Category: photography

Clive – 24 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today was a sad day.

It was Clive’s funeral which made it sad, but it was a day for remembering what a kind, gentle man he was and for celebration too. We only knew him for a few years, before his way and ours went in different directions, but I know Scamp and I both enjoyed his company and I hope he enjoyed ours. Lots of stories told and lots of tears shed, but that’s life, and he enjoyed his share of it. Goodbye Clive. You were a lovely man.

Scamp insisted we go out for a coffee and a cake once the service was over. We just drove to halfway to Glasgow to a Costa, and the place was full to bursting on a cold day. After our coffee and a cake, we went for a look at a new ‘pop-up’ furniture shop in a line of similar shops. Unlike the rest, this one had a ‘sale’ on with prices slashed all round the store. Although there were a few folk in the big empty barn of a shop, nobody was buying. Mainly because the price being asked for the articles was exorbitant. Cheap quality and high prices never make many sales, and this one was no exception. We left and drove home.

I went for a walk, because it was still a lovely day. Just a wander around St Mo’s with no thought about what I wanted to photograph. PoD eventually went to a child’s see-saw in a swing park. Mono seemed to suit the subject and the PoD was nailed.

We drove to Kirsty’s dance class when I got home. Tonight was Quickstep. It wasn’t really all that quick. I think she spent too long going over a simple routine and some people were becoming bored with going over the same steps time and time again. Too much talk and too little action, I think. Maybe I’m wrong, I have been before … many times.

After such a lovely day it was a shame to be driving through heavy rain on the way home, but at least we got parked when we did arrive at the house.

Tomorrow we may go out somewhere if the weather plays nice!

It was one of those days – 23 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

A day where the rain just never stopped falling.

Even when the gale force winds calmed down, the rain kept falling. A day when it would have been foolish to go out in the rain. But sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. I went out into the garden to photograph a clump of crocuses. Purple and yellow ones. They seem to grow well under the apple tree in the back garden. I did actually wait for a break in the showers and the wind before I attempted to photograph the flowers with their raindrops. Then after having taken just three frames, I retired to the safety of the house before the next shower and the next gale made landfall. The crocuses made PoD.

And that was it, really. The gales gradually calmed down and the rain showers became less fierce then for a short time the sun appeared and shone on us, but that didn’t last long. Now, as I’m writing this, the wind is strengthening again, but the rain has gone to annoy other folk for a while.

I had a Picanha steak for dinner. I hadn’t heard of it before a year or two ago, but now it’s becoming quite popular although M&S is the only place I’ve seen it recently. It seems to be a cut that has gained a following with barbecue chefs. I just pan fried mine with some mushrooms and fried potatoes. Scamp had a couple of Sea bass fillets with fried potatoes.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about Vixen’s laser therapy and a swim to keep her muscles in trim. Good to hear that Simonne is starting to progress with her running.

Tomorrow we are expecting to attend an on-line funeral for Clive.

A problem solved – 21 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today, Scamp was off to FitSteps in the morning and I was determined to fix a problem that had been bugging me for almost two months.

The problem was that my .gmail accounts had managed the transition from Android to iPhone, but it felt like the Apple system was putting blocks in my way when I tried to put a couple of my own, home-grown accounts into the iPhone. Every time I tried, there was an error of some sort that prevented them being accepted. Today I solved it. I doubt if any of my readers are interested in the nitty gritty of the process, but after about six hours of work I finally found out how to do it.

The answer was there all the time in a combination of a Namecheap link and a Cpanel link. I needed both of these pieces of information to work the magic. I’ll store the work-through somewhere on the iMac, so I can come back to it when I’m sure it’s working. For now it’s a “back of a fag packet” solution. If you don’t understand that, then you’re too young! (Or I’m too old!!)

I started about 10.30am and finally had a working prototype by about 4pm with breaks in between for food and drink. It had been a terrible day with heavy rain showers and gale force winds. Scamp said she was nearly blown over getting from class to the car. Once in the car, driving was fine. That’s one of the benefits of having a car with a fairly low profile, it cuts through the wind well. I did go out into the back garden for a few minutes to recover a flower pot that our local grey squirrel had tipped over, but came back in when the rain got heavy. That’s when I found the PoD. It’s a view of the stained glass panel on the front door with raindrops on its outside face.

While I was still swearing at the computer, Scamp was making the dinner which was Carrot & Lentil Curry. Not a hot curry, just one that improves with resting and can have lots of additions to improve the general flavour. It’s an ancient recipe now carefully kept in a binder.

Tomorrow we may be dancing at Brookfield if there is enough interest to make a quorum. Some lucky folk are booked for a week’s dancing in Calpe, flying out on Sunday, but for a couple of reasons we won’t be with them.

Dancin’ – 20 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Out shopping in the morning and dancing in the afternoon’

Sometimes, life is one big whirl!

Out in the morning to get my meds for the next couple of months and then I did some light shopping for lunch today and tomorrow. By the time I got back it was time to get ready for the Tea Dance.

Long, long tailbacks on the M77 which looked like it had been turned into a giant carpark for the day, and it was raining! It had been blue skies when we left the house, but the weather has been very changeable for the last few days. By the time we were taking the slip road off to Paisley, the congestion was easing an it looked like there had been a crash just a few hundred metres from our turn off. The rest of the journey to Glenburn was without incident and we were just a few minutes late.

Usual mix of waltz, jive and rumba with a few sequence dances to lighten the day. Then S&J announced that we were getting a short waltz lesson, the New Vogue Waltz. It wasn’t totally new to us, but it was a long time since we first learned it (November 2021 I’m told) at Perth. We we were almost total newbies, then. It wasn’t too bad and danced as a sequence dance you usually have someone in front of you to act as a guide to the steps. I’d say it was danceable, and certainly better than the overly complicated “October Waltz”. I think we might be introduced to the New Vogue Waltz on Saturday if all is well.

We left just after 3pm to avoid the school runs and I made a few bad decisions like taking the Kingston Bridge rather than the longer but less congested M74/M73 route. You win some and lose some. Torrential rain showers on the way home didn’t help much either.

I suggested we get some chicken thighs and make a Chicken & Pea Traybake for dinner and the suggestion was accepted. I waited until the rain had almost disappeared before I walked over to M&S. By the time I got there the sun was shining brightly and I cursed my stupidity to not bring a camera.

The traybake takes a while to cook, but as the oven is doing all the heavy lifting, it’s not a great hardship. It turned out just as good as every other time I’ve made it, and there are not a lot of recipes I can say that about.

Because I’d left the camera at home, I had nothing for PoD until I spied a pretty spray of pink carnations on the piano. A box and a paint can balanced on a stool provided a support for a jar of pencils and the carnations stood a decent distance away from an A2 drawing sheet pinned to the wall. Camera on a tripod and the PoD photo was taken. I quite like the result. Not perfect, but worth another try some time.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps and I’m hoping to work out why the iPhone won’t accept one of my most used email addresses.

Paisley – 19 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Got the bus in to Glasgow to meet Alex for a photowalk.

Actually I almost missed the bus by browsing the comments on Flickr, but luckily noticed on time and caught a ramshackle single decker electric bus. I think it must have been a second-hand vehicle from some other part of the UK.

I met Alex and we went for coffee in Nero as usual. It was a grim looking day and I wondered if it was worth going to Paisley or just staying in Glasgow. Finally decided to go and the weather there was a lot better than it had been in Glasgow, so good decision for a change.

We found the Ugly Duck cafe we’d been to the last time we journeyed to Paisley. It wasn’t busy and looked as if it was in the middle of an upgrade. I hope it isn’t a case of tart it up and sell it off. You never can tell these days. The food was just as good as the last time with Fish ’n’ Chips for two. Batter was a bit oily, but the fish was good.

After we’d paid (Alex’s turn) we went wandering around the town looking for a church that David from dancing had told me was worth a look. Apparently it had icons of some sort around the outside. I must ask him again for the address the next time I see him.

Because of lunch and the search for the church, we were just too late to see inside the Abbey. I was pretty sure it closed at 4pm and for once I was right.

While we were discussing the strange shape of the abbey, (none of the walls seem to have 90º corners) a wee English lady explained that it was because of a watercourse that ran underneath the building and hadn’t been found until fairly recently. Then she told us she was a tour guide for the building and gave us a run down of what was there to be see outside and inside. We agreed that we’d look out for her the next time we came to Paisley and get on her group.

On the way back to the train we found a wee Italian coffee shop. Very Italian with lots of cakes and biscuits. We were both still full from the fish ’n’ chips, so we avoided them, but the coffee was very good and freshly ground too.

Took the train back to Glasgow and went our separate ways, agreeing to do it again soon, all being well

PoD was a photo of Oakshaw Trinity Church in Paisley.

Possibly dancing tomorrow.

A journey through the past – 18 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today I got the bus in to Glasgow to meet two old friends.

It was a cold bus I got in to Glasgow. By the time I got there my feet were freezing and I went for a walk around town to warm myself up. It was a day for searching out the bits of Glasgow architecture that don’t make the glossy brochures. PoD went to a photo of a couple walking up an alley just off the posh streets. It was the cobbles that took my eye. Just imagine riding down them on a bike! Think of the damage that would do to your tyres and rims, not to mention your posterior!

A month ago, Charlie McKillop had suggested he, Steven Miller and Ian Harrison meet up with me at the Horseshoe Bar in Glasgow for a beer or two and take it from there. In the end, Ian didn’t arrive. Charlie said it’s difficult to get him out these days since he retired. Charlie is the only one of us who is still working. He’s determined to stay on for another year … or so. It was a pity that Ian couldn’t make it, but the three of us had a few beers in the bar and then went upstairs for what Scamp calls “School Dinner Lunch”. It’s quite good description really, except I don’t remember Guinness being on the menu for school dinner. It’s one of the cheapest lunches you’ll find in Glasgow and it’s always freshly cooked.

The Horseshoe hadn’t changed much since the last time I was there with Fred, Ray Jack and Val. Still the same lack of decor or decent seats and with a noise level that increased with ever pint we drank. It seem the fire in the corner has disappeared, but that’s about it. Upstairs there are a couple of big TVs, but no other visible changes. Sometimes it’s best to let a good thing lie instead of trying to pretty it up.

After lunch and a couple more beers, we went our ways. Steven was off home to Hamilton, Charlie and I were heading for the bus station, then home. He to Greenock and me to Cumbersheugh. I really enjoyed the conversation today, and I’d probably do it again some day, when it was a bit warmer.

Thankfully the bus home had a heater and with my fancy headphones on and decent music to listen to, it was a pleasant homeward run.

Tomorrow I expect to do a similar journey, this time meeting Alex in Glasgow and getting the train to Paisley.

Snow and an Anniversary – 17 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

In the morning there was snow, but it didn’t lie for long before the snow turned to rain.

It was one of those days when the weather couldn’t decide what to do for the best. First it decided that today was to be a snowy day with fairly thick flakes coming down. Then it chose to change its mind and make the snow disappear, before thinking again and returning to the snowy theme. On and off, it went all morning until eventually snow was cancelled and just plain dull was the choice for the day. Then it rained, of course.

We didn’t do much today. We drove over to Tesco to get Scamp’s meds and a few bits and pieces for lunch and dinner.

After some discussion we decided that we’d go dancing in the early evening and spent a fairly useful hour trying to work out how we were going to dance the Foxtrot. Would we choose style 1 where we would do part one and then repeat that pattern.
Or would we choose style 2 where we would start with part one and then add on part two before returning to part one and repeating the entire routine.

To be honest, I was completely lost. Style 1 I could understand and I could almost manage style 2, but neither of them seemed to allow us to move round the dance floor and it looked to me as if we were simply dancing a routine on the same area of the floor all the time. I was confused … Dot Com. I don’t think this was one of Kirsty’s more thought out routines.

We drove home after the class and had Giovanni Rana pasta with some fancy out of date mushrooms on the side. Neither of us liked the mushrooms very much and they more or less stayed ‘on the side’.

We did scoff a couple of half bottles of wine while we watched Mastermind and University Challenge, shouting out the occasional answer now and again.

It was our 52nd wedding anniversary today and we were allowed to do those things without fear or favour.

PoD was a picture of a Christmas Rose from the garden, looking a bit battered and bruised by the wild weather, but still flowering nicely.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet Charlie and maybe another couple of folk I haven’t seen for about forty years! Perhaps I should wear a red carnation!

Out for a walk – 16 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

It was one of those days that promised a lot but failed to deliver.

Part of it, I admit was my fault. I should have gone out in the morning, when the light was much better than in the afternoon. I must strive to gee my ginger and get out in the morning to take photos, instead of sitting at home bemoaning my inability to to get a solution to Wordle™.
Actually, both Scamp and I did solve Wordle with the same score.

So, it was afternoon before I managed to coax myself out of the couch and into the real world. We need a leek for dinner and some single cream for the dessert. Also, I wanted some peanut butter for my breakfast. I walked over to the shops via St Mo’s pond, hoping for some bird life. I found it in a group of Canada Geese milling around among the bulrushes and eventually, they made PoD. Unfortunately I failed to capture two, yes TWO grey herons flying past, not 50metres from me on the boardwalk. I haven’t seen a grey heron on the pond in the past year, so it’s gratifying to find what might be two mating pairs in the pond.

The remainder of the walk to the shops was without interest of any kind. Bought the supplies and retraced my steps back, via the pond, without finding any interesting species of life, animal or human. It was just one of those dull days.

Back home, it was my turn to make dinner which was Cod & Prawns with Fennel & White Wine. It turned out fine for one of my meals. The fish was cooked well, but not over cooked and the prawns were just cooked and pink which was fine.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about their friends’ forthcoming wedding in St Conan’s Kirk in the wilds of the Highlands. It’s not until September, so:

  • The place will not be totally plagued by midges … I hope!
  • That means I’ll have a few months to tidy up my room as Jamie and Simonne will need somewhere to stay over on their way to the wedding.

Scamp and I made some plans for holidays this year that will need to be fitted in between hospital visits for both of us. We think it will probably be possible, but a cruise this year may be problematic.

Best wishes to Hazy and Neil on their wedding anniversary today. Hope you both had a great day. I well remember the wedding!!

Tomorrow we may go out for lunch.

Dancin’ and a Black Monkey – 15 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Drove to Brookfield and a hundred people we there for dancing class.

Not really a hundred, but lots more than normal. I don’t know why that might be. Maybe it’s because the S&J fan club are going to somewhere in Spain soon and some folk needed a couple of refresher courses and had a Saturday morning free. Or maybe it was our scintillating dancing skills that were drawing them in, but I don’t think so. Still, it was a big class.

The first dance was the October Waltz. I don’t know who invented it, but I firmly believe they had their head up their backside when they made it up. It just doesn’t flow as a waltz should. I find it clumsy and badly written. Too many forward and back moves. If you danced it as just one couple and not a sequence dance, you’d be crashing into the dancers behind you and causing mayhem. I put up with it for the requisite amount of time and hoped that whatever was coming next would be better.

The next dance was a Jive and it was marginally better. I could understand the steps and the order they were being danced in. That’s when a Black Monkey waltzed (pun intended) onto the floor. After that I couldn’t put a foot right. Everything was being analysed by Scamp and found wanting. “Lift your knee when you do the Hip Bump” I’d just done that, but apparently it was a different knee I should have been using. After we’d attempted all the different steps and worked out the sequence they should be danced in, I still wasn’t getting it right. Jive is a routing, like Salsa, but without the joy that salsa has.

The last unit was a Rumba. A very short one. We had learned a longer version a few years ago and I felt this new one wasn’t anywhere as good nor as elegant as that old dance.

We finished with Scamp’s favourite sequence dance, the Tina Tango danced to Ed Sheehan’s Shivers. Scamp’s best favourite dance, and mine now too. It’s just joyful, especially compared to today lesson.

I was speaking to a fellow dancer when we were leaving and asked him if he’d enjoyed the morning class. He replied that he’d rather have *“paid the twenty quid to watch Partick Thistle being beaten again.” That more or less summed up my feelings.

We drove home through heavy traffic which turned out to be Celtic supporters travelling to their home game against Dundee United. Apparently none of the supporters wanted a black monkey which still clung to me.

By the time we got home my replies to Scamp were becoming monosyllabic and it wasn’t until I decide to go out in the rain to get tonight’s dinner that the black monkey left me. I don’t know where it went, I was just happy that it was gone from me and despite the weather, I felt so much better.

PoD was a couple of Pansies that have survived the winter so far and seem happy in their spot on the garden fence.

My apologies to you S. I know you were just trying to help and you did help. I was the one at fault.

Tomorrow we should go out for a stroll, if the weather is playing nice.

Coffee with Isobel and a light – 14 February 2025

Posted on by Zogman

It’s a Friday and that means Scamp is off to FitSteps in the morning.

I usually have a free hour or so to do as I please. Today, instead, I was catching the bus to the Town Centre to listen to Isobel’s tales. Scamp was already installed there when I arrived and the serious blethering had been completed. We sat and drank coffee while we listened to her tales, mainly because there wasn’t an opportunity to get a word in edgewise. However, she kept us interested with stories about her family. The only problem I had was that for a coffee shop it was quite cold. It’s Costa, but that’s not an excuse. Even with automatically closing doors there was a chill breeze each time they opened. Both Isobel and I were sitting with an insulated coat or jacket on, while Scamp was wearing a light cardigan!

While I was on the bus to the Town Centre, I got a text from JL to say that the bedside lamp I’d ordered for Scamp had arrived. That would mean a trip into Glasgow was likely in the afternoon. And that’s exactly what happened. We drove into Buchanan Galleries and got a space immediately. An unusual occurrence on a Saturday afternoon, and Valentine’s day to boot!

We walked down to Paesano and squeezed into a seat at the back of the restaurant, near the wood fired ovens. After our experience at Costa, that was the sensible place to be. Scamp’s usual No 1 with no garlic. It comes with no cheese either, but that’s the way she likes it. I had a No3 anchovies and olives with cheese and capers. A glass of Prosecco for Scamp and a glass of San Pellegrino Aranciata (orange) for me because I was nominated driver. We were sitting across from a typical Italian family all enjoying their pizza lunch.

When we left I saw a bloke photographing the building we’d just left with his phone, and I realised the light was still good with plenty of sunshine through the clouds, so I grabbed the A6500 and took a few shots of my favourite building in Glasgow, the curved glass of 110 Queen Street. It looks as if it’s now getting a make over, replacing some of the many glass panels that have taken a tumble to the ground in the past few weeks. I wonder how much that will cost the owners!

Finally we worked our way back up Buchanan Street to allow Scamp to do some window shopping and some real shopping, I had the worst coffee I’ve ever had in a Nero. Gave them a 2 out of 5. We also got the lamp and a bulb that would fit it, then drove home.

It was a cold day and I seem to have carried the Cumbersheugh cold breeze home with us. The photo of No 110 got PoD as was inevitable.

I think we may be going dancing tomorrow, although it’s snowing at present!