick Road” that we used to have to follow. Back to home.

After lunch I went for a walk in St Mo’s, but I’m beginning to get jaded with it. I’m looking for some open spaces to photograph. Some interesting landscapes with dappled sunlight. That’s not too much to ask for is it? Perhaps it is with rain forecast for tomorrow. We did have some drizzle today, but it was really just the edge of a cloud and didn’t come too much. PoD was a little Garden Cross spider on a web that looked like the high wire at the circus. The strange thing was it looked as if it had a larva of some kind on its abdomen. I’ve asked for help identifying it on Flickr.

That was about it for the first Saturday in September. We’ve both downloaded our QR codes to our phones to prove our vaccination status, although I read this morning that already it’s been shown that it can be hacked and the details changed. After the Scottish Government paying a reputed £600,000 for a Dutch company to create the code. I did think that was a fairly cheap price for the work that would be involved. It’s a true saying “if you pay peanuts you must expect monkeys.”

Holding our hands out tomorrow, expecting rain. Not sure if it will reach down as far south as us, but the highlands need the rain too.

Shopping in Stirling – 18 August 2021

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We were away for the messages.

Scamp had mentioned that she fancied going to Sainsbury’s for the messages this week. The nearest one, that didn’t run the risk of five miles of queues because of road works, was in Stirling. As far as we knew, there would be no problem with folk digging up the road there, so off we went. We drove through the Raploch, once the worst housing estate in Scotland, now very up-market and the worst place to drive through in Scotland. Every few yards the road surface changes from tarmac to concrete to granite tiles. Speed bumps everywhere, and in the tiled areas they are colour matched to the tiles which makes driving very tricky, but ensures you keep within the 20mph limit. We found Sainsbury’s without any problem and I discovered I’d a message from Jamie with some very good news.

Lots of interesting things to buy in Sainsburys. First supermarket I’ve been in where they sell watches! Whatever next. But it felt like we’d gone back in time a year and a bit, because a lot of the shelves were empty. Not enough delivery drivers we’re told. Well, some of you silly buggers voted for Brexit and swallowed every fairy tale you were told. It looks like reality is coming home to bite you now that there aren’t enough low paid foreign workers wanting to come to the UK to work.

We’d found an interesting historical artefact when we were checking out the road to Sainsbury’s. There’s a Beheading Stone on a hill near the supermarket. We’d half intended going for a look, but as far as we could tell, there were no beheadings scheduled for today. Maybe another day then.

Back home we potted up the echinacea we bought on Monday. We’d bought a clay pot for it and Scamp had had it soaking in the bird bath for a few days. You have to do that with clay pots because otherwise they will draw water away from the compost and allow it to evaporate into the air. After we’d potted the plant up we gave it a good drink of pure rain water we’d collected during the heavy rain last week. Then it got to sit in the sun for a while at the front of the house, while a rose that had sat there all summer went to the back garden to rest a while.

I finally chopped and sawed down the remaining trunk and branches of the tree that had been growing between Angela’s garden and ours. The loppers did most of the work on the branches, but I had to resort to a panel saw for the trunk. I’d been talking to Fred before that and he was telling me that he recycles all his tree branches with a shredder. I don’t think we have enough trees to warrant the purchase of a shredder, but it would have been useful today. However, it all went into the brown bin today and it gets lifted tomorrow.

Went for a walk in the woods of St Mo’s later and got today’s PoD. It’s a little ball of moss on a dead tree branch. I liked the way the sun was just catching the moss. Not everyone’s favourite, but I liked it which is the reason it got PoD.

A longer and calmer practise tonight trying to put together the ‘back end’ of the foxtrot routine. Sometimes if feels more like a ‘backside’ rather than a back end, but it’s coming together slowly.

Tomorrow we are intending to take Margie out for coffee somewhere.

An afternoon in the country – 17 August 2021

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The morning was work. The afternoon was photography.

Scamp was off to have coffee with Isobel in the morning and I was left to my own devices. First thing to do was to investigate the leaking shower cabinet. It turned out to be a leak in two corners. One tiny little drip and one a bit bigger. Both were being caused by mould growth in the sealant between the glass and the ceramic base of the shower. Half an hour of poking and prodding with a wee round pointed device whose original purpose was to score cardboard teased most of the gunge out and allowed me to start to dry the offending parts. Left them to dry out properly by themselves and started the second, and bigger, task.

The top of the chest of drawers in my room has not seen the light of day for about a year. Today I was set to remedy that. I had a big IKEA bag ready to hold the stuff that was going to the skips, that meant most of it. Some things I didn’t really want to chuck away, but I had to ask myself if I was ever likely to use it again and if I wasn’t, was I emotionally attached to it. If the answer to either of those questions was YES, then it got to stay for six months. If the answer to both question NO, then it was going to the skip, via the IKEA bag. Some things even got he heave after failing only one test. Sometimes you have to be ruthless. As the bag got fuller and fuller, the top of the chest of drawers magically appeared.

After Scamp came back and we had lunch, I took all the stuff in the car to the skips. Heavens, Jamie, you’re not going to believe this, but I even parted with a camera. A working camera! I won’t list all that went to landfill, but there was a a lot. With the boot of the car empty I could go to B&Q to get a tube of sealant for the shower, and have somewhere to put it. Next stop was Screwfix for a Hive plug socket. The number of times I’ve left the house and driven to the bottom of the road wondering if I’ve left the phone charger or some other piece of dodgy equipment switched on. Now I can check on my phone if it’s on and with a touch of the screen, turn it off. Hopefully it will be worth the money in peace of mind. Two things in the boot. Time for some photo opportunities.

Drove up to Fannyside Moor and found an old fencepost strapped to its new replacement with its great collection of mosses and lichen. It looked like a little garden, although one comment on Flickr likened it to a “micro rainforest”. I understand what he meant. It got PoD. Found a little wee ladybird with sixteen spots. Dark red wing covers and white spots. It’s a Cream-spot Ladybird (Calvia quattuordecimguttata) and it’s not very rare.

Back home, Scamp made Sea Bass with asparagus and home grown Potatoes. Absolutely brilliant. Later we had a quick practise of the final parts of the Foxtrot we’ve been learning. I say ’final’, but it’s likely the teachers will add another two or three little bits to the end of the routine.

No plans for tomorrow, although a trip out for ‘the messages’ is not out of the question.

Friday the 13th – 13 August 2021

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Not that I’m superstitious of course.

But first there was a funeral to attend. We’d driven the road yesterday and the sat nav had found the place. Today we were going to be brave and go sat nav free. I only made one wrong turning which was amazing in itself. After the service we drove through what used to be Burnbank to what used to be the Zambezi Hotel but is now the Villa Hotel for the traditional tea after a funeral. Apart from John, Marion and their offspring we knew nobody at the tea. We sat and talked to John and Marion for a while, then took our leave.

Drove home and changed before driving out again to get The Messages at Tesco. I needed to fill up the tank of the Blue Micra and then realised I couldn’t remember my pin. I tried two and was on my last attempt when I cancelled the transaction. Thankfully you have to input your pin before you fill up or I’d really have been in trouble. Of course Scamp could have paid with her card, but I just took my card and drove off, in a blazing huff. Back home, and after I’d cooled down, we drove to the BP garage and Scamp paid for the petrol. Then I drove back and requested a new pin from the bank feeling stupid. How could I forget my pin? I’d used it just last week to pay for the camera! I know I’ll remember it tomorrow morning.

In the afternoon we went for a walk in St Mo’s and that’s where today’s PoD came from. We’d been discussing the blue flower and trying to work out what it was. I though I’d just take a photo of it and find it on Google Images Search. Then I was photobombed by a hoverfly that just flew in and wandered over the flower. I got the photo, but I still didn’t find out what the flower was.

Back home it was a Tesco pizza for dinner and humble pie for me, forgetting my pin. Friday the Thirteenth? Indeed it was unlucky for me!

Hopefully dancing in the morning tomorrow, but no plans for the afternoon. It’ll be a surprise.

Out early again – 11 August 2021

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Another fairly early rise, but not for photography this time.

Scamp had had an uncomfortable night with what seemed like the beginnings of a urine infection. She phoned the surgery just after 8am and they referred her to the pharmacist. We drove up there after it opened and when she had discussed things with the pharmacist, they recommended a course of antibiotics. I’m sure the ten minute wait for them must have felt like ten hours. Back home she was feeling better by lunchtime and I made some soup for lunch, well, I opened the tin and heated the soup. That’s the same thing as making some soup! It must have been good soup because she looked and sounded better after that.

I had intended going out this morning to test run the new camera, but the foregoing put paid to that and now that the patient was on the mend, the rain started. The weather fairies suggested that it might go off around 4pm. It was fairly thumping down. Not quite a thunderstorm, but not just light rain. I had found some repair patches that would fix the tear in my raincoat, so I spent an hour or so cutting them to the right shape and ironing them on. Since I had the iron on anyway, I ironed the elbow patches on to my old ‘Dennis’ rugby shirt. I’ve been meaning to do it for ages and now it’s half done. I’ve just to stitch them on and I’ll be happy with the repair.

About 5pm the rain did turn off and after checking that the patient had everything she needed I went for that walk in St Mo’s. I think I must have been the only person to risk a walk today. There was very little activity out in the park, but I did see a little snail hanging upside down from some wild flowers, choosing the best ones to eat. That was done with the Big Dog and got PoD, but the Little Dog got a quite good shot of fallen leaves. That was a strong contender. Both are on Flickr.

Scamp seems a lot better tonight and she’s already gone to bed to catch up on the sleep she missed last night.

Tomorrow we will see how the land lies before deciding what we’re doing. It looks like another wet day.

The Rain – 9 August 2021

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But a snail before the rain.

I noticed the snail when I was loading the dishwasher this morning and thought it might look good in a photo. I just grabbed the camera and went out to take its photo. I think it had been having a quick drink out of the birdbath in the garden and I managed to get a couple of shots before it attempted to slope off into the pot that holds the young gooseberry bush. Now most of this you can read in the description on Flickr, but you don’t get the unexpurgated version which is what I tell you here!

The true story is that I did grab a few shots of the snail with the Sony and a macro lens. Macro lenses give great detail, however they do tend to decide for themselves what bits should be sharp and which should be softer. That’s why I always take three of four shots. Then I can take the best bits of one photo and bolt them on to the best bits of another photo. Sometimes it looks a bit more Monsterpiece than Masterpiece, but with care (and Photoshop) it can work. This is a case in point. I took the head of the snail from one photo and carefully stitched it onto the shell from another. I can’t see the join and I know where it is! That photo got PoD. The second confession is that in the Flickr story the snail wandered off “to look for breakfast.” Much though we like to accommodate snails, we don’t want them chewing through our young plants, so I carefully lifted this one and dumped it in a patch of wilting bluebells under the old blackcurrant bush. Slugs get a different treatment. You don’t want to know where they go!

With at least one photo in the bag I drove off to Tesco to get a loaf and some other essentials. It was looking like a decent sort of day and I was thinking we might go for a drive. It was when I was coming back that I saw the heavy clouds. Soon after that the rain came and it got heavier and heavier and we could now see how these flash floods appear. There must have been gallons of water pouring down the footpath at the front of the house. After a fair while the rain slowed to just normal rain and the sky brightened, but no for long. Soon it clouded over again and there was a flash of lightning and almost instantly a loud peal of thunder. Then the rain started again, just as heavy as before. This time, although it got lighter, it didn’t stop and it rained all afternoon. I think it might still be raining now at 11pm. I’m really happy now that I got that photo of the thirsty snail this morning.
According to the weather fairies it’s to be a better day tomorrow, but just for a day.

Scamp was feeling better today and has gone to bed early to catch up on the sleep she lost these last two nights.

Hopefully the man from DPD will come to take away my Panasonic GX80 tomorrow and it will travel down to Brighton so the man at MPB can give it to some lucky girl or boy as long as they’ve been good and have given him lots of money. Some of that money, the man will give to us. That’s called The Economy!

Also, hopefully, tomorrow a man called John Lewis will have a shiny new black Sony A6000 for me to collect in the afternoon! One out and One in.