Category: landscape

Dorothy – 25 February 2017

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Today we drove down to see Dorothy.  She was looking well, although her leg seemed to be giving her bother and her hand looked as if she was suffering a bit from rheumatics.  Still, she was sharp as a tack and quick to tell Colin off if he strayed too far in his stories.  A pleasant wee hour although I felt bad that we hadn’t been to see her for a long while, but there was nothing we could do about it, either Colin was busy or we were.  A case of life getting in the way again.

Stopped at Waitrose on the way home to buy a chicken and ended up with two bags full of other stuff as well as the chicken.  We were shocked that Waitrose, in addition to allowing Neds into their stores are now stooping to this gutter humour to advertise their mugs.  What is the retail sector coming to.  (No, it wasn’t me who did it, I just photographed it.)

When we got home, the daylight was still there, so I grabbed the chance of an hour in St Mo’s.  Startled a couple of deer, but chose not to pursue them because they were on the motorway side of the fence and I didn’t want to be the reason for them running across the carriageway and causing an accident.  Other than the deer and the ever present buzzards, there wasn’t much of interest.  The overnight rain had increased the water level in the pond and part of the boardwalk was under water, so that, at least, made an interesting shot with the 9mm lens.

A curry from Bombay Dreams provided dinner because neither of us could be bothered cooking and today’s sketch was a disappointing pencil drawing of my mouse.  I like the curves and lines of the mouse and felt the pencil rendered it well, but it’s a bit of a stopgap really.  Not the most interesting drawing I’ve done in the month.  Only three more sketches to go in the 28 Drawings Later challenge.  Like the Inktober challenge, I’ll miss it when it’s finished.

Tomorrow looks wet.  At least we had some sun and blue skies today.

“Excuse me …” – 20 January 2017

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Earlier today:
I’m sitting alone watching and listening to the films of the people’s stories in the Disappearing Glasgow exhibition in the Lighthouse. I’ve just had to shut up a couple of wahoos who were pontificating loudly about the photography round the walls.  I just got madder and madder with them and eventually turned round and called across the room “Excuse me. Do you mind if I listen to this?” That did the trick.  My seven days beard growth and my old battered and torn Bergy jacket probably helped.  They shut up then left … quietly.  They were english, so they didn’t know how to behave.

Later today:
When I eventually rose to leave, about twenty minutes later, there were six other people sitting around me.  I hadn’t noticed them arriving.  They hadn’t said a word throughout the films.  They were Scottish.  Brought up properly.
Definitely an exhibition worth seeing and hearing if you get the chance.

Glasgow was dull today with one of those milky white skies that simply drag you further down.  A January Sky.  No directional light, so no shadows.  I couldn’t see anything I wanted to photograph, so I got the train back home.

Stepped off the train at Croy and realised that it was only just coming up to 2pm.  It seemed a shame to just drive home and stare at a glowing screen for an hour or two, so I decided to travel east in the hope of finding some brighter skies in Stirling and also hoping that Tiso would still be in business there and would have a pair of the excellent Bergy gloves in a small size to fit Scamp, and that is what I did.

I didn’t get the brighter skies, but I did get a couple of photos.  One of the Wallace Monument through the mist and another of a closed down pub.  I also got the gloves.  I considered stopping for a coffee, but then decided I’d rather be on my way home before rush hour, because rush hour on the M9/M80 is a nightmare of drivers changing lanes, changing back, cutting in, cutting out. Just a situation to be avoided, and that is what I did.

I don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow.  The weather fairies say it will be fine with sunshine.

AirTable v Bento – 16 January 2017

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Another aimless day mostly spent under grey skies with the occasional shower of rain falling to give a bit of variety.

I spent most of the morning working with and learning to use AirTable, a multi-platform database that Hazy alerted me to.  Up until recently I’d used Bento,  the delightfully simple database for IOS and OSX.  I don’t use it much on the Mac, but it’s always there on my phone, especially the books database.  If I’m browsing in Waterstones and see a new book I like the look of, I type its name into my Bento Books Database, along with the author.  Then, when I have the time, I look it up on Amazon to see a price I’m willing to pay.  More recently, I have started looking in my local library e-book list to see if there is anything there.  Unfortunately, NLC library don’t have a great deal of e-books in THEIR database yet, but it’s always worth a look.  Once I’ve borrowed or bought a book, I tick it off as ‘Checked Out’ then later when I’ve read it or junked it I mark it either ‘Keep’ or ‘Drop’.  All done on Bento.  Unfortunately, Bento was itself ‘Dropped’ by Filemaker for reasons best known to themselves in 2013 (ish) and users were encouraged to replace it with Filemaker Go which is free, but really requires Filemaker Pro which costs around £170.  A hefty price to pay for a book database.  Enter AirTable which seems to fit the bill of price (free for non-commercial) and power.  I had a bit of a problem getting my Bento database into it, but with some HazyHelp, it worked a treat.  The main problem was that Bento on the phone wouldn’t sync with Bento on the Mac.  I gave up looking for a solution and in the end, just typed in the details I was missing.  Not comes the big test, when I take it out in the wild tomorrow to see if it cuts the mustard!

Went for a walk down the Luggie Water in the later afternoon, while Gems were invading the house, but saw very little apart from the ‘Ripples’ shot.  Drove up to Hulks Road, a wild bit of country road on the outskirts of Cumbersheugh, and got some lovely light on the landscape after such a dull day.  That’s where the rest of the shots came from.

Salsa tonight was a disaster.  I couldn’t remember the move we did last week, despite having watched our record of it before we went out.  Worse still, we did Chi-wa-wa (sic) which I know and like, and I couldn’t get that either.  I must have been one of the few leaders who actually knew the move, but was the only one who couldn’t get it right.  Embarrassing?  Just a little.  Lots of folk there tonight who hadn’t been to class for ages.  Good to see.  Scamp and I went for a coffee and a soft drink with Catherine and Linda after class to catch up with everybody’s news.

Tomorrow we may go to Perth for coffee and the run.  Weather looks as if it will cooperate.

Geese – 15 January 2017

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Half past one in the afternoon and I’m standing in the middle of an old coup that was previously a spoil tip for a coal mine. Now it’s just wilderness and I’m watching and listening to skein after skein of geese flying overhead heading north. What do they know that we don’t?

That was written much earlier in the day.  I’d cycled to the tip and by the time I was heading for home, an hour and a half later, the skeins were flying west, south and occasionally north, but not east.  By that time the light was failing and I imagine that these birds had been flying since first light some eight hours earlier and are now looking for somewhere to roost for the night.  There are quite a few fields around Cumbersheugh where geese feed and then roost.  That would explain the apparently contradictory flight paths.  It was great listening to the skeins as they ‘talked’ to each other.  Some will say that’s not true, that they don’t communicate, but if you listen, it does sound like they are sharing information with each other.

While I was walking around the tip, I got a few shots of folk on top of the Kirkie Volcano.  It’s really a pit bing (spoil heap), but from this angle it looks just like a volcano.  One day I’m going to walk up it and take some photos from the top.  East Dunbarton Council should really make it into a visitor attraction with a wee coffee shop at the top.  It would make a fortune.  I may suggest it to them.

It was a lovely day today with a few showers of rain, but the temperature was decent, very decent for the time of year with highs of just over 10ºc.  Not quite shorts and tee shirts weather, but not far off it.  I did wander around in my shorts for a while, but it was too cool to cycle in them.  I saw the moss fruiting bodies (Green Blobs) when I was putting my cycling ‘longs’ (the opposite of shorts) back on and was quite impressed with the colour the camera caught.

Tomorrow is back to Gems in the afternoon, so I need somewhere to go.  Not sure where yet.  😉

Bow Tie – 14 January 2017

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Firstly, you will have noticed that there is no photo of the bow tie.  That’s because it’s not quite finished yet.  It’s a prototype, made from a pillowslip, not something you’d expect to wear to a posh do, but essential as a practise piece.  I learned a lot from making it and I made it exactly as if it was made from the finest silk.  I stuck closely to the instructions and followed every step.  I made mistakes along the way, but hopefully I have learned from them.  Tomorrow I hope to iron (yes, along the way I’ve also learned how to iron) the prototype and finish off the sewing.  I might even try to tie it.  Every day’s a school day.

After the sewing session, we drove to Vecchia Bologna for lunch.  The place was mobbed, Scamp said it was the end of an Itison voucher offer.  We had to wait a little longer than usual for the food, but when it came, it was as good as ever.  Neither of us wanted or particularly needed anything in Stirling, so we just drove home and I went out for a walk through the ice and snow to St Mo’s.  Managed to surprise two deer, but the quality was so poor, they didn’t get published.  I did, however like the shots from the Oly 5 with the 9mm lens and that’s what you see above.

Tonight, I made some scones and have bread proving as I write this hoping to get it baked later.  Baking scones, baking bread, sewing and ironing.  Don’t tell me I’m not in touch with my feminine side!

As a bit of serendipity, you should read what I wrote last year on the 14th of January.  There should be a link to ‘A Year Ago Today’ at the bottom of the right hand column.  Navigate to the 14th from there.  Amazing synchronicity!

 

Antiques – 11 January 2017

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It was a wild morning after a wild night with high winds and driving rain and the dogs next door were howling.  Decided that going out was better than staying in, so we drove out along to Larkhall and from there we went down to Garrion Bridge.  Scamp fancied a coffee in the antiques centre / garden centre there.  Apparently one of ‘Gems’ had recommended it, saying she goes there regularly.

It was a barn of a place.  It used to be a fruit farm years ago and I suppose the giant shed where  the antiques centre is housed was a storage barn and also a place for keeping the plants over the winter.  Today it housed mainly ‘grey hairs’ out for a couple of hours drive in the wind and rain and stopped off for a coffee and a bowl of soup.  For us it was a roll ’n’ sausage and a roll ’n’ scrambled egg.  You can sort out for yourselves who the recipients were!  When we were done we went for a walk around the different shops within the building.  It all seemed confused and confusing.  Just a jumble of tat, and the usual garden centre nonsense, mixed up with a handicrafts area with “DO NOT TOUCH” signs and clear plastic bags of wool everywhere, an ‘Art Gallery’ (‘nuf said) and lots of doggy and horsey things.  They even had a dog coat made in the style of a kilt!  I kid you not.  You can see I got a photo to prove it.

I’d never been in an antiques shop before, not a ‘real’ one anyway.  I’ve wandered round a few jumble sales and car-boot sales, but not an actual antiques shop.  If the first area could be defined as ‘tat’, this was old tat, dirty old tat in some cases.  The prices were not as high as I’d expected, but neither was the quality.  I kept thinking of things we’ve go up in the loft or in the spare room.  Some of those are now antiques.  Maybe we should sell them and get some cash.

As we were near Hamilton, I thought we should stop at Chatelherault on the way back and hopefully get more pics there.  It was cold with occasional glimpses of sun, but a gale blowing.  We found the cafe, had a cup of hot chocolate, took a few pics and came home.

Tonight was salsa with gridlock on the motorway first.  Managed to take the diversion along Royston Road and got there in time.  Took two classes, 6.30 beginners and 7.30 advanced.  Great fun in both.  Still windy when we drove home and with snow and sleet mixed in.

Hoping for less wind tomorrow and more sun.

Out To Lunch – 10 January 2017

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This morning, over a cup of coffee, we discussed what to do with the day.  We decided to go out for lunch because it was fairly bright.  The reason we gave was that we needed to get some compost to plant up the spider plants that have been languishing in water on the back window sill and we could get that at a garden centre and most garden centres have cafés now.  Devious, eh?   We had to drive through the roadworks going on all round the ring road.  Everywhere had closed signs and everywhere had diversion signs, sometime contradictory signs, but lots of them except where they’d be helpful.  Well, you’ve got to use the “Twenty seven 8×10 full colour glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one …”  (Alice’s Restaurant – Arlo Guthrie).  After we’d manoeuvred our way through the barriers, I thought we would drive to the garden centre out by Killearn, but the weather that way looked very rough.  Dark clouds and what looked like heavy rain.  The weather closer to home had deteriorated too, so we changed our plans and went to Dobbies at Bearsden instead.  As is usual in garden centres these days there are franchises and Dobbies now has an Edinburgh Woollen Mill within its shopping area.  I got another warm winter shirt – you can’t have too many shirts.  After lunch and after buying the compost, we drove home through brightening skies again.

By the time we got home the skies had cleared and blue sky was once again in charge.  While Scamp phoned her Cumbernauld sister, I took the chance to get some photos over at St Mo’s.  By the time I got over there, the sun was sinking, but the blue sky was still there.  Just a few shots in the bag, but enough for a PoD and then some backup.

I think we’re driving Scamp and her sister to Glasgow Airport on Thursday and it will be a fairly early rise.  It’s only her sister who is flying down to a funeral in Bristol, but Scamp’s going in to the airport with her to provide much needed moral support.  Hopefully I’ll have an hour or so in Glasgow to get this week’s sketch done.  Tomorrow, however, is free so far.  Weather looks wild.  Strong winds and the possibility of snow with more due on Thursday.  Oh what fun, but the combination might provide some interesting photo opportunities.

The day the tree came down – 4 January 2017

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Today Scamp decided that the Christmas tree must come down along with all the rest of the decorations.  I left her to it. She’s so much better at putting the tree up and taking it down again.  I just load it back into the loft again once the boxes are packed and more parcel tape is applied to the Christmas tree box.  There is very little cardboard to be seen on the box now.  The entire box is almost encased in tape.

While she did that, I was joined in a verbal battle with a representative of John Lewis in the JL War.  It soon became a war of attrition with me doing all the clever verbal fencing and JL’s rep parrying my thrusts with clumsy “Sorry, but ..” and “I’m disappointed but …”.  Eventually it seems to have been escalated to a more senior fencer who I will skirmish with tomorrow.  It’s all playing out on FB.

In the afternoon I drove to Auchinstarry and got some interesting shots varying from landscapes to macros.  The macro shots of the moss was taken on top of a manhole cover.  It was only when I was crouched over the cover that I realised it was a sewer that was under it.  It was a wee bit smelly.  Just one of the sacrifices we make for our art.

Tomorrow morning looks like being cold so I might go out early to get some frosty shots … or I may just stay in bed.  I’m pretty sure the sewing machine will not come tomorrow.  I’m guessing the JL Embra crowd now know who’s been causing all the bother and will make sure it’s not delivered until the very last minute.  Well, that’s what I would do if I were them!!

First sketch of 2017 – 3 January 2017

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Ordered a sewing machine last week to progress my dressmaking skills. Ordered it from John Lewis in Emba because the Glasgow shop didn’t have it.  I thought it could be delivered to the Glasgow store and I could pick it up from there.  No, they couldn’t do that because the machine was in the Embra shop, not in a warehouse (?)  Maybe that’s a logical reason to JL, but it made no sense to me.  Anyway I wasn’t in a rush to get it and there was no way I was going to drive through Embra to pick it up.  I was told it would be delivered within five working days.  I phoned the Embra shop this morning to find out which day it would be delivered.  Here is a synopsis of the conversation after I’d explained that I wanted to know which day it would arrive:

“It will be delivered within five working days”
“Could you be more precise” I asked?
“Eh no.  We don’t actually deliver it.  Because it’s a small article, it will be delivered by a carrier.” *
“So will I get a phone call or an email to tell me which day it will be delivered?”
*“No, but it will be delivered either today, tomorrow or the next day”
Now surprising as it might seem, I can count to five and then add on the extra days for weekends and holidays.
“So you’re telling me that in a company as large as John Lewis, and in this day and age, you can’t tell me the DAY that my sewing machine will be delivered?”
”Yes, that’s correct.”
“Well, that wasn’t very helpful at all.”

Now, remind me.  This is the 21st century, isn’t it?  Imagine if I was working and had to take five days off my work on the off chance that my sewing machine was going to be delivered that day.  I’ve bought a lot of stuff from JL in  the past, but I’m afraid those days are now in the past.  I had thought of buying an iMac from them because they offer an extra year’s warranty, but as their delivery methods are so archaic, I think I’ll shop elsewhere.

Out at lunchtime for coffee with Fred.  No Val today as he was otherwise engaged.  Good natter with lots of laughter.

Walked over to St Mo’s when I came back and got the first sketch of 2017 completed in about 15 minutes.  I keep meaning to time my sketches.  Must do it with the next one.  Two wee boys were passing St Mo’s when I was sketching.  I heard them laughing and looked up to see one of them posing for me.  I laughed and so did they.  Just wee boys.  An old man passed behind me soon after and he seemed to be struggling along with a stick.  He seemed bemused and looked as if he was wondering what I’d found to draw in this urban landscape.  But that’s it.  It’s Urban Sketching.

I got some sunset shots with the Oly 5 and processed them according to Laura Shoe’s video  and was quite impressed with the effect.  I’ll use that method of combining basic adjustments with an overlay of graduated filter.

June came over for dinner tonight and she and Scamp had a good gossip about everything and anything.

Tomorrow?  Don’t know.  Haven’t seen the weather.

Ne’erday – 1 January 2017

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Ne’erday to Scots, New Year’s Day to the rest of the world.

Made some bread in the morning and left it to rise while we went for our traditional walk around Broadwood Loch.  It was a bright morning and the sun was quite blinding, reflecting on the water of the loch.  Got some photos of the gulls sitting on the fence at the outfall of the loch.  We used to call them seagulls when I was young, but these birds have never seen the sea, far less paddled in it.  The furthest they get is foraging in the various landfills around the country.

Further around I got some shots of cormorants stretching their wings to dry.  It appears that these birds have also rejected the maritime life for the more sheltered inland waters.

Lots of people taking the opportunity of getting out in the sun, even if it was cold like today.  Allegedly 5ºc, but a cold 5º.  There was a bit of a breeze which probably made it feel even colder.  However, when you’re walking and talking you don’t feel the cold so much.

When I looked at the photos once we got back, I wasn’t impressed, so I grabbed my camera and headed out again, alone this time, to St Mo’s.  Scamp was more interested in watching the ballet on telly.  Got some landscapes taken with the Oly 5 and some more burds had their photo taken with the Nikon.  I managed just over an hour out before the light started to fade, but at least I got some better shots this time.

Dinner tonight was roast chicken with roast potatoes and mixed leaves.  Very nice.  Pudding was panna cotta with crushed raspberries.

Struggled to understand the latest Sherlock while I struggled to understand the first Sudoku of the new calendar.  Eventually solved the Sudoku but got lost somewhere in Sherlock.  Nothing strange there.

May go out somewhere tomorrow, maybe not.  It depends on the weather.