Category: weather

Dancin’ again! – 21 September 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today we were going to a tea dance in Glenburn.

It was a lovely bright morning, but cold. Well, I felt it cold anyway. I should have gone for a walk, despite the temperature and shot some photos, but I didn’t, preferring to stay in the warm living room and complete Wordle and Spelling Bee. That meant I’d need to squeeze in a shooting session when we came back from Paisley. Never ideal, but I’ve only myself to blame.

I hadn’t realised just how windy it was until we were on the motorway heading west, and meeting that westerly wind head on. Despite the wind and the intermittent rain we made good time reaching Glenburn before the dance started … for once.

First dance, was a sequence to ‘warm us up’ apparently. I’d expected a waltz, but it was not to be. The waltz was next and I got lost again. Before we left the house I got Scamp to list all the figures we did and I wrote them all out in order. They went clean out of my head. I always think of a waltz as being a slow dance, and it is, but there are a lot of steps in the Waltz Nioli and that means your feet and brain need to be nimble and mine simply aren’t nimble enough. That compounded with a lot of folk on the floor made it difficult for learners like us … or me. We sat with a good crowd at our table and the banter was good. We attempted everything that was flung at us apart from a ballroom Tango and a Tango Serida. We struggled through a Cha-Cha and by the end of that particular one, almost remembered how to do it.

As usual we left early at 3pm to avoid the school rush and almost made it. As usual the Kingston Bridge was a congested car park, but we were on the M74/M73 route and avoided the stop – start – change lanes – change back of the M8. It takes a bit longer in miles on the M74, but at least you are moving at the legal limit most of the time.

Back home I went out for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which is a Common Carding Bee on a Scabious flower. We couldn’t decide what to have for dinner and finally chose Fish Fingers, Egg and Fried Potato. Perfect for what was turning out to be a cold day.

Tomorrow we may go looking for a small heather plant to replace one that died during the drought in the early summer.

Out early to beat the rain – 20 September 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today Scamp convinced me it would be a good idea to go out early and grab some photos while the sun was shining. That sounded like a plan.

I wore my boots, because it was going to be mucky out there. It was a bit wet underfoot, but there were some interesting cloud shapes and also some blue sky  and some glorious sunshine. I took a quite a few photos with the A6500  and the Pentax 50mm while I walked round the pond.  It’s a new steep learning curve, taking photos without autofocus and without really being sure your aperture setting is what you think it is.  I don’t know how I managed before digital.  At the halfway point I found an empty can of Irn Bru sitting on the wooden seat that appeared a couple of years ago, probably more, actually.  I took a few shots with the Pentax and then swapped the combo to the A7 and my 16-35mm lens.  Sitting there I had a good view over the pond to the pines behind and that, not the Irn Bru can, made PoD.

As I was walking back the clouds got heavier, the blue skies less and the sunshine almost gone.  I’d got my photos and as I was walking home I could feel the first spits and spots of rain.

Back home it was lunch time and I tested out a packet of sausages I’d bought in Waitrose.  They were boggin’.  I could smell the preservative from them and the skins were thick and rubbery.  I survived them, but the remainder went in the food bin.  Now I know why they were half price! Then the rain that had threatened did appear and it was heavy for a while.

Decided I’d finish off the photos I’d started to process and then saw that there were no folders or files on the desktop.  Usually a quick restart fixes things like that, but not today.  I began to think that I’d been hacked.  The folders had gone.  They weren’t simple hidden.  Everything else was as normal and I couldn’t understand it.  Then I remembered I’d been messing about with Hazel, not you Hazy, but Hazel the app.  I checked and there was the culprit.  It had tried to backup the entire contents of the desktop to the NAS drive.  Thankfully I make an automatic backup every week to a removable drive and managed to get everything (and more) back from last week’s backup. We had a quick practise later in the afternoon and it was a shambles.  I seem to have forgotten everything overnight. Too much computer nonsense in my head.

By then I’d scoffed dinner and Scamp was ready to go dancin’. At the hall, I think I was still trying to process exactly what had gone wrong and wondering if some of the folders were recoverable from the NAS, so that’s my excuse for not being able to put a foot right all night.  With that said, in the few glances I had at the other couples, we were actually doing not too bad.  We did manage to finish the routine almost perfectly a couple of times.

Drove home and after reassuring myself that it was ‘Pilot Error’, we had another practise for the tea dance tomorrow.  This time I listened to Scamp, remembered what teacher Kirsty had said and concentrated on where my left foot and my right were going.  I think we might be ok for tomorrow.

Only plan for tomorrow is to go to the tea dance and introduce them to Kirsty’s Waltz. That’s the plan.  Whether it comes to fruition or not is a different matter.

Testing, Testing – 19 September 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Testing yesterday’s purchase and the other acquisition.

I drove over to Alex’s to borrow his K mount adapter so I could test the ‘new’ lens. New, is a bit of a misnomer as it’s at least second hand and maybe has passed through a great many more hands since it was really New. Last night I’d found a tiny bit of mould in one of the internal elements. Nothing that would have a detrimental effect on any of the shots I was hoping to take with this piece of ‘Old Glass’. I also found a few fine scratches on the rear element, but again, they wouldn’t make any difference to the photos. Sat and talked about family and stuff with Alex and Carol and I’m sure the two cats were listening too. Pretty wee things that reminded me of Tibby.

After an hour or so I drove home and took a detour in the direction of Lenzie to a wee draw in by the side of the road to get some test photos taken of a bit of farm land that looked like a promising photo opportunity. As it happened, the light wasn’t quite as good as I thought, but it did give me a chance to test out the Pentax 50mm f2 lens I’d splashed out some money on yesterday. I was surprised at the quality of what is really a kit lens, and not really all that well rated. Last night I was having ‘buyers remorse’, but today I was delighted. It’s circa 1995 vintage, so it’s manual focus, but I knew that and it’s also very compact, especially when it’s bolted onto the Sony A7. One of the Pentax’s shots became PoD. The storm clouds you can see from the PoD followed me home and didn’t drop any rain until I was safely in the house. Sitting in the living room I took a few shots of the raindrops on the leaves of Alec’s Red and they looked good too.

Scamp had roasted a chicken for dinner with roast potatoes and cabbage to go with it. It truly was the best chicken I’ve eaten for a long time. The pudding was rhubarb and apple crumble using our own rhubarb and apples. It too was delicious. Then it was time for the test. It was time to pack the dishwasher, slide in the washer tablet, choose the program and press the start button. Like new parents we watched the counter light up and listened to the water trickling into the reservoir, then it was off and running. We could leave it to do what it was bought for. An hour and a bit later it had washed all the dishes and they were drying. A sigh or relief all round!

We had a longer practise session than I’d intended tonight, but there were rough corners to rub off the new waltz and it’s dance night tomorrow, so Kirsty will be looking for mistakes, I’m sure. Finally I got a grip on things and worked out where I was and what came next. I think most of it was muscle memory, but internal clues helped too. Not least in the help category were Scamp’s whispered prompts. We might need a reminder tomorrow, but I think we’re good to go.

No plans for tomorrow. The weather fairies are warning of heavy rain and strong winds tonight and tomorrow morning.

Up Early – 18 September 2023

Posted on by Zogman

The new dishwasher was being delivered today.

We got a message yesterday to confirm that the dishwasher would be delivered between 06:35 and 09:05 today. At 06:49 I got a phone call from the delivery guys to say that they’d be arriving in about 10 minutes. The removal of the old dishwasher and the connection of the new one took less than 15 minutes, and that included a short demo and a test of the water feed and the drainage. We were the first delivery for these guys and they’d another 27 to get through today, and today was fairly light day apparently.

With the new machine working we could settle down to breakfast. Then a quick wash of a few cups, plates and cutlery. The big bonus of this washer was the countdown timer. No more having to guess how long it had been on and how long we’d need to wait before the red light went out. The down side ( there’s always a down side, isn’t there) was that the baskets that hold the plates are quite flimsy. Swings and Roundabouts.

Fed, watered and with Wordle and Spelling Bee done, we were looking at a miserable day and no idea what we were going to fill it with. Scamp said we needed Messages and I suggested Stirling, rather than Tesco. That’s where we went.

The further north-east we went the better the weather looked. In fact the woman on the checkout in Waitrose was voicing lyrical about the sun shining and wished us a good day in the sun. We’d parked at Waitrose and walked in to Stirling town. Scamp was looking for a birthday present and I was just looking for lunch. She found what she was looking for and in the same shop I found an Aladdin’s Cave. Three big display shelves filled with old cameras, lenses and projectors, all for sale. Talk about “a wean in a sweetie shop!” I didn’t know where to look first. I did see one standout piece of old glass. It was a Pentax 50mm f2 K mount lens. I didn’t have a K mount adapter to allow it to fit on a Sony camera, but when I was crowing to Alex about this find, he casually mentioned that he had what I was looking for, so I’m hoping to drive over to Motherwell tomorrow to borrow it. It seems that the whole photographic collection belonged to one man. I don’t know what the back story is, but I’m looking forward to finding out.

We filled a trolley in Waitrose and packed all the bags into the boot of the wee Blue car, then drove back through the wild weather to Cumbersheugh. I hadn’t found a PoD today in Stirling, but I thought I’d manage to get some shots down by the Luggie Water and that’s where today’s PoD came from. It’s the old railway bridge over the Luggie. Still carrying the Glasgow bound railway.

Scamp picked the rest of the apples from the James Grieve tree and we now have a fair supply of them in the fridge and in a big stainless steel bowl. I’m not sure what her plans are for them, but I’m sure she will have something organised.

We had a quick dance practise tonight and managed to get through the entire waltz from Kirsty’s class. Hope it stays in my head until Wednesday.

Tomorrow I may drive over to see Alex, but it depends on the weather.

What a glorious day! – 17 September 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Yes, that was meant to be sarcastic. The rain started this morning, an extension of yesterday’s deluge and forgot to stop, it seemed.

The furthest I went was a drive to the shops, not even a walk. There wouldn’t have been any joy in a walk and no point from a photographic point of view.

Toast and beans for lunch and dinner was an oven baked fish risotto, the drive to the shops was to get the fish. The good thing is that the oven does all the work, as I’ve said before.

We watched what turned out to be a quite exciting Singapore GP and that was NOT meant to be sarcastic. The race kept us in suspense right up to the end, a tension only released when George Russell crashed out on the last lap. Oh dear, what a shame (back to sarcasm!)

Jamie phoned just as the race finished and we talked about their holiday in Wales. Hope they have some decent weather for that.

I did manage to get a PoD. It was taken in the rain and is a Fuchsia, a purple and white one tucked away in a corner of the garden.

Hopefully our dishwasher will be delivered tomorrow. But the message from Currys is that it will be delivered and fitted between 6.35 and 9.05AM tomorrow. I can’t remember when we last had to be up at 6.35am. Probably the last time we went on a cruise, many months ago!

Other than overseeing the installation, we have no plans for tomorrow, although the weather looks better than today.

An hour on the moor – 14 September 2023

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Scamp was off to meet Mags today for lunch and I chose to go to Fannyside to check for swallows.

As I’m sure I’ve said before on the blog, it’s easy to tell when the first swallows arrive in my neck of the woods, but it’s far more difficult to remember when the last swallow left for warmer climes. Fannyside is a great place for birdwatching and I did see one swallow or maybe a swift, it was quite far away and travelling fast. Anyway it was one of those two, I’m sure. Just one swallow. It doesn’t make a summer.

The weather was not very summer like either. Strong west wind buffeting the clouds around and drawing the occasion rain shower from them too. I parked in my usual place and took a walk up to East Fannyside farm where today’s PoD came from. As usual, it’s a combination of two images. One for the sky and one for the landscape, merged in Photoshop. Not too difficult. Levels and toning done in Lightroom afterwards.

On that subject there is a new version of Photoshop just being advertised in the last few days with built in Generative Fill which is Adobe’s attempt at AI. It allows you not only to edit images, but to ‘paste in’ images from an Adobe database. You can even write a script explaining what you want to add and where. I can’t see me using this AI tool, but I’ve said that before about other innovations and had to eat my words later and adopt them. I’ll wait and see.

We did have a short practise tonight. Mainly the last section of the dance that we finished last night. The videos we took are a boon to working your way through the dance language and finding out what exactly is going on. Watching Kirsty’s demonstrations makes the dance look really strange, but once we partner up it all makes much more sense. It is such a pity that Kirsty doesn’t have a permanent dance partner like Stewart & Jane do.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps. I may practise some drawing.

Out on the town – 11 September 2023

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We were going in to Glasgow today for lunch.

Scamp had given me an Itison voucher a week or so ago, and today we were using it to have lunch in Cafe Andaluz in St Vincent Place. There was no way I was driving in today, and we weren’t taking the X3 either. Instead we got the number 435 Canavan’s bus from outside St Mo’s school to Croy station, then caught the train in to Glasgow. Scamp wanted to get vacuum seal bags from a shop in the town and I wanted to get new pens to encourage me to prepare for Inktober. We ended up getting a few more things, but we did get the bags. Then we walked down to Argyle Street to get the morning coffee in Nero. While we were in there I saw a print on the wall of a mechanical technical drawing, a stepped section, it’s called too awkward to explain and of little interest except to me who had to teach folk how to draw it, but more important, how to visualise it. High flown stuff for a Monday morning.

We wandered round M&S with Scamp trying to encourage me to get a new jersey, but nothing took my fancy. Walked up Queen Street and, while Scamp went looking for shower gel and fancy chocolates, I bought a couple of Tombow Fudenosuke brush pens and a book about sketching architecture from Cass Art. Then we met up again in Buchanan Street and wandered around Buchanan Galleries until it was time to go the Cafe Andaluz.

We had a glass of Sangria each as a starter. The food was lovely 5 tapas dishes to share, I think my favourite was the prawns that Scamp ordered, my next best favourite was Albondigas, which is spiced pork & beef meatballs in a tomato sauce. Unfortunately the Spanish black pudding with apple chutney we were both going to have was finished. However we did enjoy the meal and then Scamp noticed two mojitos going out to a table and decided she’d have one. I asked if they could make a barraquito and the girl taking the order just said “Yes!” Would it be the same as I’d had in Tenerife, I asked myself as I waited. It certainly was, in fact it was in a bigger glass and tasted even better. It’s an alcoholic drink made with layers of Condensed Milk, Licor 43, Espresso and Foamed Milk with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top. It honestly seems a shame to stir it up and drink it. Scamp’s Mojito seemed a bit of a disappointment, being not as alcoholic as some she’s had.

We walked back to the station and realised we’d just missed the train home, but Scamp sat and waited while I went out to take some photos. As I was walking out of the station a woman stopped to ask me what the building was in the square and I explained it was Glasgow City Chambers and told her my brother says it’s beautiful inside and if she gets a chance to visit it, she should. She and her friend were going on a Hop On – Hop Off bus the next day and she said she’d ask the driver. That was my good deed for the day. PoD turned out to be a photo of the inside of the busy station which might have taken a long to build, but is so much lighter and airier than its predecessor.

We got the fast train to Croy, walked across the road and got the bus back to St Mo’s school then walked the rest of the way. 10,171 steps so far today and counting. For some reason, typing doesn’t generate steps. The old Fitbit did record key presses as steps!  We did record some steps in the evening with a practise session of the new Wednesday night waltz. Mystifying and confusing steps for me. Apparently devised by an Australian, which might explain everything.

That was a quite excellent day in Glasgow. It did rain today, but not very heavy rain and thankfully it waited until we were in the restaurant.

We have no real plans for tomorrow, but apparently hoovering may be on the cards.

Rain stopped play – 10 September 2023

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Cloudy morning today, but the sun did manage to get through after a while. A coffee first then I could start work.

Today I was making Focaccia as the starter for tonight’s dinner and also a variation on Bread & Butter Pudding for dessert. Scamp had the much easier main course to make which was Sea Bass with Tomatoes and Potatoes. Focaccia is a sloppy dough with loads of olive oil to make it slippy and also sloppy. The first time I made it I kneaded it by hand and I remember chasing this messy dough all over the work surface. Yes, I did learn how to control a very wet dough, but vowed that the next time I’d let Mr Kenwood’s Chef do the hard work. So it was that I added all the ingredients into the bowl and let the dough hook go to work. About twenty minutes later I had a sort of dough and decide I could make it a bit wetter. Bad move. That meant the dough was too wet and I’d to add more flour. Eventually, I had the dough I wanted and I slopped it into a plastic tub to rise.

After lunch and after we’d watched Laura Kuenssberg tearing apart a new politician, it was time to check if the dough had “doubled in size”. Not quite, so I gave it another half hour to be sure and the sun was shining. That was the half hour it needed. It was ready to be slopped out on the work surface again, chopped into two big slippery pieces and stretched out in two baking trays to rest and stretch and grow bigger again with more olive oil in and around it. Another hour later, the sun was still shining and the dough was ready to be prepared for baking. I turned the oven on and poked my finger into the focaccia making big deep holes in it and then adding even more olive oil plus some rosemary, sun dried tomatoes and some sea salt. Then they went into the oven for 20mins. When they came out they looked fine, so guess what I added. Yes, more olive oil and then left them to rest and drink in all its green oily goodness.

I was watching the weather that wasn’t looking quite so sunny but I reckoned I could still get an hour in St Mo’s for some photos. A few minutes later, it was the sound that alerted me. The rain was coming down in torrents and Scamp’s washing was almost dry. Managed to save most of it, but the walk in St Mo’s wasn’t going to happen today. Instead I decided to photograph the rain. That will explain the title of today’s blog.

Later buttered four croissants, spread jam on them and set them aside. Next I beat up three eggs, some vanilla essence and some sugar then nearly boiled some milk and cream before chucking it into the bowl with the eggy mixture, arranged the croissants, tastefully, in a heatproof bowl and poured the creamy-eggy mess on top. Drizzled some sugar on top and stuck it in the oven to do its thing. I’d only made custard!! A bit lumpy in places and a bit thin in places, but custard, none the less! I was impressed. Plonked some rasps on top and there we had dessert.

Scamp only had to fry a fish or two, boil a few potatoes and chuck in some tomatoes. I had created a dessert with my own bare hands!

Focaccia was lovely and sticky. Scamp said it was missing something and I have to agree, I just don’t know what that ‘something’ was.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about swimming in the sea and thankfully the bat survey may now have passed muster with those who know about such things. I bet that’s a weight of their minds.

Tomorrow we may go in to Glasgow on the bus or the train. Oh, yes, and it’s still raining!

 

 

Signs of change – 9 September 2023

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Maybe the last of the really hot weather for this year.

We had half intended to take the train to Edinburgh, but neither of us were all that bothered about getting out and about today. The clouds were low and the sun was taking a lazy day too, not trying to break up the clouds. Which meant that by the time we were up and organised, it was too late to go to Edinburgh.

While we’d both been reading after breakfast in bed, we’d heard the ominous thump of a bird hitting what sounded like the back room’s window. When I got up I found the body of a thrush lying beside the back door. It looked like the poor wee thing hadn’t suffered and had broken its neck in the impact. I disposed of the wee body.

Instead of Edinburgh, we went to Tesco. We’d chosen a recipe to try out. Chicken Thighs with Apricot Jam and Roasted Cauliflower. It sounds a bit cobbled together, but it was worth a try. We drove to Tesco to get the ingredients, but didn’t go any further. Really, it was one of those days when we were just waiting to find out when, rather than if the rain would come. Never one to sit back and wait, Scamp suggested we strip the bed and get some washing done, so that’s what we did, and it went in to the washing machine and out onto the ‘whirly’ before lunch. Lunch was a pizza that had been languishing in the fridge for almost too long. Almost, but not quite.

This weekend was the Ayr Air Show and although we’d decided not to go, instead I found a live feed on YouTube from Ayr and spent a good hour watching the planes go through their paces. It wasn’t as good as actually being there, but I was sitting in our living room, not wandering around the Low Green with a couple of thousand other folk. I sent Alex a message and sent him the link to the website. He texted me back to say that the Red Arrows had just flown over his house in Motherwell heading north east and then returned flying south west! Some folk just need to be better than you!

The Chicken Thighs with Apricot Jam and Roasted Cauliflower traybake turned out a lot better than I thought it would, but strangely, the star was the roasted cauliflower! Tomorrow I’m booked to make starter (focaccia) and pudding. Scamp is in charge of the main course.

It being a lazy day, I took today’s photo in the garden. It’s a close-up of a Rudbekia flower and it turned out better than I anticipated. An easy PoD.

It rained this evening. The first real rain we’ve had for about a month. The gardens really need a good soaking rain and this might just be the start of that. Thunder storms forecast for tomorrow

No plans for tomorrow, for obvious reasons!

Too hot to do much – 8 September 2023

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What a strange thing to say in September!

Scamp was out at FitSteps in the morning, but I’d already been out walking in St Mo’s. Last night when I was going to bed I noticed that it was quite misty outside and this morning when I was making breakfast that mist had changed to fog. Absolutely perfect for some atmospheric shots. So I dressed for the climate and went for a walk in St Mo’s. The fog was lifting in the heat of the morning sun, but there were spiderwebs everywhere covered in tiny water drops from the fog and mist. Just what I was looking for. An hour later I had a variety of images to provide me with a PoD.

After Scamp left for FitSteps I had a look at the photos and used my normal method of rejecting the obvious ‘no hopers’, then grading the remaining shots as one, two or three stars. Two of the three stars were selected, edited and cropped to a better format, oh yes, and I also had time to have tea and toast!

When Scamp returned we discussed where to go for lunch, it being Friday and settled on Broadwood Farm. Cheap grub and the chance of a pint or a glass of wine to wash it down. With that settled, we walked over to Condorrat first to post a card and a letter, then walked down to Broadwood for our usual Friday lunch which was a carvery for me and fish ’n’ chips for Scamp.

Wandered back to the house after being fed and watered and sat in the garden soaking up the sun for the remainder of the afternoon. We could have gone to the Air Show at Ayr beach instead of Broadwood, but the thought of sitting in the car for an hour, especially after driving for a couple of hours yesterday didn’t appeal. The lazy way is sometimes the best.

I split up my basil plants and repotted them into three pots. Scamp potted up one of her new plants then removed one of the pots from the front garden and replaced it with one from the back garden that looked as if it needed a bit of sun. Later we watered both the front and back gardens. Although heavy thundery showers are predicted for Sunday, the plants need the water today.

PoD went to a spider repairing its web. One of the photos from this morning.

We’ve a couple of prospective places to go tomorrow. It will, as always, depend on the weather. Today was a good day.