Category: landscape

Cycling in the sun – 8 February 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bHeavy rain when we woke, but then the rain cleared up, the sky lightened and blue sky appeared. It was too good an opportunity to miss, so I got the bike rack on the car and drove the bike to Auchinstarry.

When I got there, I noticed right away that there was a strong westerly wind. A head wind for me. Oh well, better to have a head wind going and a tail wind coming back rather than the other way round. It was a cold wind though! Made heavy weather of the outward run and got some interesting photos at Dumbreck, including the shots of the swans. I just missed getting shots of their take off, but it was a joy to see in the scattered afternoon sun. Cycled as far as Shirva Farm but the going was tough with the headwind and the fact that they were “upgrading” the canal tow path. Upgrading apparently means digging it up and leaving it like that. The path was a quagmire. I turned and came back along the canal, then crossed at the path through the plantation and back to the car. I was really pleased that I’d taken Scamp’s advice and brought a flask with coffee. It was a more pleasant run back, not fighting the headwind, but the coffee was welcome.  I even washed my bike when I came home.  The first wash it’s had in a long time.  I hope it still works.

Salsa at night and then Bachata for the second hour. It’s getting better. I’m beginning to relax into it. Much less frantic than Salsa, but not as enjoyable. Too regimented for my random brain. Rain forecast for tomorrow.

 

I’m walking in sunshine – 2 February 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bFor a time today, the sun shone.  It was so good to walk in the sun.  After all the dull, heavy feeling weather we’ve had this winter it was good to feel the sun on your face and to see shadows.  It’s surprising just how much it means to see the effects of the sun on your surroundings.  According to the weather fairies we are to have more sun tomorrow.  Bring it on!

Went to the gym and had a play around on the machines.  I’ve still got a few to investigate and a few that I can happily discount as ‘not for me’.  Went for a swim afterwards, but the pool was busy so we spent most of our time in either the sauna or the jacuzzi.  I don’t mind, it does you good to just get out these days.

After lunch I went for that walk in the sun and when I got back one of Scamp’s friends had brought her Nexus round for me to have a look at.  The first thing I noticed was that the back of the device wasn’t seated properly, so I suspect somebody had been there before me.  Second thing was that the machine was totally dead – not even the empty battery sign which usually means it’s been left on or something has shorted somewhere.  I worked with it all night, but the whole thing is totally ‘bricked’.  A very technical and appropriate term for knackered.  I don’t see it working again any time soon.  In an attempt to reset it like I did with my own Nexus, I had to use the PC.  What a brick that is.  Windoze 10 wouldn’t start – grey screen – no message – no pointer.  Powered down, then back on – just the same.  Left it charging for about 15 minutes and a message appeared “configuring updates 100% complete”  So that’s what the bloody thing had been doing.  It would have been good of Win10 to at least give me a clue what was going on in its tiny mind.  After another 3 hard resets, it started working, though grudgingly.  That’s why I don’t mind paying the hefty price for a Mac.  It just works.  Usually.

A drive along Clydeside – 27 January 2016

Posted on by Zogman

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAlthough it was raining very heavily when we woke up, the weather improved all through the morning, so we decided to go for a drive in the sunlight, rather than go to the pool today. I fancied going to Culross (sorry Hazy) and Scamp wanted to go the Clydeside. We settled on Clydeside.

Rather than go straight down the motorway and waste hours going through the miles of roadworks from the M8 flyover to Hamilton I went through Airdrie, Newmains and Waterloo. Don’t worry if you haven’t got the foggiest idea of where I am, it’s not motorway, that’s all you need to know. Weather hadn’t been brilliant, but when we got to Waterloo we had a view across the Clyde Valley to Stonehouse and Strathaven bathed in bright sunshine making the grass glow! So that’s what sunshine is like.

Drove along Clydeside to Dobbies, or Sandyholm as we used to know it and got the above photo there, looking across to the sunny side of the river. Had a pleasant enough lunch, but inside of the garden centre was a shambles as they were getting rid of the Christmas tat and preparing for Easter which as we all know is when garden centres make the most money. “Buy your plants at Easter to plant them in your garden. Buy the plants that will actually grow in May.” I was told that by a gardener years ago and it’s very true.

On the way home we stopped at Mauldslie to try to get some photos, but the sun had gone for the day and we were back to ISO 10000 again. Time to go home. Still, I walked in the sunshine today again. Things may be looking up.

Oh yes, and it took just over 10 minutes to get through the roadworks on the motorway. But if I’d gone that way to start with I wouldn’t have seen Stonehouse bathed in sunshine.

A day by the loch – 13 January 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bToday we woke to sunshine, just as the weather fairies had predicted, so it was up and out early.  We took ‘pieces‘, that’s sandwiches to you unenlightened ones, and we took a flask and all the makings for a cup of coffee and tea and pointed the car at Loch Lomond.  In particular, we headed for Milarrochy Bay on Loch Lomond to see and photograph the famous Milarrochy Tree.  It’s a tree that once stood on the banks of the loch, but is more usually part submerged a few metres from the shore.  Google “Milarrochy Tree” and you’ll see the tree photographed in every time of the day and on every day of the year.  It’s quite a Scottish icon.  In its way it’s as famous as the waterfall at Buachaille Etive Mor.  Google that too if you like.  We can’t remember the last time we went to this spot, but it must have been at least four cars ago, and maybe longer.  It’s a strange way to count time, I know, but it works for us.

Thankfully when we got to the carpark it was deserted so I could spend as much time as I wanted shooting it with all different lenses and all different settings with both cameras, but not at the same time.  That would be taking things too far.  All in all, I think I took about 90 shots of the tree.  If you think that’s overkill, you’re not a photographer.  After eating our pieces and having our cups of coffee we headed up to Rowardennan and the end of the road, well almost, because the predicted clouds were rolling in from the west and looked as if they had been loading up with snow which they were set on dropping any time soon.  Took some shots of the loch which is quite a boring stretch of water with some foreground interest from some rocks and tried to frame the youth hostel with an overhanging pine tree.

After that it was back home in time for tea, well more coffee actually.  It was great just being out in the daylight watching the play of light on the hills.  The sun had shone all morning but then it got tired and had to rest behind some clouds.

A day to remember.

Cramond – 28 December 2015

Posted on by Zogman

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.

Hard Travelling – 15 December 2015

Posted on by Zogman

combo bOut to the doc’s just after 9.00 this morning, then off to Larky to get my glasses fixed after they broke last week. It was no fun driving through about 10 miles of motorway roadworks. I’d hate to have to drive this twice a day, five days a week. It’s never ending too. I think it’s been going on for about a year now and it looks like it will go on for at least another year.

Larky hadn’t changed much, but I did see a strange sight. There was a flock of birds circling round the railway station. At first I thought they were rooks or crows, but then I noticed gulls, starlings and pigeons in the flock too. So strange to see such a mixture of different raucous birds.

Drove back through the same roadworks (there’s almost no way to avoid them) on the way home. I did take one diversion to pick up some icecream from Souave’s in Muirhead, and Edinburgh Rock too, of course.

There was just enough light left when I got home to get out with my new boots and get them dirty, or at least wet – and maybe get some photos. I walked along the railway walk and got what I thought were some good shots of an old twisted tree. When I got back, I realised that it just didn’t work. That’s how it goes sometimes. The boots survived the trip. I managed to get them wet and dirty, but my feet stayed dry. Success!

The Bonny (x2) Banks – 25 November 2015

Posted on by Zogman

DSC_4429-Edit- blog--329On paper, this looked like the best day of the week. I thought it would be good to go to Lomond Shores which, although it’s really just a collection of expensive tacky touristy shops, does have Loch Lomond as a backdrop. Today it also had, what must have been the slowest workforce in creation apparently laying down a new pedestrian walkway. This must be a new definition of ‘work‘ and ‘force‘. There was very little work being done and with the minimum of force. The shops seemed to be overloaded with Christlefridge tat. I really can’t stand this nonsense. Buy in cheap crap, stack it high, sell it dear and then sell off what’s left as ‘bargain’ items after the celebrations are over. Bah Humbug.

The upside of the visit was the scenery around the loch itself. With clouds scudding across the sky, the constantly changing light on the hills was fascinating. It was also good to see the seaplane landing on the loch. It must have been a beautiful flight today. One lucky day with the light just right.

The evening was spent trying once again to fix the Finder problem on the Mac. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before. If I have, you won’t want to hear about the lack of progress and if I haven’t, I won’t bore you with it. Suffice to say that the search continues.

A day of two halves – 8 September 2015

Posted on by Zogman

comboA very different day from yesterday. This morning it is much cooler,cloudier and breezier. I’m standing by the pond at St Mo’s and there’s no sign of yesterday’s mist. Managed to startle two deer about 200 yards (metres) from home. Camera was still switched off in the bag. One day I’ll learn. Dull morning walk with nothing to recommend it. Stood watching a dragonfly checking me out, doing flypasts. It never landed once in the time I watched it. Got one shot of a snail and a spider on a dry cow parsley stem, but had to reduce it to mono as the ISO was 25600! An incredible number, unthinkable a few years ago. I liked the colours combinations (red/green) in a shot of rowan berries and leaves. The colour contrasts seemed to brighten the scene.

In the afternoon I got another chance to cycle a known route and was impressed that I was using much higher gears than normal into a headwind on the way home. Maybe the gym is increasing my cycling stamina. It will take a few more tests before I’m sure if I’m becoming fitter or not. It can’t be doing me any harm. Couldn’t see anything that inspired me to get the camera out of the bag. The light just wasn’t good and it’s all about the light of course. I did want to capture the corn bales before they were carted off to the farm. They look so much better before they are wrapped up in black poly, no matter how useful it is to the farmers.