Category: railway

No Dough – 20 February 2017

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Scamp was at the physio this morning. I started a wee watercolour of the hills at the back, because the light was wonderful with wee floating cloud shadows drifting across them. It turned out better than I anticipated.

I’d taken a frozen chunk of dough out of the freezer last night and left it to defrost and rise overnight.  It did defrost, but it didn’t rise.  I tried to encourage the yeast to start working again by warming the loaf tin in some warm water, but it resisted my attentions. I eventually turned on the heating and put the embryonic bread on the radiator to warm up.

By then, Scamp had returned with her ankle strapped up and we had lunch before she went out to get Gems.  I was swithering whether to go out on my bike, go to the gym or go for a walk.  I’d a pain in my back and any of these would help.  However, as the sun was still shining, I decided that the gym was out, and as there was a gusty wind, maybe cycling would be a bit difficult.  So, by a process of elimination, a walk was the winner.  I was looking for somewhere that would produce a photo and also a sketch.  I finally settled on the railway again, because it’s near the hills and I quite fancied a photo of those cloud shapes on the land.

I got the photo, but saw nothing that encouraged the sketchbook out of my bag, then I saw the old house that I’d sketched before and that became my SoD (Sketch of the Day).  It’s a strange house, with dormer windows, extensions and an old, old wall round it.  There’s ivy too clinging to the gable end.  The sketch is quite representative, but I think the chimney is a bit out of scale.

Salsa tonight was hard work.  Hard work remembering the moves and hard work keeping going for a full hour after three weeks of lazing around.  Still very enjoyable and although we only stayed for an hour tonight, we may go for two hours on Wednesday, all being well.  Surprisingly, all the moves had names tonight!

No real plans for tomorrow, but we’re probably going food shopping.  Oh what fun.

The bread?  Oh, it rose perfectly, then it stuck to the loaf tin and just wouldn’t come out.  I should have realised it had its own plans for the day when it took so long to rise.

A Dull Day – 8 January 2017

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The dull day was probably what gave me the incentive to get the new sewing machine out and finally attempt to fix the pocket on a pair of jeans.

I’d ‘had a go’ at fixing it a week or so ago, but after researching the problem on the ‘net, I felt more confident that the method I’d seen would solve the problem.  Actually I’d seen two different methods, and I was going to attempt the easier and less complicated one.  That tutorial didn’t have that confidence destroying phrase “This is the tricky bit”.  I liked that.  After half an hour or so of sewing, re-threading the needle and more sewing, but without swearing, I now have a fair degree of confidence in the longevity of my repair, or Alteration as I described it recently in FB.  Hope you don’t read this Joyce.  I’d hate to disabuse you of the notion that I’ve taken up dressmaking in a professional capacity.  I’m hoping to fix a couple of pairs of jeans and also make myself a bow tie.  Little Black Dresses for Scamp may take a bit more time.  So, one down, another three to go!

I was going stir crazy, so in the afternoon I drove down to Auchinstarry and walked along the canal, through the plantation to the railway walk, then back along a different railway walk to the carpark again.  It really was a dull day.  I’d set my Nikon to a Manual exposure of 1/500th sec @ f9 and a floating ISO the other day.  That meant the D7000 calculated it would require an ISO of 25600 today.  That’s in the ‘WTF let’s have a go’ range.  You’ll get a picture, but you may not be able to see it in all the digital noise.  It produced the picture at the top and the one at the bottom right in the mosaic.  I’ve deliberately converted the top one to mono because it disguises the grain/digital-noise that the high ISO produces.  The other pic, my favourite and therefore PoD was at a much lower ISO of 4000 and taken with the Oly 5.  It was resting on the stonework of an old bridge and also had a much shorter lens, so could be relied upon to give a sharp image at a low shutter speed.  Sorry JIC, edging into technospeak again.  Sim will understand.

The bridge itself was interesting from another point of view.  All along the top edge are what I’d describe as lens shaped cuts which look like the shapes you’d get if you were sharpening a knife or a scythe.  Could that be what caused them?  I’ll photograph them the next time I’m crossing the bridge on a sunny day.  Also inscribed on the top of a stone near the middle of the bridge are the initials  ‘IW’.  They have been carved with care into the stone and both letters have serifs on them.  Often, old graffiti has these serifs and shows that care has been taken when carving them.  Intriguing.

First Sunday Social of 2017 today and I was really rusty.  Thank goodness classes start tomorrow.  We both need the exercise and the practise.

No idea what the weather is to be tomorrow.  Hopefully kinder to photographers than it’s been today.

Walking through the Gloaming – 15 December 2016

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I’ve started a bad habit of allowing the blog to get away from me.  These last couple of days have seen me in the morning playing catch-up to get the blog posted, yesterday’s blog that is.  Today I’m finishing today’s blog today.

Not a lot of work done this morning.  Scamp was hard at work buying Tesco again and cooking all day for the Witches Christmas Party while I farted about.  There, that’s the honest truth, well, almost the truth.  I did get my 2017 calendar sorted out, so that’s one thing done.

I went for more ‘messages’ – you remember what messages are, don’t you – after lunch and took Scamp’s advice to carry ONE camera with me.  I chose the E-M5 with a short zoom lens and no EVF (Electronic View Finder).  Very pocketable.   I walked the short walk round the railway walk, across the tree plantation and back along the canal while the light changed from blue to a glorious orange gloaming.  Some beautiful lighting on the hills, but the short lens was struggling to make anything of it.  By comparison, the short focal length lens made the skies look good.

Since Tesco was now closed for restocking, after Scamp had bought everything it had, I went to Kilsyth to Lidl to get some odds and ends there and in B&M (my new favourite shop).  Bought far more than I intended to, so Scamp’s enthusiasm must be catching.  When I got home and after dinner, I started on my part of tomorrows banquet.  Now, at 10.30pm I’ve done my bit too.  The pudding is setting in the fridge and the bread is proving in the kitchen.  Some more work to be done tomorrow, but less frantic I hope.

I’m intending giving the WCP a body swerve tomorrow.  I’m booked for coffee and a chat with Fred and Val tomorrow midday and after that, well as Del Boy said, “The world’s my lobster”.

Queen Bee for a day – 2 December 2016

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2-dec

A fairly early Skype with the Birthday Girl this morning set the tone for the day.  Nice to see Hazy looking good and enjoying the day.

By the time Scamp had returned from the physio I had finished my Sudoku for the day and was ready for lunch with the prospect of either a cycle run or a walk afterwards, now that the sun had decided to shine today.  The die settled on walk and I risked a walk along the canal then returning along the railway.  Walked east along the canal to see if there were any photos to be had at the marina at Auchinstarry.  At first I thought this was a pretentious misnomer, but now it actually does look like a marina.  Not housing any yachts, but a few cabin cruisers and a great deal of longboats and also a few houseboats.  Very upmarket for the lower reaches of Croy.

After I’d got my fill of the floating architecture, I headed back west towards Twechar and cut across the forest plantation and out along the old railway, but there was little to see there, so as it was getting dark, I walked back to the car and got the call to visit Tesco on my way back.  Scamp wasn’t feeling too good with what might be the beginnings of a cold, and as we’d dined out yesterday and had tentative plans for lunch out tomorrow, we decided to eat in tonight.  I had what was probably the worst ever pizza from Tesco.  Now I know why the price was reduced!  Scamp had the healthy option of fish fingers and a fried egg.  Masterchef Professionals eat your heart out!

That, I’m afraid was it for the day.  We tried to watch Big Fish on Netflix, but decided either it was trying too hard or we weren’t trying hard enough.  It was consigned to the bin, like only a few others so far.

Tomorrow, who knows?  Today’s weather was good and if we get the same tomorrow and Scamp is feeling OK, it might be Embra.  If not it may just be a quick visit to Stirling for Sunday’s dinner.

A Day of Surprises – 15 November 2016

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15-nov

Surprise No 1

When I woke this morning, just after 8am, the sun was shining.  It stayed that way too.  Now after the last two days we’ve had, that was a big surprise.  I checked all five of my photo backup drives and with a combination of them all, I can account for all the photos from 2000 to November 2016.  Not bad going.  However, one of the big old Western Digital MyBook drives looks like it’s a goner.  That is a great shame.  I’ve always thought WD were a really good make, but I suppose the ten or twelve years I’ve had it, it’s worked hard and sometimes there has been the occasional accident, so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.  Soon it was time to leave the photos and go get my flu jag.  That’s jab to some people, but jag if you’re Scottish.

Surprise No 2

When I got to the surgery they were just calling my name.  That was lucky.  When I went to see the sister, I recognised her right away as an FP (Former Pupil) of Cumby High.  I couldn’t think of her name, but I remembered the face, because last night when I was browsing the photos in the oldest collection, I came upon the poster I’d made for Bugsy Malone, one I was really proud of, and here was the female lead from the show wearing a nursing sister’s uniform.  We got talking and she asked if I had any photos of the show, because nobody in her family had thought to bring a camera to the show.  I told her that I probably had, but it would take me some time to find them.  I couldn’t believe that was away back in 2003!  Anyway, she said she’d just give me a gentle wee jag.  She lied.  It was gentle at the time, but it’s aching now!

Surprise No 3

After I got back and found the said photos, hundreds of them as it turned out, I got dressed for the weather which was still bright, but cold and headed to Auchinstarry.  Walked along the railway to Twechar and got some photos in the sunshine.  I’ve still to process them, but by the time you’re reading this, they will be done with a bit of luck.  Walked back and took a long cut – the opposite of a shortcut  and walked the last half of the path along the canal.  Almost reached Smithston when a kingfisher flew out from my side of the canal bank, across the canal and down towards the marina.  I was too surprised to grab my camera which was switched off in my bag.  Walked along to where I thought it had landed but couldn’t see it.  Then to my amazement, it shot out of the far bank and continued down the canal and away.  It’s years since I’ve seen a kingfisher on the canal and I was beginning to think they had gone.  Since this one is at least a mile and a half away from my last sighting, I’m hoping there are at least two of them now.  I’ll be ready next time with the Nikon and the 300mm lens.

Weather forecast for tomorrow is wintry with rain, hail and snow predicted.  We’ll just have to wait and see, it’ll be a surprise!

Fish – 18 October 2016

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18-oct

This morning we drove to Linlithgow to get some fish. It was either Linlithgow (which has an actual fishmongers) or Morrisons in Falkirk (which has a good fish counter – no, he doesn’t actually count the little fishes, it’s not that sort of counter). We opted for Linlithgow because it’s quite scenic, if a little twee and I might just find something to photograph. It was a bad move.

I’d forgotten that Linlithgow actually welcomes people to park cars, vans and lorries at the side of the narrow road. It also encourages farmers to drive their massive pumped up tractors and slurry tanks at full legal tilt down the congested main street. Today, just to confuse the unwary and annoy me in particular, they also decided to start roadworks at the three way roundabout at the end of the town with three way traffic lights to raise the blood pressure of all and sundry. This meant a crawl behind a snaking caterpillar (is that mixed metaphors?) of cars, vans and buses through this historic town. We did eventually get to the carpark and the fishmongers and get the fish, but I couldn’t be bothered going to get some photos and end up getting mired in more traffic chaos to get back out of the town. I wanted to get the dinner on by about 5pm and it was already after 1pm. I wasn’t sure we’d get out of the congestion by 5. As it happened, the traffic heading west was easy peasy and we scooted home in double quick time.

When I took the shopping bag with the fish out of the boot there was a decidedly fishy smell coming from it, but hey, there WERE fish in the bag, what do you expect. It wasn’t until we were unloading the shopping bag that we noticed a few of the individual bags were leaking fishy juices into the shopper. Oops, straight into the washing machine with that then.

Since we’d made such good time coming home, I thought I’d take myself off for a walk before dinner and I’d drive down to Auchinstarry for a change. Dumped my camera bag in the boot – fishy smell still there, and off I went. Got to Auchinstarry and while retrieving my camera bag I spied the culprit. The lining of my lightweight rainproof jacket was soaked with fishy goodness. That explained the smell. Hmm, straight into the washing machine with that too when I get back.

Today’s photos:

  1. Young deer hiding in dried reeds. It didn’t run because it knew there was a 3m drop and a 5m wide torrent to cross before I’d be anywhere near.
  2. Two young horsewomen riding through the trees. Incongruously, one of them was smoking a fag (cigarette to any American readers who may be conjuring up very strange images 🙂 )
  3. Bramble leaves soaked with sugar (that’s what makes the colour). I promised myself that I wouldn’t photograph leaves this autumn. That didn’t last long.
  4. Abandoned farmhouse on the Campsie Fells. Lovely warm textures from the glancing sunlight attracted me.
  5. Crows and pigeons rising from their late afternoon feed in the corn field. A bit of fakery in this shot to lighten the corn without lightening the trees too much in the background.

img_3453-flickrToday’s Inktober is an old house near the railway walk. In real life, it’s gloomier than this sketch shows, but it’s a fair representation of this old and rather sinister looking house.  It sits behind a wood and from the path you are looking through the trees at it.  I only managed a quick, twenty minute max, sketch before the midgies really got to me and I had to move on.

So, back to the house and dump that waterproof jacket in the washing machine. Thankfully it’s made of nylon, so I’m hoping:

  • It will still be waterproof
  • The smell won’t he stuck in the fibres

I’ll find out tomorrow when it’s dry again.

Tonight’s dinner was Simple Fish Stew which came from BBC Good Food.  Recipe here.

More sunny spells expected tomorrow. Viva the Jet Stream!

PS To those who didn’t get the photos, but presumably have them now, the WiFi died last night and didn’t come on again until this morning.  Virgin Media apologises for the lack of connectivity – Aye Right!

Frogs and Snails (no Puppy Dogs’ Tails) – 27 September 2016

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27-sept

This morning we did go for a swim and went through the ridiculous login procedure where you have to pay a £2 deposit for a locker key and also sign to say you’ve received said key.  I’m not so bothered about having to bring my own towel, but the ‘key thing’ irks me.  Ok, I get it that people are stealing the keys and something has to be done about it with the emphasis on something.  Singular.  Either make people leave a deposit OR make them sign for the key (I typoed ‘sing’ by mistake there.  Perhaps that would be a better solution – make everyone sing for their key, in their chosen key of course). It makes no sense to force people to both sign and pay.  I think people are becoming pissed off with this new regime.

The pool was busy again.  Five swimmers and it’s busy.  Six and it’s congested.  We even had an interloper today, a frog no less.  A tiny wee frog was hopping along the tiles.  I put him out, he may have been another Zog, but he went out into the wide world.  I wonder what would have happened if he’d got in the pool.  Would the chlorine have killed him?  Anyway, I’m sure he was happier outside.

Lunch was a bowl of lentil soup and a slice of bread.  The soup was made from a ham hock we got in Fort Billy on Saturday and the soup, though thin was tasty.

I decided to face the storm force winds and go for a walk along the railway after lunch.  Not a lot to see, except leaves from the trees being blown about.  I’ve made a solemn promise to myself not to photograph leaves this autumn.  I don’t know how long it will last once the reds and oranges appear on the leaves – it’s all to do with the sugar you know!

That was about it for today.  More wind and rain tomorrow with the promise of even stronger winds on Thursday.

The end of summer? – 18 August 2016

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DSC_6158- flickr--231Today started cloudy and remained that way until the early afternoon when the sun finally broke through.

I went for a walk along the railway hoping to get some black and white shots, or more exactly, some shots that would transfer well into black and white. It didn’t happen.  I couldn’t settle on anything at all and came home with a few photos, but nothing that I would be happy to upload to Flickr.  Just as well really as Flickr is in one of its strunts when it refuses to upload any photos.  That is why today’s link takes you to the full size image instead of Flickr.  This is happening more and more recently of late to Flickr and makes me glad that I didn’t opt for a ‘Pro’ account, ie.  one that I have to pay for.  Flickr is owned by Yahoo and Yahoo appears to be in trouble at the moment, so it’s spending less and less money on peripherals like Flickr, so outages aren’t dealt with as an urgent need.  All it means is that I’ll upload tomorrow, not today.  It matters very little today as the only decent photo I got was the one above of some pansy seeds.

Rain due tomorrow.  The garden needs it.

Cake Today! – 15 August 2016

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15 Aug bWell, we did have cake today!  Woke to sunshine that didn’t really go away all day.

The sun enticed us out and into the wide world.  We couldn’t agree on a destination until Scamp suggested that we go a walk along the canal.  Now I go there quite often, but it’s a while since she’s walked along it, so it was decided that we’d drive to Auchinstarry and walk along to Twechar and back.

Today was the day the teachers went back to work after the summer hols and as we were walking along the railway, I was thinking about all the times I’ve sat in the assembly hall at school listening to head teachers and deputes droning on about grade averages, STACs, child protection procedures and other dry, boring paper-pushing nonsense.  They always started with a jolly “Well I hope you’ve enjoyed your holidays and are feeling refreshed.  Here’s the bad news …….. “.  Drone, drone, drone.  It was essential to get there early, not to show you were interested, although there were some that did.  No, it was to grab the seats at the back where you could doodle unseen on the hundred page handout you’d been given with charts and tables and mind numbing statistics that meant nothing to anyone but the bean-counter who had created them.  “Can you see this Powerpoint alright at the back?” some depute would ask. “Yes, we’re just not interested.” we’d mumble in reply.

Ah, but while all my former colleagues were enjoying this annual festival of figures and meaningless jargon, we were out in the sunshine, admiring the flowers and the light through the leaves and counting the wee fishes and talking to the ducks.  It was when we were walking back along the canal towpath I heard what I thought at first was a motorbike before I realised that although the pitch of the engine was rising, it wasn’t changing gear and it seemed to he coming from Barr Hill which has a roman fort, but no roads.  I knew what it was then, it was a Piaggio.  It’s an Italian plane type called a canard.  Which is a plane with a wing towards the rear and two little winglets just rear of the nose which makes it look as if it’s flying backwards.  Some people think it looks like a duck, hence the name ‘canard’.  Some have actual tail fins and tail planes like a normal aircraft and some have jet engines, but most have pusher props.  That is, the propellers stick out the back of the plane and push it through the air rather than pull it like a conventional plane. (I like planes, in case you hadn’t guessed.)  I’d seen one last year at almost exactly the same place, but hadn’t got a photo of it.  I started taking my camera out of the bag and tried explaining to Scamp what it was I was so excited about.  She didn’t share my enthusiasm and said “Oh, so it’s a plane?”  I managed two shots of the Piaggio before it disappeared into a cloud.  Neither of them very good.  I’ve never managed to get a good clean shot of this plane.  You can see today’s effort above.  Maybe one day …

After we drove home and had lunch, Scamp wanted to work in the garden.  I dumped my photos into Lightroom and let it get to work on them.  Then we sat in the garden and read until it was time to make the dinner and then get ready for salsa class.  I had done my exercises from the physio this morning under a hot shower and they paid off while I was in the class, allowing much more movement than I’d had last week.  We were able to complete almost all the moves tonight which is proof that we are moving in the right direction.

Beautiful sunset tonight which augers well for tomorrow’s weather.  We’ll see what the day brings.  If it’s as good as today it will be very welcome.

A New Start – 8 August 2016

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8 augToday we returned to the gym after a couple of months lay off.  Hopefully it will be a return to fitness for us with our stated intention of having two days a week at the gym and pool.  Well, the weans will be back at school next week, so there should be fewer of them in the pool.  It was good to get back to a bit of exercise.

In the afternoon I went for a walk along the railway and got some good shots of a couple of Red Admiral butterflies as well as some abstract looking photos of translucent seed pods on the gorse bushes.  It was a lovely day when I was out, but half an hour earlier it had been heavy rain.  I wasn’t complaining, because the sun shone all the time I was out.

To complete our ‘new start’, Scamp started back at salsa class tonight and her shoulder held up with very little pain or awkwardness.  Tomorrow will be a better test to see how successful it was.

Off to Larkhall tomorrow for eye checks for us both.