Category: weather

I’m getting fed up with dull days – 15 January 2022

Posted on by Zogman

There was little point in going out today, but we went anyway.

It started off a bit dull, then got darker. The lights went on around 2pm, because we kept bumping into things in the dark. It wasn’t quite as bad as that, but near enough. Eventually Scamp got her jacket on and declared that she was going to the shops to get some oranges. I suggested a pizza for dinner tonight and said I’d join her on the orange hunt just in case there were any pizzas in the shops. We ended up with more than oranges and pizzas, but I won’t bore you with the details.

As we do sometimes, we parted company on the way back home, Scamp to go back and unload her bag of goodies and me to walk once round St Mo’s pond. I spoke to the geese and the swans, but they seemed to be having as dull a day as we were. I don’t know if the young swans, too old to be cygnets, can fly yet, but I’m pretty sure that if they could, they’d be off winging their way to somewhere more interesting than St Mo’s pond on a dull, uninspiring day. Or maybe not. Maybe they like dull. If so they will have had their fill of it these last few weeks.

I found very little to inspire me and came home with a handful of disparate shots, none of which were likely to make a PoD. Instead, I watched a couple of interesting videos on YouTube. One on processing with Lightroom by the most boring presenter in the world, that master of the monotone, Mark Galer. A load of good useful information, but I could only watch it for about twenty minutes before my eyelids started to droop. Another one by a more animated presenter whose name escapes me. It was about simplifying the complex menus of the Sony A7iii. You don’t need to know any more, it’s not at all interesting to normal people, just photogs.

Maybe it was because it was the mirror of my gloomy mood or maybe it was because of the underlying and totally accidental composition, but after messing around with one of the shots I took after we’d been to the shops, this one made PoD. This pathway through the trees has produced more than its fair share of photo opportunities for me over many years.

Tomorrow we MUST go somewhere to be out of the house and hopefully out in the fresh air with blue skies and sunshine (the last two are optional, but would be appreciated). Just getting out somewhere will be an improvement on today.

A really dull day again – 12 January 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Missed a coffee date with Isobel, but I’d work to do.

Actually, I’d forgotten about this morning’s coffee date with Isobel, but Scamp hadn’t. I still had work to do on those calendars. I know how Hazy likes the “Where was it took” page and I’d already made the Numbers database which I’d converted to Excel, but couldn’t quite get it to mail merge to a Word document. Then last night I found a brilliant way of doing it online using the Avery.com website. Actually, I had it all completed and was checking it when I realised that I was using LAST YEAR’S Excel file!! Numpty. I did it all again this morning and then Pages wouldn’t let me format it. Grrrr!

Finally, after struggling with it for about an hour, I got it to work using a bit of software that I’ve had for about a year and never really used. It’s called Affinity Publisher and it’s basically a DTP package with far more power than I will ever need. Long story short, it only took a few minutes to get the page formatted … then another hour to line things up and space them out to my satisfaction. It’s done, they’re printed and I was hoping to get the calendars posted tomorrow, but I’m meeting Alex.

He had wanted to go to Glasgow again for more urban exploration, but I thought we might go to get some photos of the Mausoleum in Hamilton. I don’t think he was all that keen, but then Carol (his wife) suggested we go to get the photos in Hamilton and then we head for Chatelherault for a coffee and a blether. That sounded like a plan to me and Alex seemed to agree. Hoping it doesn’t rain tomorrow!

I took the Sony out for a walk in St Mo’s in the afternoon and left it a bit too late. The light was all but gone by the time I went out, but I did get a few things. The best of a bad lot is this little sapling. The trunk of the tree it’s growing out of had split many years ago and one of the two trunks was sawn off. I’m guessing a seed got lodged in a crack in the stump and that’s what produced the sapling. I’m wondering now if the sapling is the same as the main tree which is a Silver Birch. It would be a talking point if it survived and was a totally different tree, like an ash or a beech, both of which are quite prolific in St Mo’s. The Squatter Seedling made PoD.

The big question tonight is: Is Boris dead in the water, or will he survive to bumble again? Answers, as always, on a postcard please.

I’m hoping to go and take some architectural photos tomorrow with the chance of a coffee and a blether later. Scamp is booked for coffee with Annette.

Back in the saddle – 11 January 2022

Posted on by Zogman

After yesterday’s little hissy fit, I’ve returned to the 365 proper.

It does get difficult sometimes to keep finding interesting subjects to photograph, but it’s important to remember the associated benefits. It gets me out in the fresh air, although it also ensures that I spend more time than I should in post processing. It keeps the little grey cells working and when I do get a good photo, or find something I thought I’d lost, like today, it does feel good.

The day didn’t start well. We went to a funeral for a girl I don’t remember meeting. She was the daughter-in-law of one of Scamp’s oldest friends. Funerals are never pleasant occasions, but when it’s for someone with her whole life still to live, it’s worse than normal. That’s all I’m going to say, except I have never seen the chapel at Daldowie as full as it was this morning.

Drove home in blinding sunshine and got on with the day. The sunshine mellowed a bit as the day progressed, but there was still blue sky up there and there was directional light. I took a camera for a walk, while Scamp stayed home and read. I was framing a shot through some trees when I thought I saw a ladybird on a tree beyond my framed shot. It was indeed an orange ladybird with white spots. Possibly the one I’ve been looking for since about November. It was still tucked up neatly in a knot in the trunk. This time I know which tree to look for. It’s the one two trees east of the one with the stick. You’ll know it when you see it, well, you won’t but I will.

That ladybird changed the complexion of the day completely. Unfortunately, none of the photos I took did it justice, so it didn’t get PoD. That award went to an orange coloured leaf, beautifully textured and almost translucent when seen against the light. There is another photo on Flickr that I worked on a tiny little bit tonight. It dates from September 2005, over sixteen years ago! It’s worth a look.

Scamp made Carrot and Lentil Curry tonight. It’s not he hottest curry in the world, but what it lacks in heat, it makes up for in taste. An old favourite.

I don’t think it’s going to be as good a day weatherwise tomorrow, but we may go out again for a spin. Need to get a wall calendar some time soon!

Almost cut my hair – 10 January 2022

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I didn’t actually. It’s much deeper.

“Almost cut my hair” is a song by Stephen Stills on the “Déja Vu” album, away back in 1970. It seems to be about almost making a bad decision, one you will regret for a long time and once that decision is made, you can’t go back to how it was before. Today started as a dull day and just got more gloomy as the morning changed to afternoon and by about 3pm there was no point in going out to grab a photo. I almost decided to call a halt to the 365. I’m finding it harder to get fresh ideas for photos. The lack of decent directional light, day after day is part of it and I think the other part is needing to get out and look for new photographic opportunities. So, almost cut my hair, but not quite, not yet anyway.

What I did do was to dig through the archives to find some old stuff, old digital negatives from Skye and places like that. Places we haven’t been for a long time, years even, and try processing them again. Today’s one is on Flickr if you wish to have a look.

Today’s PoD turned out to be two little cat salt and pepper pots. Scamp bought them some years ago in a warm place. When they sit on the table they make us smile and remember past holidays. The are awkward to use because rather than having one hole in the top for salt or lots of smaller ones for pepper, both of them have three holes. It makes it a game of chance, a lucky dip whether you get salt or pepper.

We did go for a spin today over to Coatbridge to buy a WiFi extender. Two boxes, one you plug into the mains and connect to the modem. The other you put somewhere with a poor wireless signal. Plug it in to the mains and search for it with whatever device you are using. Once you find it you type in the password from the box and like magic it connects through the first box to the modem and you have an excellent signal. That sounds a bit complicated, but it is much simpler to do than to describe. Best of all, it just works!

I also got some more photo paper and made us a calendar for the toilet. I know it sounds sort of weird, having a calendar in the toilet, but every month in it has a different holiday picture. Like the wee cats it brings back memories of warmer places. The ‘real’ calendars are printed and bound and ready to fly to deserving people in the next few days. I’ve even done a “Where Was It Took” page especially for you Hazy. I’m struggling at the moment to remember how to mail merge it from Excel to Word.

That was about it for the day I almost cut my hair. We had pasta and tomato sauce for dinner. Scamp had bought M&S Plant Kitchen veggie balls. We tried them in with the pasta and tomato sauce. They were boggin. If you’re ever in Marks and you see them, just walk on by. That’s our recommendation.

Tomorrow we’re out in the morning but the afternoon doesn’t have anything planned for it. You’ll find out if we do anything interesting. No hair will be cut!

Oh Burger! – 9 January 2022

Posted on by Zogman

It was a day for getting your hands dirty.

I’d bought 500g of steak mince on Friday and had already made a mince pie with half of it. The other half was destined to languish in the freezer until it was old and grey, or be made into burgers today. That rhymed, but it was an accident! Better a burger than an old grey mince ball.

I put the mince into a bowl, and since it was fresh meat, I thought it deserved fresh herbs, so I ventured into the swamp that is the back garden and cut and chopped some Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. If I’d thought about it I’d have added some Parsley for obvious reasons. Added an egg to bind it (that could be a canticle line, couldn’t it) and some salt and pepper. Then it was time to get my hands dirty and massage the whole thing into a not too sticky ball that was cut into two then the balls were flattened to make rough burger shapes. One did go in the freezer, but it won’t last long in there, the other went into the fridge to chill.

Lunch time beckoned and it was an omelette for me and a slice of black pudding with some fried potatoes on the side. Was I really going to have room for dinner tonight, I asked myself? Yes, of course I would, just as long as I didn’t eat all of the omelette. For once I took my own advice. We watched and criticised the new Sunday morning politics show that’s being fronted by Sophie Raworth. Too many interruptions said Scamp.

I was just finishing off an epistle to Alex when I looked out the back window and saw a rainbow spread across the sky where there had only been grey clouds when I had started. Even better, there was sunshine too. Closed the laptop, (sorry Alex) and put on my boots and jacket and lugged a Sony A7 across to St Mo’s. Found some swans swimming in a vague line along the side of the pond and thought that might be PoD. Then I took the camera up to the small pond which was covered in ice and the ice was covered in water. I took a £1000+ camera and lens. Placed them gingerly on the wet ice of a pond. Gently pressed the shutter button. Didn’t breathe, but with my heart in my mouth whipped the camera away before the ice changed its mind. One look at the camera screen convinced me that I’d a PoD.

Walked home where I finished the email to Alex and gave him the first look at the PoD. Then it was time to cook the burger. Almost 15 minutes, 7min and a bit on each side then a resting time of about 10min while we had thin Sourdough toast and paté as a starter. Scamp had Roasted Cauliflower with Roasted Baby Tomatoes and I had a Handmade Burger with potatoes. Pudding was a Christmas Pudding with Posh Madagascar Custard. Actually, the Christmas Pudding and Posh Custard was the winner for both of us.

We rested for a while after that and coffee, then spoke to Jamie and found out about Fences, Water Softeners and Gardiners.

Finally finished the Hidden Palace, Hazel. Beautifully written book. I think I now need to read book 1 again to remind myself how all this came to pass. I do hope there is a book 3.

Tomorrow we may go out for a spin. I need to put some expensive alcohol in the Blue Car’s tank. I think Vodka would be cheaper than petrol, these days. <Thinks, can you run a petrol car on vodka?>

Snow there anymore – 8 January 2022

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The snow had almost gone when we woke today.

It was raining and the rain seemed to persist all day. On and off with little respite from it. We didn’t need to go out anywhere, so we didn’t. But that’s not true, we did go out, making the excuse that we needed milk, but that was in the afternoon. We just sat and read the news in the morning.

Eventually it seemed like a good idea, after lunch to go for a walk, more for the exercise than to get photos or to buy some milk. Two circuits of St Mo’s provided enough photographic evidence for today’s PoD which is an amalgam of two photos. Most of the leaf was sharp and detailed in the first shot, but the little curl at the top left of the leaf was sharper in the second. I used Affinity Photo, a much maligned, but very useful photo app to carefully glue the two images together to get the best of both world. Then it was back to Photoshop to deal with the ‘grain like golfballs’ that the process creates. There is no point in having two spectacularly useful apps and relying only on one. An Ansel Adams quote springs to mind: “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”

After walking round St Mo’s pond twice, once clockwise and once anti-clockwise, we continued down to the shops just as the rain started, and split up. Scamp to go to M&S while I went to Home Bargains. We met up again as the rain was tailing off and walked home.

Dinner tonight, we’d agreed would be courtesy of Golden Bowl. One Chicken Chop Suey with Fried Rice and one Special Chow Mein. I walked over to Condorrat to get them around 5pm and the paths were treacherous. Neither gritted nor snowploughed, they were one long sheet of ice. Luckily the grass on the verges was walkable with care, but there were a few dicey moments. I should really have worn my Yak Trax.

We watched some silly TV, including the first (and hopefully last) Masked Singer. Death in Paradise, after that was a serious manhunt by comparison.

Tomorrow it looks like more rain is forecast in the morning but with the hopes of a brighter and drier afternoon.

The snow came – 7 January 2022

Posted on by Zogman

When we woke, the land had been changed overnight.

Everywhere was blanketed in snow and there was even some more of the white stuff fluttering down from the clouds, but the sun was shining so it wasn’t all bad.

I put my boots on and went out early because the temperature was rising and there was water dripping from the tree in the garden. Not a second to waste if I was going to get the best snowy pictures today. The roads looked a bit slippery, so I decided I’d walk over to St Mo’s rather than driving much further. Surprisingly, with the schools still on holiday and a fair fall of snow on the ground, there were no sledges or sledgers to be seen. A sign of the times. In my day we couldn’t wait to get out there and freeze our extremities with sledging and snowball fights.

I didn’t have time for snowball fights. I was toting the A6000 with a macro lens and the A7 with an 18mm wide angle. One in each jacket pocket. First real target was a rosehip cluster on a bush just past the carpark. That got something worthwhile in the bag. Next was the lone tree in St Mo’s. Looking very elegant with a dusting of snow still clinging to its branches and a crow up near the top. I expected the bird to fly off as I got closer and closer, taking shots all the time. It never moved, almost daring me to come closer. I gave in eventually and let it win the standoff this time. Down on the boardwalk there were more photos to take of snowy footprints, but I was sure one of the tree shots would get PoD. I walked round the pond twice, taking pot shots all the time, but not really being satisfied with anything. Eventually I’d had enough and went home to get warm.

A cup of coffee soon warmed me up, and after lunch the postman came with some Christmas cards, delivered almost a month past their posting date. Also two letters for Scamp which apparently showed that the date for her op had been put back a day. That meant the op was now set for a Friday and we knew that the surgeon didn’t work on a Friday. She struggled through the maze of “Press 1 for blah. Press 2 for blah blah, etc. After waiting for about fifteen minutes, she finally got through to a human who told her that yes, the date on the letter was correct, but said she’d transfer her to the Eye Clinic, then cut her off. I found the phone number for the Eye Clinic and Scamp phoned it and spoke to someone who explained that the date on the letter was for a post-op check and that she was scheduled for the op on the Thursday with the surgeon we’d met back in December.

All was well, so to allow her to cool down, I went for a walk over to Condorrat to get some mince and potatoes for dinner. I also managed ten minutes in St Mo’s first. That’s where the real PoD came from. Happier with it than with any of the other shots.

Got instruction when I got back on how to build a mince pie the way my mum used to make it. It wasn’t nearly as good as my mum’s, and nowhere as good as Scamp’s, but it worked and surprisingly I don’t feel any reflux effects from it … so far.

Watched a film recommended by Hazy, ‘Judy’, about Judy Garland. If half of it was true, it must have been a terrifying childhood. You don’t realise just how lucky you are sometimes. After that we watched a Monty Don program about gardens in Venice. It was just like being there. Unfortunately, when we looked out the window afterwards, it wasn’t the Grand Canal we saw, but a garden with half melted snow that looked like it was beginning to freeze. Oh well!

Tomorrow looks like the thaw will start. Let’s hope it clears the snow away and we get out somewhere, anywhere.

Another day of swearing – 6 January 2022

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Swearing at the printer and the coffee maker, making a loaf, taking a few photos and making the dinner. My day in a nutshell.

The printer was being bad. It was as simple as that. It would print perfectly, then stop, chuck out the next two pages and then put on its red light to show it wasn’t happy. After trying lots of different things that you aren’t interested in hearing, I did what I should have done ages ago and removed it in its entirety from the iMac. Then I reinstalled all the stuff I’d taken off, and it worked perfectly for the rest of the day!

The coffee maker was being bad. I cleaned the portafilter, checked the filter itself and made sure it was clean. I checked the little hole in the filter cup wasn’t clogged. Filled it with coffee and set it to work, except it didn’t. It just held its breath and grumped, not releasing any life-giving coffee. So in true John Cleese fashion I gave it a damn good thrashing. I took the filter cup upstairs and used a nail and a cross pein hammer to enlarge that tiny little hole. No coffee ground is going to get stuck in there now. Maybe a coffee bean might manage to get lodged, but no coffee grounds. It would probably have been better to use a 1mm drill, but I didn’t have any. It worked perfectly after the thrashing.

The loaf knew better than to mess me about. It just worked, perfectly. I let the mixer do the hard kneading work and at the end of the process, a perfectly baked and slightly odd shaped loaf graced the cooling rack. Nice to know that some things just do what they’re told.

Scamp had taken the Wee Red Car out for a spin in the morning, just to make sure its battery was well charged, and also to get some messages. Fruit, veg a half price Christmas Pudding and a packet of tooth brushes were here prizes today. Oh yes, and I can report that the wee red car is looking very pumped up after its run. Pumped up and sparkling, actually, as you can see!.

It had been a very dull, wet and cold day with not a hint of sunshine until about 3pm when the sun broke loose from the clouds and shone on Cumbersheugh! On with the boots, camera in the bag and out looking for photos. I managed to grab a few shots of a couple of Coots before the swans came, demanding to be fed. Tomorrow I’ll take them some of the bread I made on Sunday. They won’t come asking again. They might not even get to the other side of the pond before they have that sinking feeling. It was a heavy loaf.

Dinner was Chicken Curry made with real chicken dated August 2021. Last year’s chicken that had been hiding at the back of the freezer. That poor cooker. It had all its four rings burning brightly. It’s a wonder it didn’t melt! One ring for the curry, one for the rice, one for the flat bread and one for the leftover chicken that couldn’t be re-frozen or put into the fridge while raw, but could go in after it had been cooked. Maybe it was because I couldn’t stand the heat, but I was finding it hard to keep my cool in the kitchen. More swearing ensued. Finish the day as you started it, that’s my motto!

Tomorrow there is snow forecast. In fact as I look out the window, it’s arriving early. We might manage a walk tomorrow, it depends if we get snowed in or not!

Bright and Cold – 5 January 2022

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Another day to stay at home if you’ve any sense.

I went out, of course. First I decided to wait in for the DPD man to come and pick up the Oly M1 Mk2. He arrived right on time. I handed over the parcel and he handed me the red receipt tag. With that done and dusted, had a look at the recipe I’d settled on making for dinner. It was Wednesday and Wednesday is Fish Day. I’d chosen to make Cod and Paprika Chowder. A lovely warm thick soup with chunks of fish in it. It used to be one of my favourite meals, but it has been a loooong time since I’ve made it. A quick read and it all came back.

I had stayed in all morning, but in the afternoon I was getting cabin fever, so I wrapped up warm, got in the car and drove over to Currys at Coatbridge to buy some photo paper. I did need the paper, but it was also a bit of an excuse to go out somewhere that wasn’t Cumbersheugh.

Beautiful day for a drive, just as long as you didn’t want to get out of the car. It was rather cold, even wrapped up as I was. I got the paper and chose a different route home. I’d gone by the straight road. I came home by the twisty minor roads. Much more fun to drive on, especially on a clear day like today. I stopped just above Condorrat by an avenue of beech tree and took a few shots. My favourites were one of the trees and another looking over the fields to the Campsie Fells. The trees got PoD, but the other is also on Flickr.

Back home and with some time until dinner needed to be ready, I started printing the photos for the calendars. That’s when things started to go wrong. The printer would only print one sheet at a time, then it spat out a blank page before shutting down. I tried everything I could think of. It’s a good printer that uses ink reservoirs that you fill up about once a year or sometimes once every two years! I checked the tanks and they were all 3/4 full, so not that. The printing format was right and the quality setting hadn’t been changed for ages. Eventually I downloaded an update. Epson updates take ages to install and really screw everything up. This one didn’t do anything other than remove all my custom printing settings. Eventually I did what it said on the FAQ and switched off a page setting. Lo and Behold, it worked. I’d printed two calendars by the the time to start dinner.

While I was swearing at the printer, Scamp was looking through old music books. She even found an old Watt Nicoll book of mine that I’d been looking for for months. Great memories in that collection of old books.

I made the dinner while Scamp played the piano. It started off with serious classical stuff, then segued into blues and jazz. Nice relaxing music to cook by. I really enjoy listening to her play. She makes it all seem so easy, but I know it’s not.

I found some old photos going back to 2003 in a folder. Tomorrow I intend putting them all on to the NAS. Not sure what would be the best way. I may have to do some bedtime reading!

Tomorrow we have no real plans. It looks like we may get some snow, but not until the evening (I hope).

 

Johnny Frosty – 4 January 2022

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Some folk have Jack Frost, but my mum always called him Johnny Frosty, pronounced “Joanny Froasty”

Joanny Froasty definitely was about this morning. He’d been up early to cover the cars with a crisp white coating. The temperature was still sub-zero when Scamp went to make breakfast. It was her turn. We chose not to rush to get up because it was warm in bed and we both had good books to read. Let those who wanted to go to work, go. We’d stay and mind the house.

We did eventually get up and since it was such a lovely crisp morning, I suggested a walk. Maybe just a short one around St Mo’s pond. Scamp wasn’t sure. She’s not too keen on walking when it’s icy and we were pretty sure it was going to be icy. It was. We had to walk on the grass most of the way over to the park and then again on the grass until we were up the hill and under the cover of the trees where there isn’t ever much standing water to turn into ice. The rest of the fairly recently laid tarmac was an ice rink. A sloping ice rink that threatened to slide you down into the pond itself. Luckily the grass was still boggy and gave a better grip. Next time, if it’s still icy, we’ll dig out the Yak Trax. I was just reading last years blog yesterday about how we could crunch across the icy paths with these steel shod feet. What clever folk Mr Yak and Mrs Trax were.

I took some photos as we walked round the pond and they looked good on the camera screen, so I was content to limit our walk to just the one circuit. Scamp agreed and we walked back, sticking to the grass where we could.

After lunch it was time to take down the decorations, the cards and the tree. Now they are all bagged and boxed and waiting for me to put them in the loft until next year. The place did look a bit bare, but not for long.

I wasn’t impressed with the photos taken in St Mo’s once I’d downloaded them from the camera and decided there was just enough time to grab some more before the sun set. It was much colder than when we had our walk this morning. The sun was low now and not nearly as warming as it had been, however I did get some shots I liked and was heading home when I saw three different skeins of geese all travelling west. Probably heading for a grassy field not far away which seems to support many groups of geese on their journey south. It’s great to watch these flights of birds and even better to listen to them calling to each other. I often wonder what they are saying. But the cold was beginning to bite now and I headed home.

These photos were much better and I actually got three good enough to go on Flickr. My favourite, and PoD was the one you see here of the weed with the ice melt forming balls of water, with setting sun behind them.

My next task was to find out how much MPB would give me for my hardly used Oly E-M1 Mk2. The good thing about selling through them is that you get an instant quote, based on your estimated condition for the camera. I was happy with the quoted price and downloaded the form which never prints properly the first time. I finally got it printed, filled in and signed. Then I had to find all the bits and pieces that had to go in the box along with the camera. With it all boxed up it was time for dinner. Scamp was making a J&S speciality, Bacon and Borlotti Beans. Great recipe, beautifully cooked.

Last thing to do was to wrap up the parcel to be uplifted by DPD tomorrow. I was a wee bit sad to be sending that lovely camera away, but I hadn’t used it for months and it seemed a shame to just have it sitting there when I could get some money from it. Of course I have a way for that money to go!

Tomorrow I’d like to get some photo paper and we need a wall calendar too. Scamp has volunteered to wait in for the parcel.