St Mo’s – Page 91 – My Photo Blog

Just walking in the rain – 13 April 2016

Posted on April 13, 2016April 13, 2016 by Zogman

combo b It’s been a bit of a mixed up day. It started off dry then it rained then it was dry for a while then it rained again. We had both decided to go to the gym in the morning. It turned out to be early afternoon, but who cares. Pool was busy when we got there, so we agreed to do a bit of gym work first. It looks like about 1pm is the optimum time for a swim. The “brown towels” (the spa folk) go for their lunch then and the pool empties. At least it did today.

After our lunch the sky cleared and the rain stopped and I went out to St Mo’s to get some photos, armed with both Olys in my new bag. I hardly got out the door when the rain started. However, I plodded on and got some shots of coots’ nests. I don’t remember ever seeing them before. Saw a deer, but it was off too quickly for me. There were lots of snails and slugs about, so that may be a sign that the worst of the frosts are past. Finally got some decent shots of bursting buds. Impressed with the sharpness from the Panasonic lens if I switch off the vibration control and rely on the in-camera anti-shake. Another lesson learned.

The Birds and the Bees – 3 April 2016

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Zogman

This was a very lazy, wet day with one bright light.

The rain was on and off most of the morning and afternoon, but Scamp was determined to do something about our summer holiday and we are now booked on a 14 day cruise to the western Mediterranean. We’ve been to most of the places on the itinerary before, but it will not be a great hardship to visit them again. Now all we have to do is pay for it.

The rest of the day pales into insignificance. I went for a walk in one of the bright spots of the afternoon and got the photos above in St Mo’s. I’m not sure if the insect is a hoverfly or a honeybee. My money is on hoverfly because there is no evidence of a honeybee’s antennae.

A Dull Day – 28 March 2016

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Zogman

Overall, quite a dull day, well dull in as much as we didn’t go anywhere or do anything. Just a normal working day, but without the work. It looked like nobody else was working either because few cars moved from their parking places outside the house. The weather was a lot better though.

The only thing I did do was to go to the Spar shop in Condorrat via St Mo’s of course. I got a few arty shots and a couple of landscapes, oh yes, and a tin of spaghetti. The spaghetti came from Spar, not St Mo’s and the landscapes came from St Mo’s, not Spar. I hope that has clarified the situation. Tonight’s dinner was fish fingers, egg and spaghetti, courtesy of my walk to Condorrat.

First episode of Maigret played my Mr Bean. Really quite good, but I kept expecting him to start talking gibberish and was disappointed that he didn’t. Having said that, I hate Mr Bean with a vengeance and I liked the realism of Maigret. Worth setting a series link.

Weather tomorrow is to be similar to today, so I think we must get out and “DAE SOMETHING”. That’s the plan anyway.

April Showers in March – 27 March 2016

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Zogman

I started writing this, sitting in the Winter Garden at the People’s Palace on Glasgow Green with Scamp, having a late breakfast on a sunny intervals day. We’d agreed this morning that that we’d go for a walk along the Green on this, the first day of British Summertime. There were a few hardy rowers on the Clyde, but they were few and far between. I’m guessing that some were absolute beginners just deciding whether or not this was a sport for them. If there was a day to test it out, a cold, windy one with a strong current would be a good one to dissuade the unsure. Although there were many sunny intervals, there was also a cold wind and on the way home from the Green we drove through hail showers. Having said that, the sunny intervals made up for the wetter, windier times.

When we got home, I went out for a walk in St Mo’s hoping for some more shots to bolster the ones from Glasgow Green and the People’s Palace. I got not one photo, in fact the camera hardly came out of the bag, so all of today’s shots came from the earlier photo-fest in Glasgow. The daffodils were from our front garden and I have no idea who the sleeping beauty is (bottom right).

It was good to have some longer periods of sunshine today after the clocks went forward, even if we did lose an hour of sleep last night.

Hoping for more sunny intervals and even some short April showers (in March) tomorrow.

Two in a row – 20 March 2016

Posted on March 20, 2016March 20, 2016 by Zogman

Wow! Two sunny days in a row. Allegedly this is the first day of spring, but with two sunny days in a row, it could be summer. Not the start of summer, but summer itself. Equinox be damned. Everything could go downhill from here. Despite the fact that the days are getting longer and the nights shorter, if it’s not sunny tomorrow then it’s a case of “nights are fair drawing in”. Still, in the spirit of spring, Scamp got the mower out and cut the front grass. This was swiftly followed by George across the corner getting stuck in and cutting his grass too. I think he was slightly miffed that Scamp had beaten him to it. I’d have cut the grass myself, but I know Scamp likes it done to her own formula and if I’d have done it, the stripes on the front lawn wouldn’t have been perfectly parallel, so I let her have first dibs. Such a gentleman me!

What I did do was take myself off to St Mo’s to revel in the inexplicable second day of sunshine. There weren’t many creatures to photograph. No deer, no Mr Grey, not even a frog pushing its head above the pond surface. What I did have was some low angle light to play with, so I shouldn’t complain. Took the “Big Dog” (Nikon) with me as Little Dogs (Olys) are getting tired of being the general ‘dogsbodies’. Managed to get most of the photos taken with ISO settings of under 2000. It’s amazing what you can do when you have directional sunlight. I was a bit concerned by seeing what I think was another ‘photog’ walking along the boardwalk. I don’t know who he or she was, or how they worked out where “St Mo’s” is, but they must know that St Mo’s is mine and mine alone. Yes, I’m willing to share it with others, but only if they write to me asking for permission first. So, if you are reading this, interloper, do the decent thing and ask permission before you trespass on my personal space. You have been warned.

Looking forward to see what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully more sunshine, I’m not greedy. Just one more day would be good.

A grey start with late brightness – 17 March 2016

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Zogman

The day started off very dull and grey. Scamp went off to meet a friend for coffee in Hamilton and reported that the weather there was much better than here in Cumbersheugh. Nothing surprising there with our omnipresent Cumbersheugh Cloud. I went up “The Toonie” to meet Fred for a coffee. It’s not as if we don’t have coffee or coffee makers at home, it was just a coincidence that we were both meeting different friends for the same beverege. Had a natter with Fred and we set the world to rights as usual then the unthinkable happened. The Costa repair man came in to service the coffee machine and they could only provide tea. Now I’m perfectly happy with tea, but as far as I know, Fred only drinks coffee and beer. Hardly ever spirits and never tea. So we had to either walk to the other end of the centre and enter the dingy Costa there or sit coffee-less in the light. We chose the latter.

When I came home, via Tesco as I was cooking tonight and Dobbies because I wanted to be self-sufficient in mint for mojitos, the weather was definitely brightening up, so I got my boots on and went over to St Mo’s to get some foties. Got a couple of shots of a pair of deer and a lot of contre-jour ones against the low light. The monochrome one of the trees was a happy accident. I was trying to work out how to use my phone to geotag the photos in the new Oly and just took a grab shot. When I got home, I found that I had indeed geotagged the shot but it was unremarkable and was destined for the bin. I must have pressed a hot key that did a basic conversion to mono and when I was doing a final check of shots for the bin, I liked the result. Not PoD, but interesting enough to save. Have a look at it on Flickr viewed on the lightbox (press L) and see what you think.

Back in the old routine – 15 March 2016

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Zogman

It was a struggle but today we set off for the gym and a swim. The gym was tough, but I did my 6 torture devices and proceeded to a busy pool where I managed a couple of lengths without bumping into anyone, but gave up as more people entered the water. Went and sat in the steam room for a while before finishing off with five minutes in the jacuzzi. Exercise done for today.

Managed a short walk through St Mo’s later in the afternoon and caught a couple of oystercatchers unawares, then got another shot of a duck lifting off. Took “The Big Dog” (yes, JIC your terminology is rubbing off on me) with me today with the Tamron in place. It seemed to behave perfectly, mainly because I was limiting the ISO to about 3000, not its usual 25000. At least that gives the lens a fair chance to show its mettle without having grain the size of golf balls.

Other than that, it was a dull day with a cold biting wind, not a bit like yesterday. Might as well have been in Corralejo!

Auld claes and purrich – 13 March 2016

Posted on March 13, 2016March 15, 2016 by Zogman

Back to life, back to reality. Maybe Fuerteventura was cold and dull by Canaries standards, but the light was bright compared with a Scottish late winter/early spring. It was a sea change being back home with ISO ratings back in four figures again, but it was also good to be back home.

This being the second Sunday in the month, there was no Sunday Social to brighten our day, but also no need to rush around getting things done with a 4.00pm cut off as happens on SS days. Like most things, it was a double edged sword.

The furthest we went as Tesco on a shopping expedition and then I went to Condorrat via St Mo’s to get some Soda Water because we had decided to have one more Mojito each before the diet and withdrawal of alcohol started. Seemed like a good move – the Mojitos, not the withdrawal of another innocent pleasure.

It looks like a decent day tomorrow. May go the the gym and may go cycling. Whatever we choose, it will involve some exercise. It must.

Lunch, the highpoint of the day – 4 March 2016

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Zogman

Not a lot to say about today again. Lunch was at The Cotton House where I bumped into a former colleague who worked part-time for us for a while, but who retired a couple of years before me. Lunch was good as usual. Barbecued spare ribs are great, but very messy to eat! I would probably have been better with Scamp’s choice of spring rolls. Both of us had the same main – chicken chow mein. Simply superb.

After lunch we drove in to Glasgow, to Staples for me to get a bigger SD card for the new camera. It was a lovely day with great views of the hills on the way back. Unfortunately I was driving, so I didn’t get the chance to take any photos.

When we got back, I went out to post a parcel to Hazy (Incoming Hazy!) and break in the new card on the way back home. I had to wait for about 15 mins while a rain shower made its way swiftly across us. There were some nice sprinkles of sun across the pond at St Mo’s, but a fair amount of cloud too. Thankfully the rain stayed away.

That about wraps it up for Friday.

Back in the old routine – 3 March 2016

Posted on March 3, 2016March 4, 2016 by Zogman

Jackie headed North this morning on the 10.00am bus. Scamp had a Gems concert in the afternoon and I went out for “the messages” then had a quick wander round St Mo’s pond. I got some better photos of the Tufty Duck brigade and some closer views of one of the resident swans. Some 9mm landscape shots finished the photography for today.

In other news, JIC and Sim checked in from St Lucia with a temperature of 30ºc and sunny skies and we have a couple of days worth of recorded TV to get through in the next few days because I don’t watch TV when I’m in myself.

Looking forward to lunch at The Cotton House tomorrow.