Category: photography

Another cold morning – 22 November 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp caught the bus to meet Isobel in the morning, while I took the easy option and edited this week’s photos. I managed to pull four or five shots up from the depths of this week’s efforts. Usually I’m complaining about there being no direct lighting, but the harsh light from the low sun was a challenge in the last seven days. Never happy!

While I was making my coffee later in the morning, I spotted a blackbird pecking away at half an apple sitting on the compost bin. I grabbed my camera, but by the time I got back to the kitchen it had flown off. I left my camera waiting, just in case it came back. I think it might have because the apple was now lying on the ground. The blackbird might have gone, but five sparrows were now having a communal bath in the warm water of the bird bath I’d poured a jug of hot water into the frozen bird bath and by the time I’d had a quick look round the garden and replaced the fallen apple, the water was cool, but no longer frozen.

Once I was inside again and the coast was clear, the birds returned. I spotted half a dozen sparrows, a couple of dunnocks, two blue tits, a robin and a gang of rowdy starlings. Our garden must have been the only place for miles around where they could drink and have a splash. Poor wee things.

When Scamp returned, we walked over to Broden’s for what has become a Friday lunch. Not every Friday, but usually every second one, especially in the winter. Bumped into George Taylor in Broden’s, sneaking a pint after getting some messages!

When we were walking home there was just the hint of rain in the wind. The first rain we’ve had in about a week, which is probably another reason the birds find our garden a real asset.

Scamp took pity on them and hung up a couple of holders with slabs of fat and seeds inside. It wasn’t long before the starlings found them and started squabbling to be first to stock up on the food.

PoD was a robin. Maybe the one that was waiting impatiently for its turn at the bath.

The weather fairies are predicting wild weather when Storm Bert rolls in tomorrow bringing wind, snow, thunder-snow and rain. They have been warning about it for the last week, so we’ll take the warning seriously.

I’m not sure if we’ll be going to Brookfield tomorrow. It will definitely be a case of “It depends on the weather”

Another fairly early rise – 21 November 2024

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Well, it was before midday. That’s early for us.

Scamp had managed to get an appointment to see the doctor about the tremor in her right hand. After examining her and checking her arm movement he told her to make an appointment to get some blood tests done, to rule out the possibility that it was her meds that were causing the tremor. Luckily we managed to get an appointment in the afternoon to get the blood letting done.

I also spoke to one of the receptionists about the results of the ECG I had done last month and found out it was normal, which is good. It must be the first time I’ve been described as ‘normal’. I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or a slur! You’ll be happy, Neil. You were the one who convinced Scamp to set a date to get some awkward things done we both used “Neil’s Rule” today

Back home it was coffee time and also time for a slice of dumpling. A dumpling Scamp had made yesterday. Partly cooked in the slow cooker and partly nuked in the microwave. The smell yesterday was a powerful reminder of ‘clootie’ dumplings my mum used to make by tying the mixture up in a cotton tea towel and then boiling the dumpling in the pressure cooker, the biggest pot she had. I never liked the thick skin on the dumplings, but I do now. Isn’t it funny how your tastes change as you get older.

Scamp had a piece ’n’ egg for lunch and I had a smoked fillet of mackerel. It was lovely at the time, but it does repeat quite a lot and comes back on you, tasting more and more oily every time. I’ll maybe give it a miss the next time I’m looking for something ‘different’ for lunch.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s but couldn’t find anything interesting to photograph, then as I was about to walk home I saw today’s PoD through the trees. Someone managed to push a shopping trolley about half way across St Mo’s pond. The ice on the pond isn’t really very thick, but the water underneath is at least waist deep and very cold. Maybe the contents of the empty bottle gave them Dutch courage to try this dangerous game.
Don’t try this at home kiddies!

No snow yet here, but we are getting worrying weather warnings for Friday and Saturday. Maybe someone should tell the weather fairies that it’s still Autumn and not Winter for more than a week.

No FitSteps this week because the teacher has a bad cold. I think Scamp may be intending to meet Isobel for coffee at Costa.

 

 

It’s not every day … 10 November 2024

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It’s not every day you see a gorilla strutting his stuff to Danza Kuduro in Buchanan Street, but we saw one today. Definitely worth a couple of quid for the entertainment value alone. Of course it wasn’t a real gorilla, it was just a bloke in a monkey suit. Real gorillas dance Salsa. I know, because I’ve seen them in The Garage on Sausageroll Street.

We were in Glasgow today to look for a what I would have called a “puffer jacket”, but Jamie corrected me and told me it was a “Down jacket”. Presumably because it’s filled with duck down. You live and learn. Scamp has one and was keen to extoll its virtues for keeping warm, too warm she said. I’d seen some advertised online in Blacks and thought I’d try some out.

First I looked in Tiso as it was almost on our road to Glasgow, Scamp preferred to stay in the car, but the prices were a lot higher than those in Blacks. Tiso in Glasgow city centre was the next stopping point. They had very little as usual in their tiny wee shop.
Then we tried Blacks, but I couldn’t see anything I’d want to pay money for and that just muddied the water. Eventually I gave up, disappointed, and on Scamp’s suggestion we went for a coffee at Nero in St Enoch’s square.

When we came out I went looking for a photo in House of Fraser in Buchanan Street. Their Christmas light display is wonderful to behold. Part of that wonder is asking myself how much it adds to their electricity bill? They didn’t disappoint this year! The House of Fraser display was PoD.

One of Scamp’s reasons for coming to Glasgow was to get some clothes and toys for the new baby in Skye. That and a few other things too.

On the way home I had another look in the original Tiso shop again, the big one with the best selection. This time I took my fashion expert, Scamp, to keep me on the right track. I showed her the first one I’d tried on earlier in the day and she agreed it fitted the bill (and me) almost perfectly. I took her at her word and bought it. It was more expensive than the ones in Blacks, but it fitted me and had everything I wanted in a jacket. Sometimes you just have to pay the price.

Back home and after I’d removed the labels carefully incase I felt the need to return it. (I suffer from “Buyers Remorse”) Then I left the house without a jersey, just a shirt and jeans and a bright red (Scamp says Orange) Rab jacket. Walked round St Mo’s collecting photos on the way and didn’t feel the cold. I think it’s a keeper. Even better, Scamp presented me with a new Buff, a blue one because I’ve misplaced my yellow one.

Dinner tonight was an M&S Chicken and Ham Pie with potatoes. Dessert was the family favourite, Eve’s Pudding.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about the “Killer Cat” and how it has not only terrorised the neighbourhood, but also caused its owner to be ostracised by the neighbours. I suggested that a visit from Vixen would settle its hash!

No plans for tomorrow apart from going out with my new Down Jacket. Did I mention that I had a new jacket?

Dancin’ – 9 November 2024

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Almost forgot about the dance class today, but we did make it to Brookfield in time.

The torture started with Mayfair Quickstep, just to get us warmed up because it the Committee must be cutting back on the heating. Then it was in to the Hobie Quickstep and someone had formatted my brain, just after I formatted yesterday’s SSD. I couldn’t remember a thing. I used to say that I had a logical side to my brain and a creative side. I think I’ve spent so much time working with the upgrade to the iMac on my Logical brain, I’ve forgotten to keep up the dance practise on my Creative brain. That’s my excuse anyway.

After some gentle prodding from both Scamp and Jane, things began to slot into place and by the end of almost an hour, I was feeling more comfortable with it. It is a Quickstep, though and there’s a lot of fast footwork to get through.

Next was a Rumba. Much gentler than the quickstep, but more places to stylise your movements, hand, body and feet. None of these dances are as easy as they make them look on Strictly. Halfway through the class Stewart dropped the bombshell that there will be no class next week as he and Jane are going to Murryfield for the rugby. Oh Dear! What a shame! I was devastated, as you can imagine!! Not only that, there is a chance that we may be changing the venue for the Gala Ball from Perth to somewhere slightly newer. I don’t want to say too much yet for fear of jinxing it!
The Quickstep was a sequence dance, but the Rumba was a mix and match. Add, subtract and mix the figures to make your own routine. That makes it much easier, but you need a more structured approach to start with or else I would pick the easiest figures and ignore the more difficult ones. But it’s an interesting dance. Never as easy as it looks and always with the problem of remembering the terrifying “Sliding Doors” that used to haunt my dreams on a Saturday night after class. They were mentioned and demonstrated today, but I just covered my eyes and they weren’t there!

PoD today was a Calendula flower bravely bobbing its head in the cold breeze in the back garden. I wasn’t planning on going out for a walk today. Cold and gloomy with a layer of mist shielding us from the sun.

Watched with indifference the gyrations of the Strictly dancers. Criticising their attempts and giving them a lowly “5” for their poor footwork or blocky hands. I’ve no idea who will leave this week.

We have no real plans for tomorrow, but I might get myself a light, warm jacket to go to cold places!

Looong Day – 8 November 2024

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Scamp was out in the morning to FitSteps and after that, coffee with June. I was rebuilding MacOS Ventura for the third time … or is it fourth?

I spent most of the morning destroying the Crucial SSD that used to run the iMac, and with it, all the operating system and the data. Then I started again from a completely clean disk and reinistalled Ventura, the operating system. When that was done, I plugged in a second SSD and used the built-in Migration Assistant from Ventura to copy the data from the second SSD to the Ventura SSD. I knew this would take a good three hours, because, not only does it copy the data, it also updates it to Ventura at the same time. Rather than sit watching numbers and letters flying across the screen, I went out for a walk in a cold St Mo’s. Spotted two Canada Geese probably overwintering or maybe just dropping in for a rest before travelling further south for the winter. PoD went to a bunch of Flag Lily seedheads I found behind St Mo’s school. They looked like alien creatures or deformed insects, but had lovely deep brown colours.

When I returned, so had Scamp. We had lunch and discussed the morning’s events. I think the ‘tronics stuff went completely over Scamp’s head, much like her dance instructions fly over mine, but it’s still good to discuss these things! The computer seems to have settled down and everything works this time, touch wood.

Then out of the blue I got a message from Ray. I don’t think I’ve had a conversation with him since last Christmas. It seems he has medical problems and is in an old peoples home in Douglas waiting for an op. I was shocked. He asked me for Val’s email address and after confirming with Val that he was happy to give it, I sent it to Ray.

We went to Crawford & Nancy’s for dinner at night. Lots of news exchanged by all of us. Crawford is waiting for a cataract op and has his pre-op next week. He was a lot quieter than his usual which has probably got something to do with the operation. I know I was a bit jittery about my first cataract op, but I did enjoy the month off work it gave me!
Good meal and lots to talk about. We left just before midnight and it was almost straight to bed.

Tomorrow we’ll probably be dancing!

 

Coffee and Glasgow – 7 November 2024

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On a beautifully clear autumn morning.

Today started with an email from Henry’s Coffee to say that my order of coffee beans was ready to collect. A quick calculation told me I could manage to drive to Falkirk, pick up the coffee and get back home before I caught the bus to Glasgow to meet Alex. Driving through Falkirk just before 10am was a delight. Very little traffic and a beautiful blue sky overhead. Picked up the coffee, but had to turn down the offer of a cup of the espresso blend with the owner as I was on a tight schedule. Got back home and then I was off to catch the bus to Glasgow.

Over a cup of coffee in Nero we made our plans for the day which was to get the bus to Kelvingrove and then walk up to Glasgow University where we were intending getting some photos in the Cloisters. I know, technically they are not cloisters, but I never did understand the difference. With that agreed I wanted a look at the new iMacs that can be ordered from tomorrow, but it was only the M3 models that were on display. Even they had eye watering prices attached. As and example, the Mac Pro starts at a quid short of £8,000 and that’s without a display! We looked, but were very careful not to touch!

Once the dream popped and we returned to reality, we caught the bus to Kelvinside and did walk up to the Uni. It was mobbed with secondary school kids who were working in groups. Some were measuring things, some were photographing things and some were analysing mosses and lichens on the buildings. None of them were causing mayhem, so they must all have come from posh schools. That lovely weather from the morning and the warmth it had brought with it had dissipated rapidly as we climbed the hill to the Uni. Now there was a cold wind blowing and it was woolly bunnet time. After we’d photographed our fill, we headed back to Kelvingrove Art Gallery for a quick lunch. Mine was a sandwich of Chicken and Pesto on Brown Bread with a glass of fresh orange. Alex had his usual of Ayrshire Ham with Pickles, also on the Brown Bread.

The light had almost gone by the time we left Kelvingrove so we caught the bus back to the city centre and had another coffee before heading our separate ways. Alex to the bus station and me to get a Yankee Candle for Scamp in Buchanan Galleries, then the X3 to The Shops for a couple of bunches of Alstroemeria flowers, also for Scamp.

It was Leek and Potato soup for dinner tonight and it was delicious. We watched and episode of Portrait Artist and for once, almost all the artists were spectacularly good. Scamp picked the winner.

PoD turned out to be a student striding past the Cloisters, although I was spoiled for choice with the photos I’d taken, all from Glasgow Uni.

Tomorrow, Scamp is intending going to FitSteps in the morning and then hopefully meeting her big sister. I am hoping to have a free morning that will probably be filled with a third attempt at installing Ventura into what’s probably a tired little SSD. It must be fed up with me by now.

 

Dropping in on the Kelpies – 6 November 2024

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Not a lot to do today, so a visit to the big horses was a good idea.

It all started when Scamp broke two clasps on two separate necklaces, one ancient one over fifty years old. The other one had been repaired at least once before, but not very well. She trusts a jeweller in Falkirk and that’s why we were going there today.

Once we’d dropped off the jewellery we drove down to Helix park to see the Kelpies. There was a thin mist forming in the valley and I was hoping I would get some atmospheric photos of the great beast rising above the mist, but it wasn’t to be. The nearer we came to them, the clearer the mist was, but we went for a walk anyway, but first we had lunch in the cafe. We had a window seat which was just luck, because the cafe was really busy. Nobody wanted to sit outside today on such a chilly afternoon. The food was cheap and mainly warming, although Scamp’s Mac ’n’ Cheese was a bit cooler than she’d have liked. My lentil soup was hot! But the slice of pizza I had was tepid. Foodies expect the best all the time.

We walked around the Kelpies. You can’t really call them structures or statues, they are so much more than that. I took a lot of photos, but my favourite and PoD was taken from inside the cafe looking out and it was of a tray with two cups and a jug of milk with everything else being just slightly out of focus … intentionally this time and in monochrome.

We drove home and I spent nearly an hour on the phone talking to Val. He seemed in much better spirits today. The last time we spoke he sounded a bit down. It was good to hear him almost back to his usual self. We’ve arranged to have coffee some time soon. Either at his house or at Costa.

It appears, from what Scamp can glean from Kirsty, that we may be moving the Wednesday dance class from the British Legion to a council run centre on a Tuesday. Most folk seem to be perfectly happy with the arrangement. It would make a great difference to be able to dance on a real floor, much bigger than the postage stamp we have at present.
Tonight’s class was a bit of a disaster. I still haven’t got the hang of the Paso La Paz. Too many changes of direction and too fast. I’ll be glad when we leave it behind.

I’m intending to meet Alex tomorrow. I’d suggested we revisit Paisley, but he wants to try for some photos of the trees and cloisters of Glasgow Uni. That might work quite well, because we will lose those leaves soon, and we can do Paisley another time.

An improving prospect – 5 November 2024

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A much nicer day than we’ve had of late. I think the sunshine helped greatly.

After a lazy morning, again, we went out for a walk in Drumpellier woods. We had to drive there first, of course, but it’s not far and if you ignore the obvious walk round the loch, the woods are lovely.

The sun had been bright in the morning, but by the time we got to the park it was dulling down a lot. It didn’t stop us, because we were out for a walk. Just five minutes into the walk I got PoD which was a wide shot of a swan hustling for food near the seated area where lots of folk feed them. I apologised to the swan because I’d nothing it would want to eat, but I took a couple of photos of it anyway. I was shooting into the sun, but although out of the camera the photo was a bit rough, some gentle persuasion brought out the colours in the water and the distant trees. We walked on.

I was hoping to see some deer, but it’s a long time since I’ve seen any in the park and I was disappointed today.. Drumpellier’s woodlands are a marvellous place to walk through. So many different paths to try out. We didn’t actually choose any of them, but have earmarked one at least for a day with more time on our hands. Instead, we walked round behind the biggest woodland and the sun returned to light our way. Eventually we came to one of the tarmacked roads and as we walked round the loch and back to the car the sun started to sink towards the trees. The days are feeling a lot shorter since the clocks went back.

Back home I joined battle with MacOS Ventura again. There was a large chunk of storage space just sitting there with no reason for its existence, so I tried to remove it, but it was outside my knowledge, so I formatted the entire SSD and started again. After about three hours and umpteen password insertions later the system was working again and had plenty empty storage space again. Hopefully it will run sweeter for a few months now.

Working my way through the intricacies of Ventura was difficult today with all the Woooshes and Bangs from Guy Fawkes Night. I must be getting old, because I have no time for these noise makers anymore. The rapid bangs of the explosions sound like machine gun fire. Folk with PTSD must have a terrible time during November.

Dinner was a pair of old favourites.Scamp had Bubble & Squeak and I had Cabbage, Bacon and Potatoes. Very nice.

Watched Bake Off and were not surprised by the person who left.

I’m intending to phone Val tomorrow to arrange a coffee day. Scamp has the dreaded Dentist!

All Day Dancing – 2 November 2024

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Up fairly early for breakfast with the other dancers.

A leisurely breakfast then it was time to go down to the torture chamber again and bolt on the dance shoes for an hour long Quickstep tutorial. Actually it was quite interesting and although the steps did indeed come quick and fast, we both agreed it was danceable, after a fashion. The big problem was the number of couples, all wanting to be on the dance floor at the same time. Probably upwards of 70 folk.

We worked our way through most of the routine and once the hour was up, we agreed that, with a bit of practise at home, we could master this dance. It was called the Hoabie Quickstep if you want to look it up.

We went for a walk round Perth afterwards. I bought coffee and tea in The Bean Shop. We stopped to watch the River Tay for a while and I got PoD which was a bloke looking at his phone with the autumn trees in the background. We’d forgotten that the ‘glasses’ in the room would be plastic tumblers, so we splashed out and bought four glass tumblers. Then it was back to class for an extra, hour long, Salsa lesson by Gillian and Peter, who we’ve been dancing with for a few years now. They were concentrating on a set of moves called Exhibela which translates as “Show Her Off”. I found it a bit awkward and we were about halfway through the class when we realised they were dancing a different style from us. We dance Cuban salsa and I think they were dancing LA style. After that, we just amended the moves to fit our style of Cuban. It was a good workout for the hour.

We had a longer break for lunch which was a panini in Nero, then we read in the room for an hour or so before we had to get dressed in style for the evening ball. Dinner was great until the chefs appeared to run out of Pavlova for the dessert! When it eventually arrived the meringue was hard and the fruit tasted strongly of onions! Scamp reckons they were either using the knives that had been used to chop the onions for the main course or they had used the cutting board for the onions, to chop the fruit on. Either way, it was a bit of a let down. Wish I’d ordered the ice cream.

However, we were her to dance and we danced our little feet off for another three hour stint. Afterwards, we crawled upstairs to bed with the music still ringing in our ears.

Five hours of dancing and another hour to look forward to tomorrow!

Dancing, Dancing all the day – 31 October 2024

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Yesterday we were at dance class and today we were dancing at a Tea Dance.

I struggled in the morning to find something to photograph, because I knew we were going dancing in the afternoon. There is so little time in the morning and by the time the tea dance finishes, these dark days approaching winter, there is no light worth talking about, so it was going to be an inside photo, which is always a get-out, but!

I already had a subject, an inside subject. All I needed was a display. A cardboard box and an old CD container covered with a scrap of velvet to disguise their angular shapes into smooth curves gave me a pedestal for the bow tie I made yesterday. Anyone who has tried to tie a bow tie will know how devilishly difficult it is to do, even standing in front of a mirror. Especially when standing in front of a mirror! Try doing it with a cup as a ‘neck’ and tying it from behind the cup. It’s utterly impossible … almost. I did manage it at my third attempt, only because I found the hidden loophole you have to thread the part made tie through. That is what you have here. Today’s PoD is the Star Wars Stormtrooper Bow Tie.

The dance was quite well attended, but for some reason, Stewart had decided to concentrate on Sequence dances. They are a bit too repetative for my liking. They are useful, it’s true because they are repetitive. They generate muscle memory and you can almost dance them in autopilot, almost, but not quite. We did dance one freestyle waltz, Waltz Nioli which is fairly simple but with some more advanced steps. We also dance a decent Cha-Cha without getting it too wrong or missing out the occasional couple of steps. The second half of the tea dance was devoted almost entirely to Sequence, but we joined in anyway.

Today was the final of this year’s Inktober. The prompt was Landmark. It just had to be The Kelpies. Anyone who has seen them and walked round them, knows they are special and you feel as if the are moving with you. They are massive, dwarfing any visitors to Helix Park in Falkirk, but not in a bad way. Yes, The Kelpies are a great closing image for Inktober 2024.

This was probably the worst and least imaginative collection of prompts I’ve seen. Also the increase in AI ’sketches’ and ‘drawings’ done on iPads has been exponential this year.
</Rant>

Tomorrow Scamp may be going to FitSteps and I might try to get a photo or five in the morning.