Category: St Mo’s

Auld claes and purrich – 13 March 2016

Posted on by Zogman

combo bBack 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

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combo bNot 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

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combo bJackie 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.

The Wanderers Return – 2 March 2016

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combo bI had good intentions today. I was going to the gym or maybe just a swim. I did neither. I lay in bed and read another couple of chapters of my latest book, The Drowned World – JG Ballard, originally published in 1962 and as valid today. It’s the story of earth after the polar ice caps melt. Not due to greenhouse gas emissions or stuff like that, but because the sun has gone mental (Technical Term) and is overheating. Different scenario, same outcome. Amazing book. I first read it when I was about 16 and then went on to read Crystal World, Drought and Concrete Island. Ballard was a really imaginative writer. Years ahead of his time.

After my literary morning, I went to St Mo’s to feed the jucks and get their photos. Unfortunately I got mobbed by a couple of swans and didn’t get any decent shots of Tufty the Tufted Duck.

Went to meet Fred and set the world to rights at midday. Todays discussion bounced around the delights of doodling, (but his were so much better than my po faced perspective doodles) Council Tax reforms, Euroskeptics (and what we should do with them) and former bosses (and what we should do with them). The world would be a much better and more pleasant place if they would let us run it.

Came home and decided the bright sun deserved to be recorded for posterity and with that in mind I took myself off to St Mo’s for the second time today. Saw a Treecreeper. I thought it was a Nuthatch, but realised that it was the wrong colour. I think that’s the first time I’ve seen a Treecreeper, hope it’s not the last.

After dinner I tracked Scamp and the sisters on their flight back home. On dear, my week of perfect isolation is at an end.

First day of Spring? Nobody told the weather – 1 March 2016

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combo b

For the first day of Spring, the weather was really like Winter.  Cold winds and even colder rain showers.  Spent the morning tidying up the back bedroom for the return of the wanderers.  Then in a bright spell, I grabbed the dreaded Micra boot handle and bolted it in place, joined up the cable to check it still worked (it did – did you doubt me?) and fixed the cover panel back in place.  Job done.  £95 for a new switch?  I think not.  All you needed was a 10mm spanner, a Torx screwdriver, a stanley knife, a JB00A push to make switch, a sheet of sandpaper, a hot melt glue gun, a silicon gun and some duct tape, always some duct tape.  Oh yes, and some step by step instructions from a kind gentleman on the net.

Couldn’t decide what to do next.  I’d considered the gym, but I needed some photos for the 365, so a walk was a better option and with a look at the sky, it would need to be a short one.  Managed a dry half hour at St Mo’s.  Nothing very inspiring.  The Tufted Duck was keeping well out of detailed camera shot range and the Oystercatchers were just messing me about.  As soon as I got the camera fired up, they were gone.  Oysters in St Mo’s, who would have thought it.

Quick dash to Tesco for supplies and then home to make dinner.  That’s about it.  Snow forecast for tomorrow morning.  Thankfully I don’t need to be up and out in it.  If it’s photogenic, I may take the camera for a walk.  As Scamp is fond of saying, it all depends on the weather.

Old Boot – 28 February 2016

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combo bI think Old Boot was the name of the dog in the newspaper cartoon “The Perishers” away back in the mid ’70s. However, the old boot that took up most of my day today was the boot lock on Scamp’s Micra. A couple of weeks ago, with no prior warning, the boot refused to open when the release was pressed. I first thought it was the release mechanism that was at fault, but after a few sprays of WD40 it still refused to open, so it was on to the Internet to find out if any other hapless motorists had had the same problem. More importantly, had they solved the problem. It turned out that the problem itself was the microswitch in the boot handle becoming corroded or otherwise borked. Back out again and tried the test they suggested and indeed it appeared to be the switch that was causing all the bother. Nissan replacement part £95 + labour + VAT. Finally I found two useful pages on the Net explaining how to go about the repair using a Maplin microswitch costing around £2.00 Inc VAT. That sounded more like it. Since Scamp was not desperate to get it repaired pronto, I decided to wait until she and her sisters were off on holiday and do the job then. Today was that day. It was a fairly easy job, thanks to the aforementioned instructions. I only diverged a little from them in the fitting of the replacement switch. The lock assembly is sitting. on the table now neatly soldered (actually the soldering is awful – it would get you an instant fail in any metalwork or electronics course) and glued together. I’ve not got to weather seal it and it can go back on the car as soon as possible. One more Brownie Point for me.

It was a lovely bright, dry, almost warm day which is why I chose to do the job today. No point in mixing electronics and water. That’s probably what damaged the old switch in the first place. Went for a walk later in the fading light to try to get some photos with the new camera. After spending ages setting it up last night, I changed the settings, deleting all my changes – dummy! As a result, the shots are not as good as they could be. I think I’ve managed to get almost everything back again now. This camera is an amazing piece of technology, but is so easy to get wrong. One wrong button press and bang everything is back to stage one. I should know better, but I don’t. Story of my life, I think.

Three Birds, Four Faces – 25 February 2016

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combo bYet another early rise. This one not as bad as yesterday, only 7.30 this morning. Taking the car to get its MOT. Taxi back from the garage because it’s about three miles away on a freezing cold morning and there’s no public transport to speak off there. Moped about for the rest of the day. Read more about the new camera and then updated the firmware on it and on the Panasonic lens. Didn’t realize you could get firmware for lenses. Got some decent photos of birds in the garden then after a few more tweaks to the bells and whistles, went to St Mo’s to spy on more birds and hopefully some deer.

Birds were easy, even Mr Grey was posing for some action shots, but the deer were off like the wind. I saw them, but they’d seen me long before. Then I spotted a fox, but couldn’t get a clear shot of it. One shot of the back of his head. That’s when I saw the clay faces. I remember photographing them some years ago in the woods behind the pond. These were obviously from the same source. Last time it was red clay, this time it was grey/white stuff. The decoration was the same. Twigs, leaves and pine cones. Some imaginative ideas there. I’m guessing it’s from one of the local schools. Don’t think the “Bucky Boys”have the intellect or the skill to make them.

Came home and made a pizza from the Nigel Slater book. Pizza base, mozzarella and an egg yolk on top. Quite delicious and very filling. Not for you though Hazy. It tasted all the better when the garage phoned to say the car had passed and was ready to pick up. Phoned a taxi and brought it home. Tomorrow it gets to go through the car wash for being a clever little Megane. I get a Laphroaig because I won’t be gettin up and driving too early. A good day.

An Early Start – 24 February 2016

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combo bSo what of the day?  Well, it was a really early rise with the alarm set for 5.30am.  A quick breakfast and a couple of mouthfulls of tea then out to defrost the car.  It wasn’t too bad really, only about -1ºc.  It had been colder during the night, but now there were clouds hiding the moon which raised the temperature a bit.  Next we loaded the cases into the car, because today Scamp and her sisters were off to a place where there is rarely, if ever a need to defrost the cars, Fuerteventura.

I was supposed to run them to the bus station in Glasgow, but the CITRAC signs said it would be an easy 19mins to the airport, so I decided to just extend the run out to there instead.  Indeed, for once, CITRAC was right and it was a textbook run out along the motorway.  Dropped them off and set off back down the motorway again in the opposite direction.  I had expected heavier traffic heading east into Glasgow, but the gods were with me because it was far lighter than I had anticipated and I made good time back home.  I was glad I’d left the heating on.  Nothing beats a warm house to come home to.

Today DPD were delivering my new (new to me) camera.  I’d finally settled on an Olympus OM D E-M10.  Apparently:

  • D is for Digital to separate it from the old OM1, 2 and 10 film cameras
  • E is for Electronic (duh, I think the word ‘Digital’ gives the game away)
  • M is for Mirrorless
  • 10 is for the model number

Really?  Do we need all those numbers and letters?  Why don’t they just call it an OM 10D?  Olympus don’t make anything other than mirrorless cameras and compacts now anyway.  Maybe longer names make the objects look more important.  Audi seem to do quite well with one letter and a one number.

Anyway, the parcel arrived dead on the target time of 15.08.  Signed for it and carefully unpacked it – no I didn’t, I ripped off the bubble wrap and stuck the battery in it to see what it could do.  As with my other Oly cameras there were a multitude of menus to navigate.  Luckily, this one was very similar to the E-PL5 (don’t ask what the letters and numbers mean), so it wasn’t the steep learning curve I had there.  Suffice to say that I headed off to St Mo’s to test it and some of the results are show above.  Am I impressed?  I have to say yes, reservedly yes.  It’s a very small camera.  Not too small, I think, but I wouldn’t want to work with anything smaller.  I remember when the OM1 came out in the mid ’70s, everyone said it was a lady’s camera, but a few professional photographers whe were big blokes took a shine to it and it gained acceptance.  I thought it was a lovely camera.

While waiting for the new toy to arrive, I monitored the sisters flight down to the Canaries on Flight Radar 24 which gives vast amounts of information to those interested in such things.

So, the car goes in for MOT tomorrow and I’m hoping to take my mind off that by taking some more photos.  Not testing – taking.

Stirling in the Rain – 20 February 2016

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combo bStirling in the rain is like anywhere else in the rain, it’s a bit dismal. We’d only come here because we couldn’t face going to Glasgow again, we’d been to Embra yesterday and let’s face it Hamilton, Airdrie and Motherwell are pretty depressing. Not as depressing as Cumbersheugh, but nowhere is really. We couldn’t be bothered going far, but wanted to get out the house for a while and Stirling would be better than anywhere else within the 30 mile limit we’d kind of set.

When we got to Stirling the rain actually stopped for a while. Did some shopping, Scamp got some Euros to celebrate Big Davie Cameron’s Battle for Britain. Nah, she got them for going to a sunny place next week. I’m not going, I’m not invited. This is a girls only do. I’m going to stay home and paint and maybe fix the battery in the Mac Book Pro. I might even go out a run in the car, but not to Stirling and not in the rain.

There was a break in the clouds when we got home and I ventured out to St Mo’s to get some foties. Got soaked on the way back, but that was ok because I had a few shots in the bag. Well, to be pedantic, the photos were on the card, in the camera which was in the bag.

Made chicken and prawn pasta with rocket pesto, and made it better than that tasteless Brown’s concoction. If they want my recipe I’ll sell it to them. Had a first attempt at chicken pakora tonight. It tasted ok, even Scamp agreed. Maybe veggy pakora tomorrow, but deep frying in a wok on a gas hob is a bit scary.

Forty Three Years Ago – 17 February 2016

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combo bForty three years ago today the weather was much the same. There was snow on the ground and it was cold. Two young folk, one 22 and one just 18 repeated their vows and became man and wife. How their lives have changed.

Today we took it easy. We had intended going to Edinburgh, but it being the middle of the week and with the prospect of more snow on the way, we decided to cut our losses and go to Glasgow instead. Rather than suffer the long bus journey through the wilds of Moodiesburn and Muirhead, I offered to drive. We eventually got parked in the third carpark we tried, despite the electronic signs telling us that there were spaces in the other two (they lied). Walked down through town me looking at a couple of cameras on the way, but still undecided which or even if I’d buy if it came down to it. Just like a girl can never have enough shoes, a photog can never have enough cameras. Decided on Browns for lunch and were mightily disappointed in the lack of flavour from both our meals. It’s feels like they have a reputation now, so they don’t have to try so hard. I think we’ll try somewhere else next time, but it’s a shame when it was a celebration meal and we rejected a few good restaurants before opting for Browns. Maybe it’s something to do with the name “Browns”: ordinary, nondescript, boring. Sort of sums it up really.

Went from there to the Art Store and picked up a couple of small Pink Pig sketch books and a wonderful bargain of a watercolour box reduced from £79 to £25!! Unfortunately, as I guessed, the Art Store is closing for good at the end of the month. According to one of the assistants, “the company is kaput”. Short term bargains for artists, but long term loss for art in Glasgow. They will be sadly missed.

After we came home, the weather brightened up and I managed an hour in St Mo’s just walking in the snow taking shots mainly with the 9mm. Some of the results are above. No plans for tomorrow, it all depends on the weather.