Category: photography

Strictly! – 28 September 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We’re sitting watching a recording of tonight’s Strictly, but this morning we did our own Strictly!

We drove to Brookfield in the morning with me in my usual Saturday morning grumpy “I don’t want to go” mood. The nearer we got to the dance class, the lighter my mood got. Don’t know why. I don’t ask the questions, and I don’t try to answer them. I just go with what my inner ‘Black Monkey’ says.

So today’s dance lesson started with Blue Angel Rumba which was a quite simple and fairly easy sequence dance. Then everything changed and the first dance they wanted us to do was the Viennese Waltz. Lots of turning and lots of simple change of place, but all done in a very strict tempo. Most of it worked for us without thinking, because we were working to carefully choreographed moves. Thankfully we didn’t have to do too many spins, because Scamp didn’t have her sticky out multi-layered petticoat on and I’d forgotten my evening dress and tails. Other than that it was a success.

Next dance was Paso La Paz. Lots of stamping of feet and pretending to hold a beachball between us as we strutted round the floor. We did toe taps and matador stances waving our imaginary capes in front of us. Apparently the foot stamps and the toe taps are to clean the blood and sand from our shoes while we are in the bullring and after the bull has been despatched! Who knew? Neither of these were the Foxtrot or the Four Seasons Waltz we’d been expecting. Interesting though!

A couple of tracks of the Midnight Jive brought us back down to earth again and then it was time to head home again. Actually a really interesting and thought provoking couple of dances. I won’t criticise Strictly again. Well, actually I will, but I’ll be a bit more sympathetic with the poor folk having to learn these dances that look so easy, but are not.

I took the A7 our for a walk later with the Tamron lens for company. There wasn’t much to see but it rained while I was out and I got a chance to see the raindrops beading and dripping from my new rain jacket. PoD turned out to be a robin singing its little heart out from the top of a Hawthorn bush. Quite impressed with the quality.

I came home via the chip shop with a Special Fish Supper (two fish in breadcrumbs and chips). After that we watched the ‘other’ strictly. Not nearly as good or as difficult as our morning dances!

No plans for tomorrow. I wonder if Scamp would notice if I cut a rose, and gripping it securely in my teeth while I stamped my feet, stood with my head back and one arm across my chest and the other behind my back in classic Matador’s stance, as I made breakfast tomorrow morning?

A day in the Toon – 27 September 2024

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In the sunshine!

Scamp was out this morning to her FitSteps class. When she came back we drove down to the station and got the train to Glasgow.

This was September Weekend, a Glasgow holiday on the last weekend in September and we expected the station to be mobbed, but it was the Alloa train that came in first and they don’t celebrate the Sept Weekend, so the train was half empty. A nice easy run into Glasgow.

Had coffee first in Nero where the Learner Barista got the orders mixed up and Scamp got the two shot latte and I got the single shot americano. She’ll learn, but hopefully fast before she gets her ‘jotters’.

We were going looking for a pair of leather gloves for Scamp. She had lost her good pair of purple gloves a few months ago and now that the weather was getting colder, she needed a new pair. First stop was JL. They had loads of them at loads of different prices, but no purple ones, or none she liked anyway. She did seem stuck between a light brown pair and a grey pair. Not sure, we walked down through the city centre to M&S in Argyle Street.

On the way there we noted all the differences that had occurred in the four or five years since Covid. Buildings where there used to be car parks. Shops that had changed their names in those intervening years. The city seems to be in a constant state of flux. We did find leather gloves in M&S, but they just didn’t look as comfortable or as well made as the ones in JL. I could tell by the look on her face that these were not the gloves she wanted.

We left, deciding to go back to JL. On the way we took a detour through the fun fair that had sprung up in two days since Alex and I had wandered round it. I got the shot I should have taken on Wednesday of the inside of the entrance to the St Enoch’s subway, shot on the ideal lens this time. I was pleased with that.

We walked back up Buchanan Street looking for somewhere for lunch. We tried to get in to an interesting place called Mowgli, but we’d have to wait for about two and a half hours to get a table. It wasn’t that interesting, but we may go back to it again. Instead we chose All Bar One. Scamp had, surprise – surprise, Fish ’n’ Chips and I had Chicken Pad Thai. Service was slow, but the food, when it came was good and Scamp’s fish was massive.

Left there and walked up to JL where Scamp chose the light brown gloves which looked really nice on her. On the way we’d picked up a birthday card for Ian, June’s friend. We wrote it and Scamp went to post it while I browsed the bargains in JL, of which there were few.

Got through the ticket gate just in time to catch a train going to Alloa via Croy. Alloa folk seem strange. There were plenty of seats, but they seemed happier cluttering up the doorway. Maybe they don’t get out much.

Drove home and had a decent cup of coffee, Scamp of course, having white tea. Dumped the photos and posted three of them on Flickr. The best in my opinion was another view of the subway station at St Enoch.

Tomorrow I think we may be dancing. It looks like we do have a quorum, but only just enough folk.

A good day in The Toon.

Stravaigin’ – 25 September 2024

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“Wandering with no particular intent.” That’s what Alex and I were doing today, on a cold morning when the temperature was about 3ºc at 8am.

We met at the bus station and went for a coffee as usual and neither of us had a plan for the day. Sometimes that is good, sometimes not so good. It all depends on your frame of mind, I think. Scamp had driven me to the station and I just had enough time to buy my ticket before the train arrived.

Alex and I agreed we’d walk down to St Enoch’s to get some photos. Alex wanted to get a shot of the pigeons on the Teacher’s building. The building used to belong to the Teacher’s whisky company, but it’s changed hands many times since then. Today it seemed as if it was changing again, because a giant cherrypicker was parked outside it with the usual red and white barriers around what was going to be a building site. Alex was disappointed, to put it mildly.

I too was disappointed, because the photo I wanted was covered with half erected fun fair attractions. A Christmas fun fair already? It’s still September! Anyway, it didn’t look as if my photo was going to work either. That didn’t stop me taking a few photos and just blurring out the background with a wide open aperture on the lens.

From St Enoch’s is only a hop and a step and a jump to the Clyde Walkway where the graffiti artists show off their skills. Today we were really lucky because one of the artists was there insitu working on his latest piece, apparently entitled “I think I’ll go eat worms” (Don’t try this at home children). Watching him work made you think it was easy, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t. I counted at least 20 spray cans in a mix of colours, so, not only difficult to master, but also fairly expensive too.

From there we wandered along to St Andrew’s Church because Alex seems fascinated by it. Me, not so much. When I’d eventually prised him away from the buildings we walked up to George Square to have lunch, which was a roll with spicy chicken and a bottle of juice each. We usually have a pizza, but as we’re both on a diet of sorts, the lighter lunch seemed sensible.

By the time we’d finished, I was almost ready to head for home, because tonight was dance class, so we walked up to the bus station just in time for both of us to catch our buses home.

Dinner for Scamp and I was yesterday’s veggie chilli which was a wee bit hotter tonight. Then it was time to “put on our dancing shoes and dance away our blues”. It was a reprise of last week’s class since some folk hadn’t been at that class, and others were struggling with the moves. Actually, on reflection tonight, Scamp and I agreed that the floor is just too small for a Foxtrot which requires a fair amount of space. It also requires learners who don’t just stop dead on the dance floor and have a wee discussion as one pair did fairly often.

PoD today was a view looking out from the inside of the subway at St Enoch’s. Sometimes you have to think outside the box and sometimes you just have to look outside …

Tomorrow is probably a Tea Dance, and maybe a chance to dispose of some old junk.

Shopping in the rain – 24 September 2024

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We haven’t had very much rain for weeks, but when Scamp risked shopping wearing a hoodie but no raincoat or brolly, it was a day too far.

We’d been to Tesco in the afternoon. I was wearing my famous blue raincoat, not my new rainproof jacket, but Scamp had decided it wasn’t going to rain and it didn’t … At least, not until we were coming out of the shop with a trolley full of groceries. Then the rain started and unfortunately Scamp got wet.

It was really just a shower, but a lengthy one and quite heavy for a while. I used that time to wax my boots, something I’d been intending to do for about a month or more. When the rain dragged itself away to annoy someone else, I put on my new green jacket and my freshly waxed boots and went for a walk in St Mo’s. I didn’t get much, although the light was really bright and clear. Then when I was halfway round I took one photo of a low hanging Hazel branch and saw the “No Room To Save” message. The SD card was full. That was when I realised my spare SD cards were in my other camera bag, back at the house. Oops. Time to go home.

On the way home I was walking on a path between trees and the low afternoon light was gorgeous, so I just had to stop and admire it and to remember I had my phone with me and the phone could save in RAW format. That saved the day and gave me today’s PoD. Always remember, the best camera in the world is the one in your pocket!

I must make a note to self: Buy more SD cards. Just a couple to keep one in each of my camera bags.

Dinner was a mix and match Chilli Non Carne made from a recipe I got from a bloke I met at a retreat years and years ago. It’s scribbled down in a scrapbook with limited details, but it works every time. Thank you, whoever you are.

Hazy: We watched the first episode of The Great British Bakeoff. Just the usual mix of serious bakers, no hopers and loonies.

Hoping to meet Alex tomorrow for a photo walk, probably in Glasgow.

Driving – 23 September 2024

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Today we were going to the optician.

Scamp was due her annual checkup and we were driving to Larky.

We were just about to merge on to the M74 motorway when the red tail lights came on ahead of us and both lanes came to a standstill. We’d left with plenty of time, but when the traffic started to flow again it was at a snail’s pace. Scamp phoned ahead to the optician to warn them that she might be late. It did look as if we might have to cancel, but then the traffic started moving a bit faster and eventually we could see that there were blue and red lights ahead, so we knew traffic was being controlled by the police and although slow, it was moving. As it turned out, only one of our lanes was affected, the overtaking lane was closed, but the accident was on the northbound lane, not our southbound. I didn’t get a chance to see what was going on, but Scamp said she saw one four wheel drive SUV on the north bound lane, pointed the wrong way. I’m guessing that would be the end of someone’s trip for today. Thankfully not us.

A quick call to the optician to say that we were on the road again and would probably only be five minutes late, cleared things up with the optician. I dropped Scamp off at the Cross in Larky and continued straight on down to Millheugh.

Millheugh used to be a village in its own right, but has now been swallowed up by Larky. It also used to have a salmon river with legal and illegal salmon fishing. These days, it has a salmon ladder to allow fish to swim past the dam that Larky folk call ‘The Boards’, but I’ve yet to see any salmon in the Avon Water swimming upstream. It’s a nice story though!

I wasn’t there to catch salmon, those days are long past for me. I was there to get some photos and with the autumn colours in the trees I managed that. Unfortunately, the sky was a featureless white. Not that it mattered to me, I knew I could put a bit of life into it back at the computer.

From Millheugh I drove up the old back road to Stonehouse, but the light was poor and I knew I’d be struggling to get a decent shot of the old Avon bridge, so I carried on over to Canderside and then on to Larky. That was when Scamp called to say she was finished at the opticians and would meet me at the supermarket. From there we drove to Brookside Garden centre for a quick lunch of Roll ’n’ Egg for Scamp and Roll ’n’ Flat Sausage for me. Both washed down with a cup of coffee.

Drove home without any hitches and the weather stayed the same all day. White sky and drizzle. Such a change from last Monday’s visit to the Kelpies.

PoD was a view of Millheugh with a decent looking sky added.

No plans for tomorrow yet.

A lazy day – 22 September 2024

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We’d agreed on a lazy day today.

No dinner parties. No evening dances. Just a lazy day, perhaps with a walk if the weather was agreeable. That’s almost exactly what we did.

After catching up with yesterday’s blog we settled on doing as little as possible today. The weather was dry, but cold. The wind especially was bitter cold at times. However, I did take myself off with a nice heavy jacket and a camera to grab some photos. Scamp gave me a large polythene bag, just in case I came upon more brambles that we could freeze. That was useful, because I was sure I’d find some of the black fruit. Came home with a PoD, 220g of brambles and purple hands from the juice of the fruit.

PoD turned out to be a photo of a bloke walking his dog down a local lane. I’ve always liked that view through the trees to the mysterious opening at the end of the path. The autumn colours helped too, even if they are totally fictitious … as is the man. I blame AI!

Came home to a table set for dinner, thankfully just for the two of us. Dinner was a steak (Medium rare) for me and a salmon fillet for Scamp. Both with veg and potatoes. The remains of Friday’s Tiramisu for dessert.

We watched a recording of the Singapore F1 GP and later spoke to Jamie. Just catching up on what’s happening down south. More stories about the diabolical deeds of British Telecom. Not the best communication company in the UK by all accounts. Thankfully we are now rid of them for good.

Tomorrow we are hoping to go to Larky. Scamp has an appointment for an eye test and I need a new pair of reading glasses. I might take a camera with me!

Down the Green – 18 September 2024

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This morning dawned the same as all the other days this week, bright and sunny.

Scamp though we go somewhere to make the most of this Indian Summer and I had to agree. Her first suggestion was a walk down Glasgow Green. I fancied going to Strathaven. Scamp seemed to agree, but it was obvious her heart was set on the Green, so although we headed in the general direction of Strathaven, I relented and after some twists and turns through Gorbals, we arrived at the Green and we must have been meant to go there, because we got one of the remaining two parking places.

We walked down the park and out through the McLennan arch and on along Parnie Street to the cafe at the Tron for a coffee. The Americano was bitter, but the sun was shining in through the window so I didn’t mind. Then Scamp came up with the brilliant idea of walking along Argyle Street to M&S to get sandwiches to take to the park and have a sort of picnic. Excellent idea! I chose Chicken, Sweet Potato and Black Bean salad with a smoothie and Scamp had Italian Pasta & Spinach Salad with side of mixed fruit. We piled it all carefully into a new fold-up bag Scamp had bought at the market in Jersey and walked back to the Green.

It’s a busy place, Glasgow Green at lunchtime, so we had to walk a fair distance to find an empty bench to sit at. It’s hard to believe that a week ago we were down to single figure temperatures while today we were basking in wall to wall sunshine. After lunch we went for a walk over the suspension bridge, then walked back to the car.

I’d already taken what I considered to be the PoD. It was a couple sitting on a bench among the trees. It looked ok on the computer, but improved greatly when I turned it into monochrome and the deal was sealed. PoD.

Back home, Scamp was busy in the garden again potting up a wee blue leafed plant we’d saved from the ‘junk pile’ at Klondyke, and when that was done, just general garden maintenance. I went for a walk in St Mo’s to see if there was anything else worthy of a place in Flickr. There was, but the couple on the bench was still the winner of PoD.

Tonight was a busy night in the dance class. Four couples plus two men who were gooseberries, taking turns to dance with the teacher. There wasn’t a lot of space on that tiny postage stamp of a dance floor to dance the Foxtrot in, but we managed it after taking the dance apart and working out what it would look like in Stewart & Jane’s class. It might have been fairly simple, but it was the floor craft, the dancing around folk that made it difficult tonight.

Tomorrow, Scamp is intending to go on an expedition into Glasgow and I’m going shopping in the morning with the possibility of a coffee with Fred in the afternoon.

The Messages – 17 September 2024

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Today we went for the messages, but just for a bit of fun, we went to Morrison’s in The Fort.

Before that, Scamp was out early checking on her roses and cut three flowers which are now sitting in front of me in a vase on the coffee table. With the light in the morning coming in the front window they were easily a possible PoD.

It’s surprising the difference in prices between Morrison’s and Tesco. It’s also surprising the different range of food and drink in the two. If we had the time, we could buy half our shopping in one store and half in another, but we’d probably spend more on petrol driving between them. We got a really cheerful checkout girl who managed to wangle a free bottle bag for us because we’d bought six bottles of various alcoholic beverages. Try getting that in Tesco!

We drove home and after a quick lunch, Scamp started cutting the grass in the back garden. I volunteered to cut the front grass, but forgot that I’d then have to clean the mower. A fly move by Scamp there. Before I got inveigled into doing any more gardening I went for a walk in St Mo’s.

About halfway round the circuit, I had a wee problem with the zoom lens. It had managed to put itself into manual mode ( it should have been in ‘autofocus’ mode). I couldn’t understand what I’d done wrong this time. There were no benches to sit on while I puzzled it out, and the big boulders beside the path aren’t the most comfortable seats, but I did resort to them for a while, but could find no solution. The standard lens was working fine and so was the camera, so the problem was with the zoom lens. When I got home and checked the settings, I found the solution to the problem. This next paragraph is for my benefit.

If the camera goes into Manual mode, move the zoom switch to No 3 position and hold the button down for 1 second. That should fix it. The No 3 position is programmed to switch between manual and auto and it requires a press of 1 second to switch between them. Now remember that for next time ya daftie!!!

There, that’s me telling myself off!

Back home Scamp was making dinner. Fried potatoes and fish. The fish had come from Morrison’s today and was lovely. Scamp had opened a bottle of wine so we had a glass each to go with our dinner. A glass of wine on a Tuesday? The sun must have gone to our heads.

PoD did turn out to be the three flowers. The pink one is Gertrude Jekyll the rose bud is the winter colour for Lady of Shalott and the warm yellow one is a fully out Lady of Shalott. They were too good to miss.

Tomorrow is to be as warm as today in the west, so we probably won’t be heading east, but we might go out for a spin.

 

 

Dancin’ ( or trying to) – 14 September 2024

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We drove over to Brookfield for the first dance class in ages.

The first dance in the unheated Brookfield Hall was a sequence dance, the Melody Foxtrot. Two tracks to start with and an extra one for Peter and Gillian because they were late. Would they do an extra track for us or for Leslie & Gordon? Maybe not, but Peter and Gillian are friends of the teachers. Petty? Me? Oh yes, but if your face don’t fit here you don’t get privileges.

First dance was the Butterfly Jive. I’ve never really sorted this one out in my head. Too many things coming at you too quickly. Scamp seems ok with it, it’s just me who’s too slow.

The tempo slowed down for the next dance which was the Four Seasons Waltz which I thought I was dancing correctly, but Scamp kept telling me I was wrong. For once, I was sure I was right because muscle memory was telling me to do one thing and Scamp was telling me something else. Eventually, after calling the adjudicator, Jane, I was proven right. It’s nice to be right … sometimes. We’d danced this waltz on Thursday and most of it was encoded in my head, I just couldn’t play it back with confidence, but Scamp could. I can usually rely on her to keep me right.

The third ‘real’ dance was a Quickstep which may have a name, but I can’t remember it. It’s quite quick, but again, muscle memory came to my rescue and the entire first section just flowed perfectly. The next section we hadn’t practised, but struggled through. It might need some homework to get the footwork fitting in perfectly, but it was much better than I anticipated.

The torture finished with a Sally Anne Cha-Cha which is just a bit of noisy fun with hand claps and shouts of “OI!”. Then we left for a quick trip into Glasgow, or so I thought.

I was heading to WEX to drop off a lens I was selling. It should have been easy, but the sat nav had found a new way that didn’t allow for roadworks or diversions. After a good half hour of going the wrong way, we eventually found the carpark and dropped off the lens at the shop. We dropped in at Nevisport where we’d had a good chat last week with one of the sales guys. Not so today. Almost none of last week’s stock was there. It had been replaces with “SALES” stock. None of which was what I was looking for. We left to have a decent cup of coffee in Waterstones and drove home empty handed. Stopped at M&S in Cumbersheugh to get some fruit then went home.

In the fading light I got today’s PoD which was a James Grieve apple on our apple tree, viewed through a LensBaby distortion lens.

Dinner was a very spicy chicken curry with an ice lolly each to cool us down. Not a bad day as far as weather was concerned, but tomorrow looks better. We’ll see.

Wandering round Glasgow – 11 September 2024

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I drove in to Glasgow today to meet my brother.

We had planned to visit the Transport Museum, or the Riverside Museum as it’s known these days, but it was a beautiful day and it did seem a shame when we could be wandering round the streets taking photos. Anyway, I never was a fan of the Riverside Museum. The old Transport Museum had character which the new one lacked and why stack loads of cars in a vast space where petrolheads can’t get near them to look inside and remember driving that classic car? Totally pointless. The outside of the new museum is much more interesting than the inside, and the only reason I’d go there.

So, instead we walked down Buchanan Street to take some photos and so that Alex could wander round a guitar shop, looking for a new amp for his guitar. I had an ulterior motive too. I was still looking for that jacket. The waterproof one I’ve been searching for all week. I’m beginning to think it doesn’t exist, but I’ll continue looking Dug wi’ a Burst Ba’ again. I didn’t find it today, but we’d both scratched our individual itches and come away with nothing, but we’d both looked and seen.

I suggested we adjourn to Paesano to see if a pizza each would give us time to think. After lunch we went for a walk round St Enoch’s square to take some photos. For once we both went separate ways and met up again after taking a few shots of different subjects. Then it was a walk down the Clyde Walkway to admire the graffiti, and there was an entire wall that had been covered with artwork since the last time we’d been down there.

Next we took some photos of St Andrews Cathedral and its reflections on the glass walled building next door. By that time the temperature was dropping and I was aware that it was getting towards late afternoon and I was going to dance class later.

We walked back up Buchanan Street before splitting up with Alex heading for the bus and me going for my car. Some good shots today and some good nonsense talked by both of us.

I got back in time to get ready for Kirsty’s dance class. Today it was a reprise of the Rumba she’d turned into a Cha-Cha. I admit, I was lost to begin with, but after a quick run through by Kirsty and Scamp, it began to fall into place again.

PoD went to a photo of the ‘Balloon Man’. He stands in Buchanan Street in Glasgow twisting balloons into the most intricate shapes to the delight of hundreds of children every week. I was lucky, the light was just right today.

Tomorrow Scamp would like to take me to a Tea Dance in Paisley. How could I say no?