Category: photography

Another cold windy day – 28 November 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Not a day for going far.

However, Scamp was out early to meet Isobel and Shona for coffee. I was glad to sit at home and struggled with Virgin Media who must be one of the worst companies to get help from. I got so frustrated with their so-called Media Support. I eventually got so fed up with going round in circles, I gave up and went to make a pot of soup instead.

Needless to say when Scamp came home she just typed in the answers to the questions the bot asked and within minutes was speaking to a human, Asif, who, fifteen minutes later had checked our V6 box, diagnosed the fault and arranged a repair for next week. I was in a huff! Ok, ok, I admit I have no patience, especially with Bots, but Virgin are hopelessly bad at giving out help. Asif excepted, of course.

Later in the afternoon I took a parcel to the post office in Condorrat and posted it to an address just outside London. Hopefully it will arrive soon and be magicked away almost instantly.

I’d hoped to get a photo on my walk to Condorrat, but the lashing rain and the high winds made me glad to get back home instead of wandering around the paths or the ponds today. Back home warm and dry was a good enough result for me.

The soup I made, Butternut Squash, wasn’t the best. Both Scamp and I agreed that it wasn’t the best. I’ve made it loads of times and every time it’s been just like the last. The only thing I didn’t add today was chilli flakes and I don’t add very much, so I doubt if they could have made the difference.

A late PoD was a vase of Freesia I quite liked. A tabletop lifesaver at the end of a dreary day.

Hopefully tomorrow will be calmer both weather wise and also for my temper, and we may go to the dance class too.

Shopping – 25 November 2025

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Despite last week’s shopping bonanza, there were still some things we needed ( for Needed, read Wanted ).

We drove to Morrison’s at The Fort and bought a few bottles, mainly wine, but I admit I did collect a couple of beer bottles too, just to be up sides with Scamp. Morrison’s is so much more down to earth than Waitrose. Now, don’t get me wrong. I have no problem with Waitrose, it’s just that I tend to be more restrained in Morrison’s than in Waitrose with all its enticing and intriguing offers than you get in Morrison’s or Tesco. Still, we spent enough to take us from “just tap your card” to “your PIN number is required”. I think the problem was I couldn’t find a ‘normal’ sized trolly and settled for the big deep one. I should have thought it through and searched further afield for a ‘normal’ one. My fault.

Instead of driving straight home, Scamp suggested we stop at Drumpellier Park and go for a walk round the loch. It’s not a big loch, but it’s big enough to give us a chance to stretch our legs. Underfoot the paths were a bit icy and to get better purchase we could walk on the grass. It gave better traction, but then you risk crunching through the thin skin of ice and sinking into the mud beneath. A ‘no win’ situation. We took the hybrid route. Walk on the path if it doesn’t look icy and if it does, keep your fingers crossed and walk on the grass.

I’d brought my A7c with me and with frosty patterns on the ice and a beautiful sky that graduated from blue to creamy yellow over the pond, I did take a few photos. The “Whale’s Tail” made and interesting subject, but it wasn’t until I caught sight of two swans cruising past on the loch that I got PoD. One definite in the bag.

It had been a cold day with the temperature not rising much above 2º and I was glad to get parked and settled. Dinner was Fish Risotto. One of the easiest risottos you can make. The oven does all the hard work.

Scamp seems to be a lot more comfortable now that she’s had a couple of doses of her meds. Good to see that.

Neither of us were interested in going out again today, because you could feel the cold returning. As I write this, the outside temperature is – 0.7ºc and I’m off to bed.

Scamp is intending to meet the other witches for lunch at Borden’s in Condorrat tomorrow. I’m sure I’ll find something to do.

Dancin’ – 22 November 2025

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Heading to Paisley for a dance class at 9:45am.

We drove through the thick Cumbersheugh fog, heading to Brookfield, but before we reached Glasgow the sky had cleared and the sun shone from a bright, blue sky. Welcome to Scotland.

It was a fairly easy run to Brookfield. No dramas today and no great holdups. Everything just running to plan. We reached the dance class with time to spare.

First dance was my much hated House of Bamboo, written by a Bampot, I think. When we’d disposed of that piece of excrement, we went on to the Foxtrot we’d been learning for weeks and I struggled to get all the bits in the right places.

At this time of year, the Christmas Waltz is a standard. After Christmas it changes its name to the Spring Waltz, then later it becomes the Summer Waltz and so on. Today we were in Christmas Waltz territory.

Then we started a run through of the Mayfair Quickstep set to new words that were quite funny, but I think they would begin to grate after a few weeks.

The next offering was a Samba. I thought we’d seen the back of this ‘dance’ a year or so ago, but it had returned with some new steps in it. I just couldn’t get the hang of it. Kirsty tried to teach it a couple of years ago, but thankfully it was dropped from the curriculum before it caused an injury!

I was on the point of walking out when the tempo changed to a Cha-Cha and I could manage that.

Finally we did one track of the Queen of Hearts Rumba, and after that we were allowed to go home.

The roads towards town were very busy, probably to do with the Christmas rush that’s just beginning, but I tried one of the back roads I’d used in the past that took us under the Clyde and out through the town in a lot better time than any other route. I reckon we were just lucky.

I took my A7iii out for a walk in St Mo’s and PoD was a Buckfast bottle lying on the sheet ice that’s covered the pond for these last few days. Thankfully the ice is melting now, but it’s still a lot thicker than it looks.

No plans for tomorrow yet, but I’m sure something will fill the space.

Another early rise – 21 November 2025

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I was meeting Alex in Glasgow for a wander and a pizza later.

I was earlier than usual getting in to town. It was a cold morning. About -2ºc when I was leaving the house. I’d brought my Shokz headphones with me and I needed them. Some eejit was sitting behind me playing his hit-list of the worst jokes in the world with his phone turned up to max. The phone wasn’t a match for the Shokz.

I was nearly at the bus station when I looked out the window and a little voice in my head said “Get out and walk. Walk down to Rottenrow. You’ve plenty of time.” So that’s what I did.

Rottenrow is the old name for Royal Maternity Hospital. An old hospital that was founded in 1834 and finally demolished in 2001. It wasn’t completely demolished. The site was redeveloped by the University of Strathclyde into a public park known as Rottenrow Gardens. The park features elements of the old hospital, such as the original facade and a sculpture few sculptures. I’m almost sure I’ve been there before, but can’t quite remember when. Today I finally got some decent light to capture the giant Nappy Pin that dominates the site. Definitely worth a walk after hearing that voice in my head!

After I walked back to the bus station I’d only just sat down when he appeared. He’d been up at the other end of the town trying to capture his favourite piece of architecture, the Pavilion Theatre. Luckily for me I’d caught the Nappy Pin in good light but he had just missed the light on the Pavilion. A usual, a coffee in Nero gave us time for a catch-up, but neither of us had a definite destination in mind for the rest of the day. I suggested the Art Galleries, but we didn’t really have enough time for that, so we settled on a walk down to St Enoch’s Square where the ‘Shows’ were just beginning to start up for the day.

George Square is the usual venue for the Christmas Carnival, but allegedly the square is having an upgrade and won’t be in business for at least two years. I think you can call that Twenty Two years if the council’s usual slower than slow progress is anything to go by. Today we walked through the stalls and found nothing that encouraged us to stay, so we walked on to the Clyde Walkway, and even there the graffiti was poor. Not very much artistry or humour in the paintings. I did take a few shots of people walking across the suspension bridge and one got into Flickr, once it had been worked over.

We walked back to Paesano for a very nice pizza, then we walked up to the bus station, said our goodbye’s until next time and each of us got a bus home. I found a suitable set of tracks to take me home on the bus.

PoD turned out to be a woman in a red coat watching her grand-kids on the fairground rides in St Enoch’s Square.

Scamp had made some soup when I got home, which was gratefully accepted. Now I think it’s raining. Hopefully that will make for a warmer drive to Brookfield tomorrow after our sharp frost.

 

Another cold blast – 20 November 2025

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Another sub-zero morning.

I was out in the morning to get my meds and some messages from Boots and Tesco in that order. I was meant to get sone veg, milk and a chicken, except I completely forgot about the chicken. It wasn’t until I got home that I realised my error. Scamp said it was ok and we could survive without the chicken and I took her at her word. I also realised that Boots had short-changed me on my meds. Two lots of them just weren’t there. I did get a message from them two days ago to say that my prescription was partially ready, but yesterday’s message said that it was ready to collect. Crossed lines somewhere, Boots. This is the first time I’ve had a message like that. I’ll maybe have a word with them next week if I have the time.

Back home it was time to get ready to drive to Glenburn for a Tea Dance. I thought we were going to be late because of what looked like a collision between two large lorries, but the Polis managed to sort it all out and we arrived just in time, before the doors closed.

I thought it was a bit of a washed out tea dance. Just not a lot of life in it. Maybe that was because most of the attendees had recently been at Perth for the autumn dance weekend. For whatever reason, there was just not the same ‘life’ to the day. We left later than normal and got caught up in the homeward bound masses. Just as we neared M&S in Cumbersheugh, we saw the line of waiting traffic and gave up on any idea of having a chicken for dinner. Instead we had a very nice pizza I’d stashed in the freezer earlier in the week.

Watched another episode of Portrait Artist. Some good work, but some equally poor stuff. I won’t say I could do better, but I was veering that way.

PoD was a setup shot of a Lindt chocolate bear. That’s what happens when you spend an hour going for the messages and then your day disappears and you don’t get an outside photo.

Hoping to meet Alex tomorrow for a blether and some photos.

Freezing – 19 November 2025

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Yesterday was wet. Today it was freezing with temperatures around -1ºc in the morning.

However, we were safely tucked up in bed by then. When I did eventually get up to make the breakfast for us, the temperature had risen to -0.4ºc. Positively tropical. Not tropical for us to get out of bed, though. When I took a proper look out the back bedroom, there was a covering of snow on the Meikle Bin and also a scraping of snow on the Campsie Fells too, but the sky was blue with just a few clouds.

We didn’t venture far in the morning, although I did take out a pair of secateurs and gave the Alec’s Red rose a gentle trim, just to remove the old flower buds. That will probably be the last cut for this year.

I went for a walk in the afternoon, well wrapped up, of course. Alex is still holding on to my Sony A7iii and the 25-105mm lens, so just for a laugh I took the A7c and a very old 28-70mm kit lens I got with the Sony A7ii a long number of years ago. I must have a look through the records to see just how old it would be. At the time I thought it was the bees knees, but now I see all its faults beginning to show. It’s not the best lens in the world, but it is better than nothing at all. PoD was a photo of a dozen Canada Geese walking from their feeding ground in St Mo’s park to the relative safety of St Mo’s pond where fewer predators threaten them. I’m guessing they were overwintering from their summer habitat in Alaska to our milder winters in the uk.

By the time I was walking home, my ears was getting chilled, but by adjusting my trusty St Andrews ‘Buff’ I kept them from getting frostbite.

While I was out, Scamp was making a rhubarb pie with some of the rhubarb Jamie’s had brought up with then the last time they were up in Scotland for a wedding. The rhubarb was really quite sharp and although it had some stem ginger in its mix, I felt it could have done with some more sugar. Pastry was up to Scamp’s usual excellence. Home made fish ’n’ chips for dinner, followed by rhubarb pie with home grown rhubarb. Excellent.

We watched another episode of Shetland and the plot thickens even more. Can’t wait for the next instalment.

Hoping to get to Glenburn tomorrow for a Tea Dance. However, it depends on the weather. Ice and snow forecast. Temperature just now at 11.15pm is – 0.9ºc.

It was Wet. – 18 November 2025

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It was wet from start to finish today.

Sometimes heavy, sometimes light, always wet. Thankfully we weren’t going anywhere today. The furthest I got today was a quick trip to the tip to dump some of the odds and ends we’ve gathered in the past year and some that have been lingering in cupboards for a long while before that.

Other than that, I set up a still life of Alstroemeria flowers and that became the PoD. Not great, but it worked quite well on such a dull day.

Dinner was pasta with tomato sauce and spinach. It looks like becoming a favourite in the house.

For once I watched the World Cup 2026 qualifiers because Scotland were playing in it. I wasn’t expecting them to win against Denmark. Imagine my surprise when they not only won that match, but won by four goals to two. Amazing or lucky? I don’t think it matters to the Scotland fans, judging by the antics on the park after full time. Good Luck to them all.

No plans for tomorrow, but it would be nice if the rain would stop for a while.

A day on my own – 17 November 2025

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Scamp and Shona were booked on the train to Inverness today, but …

We were both up and dressed nice and early. I had warmed up the car and defrosted it, while Scamp was having a swift breakfast, then we drove off to pick up Shona at Paul’s house. That’s when things went wrong. Despite three phone calls and knocking on the door, there was no sign of Shona. We waited for a good four or five minutes, and Scamp was getting worried that we might miss the first train, the one that would take her to Stirling where she only had 5 minutes to catch the connection to Inverness.

I dropped Scamp at the station with enough time to spare to walk over the bridge to the far side to catch the Alloa train that would drop her at Stirling. Just to satisfy my nagging worry that Shona might be waiting at her own house, rather than Paul’s, I drove past her own house, but there was no sign of Shona. Knowing that we’d both done everything we could, I drove home and had my breakfast. No need to rush now. Scamp had sent a text to say she was now on the Inverness train. I thought I’d take my time and read a bit more of my latest book ’The Fathers’.

The plan for the rest of today was to put some air into the Blue car’s tyres. Then if time allowed, to take some clutter to the skips. The tyres had been gradually losing pressure for the last few months and needed it fixed. I remember when air was free at a petrol station as long as you were buying fuel, but not now. Thinking back on it, that was at least 20 years ago now! Anyway, I paid my quid and filled the tyres. I hadn’t realised just how low those tyre were. The car went skipping along now.

I checked the box with the stuff for the skip, but wasn’t certain I was looking at the correct box. Better to be safe than sorry, so I left it for another day. Instead I drove to Tesco for bread and a pizza which would be my dinner tonight.

Lunch time was coming up soon and that was going to be a ‘piece ’n’ banana’. Healthy and nutritious and, best of all, easy to make. Another nose dive into the book and it was time to go for a walk. Somewhere close to home, because light was fading again. The days are certainly getting shorter.

PoD came from that walk. The pond was frozen, really frozen, not like yesterday when there was a thin sheet of ice on the water. This ice was hard. I tapped it with my fingernail and it sounded hard. Time for one of my ‘Dangerous Dan’ ideas. Set the camera to the aperture and shutter speed you want and gently place it on the ice, holding on to the wrist strap, just in case! Gently press the shutter and get ready to swipe it off the ice at the first sign of a crack. Just as I was pressing the shutter button I saw the ice start to shift. It wasn’t as solid as I’d thought. Whipped the camera away, unharmed. It would have been a great shot, but maybe another day. The final photo was take from a slightly higher viewpoint and it looked almost as good as the photo that never was.

After my pizza dinner I got a message from Scamp to say she was on the Inverness train heading to Stirling. The next message a couple of hours later told me she was on the Glasgow train. I drove down to the station and parked just as the train came in.

That was a long day for Scamp and Jackie, but not for me. I just relaxed through the day. Shame about Shona missing the trip, but there will be other days.

Absolutely no plans for tomorrow.

Another bright, but cold day – 16 November 2025

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The temperature when we woke this morning was 0.4ºc. At least it was still positive!

We both struggled with Wordle, but survived to tell the tale. Other puzzles were not as successful. It must have been the cold temperature that was doing it.

We didn’t actually do much and we certainly didn’t go far. The temperature did rise a bit in the afternoon, but not enough to entice us out, there was even some ice in the bird bath in the back garden. First time this season.

In the afternoon I managed a walk around St Mo’s to get some photos. The cloudscape was very nice, but by 4pm the sun was heading towards the horizon and the colours were changing. My favourite photo was another of the reflection shots I’ve become attached to. This time it was taken with the Sony 10-18mm lens. It’s really an APS-C lens, but it works magnificently on the full frame camera. It became PoD and was a shot looking across the flooded pond to a beautiful skyscape.

One circuit of St Mo’s pond was sufficient for me today, not because it was cold, although it still was, but because I was cooking a stubby short rib for my dinner. Scamp was having salmon. Her’s was cooked in about ten minutes while mine took three hours. Both were deemed lovely, but my short rib was a bit tough. It might have been left in the freezer just too long. I must go back to Muirhead to get another one, soon, and not keep it so long in the freezer this time.

We spoke to Jamie and heard about his plans for the next couple of months. It must be great to be going to warm places while we shiver, even if it’s not for the happiest or reasons. We also heard that he has a leak in roof somewhere. It’s in a place that wasn’t updated in his previous work. Thankfully he says it doesn’t look too serious.

Scamp and Shona are booked for on a one-day trip up north tomorrow. I hope the weather is kind to them. I might be taking some stuff to the skips.

Driving and Phones – 14 November 2025

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Friday’s used to be relaxing days. Not today.

Out just about 11am to meet my brother, Alex for a walk in Chatelherault park and a cup of coffee. We sat for an hour discussing the merits and demerits of two Sony cameras, an A7iii and an A7ii. Both were up for consideration by Alex as a replacement for his A6600 camera. Both the A7 series cameras were ‘Full Frame’ which means they produce better quality images than the A6 series. Alex was considering a giant leap in technology. I already had two A series cameras and am really happy with the quality they produce. Finally he agreed to borrow my A7iii for a week or so to decide if it was for him or not. I’ll leave him to decide for himself if the upgrade is worth the money.

To give us a better ‘hands-on’ with the camera we went for a walk across the “Duke’s Bridge’ which was built by the Duke of Hamilton many years ago. It used to be a private road, but now it is open to the public. Once we were over the bridge we visited the Cadzow Oaks, ancient oak trees, some of which are over 600 years old and still producing leaves and fruit.
While we were there a couple passed us riding one white horse and one brown horse. Just to show off, I think, they galloped along the path once we were behind them. Beautiful horses. We both wondered what the view must be like from that height.

Alex had only about two hours free, having to pick up his grandson from nursery, but we made good use of his time.

I drove him home and said our goodbyes. It wasn’t until I was nearly home I heard a strange ticking in the car. I had the radio on, and it wasn’t coming from that, but when it started again, I knew there was something wrong. I stopped at the shops near our house and found Alex’s phone wedged between the two seats!

When I got home, Scamp started investigating and found a message from Alex’s wife saying had I found Alex’s phone in the car? A few hasty emails later I confirmed that I had it and would bring it over.

Our relaxing day with a walk through the woods had become a bit of a nightmare, but Alex and his phone were reunited and all was well in the end.

Dinner tonight was home made Paella.

PoD was a reflection from the Duke’s Bridge of the trees at Chatelherault.

No plans for tomorrow. I hope Alex’s blood pressure is back to normal by now!