Category: photography

The yellow brick road – 20 November 2023

Posted on by Zogman

No Scarecrow. No Tin Man. No Cowardly Lion.

The yellow brick road is what we used to call IKEA when you had to follow the yellow arrows round the store. Now it’s arrows projected on the floor from above and not even yellow ones. Not nearly as much fun.

We were looking for a rug for the kitchen, a hanger for holding socks and pants on the whirly and maybe a replacement light for my room. What we came home with was:

  • Two boxes of sealable plastic bags, the ones IKEA do so well.
  • Half a dozen new dinner plates.
  • The hanger for the socks and pants.
  • A portable phone charger.
  • A toilet brush.
  • Three rolls of Christmas wrapping paper.
  • A bag of IKEA Swedish meatballs.
  • A box of alphabet biscuits.
  • The light for my room (but no bulb).

No rug because we couldn’t quite agree on which one we liked best. Quite a restrained set of purchases though, even if I say so myself.

Earlier in the morning we’d been to B&Q because their websites said they had two CO2 monitors in stock. They lied. Eventually got them in Screwfix for less than B&Q wanted for them, even if they had them.

Drove home via Costa in Robroyston for a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. Then continued on to Muirhead where I got today’s PoD which is a view over to the Campsie Fells with a lovely bit of golden sunshine lighting up the edge of the hills. The most amazing thing about it is that bit of sunshine is real! Not faked in Photoshop or ON1, although I admit there was some post-processing done on other parts of the picture, but that slice of golden light was real!

Dinner tonight for the first time in ages was pasta. My speciality, What’s In The Fridge pasta. Just using up odds and ends I found in the fridge.

<Technospeak>
One thing that’s been bugging me and I couldn’t solve was to create and install an SPF script into my email system. SPF is nothing to do with sun cream! Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is used to authenticate the sender of an email. I’ve struggled to complete the complex script that need to go deep into the email system to verify that an email I’ve sent to someone’s Gmail address is genuine and comes from me. Today I found a way to get that script written for me by the email system itself!
For my Webmonkey:
The answer was there all the time in Cpanel, and it was all done in less than a minute. I can now send emails to half the world without it bouncing back to me! I realise that now I’ve said that, the first email I send tomorrow will, indeed bounce! That’s just the way computers trip you up, isn’t it!
</Technospeak>

No plans for tomorrow, but the temperature is due to drop to near zero tonight! Brrr.

Rain, Rain, go away – 18 November 2023

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Come again another day (but not tomorrow).

As you will have gathered, it was a wet day.  Thankfully we didn’t need to drive out to Brookfield for the Saturday morning class because Stewart had cancelled it last night because there were only four of us were showing an interest.  Instead, we drove to Stirling in the horrible drizzly rain and filled a trolley in Waitrose.  We had hoped that the rain was localized and the rain clouds would lift when we left Cumbersheugh and we could walk into Stirling town for a coffee, but it was not to be.  The clouds followed us all the way to Stirling and then all the way back.  The rain got lighter later in the day, but only for a short time.  It’s raining heavily now.

It was so dismal that I didn’t even want to go over to St Mo’s to get some photos, so today’s PoD came from a table top setup in the back bedroom.  In fact it was more than a table that was holding up the subject.  The table had a drawing board with a paint pot on top, but that wasn’t tall enough, so I added a couple of thick books.  Still not high enough. Maybe one more book would do the trick, and it did … just. Sitting on top was an upsided down empty plant pot and the contents of the pot were balanced on top of this Tower of Babel.  I really should take a photo of my constructions for table top photos.  They are a bit like icebergs in that the bit you see is only around a tenth of the final structcture.  The photo is a collection of basil seedlings that never really managed to get beyond the seedling stage. I’ve changed the compost and watered them with plant food, but I now believe there just isn’t enough light these dull days in November.  They need to be grown in summer.

While I was on this gardening theme I gave my two chilli plants a fairly severe pruning. Last year I cut them down by about 25%.  This year it was more that 50%. I hope that might encourage some growth and bring us some more chillies next year, all being well.

Scamp has been in a long term battle with British Gas who don’t seem to be able to send us a bill. She eventually took the matter to the Energy Ombudsman and uploaded our case details and interactions with BG to the Ombudsman. On Thursday we received the reply from BG through the Ombudsman’s office.  Some truths and a lot of half truths from them. Surprisingly, on Thursday we also received our first bill from BG for a year! Now isn’t that a coincidence, however that bill only covers the outstanding amount up until June. They have admitted there is a fault in ‘The Flow‘ which we assume is the flow of information from our smart meter to their headquarters. They also admit that they now know where the flow stops, but don’t seem to have any idea of how to fix the problem.  Today we sent our reply to the Ombudsman pointing out the half truths in their story.  We await the outcome with bated breath!

Dinner tonight was a veggie lasagne from Waitrose.  I could almost agree to being vegetarian if the food was all as tasty as that.

No plans for tomorrow, except maybe to get a CO2 alarm somewhere, probably a real B&Q.

Friday lunch – 17 November 2023

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Today we were booked for lunch with June and Ian.

First, Scamp was off to FitSteps class and because the sun was shinning after a cloudy, dull, dodgy looking start, I went over to St Mo’s to get some photos.  There were some nice beech trees glowing away in the sunshine and they are always worth a few shots. With a couple in the bag  after my first circuit of the pond, I turned and went back the same way.  It’s amazing how different scenery looks from the other direction and so it was today.  The trees I saw going were so much better with the sun coming from a slightly different angle. Also some cow parsley seedheads were catching the sun and I hadn’t noticed them on the outward walk.  Best of all was a little vetch plant that had managed to trap a waterdrop in one of its tendrils.  That was going to be PoD.

As I was walking back, I realised that time was getting on and checking my watch I found that it was just after midday.  Scamp would be home soon and I needed to make tracks.  I was going to send her a message when I realised I didn’t have my phone.  I was pretty sure it was in the house, pretty sure but not definitely.  So I upped the pace and found the offending article where I’d left it next to the computer.  Not lost, not stolen, just strayed.

When Scamp came in we headed over to Condorrat to have lunch and a blether with June and Ian. Friday lunches had become a monthly occurance for us four last year. Usually the Red Deer was our go-to place, but today we were trying out Brodens again. We had been there two weeks ago and it passed muster. I’d was sure it would be the same today, and I was right.  Lots of folk in the restaurant, well, lots more than there was last time, but the food was just as good, as was the Guinness! I think the other two were quite happy with their food today and I’m sure we’ll be back again. Steak Pie for June and Ian, Fish ‘n’ Chips for Scamp and Gammon Steak for me.  What’s not to like?! We were there for a couple of hours and then Ian booked a taxi for June and him while we walked home.

The water drop got PoD, but another two kept it company in Flickr.

I actually watched and enjoyed a Masterchef tonight. That’s not something I say very often.

Only two couples wanted to go to dance class tomorrow (Saturday), Millie & Ronnie and us.  Scamp got the message about 9.30 tonight to say that the class was cancelled due to lack of numbers. I was quite happy with that.  If there had been a class, there would have been nowhere for me to hide!  Scamp was disappointed and I feel sorry for her.  We are regulars at the class and although I accept Stewart’s reason, I don’t think it would have hurt them to have run an hour long class for the four of us.

So, no dancing tomorrow, but Scamp wants to do some shopping and I’m looking for somewhere that sells single CO2 detectors.

A rather full day – 16 November 2023

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Lots of things to do and a tea dance in the middle.

Out in the morning. Dropped Scamp at Tesco then carried on to B&Q hoping to get a replacement for the CO2 alarm that packed in yesterday. Unfortunately, the only CO2 alarms they had were in double packets and I only needed one. They did have a single packet of CO2 alarms, but they were the same price as the double packet. Well, I didn’t expect anything better from B&Q. Drove back to Tesco and picked up Scamp and drove her home.

It was a bright autumn day and I was determined to get some decent shots with the new lens on the first decent day. I knew I only had an hour at the most to grab some images before driving to Glenburn for yet more dancing, so I couldn’t go far. So it was over to St Mo’s again to see if the colours would jump off the page for me, and thankfully they did.

The new lens didn’t let me down. Focus is quick and accurate. I’d little need today to resort to manual focus, but I’m getting used to the oddly placed focus ring and the A6500 did seem to lock on quite quickly. I still wasn’t sure about the edge sharpness or the corner detail, but a quick look when I got home was enough to assure me that Sigma had everything sorted. Time to put the dance shoes on.

It was a packed room today, but strangely, the floor wasn’t all that busy. We started with a Waltz Nioli and after a few mistakes I found my feet and rhythm and we had it beat. That might serve us well next week when Kirsty has promised a quick couple of tracks of that waltz to keep it in our heads and in our muscle memory. Next was Cha-Cha and we danced our version with very few errors. We were promised two Foxtrots next and I suggested we wait and dance the second one. But the second one turned into a Social Foxtrot, so disappointed, we danced that instead. That was almost the end of the ballroom dances and Stewart decided there weren’t enough folk dancing ballroom on the floor and announced that it would be sequence dances for the second half of the afternoon. A strange and poor decision in our eyes.

We danced a few of the sequence dances after the tea break, but I’d much prefer to attempt the ballroom dances. One of the reasons we come to tea dances is to practise what we’ve learned over the last week or two and although it’s not the real reason for the fortnightly dances, it’s a major part of them and just walking round in a circle to music isn’t going to entice folk to come back. Practising and learning from others you see dancing will make folk want to improve. Sequence dances have their place, but variety is the key.

We left a little later than our usual 3pm, but still managed to miss most of the traffic and get back fairly quickly. Simonne was on a sales visit to a few of the universities and pharmaceutical establishments in Scotland and was coming to us for dinner. After discussing whether we’d eat at home or book a table somewhere, Scamp chose to cook dinner. She arrived around 6pm and we had Chicken Thighs, Cauliflower Florets and Green Lentils. It was a tray bake and it worked really well. Dessert was Lemon Meringue Pie, also lovely. Afterwards we sat and talked about replacing the roof of their house and the problems that brought as well as catching up with what else they had been doing in their lives. A good night.

PoD turned out to be a path through the trees in St Mo’s.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps in the morning. Then we’re hoping to have lunch with June and Ian.

A toy off the rack – 15 November 2023

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It was a dull morning, but it brightened up for a while.

Hazy phoned in the morning and that brightened up the day for a while. We talked about places to go in Yorkshire and Cumbria and how both she and Simonne were deep in consultation about it, but no decisions had been made at this time. We also discussed hats and Christmas prezzies, and of course the wedding that’s just come on to our destinations list for next year with the obvious necessity for Scamp to get a new hat and/or a dress and/or shoes. I might wear my kilt.
I’m glad to hear that Neil is starting to reduce his workload. It’s so easy to agree to taking on everything you get asked to do. Sometimes NO is the correct answer. Taking charge of that right answer is the difficult part of the discussion.

When we were all talked out, we said “Cheerio” to Hazy and drove in to Glasgow. I was going to look for a new ‘standard’ lens for the A6500. The standard lens that came with its predecessor is good, up to a point, but I felt the newer camera deserve better glass. I’d discussed it with Scamp and we’d come to an agreement. So today I was going in to Glasgow to get my hands on a Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 DC DN. I found it in WEX, took two shots with it and bought it on the spot.

While I was off getting a new “Toy off the rack”, Scamp was wandering round the shops in Buchanan Galleries. We met up back at Nero and had a quick lunch of a toasted panini and a coffee. The day hadn’t brightened up again, so we drove home.

I took the new lens out to see St Mo’s and it seemed to like the leaves and a spider in the woods. The spider got PoD. The lens behaved well except that to zoom in to subjects you have to turn the ring the “wrong” way, ie. the opposite way from most other lenses. Also the manual focus ring is a bit awkward to find, especially if you’re wearing gloves. I’m sure I’ll get used to these things. It just takes a little time.

Dancing tonight with Kirsty was mainly the Quickstep and a more gentle run through the middle and end of the dance. I think Scamp was getting annoyed with my continuous mistakes, just as I was getting ratty with her not wanting to turn at the corners. However, I’d have been stuck without her instructions on what foot to move next and what foot had no weight (technical term!). We finished up with a few runs through the Tango and we were done for tonight. I feel a lot more confident about the Quickstep now. Whether we’ll dance it at tomorrow’s tea dance is not a foregone conclusion yet.

So, tomorrow we’re hoping to go dancing at Glenburn community centre and in the evening Simonne may come over from Motherwell for dinner, since she’s up in Scotland for business. Looking forward to that too.

Heading home – 12 November 2023

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But before we were released, we had one more hour of dancing.

We went for a walk again in the morning after breakfast and watched the pipers leading the armed forces and junior sections to church for the Armistice ceremony. At the rear were a group of men, I think it was all men, no women, but I could be wrong. All were dressed in black and wearing top hats, carrying ceremonial batons. They had insignia on their right lapel and some displayed medals on the other. I grabbed three photos, two of which were blurred but the sharp shot showed I’d been spotted and given a steely stare from one man. Later, after a bit of research I discovered they were all members of the Society of High Constables. That one sharp photo became PoD.

Another walk round the town that seemed to be a lot busier than it had been on the previous days, then it was time to go back and face the music, so to speak.

More sequence dances and with a much quieter dance floor, a chance to attempt a foxtrot plus a final Ria Bachata before it gets put back in its box. We had already put most of the heavy bags into the boot of the car, so it was the shoe bags and my camera that we carried back after saying a thank you to Stewart and Jane, because they did a lot of work in arranging the weekend and keeping it running smoothly throughout the mornings, afternoon sessions and evenings.

We drove back home via M&S in Dunblane where we picked up food for tonight, because neither of us really wanted to cook. So tonight’s dinner was King Prawn Curry and rice x 2 followed by Eve’s Pudding. It looked like the fog we’d left on the road to Stirling had stayed in Cumbersheugh all weekend. I’m glad it did, because we had some glorious weather.

We watched Strictly and were disappointed that this week’s loser wouldn’t make it to Blackpool next week (or whenever it’s filmed). We’re in agreement that there are too many actors and singers in Strictly. It seem unfair because they have almost all had some dance training, meaning they have less to learn that those who are meeting this for the first time.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard how the new roof is progressing and also about some of the more challenging tasks he’ll have on his plate this coming week at work.

One last word of thanks to Scamp for the help she’s given me this weekend and continues to give, translating the sometime archaic dance terminology into understandable english and also into the movements I need to make. This dance stuff is great when it works, but can be a nightmare to understand at times. I really do appreciate it, even although it might not seem like it sometimes.

Tomorrow, some blood-letting is required.

Heading North – 10 November 2023

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Packing bags, repacking bags and suspicions.

We were off to Perth today for a dance weekend if the fog that was blanketing Cumbersheugh would lift. Scamp had decided to forego her FitSteps class because she had lots to do, choices to make, dresses to pack. Then, what and how many pairs of dance shoes would she need? I, on the other hand, had a couple of shirts, a couple of pairs of trousers and a jersey sorted out and waiting to go in the bag. The important stuff, like what camera and what lenses I’d need took a lot longer to sort out.

With most of my packing done, I sat down to read my emails and noticed a strange WhatsApp message. I’d had one a week ago on Facebook and was suspicious. You’ve probably been warned about the plague of “Hi mum. I’ve lost my phone and this is a temporary replacement. Please phone me back on 07654321123 etc.”. I’d guessed the FB message was one of those and ignored it. Both seemed to come from my niece who I hadn’t spoken to in years. I thought I should phone my brother and ask him to give me the last three digits of his daughter’s phone. He did and it checked out. He also told me she was probably going to invite us to her wedding next August. After a couple of WhatsApp exchanges, she emailed us the RSVP form and we duly accepted . So now we have a wedding to look forward to in Jersey next year! From suspicions to delight on a foggy, busy morning!

I wasn’t looking forward to the dance weekend. It’s something in my psyche, I don’t like being out of my routine. The older I get, the worse it becomes, but I knew I’d enjoy the drive up and I knew the fog would lift as soon as we were out of Cumbersheugh. As it turned out I was right. The fog lifted as we climbed up the M80 heading for Stirling and soon we were parked in the Canal Street carpark after a drive through the hills in glorious sunshine.

Our room at The Salutation Hotel was better than the poky hole we were in last time. We even had a shower with water! We went for a walk around Perth and noticed right away that ‘The Ship’, the cantilevered viewing gallery, out over the River Tay was blocked by the massive flood gates. It appears that Perth council were taking no chances after their disastrous decision not to close the flood gates a month ago! A walk through the park and then back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

PoD was a sculpture called “Eagle of Perth III”, but it looks like a fat seagull to me and is one of Shona Kinloch’s humorous sculptures at the entrance to the park.

Dinner was a carvery and I chose roast pork. Once I’d tasted it I wished I’d asked for two slices. Then I could have resoled both my boots! I’m not saying it was tough, but my knife was blunt by the time I’d cut through this ‘delicious’ meat. Scamp had the much nicer vegetarian option of Sweet and Sour Vegetables. I might remember for next time, if we go back.

The dance was the usual format. A ‘getting to know you’ changing partners dance to start with then the first waltz saw 80 folk trying desperately to find a space to dance in … mostly unsuccessfully. We danced for about three hours, attempting most of the dances we knew.

Exhausted, and with burning feet, we climbed the stairs in the labyrinth that is The Salutation for a well earned rest.

Tomorrow we get to do it all again, plus we’re hoping to get out for a drive to Scone Palace.

A day in the Toon – 9 November 2023

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A spot of lunch turned into a photowalk. What a surprise!

In the morning I had my annual retinopathy check at the health centre and thankfully the girl doing the technical stuff didn’t think I needed drops and I breathed a sigh of relief. I hate being blind for an hour afterwards and having to wear sunglasses in November. I nearly needed them Today anyway, because the sun was shining from a cloudless sky. I got the bus back home because Scamp was using the car. A quick cup of coffee and a challenging Wordle, then Scamp returned to pick me up and drop me at the station to get the train in to Glasgow to meet Alex.

I found him waiting for me at the bus station after I’d walked up from the train station. We took a few shots of the Pavilion Theatre and then went for coffee in an absolutely stowed Nero and made rough plans for the day. It was also a chance to pick Alex’s brains about a standard zoom lens for the A6500. As I thought, he picked my favoured lens as the one with the best results in his opinion and confirmed my thoughts on the cheaper one with the widest range as not worth considering. So, it looks like I’ll be asking Santa for a Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN lens. He used to have that lens and only parted with it to concentrate of prime lenses, ie. not zooms.

With the technical stuff discussed, we went for a walk along Ingram street following the good light, but never quite reaching it. It felt like when you see a rainbow and the nearer you get to it, the further away it goes! Eventually we tired of this game and went Paesano for a pizza lunch. That will be the third pizza lunch I’ve had this week. I was hoping I was hoping to continue my recent weigh loss success, but that looks unlikely now!

After lunch we continued to search for the good light eventually managed to track it down to Argyle Street. By then the light had lost a considerable amount of its former brightness and we started making our way back towards the bus station and home, but not before we had another coffee and then a walk around the Christmas market and entertainments that were being assembled in St Enoch’s square.

PoD was a photo opportunity I say on Sauchiehall Street (AKA Sausage Roll Street). A lovely bit of bright light on the girl and after swapping the bloke’s head for a better one, we had a conversation in progress. It’s now on Flickr as is my second choice of a view of a girl having alfresco lunch on the steps of the Royal Concert Hall looking down Buchanan Street (AKA Bucky Street).

I took the slow X3 bus home and was entertained by Kevin Bridges “We Need to Talk About . . . Kevin Bridges”. Absolutely brilliant! Thank you Jamie for the recommendation.

Tomorrow I’ve loads to do because I couldn’t be bothered to do it today. The story of my life.

A little visitor – 8 November 2023

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Just nibbling away at our recyclable food bags.

Scamp was off in the morning to meet Isobel for coffee. While she was out I was about to replace the food bin bag when I noticed the confetti of scraps of the bags in the cupboard. As I took the roll of bags out of the rack they almost fell apart in my hands. Aha! I think we have a little mouse trying to take the Mickey. Strangely, only the food bags had been chewed. What could have attracted them, I don’t know. I emptied the cupboard and couldn’t find a hole big enough for a mouse to squeeze through, but just in case I’ve set a trap tonight with some peanut butter as an attraction. I hope we don’t hear a clunk in the night. I feel so sorry for the wee rodents, but it’s a health problem that has to be dealt with.

The rest of the morning I spent reading when I should have been out enjoying the unexpected bright sunshine. But I did manage to warm up the remainder of yesterday’s pizza dough to make a lunchtime pizza, baked in the oven as all good pizzas should be. It wasn’t as good as yesterday’s prize winner, but was deemed good enough to satisfy our lunchtime appetites.

I did go out late in the afternoon, but by then the light had disappeared and it was a cold looking sky. There wasn’t much to see by then and I had to be satisfied with some shots of silhouetted Alder catkins agains the sky. Not very interesting and to be honest, not a very good photo. Must do better!

Wednesday is midweek dance night and tonight we were covering the technical second half of the quickstep routine and to start with I was a bit flummoxed. However after watching others making light of the steps, I managed to put most of the bits into the right place and finish were I was meant to be. How I actually got there was a question waiting to be answered. I think I cheated more than once. Still now I have twelve videos of the different parts and surely I’ll be able to work out which foot goes where after I’ve viewed them a few times. To finish up, Kirsty put us through our Tango paces and again there were a few missteps, but most of it worked. After three or four tracks I was back in the swing of it again.

Tomorrow I’m off to get my annual retinopathy check and I’m hoping against hope that I don’t need drops because I’m meeting Alex for lunch and we will probably be taking photos as well. Scamp is booked to get her hair cut at the same time.

Busy doing nothing – 7 November 2023

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That sort of sums up the day, at least for me.

I spent most of the morning poring over ‘standard’ lenses for the A6500. I like the camera, but don’t have a decent lens in the 18-70mm range. Of course it would be better to have one that was just a bit shorter at the short end and slightly longer at the long end, but with each added millimetre it seems the price goes up by around £100! When you think of it in those terms, it looks like the extravagance that it is. I thought I had two better priced lenses pinned down, but after reading reviews from people who have been ‘on the money’ before, I have to reluctantly agree that I’d be throwing good money after bad. So, although it wasn’t exactly a wasted morning, it wasn’t a very constructive one either, and the search goes on.

After lunch, Scamp suggested a walk to the shops just to get some tangerines, but really it was to get me out of the house. Her ruse worked too. We walked down to the shops, bought the tangerines and not much else, then walked home. On purpose I’d worn my trainers for the walk, so that I couldn’t really be comfortable walking round St Mo’s. That meant I had to come home to change into my boots and then go out again to get today’s PoD. I can play that game too!

On the second walk of the afternoon, the real walk, I had my A7 with me and thought I’d got a PoD as I crossed the path through the avenue of trees beside the road, because in the distance I could see two folk at the end of the path. A long way away, but not for the 85mm lens I had on the A7. Three shots taken and in the bag. The walk round St Mo’s pond delivered nothing, but gave me a chance to hang up a coconut shell filled with fat and raisins to feed the birds. I’ll check it in a few days to find out if they’ve found it.

On the way home I had a seat on a bench and reviewed what I had taken. It turned out the shots down the avenue weren’t that good, because the folk I’d been ‘shooting’ had disappeared into the grass at the edge of the path, presumably picking up the crap their wee dog had deposited. That wouldn’t make a decent photo, but at that point a woman passed me heading down that same path. I gave her a chance to get halfway down before I took the photos and this time I checked them on the spot and felt sure these ones would work.

Dinner tonight was a joint project. Scamp was making soup in the afternoon and she suggested I make a pizza which we could share. So that’s what we did. Carefully measured amounts of flour, yeast, salt, oil and water. Then let the mixer do the hard work of kneading the dough. I think my yeast must be going off, because in a warm living room it should have risen quickly and it didn’t. However it did rise enough to bake in time for dinner and was one of the better ones recently.

Heavy rain predicted overnight tonight, but a better day with a bit of sunshine tomorrow afternoon. At least that’s what the weather fairies say.