Category: Family

Freezin’ – 15 December 2022

Posted on by Zogman

But I don’t mean outside, I’m talking about inside!

Spoke to Hazy this morning. We had a good conversation. Glad to hear that they have booked a cottage for a wee holiday in the early spring. I’m sure it will be a welcome break. Not so good was that Neil has a chest infection, but I’m sure a course of meds will put that right. We discussed the weather and the postal strikes that are really making life difficult for everyone just now and also the pros and cons of varifocal glasses. More pros than cons, thankfully.

Once we’d finished our call, we had to discuss whether or not we were going to the tea dance at Glenburn. We eventually settled on staying home for today and hoping for more open weather on Saturday to allow us to get to dance class.

After lunch which was a piece ’n’ sausage (link sausage this time) and French Toast for Scamp, I thought I might attempt a walk in St Mo’s. The landscape was changed again. On Tuesday it was shrouded in fog. On Wednesday it was white with frost and today the wee berries I was hoping to photograph had lost all their frosty covering, as had most of the branches on the tree. Could it really be thawing? My fingertips said no, it certainly wasn’t and my phone confirmed it. Definitely still sub-zero. Maybe it was the effect of the sunshine that was streaming from a blue sky.

Some days I take fifty odd photos and most of them end up on the cutting room floor. Some days, like today I take a little more than a dozen and they are all winners. I think it was the colour returning to the land after the frost had gone. Not totally gone, but probably on the back foot. My favourite and PoD was a shot of a bunch of Alder catkins. I never realised that the catkins were formed in the middle of winter and don’t open until the early spring. Photography is a learning experience. Everywhere I looked today there were little spots of colour appearing out of the frost. It was good to see.

Back home I was post-processing the photos I took when I realised it was quite cold in the room. The Hive said it was 17ºc, but it was definitely lying. Checked the radiators and they were cold. Checked the boiler and the burner was off, plus there was an error message about ionisation. I did what I usually do and reset the power to the boiler. It started gurgling ominously. Oh dear, and just after we’d had it had it serviced too. I went out and tapped the soak-away pipe and it sounded solid, also the pipe from the boiler to the outside drain was dripping in the cupboard. I switched it off again and phoned the emergency plumber and he sussed it right away. Asked if where the boiler was, did we have a pipe going to the outside and said it was the outside pipe that was frozen. The solution was to dribble a kettle full of boiling water onto the outside pipe. That would melt the ice and allow it to wash away. Two kettles full usually does it, he said and he was right. After the first dose of water dripped down the pipe I could hear the water running and also the pipe wasn’t sounding solid when I tapped it. Switched the boiler on and reset it. The boiler started right away and we were back in a cosy house again. Not really surprised that it was the cold that had caused it, and hopefully I’ll know better next time.

While I was out with the kettle I noticed a bloke doing the exact same thing to his pipe, only he was about ten feet up a ladder doing it. I hope he was successful too.

We have no real plans for tomorrow, but it looks like we might get some snow. So it might be a stay at home day.

Out on the town – 8 December 2022

Posted on by Zogman

We were both out to lunch today, but in different place and with different people.

Scamp has a lunch date with her pal Mags and I had a photo walk booked with Alex. We caught the same bus, but I hopped off early at Greenfaulds, crossed the road at the underpass and caught the fast bus in to Glasgow.

I got there half an hour before we’d agreed to meet and as there was no sign I decided that either Alex was still travelling or else, more likely, he too had come in early and had gone to get some photos. Either way, I probably had time to get my hair cut. Just walked in and got a chair right away. Fifteen minutes later I was back out with a number four all over, plus ears and eye brows done for less than a tenner. Walked back to the bus station and met Alex. He had been off on his own taking photos.

He wanted to take some photos of the old Pavilion theatre and once we walked over to it, I could see why. Even although it was midday, the sun had a distinct warmth to its colour. We took a few photos and it wasn’t until I was processing one tonight I noticed just how steep the hill it was built on was. We walk past these buildings all the time and don’t notice these things. With a few photos in the bag we went for coffee in Nero because photogs run on coffee.

During the coffee break we set out a plan for the day. This was Alex’s choice of venue and he had an outline plan of what he wanted to take. I added in a few ideas of my own and we started out down the hill to Buchanan Street Subway entrance which always draws us when the light is strong and it was very strong today. A few photos there and then on to George Square where we took some photos of the carnival rides.

A stop in Paesano for a pizza lunch and a glass of red wine for me because I wasn’t driving today and then on toe Princes Square for more photos. From there we walked on through St Enoch’s Square to the Clyde and walked down the walkway to the Squiggly Bridge whose proper name is the Tradeston Bridge, but nobody calls it that, taking photos all the way. Then it was back to Nero in St Enoch’s for more coffee before our final photo destination for the day which was George Square for some early evening ‘blue hour’ shots of the attractions. When SD cards were full we walked back and got our buses home. This time I chose to take the X3, the slow bus because I’d already completed 13,000 odd steps and the X3, while slow, stops nearly at our door.

264 photos taken and after the first cull 114 of them were on the cutting room floor, leaving an acceptable 150 deemed worthy of a place in today’s shoot. PoD went to a monochrome shot of Buchanan Street Subway entrance/exit, but another two shots are in Flickr.

Tomorrow Scamp is probably going to FitSteps, but I’m hoping to have a relaxing morning.

Coffee with Isobel – 7 December 2022

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We were out this cold morning (-0.4ºc) for coffee with Isobel. Always an entertainment. Straight talking, never bothered who hears her and straight to the point. She never changes and that’s what’s so great about her. She and Scamp had a long conversation about her extended family and I listened because there wasn’t much chance of getting a word in edgewise. When the two of them had finished their discussions we dropped Isobel back at her house and then came home via Tesco.

After lunch which was a bowl of Scamp’s rather delicious lentil soup, I dragged my boots on and went over to St Mo’s with the A6000 and a couple of lenses. Again I was just that half an hour too late to capture the trees lit by the setting sun. One of these days I’ll get it right. However I did get a shot of a duck feather sitting on the ice with tiny little frozen water drops hanging from it. That became PoD. The contender for the accolade was a low down photo of a single dandelion with its seed head closed, waiting for a blustery day to release those seeds to the vagaries of the wind. It’s on Flickr if you care to look.

Dinner tonight was paella which I haven’t made for ages. It tasted good, so good in fact that we ate the whole lot. I’d hoped to keep some of the rice to make more arancini tomorrow, or next day.

We watched the Portrait Artist winner for this year painting her portrait of Lenny Henry. I wasn’t impressed with her, or the painting, but I was impressed with him. I hadn’t realised he’d worked to get a PhD. What impressed me most about his was his quiet manner. No longer the noisy shouting comic, but a man who looked comfortable in his skin. We both agreed that the portrait didn’t look like him, and isn’t that what portraits are all about? Nice perspective and control of things like foreshortening, but there was only a fleeting likeness of him in the face. Disappointing.

Tomorrow I’m heading in to Glasgow to take some photos with Alex and hopefully to have a pizza for lunch.

 

Out to lunch. Yes, again! – 28 November 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today we were taking Shona out for lunch. She wanted Italian and that’s what she got.

Wordle and Spelling Bee completed first, then we were off to pick up Shona and then we drove to Mango at Longcroft near Bonnybridge the UFO capital of the UK. I don’t know if the aliens come to Mango. Maybe they do, but we didn’t see any today.

Shona and Scamp had Juliette for starter (Deep fried Italian bread served with tomato and basil sauce and grated pecorino cheese). Then both had Risotto for their main. I had Keema Spring Rolls as my starter and Punjabi Style Chicken. In both cases, the starters were the stars. Scamp hadn’t noticed that her risotto was tomato based and my curry was cooling before it got to the table and I should have ordered rice instead of naan. The naan was more like flatbread, but nicely singed, so I forgave that! Overall, though it was a good lunch, just our choices weren’t the best.

After lunch we drove Shona home and then Scamp and I went to Halfords because I really need to replace the wipers on the car. There was still a good bit of light in the sky, so I suggested a trip up to Fannyside for another go at getting some mist photos. The temperature was predicted to reach 2ºc tonight, so that would probably generate some mist. When we got there we were way too early and although there was some mist beginning to form, it was going to be at least an hour before it was photographable, so we headed home with a few possible PoDs in the card. I was right. Today’s PoD was another view of the ruined farm at Fannyside with better lighting.

Back home I decided I just had enough light left to allow me to wash the car, and that’s what I did. It’s a lot cleaner than it was, but tomorrow we’ll find out how many bits I’ve missed.

No plans for tomorrow except maybe re-washing the car!

Out to lunch – 24 November 2022

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This going out to lunch is becoming a bit of a habit, I hear you say. We would disagree.

Today after we’d solved Wordle and Spelling Bee we got a bit better dressed and drove over to Motherwell. When we parked at Alex and Carol’s house, Alex told me to park the car and we’d take his daughter’s car to Gouldings for lunch.

It was very, very busy at the restaurant. Usually they hand out a buzzer to tell you when your table is ready. Today that wasn’t going to work. Today we had to queue. Actually it didn’t take that long for the queue to go down and we were seated at table 40 out of 41. Take 41 tables and multiply it by 3 to get an average of 123 people all eating or drinking or just talking at the same time with the kitchen and servers keeping things going smoothly and you see just how efficiently this restaurant works. I’m not going to list what everyone at our table had for today’s lunch, but I’d say that we were eating, drinking (non alcoholic) and talking for a couple of hours and it was really good.

Scamp hadn’t met Alex or Carol for close to twenty years. In that time three children had arrived in their family and two of our ‘children’ had been married. There was a lot for the ladies to catch up with. Alex and I had already talked these things through over the past year and a bit.

We had a walk round Xmas which had been delivered to the nursery, almost replacing the plants that are usually sold there. After the walk through and the disbelieve at the number of light-up reindeer that can be crammed into a given space. Although according to the signs in Xmas, you can run 1,000 LED lights for thirty days for 55p. That’s what they say, but how would they go about proving it? And why?

Alex drove back to Motherwell and we said our goodbyes and then drove home. It was a much brighter day than we’d expected with a sunset beginning at about 3pm. Thankfully I’d grabbed a few shots this morning in the garden and I managed to create a PoD from one of them. It wasn’t what I intended, but it made a decent abstract after being dunked in three pieces of software. Sometimes Ansel Adams quote about ‘Taking’ a photograph and ‘Making’ a photograph rings true.  Just in case you’re interested, it’s a macro of part of a Curly Kale leaf.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps and I’m hoping to stay home and drink tea!

A day at the fair – 23 November 2022

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Got the train in to Glasgow to celebrate the fact that they weren’t on strike today!

Spoke to Hazy this morning and we heard all about the joys of being a house owner. Also found out that although Neil’s nose is a lot better and healing nicely after his op, although it hasn’t affected his snoring ability! We discussed Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City books and his appearance on The Big Scottish Book Club.

Scamp didn’t need the car today, so I drove down to the station and got the train in to Glasgow to meet my brother. As usual, we went for a coffee and discussed what to do and where to go. I’d hoped to go and photograph the lights at the Christmas market in St Enoch’s Square or just get some street shots. We agreed that the Christmas market would be good with a few fairground attractions thrown in for good measure.

First, Alex wanted to photograph the inside of Princes Square and wasn’t sure if we were allowed to take photos. It appeared that almost everyone was taking photos inside, although we were the odd ones out because we were using ‘real’ cameras. Everyone else had phone cameras. We got the photos, then bumped into Mirka and Artur who used to go to salsa class in Glasgow. It appeared that Mirka was trying hard to get Artur to go to a new class in Motherwell, but he’s still resisting!

Photos taken and goodbyes said, we went to lunch in Il Pavone in the basement of the department store. We both had pizzas, but I struggled to finish mine and in the end had to give up. Too much veg and far too much cheese.

Once we’d been fed we walked down to the Christmas market which wasn’t quite as busy as I’d hoped. Fewer rides too, but the did have an enormous spinning wheel called The Booster. It looked scary. I tried my best to get some decent shots of it and although I got a few, most of the pics went in the bin when I got home. We both prowled around trying to find something to capture our interest. My favourite place was a Pick ’n’ Mix stall that seemed to attract all sorts of folk. That’s where PoD came from.

Eventually we’d had enough and headed back. I went to Queen Street and Alex went to the bus station. We agreed to do it again, but actually we will be doing something like it again when we’re going to lunch tomorrow with Alex and Carol.

I did have a wee space for dinner when I got home because Scamp had made Veggie Chilli with brown lentils. Totally different from mine. Very nice, but maybe needed some more chilli. Poor Scamp had been working all day tidying up and hoovering while my brother and I had been out on the town!

Tomorrow, like I said, Alex and Carol, Scamp and I are hoping to have lunch down Clydeside. The teachers across Scotland are all on strike tomorrow for the first time in almost 40 years. That will mean thousands of weans will be having a free holiday! Hope they don’t go where we’re going.

Up far too early – 21 November 2022

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We were both up and on the go by about 8.30am which, for me at least, is far too early.

Today the plumber was coming to fit a new kitchen tap. We were ready by 9am, but he didn’t make an appearance until 11am. By that time Scamp had driven down to The Village to have coffee with Isobel and Isobel had phoned me to ask if Sheila was still at our house. Then she cut me off to say “Oh, she’s just coming in the door.”

It only took the plumber about twenty minutes to swap out the taps. I paid him what he asked for which was really too much for twenty minutes work and the price of a cheap mixer tap. Ok, there were two of them, but one was just there to mop up the water that had dripped out of the old tap. Still, we’ve got a tap now that doesn’t drip … so far and we won’t use that plumber again, but if anyone ask us to recommend a good plumber his name will be mentioned as someone to avoid.

With the main event of the day over, I walked over to the post office in Condorrat to send back a pair of dance trainers that were a size too big. While I was there I managed to get some sliced sausage, black puddings and half a kilo of diced stew at the butchers. Finally I took a trip round St Mo’s to see what was happening there. It was cold. The temperature when I left the house was just over 4ºc but the wind made it feel colder. Bunnet on the head and fingerless Foto Gra4 gloves on the hands.

The pond was really full of water, almost flooding over the path in places, because the channel that’s supposed to drain the excess water down into a soak-away and eventually on to the River Kelvin was blocked. The blockage was caused by the horsetails that grow on the verges of the pond dying off and floating towards the outlet. The council sometime clear them away, but they must be too busy putting up Christmas lights in Motherwell. As I headed home I dialled up the Hive on my phone and set it for a quick half hour boost of 21.5ºc. If you’ve got the technology, use it!

Today’s PoD was what will probably be the last of the low views of the reed beds with the camera held about five centimetres above the water surface. I had a dream last night where I leaned too far and fell in. Dreams do come true, but hopefully not that one!

So in the morning today I’ve spoken to Isobel, paid the plumber, been to the post office and the butchers and taken at least one photo. Scamp came home half an hour after I got back and it was time to investigate the ‘better quality’ of the sliced steak sausage. It was delicious.

I spent most of the afternoon poring over the poor quality photos I’d taken, but eventually decided on one that, with a few dunks in Lightroom and Photoshop became PoD.

Dinner was chicken soup again with croutons this time followed by more cake, stewed apples and cream. Good warming food.

We watched The Big Scottish Book Club with Damian Barr doing a great job of keeping everyone on the right track.

Another early rise tomorrow to go to the docs for 9am. Then, I’m told, we may need ‘some messages’. Such a hard life!

Just a normal Sunday – 20 November 2022

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It was raining and it looked like it may keep raining all day.

A lazy Sunday, because almost for all of the rest of the week one of us was going to be busy. The usual start to the day with Wordle completed and then the Pangram found in Spelling Bee. I thought it might be a good idea to make a loaf and got started on that.

After lunch the clouds parted and the sun shone. Scamp was intending to make chicken soup for dinner and she needed some veg for it, so she was off to the shops. I stayed home and messed about with the computer. When she came home, I got dressed and went for a walk in St Mo’s. It seems that my guess about the swan was right, it was dead. Now it’s up to NLC to do something about it.

A walk into the woods gave me today’s PoD. It’s just a few leaves caught between two mossy trees, but a bit of backlighting made the leaves glow. There wasn’t much else to photograph and the temperature was dropping so I walked home. On the way I chanced upon a dozen or so joggers, each one dressed up. It must have been a charity run or maybe the aftermath of a stag do. Anyway, it brightened the day because the sun was sliding towards the horizon.

Scamp was organised today, because as well as making the soup, she also baked a Dutch Apple Sponge. After it came out of the oven it was time for mine to go in, except the second prove wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped and the loaf was a bit floppy. I transferred it into a lined loaf tin and allowed it a quarter of an hour to perk up in the warm oven above the main one. After that, I reckoned it was as risen as it was going to get and put it in the main oven. Like Scamp’s cake, it turned out fine. So we had Chicken Soup with Home Baked Bread for a main and Dutch Apple Sponge with custard for a pudding.

Spoke to Jamie for just over ten minutes tonight. We had no news and he had very little. We are hoping the plumber will fix the kitchen taps tomorrow and they had just had their boiler serviced. Just a usual week.

Tomorrow Scamp is taking Isobel out for coffee and I’m staying in to supervise the plumbing.

Out to Lunch – 18 November 2022

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Scamp was out this morning to her FitSteps class and I was waiting in for the plumber to come and give his cost estimate for the new kitchen tap. It was raining, and had been all night.

The bloke arrived about 11am, just as Scamp was going out to class. His estimate was more or less what we’d expected and he’s coming on Monday to fix the tap that’s been dripping on and off for about a year. I hadn’t realised it was that long until I read yesterday’s “A Year Ago Today” blog post.

I am still adjusting things on the camera that need tweaking, trying to get it back to where it should be. Today it was pairing it with the phone to allow me to shoot remotely over Bluetooth using the phone. Also to allow the camera to interrogate the phone and find its GPS position, then record it on the image. Very useful once it’s been set. However, Sony make great cameras but write really crap instructions for their use. Luckily I eventually found the instructions for doing the pairing in an Amateur Photographer tutorial on the net. Where would we be these days without the Internet?

When Scamp returned we just had time to get changed and then she drove me to the Red Deer (to give it its Sunday name) for lunch with June and Ian. It was a nice relaxed Friday lunch sitting by the real wood fire, blethering and enjoying the food. June had Chicken and Chorizo Pie, Scamp and Ian had Fish and Chips (one with and one without peas) I had my usual Gammon Steak, Eggs and Chips. I had a pint of lager which was the same as June and Ian’s half pint while Scamp, being volunteer driver for the day, had Soda and Lime. For pudding, June had Napolitano Delice (posh ice cream) Ian had coffee Scamp had Fruit Crumble and I had Edible Flower Pot. Scamp’s looked the best and mine wasn’t as good as it looked, but it did look good. We left after a couple of hours promising to do it again soon, definitely before Christmas, and of course Scamp drove us home.

I reckoned there was just enough light left in the sky to grab some photos, so it was boots on, because although the rain had stopped, everywhere was going to be boggy. I only went half way round the pond because I’d managed to get some decent photos in the available light and it was getting cold. On my walk back I bumped into a woman walking her dog. I’d spoken to her a few times, just passing the time of day. Today she looked a bit agitated and told me that it looked like one of the pair of swans that live on the pond didn’t look well and wasn’t moving. I said I’d have a look when I went past. She was right. It head was under the water and in the five minutes or more I stood there, it hadn’t lifted its head or moved. It looks like we have our first avian flu casualty. Strangely almost all of the 20 odd Canada geese that overwinter on the pond were stood on the bank looking right at the dead swan and its mate who was swimming round the dead one. The geese never moved as I walked past. It was a strange sight.

I reported the swan to DEFRA which is what you’re supposed to do, but I couldn’t find anywhere on the NLC site to leave a message to get the bird removed. Typical.

That was about it for today. PoD turned out to be a bent and twisted birch tree that stands where an old crab apple tree used to be in the park.

Tomorrow we may go in to The Toon on the bus.

 

Another sunny day – 13 November 2022

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Just a relaxing Sunday for us please. No driving and maybe a walk in the sunshine for a change.

For the most part, that’s how it worked out too. There was no point in going out too early for photos because the sun is in the wrong position for the effect I was hoping for. All I needed was no clouds in the sky around 3pm. I’d a few things to do, including writing yesterday’s blog post and also posting yesterday’s PoD. That’s what happens when you’re getting home after 11pm.

After lunch, and with the blog posted and the photos in Flickr, I decided I’d go for a walk in St Mo’s where there might just be PoD’s to be picked up. Scamp was off to the shops for milk and bread.

I had to wait a while to get the light I was looking for, but eventually it came to me and I took another chance with a shot into the sun. It worked and the evidence is at the top of the page. A fair bit of post processing was needed, but that’s sometimes the way of things.

Spoke to Jamie and found out that he’s all on his lonesome this week. Even Vixen is off living the life of luxury in kennels.

That was about it for our lazy Sunday. Weather doesn’t look so good for tomorrow.