Category: photography

Busy, busy, busy – 5 February 2024

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Out just after 10am for an appointment with the sister at the health centre and the day had begun.

It was just a check-up to see if my there had been any sided effects after removing a blood pressure pill from my collection. The sister was happy with the results so far and asked me to make another appointment in three months time. Other than that, she was happy to discharge me.

Drove back home, picking up a loaf and a couple of jugs of milk on the way. Time for a coffee and then I was out to pick up Val and take him to Costa for a coffee and a blether with Fred. The blether lasted for just over two hours and many and varied were the tales that were told, but when Fred’s conversation turned to politics I started putting my jacket on. Val seemed to cotton on to the fact that the blether was over for today and we all walked out into the wind and the heavy rain that had been with us for a few days now. I dropped Val off at his house and then made my exit before I got totally soaked.

Back home I felt a bit sick. I blame it on the ‘coffee’ in Costa. It was good for a couple of days, but it’s back to the floor sweepings again . I knew it was too good to last. I’d taken a few shots of some succulents in the morning and thought I could make a PoD of them, but I was just wasting my time. Instead I used a phone camera shot of ‘Nelly’ the Pleiospilos Nelii looking quite relaxed in her new painted pot. I’d sent the photo to Hazy, but with a bit of a crop it made a decent PoD too.

Today’s prompt for EDiF was “Cream”. I chose the Ice variety of cream and rather than have a neat, tidy, delicious looking ice cream cone, I picked the one that’s half melted and runs down over your fingers, making you wish you’d accepted the offer of the paper napkin. It’s also the time when you realise the ‘wet wipes’ are in the car and you can’t open the car door without without making a bigger mess. Ah, life is full of problems, isn’t it!

That was about it for the day. Short and sweet today. That’s just the way it is sometimes. Tomorrow looks better than today, with a light breeze and the risk of some sunshine! We may take Shona out to lunch.

Catching up – 4 February 2024

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I left myself with a bit of a backlog yesterday.

I needed to complete two sketches and write up two blogs today, but only after I’d had my morning coffee and solved Wordle. Wordle was just a whim, but the coffee was essential because I’d and idea to use the dried coffee residue in the cup to add some ‘real’ coffee colour to the paint I was intending to apply! The prompt was ‘Coffee’ as if you hadn’t guessed!

The coffee was drunk and the Wordle was solved, so no excuses for not putting pencil and brush to paper and getting on with things. The first sketch was fairly easy, but as this was only the third drawing I’d done since November ’23 it took me longer than I’d anticipated. Having said that, it looked not too bad at all. Pencil sketch and watercolour washes plus the coffee wash to the cup and the coffee beans. Yes, that worked.

The paper needed some time to dry out, so I started my next task. The wee Split Rock (Nelly) that Hazy had given me was needing potted up with proper succulent compost with a fair amount of grit and perlite added for drainage. Scamp had the great idea of covering the work surface with a plastic coated tablecloth that would be easier to clean afterwards than the work surface itself. That made things much easier. We’d bought some cactus and succulent compost last week and after carefully measuring out a small amount of it and adding the grit and perlite I could mix the whole thing on the tablecloth with (almost) no mess. The next stage, actually potting it up and getting the plant to sit up straight was the difficult bit, but eventually it settled into its new pot complete with matching saucer. A splash or two of water to encourage the roots to take hold in what is a very strange mixture of soil and stones and we were done. It’s now sitting back in its place looking out at the wild wind outside. Photo tomorrow Hazy.

It was wet and it was windy outside, but I was determined to go out for a while. There wasn’t much to photograph, but I did spot a crow high up on an alder tree and that became PoD.

Now that the PoD had been sorted out, Nelly was in her new pot and the first sketch had dried, I could start on the second one which was actually today’s prompt, ‘Lavender’. I struggled with a prop for the lavender and finally chose the wee frog I’ve used before. He didn’t seem to mind.

Spoke to Jamie after dinner and discussed a few photos he’d sent of the renovations this week to the house. It’s still a strange building with more questions than answers in its construction, however things are certainly moving along and the roof timbers are looking like real roof trusses now and the brickwork on the first chimney looks like brand new. Hopefully it won’t be long now.

It’s windy again tonight and it looks like more wind is forecast for tomorrow. I’ve an appointment with the nurse tomorrow morning to check my BP and then I’m booked to take Val out for coffee at midday. Another busy day for me. Not sure what Scamp is doing.

Broadwood Loch – 3 February 2024

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It was a much better day than we’d expected. Occasional threat of rain that never materialised.

Finally decide we needed some exercise and went for a walk round Broadwood Loch. As Scamp always says, there’s not much in it for me. It’s a big soulless manmade loch. Loads of swans and a good few geese, but that’s about it. Obviously the Smew that caused so much excitement last month had flown the coop, so to speak. We decided we could extend the walk into the woods and had to smile at the decoration on the ‘Christmas Tree’. Every year there are more tree decorations on it. I don’t know who does it, but they have to be congratulated. It’s always worth a photo.

Further into the woods a great deal of work had been done to improve the path and fill in the hollows that used to flood every year. It took a long time for the work to be completed, but for once it was worth the wait. I kept looking for the flooded part and was quite surprised when we arrived back on the main path.

We curtailed the part of the walk that usually takes us round the exercise machines and instead walked round to M&S for a pizza and some spicy hot chicken nuggets that are advertised as Chicken Pakora by someone who has never had pakora before. A loaf and two pineapple cakes from Iceland completed our purchases and we walked home. Four and a bit miles according to Scamp’s pedometer and just over 9200 steps according to my Fitbit.

Scamp had started to make some soup, before the walk so when we got back she turned it on again and added some more veg to the mix. The soup was intended for tonight’s dinner, but the chicken stuff and the pizza was more than enough.

We watched a film on iPlayer called The Good Liar. Part way into it I got the feeling I’d seen it before, but when Scamp said she thought so too, I knew I was right. However, we couldn’t remember how it finished! So we just watched it. Good acting by the cast and a good ending. A few sweary words in it, but nothing the good lady of the house hasn’t heard before.

I was getting tired when it finished and decided to leave the blog and the EDiF sketch until Sunday, so this is a catch-up as I’m sure you are aware.

The PoD is a Canada goose we saw on the pond. Not brilliant by any manner or means, but it ticks the PoD box.

Tomorrow looks wet. That’s all I’m going to say.

Out to lunch – 1 February 2024

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Out for some garden shopping and then lunch. It’s a hard life.

Dropped in at our new next-but-one neighbour and introduced ourselves properly. We’d bumped into her on Tuesday, but we were rushing to get the bus to Glasgow. Scamp felt bad about that, so we made good today. Then we were on our way to Stirling, but not to Waitrose, to Lakeland and Dobbies.

It’s easy getting parked at Dobbies which used to be the only shop in the retail park. Now that Lakeland has been added and various in-house department have been added to Dobbies the car park has become busier, but it’s still fairly empty, especially on weekdays. While Scamp was browsing in Lakeland I took the opportunity to get some photos, because the light on the nearby Ochil Hills was lovely. Usually I have to poke the camera lens through the two three metre high fence to get a photo, but today the gate was unlocked and I could walk right through and get an unrestricted view of the hills and the Wallace Monument. I took full advantage of it. Then I joined Scamp in Lakeland. She wanted a new Silicone Lemon Preserver that she will use for limes. We looked at other stuff too, of course. There are so many things in Lakeland that we never realised we couldn’t do without.

We walked through to Dobbies because Scamp wanted some sweet pea seeds and a few bulbs. I wanted a new pair of boot socks and a bag of cactus compost for potting up my split rock plant. We got everything except the seeds, but she found some other seeds to replace them. Isn’t it amazing that you can go to a garden centre to buy socks.

We drove out of Dobbies and headed north to The Smiddy near Blairdrummond for lunch. For Scamp it was easy, Mac ’n’ Cheese, her favourite and apparently it was just as good as it usually is. For me it was Gobi Curry (roasted cauliflower curry). First time I’ve seen it on the menu, but it was really, really good. The cauliflower was crunchy, the curry was acceptably hot and at first I thought I’d miss the rice, but the flatbread it was served with was an ideal replacement. I’d have it again in an instant. I got a couple of burgers to cook at the butcher shop and a couple of beef olives too. A bag of coffee beans and a miniature of gin rounded off our purchases in the deli. Another couple of landscapes and we headed home.

This being the 1st of February, my first sketch was due today. The prompt was Honey. I thought of drawing a honey drizzler, but I’d drawn one last year … or was it the year before? Anyway, I found a bottle of Rowse honey in the cupboard and thought it would be perfect. A nice easy sketch to start with.

PoD went to the view from the open gate over to the Ochil Hills. Photoshop made sure nobody would know there was a motorway cutting across the photo!

No plans as yet for tomorrow, but Nelly needs to move into her new house once I mix up the compost.

 

The wind and the rain and a parcel – 31 January 2024

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It had been a wild night again and Storm Something-unpronounceable (maybe Norwegian?) was still growling around the houses. It didn’t look like we were going anywhere today!

We weren’t. But that was good, because Hazy phoned to find out what was going on in the rest of the family. So we discussed the weather as you do in Scotland and also how Jamie’s house was progressing. She told me that a parcel would be arriving today or maybe tomorrow by Royal Mail. Then she went on to tell me that the previous parcel had had a wee accident and was now in a hundred pieces. After that, she and Scamp had a long discussion about singing in a choir, which they both had done in the past and I could sense that she wished she could have joined June and Scamp in their recent recital of the Verdi Requiem. I really felt sorry for Neil being put under pressure by his Head Teacher. I’ve been there and got the tee shirt, but didn’t like wearing it. Finally she sent me a GIF of a catbus! Google it. It’s hilarious. I must watch some Japanese cartoons some time!!!

Five minutes later, the postman knocked on the door and handed me a big box that had come from Kirkcaldy, ordered from London. Inside was a lovely plant pot that I hope my Split Rock, Nelly is going to go into as soon as I can get some compost – that’s part of tomorrow’s task. It’s a lovely blue and white painted terracotta pot and saucer. I’m sure Uncle Murdo would love it, Hazy! But he won’t get a chance because it’s mine.

Lunch was left over haggis mixed with left over potatoes, mashed together with some butter and served with a fried egg. Sort of like Bubble and Squeak, Scottish style. Very nice, Scamp. A great idea.

In the afternoon I phoned Val. It’s ages since we spoke. Probably not since last year. We discussed our health and what we were doing about it and the damage the latest storm is causing. He had just lost his garden table to one of those gusts when the glass top smashed to smithereens. Poor guy. I think he like us has had enough of Windy Willy’s carry on.

That was about it for a dull day. We did get an hour in the late afternoon when the wind dropped and the rain stopped and I wandered the garden searching for subjects. I finally settled on some rhododendron buds that are beginning to plump up. Developed in Lightroom, Photoshop 2023 and in On1 2024. It looked presentable after that.

Tomorrow we’re intending getting compost for Nelly and some bulbs for Scamp.

Just a dump – 29 January 2024

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No, not Cumbersheugh this time, just a bit of clearing out.

Things that had outlived their usefulness or that no longer worked. They were going on a one way trip to the council skips.

But first there was shopping to be done. A long rambling walk round the aisles of Tesco collecting some things we don’t really need, but a lot of things we can’t do without. A Monday shop is really a necessity shop. No frills, just food shopping, mainly.

With that done it was time for lunch, then a gathering together of all the bags and buckets of stuff referred to earlier. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of things that we can fit into the boot of the blue car. When we got to the council tip, most of it went straight into “General Household” the cover-all description of the miscellaneous detritus that isn’t wholly metal, wood or rubble. I did have one or two items that went into the “Metal” skip and one that would have gone into “Small Electrical” if that skip had been there. Instead it went into “General …”

Now I reckoned I had an hour or so to go and get some photos. I chose the Forth & Clyde canal between Haggs and Allandale as my destination. After a being stopped at a few roadworks (February is the month for councils to ‘get rid’ of their unused money. If they don’t do that, their grant for the next year will be reduced) where unnecessary work was being done quite slowly. Eventually I reached the canal and got a few shots on the A6500 then headed for home.

Dinner tonight was pasta with mushrooms, bacon and chilli flakes in a tomato sauce, plus one special ingredient, Hazy. Finely chopped up greenery from a single stem of spring onion growing in a pot of water on the kitchen window sill! That just finished the sauce off perfectly.

PoD was a shot looking west from one of the locks on the canal with a nice little reflection of the trees.

We have plans for tomorrow. Hopefully they will be revealed in tomorrow’s blog.

Hardly past the door – 28 January 2024

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After a fairly late night last night, today was inevitably less than early rise.

The day didn’t help, either. Dull and dreary with occasional rain showers. That didn’t encourage either of us to get up and go out. Also for my part, there was the fact that Mr Bezos was dropping by some time in the next ten hours to hand me a parcel to be disappeared as quickly as it arrived. In actual fact, Mr Bezos or his representative arrived dripping wet about six hours later, but that didn’t matter. The spell was cast and the parcel promptly disappeared as predicted.

Eating lunch we watched the Sunday morning of Laura Kuensberg ripping into potential prime ministers (by their way of it) and politicians competing for who could tell the biggest whopper and get away with it. None of them managed it and an invited group of 50 of “The Ordinary People” told them all they weren’t fooling anyone, apart from one bloke who said he though Boris had done a great job. There’s always one.

Scamp and I spent most of the afternoon clearing out unwanted or un-needed files from her computer to allow it some breathing space to get stuff done. We were partly successful and after a few bad starts, we achieved what we set out to do. The computer is a bit leaner now, but could really do with being a bit cleaner still.

The wind still blew and the rain drizzled on and I didn’t really see any point in going out. Dinner was chicken pakora which was really chicken bites covered in a spicy hot coating. Not anything like a real pakora, but interesting enough to eat. The main was Thai Green Curry which was an easy cook curry paste with added chicken and coconut milk. But I must admit it was fairly authentic. Pudding was Eve’s Pudding which I’d bought yesterday in M&S and hidden in the fridge, but which Scamp had ferreted out, easily.

We spoke to Jamie later and heard that things are moving on a pace. Walls have still to come down and be rebuilt, but more construction work is being completed on the chimney in the lounge. Good to hear positive news.

PoD was a tabletop shot of wee glass bell jar filled with dried flowers. Scamp got it as part of her Christmas. It’s sitting on top of an upturned jam jar covered with some lovely red velvet which is supported at the back by a beer bottle on the right and a cardboard box on the right. The whole ensemble is lit by two cheap COB lights bought in Home Bargains. ’Oh what a tangled web we weave. When first we practice to deceive’. Or to put it another way, “What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve after.”!

Tomorrow is an open book at present. Nothing planned and nothing much to do so far. Maybe some light shopping, just to keep us busy.

A day on my tod – 27 January 2024

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Out about 9am (that’s earlier than a ‘normal’ Saturday when we’re going dancing) to drop Scamp off at Ian’s – June’s weekend retreat!

Scamp and June were off to Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to sing the Verdi Requiem with a few other singers. Originally it was expected that there would be about 600 voices. The final total for today was 804!! That’s a lot of noise. I wasn’t involved at all. All I did was drive Scamp to meet June at Ian’s. After that, my work was done and I could rest for the remainder of the day.

As it was, I must have wasted a good half hour of the day attempting to find where they hide the crunchy peanut butter in the Town Centre Tesco. They have the strangest idea of a logical pattern to their shelves, but eventually I did find this addictive breakfast necessity. It’s the closest thing I’ve found to the ‘Pease Brose’ my mum used to make. It was made from ground up dried peas, not peanuts, but strangely the processing was similar.

With the crunchy peanut butter jar in my pocket I could have my breakfast and then struggled with Wordle and gave up on Spelling Bee, then read a bit more of my latest book set in Skye. I kept waiting for the weather to decide what it was going to do, so that I could decide what I was going to do. Eventually I made the decision to drive to The Fort for a couple of things. One is still in abeyance and the other, a white nylon round paintbrush I was hoping to find in Hobbycraft, but there were none of any size in the shop. Lots of white nylon flat brushes, but I’ve already got one of those. I use these nylon brushes to pick dust spots off the sensors of my cameras. If you activate them with a blower brush first the nylon fibres generate a static charge and attract the little dust motes in the camera. The big flat works perfectly for a quick sweep over the sensor, but the small rounds get into the corners. I’m not a tidy or house proud person until it comes to the innards of my cameras! Disappointed I went to see if Waterstones had anything interesting to offer, but even they let me down. I drove home.

I drove home in a different direction than normal, because the light was just right to grab a photo of an old farm that sits on a hill above the motorway and I knew where I could abandon the car for the few minutes it would take. Half a dozen photos later I was heading homeward again. Parked and then took a walk to the shops for a ready meal of Prawn Bhuna for my dinner.

By the time I was coming home, the light was fading but I extended my walk because I’d been sitting for most of the afternoon and needed to stretch my legs. I also wanted to try out my new photographer’s gloves that Scamp had bought me. They worked really well with the little finger cover that you can sneak off so you can accurately press the shutter and not one of the plethora of other buttons on a camera, then you can cover up the finger again so you don’t get frostbite. Brilliant idea. Thanks Scamp.

Just as I was fiddling with the finger guard I registered a movement off to my right as a young buck wandered across the path and off into the woods. Not running just ambling along. I was so entranced with this deer that I didn’t have time to photograph it. Someone once said it’s better to watch something happening in front of you that waste your time trying to photograph it. I agree … sometimes!

Scamp got back just before 10pm still pumped up from being part of such a big choir. I imagine June would be the same. I wished I’d been there to feel the sound of 800 odd voices, but I don’t think I’d have enjoyed the music, so probably best to hear about it once removed.

The picture of the old farm made PoD. I liked the finished article, although it wasn’t quite what I set out to capture.

We have no plans for tomorrow. We’ll see what the weather brings.

 

 

Colzium and Brodens – 26 January 2024

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It was a lovely morning, too good to waste. To make the most of it we went for a walk.

We drove to Colzium Estate just outside Kilsyth. Lots of snowdrops just coming in to flower and lots more to look forward to in a couple of weeks. We walked up the road through the trees and crossed the bridge over the Colzium burn. When we stopped in the middle a robin flew down to see what we were up to. I thought it would fly away immediately, but I took my camera out of its bag anyway and there was this wee robin looking like it was posing for the camera. Scamp said it was asking which was its best side! I took a few shots then realised two things. Firstly it had a damaged claw on on foot and secondly we were in its way, because it was heading for a pile of birdseed that someone had left on the parapet of the bridge. I apologised to it and we left it to have its lunch. One of those shots made PoD.

We walked on, along the steep road that circles the Big House and its gardens. It used to be the entrance drive when the house was in its heyday. At the top we turned right and then took the even steeper path to the left that led us through the woods to the wee bridge over the Colzium Burn just downstream from the Tak ma Doon road. We crossed the bridge and headed down the quite slippery path on the other side of the burn. Scamp started searching through the fallen branches for a suitable stick to give her some support for walking down the path.

Halfway down we found a big fallen tree that turned out to be half a tree, It looked as if the tree had split in two in the past and this one half had been torn from the other one during last week’s storms. You don’t realise just how big trees are until you see one lying down. We get so used to see trees standing above us. We met a woman who said she didn’t know if it was safe to walk in the trees when it was windy. I hadn’t thought of that. You wouldn’t stand much of a chance if a tree fell on you. Scamp was a bit saddened to see the broken tree lying there and I could see how she’d feel that. We walked on down to the bridge again, having done a complete circuit of this part of the estate. The robin that we’d seen the last time we’d passed was still there eating the seeds. It must have been the same one. There can’t be two robins with a damaged claw in the same place, could there? To end the walk we walked past the old curling pond, now a duck pond and from there back to the car.

So, should we drive to The Fort to have lunch at Wagamama or should we dine locally at Brodens? We settled on Brodens. Scamp had breaded fish ’n’ chips with a glass of Malbec and I had steak pie with mash washed down with a pint of Guinness. After that we walked home.

We watched a strange pair of girls selling manufactured diamonds on Dragons Den. If you watch it, you’ll understand what I mean by strange. It’s not really the people who are strange, but their devious dealing.

Scamp has now packed her sandwiches and fruit into separate boxes and is ready to meet June tomorrow and get a taxi to Glasgow to sing the Verdi Requiem with about 600 other singers in the Royal Concert Hall. I’m not going, because she says I wouldn’t like it. Probably right.

Dull and wet but dancin’ inside

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Today was a day for driving to Glenburn and dancing for a couple of hours.

For the second time in a row, we drove to Glenburn, just outside Paisley and danced almost everything the threw at us. We both made a mess of some of it, but there was a quiet confidence to us that wasn’t there before. I don’t know exactly what was happening, but I’ve a curious feeling that I was leading for a while! Usually I rely on Scamp to tell me what comes next, but for some of the dances, I knew what came after what. It’s hard to explain, but there was definitely a difference to our dancing.

The afternoon started with a waltz and that led on to cha-cha and then an interspersing of ballroom or latin with a sequence dance. I’ve complained here in the past about Stewart’s plan to have, let’s call it formal dancing, in the first half and sequence in the second half. I don’t think that works well for everyone, but the mixing he and Jane were doing today seemed to encourage everyone to get on the floor more often. We covered usual trilogy of waltz, cha-cha and quickstep with lots of sequence dances. We even attempted a Gay Gordons as well, but stayed well clear of the Canadian Barn Dance, the music for which seemed never ending. It was good to see that folk were taking to heart Stewart’s recommendation to wear something tartan for Burns Night. He even ‘accidentally’ played Donald Where’s Yer Troosers because he said I liked it! Cheeky get!

The two hours went quickly and then it was time to go home, have a cup of tea and a biscuit before getting ready to drive Scamp up to The Link to get her Shingles jag. That didn’t take long. Probably about 15 minutes maximum, then we were heading home again for Haggis Neeps and Tatties. Standard fare for a Burns Night. I don’t know why we call turnips ‘Neeps’. Burns was born and bred in Ayrshire, but Neeps is a north east coast word. How did it get inveigled into Ayrshire dialect? I blame the Aberdonians. Or better still, I blame Boris who was a bit of a turnip heid!

With the traditional Burns Supper meal and a wee dram to toast it, the excitement for the day was all but over. Today’s PoD was a photo of a bouquet of cut flowers, well, it was a Thursday. The flowers weren’t “arranged tastefully, in a vase” as D.P. Gumby used to demonstrate on Monty Python, but laid down on the kitchen worktop, but the little light that filtered in through the clouds lit them perfectly.

Tomorrow we may drive somewhere for lunch or we may walk somewhere local for it instead. As usual, it depends on the weather.