Busy, busy day. In Glasgow for a wedding and bumped into an old friend of Scamp’s (and mine). Sorry I didn’t have time to stay and talk, Mary. Then back home for a quick glass of Talisker before getting a taxi to the reception. Immediately saw that we were in the presence of BBC Scotland royalty, Jamie McIvor no less. Humbled by his presence 😉 Taxi back home at 11.30pm after salsa dancing, ‘dad dancing’ and ceilidh dancing. Where did the day go?
Peppers on the window ledge.
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Snow lying when I got up this morning. Snow in March! Haven’t we had enough this year? Never mind, by the time we were up and out, the snow was gone, except on the Campsies. Did a dummy run to the church where the wedding is tomorrow just to make sure:
a. We were going to the right place. CHECKED.
b. There was sufficient parking. CHECKED
Looks like we’re good to go then.
Got a chance after we came back to get some photos in St Mo’s. Met Mr Grey again. Haven’t seen him for some time, so we had a long talk. Ok, it was a bit one sided with me doing most all of the talking from the other side of the camera. The conversation centered around “Stay still Mr Grey.” “Just one more.” “Don’t stick your head down.” Models, you just can’t get them to do what you want for love nor money, neither of which were in evidence. Still, got the shot, and that’s what counts.
Haven’t seen Mr Grey for a long while, but today I got a few shots of him standing in the late afternoon sunshine.
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Two coots starting nest building on St Mo’s
A quick trip to Perth to pick up some kilt sox for the wedding on Friday – not mine I hasten to add. Disappointing lunch in Cafe Tabou. Only the second bad lunch I’ve had there. Remind me not to have beef cheek there again.
Managed an hour in St Mo’s. Saw one of the deer with what looked like a fawn. Must try to get a better photo tomorrow, because Friday will be a wedding fest!
Back home then into Glasgow to salsa. Motorway was mobbed on the way home so had to rely on the satnav on the phone to get me out of difficulty and find a way through the backstreets on to the motorway at ASDA. What would we do without this technology now?
Feather trapped on a larch branch. St Mo’s.
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Today is Scamp’s birthday, so we went in to Glasgow to choose a suitable birthday prezzy. The day started out with wall to wall sunshine, but that deteriorated into rain and hail showers. Got soaked on the way home. Still, we had a good day and lunch in O Sole Mio. Not a bad day.
Torrential hail shower in Glasgow today.
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The Long Way Home was a children’s WW2 series on BBC, many moons ago, 1960 in fact. It was the story of a group of prisoners-of-war attempting to get home from Germany. I remember watching it entranced every week wondering if they would get back home. Today was similar. I kept wondering if ntwe would ever get home.
We set off about 9.30am. Headed for Baldock to the butchers to stock up, then to Tesco to grab some Adnams beer. After that, it was on to the A1(M) and keep driving until one of us got tired. Then we’d stop, have a coffee and then back on the road. We eventually got home at 7.00pm. Tired, but happy to be home again.
The arches and that glorious frieze make it look like a city hall, but in fact it’s the Tesco building in Baldock. Now isn’t that much nicer than a shiny new Tesco Metro?
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Up and out early in an even brighter day than yesterday. J took us for a walk around the local area and then home to meet with H & N who were driving up from London.
We were hoping to go out to a local restaurant for lunch, but when we arrived there, we found it locked up. We weren’t the only ones to be disappointed as there were cars leaving the place as we got there. However, thinking on our feet again, or on S’s feet, it was decided we’d buy some stuff in and have lunch at home. I think it was the better choice in the end. After H & N headed home, we went for another walk through the fields and beside the river on a right-of-way. We also visited Valioso the big white horse. S and I were not too sure about being beside these big horses, but J & Sim assured us that all would be well, and it was.
Dinner tonight was part of meat feast bought yesterday and it was excellent.
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Ill divided house. Two thirds black and only one third brick. Very pretty. Looked like a jigsaw puzzle box or a biscuit tin lid.
Still catching up after our visit ‘darn sarf’ as Ray would say.
The day started with brilliant sun shining in our window this morning. Looking out over the livery area with three or four horses in the fields. After breakfast, J & S took us to Chapham’s butchers in Baldock to do their meat shopping , Chapmans. It really is a carnivore’s delight. I decided on the spot that we would visit on Monday before the drive north.
Back to the house to deposit the meat in the freezer and then off to Grafham Reservoir for a walk. The day hadn’t brightened very much, but we were off to Grafham By the time we got to Grafham it was quite cool and windy. Had a bracing walk half way round the lake and then back again. Watched a couple of blokes fishing and catching some nice looking trout, but it would have been a cold day for them all.
At night we went to Korean restaurant, Gangnam Stevenage for dinner. Very interesting and tasty dinner. I had Korean Orange Juice as my drink, which tasted like er … diluting orange juice. Possible safer though than Aloe Vera Juice.
Looks like an alien spaceship, but it’s the pumping station at Grafham reservoir.
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It must have been the solar eclipse that addled my brain, it must have. After risking damaging my retinal taking some shots of the eclipse with the 300mm end of my tele lens, I packed the car for the journey to visit my son and his wife in their new house in Astwick which is in deepest Englishland. It was only after travelling about 50 miles, I had this scary feeling that I’d left the camera at home. I remembered packing the tripod, but did I also pack the camera bag? Stopped at Abington services and my fears were realised. No camera. I couldn’t stand being separated from my beloved D7000 for a whole weekend. Nothing would do but I head back, pick up the camera and head south again. At least I didn’t feel as bad as the poor soul in the car behind me who had a police car with blue light flashing behind him.
Next problem was at Penrith where there were dire warnings about lengthy delays on the A66. Not to worry, we’ll just carry on down the M6 and cut across country when we get a chance. This we did thanks to some excellent map reading by Scamp in the navigator’s seat. However, this made us even later as it added a few miles and an hour to an already late schedule. Arrived at the house at about 8.00pm to a lovely supper of sea bass and salad. Then off to bed to see what the next day would bring. At least I’d be able to photograph it.
Almost at totality the clouds thinned for a moment to reveal the best view of the eclipse we got, even if it was through the trees. Birds were going crazy, getting ready to roost and it became very dark.
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It started out as such a nice day, but then after a dissatisfying phone call to attempt to clarify part of my pension, the day had become gloomier. I went in to Glasgow to do some window shopping and get my hair cut. When I was parking, I managed to scrape the front wing of my car on a concrete pillar. The haircut went really well though, but I ended up as usual with jaggy hairs down the back of my neck and that was really uncomfortable. Window shopping is great. It costs nothing, but gives you the feeling that you’re getting something. You just don’t get to take it home. Do you really need it? Anyway, the rest is explained under the photo of the day.
I started off taking this shot to capture the chimney pots on top of the building in the middle of the frame. I only had my iPhone with me and the chimney pots got a bit lost, so I dipped the image in a bucket of Photoshop and this was the result. Thanks to Kazoot (Mr K) on Flickr for giving me the idea for a grungy photo.
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After a dodgy morning, my cold was improving. Had lunch at Cotton House Chinese restaurant. Went for a walk round St Mo’s in the afternoon and got some shots.
One of the first flowers in spring. It’s coming!
Mallard duck on the boardwalk of St Mo’s. Almost a monochrome, but not quite.
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I liked the strong silhouettes of the two birds.