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It was a wee bit icy this morning (understatement!). So I drove ‘S’ to work and came back to bed afterwards to eat my breakfast and continue reading Terry Pratchett’s autobiography. A rare treat (both B in B and the book). Afterwards, I took the opportunity afforded by the early rise to get out while the sun was shining, even if the ice wasn’t melting. The clouds broke up for a while to give the chance of a couple of skyscapes.

This was the view across the reed beds that NLC have deemed to be a nature reserve. Basically this meant they don’t have to maintain it, saving them money and ticking the Eco box. Chancers! Anyway, as usual it provided a decent cloudscape for a photo.

Behind the pond (NLC call it a ‘Loch’, but what do they know? It’s a pond, right?!) is another wee pond. I think this one is partly manmade, possibly by pupils from the nearby school. It’s a good place for the odd damselfly and dragonfly pic in the summer, but strangely there were none today.
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It was only when I was processing these pics, I realised that there were flare marks in all of them, visible in the trees left of centre here. Checked the uv filter and it was clean, then found a fingerprint aargh on the back element. Managed to dust it off with a lens cleaner thingy. Fixed. First time for a long while I’ve done that.

After a really wintry morning, the afternoon brought a little sunshine. I managed to get a few shots of some of Glasgow’s more religious architecture before my camera produced a message I’d never seen before “Battery Empty”. Luckily I was on the way home by then. Battery is now fully charged and ready for action tomorrow, provided the temperature rises above zero.

I decided to build a triptych of the three shots I’d taken rather than put them up as three individual images, just for a laugh, and because it’s a posh, arty name!

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Today was the big ‘Weather Bomb’. I think a lot of the bombing was done last night with high winds, thunder, lightning and hail storms. Today was still windy and occasional sleet showers. Not a day to go for a walk with the camera. However, I was out in the car in the afternoon and managed to get a few shots between showers. Three shots to be exact. This was the best of the three.

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I did the usual levels and curves adjustment with a little bit of cropping too in Lightroom.  Then I exported it to Intensify where I chose Dark Image Fix.  Sometimes it gives a light halo around dark areas, but this time it was not so severe that it became obtrusive.  I’m finding that Intensify is a really neat program for, well, intensifying the odd dull image.

Oh, such a dull day today.  Brought the tree and some of the decorations down from the loft and ‘S’ got them sorted out and untangled the lights while I made dinner which was a quite excellent minestrone soup, even if I say so myself.  I don’t know how much more of this dull weather I can take.  I may have to buy a sunlamp.

There.  That’ll put a wee bit of a sparkle into your life Mr C.  Heaven knows, we need it just now.

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It was a little brighter today, but I had to scrape the windscreen of the car in the morning.  That’s the price that has to be paid for a clear sky here.  I drove into Glasgow to search for Chrissy prezzies and started the trawl.  Ho, ho, ho.

Nice pattern on the street lights down Bucky Street.

Looking down Bucky Street from the steps of the concert hall. It’s a grim looking place at times.

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A really dull Sunday to be back, as my daughter put it, “In the land of Grey”.  Cases are now empty and the washing will have to be done this week I fear.

I want to go back to the sun!

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All good things come to an end 🙁

Two seats sitting in the sun, but for someone else, not us any more. Oh well, a good time was had.

Sun creating patterns and shadows in the hotel garden during one last walk through.

I saw this reflection in a newsagent’s window at the airport in Fuerteventura. I think the girl sitting next to me thought I must be mad, taking a photo of a blue window display. That’s what gives photogs a bad name. I know it’s a bit out of focus, but I think that’s what I like about it.

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Laziest day so far. Lay on the sunbeds all morning. ‘S’ swam in the pool and reported that the water was cold. Had lunch and the weather had changed dramatically. Didn’t actually rain, but got very dull and cold again. Probably because the wind picked up.

Such a strange feeling to come in from a sunny, warm poolside and find a nativity scene and Christmas decorations.

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First attempt in a long time at a time exposure. Quite impressed with the result, despite the overexposure of the streetlights.

Walked round gardens.  Lots of warm sunshine in the morning.  Later we walked into town and had lunch at Trafalgar.  Walked around the St George and back.  It was quite cold, quite windy.  Feels like a change in the weather.

Sahara an’ a ra camules.  Apologies to Billy Connolly. Camels on their daily walk again.

These flowers seemed to be soaking up as much sun as possible in the morning. So were we.

It’s not really a jungle cat, but it did look a bit wild. Maybe just caught it on a bad day. It was one of the stray cats that frequented the Cat Hotel.

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Now that’s a sunrise worth getting up to photograph.

Sunbathing by the pool all day.  Italian dinner tonight with waiter service.  I had Pesto spaghetti and it was quite excellent.  Beijing acrobats at night.  Same act as last year.  Yawn.

Left

One of the long vertical windows at the hotel reflecting the palm trees. It looked as if the palm was trapped behind the glass.

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Right
I don’t know what plant this was, but it certainly glowed in the morning sunlight.