Category: photography

Time for a haircut – 5 December 2025

Posted on by Zogman

I was meeting Alex for a photowalk at Kelvingrove Art Galleries today.

Scamp was kind enough to give me a lift to the station where I bought my ticket and walked straight on to the train. Very convenient.

In Glasgow I walked round to The Nile Barber. The best one in the town. I usually get my hair cut in Cumbersheugh, but the barbers I’ve been going to for a while will be closing soon and they are a bit “Hash Bash” which means they don’t spend any more time than they need to and it shows.

Hair cut to my specifications (4 on top 3 back and side) and glad I’d brought my woolly hat and Buff, I was off to meet Alex. We’d already agreed that we’d go to Kelvingrove for a walk round the exhibits and a spot of lunch, but first we had a coffee in Nero and caught up with each other’s lives.

Walked round to the bus stance in Buchanan Street and got the 77 bus to Kelvingrove. Lots of scaffolding protecting the building today. It seems that lots of money is being pumped into Glasgow recently. I don’t know where it’s all coming from, but the roads are being relined, George Square is closed for at least two years and now it’s the Art Galleries turn. Someone somewhere has been fiddling the books I think.

Inside it was much the same as ever, The iconic Spitfire still hangs from the rafters with its fur of dust. The animal exhibits also have a covering one half the lights were off in the hall. We need lots of lights at this time of year and with this dreich weather. Well, you can’t have all these improvements to Glasgow and Lights Too they’ll shout!

I wandered into the queue to see the Christ of St John of the Cross painting by Dali. It really is an amazing piece of work. I’m glad it has returned safely from its travels round the world.

Lunch for us pair was in the wee narrow restaurant beside the main building. We both went for sandwiches and as usual they were very good. Another walk round our favourite places in the gallery and then we headed for home. Got the bus to Sauchiehall Street and stopped in at Waterstones for a coffee before we went home. By then the light was disappearing fast and I guess we both knew there would be no more photos taken today.

We walked back down into the city centre and then went our separate ways. Both of us taking the bus, but on opposite sides of the bus station.

A plate of Minestrone soup was waiting for me when I got home and it was good.

PoD turned out to be a sculpture of a dog made from old wellington boots!

Scamp and I are hoping to go to dance class tomorrow and maybe a late lunch too.

A haircut on a cold day – 3 December 2025

Posted on by Zogman

It wasn’t my turn to get my haircut, it was Scamp’s, but I think my turn is coming soon.

You know how it is when you’ve been reading a really good book and you are desperate to find out how it finishes, but don’t really want to rush through it? That was me today. I did finally give in and finish the book, and it was a satisfactory finish. I won’t spoil the final pages, but The Fathers is a great book. Well worth the time I spent on it. One of the top three books this year. I commend it to you.

Once I was recovering from the book, I dressed for the weather and walked down to the shops to get some bread and some fruit for Scamp who was almost ready to drive to the hairdresser’s. I took a camera with me, but didn’t bring it out of the bag. After lunch I walked round St Mo’s with the same camera and another lens or two hoping to get some shots of the geese on the pond, but there were none. Maybe I was too early or maybe too late, but the birds were otherwise occupied, so today’s PoD was a bunch of dried up brambles instead.

When I got them home they weren’t all that interesting, but after using an old preset, they began to look their moody best. I quite liked them. Not at all comfortably coloured, in fact they were the exact opposite and that was what I was aiming for today.

A knock at the door signalled the arrival of the man from Virgin who just switched on the V6 box and said it needed replaced, just as we’d suspected. It took him less than half an hour to replace the old one with a new one and tune it, then we were good to go and so was he. Poor bloke sounded like he was heading for a dose of the cold of flu.

At last we could sit and watch the programs on a real TV. No more crouching over a laptop, although the laptop had been a great idea of Scamp’s. It got us through what would otherwise have been a boring few days. Scamp has already loaded up our mainstay programs.

Tomorrow looks like a Tea Dance day. I don’t mind tea dances. There’s usually a lot of cheerful banter.

The first day of Winter – 1 December 2025

Posted on by Zogman

The first day of the month is always busy and it was no different today.

Photos to file and organise into external drives. Rejected photos to be removed from the catalogs to allow the new month’s photos to have some place to live. A time for careful checking that all the photos I want to keep are KEPT and not deleted by accident. This has been a terrible year for making mistakes and there are still more than thirty days to go!

After I’d worked out how to copy my photos onto my external drive for archiving, I decided to write a short explanation to self describing how I did it, because it’s so easy to say “Oh, I’ll remember how to do that. No problem.” It is no problem until you come to the beginning of a new batch and can’t remember the exact method that works. Belts and Braces may look clumsy, but it works. Hopefully I’ll remember where I put the explanation!

Scamp was out at midday to meet up with one of her old friends for lunch. That left me with the whole afternoon to play with. I went for a walk and struggled to find a decent photo anywhere in St Mo’s. The trees are all bare now apart from the conifers and they just stand like dark guardians behind the pond. I saw one photo that interested me, more a challenge than an interest. There was a bit of life in the sky, but the foreground was almost completely black. I set to and managed to produce a decent photo with a fairly dramatic sky. That became PoD.

When I returned, Scamp wasn’t far behind. We knew we were going out later to Kirsty’s dance class and neither of us were hungry, so we sat down and read for an hour or so. Eventually we had to move to get ready for the dance class. I struggled with the sequence dance Kirsty had ready for us three couples. The dance was Tango Sereda which Scamp says we’ve done before, but I couldn’t remember it. It’s an old fashioned sequence dance. Fairly short and not too complicated (Scamp says). After a good half an hour we almost had it in the bag. Kirsty says we’ll hopefully do it again next week. It was certainly much better than Samba, that’s all I’ll say.
We finished with another sequence dance, the Mayfair Quickstep which is right up our street. Almost every Tea Dance has a Mayfair Quickstep in it somewhere.

Drove home and got parked easily! Dinner was Friday’s soup and it tasted even better than when it was new.

Tomorrow, Scamp is out in the afternoon to be a supporter for Shona when she goes to see the doc.

Dancin’ – 29 November 2025

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Out early as usual on a Saturday, heading for Brookfield and our weekly dance class.

The class started with House of Bamboo which is Stewart’s idea of a warmup. I suppose that’s what it is, but a very gentle one – sometimes a good thing, sometimes not.

Next was the first real lesson and it was the Christmas Waltz. We managed quite well at it and by the end of the lesson we were almost there.

Next was the Feta Foxtrot. Most of it was ok, but there is a reverse turn at the end where the man dances round the lady and the lady dances round the man without either of us tramping on each other’s toes. We’ll get it done, but it will take some time.

To give us bit of a break from dancing, dancing, dancing the complicated stuff, we did a couple of well worked sequence dances beginning with Shivers by Ed Sheeran, then the Tina Tango to Annie Lennox. That gave us the chance to cool down.

Next was Samba, my nemesis. I hate this fast, shambles of a dance. In fact I wouldn’t even dignify it with the word ‘Dance’. I first saw it danced with Kirsty years and years ago and didn’t like it then and my attitude to it hasn’t changed. Jane, the teacher, didn’t even attempt to interest me in it. I think she knew it wasn’t going to work. I clock-watched all through the 25minutes I wasted on trying to learn these steps. Scamp did her best and to be honest, after the time was up, I was getting most of the steps right, but nowhere near the speed of the rest of the class. I will say no more.

We didn’t drive straight home, but we navigated our way through Glasgow’s streets and eventually found a way into Buchanan Galleries carpark, parked and walked down to The Briggate to go to a Pot Fest in one of the big galleries there. A Pot Fest is where potters come to sell their ceramic pots, bowls, mugs and other hard-fired glazed clay pieces. Scamp bought herself a lovely big fruit bowl, decorated with leaf imprints.

That was about all we did in Glasgow itself, but walking back past Paesano (my favourite pizza shop) the light was lovely just catching the light on the old sandstone buildings. I took a few photos. PoD was that street with the sun shining on it.

We parked at the house and unpacked the new bowl which looked just as good as it did at the show. Then I walked over to St Mo’s to get two small fish suppers – one each. That was lunch and dinner combined.

We’ve just finished watching the F1 GP pre-race.  Strange to watch on Scamp’s laptop, but it will have to do until we get our old V6 box fixed.

No plans for tomorrow.

Another cold windy day – 28 November 2025

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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.