Category: Friends

A Brush With Art – 24 January 2016

Posted on by Zogman

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

Posted on by Zogman

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. ↩

Cramond – 28 December 2015

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combo wToday we took JIC and Sim to Cramond. The weather was dry and we had a gentle walk along the the Almond to the waterfall. We agreed that beyond that, the path would get too muddy and slippery for those without boots, i.e. all of us. To waste some time we watched a red rubber ball trying unsuccessfully to escape the eddy below the waterfall. (You probably had to be there!) We walked back and had coffee and a scone at the quite excellent Falls Cafe before walking down to the estuary and deciding it was just too late to attempt the crossing to the island in the shadow of the ‘toblerones’.  If you haven’t seen them, it will mean nothing to you. They were anti-submarine defences from WW2.

After that we drove home because Sim and JIC were meeting Scott for a liquid lunch and a catch up after twenty odd years.

While I made dinner, Scamp injected profiteroles with cream (more successfully than I did last week). Later JIC and Sim returned with the aforementioned (I like that word, did you guess?) Scott with his wife and wee girl. Scott hadn’t changed a bit.  It was almost as if he had left out house the day before, rather than twenty odd years before.  They stayed, reminiscing about exotic dancing and other escapades from the past and then it was time for dinner.

I’d already booked The Legend of Barney Thompson to watch after dinner. Oh dear, I wish now I hadn’t. It was the most dire film I’ve seen this year, or probably in any year. Whatever you do, don’t watch it. Absolute Crap! The book, well the first book anyway, was funny. The rest had nothing at all to recommend them. The book was just a ‘British Film’. Rubbish.

Don’t know what tomorrow will bring, we’ll let the fates decide.

A Busy Day – 19 December 2015

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IMG_2981- blog--353This morning I made choux pastry for profiteroles.  Under the careful tutelage of Chef Scamp.  Such a faff, I kept asking myself was it really worth it.  It was!
While I was doing that, Scamp was filling the kitchen with the smell of garlic, was it worth it.  It was!
After that, it was time to make the bread, and adjust the texture of the dough, was it worth it. Hmm, not really – possible the worst loaf I’ve made in a long time.  Oh well, you can’t win them all.

After all that prep, it was time to go visit Dorothy.  Spent an entertaining hour with her an Colin, then drove back to more Masterchef Mysteries.  This time I was in charge of beating the cream to make the filling for the profiteroles, then the additional faff of squirting it into the choux pastry blobs.  Fiddly.  Was it worth …
After that, my kitchen chores were over for the day all but over.  Just tidying up the living room and then I could sit down while Scamp refilled the kitchen with the scent of garlic.  Vampires beware, this kitchen is off limits.

The dinner made everything worthwhile.  Starter to Coffee, it all tasted great.  Busy day, but it was a successful one.

A wasted day – 17 December 2015

Posted on by Zogman

IMG_2978-Edit-Edit- blog--351Have you ever had one of those days where you have everything planned out – then one thing after another screws up? That was today.

It really started last night when my niece phoned up at 9.00pm to say that she had broken the door handle into her kitchen and would I go up and sort it out. Well, as you may remember, yesterday was an ‘Auld Guys’ day in the HorseShoe Bar, so I was in no fit state to drive, thankfully Scamp did the honours and guided us up to our niece’s house. Just like she had said, the handle was broken off at the shaft, so I took the whole lock assembly off and said I’d get her a new one today and fit it for her. As she was going out in the afternoon, she asked if I’d get it done in the morning. I’d already planned to go to the hospital to get my ankle x-rayed in the morning, meet Fred for coffee at noon and maybe, just maybe get some photos taken in the afternoon. Change of plan. Up and out for 9.30am and off to B&Q to get the replacement handle. Replacing the handle was no problem as all the hard work had been done when I fitted the original. That left me just enough time to get back home and dump my tool bag before going up to meet Fred.

We had our usual talk about painting, sketching and setting the world to rights over a cup or two of Java, or as near as you can get to Java in Costa. I was really impressed with some of his Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt copies. Nudes of course, what else!

After that it was over to Airdrie to search the hospital carpark for that elusive space that isn’t too tight, a disabled space, or taken up by some builders rubble. Found one. Right at the back of the carpark. Almost in Coatbridge! Found my way to X-Ray department, handed in my card, confirmed my details and went to wait. After 45minutes had gone by and there was no sign of anyone coming to take foties of my ankle, I went to check at reception. A different lady asked my name and DOB, then said they had no record of me. Had I checked in at reception? I told her I had and that I had handed in my doctor’s referral. Her reply was the noncommital reply most receptionists use when staring at a computer screen: “I don’t know what happened there.” Neither did I, but just after I returned to my seat, my name was called and the foties were took. I was told to wait while they ‘processed’ them. I think this is the terminology for the mysterious process of downloading the images to the computer. After waiting for about 15minutes for the ‘processing’, another nurse came through to say there was a slight technical hitch. What? Another one? This time the computer wouldn’t accept my details. Was it me, I began to wonder? Am I not really here? Maybe I should be at a completely different hospital in a parallel universe. Have I gone through a black hole? No, I hadn’t gone through Coatbridge, just parked near it. However, all was resolved in the end by the IT technician’s secret procedure of switching it off, counting to ten and switching it back on again, then typing the details in by hand. I was free to go, and even better, it looks like there are no bones broken or chipped in my ankle. Just ligament damage. Take paracetamol.

By the time I got out the light had gone and it was back to the twilight world we inhabit from November until February, except when it’s totally dark.

Now tomorrow I plan to …………..  Nah.  Best not go there yet.