Category: photography

Coffee with Val – 29 July 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Just Val and me today.

I don’t know if Val has fallen out with Fred, but he never mentioned whether he had invited him or not and I didn’t ask. I thought I’d show him my new Huawei watch, but surprise, surprise, Val had one too. Like a couple of school kids we compared watch faces. He pinched one of mine and I pinched one of his. An hour and a half seemed to fly past and for once we didn’t just talk ‘tech’. It was more about trying to get back to ‘normal’. Maybe not real normal, more like this new normal. Still, it was a step in the right direction.

Back home Scamp was just getting ready to go and dead head some flowers, so I took the opportunity to grab some pictures of some of her favourites. That’s why today’s PoD is a bunch of Osteospermum all vying for the best place in the photo. I was impressed with the way the Sony dealt with the red roses. The Oly was much quicker to focus, but it oversaturate the reds, the Sony gave a much more realistic rendition of the reds. Something to do with the bigger sensor perhaps?

I did go for a walk in St Mo’s later in the day and got a decent macro of a shieldbug apparently steeling itself for a leap into space. In reality it was fighting with a wolf spider. I don’t think the spider came out on top this time. Maybe it got sprayed by the shieldbug. They don’t call it a stinkbug for nothing.

Back home it was veg chilli for dinner and as usual I made too much. Oh well, we can eat if for lunch tomorrow.

And with that, you are all caught up.  Two week’s worth of blog written.  I’m glad it’s done.

Tomorrow we may go in to Glasgow if the weather permits.

Crossed Wires – 28 July 2021

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We were supposed to meet Isobel for coffee today. We were there, but where was Isobel?

For once there were some empty tables when we arrived at Costa, an unusual occurrence at 11am. Usually it’s really busy with mums and screaming weans and auld yins taking up the rest of the seats. However, not only were there no screaming weans, but one auld yin (don’t tell her I said that) was missing too. Where was Isobel? After ordering and consuming our coffees Scamp decided she’d better phone the missing party to find out what was wrong. The answer was that she thought Scamp had agreed to pick her up. Scamp denied that, but agreed that we’d drive down to the Village for a coffee with her in her house.

I dropped Scamp off at the house and then parked the car. This let Scamp deal with the problem before I got there. As it happened we didn’t bother with coffee, just sat talking about the holiday, dancing and families. As usual with Isobel, we were entertained for a couple of hours.

Next on the agenda was a visit to B&Q for a piece of dowel to fix the cheapo wheels bins the council granted us with. I imagine there were the cheapest, seconds they could find. The plastic pins that form the hinge for the lid are wearing and I’ve had to replace one already. Today I was replacing the other one. A piece of 15mm diameter wooden dowel would do the job nicely. It’s now done and will be tested tomorrow when the bin is emptied.

After lunch I watched a video by Robin Wong explaining how to do some clever things with the E-M1 mk2. I’ve had the camera for about six months now and hadn’t realised you could do these things. Later I took the Oly out to see if his tricks worked, and of course they did. He’s a really clever guy and when I came home I found another video showing more clever tricks that I’ll test tomorrow, all being well.

Today’s PoD was shot in St Mo’s and is a worm’s eye view of Horsetails growing through gaps in the boardwalk. Almost as soon as they get about 5cm above the decking, they get trodden on or kicked until the break. Still they just keep growing. Horsetails can be traced back to the early Jurassic period. If they survived the dinosaurs, I’m sure they’ll not be destroyed by a few booted walkers.

Tomorrow I’m booked to meet Val for coffee. I’m hoping he knows I’m not coming to pick him up!

Crossed Wires – 28 July 2021

Posted on by Zogman

We were supposed to meet Isobel for coffee today. We were there, but where was Isobel?

For once there were some empty tables when we arrived at Costa, an unusual occurrence at 11am. Usually it’s really busy with mums and screaming weans and auld yins taking up the rest of the seats. However, not only were there no screaming weans, but one auld yin (don’t tell her I said that) was missing too. Where was Isobel? After ordering and consuming our coffees Scamp decided she’d better phone the missing party to find out what was wrong. The answer was that she thought Scamp had agreed to pick her up. Scamp denied that, but agreed that we’d drive down to the Village for a coffee with her in her house.

I dropped Scamp off at the house and then parked the car. This let Scamp deal with the problem before I got there. As it happened we didn’t bother with coffee, just sat talking about the holiday, dancing and families. As usual with Isobel, we were entertained for a couple of hours.

Next on the agenda was a visit to B&Q for a piece of dowel to fix the cheapo wheels bins the council granted us with. I imagine there were the cheapest, seconds they could find. The plastic pins that form the hinge for the lid are wearing and I’ve had to replace one already. Today I was replacing the other one. A piece of 15mm diameter wooden dowel would do the job nicely. It’s now done and will be tested tomorrow when the bin is emptied.

After lunch I watched a video by Robin Wong explaining how to do some clever things with the E-M1 mk2. I’ve had the camera for about six months now and hadn’t realised you could do these things. Later I took the Oly out to see if his tricks worked, and of course they did. He’s a really clever guy and when I came home I found another video showing more clever tricks that I’ll test tomorrow, all being well.
On the subject of PoDs, July 23rd’s PoD the mono shot of the sheep at the house in Cumbria won Explore on Flickr.  Explore means it was one of the best shots of the day.  I was quite impressed, but not surprised, as it was a lovely shot, even if I say so myself!

Today’s PoD was shot in St Mo’s and is a worm’s eye view of Horsetails growing through gaps in the boardwalk. Almost as soon as they get about 5cm above the decking, they get trodden on or kicked until the break. Still they just keep growing. Horsetails can be traced back to the early Jurassic period. If they survived the dinosaurs, I’m sure they’ll not be destroyed by a few booted walkers.

We had been warned that there would be thunder and lightning during the night with heavy rain in the early hours.  There were a few peals of thunder, but very distant.  However, the rain did make an appearance and was welcomed by plants in the garden, but more will be needed before they will be happy.  How strange it is to wish for rain!

 

Tomorrow I’m booked to meet Val for coffee. I’m hoping he knows I’m not coming to pick him up!

Cars on the rooftop – 19 July 2021

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Today we went to Broughton in Furness to see what was there.

We parked in the village square and walked down the Main Street. There wasn’t a lot to see, it looked like a sleepy little market town. One busy pub on a corner, as most pubs seem to be, especially old ones. It was earmarked for a visit later.

We walked further down the hill away from the retail centre and found a petrol station/garage with an interesting display of what looked like old pedal cars on its roof. Further still down the hill there was a sign pointing down an avenue of trees to a woodland walk and ponds. We agreed that we should investigate.

The path ran straight for as far as we could see with the back gardens of houses on both sides for the first 100m or so. The ones on the right were well manicured, while some of the ones on the left were a bit overgrown, but looked as if they had been well maintained in the past with vegetable plots laid out neatly below the weeds. Others, of course were pristine. Best of all, near the path was a community garden with a sign saying that everything was free to a good home. I suppose that’s what you expect in a small rural community.

We walked for a mile or so along the path and found the ponds, two of them. The first one was almost dried up with little sign of life, but further on was the second pond. This one had a bit more shelter from the sun and near the edge I could see what I think were dace feeding in the shallows. Also a few ducks, mallards, soaking up the rays on the pebbly shore.

The woodland walk and the ponds were part of Broughton Tower estate and private property, but with access allowed to the public. There was a large area of grassland with paths leading up to the Big House which we glimpsed through the trees, but didn’t investigate because we were walking back along the path and out into Broughton again.

We found a street running parallel to the Main Street with a neat little deli at the end where Scamp bought some lovely fat cherries and I got a pack of dates which I intend to eat this time, instead of keeping them in the fridge!

By this time it was definitely Beer o’ Clock, so we took a seat at the pub we’d noticed earlier and Scamp had a half pint of lager and I had a half pint of very dry stout. I wish I’d remembered the name of the stout, because it was just excellent. If we ever go back to this area again I’ll search it out.

Took a wrong turning heading out of the town and ended up on narrower and narrower roads, then the sat nav pulled us out of trouble again and got us on the right road. Halfway along the narrow wee road to the house we came on a traffic jam. A car and a van were blocking the road trying to do the “two into one won’t go” trick and neither were willing to give ground. Eventually the car driver who was at the front of our line of vehicles, reversed, down the wrong side of the road, ending up in a ditch. That allowed the van to wriggle through the gap and the rest of our line of cars and vans to pass. I don’t know when or how the car driver got out of the ditch, but nobody was stopping to help him/her.

Later in the day I went for a walk along our narrow road and got a few photos of flowers and landscapes in the low afternoon sun. The harebells got PoD.

JIC was chef tonight Turkey Parmagiano which was delicious and will be added to our own list of things to try. It was their standard Monday dinner, just as our Monday dinner is Pasta with either a Tomato or Carbonara sauce.

I attempted a Milky Way photoshoot when the sky looked dark enough, but it wasn’t a great success. I think Photopills may be right when it seemed to indicate that the Milky Way wasn’t visible from our global position at this time. Anyway, the midges were definitely visible and biting!

Tomorrow we may go sailing!

 

Chicken Burger and Cheese Burger – 14 July 2021

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Chicken Burger (No barbecue sauce). Cheese Burger (No mayo). Foodies are fastidious.

Today we drove to The Fort to spend one of our M&S vouchers on ourselves. Sometimes it’s nice to spend money you don’t really feel you’ve earned on something. Today it was mainly alcohol. For some reason you can’t spend Tesco vouchers on alcohol, petrol or tobacco products. I fail to see the common factor there, but I presume Tesco see the hidden logic.

After our splurge, we went for a walk around this emporium of retail therapy. I went to Waterstones and found a few interesting books I might try on Audible or Kindle. Probably Audible because I’ve just finished my last book and my next credit has just appeared, also because I’ve got an interesting ‘Real’ book that I can read and it’s got illustrations which obviously you don’t get with Audible. Scamp knew she’d find me browsing in Waterstones, so after she dragged me away from the books we went for lunch.

We walked over to Ben & Jerry’s. Not really B&J, but that’s what we always call it. It’s really Frankie & Benny’s. It used to be our go-to place for breakfast when we were flying off to go on a cruise or to have a late deal week in the sun. In the days before quarantine, face masks and Covid. Now it’s just a fairly cheap place for lunch. The burgers are usually good and the chips are such a temptation! Today’s choice, as you can see from the title was Chicken Burger for Scamp and Cheese Burger for me with the usual alterations. Both were delicious, but the overpriced lemonade was stale tasting. Nothing is perfect.
Stopped off at The Shops on the way home to get pineapple in M&S plus a bottle of gin and four pineapple cakes in Aldi.

I took the Dewdrop out for its second run this year and went to my usual quiet place alongside the railway. Today’s PoD came from there. Originally there were the overhead wires cutting right across the sky in the photo, but about an hour’s work put paid to them and left a much better picture. While I was walking around looking for more photos I felt wee nip on my front and brushed away what I think must have been a cleg. It had bit me right through my tee shirt. I couldn’t see a hole, so it must have been using a syringe to draw off some blood. Another nip on my shoulder a few minutes later meant that it was time to get back on the bike before my tee shirt was ruined. Luckily I had some Piriton tablets and an old tube of Anthisan cream in my saddle bag. They got to work immediately and got the swelling down. No mark to be seen now.
Took another few shots on the way home, but the Beech trees were the clear winner of PoD.

It was a lot cooler but the time I got home and the sky had clouded over quite a lot. It’s supposed to reach 27º tomorrow. We’ll believe it when we see it.

Shopping and Waterfalls – 13 July 2021

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Basically in that order.

We spoke to Hazy in the morning and found out how things were progressing now that Neil-D is on his last week of teaching before his summer holidays start. Plans were discussed and decisions made. I missed the start of the call because I was playing “Dress the Dolly” to see if my suit would still fit me for the service on Saturday morning. It did.

We went shopping later in the morning and Scamp drove us to Tesco. Lots of stuff on the list to buy. Not all of it was for us, because Scamp was using up one of our Covid test vouchers and we’d already agreed that half of the value should be ploughed back into the community by way of the food bank. We both chose things to put in the bank and then we added the things we needed, finally completing the shop with things we would like. That’s how I saw the shop progressing.

Back home and after lunch Scamp was gardening and I was going out to test my 10 Stop ND filter on the waterfall of the Luggie Water. Basically the filter cuts out lots of light from reaching the sensor of the camera, allowing me to use a much slower shutter speed than normal. You’ve probably seen those moody photos of misty looking sea or clouds apparently streaking across the sky. It’s done with a dark filter. The ND part just stands for Neutral Density, in other words, it doesn’t add any colour to the shot.

The waterfall is really quite impressive for such a small river. I usually try to photograph it from below, but this time I though I’d try a view looking across the top, or down from the top. It wasn’t the best decision because the water rounded rocks at the top of the falls were slimy and slippery. I had to grab some low growing branches to keep me from falling in. Unfortunately there were nettles growing over them and I got a few nasty stings from them. They say that if you grasp a nettle quickly and hard you don’t get stung. That’s not true!

I got the shot I wanted and you can see the result above. I was quite pleased with it, but I wish now I’d taken the shot from below. I suppose I could go back and do it again some time. I maybe need to wait until there’s been some rain and the falls are flowing faster.

I walked down to the old railway bridge and tried a shot from there. To get there I had to wade through some gigantic plants about 2m high with leaves that look for all the world like rhubarb. I’m not sure if its Butterbur or Chilean Rhubarb (Gunnera tinctoria) which is an invasive plant from South America. Anyway, the shot didn’t work very well. More work needed on the ND filter.

Tomorrow we’re planning on going to The Fort and maybe having lunch there.

Keeping Time – 30 June 2021

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You have to watch what you’re doing all the time these days.

Scamp thought she’d nicked her ankle on a thorn yesterday on our walk through the Drumpellier woods, but this morning it looked more like a bite. It didn’t prevent her from going for a walk with Veronica, but when she came back she was sure it was a bite and Veronica who’s a retired nurse agreed that she should have it looked at.

We drove up to Boots and the pharmacist agreed that she would be best with a course of penicillin, just in case. Because she was such a brave girl, she go to sit with her legs up in the sunshine in the garden while the waiter brought her a glass of her new Bramble & Raspberry Gin ’n’ Tonic.

I have been complaining loud and continuously about my Fitbit’s screen being unreadable in bright daylight, let alone sunlight. I’ve been looking for a smart watch for a few weeks and at the weekend I found what I was looking for. Checked it out in Which and read reviews. It’s a Huawei GT2e and yes, I realise it will send all my details to China. The spy satellites will be focusing on my every move. I bought it from Argos who also will have all my details and if they ever get a satellite, I’m sure it will be following me too. As will Currys and JL. I didn’t know I was so popular! Anyway, the watch looks as if it will do everything I want it to and then some. Best of all, it tells the time in bright sunlight!

I know it tells the time in bright light because I took it our for a play test in St Mo’s once I’d finally discovered how to pair it with my phone. My lens of choice was the kit lens for the Sony. I though it was excellent when I got the camera, but now I’m beginning to see why my brother favours prime lenses. Nothing to do with Amazon, a prime lens is a fixed focal length, or to put it another way, it’s not a zoom. Zoom lenses are a compromise. They are Jack of all focal lengths and master of none. Primes only have one focal length, but they usually are much better at that one. On my visit to Argos at The Fort, I took my 18mm ultra-wide prime lens and got a few shots (5 shots, all keepers). This afternoon I got fewer ‘keepers’ from more shots taken(10 shots taken, 4 keepers). Sometimes less is more. It was one of the shots taken with the 18mm lens that got PoD, Johnston Loch with the fishers just visible in their rowing boats.

A short but quite accurate dance practise tonight.  Just  the new Queen of Hearts Rumba (Where do they get these names?) and the Foxtrot routine.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go looking for flowers for one of Scamp’s elevated flower displays if her leg is up to walking.

 

Off the leash – 28 June 2021

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Scamp was off the leash today, off to a witches meeting. That left me with a day to fill and what a day it was shaping up to be.  It was going to be a scorcher.

I didn’t even have to drive her to Denny, she had a lift already arranged with Jeanette. After she left, I got the Dewdrop down from its winter pasture in the front room and after a bit of a struggle, got the tyres pumped up. A quick spray of WD40 on the chain and we were good to go, and we would have gone, but first I wanted a photo or two, so it was off to St Mo’s with the macro lens on the Sony.

The warmth in the last few days has brought on a hatch of lots of insects, but so far, no dragonflies. We still seem to be running a few weeks behind last year’s numbers. There’s nothing we can do about it, it’s just a case of making the best of the opportunities that are available. Available today were Damselflies, Soldier Beetles, Lacewings and a Grasshopper. As well as the insects there was an interesting branch of dried leaves to photograph. Yes, I can see the rolling of the eyes. Let’s just say it’s a photogs thing. The Grasshopper, because it’s such an unusual insect to find in St Mo’s, won PoD. The rest of the menagerie, and the branch are available to peruse on Flickr.

I even managed to include a quick visit to the shops halfway through my photo safari and got the ingredients for a stir-fry which would make a change from pasta on a Monday. When I got home, there was the Dewdrop looking a bit sad because I’d been off playing in St Mo’s and it hadn’t had its run. The first run of the year! Possibly tomorrow. Because I didn’t know if Scamp was needing a run home from Denny, I settled myself with my audio book and a glass of apple juice in the garden and enjoyed the peace and quiet for an hour.

When Scamp arrived home we shared a bottle of Bitter & Twisted, one of my best favourite beers. She took over my garden seat and I started dinner. This stir-fry thing is great. No real skill needed. Chop up the protein (chicken) and fry it. Chuck in some veg and fry it. Chuck in some noodles and some of the sauce and heat it through. Bingo, almost instant dinner.

Beautiful sky tonight. It started off gold and gradually segued through hot orange into pink. It was much more complex than that with at least three different layers of cloud, all changing shapes and colours at different rates.

Tomorrow looks even hotter than today. More Shorts and Tee Shirts and maybe a drive somewhere.

A dull day – 26 June 2021

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A white sky is never a good start to a day.

The white sky didn’t disappear as we hoped it would. It just hung there all day. Eventually we agreed we’d had enough. We needed carrots for tonight’s dinner and there was but a teaspoon of gin left in the Hortus bottle. The obvious solution to this dilemma was to go to Lidl in Kilsyth for necessary supplies.

We got both the necessities as well as many other things like bread and maybe tomorrow’s dinner for me. What we really needed was a walk, somewhere nice, as I’d predicted yesterday. To fulfil the prophecy we drove to Colzium and did the energy sapping walk up the avenue of trees and rhododendrons to the Big House and that’s where I found today’s PoD which is of a single rhododendron flower with a ring of pistils around it. Almost a macro, but taken with the now superb Samyang 18mm lens that’s really an ultra-wide angle, but does a good impersonation of a macro lens.

We walked on round the old driveway almost to the Tak Ma Doon road. Scamp decided we should take the path through the woods after that because “It’s not too steep”. I knew better, but I said nothing, because I know better. Less than five minutes later she realised her mistake. This is a really steep track, but it was a good day and we here having a bit of exercise on the walk. Crossed the burn at the bridge at the top of the climb and it was all downhill after that.

We got a cone each from an ice cream van on the way to the car. The bloke in the van regaled with the cost of to small businesses of our present no-cash society. I hadn’t realised just how much it costs to use these touch machines. Maybe it’s time we started going to the bank and getting some real money rather than taking the easy way out. The ice cream was good.

Back home I made carrot and lentil curry for dinner and it was just as good as it usually is, not quite as good as Scamp’s, of course, but it’s hard to improve on perfection.

Another practise of the Foxtrot again tonight and after that a sampling of the new bottle of gin.

Tomorrow we have nothing planned, but a walk is always an option.

Shopping at The Fort – 23 June 2021

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Today Scamp wanted to visit The Fort in Glasgow. I went along to have a browse in Waterstones.

I also wanted to have a look for a new pair of trainers. My old, much maligned Merrills are beginning to fall apart. That seems a common occurrence for me and Merrills. The boots are heading the same way, in fact they are leading the race to the tip. I didn’t see anything that inspired me to pull out my wallet and commit some of my hard earned cash to JD Sport or any other footwear purveyors. Not a total surprise to Scamp or I.

I did have a browse around Waterstones and noted a few book titles that I might add to my reading list. However, I’ll probably wait a month or so until the prices come down to something more like reality. The price of books these days!!

Met us with Scamp again and went food shopping in M&S. The till was run by someone who looked disdainfully at all these shoppers waiting for her to scan their miserable food items. Eventually, when the time came to pay she attempted a smile, but I think she needs more time in front of the mirror, practising it.

When I was wandering around this fortress earlier I noticed that almost an entire row of premises were closed and boarded up. Or, as the sign said, just ready to become “New stores you’re sure to adore”. It’s the effect of the pandemic on shops. Topshop, TopMan, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Evans and Burton all closed for good. Only one left in this block.
Who’s NEXT?
This retail disaster became my PoD. After a bit of manipulation in Photoshop, the three frame panorama looked pretty much how I’d seen it.

Back home and after lunch I started to cut down a rogue tree that has appeared between us and our next door neighbour. I asked her last week if she was really attached to it and she said no, so today I took the loppers and with help from Scamp we got about half of it cut down, chopped up and dumped in the Garden Waste bin. Thankfully it should get uplifted tomorrow, because it’s nearly full now. Scamp went off to visit her sister and while she was away I potted up a sickly looking chilli plant and half a dozen aquilegia seedlings. I had just finished and left her a note to say I was off to St Mo’s when the lady herself returned. There was nothing of note in St Mo’s. I’d seen a Fire Bug yesterday and was hoping to be able to grab a shot of it, but it was nowhere to be seen. Maybe tomorrow.

For dinner tonight Scamp made Pulled Chicken and Chipotle Black Beans. The last time she made it, there was very little chilli heat. There was tonight! Hope the remainder doesn’t get hotter for lunch tomorrow.

A quick dance practise tonight and I think we may have ironed out one of the sticky bits in the Slow Foxtrot. It’s all to do with a little twist before the second Whisk. That probably means nothing to you, although JIC may know what I’m talking about. It’s really just a little reminder to us that might explain how we’ve solved the problem.

No real plans for tomorrow. We had some rain tonight and we’re expecting more tomorrow. The gardens need it.