Category: Friends

Fish Again – 5 August 2016

Posted on by Zogman

E8051190-Edit- flickr--218Out fairly early to pick up our fish and crab meat from Oyster Oyster in Linlithgow. While we were walking into the town from the carpark, I saw this view of St Michael’s church spire pointing upwards behind the trees. Everyone thinks this is part of Linlithgow Palace and it looks as if it should be, but no. It dates from 1964 and is made mainly of aluminium.

When we got back it was time for a technology injection with a coffee or two with Val. It was good to exchange problems and solutions with someone who understands why that borked Nexus is a “wee shalenge”[sic]. As I expected, he suggested yet another way to solve the Nexus problem, or maybe just a chance to create a new problem.

When I got back it was time to prepare the main course. To speed up the preparation of the sauce, I decided to slice the ginger with the mandolin. Yes, JIC, I managed to slice my finger once again. The good news is that it was ginger I was slicing, not orange, so no acidic juice got in the cut. However, I had to continue the prep with two plasters on the cut and my hand in a plastic glove. Thanks to Nurse Scamp, it wasn’t any worse. Fish is now prepped and bread is baked without any more dramas. Just waiting for our guests to arrive.

The Hottest Day of the Year – 19 July 2016

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19 JulyYesterday was hot, but today, oh today was even hotter.  Over 33ºc in some places.  Heavens, even Scotland had over 25ºc.  What is the world coming to?

Scamp had decided that she was going to sit in the garden all day.  A sensible decision given that the sun was going mad.  We sat in the garden for a while watching movement in the pond.  We couldn’t decide whether it was frogs or newts.  We settled on ‘Frewts’ as the most likely suspects.

After lunch we went for a walk along past the golf course and had a couple of drinks at the clubhouse.  It doesn’t seem as if you have to be a member, just as long as you’ve got money.  We had money and I sampled another of these English IPAs which are very nice.

After we got back, Scamp went for more sunbathing in the garden while I went back to the wild woods to try to photograph some butterflies.  I managed to get a Small Heath and a Comma.  We don’t get Commas in Scotland, but apparently they are moving further north as a result of global warming.  I saw a deer, but it was too fast for me and was away into the tall grass before I could get the camera ready.  Also saw the pale blue dragonfly that I saw earlier in the week, but again, it wasn’t landing, just cruising, looking for a mate.

Canute and Delia came over for dinner which was an Indian take-away.  Very entertaining evening.  Just hope I can get to sleep in this really hot night.

Back North tomorrow.  Heavy rain forecast!

More Repairs – 9 July 2016

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8 july bThe Megane was due in at the garage for 8am, so it was another early rise, this time for both of us.  Got it down there on the dot at 8am.  Back for breakfast then just after that, decided to set the garden back the way it was before the fence went up.  Almost the way it was.  Scamp wanted the compost bin put in a new position, so clearing a space for it and levelling it was the first order of the day.  With that sorted, we could procede to refill it from the six black bin bags we’d filled with the compost.  Then plants in their pots had to be relocated round the periphery of the garden.  Some trimming next.  Two branches of the Rowan Tree were encroaching in the neighbour’s garden, so I lopped them off.  Dead headed the Schoolgirl rose at the front and that’s where I found the caterpillar.  It ended up in the front grass to fend for itself.

Just before lunch, the garage phoned to say that the Megane was ready and for once the bill was slightly smaller than we had estimated.  Every little helps.  Picked up the car and came home for a well earned lunch.  After that, I drove us in the Megane with its new CV joint boot to Bishopbriggs to get a lightweight Manfrotto tripod I fancied.  It will probably be a ‘car tripod’ as the big Manfrotto is a bit of a tight squeeze in the boot.  It really is a neat little thing and is much less cumbersome than the big 055CL.  However, I will keep the 055 to hold the D7000 because it feels much more secure on the big Tri.

Went for a walk over St Mo’s and got the shot of the damselfly.  The Pana lens wouldn’t focus on the damsel because it found the daisies in the background more attractive, so I used manual focus and focus peaking on the ’10 to get accurate focus on the insect and it worked perfectly.  The butterfly is a Ringlet and this is the first time I can recall seeing this name.

One wee sad thing today, but a happy thing too.  Val wanted a DSLR.  He’d been given one by one of his friends, but that person asked for it back.  He’s been looking for a cheap second hand one for a while with no success.  I had a D70 that’s been redundant since I got the D7000, so I stuck on the Nikkor 70-200mm and gave them to him.  I think he liked them.  I hope he enjoys using them as much as I did.  A wee bit sad for me parting with them, because they’ve both been great tools for me, but hopefully a happy day for Val, who’s going through a bad patch just now.

More problems uploading to Flickr tonight.  That’s the second time this week.  I finally got the images uploaded, but I think I may be looking for a new repository for my images soon, along with a few other people according to the forums on the net.

It’s not been a bad day at all weatherwise.  A little rain in the morning, but lots of blue skies and a lovely sunset tonight.  Let’s hope for more of the same tomorrow.

Another Wet One – 4 July 2016

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4 julyWet from start to finish today, but stuck to my guns and went out in the rain to capture something of the essence of the day. There were quite a lot of people about given the weather conditions. I felt sorry for the poor wee man sitting fishing under his umbrella. I hope he caught something – not the cold though! My cold has lifted thank goodness. Scamp is still coughing, but I think she is on the mend now.

It would be nice to say that these were all as they came out of the camera, but as usual, some ‘shopping’ was necessary.
The man with the dog for example:
When I got the base photo, the dog was off investigating an interesting scent in the woods, so I had to wait until it surfaced again, but then the man was facing me and had lost his hunched shoulders pose that really summed up the rainy day. No problem, I cut out the dog and added it to the original base photo, then blended it in with a vector mask. Although I knew it was raining heavily at the time, the photo didn’t show it, so I added some rain as a layer and changed the layer type to Lighten and it looked so much better. If you can’t see those carefully crafted raindrops, check out the version on Flickr 😉  EDIT!  Well, you will when Flickr remembers how to upload files.  What’s the point of having all these bells and whistles when the basic system doesn’t work.  For Flickr read Fuckr.

Had coffee with Val in the middle of the day and enjoyed the chat. It’s always good to see old friends you haven’t met with for a long time. Had a long discussion about computers and programs. Picked up a few tips on new apps to try, both on the PC and on the Mac.

Dinner was a bit rushed as I decided at the last minute to go to salsa after all and with Scamp’s blessing. I knew that Jamie Gal wouldn’t be hosting tonight’s session, and was hoping it wasn’t Colin but dreading it might be Shannon although there is one worse than that. Surely she wouldn’t inflict him on an advanced class. Keep him for the beginners. It turned out to be Will who taught a good class very clear instruction and a great deal of humour. Total enjoyment for the full hour, 9/10 Will.

Driving home, I thought I might attempt Charing Cross Mansions as a sketching objective some time. One of the prettier architectural frontages of Glasgow. I would need a dry day for that, and the weather forecast doesn’t seem to include one of those for the foreseeable future.

A Lost Day – 2 July 2016

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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.

Noilly Prat – 7 May 2016

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comboNoilly Prat is a brand of vermouth from France. “White” Noilly Prat is the archetype of dry, straw-coloured French vermouth.  It’s also the words I woke up to today.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it was precognition or just a word that I saw somewhere and got trapped in my cerebral cortex.  It happens a lot to me.

Woke later than normal and felt as if I hadn’t rested at all.  Only myself to blame.  That’s what happens when you get home at 2am after a long day, coupled with a late night the day before.  Dragged myself out of bed, then a shower and a cup of strong coffee helped put the world back on its axis.

Today we were driving down to Kilmarnock to visit Dorothy B.  We spent a good hour there with her and Colin.  Enjoyed the company and I’m sure she did too.  Got her up to date with what’s been going on in our life and our prospective plans for the next few months.

It was a dull kind of day with very little direct sun, so although I took my cameras as usual, nothing inspired me enough to haul one of them out of the bag.  We drove back up the M77 and dropped in at Waitrose for ‘the messages’ and a light lunch.  While Scamp was deciding on a bottle of wine for tonight, I turned around and what caught my eye?  Why a bottle of Noilly Prat!  Just coincidence.

When we got home, and after finishing yesterday’s (extremely) Hard Sudoku with a little help from my tablet, I went for a walk to St Mo’s.  Again, nothing was tempting me to get my camera out, then I saw the moss fruiting bodies.  Difficult to see with the naked eye, but amazing detail shows up when you use a couple of extension tubes on the Oly with the Panasonic 45-200 zoom.  The green larch needles were taken contre-jour (against the light) and I just liked the little pink flower.  Three shots survived out of 37 taken.  Not bad really.

TV was crap as usual on a Saturday night so we watched a recorded episode of Rick Stein.  He was in Berlin, and what wine was he celebrating?  Why Noilly Prat!  Once is coincidence, twice gets scary, especially since if you’d asked me yesterday what Noilly Prat was, I couldn’t have told you.

Earlier in the week we were promised 24ºc for Sunday (tomorrow), but the weatherman’s revised estimate tonight is nearer 18ºc.  Oh dear, let’s hope it doesn’t go any lower.

A grey start with late brightness – 17 March 2016

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combo bThe day started off very dull and grey.  Scamp went off to meet a friend for coffee in Hamilton and reported that the weather there was much better than here in Cumbersheugh.  Nothing surprising there with our omnipresent Cumbersheugh Cloud.  I went up “The Toonie” to meet Fred for a coffee.  It’s not as if we don’t have coffee or coffee makers at home, it was just a coincidence that we were both meeting different friends for the same beverege.  Had a natter with Fred and we set the world to rights as usual then the unthinkable happened.  The Costa repair man came in to service the coffee machine and they could only provide tea.  Now I’m perfectly happy with tea, but as far as I know, Fred only drinks coffee and beer.  Hardly ever spirits and never tea.  So we had to either walk to the other end of the centre and enter the dingy Costa there or sit coffee-less in the light.  We chose the latter.

When I came home, via Tesco as I was cooking tonight and Dobbies because I wanted to be self-sufficient in mint for mojitos, the weather was definitely brightening up, so I got my boots on and went over to St Mo’s to get some foties.  Got a couple of shots of a pair of deer and a lot of contre-jour ones against the low light.  The monochrome one of the trees was a happy accident.  I was trying to  work out how to use my phone to geotag the photos in the new Oly and just took a grab shot.  When I got home, I found that I had indeed geotagged the shot but it was unremarkable and was destined for the bin.  I must have pressed a hot key that did a basic conversion to mono and when I was doing a final check of shots for the bin, I liked the result.  Not PoD, but interesting enough to save.  Have a look at it on Flickr viewed on the lightbox (press L) and see what you think.

A Brush With Art – 24 January 2016

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFred and I went to Cass Art today for a mixed media workshop.  For once, this was a workshop which would have benefited from the wearing of industrial protective clothing like a boiler suit.  However to contradict the title of today’s blog, no brushes were used in this art class.  We did use pipettes, painting knives, sandpaper and kitchen towel, but no brushes were harmed in any way.  It seemed to be an attempt at selling the Pebeo abstract paint products we were encouraged to use by a poorly prepared and inexperienced ‘tutor’ who admitted half way through the class that she hadn’t actually used these products very much.  Hmm, as an ex teacher, I’d have to say that there were times when I ‘winged it’ through a class, but I was so much better than this – most of the time!  I got the impression that the ‘sell’ was not very successful either, as very few of our peers bought any of the Pebeo products after the class.  This is by far the poorest presentation I’ve been to at Cass Art.  As far as the product goes, it seemed that there was very little creative artistry possible with it.  Strange effects, but not a lot of control available.  The paint looked like a thinned down version of Hammerite at a vastly inflated price.  Maybe I just don’t understand this abstract nonsense art.

Once we got back and I’d had my lunch I spent the afternoon searching out the tracks from the ’70s album ‘Rockbuster’ on YouTube.  It’s amazing the amount of music that’s available there.

Today’s photo solves two problems:

  1. I had no opportunity to take any pictures today.

  2. I’d recently bought a wireless remote for the E-PL5 and hadn’t managed to try it properly.

Problem solved. Picture taken and the remote works perfectly. In case you’re interested, it’s a Pixel RW-221/UC1 Wireless Shutter Remote.  Such a pity that Oly didn’t think to produce their own remote for this excellent camera, like Nikon did.

Flooers – 21 January 2016

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

You can tell when it’s been a really bad day photographically when the POD is flowers, especially cut flowers.  These ones are really quite pretty, but they still tell a tale.  It was a dismal day for taking photos.  Hardly any light from mid morning until night.  It rained all day and it was cold.  Not much to get up for really, but I did.  I made the superhuman effort and got up and went out.

I went to meet Fred who has even more to moan about than me.  He’s had to endure the pain of a failed tooth extraction and then the added misery of oral surgery to remove the root.  I don’t even think he got his tooth back so he could get a shiny new fifty pence piece from the tooth fairy.  He wasn’t complaining too much though as we exchanged comments on each others art works completed or part completed over Christmas.  That and the coffee eased the pain of his gums and my lack of decent light.

I got myself the latest Stuart MacBride book to cheer myself up.  Why is it that this book which has to be printed, bound, have a cover fitted and be carried from the printers to Tesco cost nearly two quid less than its digital equivalent from Amazon?  Amazon say it’s because VAT is added to the purchase price as the government have decided that an ebook is software.  That is a feeble excuse.  It doesn’t take a genius to work out that it isn’t software which is according to Merriam-Webster as “The programs that run on a computer and perform certain functions“.  An ebook has to be read, it does not perform any function and it does not run on a computer.  It’s time the government owned up to this, frankly, ridiculous surcharge.  Anyway, this is the second book I’ve bought this year.  Is it a sign of the times?  We will wait and see with breath suitably bated.

On the go all day – 15 January 2016

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combo bBusy day, that’s why this entry is a wee bit late.  Up early to get ready for Crawford and Nancy coming for dinner.  Between us we made the soup, the main course which was Scamp’s Chicken in Breadcrumbs Twice 1, made the pudding which was ginger cheesecake and all before lunch.  We went out to Costa Robroyston for lunch 2.  Fleeting snow showers while we were out, but it was icy underfoot.

After lunch, we did some extra shopping, tidied up the living room, hoovered (or Dyson’d to be more exact), cleared and set the table and in the midst of that I even managed a short walk, a very short walk. I had forgotten my boots and normal street shoes are no match for sheet ice. Discretion was the better part of valour and I retraced my steps, but not before I got this shot of Mr Grey’s cousin out on a limb.  One or two shots and then he decided that it was time to leave.  I was quite impressed with the quality of the shots from the Tamron lens today.  It’s easy to see how the acutance is masked by the heavy noise when the ISO is up in the five figure bracket.

The visitors arrived about 7.30pm and we did have an entertaining night as usual.  Unfortunately, our young neighbours were also having an entertaining night and the music finally finished about 2.00am.  I hope it’s a one off.

  1. She didn’t make it twice, it’s just it’s marinated in breadcrumbs with lemon, garlic, parsley and stuff, then coated in breadcrumbs again for cooking. It’s got a fancy Italian name too. ↩
  2. We must be almost on first name terms with the folk that work there. ↩