Category: weather

Colzium and Brodens – 26 January 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It was a lovely morning, too good to waste. To make the most of it we went for a walk.

We drove to Colzium Estate just outside Kilsyth. Lots of snowdrops just coming in to flower and lots more to look forward to in a couple of weeks. We walked up the road through the trees and crossed the bridge over the Colzium burn. When we stopped in the middle a robin flew down to see what we were up to. I thought it would fly away immediately, but I took my camera out of its bag anyway and there was this wee robin looking like it was posing for the camera. Scamp said it was asking which was its best side! I took a few shots then realised two things. Firstly it had a damaged claw on on foot and secondly we were in its way, because it was heading for a pile of birdseed that someone had left on the parapet of the bridge. I apologised to it and we left it to have its lunch. One of those shots made PoD.

We walked on, along the steep road that circles the Big House and its gardens. It used to be the entrance drive when the house was in its heyday. At the top we turned right and then took the even steeper path to the left that led us through the woods to the wee bridge over the Colzium Burn just downstream from the Tak ma Doon road. We crossed the bridge and headed down the quite slippery path on the other side of the burn. Scamp started searching through the fallen branches for a suitable stick to give her some support for walking down the path.

Halfway down we found a big fallen tree that turned out to be half a tree, It looked as if the tree had split in two in the past and this one half had been torn from the other one during last week’s storms. You don’t realise just how big trees are until you see one lying down. We get so used to see trees standing above us. We met a woman who said she didn’t know if it was safe to walk in the trees when it was windy. I hadn’t thought of that. You wouldn’t stand much of a chance if a tree fell on you. Scamp was a bit saddened to see the broken tree lying there and I could see how she’d feel that. We walked on down to the bridge again, having done a complete circuit of this part of the estate. The robin that we’d seen the last time we’d passed was still there eating the seeds. It must have been the same one. There can’t be two robins with a damaged claw in the same place, could there? To end the walk we walked past the old curling pond, now a duck pond and from there back to the car.

So, should we drive to The Fort to have lunch at Wagamama or should we dine locally at Brodens? We settled on Brodens. Scamp had breaded fish ’n’ chips with a glass of Malbec and I had steak pie with mash washed down with a pint of Guinness. After that we walked home.

We watched a strange pair of girls selling manufactured diamonds on Dragons Den. If you watch it, you’ll understand what I mean by strange. It’s not really the people who are strange, but their devious dealing.

Scamp has now packed her sandwiches and fruit into separate boxes and is ready to meet June tomorrow and get a taxi to Glasgow to sing the Verdi Requiem with about 600 other singers in the Royal Concert Hall. I’m not going, because she says I wouldn’t like it. Probably right.

Dull and wet but dancin’ inside

Posted on by Zogman

Today was a day for driving to Glenburn and dancing for a couple of hours.

For the second time in a row, we drove to Glenburn, just outside Paisley and danced almost everything the threw at us. We both made a mess of some of it, but there was a quiet confidence to us that wasn’t there before. I don’t know exactly what was happening, but I’ve a curious feeling that I was leading for a while! Usually I rely on Scamp to tell me what comes next, but for some of the dances, I knew what came after what. It’s hard to explain, but there was definitely a difference to our dancing.

The afternoon started with a waltz and that led on to cha-cha and then an interspersing of ballroom or latin with a sequence dance. I’ve complained here in the past about Stewart’s plan to have, let’s call it formal dancing, in the first half and sequence in the second half. I don’t think that works well for everyone, but the mixing he and Jane were doing today seemed to encourage everyone to get on the floor more often. We covered usual trilogy of waltz, cha-cha and quickstep with lots of sequence dances. We even attempted a Gay Gordons as well, but stayed well clear of the Canadian Barn Dance, the music for which seemed never ending. It was good to see that folk were taking to heart Stewart’s recommendation to wear something tartan for Burns Night. He even ‘accidentally’ played Donald Where’s Yer Troosers because he said I liked it! Cheeky get!

The two hours went quickly and then it was time to go home, have a cup of tea and a biscuit before getting ready to drive Scamp up to The Link to get her Shingles jag. That didn’t take long. Probably about 15 minutes maximum, then we were heading home again for Haggis Neeps and Tatties. Standard fare for a Burns Night. I don’t know why we call turnips ‘Neeps’. Burns was born and bred in Ayrshire, but Neeps is a north east coast word. How did it get inveigled into Ayrshire dialect? I blame the Aberdonians. Or better still, I blame Boris who was a bit of a turnip heid!

With the traditional Burns Supper meal and a wee dram to toast it, the excitement for the day was all but over. Today’s PoD was a photo of a bouquet of cut flowers, well, it was a Thursday. The flowers weren’t “arranged tastefully, in a vase” as D.P. Gumby used to demonstrate on Monty Python, but laid down on the kitchen worktop, but the little light that filtered in through the clouds lit them perfectly.

Tomorrow we may drive somewhere for lunch or we may walk somewhere local for it instead. As usual, it depends on the weather.

A day at Kelvingrove – 24 January 2024

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It was another windy night last night. Maybe just marginally less disruptive than Monday into Tuesday, but now Jocelyn has joined Isha and good riddance to both of them.

Today I was meeting Alex in Glasgow and we were going to get the bus to Kelvingrove to take some photos and have some lunch. First I checked in with him to make sure he was good to go after last night’s wind. Of course he was, but it’s always good to check and not just assume all is well in the centre of North Lanarkshire. For once the bus was on time and I was away into Glasgow with Kevin Bridges in my ear, telling me some stories. I’m a fairly slow reader and I suppose I must he a slow listener too. I generally only listen to the Audible track when I’m on the bus by myself. That way I can concentrate on the story.

We met at the bus station and went for a coffee. Allegedly Nero’s dishwasher was broken, so they were using disposable cups. I wouldn’t mind that, but they put their usual amount of coffee into a big paper cup and then topped it up with way too much hot water. I go to Nero to get good strong coffee that tastes of coffee. If I wanted weak watery coffee I could go to Costa.

I struggled through the gallon cup of dirty water and then we headed off to the West End. The posh end of Glasgow, or at least it thinks it is. Noting that the scaffolding and plywood panels were still in place where they’d been for about six months now, we entered this otherwise beautiful building. I was delighted to see that the portrait of Ann Pavlova was back in its rightful place. Such an energetic looking portrait of the dancer.

We went up to the gallery to get some photos of the gigantic pipe organ an some of The Heads. Over 50 different grimacing and laughing heads hanging as an installation by Sophie Cave. One of them became the PoD after a fair bit of work to get it looking the way I wanted.

Lunch was next in the conservatory. We both had the same thing. Scottish Beef Burger on a bun with chips.

Another walk round the main ground floor and then we were off outside because the light on Glasgow Uni tower was really worth a few shots. I just missed a shot of a squirrel running in front of a burger van. Not the source of our burgers, though. I did get a shot of its fluffy tail (the squirrel’s, not the burger’s, you understand) sticking out from under the skirt of the van.

Waited ages for the bus back to the bus station and then we parted our ways and I listened to more of Kevin swearing through more stories.

I’d messaged Scamp on the way home that I wouldn’t need any dinner tonight and instead had a plate of soup. The last plate from the big pot. Watched Landscape Artist and correctly predicted two of the three finalists, but didn’t pick the winner.

A great day with my brother. Had a long discussion with him about the merits and demerits of the new lens, but finally decided to keep it. I was delighted with my 86 photos and only 9 of them rejected. That’s a good percentage. More will fall on the cutting room floor before the week is out, I’m sure.

I think we may go dancing at the tea dance tomorrow if the weather is kind to us.

Coffee with Isobel – 23 January 2024

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We drove up to the town centre today and were entertained by Isobel for an hour and a bit in Costa. I risked an Americano that actually tasted of coffee. I was shocked!

Life is never dull with Isobel. She always has stories to tell and doesn’t care who she insults when she’s telling them. Today’s topics included falling church attendance, losing a church minister, gardening and a useless new cooker. She did give Scamp some instruction on pruning roses and rudbeckia. She was making arrangements to have the wax removed from her ears by going private. I’m beginning to think that I need it done too, because my hearing has been getting worse recently. Anyway, after we’d heard all her gossip and she had heard all of Scamp’s, we gave her a run home because the rain was torrential. She wouldn’t accept any help and toddled off pushing her walker once we’d dropped her off. When we were coming out of Costa

Back home it was tomato soup and toast for lunch from the never emptying soup pot. I did consider going out if the rain stopped, but it didn’t and I stayed in. PoD was a photo of my Window Ledge Garden with its green spike of ’back from the dead’ Spring Onion and a clove of garlic that has white spike and also roots that weren’t there when it went into the water pot a couple of days ago. Both plants are growing in nothing but water. The pot, with its little floating island that holds the plants, was a Christmas present from Hazy. It took me a week or so to find the time to read the instructions and test it out. Amazingly for me, it worked first time. I’m intending growing beetroot and leeks next. Thank you Hazy.

By the time I’d checked in with Alex and discussed tomorrow with him, then processed and posted the PoD, it was time for dinner and for the second time this week it was fish. This time it was Leek and Smoked Fish Risotto. Unfortunately I’d cut the bottom off the leek before I remembered that I could have coaxed it back to useful lift. The resulting risotto was a bit wetter than I’d intended it to be, but we ate almost all of it.

We watched University Challenge later and got the nominal two or three correct answers each. Feeling quite pleased with ourselves. Then we watched The Secret Genius of Modern Life on the history of microwave ovens which sounds a really boring program. But with a thoughtful approach to delivering this information, it was interesting and informative. Infotainment at its best. I commend it to you. Accessible from iPlayer.

I saw that Isobel had a pair of sheepskin mittens in her bag and said, without thinking: “Oh, pawkies!” One of my mum’s words for mittens. Funny how you remember these random words.

The wind is wheechin’ round the house again tonight, and I hope it calms down a bit before tomorrow, because I’ve got a possible appointment for a photo walk with Alex in Glasgow which I don’t want to miss because I called off last week when I wasn’t feeling well. A dry day would be nice, but that may be a wish too far.

 

Willie is gone – 22 January 2024

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But Jocelyn is waiting in the wings.

Well last night was a wild one. I was sure the front window was going to be blown in by one of Windy Willie’s blasts, but it held firm and we survived the onslaught. Having said that, it was a noisy old night and a noisy morning too.

After taking stock of the broken branches that littered the path and after replacing all the bins that had made their big bold bid for freedom I had a quick look round the exterior of the house, but thankfully everything was intact. I suggested to Scamp that we might go for a walk round St Mo’s pond, just for a breath of fresh air and she agreed.

So booted and well wrapped up because the wind was still howling round the houses we did one circuit of the pond. There weren’t any fallen trees and very few branches. For the most part it was a dry walk, but the squally showers made it uncomfortable. I was quite glad I’d agreed on one circuit. Then it was home for lunch.

When we were making lunch Scamp said that Andy, who lives across the back from us was having trouble putting a tarpaulin over his shed. I’m guessing the roofing felt on the shed had come adrift. I walked down to see if he needed any help, but his sons were doing the heavy work and Andy was just overseeing operations, so I left them to it and went back to have my piece ’n’ banana.

Later in the afternoon the winds calmed down and that reduced the amount of squally showers, so I took the opportunity to take the camera out again for another walk. I’d taken half a dozen photos in the morning, but you can never have enough! With a few more photos in the bag I felt I had a better chance of a decent PoD and I think I got one. It’s a view across the pond framed with trees and I quite like it. Even Scamp gave it the thumbs up.

With that done and the processing completed, it was dinner time and tonight’s dinner was to be tomato soup and then Giovanni Rana tortelloni. Easy to make and quite filling.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending meeting Isobel for coffee in the morning Then we need to get ready for Storm Jocelyn which is making landfall around mid-afternoon. You get rid of one storm and another one is waiting to take its place. According to the weather fairies, this might not be as severe as Isha, but they don’t always tell the whole truth! We’ll have to wait and see.

Windy Willie – 21 January 2024

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It sounds very much like Windy Willie is running around the house!

Since about 6pm the wind speed has been rising. According to the BBC the winds will peak at 65mph around about 11pm and then start to reduce gradually until tomorrow evening.

Earlier in the day we had torrential rain blown along on simple gale force winds. I’d decided early on that I wasn’t going to go outside looking for photos. Instead I took a photo of of a tray of tomatoes fresh out of an hour in the oven. They were destined to be made into tomato soup, and that was to be the starter for tonight’s dinner. Actually they looked quite good in the photo and with a bit of delicate adjustment the photo became PoD.

The tomato soup itself was a winner. One bowl tonight as a starter for the main course of Trout Fillets with Baby Potatoes and Marrowfat Peas. I’m not a great ‘fish person’, especially oily fish like salmon, but the trout tasted just like fresh caught trout tastes. I think it may have been rainbow trout rather than sea trout. Scamp is an expert fish cook and she cooked the trout perfectly. Crispy skin that I enjoyed just as much as the fish itself. No pudding tonight, just a cup of coffee each, laced with Kahlúa.

Spoke to Jamie who sounded much more like himself tonight. It seems that they may manage to recoup some of the money they lost on the repairs that are needed to the house. He also seemed a lot more settled at work. He sent us a few photos and videos of the work that has already been done to the roof and it does look a lot more secure than it did a couple of weeks ago. Still a lot to do, but work is progressing.

I really don’t know what the weather will be like tomorrow. Hopefully it will stick to the guidelines and behave itself.

Dancin’ – 20 January 2024

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Last Brookfield dancin’ class for three weeks at least.

Scamp doesn’t think she’ll be able to go to next Saturday’s class because she’s intending to sing the Verdi Requiem (with a few others) at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow and I certainly won’t be going there, or to the dance class in Brookfield if I can at all avoid it. Far too shouty in both venues.

For some reason, the road to Brookfield was quite busy today. Either everyone was heading to the Monster Truck show at the SEC or there was football somewhere, maybe even both! But we’d been out early and made good time after we left the city centre and got past the 50mph restriction. We had about ten minutes to collect ourselves while the little darlings in the ballet class were ushered out of the room with their ‘mummies’ – no ‘daddies’ were in sight. Smart daddies!

First track was Melody Foxtrot with Robbie Williams’ Go Gentle. I don’t like him, but I do like the song. The rhythm and timing go so well with this gentle song. I can’t remember what track two was, but it obviously wasn’t a patch on Go Gentle.

Next we were in to Waltz Time with what we’re going to call the Spring Waltz. Christmas is so last year. After a few fumbles of the feet, I was beginning to enjoy the dance. Stewart did steal Scamp away to explain something technical about the dance, but strangely Jane didn’t steal me away to do the same. Maybe I’m so good there’s nothing they can teach me. Maybe pigs do fly? Anyway, once she’d been returned, we danced a few tracks of the waltz. Actually I’d have been happy to spend the entire 90 minutes just going through that dance, but after another sequence dance we knew that the leisurely dancing was over and we were going to be forced into the Samba.

I really, really, REALLY don’t think I will ever get to like, far less love this dance although Stewart says I will. It is fast, confusing and furious at times and totally outside my comfort zone. I’m still at the second part of it, having successfully managed to make a decent fist of the basic steps at the start. This is after three weeks of teaching. Sometimes you just have to accept that this doesn’t fit in my head, apart from Jamie’s oft times quoted complaint that: “Scottish hips don’t move that way”. That, is an excellent get-out clause for not knowing what the hell you are doing, and I thank you for that, Jamie.

Eventually the Samba ground to a halt and another cool-down sequence dance finished off the torture. We were done for today and, hopefully for three glorious weeks.

We drove home, almost in silence, letting the music from Spotify’s random Discover Weekly guide us along the M8, M74, M73 and then home. Lunch for me was a roll ’n’ cheese and for Scamp, a roll ’n’ egg, with both of us having a dessert of roll ’n’ bramble jam.

It was a dull day. The sun had threatened to break through the clouds, but didn’t really have the energy, so the clouds covered it and tucked it in. I did manage a few shots in St Mo’s, but none of them were award winners. PoD was a sepia toned discarded swan’s feather.

Dinner tonight came from Bombay Dreams and it was quite poor by their standard. Probably would have been better walking down to M&S and bringing back a heat-in-the-oven curry. I think we’ll let Bombay Dreams rest for a while to see if they can improve their recipes.

It’s raining quite heavily as I’m writing this and it’s expected to rain all through the night. Strong winds forecast for tomorrow. I may go out early(ish) to avoid getting blown away.

 

 

Goodbye Snow – 19 January 2024

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It’s gone. The snow returned this morning, only to be washed away by the rain and the above zero temperatures. Not much above zero, but enough to rid us of the white stuff.

In the morning we went shopping. It was a big shop. What we used to do on a Monday until Tesco seemed to have fewer staff working on a Monday than on any other day of the week. Friday was quite different. Much more like what used to be a normal shopping day. They even had rolls! We loaded the car and drove home.

After lunch Scamp wanted to reorganise the front bedroom which has become a storage room. I wanted to go out and take photos somewhere other than St Mo’s, so while she was checking what we did and didn’t have and moving things around the various cupboards, I drove up to Fannyside to see how the wild moorland was surviving this tough winter weather. This was my first visit this year. There was a cold west wind blowing and that was making the cloudscape quite interesting. Probably this was the first real test for the new lens, just taking photos of anything and everything that interested me. Not being too particular about aperture or shutter speed, just enjoying the experience. The lens coped admirably with the scenes. Not one rejection, but I’m still not sure it’s the lens for me. Only time and a few hundred photos will tell.

Drove home and after checking the photos, started to make the dinner which was an old favourite, Fennel with Haddock and Prawns. Dead easy to make as long as you are organised, and for once I was.

According to the weather fairies, we’ve some wild weather to look forward to next week with strong winds and heavy rain. It never seems to stop this winter. Wind, rain, snow and sleet with the occasional half a day of sunshine mixed in. Weather was much more fun when I was wee.

PoD turned out to be a wide angle shot of the moorland at Fannyside and its amazing cloudscapes that looked much better live than my poor representation of them. A couple of other photos are keeping it company on Flickr.

Tomorrow we’re intending dancing in the morning.

On a cold and frost morning – 18 January 2024

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I didn’t see the “Three Craws” that are the title of the song, but it certainly was a cold and frosty morning.

I thought I’d take the opportunity to start the blue car to warm it up a bit after a very cold night last night. I took some photos of the ice crystals on the roof of the car while I was waiting for the windscreen to thaw a bit. One of them became PoD. Allegedly the temperature would rise a bit today and the thaw will begin properly tomorrow. Hmm, always jam tomorrow, but never jam today.

I was supposed to meet Alex to go for a photo walk this morning, but I’d to phone him to call off because I’d been having stomach pains during the night and morning. He was very good about it and told me that Noravirus is rife just now in Monklands hospital where his step-daughter works. I don’t think that was the problem. If felt more like trapped wind. Scamp looked after me, making me tea and generally giving good advice. The pain has lessened a lot now and probably it will be gone by tomorrow. I certainly hope so.

Yes, the temperature rose during the afternoon, according to our weather forecaster which has a sensor outside on the back door where it doesn’t get affected by the sun or the wind and it has always been quite accurate.

Instead of wasting my afternoon doing nothing, I wasted my afternoon with two more programs that I can use to make up the “Where Was It Took” sheets that go out with the calendars. Both of them worked and I think the best of the bunch was the one from Avery Labels which I remember using a couple of years ago, but couldn’t find last year. Very simple to use, but only works online and saves in Avery format which is fine, because it allows you to print out the sheet on a printer, but I don’t think it allows you to print to PDF which would be better. The second program is one I’ve had for about three years and didn’t know you could do mail merging with it. It’s more versatile, but way more complicated to work with than the Avery one. I watched and listened to a bloke showing how it was used on YouTube. I got it to work once and after that I couldn’t repeat it. May try again tomorrow if I get a chance.

Another task on my to-do list for today was putting the Christmas decorations up into the loft. Scamp and I achieved it this afternoon. So Christmas and New Year are officially behind us now and we’re looking forward to Spring.

Would you believe that Hazy is the only one in the family and friends who always reads the WWIT sheet that comes with the calendar. And who was the only one, not to get a sheet with her calendar? Yes, Hazy. However I emailed her a special copy tonight and I believe it has been printed off and is clipped on the back of her clipboard!

Tomorrow is Friday and that is usually shopping day. The day to go for the messages, and if I can get the car defrosted, that’s what we’re hoping to do.

Another cold one – 17 January 2024

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Temperature this morning was -7ºc when breakfast was being served – in bed.

I downloaded a To Do app last week and am beginning to use it. I had three tasks for today and took great delight in ticking them off one by one. I even added another couple to the list and ticked them off. How long it will last, I don’t know. Probably until they start asking me for a subscription and start removing parts of it or adding adverts. That’s when it will get the heave.

The first task was to post my calendars to some folk. I actually really like the photo on the front page, but it’s more than halfway through the first month and the poor folk will only get this one for half the time it deserves. Unless, of course, they get crafty with a pair of scissors! I’m not saying what the picture is, but it’s not alcoholic, that’s all I’m telling you. I only did five this year. One for me one for Alex and one each for three lucky people. I strengthened the calendars with some corrugated cardboard, so they should arrive intact. I also spent ages working out how to mail merge my database of “Where Was It Took in 2023” into a Word document, eventually giving up and using first Scamp’s computer and then my old Tosh to do the job. Mickeysoft make some clever office apps, but they don’t give a toss about whether they work on a Mac or not. Anyway, I digress – as usual. At least one of you recipients didn’t get a copy of WWIT2023, so if it’s you and you really want to find out what was taken where, email me and I’ll send you a PDF of the script.

I walked over to Condorrat and posted all three off to their recipients. Then walked down to St Mo’s with the shiny new lens on the A7iii and let it take some photos for me. I think it was 35 photos in total today and about 5 of them ended on the cutting room floor. Not bad odds. Everywhere was white. Not snow, just frost. Best of a bad lot was one of a St John’s Wort flower well covered in frost. Despite being well wrapped up, I was beginning to feel the cold on my face and any other bits of exposed flesh, like my hands. I did have a pair of cycling gloves with me, but they are a bit cumbersome to wear when you’re operating a camera. I was glad to get in to the warm house and heat up some soup for lunch. Scamp was away to a birthday bash at Castlecary Hotel, so she wouldn’t be needing any, I thought.

Next task was to order some coffee. I still get it from The Bean Shop in Perth and get it delivered to me. It’s the sensible way to get it. £3 for DPD to deliver it and about twice that in petrol costs to drive there and buy it. DPD are pretty good at delivering it within the one hour time slot they state. I also ordered a new UV filter for the new lens. The old one I had was ages old and showing its age with a handful of scratches. However it was protecting the lens for now at least.

As it turned out, Scamp’s lunch date hadn’t been all that good. Two of the group, Scamp included weren’t impressed with the quality of the food which is a a pity as it was always a good restaurant. But, as we know, things change.
So it was Mince ’n’ Tatties for my dinner, cooked by my good self and Fish Fingers ’n’ Tatties for Scamp.

We watched the weather report on BBC and tomorrow looks just as cold as today, if not colder. I’m booked to meet Alex in Glasgow. We were going to go to Paisley, but if the weather is so bad, we may, at Scamp’s suggestion, take the subway up to Kelvinbridge and have lunch in the Paesano there, then spend the afternoon in the warmth of the Botanic Gardens greenhouses!