Category: Flowers

More than halfway – 3 July 2016

Posted on by Zogman

3 JulyI hadn’t noticed it, but on Friday we reached the halfway point on this year’s 366. So that means we are on the home stretch, doesn’t it? Should be easy from here on in. It never is though and just at present I’m going through the doldrums with no great interest in taking photos. Maybe it’s the feast of photos I took on holiday last month that’s to blame. 1115 photos in total for June, 936 of which were taken on our fortnight cruise in the Mediterranean. I need some more inspiration, but the weather has been poor for the last couple of weeks and that’s partly the cause, but it’s not the whole story. I just need to apply myself to the task and get on with it. I’ll start tomorrow. I should start today, but this is the weekend and I’m too lazy to do anything much now. That’s the problem. Procrastination. Tomorrow I must get off my backside and take some meaningful photos. Otherwise the 366 becomes a joke. Just a couple of grab shots of flowers to mark the PoD isn’t what I started 365s (or 366s) for. The shots have to be meaningful and be much better quality than I’ve been producing of late. Halfway through a 366 is a good place to start raising the standard.

Today we didn’t do much of note apart from go to the Sunday Social in the afternoon to see just how far we could push Scamp’s shoulder before it became painful. The answer was that we could actually get quite a lot of moves done. Much more than I thought we could. I don’t think she’s quite ready to go back to class yet, and as Jamie Gal is off in London this week, it’s probably best not to return to classes until next Monday. That’s not procrastination, that’s simple common sense. I’m not sure Scamp agrees totally with the logic, but I don’t think she’s quite ready for the speed of a class rueda yet.

I had one of the dinosaur bones from Chapmans in Baldock for dinner tonight, well, I had half a bone (actually a short rib) the other half will either be a large lunch tomorrow or dinner tomorrow night.  I’d forgotten just how good they are.  Forty-five minutes in the oven at gas 6 covered in tinfoil and it comes out a treat.  Thank you JIC for introducing me to this culinary delight.

Anyway, it’s flooers again tonight with a half hearted attempt at patterns with some strawberries. Not exactly award winning stuff.

Looking for that second chance called Tomorrow

A Lost Day – 2 July 2016

Posted on by Zogman

2 July bI spent most of the day in bed. I don’t want to jinx anything, but I think it might have broken the back of this cold. Last night, I was dead on my feet by the time I went to bed, and this morning was a lost cause.

Scamp drove us in to Robroyston and a cup of coffee helped me on my way to fitness. Didn’t manage to get out for any photos, so todays shots were taken in a rush through the kitchen window, but they are Pictures of the Day and therefore count.

Tonight we went to friends in Hamilton and had some lovely food, including a Tiramisu which almost equalled Scamps. I never thought I’d say that. Maybe that will encourage her to up her game. Only kidding Scamp!

Looking like a better day weather-wise tomorrow. Hope it is because Scamp needs some good weather to brighten her day and wipe out her cold.

Perf – 30 June 2016

Posted on by Zogman

30 June bWe were off to Perf today, mainly to get some coffee and tea, but also to take our colds out for a run in the country and possibly to share them with the posh Perf people (intentional alliteration).  It turned out a pleasant day.  Not totally dry.  It rained for a while during our journey and also just for a short time while we were in the Fair City.

We used to go to Perf (ok, it’s real name is Perth, but I prefer Perf and it’s my blog, so live with it).  We used to go to Perf to eat in Cafe Tabou which was a really innovative and slightly expensive French restaurant.  Not its become a quite expensive and slightly innovative restaurant that still produces French food, but cooked by a very good Polish chef.  The big failure for us is that the menu, which used to change every month, now stays the same and the intention seems to be to change it only four times a year.  Admittedly they still have a Plat de Jour and a Poisson de Jour, but the choice isn’t there anymore, so that is why we didn’t dine there today.

I did get my coffee and tea in The Bean Shop.  I’ve been going to this shop for years and the quality and taste of their coffee and tea never changes.  I always buy beans now as JIC gave me a grinder last year and it produces the same grind time after time.

On the way home I took a side road to grab a shot of the corn field and the big daisies probably Marguerites, but always called Big Daisies by my mum.  After I took the shots, I wished I’d brought a tripod to get some movement in the flowers and corn stalks.  Maybe next time.

It started out nice – 26 June 2016

Posted on by Zogman

26 JuneIt did start out nice today, but then it went downhill by about 14 o’clock, that’s 2pm to you. Rain swept in and forgot to sweep out again. The furthest I got today was Tesco. Couldn’t even interest myself in a walk over to St Mo’s, that’s how bad it was. Scamp has still got the cold she picked up coming home and can’t seem to shift it. Remembered to take some pics of the new fence so you can see what a difference its made. Yes, the garden does look bigger, but that’s because you can’t see the forest of plants behind me. Lots of planning to be done before we put things back in their new places. I only want to do it once, because these plant pots are really heavy.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow. There’s always tomorrow.

Testing Again – 4 June 2016

Posted on by Zogman

4 JuneThe new lens was due to arrive between 3pm and 4pm so we had time to kill today.  The day had started with heavy cloud, bit without the rain that had been predicted.  However as the day wore on, the clouds lifted and the sun shone, but there was a cool breeze, so rather than sit in the garden as we’ve been doing recently, we did our phase one packing.  Just to see how much we could lob into these canvas bags.  How more efficient they are than the big heavy rectangular boxes my mum and dad had to drag on holiday with them.  No rolling wheels for them, no, they had to carry them.  Going on holiday was a tough business in the old days.

<Technospeak>
The lens arrived on time and I took a two or three shots.  They looked as good as the reviews had predicted.  This lens is a 12 – 32mm zoom and this equates to a 24 – 64mm in 35mm terms.  On a 35mm camera, a standard lens is anything between 35mm and 60mm, so this lens covers this with a little more on the short end.  In other words, it’s a wide standard lens, a kit lens.  It doesn’t do anything very special, but it does it very, very well.  Those two or three shots showed that it was really sharp.  It provided the sharpness of a prime lens with the versatility of a zoom.  It looks like it’s going to be locked on to one of the Olys for some time to come.
</Technospeak>

All of the photos in the matrix were taken with it today.

JIC and Hazy: The one top right is all that’s left of the Adventure Playground on the path to Condorrat.  They’ve taken out all the old stuff.  Now we wait to see what will replace it with.

Spent the rest of the afternoon coaxing, first the Mac and then the new Linx tablet, to work properly.  The Mac problem is iTunes.  My least favourite Mac prog.  I applied an update this morning, something I rarely do.  After that I kept getting a popup telling me that something to do with the dock had crashed.  After checking on the net, it turns out that everyone else who has the problem links it to the same iTunes update.  Apple, I don’t expect this of you.
The Linx problem was that some of the apps wouldn’t load any more.  When Control Panel failed to load with an error that looked like the progeny of half the alphabet and an international telephone number, I knew it was time to restore it.  Unfortunately the restore got to 95% and got stuck.  I restarted it and it worked a bit better.  The apps loaded, but Control Panel still failed.  I’ve downloaded  the restore from the Linx site.  If I have time tomorrow, I’ll install it and see if that helps.  Microsoft, I do expect this of you!

Looking for warm sun tomorrow.

Tidying up – 25 May 2016

Posted on by Zogman

25 May bA day to get things sorted out.  Not actual tidying up, no, this was tidying up loose ends in my life

This morning I had my test results from the doc, well, the sister actually.  All was good.  In particular she was impressed with my weight loss.  After that I got some financial stuff sorted out.  It should have been done in February, but today it was sorted.  In the afternoon, I had my checkup with the dentist and that also went well.

In between, we had lunch which was a duck egg each, courtesy of one of JIC’s friends.  I’d forgotten just how good duck eggs are and these ones were really, really good.  Thanks Ali and thank you ducks!

I didn’t have any PoD, so I went out for a drive later, but couldn’t settle on anything in particular, so I did what I usually do and took some flower shots in the wild.  That’s the one on the left.  I wasn’t all that happy with that, so managed to get some shots of the garden aquilegia then cropped four wee sharp pieces from them and then assembled the four in Potatoshop.  I’m better pleased with that, but it was a fair bit of work.

Dinner was some of the meat from Baldock, but no dinosaur bone yet, I’m keeping that for the weekend.

A lot done today, but still a lot to do.  Hopefully tonight will see the blog up to date.  Another loose end tidied.

Moves Like Jagger – 16 May 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bWent to give my blood donation for testing for diabetes and lots of other things. Came home and enjoyed a plate of porridge by which time the cloudy skies were breaking up and blue sky was shining through again. Later, after lunch I went to the gym, the first time in weeks, and it felt like it. I really must get into a more realistic regime to utilise this fitness resource. I don’t think once a month is going to be good enough. While I was on the torture bike, the video for ‘Moves like Jagger’ was on the screen. I don’t usually watch or listen to the music videos that play in the gym, but I did in this case.

After returning from the gym and without a photo, I grabbed a few shots of flowers in the garden. Scamp had just given them a drink with the hose and the water beads made them a bit more interesting. White pasta for dinner AKA Spaghetti Carbonara. We ate it watching Pointless, a must watch in out house. One of the questions was about ‘Moves like Jagger’. Now there’s a coincidence.

For a wee bit extra exercise tonight, I drove in to Glasgow on a lovely balmy evening for an hour of salsa and an hour of bachata afterwards. During the bachata we were practising a move called Elvis Presley and the teacher said “I don’t have any Elvis tracks, but I’ve got the next best thing. You guessed it, ‘Moves like Jagger’. I think it’s following me.

Of Books and Bookshops – 11 May 2016

Posted on by Zogman

comboA few years ago I bought a Kindle. Scamp thought I was mad. Then I bought her a Kindle and she realised the potential of this little slab of plastic and ‘tronics. Since then we’ve both had an on/off relationship with e-readers. Mostly on. I like the instant result from downloading a book. I like being able to carry a dozen books around with me on my slate. I like being able to read late at night by my illuminated screen without disturbing anyone. I like the novelty of having an on-board dictionary where I can discover, not only the meaning of a word, but also its derivation. We don’t have a bookshop in the town and I have to travel in to Glasgow or Stirling to peruse bookshelves. I could go to the library, but somehow that’s not as satisfying as handling and owning a new book, maybe it’s the owning part that’s the most important. If I didn’t have the money, I’d have to rely on our local library and maybe I should use it more, because if I don’t use it I could lose it, but mostly I’m sold on digital downloads.

Sometimes I deliberately buy a book, a physical book, just because I like the weight of it in my hand, or the tactile feel of turning a paper page, rather than the pretence of stroking a screen. Or sometimes, especially with a newly published book it’s actually cheaper to buy a book than a digital download. I have on occasion bought a non-fiction download, but I’ve never been totally satisfied with them even if I can search through them much more easily than with the printed article. There’s a place for books and equally there’s a place for Kindles.

I was thinking about this today when we were in Waterstones in Glasgow. I saw their Book of the Month and thought it looked interesting, then said to myself “I’ll add that to my Book LIst”. However, although I added it to the list I’ve got on my phone, I mentally added it to a paper book list, not an e-book list or just a must read list. Maybe some books are better read in printed form rather than electronically. For my birthday, Hazy gave me two paperback books and Scamp gave me a book token. Maybe that’s what’s reawakened my interest in printed media. I know I’ll probably take my Kindle on holiday with me, but I might just take a book too.

After we came back from Glasgow Scamp got settled in her chair at the front door. I took the shot of the disintegrating tulip. Tulips have no shame. They quite blatantly display their naughty parts for public gaze. With at least one decent photo in the bag, I got the bike rack out and took the bike down to Auchinstarry then cycled along the canal to Kirkintilloch. The only real reason anyone would go to Kirky is for the exercise of cycling along the canal tow path. Other than that, it has little to recommend it. On the way I saw the little pink blossom with its translucent green leaves beside the canal.  Also, saw my first damselfly of the year.  Not the best photo, but it was down in an overflow channel from the canal and I wasn’t going to go down to get a better shot. Turned at Kirky and came back, knowing that I’d be heading into that same east wind from yesterday and the day before. It was heavy going for a while, but quite exhilarating too. Got back and joined Scamp for a relaxing hour in the sun before dinner.

Another beautiful day. More of the same tomorrow? Yes please!

Pimms Time – 10 May 2016

Posted on by Zogman

ComboScamp had an appointment with the osteopath this morning, so I took the opportunity to grab some shots of the foliage and flowers in the back garden.  As the sun was good and warm, I scouted round to find a sheltered spot for a seat in the sun because you have to make the most of these sunny days.  The back garden wasn’t an option as there was a strong wind blowing along all the gardens in the block, so I parked myself at the front door and got stuck into my latest book – The Bone Clocks.

When Scamp came back she announced that we should go to Dobbies to use up her birthday cream tea voucher.  There was a sting in the tail of course.  She wanted ‘somebody’ to haul a bag of potting compost into the boot of her car.  I didn’t mind, and the cream teas were lovely.

When we got back, I planted out some Tesco mint that was getting a bit pale and leggy on the kitchen windowsill and also sowed some basil seeds I’d got at Dobbies.

Basically that’s all the work I did today, apart from driving a staple into my thumb as I was fixing the lining to Scamp’s sweet pea box.  Later in the afternoon, Scamp declared that it was Pimms O’ Clock.  Me?  I had mint tea – a mix of peppermint and spearmint, fresh from the garden.

I got an email from Alex tonight reminding me that it was 16 years yesterday since Susan died and so today was my dad’s anniversary.  Where did all those years go?

Coffee and a walk in the Toon – 5 May 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bCoffee at lunch time with Val and Fred P.  Quite enjoyed the cut and thrust of another “frank exchange of views”.  Never one to allow the grass to grow under his feet, Fred held court on a variety of political issues of the day while Val attempted in vain to pour oil on troubled waters.  Me?  I threw in the occasional match to see if the oil would burn.  Topics for discussion today were the cost of upgrading your central heating, In or Out of Europe and the poor selection of guests in Jools Holland’s programme.  Sketches and paintings were critiqued and the world was set to rights.  Thankfully the word ‘ANTISEMITISM’ was not used by any of the participants.

After the scintillating discussion, I headed in to Glasgow to get some masking fluid to try some different watercolour techniques.  While I was in Cass Art, I wandered round their botanical watercolours exhibition and was really, really impressed with the quality and detail in the pictures.  My favourite had to be the sweet peas.  Such delicacy I can only dream of.  Walking back to the car, I grabbed a shot of the elegant security grilles at the Buchanan Galleries carpark.

When I got home, after a great walk round Glasgow bathed in sunshine, Scamp reminded me that we hadn’t voted, so it was off again to do our constitutional duty.  On the way back, we walked over to Condorrat to get a fish suppers for our dinner to celebrate the end of this boring baby kissing round of canvassing.  On the way I spotted the little yellow ball shaped flower and took its photo, along with its resident fly.  I wonder how many flies there are in, say, a cubic meter of bushes.  Probably incalculable, but as we are talking about a finite volume, there must be a finite number.  Multiply that by the number of cubic metres of bushes in Cumbersheugh and you have a very large number.  Now, if all those flies voted for the Greens, would the SNP still get in?  Probably.  A little bit too much politics for this time of an evening.

Our plans for tomorrow were to go to Perth tomorrow (Friday), but they had to be changed at the last minute and we’ll probably go next week.