Category: weather

Shorn – 28 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

My last haircut was back in August. It was time for another one.

First I had some stuff to do on the computer. I was struggling to work out how I managed to get the upgrade from Big Sur to my present operating system, Monterey. I’d made cryptic notes on how to do it, but they lacked the fine detail I now needed. It took me until evening to work out what I needed to do. Eventually I gave up for the night and am writing the blog before I get sucked into that rabbit hole again.

Today was dull again and with lots of things to do and no interest in doing any of them, we both completed Wordle and Spelling Bee and then decided it was lunch time. After that, there was no reason not to, so I did the decent thing and spent a tenner and got my hair cut. It’s not until you do it, that you realise how cold that wind is blowing through your Number 4 on top and Number 3 on the sides. Worse, I didn’t have my woolly hat with me.

Next, after the shearing, I was heading to Jim Dickson’s to get a price for the repairs that were needed to the car … except there was a big delivery van blocking the entrance and anyway there was no room at the inn, even for a wee blue car, so I pencilled it in for tomorrow and drove over to Fannyside to get some photos over the loch an into the hills. By the time I got to the loch, the visibility was low because on a dull day like today, the evening comes quickly. Two shots and I was done. Headlights came on when I was driving home.

Pasta Carbonara for dinner tonight, made the proper Italian way with eggs, cheese, bacon and fusilli. NO CREAM. I’d been well warned by Val. I’d used Pecorino cheese and maybe that was what made it taste very salty, or maybe it was the bacon. I don’t know, but I ate it anyway, as did Scamp.

That was about it for today. PoD went to a massively altered view of the wind farm beyond the loch at Fannyside. Who says there’s anything wrong with AI?

Today’s prompt was Jumbo and this is Jumbo, a Nellyfunk. Another photo found on the Interweb and sketched, simply because there aren’t too many Nellyfunks wandering around Scotland, these days. I blame the cold weather, the rain and Keir Starmer.

Tomorrow we may go out for a run somewhere and I’m not forgetting the pencilled reminder to speak to Mr Dickson.

Everything is upside down – 27 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It’s changeover day from BST to GMT. It’s happened since 1916! It must have been a greater pain back then!

Once we’d changed all the manual clocks, apart from one which I realise I forgot to turn back, we could settle down for a while, well, Scamp could settle down. I was heading up to the health centre for my annual booster jags. One arm for Flu and one arm for Covid, then I could go home to relax after I’d done some shopping.

Then we could relax for a while because Scamp was going to an exhibition by a local dance troupe hoping to fund a visit to take part in the Easter Day march through New York. All the witches were going and I was picking two of them up when they were ready to come home.

I spent a lot of the afternoon working out the best way to upgrade the old SSD that runs macOS Monterey to macOS Ventura. I’m still not entirely sure it is possible, although I’ve done a similar update a couple of years ago. I think I’m ready for the challenge which may start tomorrow. The other thing I did was make the stew for my dinner tonight. It looked a bit bland after it had been cooking gently for an hour and a half, When Scamp returned later in the afternoon, she took one look and said three words Too Much Water. Now I’ll know for the future. The third thing was to walk to the shops to get replacement CR 2025 for my loupe magnifier. The shop had plenty CR 2032 batteries, but no 2025s. Maybe tomorrow.

On the way to the shops I noticed a child’s wooden train wagon lying in some leaves. It looked as if it had been run over a few times, but it was still recognisable for what it was. A couple of shots secured its image for posterity. That toy made PoD.

Then came the message from Scamp to say they were ready to come home. By now it was around 6pm, dark and raining. It took me more than the half hour I’d allowed to find the restaurant the exhibition was in, and only then after I’d phoned Scamp to say I was lost. As it turned out I was right next to the restaurant and must have looked a proper fool!

The stew was a lot better than it looked and I’ve got the other half of it to make lunch for me tomorrow. Too much water and too much flour on the meat. Those were my take-aways from today’s cookery class.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about his week. Which was a difficult one, reading the eulogy for a person he worked with. I didn’t envy him that task and was glad that I never had to do that when I was working.

Today’s prompt was “Road”. Quite open ended and I enjoyed drawing cars running round a figure of eight track. Nothing amazing, but it covered the prompt.

As far as I know we have no plans for tomorrow.

Dancin’ – 26 October 2024

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Off to Brookfield on a sunny morning in October wondering what the torturers oops, teachers would have in store for us today.

We didn’t have to wait long. The menu started with a Queen of Hearts Rumba we thought we knew, but obviously didn’t. After the second one we more or less had it.

Next was the October Waltz which was new to about half the class and nearly caused a fist fight between me and Scamp. As it happened, for one I was right. It was all about one back step which Scamp said I didn’t have to do, but on review later, I did have to do or I’d end up starting on the wrong foot. It was a simple wee dance with figures we already knew, just not in the order we were to do them in.

To cool things down, we did a Midnight Jive. Not my favourite by a long way, but at least we didn’t argue about the steps, because they are burned indelibly in to our brains.

The next dance was a Cha-Cha which deteriorated into a free-style Cha-Cha and one we stumbled through, or to be more correct, I stumbled through.

One more sequence dance and we were free to go. Can’t remember its name, but that’s no loss.

Drove home over the Kingston Bridge which allowed us to travel at 40mph all the way over. The easiest drive home from Brookfield we’ve ever had, I think.

The sunshine we’d had in the morning stayed with us well into the afternoon, but later everything dulled down and it felt like the sky was preparing for evening. PoD was a photo of a strawberry flower growing in the garden. I don’t believe it will ever produce fruit that will ripen, but the deep red flower held my interest.

Today’s sketch was Camera. I didn’t try anything fancy, like the camera obscura I was going to draw and instead just drew a fair representation of my A7iii with the kit lens that lives on it these days.
Half of the time I had one eye on the sketch and one eye on the progress of the dancers on Strictly, but, it being Halloween week, the antics of Craig Revel-Horwood and Anton Du Beke as two evil twin sisters really stole the limelight from the other two.

Up and out fairly early tomorrow because I’m booked for my combined Flu and Covid Jags. Oh what fun. At least I get an extra hour in bed because the clocks go back at 2am tomorrow. Scamp had her jags last week.

 

New Shoes – 25 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was off to FitSteps in the morning which left me with the opportunity to finish my book, but as usual that didn’t happen.

Instead I doodled with some sketches and took a longer view of yesterday’s photos. It’s amazing the difference it makes to go on a photo walk with someone who’s seeing the views for the first time. Alex hadn’t been to Edinburg for about 30 years, he reckons, and a lot has changed in that time. Looking through his eyes, opened my eyes to subjects I’d ignored. We must try it again sometime.

After Scamp returned, we talked about where to go and what to do with the day. Her idea was to go back the dance shop and have another look for shoes for me. I wasn’t so keen, although there was one pair I didn’t dislike, let’s put it that way. It might have been something I said, or more likely something she said, but I made the decision to try those shoes again. We drove to Rutherglen by a different route that took longer than the one given by the satnav. I hate it when it gets it right. I tried on about five different shoes and settled, after some discussion with self, on a lovely soft pair of Black ’n’ Whites. Of course Scamp found a cheaper pair in the sales stock. So both of us came home with new shoes.

We went for a coffee and a cake in Tesco, just along the road from the dance shop which gave us a chance to discuss our purchases and to test for Buyers Remorse, but there was none to be found, so we’d done the right thing for once. Drove home by the satnav’s instructions, just to show that there were no hard feelings.

By the time we were getting home the light was failing and there was a mist beginning to reduce the visibility. I might have managed to get a photo, but I decided not to. Instead, I photographed my new shoes as a still life, almost in black and white.

The prompt for today was a fairly easy one, Scarecrow. This was almost a 15 minute sketch, because it just flowed out. Not all of them have been like that this year, in fact very few have been and I’ve read a load of comments about the lack of interesting prompts.

I had a glass of 0% Guinness tonight. Barry, on of the dancers we meet at socials recommended it to me and said it’s difficult to tell if it’s alcoholic Guinness or zero percent you’re drinking and I agree totally with him, even the creamy head is there. Worth a try.

We’re intending to go dancing tomorrow, but the new shoes will be staying in the box until their memory banks are fully charged and the data has been transferred.

Nearly New Shoes – 23 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

The weather is just dragging its heels this October. Grey skies seem to be the order of the day. However, it wasn’t really cold and we did what I suggested in yesterday’s blog and went out.

We drove to Rutherglen, to look for a pair of dance shoes for me, but there wasn’t a great selection to choose from and I eventually left the shop empty handed, so did Scamp, which surprised me!

After navigating by following my nose and the occasional glance at the moving map in the car, we did head for home, then decided we’d go local for lunch and drove to Craigend Nursery which also has a big cafe bolted on to it. It’s all glass on two sides and the noise of all the folk talking just rebounds round the room, but we did have a lunch that was a bit overpriced for what it was, just two paninis a tea and a coffee. Oh yes, and the ubiquitous side salad and crisps. Didn’t ask for them, but got them anyway.

It used to be a decent garden centre too, but some of the plant labels were so old, neither of us could read the prices. Maybe that was just as well when we did read some of them. Scamp was shocked at the price for tiny wee Christmas Roses.

Just for fun, we drove home from Craigend by a quite circuitous route to see if we could find where the dance teacher’s new house was. I was amazed at the number of houses that were in a tiny little space that used to be a travellers camp, maybe still is. It gave me a chance to drive round roads I used to cycle on.

Dancing tonight was the amalgamation of parts one and two of the foxtrot we seem to have been learning for months. It wasn’t a great improvement from the last time we learned it. We seemed to spend three quarters of the allotted time re-learning part one, which we now knew, more by muscle memory than anything else. The remaining fifteen minutes were spent on part two and then on joining them together. Only four couples on the floor tonight and they were getting in each other’s way. Just imagine what it would be like if all six couples turned up one night. Carnage, that’s what.

Next week we are going to be treated to Paso La Paz which is fast, fiery and Spanish! That should be fun!

Today’s PoD was taken this morning before we went out and is of the Schoolgirl rose, now fully out and spreading its petals everywhere. Still a beautiful flower.

Today’s prompt was “Rust”. To my mind Rust should be red, orange or brown. If I’d drawing with a black pen, that makes life difficult. What I ended up by doing was changing the prompt to “Rusty”, sketched a whisky glass with a rusty nail and what looks suspiciously like whisky in it. Maybe there is a little spot of Drambuie in there too to make it a Rusty Nail! It’s simple if you just apply some lateral thinking.
Tomorrow’s prompt is Expedition. I’ll need to get my thinking cap on.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet Alex at the bus station to get a bus to Edinburgh to see the sights of the exotic Far East!

 

Rain, Sun and a gentle Wind – 22 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

So, a decent amount of Autumn weather, but it’s sad when the highlight of the day is going to Tesco for ‘The Messages’.
That’s what we did. We drove to Tesco in the afternoon and got the messages. Just a Monday shop on a Tuesday. Nothing fancy apart from four ice lollies and a bottle of wine.

I was determined to get a PoD and it turned out to be one of a few photos from the garden. A pink Astrantia trio looking good and brightening up the border.

Although we had a dull day, it was good to see some folk had a much better one. Hazy and Neil posted the first photos of their new car.  A nice bright red.  Hope it’s a good one and you get lots of use from it.

The prompt for today was ‘Camp’ and although someone in the house suggested I should draw a man with a limp wrist, and in fact some people drew that as a subject, I kept it PC and drew a well worn tent, with a coupe of patches, looking sodden in a rain soaked field. Another sketch that was good fun to draw.

Dinner tonight was an old faithful, Tuna Pasta. We both agreed it was lovely. The ice lollies, not so much.

Tomorrow we might go out somewhere, maybe for lunch, with just the chance that I can get some photos, that weren’t taken in the garden or St Mo’s.

Silence – 21 October 2024

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When I woke this morning it was to silence.

The wind that had been driving the rain and battering the windows was gone. Off to Scandinavia the weather fairies say. I don’t care where it went, I’m just glad to get a bit of peace and quiet in the morning when I wake.

We watched the US GP after we rose. A fairly exciting one this time and a fast track too. I wonder what it’s like sitting at the start line staring up at that great hill in front of you. Verstappen showed his skill by keeping Norris in his place. I think the road is clear for him now.

We didn’t have much else to do in the morning, just the usual Wordle and Spelling Bee with a cup of coffee, watching the clock because Scamp was off to get her Covid and Flu jags in the afternoon. I drove her to her appointed place, Muirhead and dropped her off at the clinic then parked the car at the Co-op as agreed. Then I went shopping at the butchers in the village. I was looking for mince and stew, but it’s such a temptation in that shop, I knew I’d buy some other stuff too. I got the mince and stew, then added beef olives, a nice meaty spare rib, a salmon fillet for Scamp and a bag of Tattie Scones. Expensive, yes, but it’s good fish and meat, that’s why I go back.

By the time I got back to the car, Scamp had returned and we drove home by the back road, hoping for some photos of the Campsies, but the parking place was occupied by one of the folk who keep their horses there, and it was feeding time, so I didn’t stop.

Back home I got dressed for the weather (Still wet and windy) and walked round St Mo’s. Got a couple of decent shots in the low afternoon sun. PoD went to the low level shot of leaves in the woods.

I had a bit of a sore stomach when I got back and my dinner as a result was tea and toast. Better to keep it simple and not aggravate anything. Scamp had a mash-up of yesterday’s leftover mash and haggis, formed into little black and white burger shapes and dry fried in the frying pan. For once I wasn’t interested. Maybe I will be tomorrow when hopefully my stomach will be back to normal.

Today’s prompt was Rhinoceros. Not the easiest thing to draw, but I was quite pleased with the first attempt, not so happy with the second, but in try Goldilocks style, the third one was just right. Sketched in ink with a fountain pen and then given a quick wash with clean water to bleed the ink into the dark areas. You don’t realise just how prehistoric these animals look until you start working with the details.

We have no plans for tomorrow … yet.

Expect Strong Winds – 20 October 2024

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That’s what the weather fairies have been saying for a few days now.

Well, it didn’t look like the weather fairies were telling the truth in the morning. Dull to start with followed by sunshine and occasional showers, but we knew it wouldn’t last, and it didn’t.

By early afternoon it was clouding over and the gentle breeze turned into gusty winds which blew in some ragged showers. Luckily we didn’t really need to go out anywhere because we had agreed on a Scottish favourite, Haggis, Neeps and Tatties. With an addition of Carrots to add a wee bit of colour to the feast.

While Scamp was getting the veg ready,I went for a walk in St Mo’s. I’d offered her the chance to walk with me, but she preferred to stay at home in the warm. It was a sensible choice, because there wasn’t much to photograph today, but I enjoyed the walk, which seems a stupid thing to say when you’re walking into driving rain, but with a good jacket and lots of layers, it’s a fairly pleasant walk twice round the pond at St Mo’s. PoD turned out to be an old favourite, looking down the boardwalk and catching the clouds being driven on by those strengthening winds. Converted to monochrome it looked distinctly uninviting!

The prompt for today was ‘Uncharted’. I’ve drawn a subject similar to that a few times for the monthly challenges, so this one was already in my head and it turned out to be a Treasure Island theme with an island with the actual treasure part torn from the map! “Arrr, Jim me lad!” Any other piratical comments are equally happily accepted. Drawn on cheap Cass Art absorbent paper with a Lamy ABC children’s fountain pen that Lamy no longer make! Why? It’s a great pen to keep in your pocket. Rarely leaks and if it’s kept clean it works really well.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard about his ‘normal’ week and we told him about our ‘normal’ week. It seems like his weather is a bit like ours, but without the really high winds.

The forecast says the winds will calm down a bit tomorrow. How quickly and by how much is not clear, it depends on what app you read. We’ll go with the best one and ignore the rest.
Strangely, I was just reading last year’s blog for the 20th Oct and the weather was much like I was describing today!

Tomorrow Scamp is booked to go to Muirhead just after midday to get her Flu and Covid jags. I have to wait until Sunday to get mine.

Dancin’ – 19 October 2024

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But only dancin’ in the morning.

Tonight there was a dance in Brookfield in the evening, but we were restricting ourselves to only dancing in the class in the morning.

We started with a couple of waltzes, a White City Waltz and the Four Season Waltz. Both fairly easy, but still with some rough corners to rub off. Next was a Quickstep which I struggled with until Scamp explained that it wasn’t as difficult as I was making it. As usual I was getting myself in a knot. One of my problems is that I am the photographer. When there is a new sequence dance to learn or a ballroom or latin dance, in fact, any dance with a demo, I’m the one who films it and then the two of us can share it. The downside of this helpful bit of tech is that I don’t really watch the dance as it’s being done, I’m too busy getting a decent film made of it. That means when we “couple up” I have no idea what comes first, what foot I’m on and which direction I’m going. Well, that’s my excuse anyway. Eventually I did come to grips with most of the first part of the dance. Strangely, the quickstep is one of the dances we both like and one of the dances we’d like to become better at, but it never works out for some reason.
Anyway, after a while we started on some more sequence dances to finish off the class and the pressure eased considerably.

Drove home via the Kingston Bridge and traffic while not being in danger of breaking the speed limit of 50mph, was moving quite steadily for a change and we made good time. Drove to Tesco for bread and milk and then stopped for jam doughnuts at M&S. Awful jam doughnuts. I’ve a good mind to take them down to the shop and ask them to eat one, just to see how disgusting they were.

Back home I got PoD which is Schoolgirl flowering outside the front window. Taken through the window, the quality is surprisingly good. I wanted a shot of it and of my giant sunflower which is growing in the raised bed and is well over 2m tall with one flower that for some cantankerous reason points away from the garden! I thought it would be a good idea to photograph them before the first named storm of the season, Ashley blunders in. I hate strong winds.

Watched Strictly in the evening and tried to spot the dummy who would be leaving tomorrow. Dinner came from Golden Bowl, because nobody wanted to cook.

Today’s prompt for Inktober was ‘Ridge’. I don’t suppose this is technically a ridge, but it is a fair representation of Ben Bodach on Skye with the smaller Ben Cailleach in the background. The names sound authentic, but a Bodach is an old man in Gaelic and a Cailleach is an old woman. Who’s going to tell?

Tomorrow Storm Ashley visits us. It may be hang on to your hats time.

Lunch – 18 October 2024

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Scamp was off to FitSteps in the morning.

While she was out, I decided to make sure I got a PoD, so I went over to St Mo’s. The sun had been shining when we woke, but by the time I got out, the sun had disappeared and the clouds were rolling in. I got quite a few decent shots, but the low light meant that they were all going to be ‘gritty’ looking with digital noise. Not a big problem as Lightroom is excellent are smoothing out the grit.
Just as I was heading home, the rain started and it was coming down in sheets. You could see it against the dark of the trees blowing along in waves. Thankfully I had my new jacket on and it was proving its worth as it shed the rain easily.

Scamp was a few minutes ahead of me and after we’d done Wordle and Spelling Bee, we had an hour or so to read before getting ready to walk over to Brodens for lunch with June and Ian. Fish and chips for three of us and Mac ’n’ Cheese for Scamp. I risked a pint of Guinness as I didn’t think I’d be driving anywhere in the afternoon. It had been some time since the two sisters had been together for a blether so Ian and I let them talk amongst themselves and gave Scamp a chance to show off the latest baby photos we’d been sent, the ones June hadn’t seen yet. The two ladies had fairly large desserts while Ian had a latte and I had another Guinness, a half pint this time.

We paid up and made plans to come back again. June and Ian walked round onto Condorrat Main Street to get their taxi home and we started walking back. Next thing, John, the taxi driver, pulled up and gave us a lift to the house. That’s just the kind of person he is. He and Carlyn had been shopping and I offered to help, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Although it was just a short journey, It was kind of them to stop for us.

Today’s PoD came from St Mo’s and was a baby conifer with raindrops beading on its needles. Lovely blue/green which contrasted well with the warm yellows and oranges around us.

Today’s prompt was “Drive” and I sketched, not one, but two Hard Disk Drives. It should have been three, but I couldn’t be bothered to add the last one. One drive could probably be formatted as an extra storage medium. The other two are really only fit for the skips.

It looks like there will be enough folk for a class tomorrow, so I think that means we might be going to Brookfield to join them.