Category: photography

Lunch at Crews Inn – 12 February 2017

Posted on by Zogman

12 Feb

 

It’s Sunday and Scamp was going to church with Madeleine and Jaime and I thought I should get up and do something IMG_3769_3769too.  So, after they’d left leaving Ori and I in charge, well, really it was Ori who was in charge and I was just getting in the way of his morning nap.  With Ori concentrating on his sleep pattern,I started a sketch of the house from a viewpoint at the front gate.  I gave myself a time limit of one hour and managed to get it completed in just over that time.  I’m quite happy with it apart from one little mistake.  By the time I was finished, I just had enough time for a shower before the others came home.  Ori was still sleeping.

We had a light breakfast because we were booked for lunch at the Crews Inn at the place that begins with a C and I can never remember its name.  I’m going to look it up now.  Ok, it was Chaguaramas.  Bing had the answer.  I hate Bing – It’s like most things Microsoft.  It’s crap.  I did say ‘most’ things.  Excel is brilliantly powerful and Live Writer is the best blogging prog I’ve used, but Bing is just painful to use. Why is it called Bing?  Apparently because it was short and memorable(?), but we all know it’s Because It’s Not Google, and in my opinion, it never will be.  Anyway, we were going to Chaguaramas for lunch at the Crews Inn.  In the mean time I managed to capture a couple of shots of the Monarch butterfly that’s been annoying me all holiday.  It thought it was out of reach, high in a tree, but it reckoned without the power of the 200mm lens on the Oly 10.  It was snapped!  As was the wee bit of bright pink blossom.

The Crews Inn is a lovely place, especially if you are a sailor.  I’m not, but it’s still a great location, right on the seafront with a vista that takes in fishing boats, skiffs, real yachts and big mega pretend yachts owned, no doubt, by millionaires.  We weren’t coming to see the boats, we were coming for lunch and I was going to have a glass of their very alcoholic Sangria.  It turned out to be not as good as the last one the others had, but it was still very rich and tasty.  I think we were all a bit disappointed when we were told that it was a buffet on a Sunday, but hey ho, it’s still food.  Indeed it was food and food a plenty.  We started with a salad and then went for the meat and fish option.  Then there was the dessert menu to investigate.  Really, I think Jaime and I did overdo it a little bit, well, a lot really.  It’s hard not to when there is this much food on offer.  That’s what I love and hate about buffets.  I love the selection, I hate the fact that I just pig out.  One day I’ll learn, maybe!

When we got home, I had to go for a snooze.  The food and the heat just got to me.  It was lights out for a while.

Later, we started the inevitable packing.  I’m about half packed just now.  I’ve now got to decide exactly what to wear on the plane and the train as we move from 25o to 5o.

Listened to some ‘pan’ from the semifinals at Savannah.  It’s nothing like the real thing.  Jaime is still listening to it on TV now.  Despite my wee snooze this afternoon, I’m beat and beddy byes is calling.  Good NIght.

Is this your minky? – 11 February 2017

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11 FebToday we set off after breakfast for Chaguaramas to walk into the Bamboo Cathedral.

I don’t know what I expected, but I wasn’t ready for the sign warning us to

  • Walk in groups
  • Don’t display cell phones or jewellery
  • Stay in well lit areas

I thought we were going for a leisurely walk.  I forgot to pack the AK47 and stab proof vest.  Bummer.  However, once we walked past the entrance gate, I forgot all about that.  This was jungle!  Well, jungle with a wide tarmac road through it.  The trees round us were enormous and there was some bamboo too, but nothing ‘cathedral-like’.  Then we turned a corner and there was the bamboo.  Not one or two clumps, but hundreds  – everywhere.  Now I could see the ‘cathedral’ reference.  The bamboo arched over our heads from both sides and met in the middle making it look and feel as if we were walking through a green tunnel.  We walked the length of the bamboo tunnel and then started climbing the hill at the end.  As far as we could see, the bamboo was finished.  We turned to go back and Madeleine stopped to ‘rescue’ a piece of vine from the depredations of some weeds.  Jaime managed to wrap some banana leaf round it and tie it off with a bit of creeper to keep the roots damp until we got it home and could replant it.  It was a rescue vine.  We walked back through the Bamboo Cathedral and just before we got to the high trees, Madeleine notices movement in the bushes at the side of the road.  I started mentally ticking off the warnings on that sign, then we all saw the monkeys.

Madeleine said they were Capuchin monkeys.  I was too busy trying to get a decent shot of them in the low light that filtered through the canopy.  Eventually, I gave up, switched on fast continuous shooting and fired off seven or eight shots at a time, gave the camera time to deal with them then fired off another seven or eight.  I tried a video, but the Oly 10 isn’t really up to that kind of task, and when I checked later, there was nothing useable on either video.  Everyone had a great time looking for new groups who seemed to appear from nowhere, climb high into the branches above our heads and jump the gap across to the other side  Adult and babies all made the journey without injury although some were better at jumping than they were at catching the branches on the other side and there were a few almost tumbles.  Once they were all over, they started feeding and it was time for us to move on.  Great fun for all.  All the time we were watching the monkeys, people were passing by, all saying “Good Morning” and none really batting an eyelid at the monkey gymnastics.  I’m guessing this is a normal occurrence here.

When we got back to the car, we drove on to Macqueripe Bay where we descended the stairs, under the screaming people on the Zip Wire above us, down to the beach.  Lovely little beach with what might have been a harbour at one end and a sort of short promenade above the sand.  The water looked lovely and clear and I wished I’d brought swimming stuff.  The whole place had a strange 1950s look to it and reminded me of the Lido at Bothwell Bridge near Hamilton.  Lots of folk swimming and just enjoying the sun, but then it was Saturday after all.  I got photos of some crabs before they dived down their holes.  They were well back from the sea and I wondered if they sneaked down the steps onto the beach at night.  From the promenade you could look out past an island to just see Venezuela in the distance.

After the short visit to the beach, we walked back up to the car and Madeleine drove us home via the supermarket which seemed to stock a lot of Waitrose goods. Which made me wonder if it’s an offshoot of that business.  We saw all the usual supermarket stuff and then some things you don’t get back home, like Chicken’s Feet again.  Scamp even took a photo of the aforementioned delicacy to show to the disbelieving ones back home.  On that subject, I did spot a cafe on the road advertising Cow Heel Soup.  Apparently it’s a local delicacy and the soup is really good.  I just hope they wash the cow’s heels well before making the soup, having seen the stuff that cows walk through!

Lunch was stewed chicken with fried plantain and salad, followed by coconut ice cream.  Maybe a notch down from the ice cream we got in Karawak, but still better than anything we get at home.

IMG_3767_3768Today’s sketch is of the house across the street with a bit of M&J’s house added in to set the scene.  Actually, after I was finished, I preferred the lightness of M&J’s house to the lumpy looking other house.  The perspective is much more pronounced with the viewpoint closer to the small house.  Worth another go, I think.  Maybe tomorrow.

A Dull Day – 8 January 2017

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The dull day was probably what gave me the incentive to get the new sewing machine out and finally attempt to fix the pocket on a pair of jeans.

I’d ‘had a go’ at fixing it a week or so ago, but after researching the problem on the ‘net, I felt more confident that the method I’d seen would solve the problem.  Actually I’d seen two different methods, and I was going to attempt the easier and less complicated one.  That tutorial didn’t have that confidence destroying phrase “This is the tricky bit”.  I liked that.  After half an hour or so of sewing, re-threading the needle and more sewing, but without swearing, I now have a fair degree of confidence in the longevity of my repair, or Alteration as I described it recently in FB.  Hope you don’t read this Joyce.  I’d hate to disabuse you of the notion that I’ve taken up dressmaking in a professional capacity.  I’m hoping to fix a couple of pairs of jeans and also make myself a bow tie.  Little Black Dresses for Scamp may take a bit more time.  So, one down, another three to go!

I was going stir crazy, so in the afternoon I drove down to Auchinstarry and walked along the canal, through the plantation to the railway walk, then back along a different railway walk to the carpark again.  It really was a dull day.  I’d set my Nikon to a Manual exposure of 1/500th sec @ f9 and a floating ISO the other day.  That meant the D7000 calculated it would require an ISO of 25600 today.  That’s in the ‘WTF let’s have a go’ range.  You’ll get a picture, but you may not be able to see it in all the digital noise.  It produced the picture at the top and the one at the bottom right in the mosaic.  I’ve deliberately converted the top one to mono because it disguises the grain/digital-noise that the high ISO produces.  The other pic, my favourite and therefore PoD was at a much lower ISO of 4000 and taken with the Oly 5.  It was resting on the stonework of an old bridge and also had a much shorter lens, so could be relied upon to give a sharp image at a low shutter speed.  Sorry JIC, edging into technospeak again.  Sim will understand.

The bridge itself was interesting from another point of view.  All along the top edge are what I’d describe as lens shaped cuts which look like the shapes you’d get if you were sharpening a knife or a scythe.  Could that be what caused them?  I’ll photograph them the next time I’m crossing the bridge on a sunny day.  Also inscribed on the top of a stone near the middle of the bridge are the initials  ‘IW’.  They have been carved with care into the stone and both letters have serifs on them.  Often, old graffiti has these serifs and shows that care has been taken when carving them.  Intriguing.

First Sunday Social of 2017 today and I was really rusty.  Thank goodness classes start tomorrow.  We both need the exercise and the practise.

No idea what the weather is to be tomorrow.  Hopefully kinder to photographers than it’s been today.

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.

Troon – 2 January 2017

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Out before 10.30 this morning because although it was two degrees below zero, the sun was shining and the sky was fairly clear, so it would have been a shame to waste such a beautiful morning.

We pointed the car towards the west and drove down to Troon.  Probably Scamp’s favourite place in all the world or at least very nearly the favourite.  The drive down was great and I saw some beautiful photos just waiting to be taken.  Unfortunately, when you’re on a dual carriageway travelling at just under 70mph, you can’t just stop instantly, jump out and grab the shot then jump back in the car.  You have to give some consideration to other road users and the laws of physics.  What you can do is record them on your inner camera and remember the place, time and weather conditions, then hope you can replicate them when you have more time to stop and look.  If not, you’ve always got that inner record to look at in your mind’s eye.  The best thing about the inner image is, it’s perfect.  No intrusive grain, no camera shake, not photobombers.  Everything is just perfect.

When we got to Troon, I think we got the last space in the carpark.  Temperature was now on the positive side of zero, but not by much.  We took a walk along the front, heading south, wrapped up for the cold, but wearing sunglasses to avoid the bright sun. About halfway along we bumped into my old boss with his wife and son.  ‘Old’ as in the sense of ‘from some years ago’, because he is much younger than me.  Almost the same age as you JIC!  We talked for a while before his son wanted to be getting away on his scooter.  We had to scoot too, because it was cold just standing.  At the end of the path we walked onto the sand and continued out past where the kite surfers are usually to be found.  There were none today, I suppose because there wasn’t enough wind for them. After a while we turned round and although the sun was now at our backs, the wind was in our faces.  You can’t win sometimes.

We walked back into town and thought about going to the Lido for lunch, but it looked quite busy, so Scamp suggested we have a coffee in a wee cafe round the corner.  The Venice cafe was busy too, but we managed to grab a booth while another family were dithering about deciding if they was enough space for them.  He who hesitates is lost.  We won.  Lunch was a roll ’n’ scrambled egg for Scamp and a roll ’n’ flat sausage for me and two of the best coffees I’ve had outside of our house.  I’ve a good mind to get a business card from the Venice and hand it to the owner of the cafe in Callander and say “That’s how you make coffee mate!”

After that, it was back up the road with a stop to get tomorrow’s dinner from Morrison’s.

Tomorrow?  Scamp’s sister’s coming for dinner and before that it’s coffee with Fred for me.  Sorted.

An Old Friend Returns – 28 December 2016

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Today we drove in to Glasgow, but not for shopping.  We went down Glasgow Green for a walk.  A walk down The Green is usually a Sunday pursuit, but today was dry and open, so we chose to do our Sunday walk on a Wednesday – just for a change.

There were a few folk out walking off the Xmas excesses.  Some folk had even taken to the water to do some serious rowing.  There were even some like me who were out taking photos.  It was a fine day for it with low sun and some clouds to make the sky that bit more interesting.  A most enjoyable walk, but the best was yet to come.

We always use to complete our walk with a coffee and a roll ’n’ sausage (for me) and a peppermint tea and toast (Scamp) in the Wintergarden of the People’s Palace.  Until, that is, the day when a glass panel fell from the roof of the Wintergarden some time in July.  Since then the Wintergarden has been closed.  Today it was open again and it was quite full of families too.  Even better, they had fresh rolls, fresh bread and fresh sausages.  The coffee was real.  Not like yesterday’s brown water, this was coffee.  Brilliant!

After my Sunday lunch I usually go for a walk round the plants because these are plants you only get to see in a large, enormous glasshouse like this.  Today was no exception.  It looks like the gardens section of Glasgow Council has taken the opportunity to remodel the gardens while it was closed and the difference is quite dramatic.  It take it all back Glasgow Council.  You’ve done a great job here.

We needed some milk when we got back, so rather than drive to Tesco, Scamp decided to walk to the local M&S to get some and I came along for the walk.  On the way back, I carried on with my walk round St Mo’s while Scamp went home.  I managed to get my first decent shots of a couple of deer in a long while.  I could see the animals grazing quite contentedly upwind from me through the cover of some pine trees and I was able to get the camera set, focused and ready before I quietly broke cover and got the first few shots.  Then they sensed something and their heads came up.  I stayed stock still for a few minutes still taking a few more shots before they went back to grazing.  My next step broke a twig and that was all the warning they needed.  They were off, running and jumping.  I hammered off about 10 shots in motor-wind mode before they were lost in the bushes.  That was it for photography today.  Happy, I went home.

Tomorrow is booked solid for Scamp, so I’m free to do as I please.  I may get my hair cut, ‘cos it’s a ‘Pure Afro’ as we say in this house!

A wild night – 26 December 2016

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Howling wind and rain battering against the window all night it seemed.  Wildly high temperature too.  Almost too hot to sleep.  There really is something wrong with the weather this year.  I’m not a firm believer in Climate Change, but I’m willing to admit that this just is not the weather we are used to having in Scotland in December.  Whether it’s El Niño or the Jet Stream or melting polar ice caps, I don’t know.  I taught Woodwork and Graphics, not Geography, but I know when something isn’t working properly.  Maybe Theresa May will fix it.  There’s as much chance of that as there is of her arguing a profitable exit from the EU, but that’s enough of politics.

The wild winds and heavy rain persisted through the morning, but by afternoon the dry spells were outlasting the wet ones and the temperature was returning to the seasonal normal, so I got my boots on and headed for St Mo’s to get some photos … and some exercise.  Much needed exercise.  I had to shelter for a while under a tree form some heavy rain, but I didn’t mind that because I could see that it was only a shower and there was blue sky behind it.

Other than the swans and some ducks, I saw no other wildlife, and very few of the human variety.  I could hear a motorbike engine coming from the old BMX track, so I presume some wean got a mini scrambler bike for Xmas.

Most of todays photos were taken with the old 105mm macro lens on the Nikon.  I forgot to grab my Oly M5 and stick it in my pocket which meant no real landscape shots, but I did like the B&W shot of the runner, just visible bottom right of the frame.  Much better on Flickr.  Speaking of pocket, I DID put one of my Chrissy Prezzies in my pocket.  Scamp got me a pair of Thinsulate gloves and I’d forgotten just how windproof they are.  Great things to stick in your pocket.

Just like I intended, Scamp suggested pasta for dinner, so it was tomato and bacon pasta.  Nicely low cal.  I did have some of the killer pudding from yesterday, but only a couple of spoonfuls and even they were mainly the biscuit and sherry mix with some fruit.

The wind has dropped considerably tonight and it looks like a fairly decent day tomorrow.  If we manage it, we’ll be up and out early and somewhere nice for a walk.  That would be good, and would probably do us the world of good.

Waiting for Barbara – 22 December 2016

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Yesterday we got a Christmas card from my cousin, Barbara.  I haven’t seen Barbara in years.  Tomorrow we’re going to meet another Barbara – the second storm of the year.  Definitely a different Barbara.  Today we got a taste of Barbara – the storm.

We drove to Currys at Bishopbriggs because they had the printer cartridges for my Canon printer.  I did think about buying a new printer because the Canon, whilst it still works, is getting old, but I’m still not settled on a make or model.  I really only use the printer at Christmas to print my annual calendar.  The rest of the time I just steal a couple of prints from Scamp’s printer.  Once I’ve got the calendar printed and out of the way, I’ll decide on the long term future of the IP4500.

After we came back and had some lunch, I went out in the torrential rain to get some photos.  One great benefit of the 365 is it forces me out to get some photos.  Some days I admit that I use the flowers or weemen to get something to post, but I personally see them as stopgaps at best and failures at worst.  Today I waited until the rain had passed and headed up to the Antonine Wall to get some atmospheric shots of the landscape after the rain.  Unfortunately, because of the gale force winds, the next blash (another Scottish word that describes a sudden downpour perfectly) of rain came battering down as I was setting the camera and tripod down.  However, the lighting was good and the clouds were exactly where I wanted them, so I carried on and got the shots.  There wasn’t much colour in the scene and what was there didn’t add anything, so I reduced both shots to monochrome in Lightroom.  Now I’ve got the camera and lens drying out in the warm living room hoping that there is no moisture in the innards of the lens.

We’d intended to go to Barca tonight, but the weather was against us, so we left it for another, drier day.

Tomorrow?  Let’s see what Barbara brings to the party.

Walking through the Gloaming – 15 December 2016

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I’ve started a bad habit of allowing the blog to get away from me.  These last couple of days have seen me in the morning playing catch-up to get the blog posted, yesterday’s blog that is.  Today I’m finishing today’s blog today.

Not a lot of work done this morning.  Scamp was hard at work buying Tesco again and cooking all day for the Witches Christmas Party while I farted about.  There, that’s the honest truth, well, almost the truth.  I did get my 2017 calendar sorted out, so that’s one thing done.

I went for more ‘messages’ – you remember what messages are, don’t you – after lunch and took Scamp’s advice to carry ONE camera with me.  I chose the E-M5 with a short zoom lens and no EVF (Electronic View Finder).  Very pocketable.   I walked the short walk round the railway walk, across the tree plantation and back along the canal while the light changed from blue to a glorious orange gloaming.  Some beautiful lighting on the hills, but the short lens was struggling to make anything of it.  By comparison, the short focal length lens made the skies look good.

Since Tesco was now closed for restocking, after Scamp had bought everything it had, I went to Kilsyth to Lidl to get some odds and ends there and in B&M (my new favourite shop).  Bought far more than I intended to, so Scamp’s enthusiasm must be catching.  When I got home and after dinner, I started on my part of tomorrows banquet.  Now, at 10.30pm I’ve done my bit too.  The pudding is setting in the fridge and the bread is proving in the kitchen.  Some more work to be done tomorrow, but less frantic I hope.

I’m intending giving the WCP a body swerve tomorrow.  I’m booked for coffee and a chat with Fred and Val tomorrow midday and after that, well as Del Boy said, “The world’s my lobster”.