Category: Weemen

Saint Paddy’s Day – 17 March 2017

Posted on by Zogman

It rained.  Scamp started cooking almost as soon as she rose this morning.  That meant the kitchen was off limits to me, so I had a more leisurely start to the day, but after that she decided we should go out for lunch *somewhere*. The *somewhere* turned out to be Dobbies at Milngavie.  What a bad decision.

<rant>As one of the Cumbersheugh Foodies, I have to say that this will be the last lunch I have in Dobbies.  We paid £9.90 for a ‘miserable’ tuna toastie and a ‘crap’ turkey and cranberry toastie.  I’ve never been a great fan of Dobbies, but since it was recently sold by Tesco, it has plumbed new depths in food preparation and presentation.  I can’t speak for the tuna toastie, but it did look ridiculously thin. What I will say is that two wafer thin slices of reconstituted turkey on a bed of pink jam, sandwiched between two pieces of doughy bread do not constitute a turkey and cranberry toastie.  Please Dobbies, get your act sorted out or get out of the kitchen.</rant>

Drove back via M&S to get more food for tonight, then Lidl to get even more food and also, importantly, beer for tonight.  Then it was back home and both of us started cooking.  Scamp making Pineapple Snow and me making bread preparing the roast veg and checking the venison casserole.  Then Scamp back in the kitchen making fruit crumble.  Maybe we should take over the food section of Dobbies, we couldn’t do any worse.

Today’s photo is of the Ninjar in the jungle (AKA downstairs toilet).

It’s still raining

A Posh Lunch – 11 March 2017

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp had booked us a posh lunch today at the Blythswood.  It was an Itison voucher lunch, but a posh one, none the less.  This was our second posh lunch this week.

As it happened, neither of us were over impressed with the Blythswood or the lunch.  Now don’t get me wrong, the food was good, just not great and the surroundings were nice, just not all that impressive.  Maybe we are being over critical or maybe places like this aren’t trying all that hard for the voucher brigade.  I don’t know what the answer is.  The food was Smoked Hake starter for Scamp and Chicken Liver Parfait for me, followed by Chicken Supreme for both of us.  Like I said, good but not great.

After lunch we got the subway out to Byres Road and walked through the Botanic Gardens which are celebrating their bicentenary this year.  Usually we just walk through the Kibble palace, but this time we took in both glasshouses.  Oh, it was almost like being back in Trinidad with the heat and the humidity.  However, alas and alack, when we came out it was just Glasgow humidity.  It was raining.  Not heavy rain, just a Scottish smir.

We thought we had nothing more to do than dodge across the street and go for a drink in Oran Mor.  Unfortunately, that was not to be.  The place was mobbed.  Not a seat to be had anywhere.  Most of the punters seemed to be engrossed in Scotland getting gubbed by the english again, at rugby this time.  Instead of a drink, we walked down Byres Road and got a piece of Tuna for tomorrow’s dinner, then got the subway back into town and walked up to get the bus home.

Just as the driver started the engine, I saw this wee wummin running across the road, arms outstretched like a scarecrow, carrying two bags in one hand and one in the other, trying frantically to catch the driver’s eye.  As he put the bus into reverse to exit the stance, I saw her visibly deflate as she realised that she had another 30 minute wait in front of her, because he wasn’t going to open the bus doors.  I don’t know what she said, but I’m sure it wasn’t “Oh dear”.

<Technospeak>
Back home, I think I’ve parted company with Dropbox.  It seems that my temporary term with 10GB of storage is rapidly coming to an end and the 2GB I’ll have in a week or so just won’t cover my requirements.  So I have to move my backup to Google Drive which generously gives me 15GB.  There is a ‘but’ and the ‘but’ in question is, ‘but it is the very devil to set up’.  I’d read up on it last night and didn’t understand a word.  Tonight I found a YouTube video explaining in words of one syllable how to do it, so I got started.  After an hour and a half of setting up a project, getting a ‘secret’, authorising it, failing, authorising it again, failing, resetting my ‘secret’ before authorising again and this time succeeding, it now seem that I have a new home for my WordPress backup.  I felt a bit like the wee wummin.  I had just thought I’d caught the Google Driver’s eye, but then he pulled out of the stance.  Never mind, it’s done now and I hope the wee wummin is home with her three bags full.
</Technospeak>

Today’s photos are from the Botanic Gardens and also a couple from Tobago.  You see Hazy, Shug and Tam did go on their holidays.

Celtic are at home to Rangers tomorrow.  We’re hoping to go for a walk down “The Green”.  Need to go early to avoid the battles.

Fog – 21 January 2017

Posted on by Zogman

Woke to fog, thick, cloying grey fog.  We hoped it would burn off because we were sure there was a sun up there, the weather fairies had said so.  They lied.

We waited until midday and there was still little respite from the fog, so we went out in it anyway, hoping against hope that it was the Cumbernauld Cloud, but it wasn’t.  It wasn’t until we were nearing Tillicoultry that the fog magically cleared.  Scamp was just saying that Fifers must pay a special fog tax and then we drove back into the fog again.  If they are paying the fog tax then they are being stung!  We wandered round the outlet village had a cup of coffee and came home.  The fog was lighter for a while, then thickened and merged seamlessly into the Cumbernauld Cloud.

What a grey day.

Today’s PoD is the second in my Words Ending In ‘ation’ series.  The rules are:

  • It must contain at least one Weeman.
  • It must have a one word title ending in …ation.
  • It must prevent me taking a photo of a flower.

Oh yes, and this is the sketch of the week.  Apples and Oranges.

I think it’s going to rain tomorrow.  I hope not, but I think it will.

There’s been a Murder! – 19 January 2017

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Not a real one, or at least not one I’ve had anything to do with … honest!

After completing my initial roadie’s duties for Scamp and Gems today I had a couple of hours free to do as I wanted.  I wanted to drive in to Glasgow to get some sketching done before my Sunday cut-off.  That’s what I wanted to do, but I didn’t achieve it.  I got in to Glasgow without any problem, but when I got there, the two parking places I was heading for were full and I found my third, and realistically my last option given my time constraints, being taken away by a white BMW as I was driving towards it.  Nae luck.  The parking gods were against me, so I turned around and headed back home.  I stopped off to get ice cream at Soave’s in Muirhead so it wouldn’t have been a totally wasted journey.  Scamp has tempted me into joining her in her passion for Scottish Tablet Ice Cream.  It really is lovely.

I’d just got home and stashed the ice cream in the freezer when she phoned to tell me that ’George her faithful Roadie’ 1 was once again required to drive the stars home.  Got home and remembered that I didn’t have a PoD and it was too dark by then to get anything at all, let alone anything with a decent ISO rating.  Then I remembered seeing a framed photo in the Design Fair in Merchant Square before Christmas.  It was of a group of tiny wee 1/72 scale figures dressed as a forensic team photographing a dictionary open at the word ‘Murder’.  I don’t have any of these really expensive figures that would do for the project, but I do have plenty of minifigs, the notorious Weemen and so I got to work setting it up.  I used the Oly 10 because you can remote control it with an iPhone through a private WiFi connection.  No, I don’t understand it either, but it works.  After a couple of dummy runs I had the PoD you see above.

That’s about it for the day.  Tomorrow I’m hoping to park at the station and let the train take the strain in to Glasgow.  A much better idea, because they can park it for me too.

  1. “George my faithful Roadie” is a track on Billy Connolly’s 1974 album, “Cop Yer Whack For This”  Listen to the track HERE ↩

What a grey day – 19 November 2016

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eb192369-flickr-2

After such a lovely bright, cheerful day yesterday, today dawned dull and uninspiring.  After we dropped JIC and Sim off to meet their old friends, we headed into Glasgow.  J&S were heading there too, but by train, luckily.  When we got on to the M80 the CITRAC lit up with the joyful news that there was congestion after Junction 4.  At 1.30 on a Saturday afternoon, congestion on the M80 can only mean football traffic.  We never did find out what had caused the holdup because we cut our journey short and left at the Robroyston turnoff just after the queue had started.  After a wander around the limited variety of shops and a coffee, we headed back.  By this time the football fanatics were all safely ensconced in their seats in the rain watching 22 men chasing a ball while one man, dressed in black, tries to control them.  What fun.

When I opened the Macbook Pro this morning it just sat there.  As far as I could remember, when I’d closed the lid last night there was about 40% in the tank.  Where had it gone, or had it gone and was it just joshing me?  When it finally loaded, it proudly displayed 0%.  So where had it gone?  I looked all round the table where the MBP sits and I couldn’t find any juice lying around.  Then I checked Coconut Battery 3, my go-to app for the truth about the battery.  First thing to notice that the design capacity bar was red, not good.  It read 25.6%.  Not good at all.  I tried charging it up to 100% and completely discharging it, before charging it up to 100% again and discharging it again.  Nope, it sticks resolutely to 25.6% capacity.  I’ll overcharge it now and see what it’s like after that.  If it doesn’t work, then it’s time to call in the Weemen (Should that be WeeXY now?  Naw, it’s Weemen) Repair Team to fit a new battery.  That’s why I gave them the opportunity to hone their skill before I need to call them in for the big job.

Meanwhile I’m filling up the new external HDD.  It looks like it’ll take more time than I expected, but hopefully it will mean the photos will be more secure for a while longer.

Rough looking weather forecast for our visitors to fly into tomorrow, but it looks like the worst will be past long before they land.

Just another Saturday – 23 April 2016

Posted on by Zogman

Page_1-2- flickr--114After yesterday’s biz, today was just another Saturday.

We went to Stirling and bumped into Scamp’s sister and her daughter (the same ones from yesterday) in our favourite curry shop. I wouldn’t have bothered going back there after the disappointments of our last two visits, but I’m glad we did. The menu, if more expensive, had gone back to its previous old faithfuls and I’m guessing the chef was back from his/her sabbatical because the food tasted like it used to. The only stumbling block was the nan bread which we both agreed was too soft and doughy. We’ll let them work on it.

Walked round Stirling shopping centre. That didn’t take very long. Stirling, apart from the castle and the old buildings leading up to it, isn’t all that interesting. More and more shops closed in the shopping mall it’s a sign of the times. Not as bad as Dunfermline the other day. Things are getting bad when the Cash Converter shop closes down. Anyway, we didn’t linger long in Stirling and drove home empty handed apart from a Thunderball ticket that proved not even worth the paper it was printed on. Oh well.

Today’s photo is the final one in the series of Shug and Tam meet the Queen. By the way, just in case you were wondering, it has nothing to do with Mrs McQueen turning 90. It’s just such a nice wee minifig, I thought I’d like to do something with it. I’m done with Comic Life for a while. I’d forgotten just how irritating it was to work with. Until you’ve experienced it, it’s difficult to explain just how badly coded it is. Even the version 1 as its flaws, the most annoying is when it loses focus on the object being edited. Leave it for a while to get its wind back and focus returns. Not something you want to happen when you are working to a deadline, so I doubt if you’d use this on a commercial basis. However, it cost me nothing so I shouldn’t complain, but I always do 😉

To those who read my blog posts, I apologise for the number of updates to it recently as I struggled to add two short videos. I finally worked out today that the only video format that WordPress would abide was MP4. I was sure I’d added a MOV once, but I was wrong. It was only when I was checking the HTML code today that I realised my error. I may not embed any more videos for some time, but hopefully I’ll remember that I wrote this explanation – partly to you and partly to myself!

A really lovely day – 20 April 2016

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comboToday was a lovely day from start to finish – unless you were a Rangers supporter because they were beaten 3 – 2 by Hibernian for some cup or league or other.  Personally, I couldn’t care less.

Stayed in in the morning waiting for the postman to bring my second camera strap.  This one destined for my E-PL5 or ‘5 as it’s now known.  While I was waiting, I put my boots on and went and cut the front grass.  It seemed a shame to just sit there on the step soaking up the rays when I could be doing some useful work and since Scamp had a muscle pain in her arm, the grass cutting would probably make it worse.  Postman arrived just as I was finishing and he did indeed have the strap.  A bit wider and more colourful than the previous black one.  I’m quite impressed with the quality of these straps.

After a quick bite to eat I rolled the bike out and went for a run.  The weather couldn’t have been better.  Almost no wind and a blue dome above me.  It’s a while since I’ve had a chance to wander over one of the wilderness walks and a bike is the only way to get there.  No parking places nearby, so a bit of exploration and some exercise too.  Didn’t do very many miles today, only about 6 miles all in, but hopefully I’ll get more done during the summer.  I meant to mention in yesterday’s blog that I saw my first swallows yesterday.  Three definite sightings.

As I was leaving, Scamp started painting an old orange box that will hopefully hold her sweet peas.  The orange box must be over 30 years old and came from my mum and dad’s house.  It’s wooden, probably beech and originated from Cyprus.  It might have been my brother Alex’s toy box at one time.  Notice the carefully mown lawn in the background!

While I was out I managed to get the shot of the spider hanging from its web.  I liked the translucency of the body with the light shining through it.

Before I went out I took the preparatory shots for the Weemen picture and finished it off tonight in Comic Life via Photoshop.  One more to go in the series.

Salsa tonight was easy as far as moves were concerned, but hard on the legs and feet.  Scamp says it’s because of the concrete floor.  I don’t know if that’s true, but it was sore on my wee feet.

May go in to Glasgow tomorrow if the weather holds.

Endorphins again

Posted on by Zogman

Page_1-2- flickr--108A dull morning.  Cold and dull.

Afternoon was spent trying to ignore the ignorant Rangers supporters next door stamping and shouting their team on to an eventual win, while we watched the F1 cars whizzing around a hot track in China.  Neither of these sporting events really improved my mood.

Scamp wanted to go to the Sunday Social at Mercado in Glasgow.  I wasn’t totally over the moon about driving and parking in Glasgow city centre just after an Old Firm game.  We’d never been to Mercado, but had heard that the floor wasn’t great for dancing.  I thought I might just have enough time to go out and get today’s PoD, but just as I was going out, the rain came on.  Plan 2.  I’d left the ‘weemen’ setup and tripod in position in the spare room.  I took three of four shots of the same scene as before with differing focus points.  At least I’d have a potential PoD.

On the off chance that it would improve my mood, I drove in to Glasgow.  Tried to park in an NCP carpark just round from Mercado.  Luckily I didn’t have enough change to pay the exorbitant £6 for 2 hours.  Drove back round and parked on the street 100m away.  Parking free on a Sunday.  A bit further to walk, but a saving of £6.  NCP Normal Costly Parking.

Maybe it was the endorphins again, but after 2 hours of almost non-stop dancing, I walked out in a totally different mood.  Maybe it’s not anything so scientific, but there’s something in this salsa dancing that gives me sore feet, but lifts my spirits.  Watched a few ‘rubber men’ wandering around bemused with smiles on their faces and Rangers scarfs.  Maybe they were experiencing the effects of endorphins too.  Saw a few sad looking green and white dressed men too.  It’s a strange game this football.

The image  for this PoD is two shots.  One focused on the Queen and one on Shug and Tam.  I exported them from Lightroom as layers into Photoshop and painted a mask on Shug and Tam’s layer to allow the Queen to show through from the lower layer.  This gave the effect of sharp focus on the front pair and on the Queen at the rear of the stage while the ‘subjects’ were out of focus, a physical impossibility, but essential to the conversation.  The text was laid on using Comic Life V1 which, thankfully, I’d retained when I updated to V2.  Sometimes updates do more damage than good.  That’s why I’m still using Mountain Lion instead of the allegedly borked El Capitan on the Mac.  I’ll continue to use it until it isn’t practical anymore.

Hopefully a warmer day tomorrow.

Green Fingers – 14 April 2016

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CROWN- flickr--105Turned to my gardening side today and planted onions and peas, two rows of each. That and a coffee with Fred was my lot for today. Another uninspiring day that started well, then fell away.

Today’s photo kind of sums up the day, uninspired. I decided to use Comic Life to add some text to the Weemen picture. I’d forgotten just how awkward this app is to use. Clumsy isn’t the word for it, it’s just a nightmare. I got mine for free from work, but I see it’s on the App Store for £22.99. For £2.99 it might be worth the money, but it’s not worth any more than that. Version 1 was good, but version 2 became unwieldy and simply too much trouble for what it produces. I think it goes back in the box again and I’ll forget it for another year or so.

Brightest lights today were a phone call from Hazy, coffee with Fred and dinner from Sheila. Even today’s sudoku was a nightmare. Tomorrow will be better.

Queen for a Day – 12 April 2016

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P4120083- flickr--103A dismal day. Rain and more rain. Almost as if I’d predicted it yesterday, the cloud was low and milky white. Not dark grey, because that would have allowed some texture and I could have worked with that, just milky white and white clouds don’t hold a lot of rain, so that is why it drizzled all day.

I decided to use the flat lighting as illumination only and planned a table top photo. It was also a chance to introduce the minifig I got from Hazy to the rest of my “Weemen”. Although the Queen (or Mrs McQueen to give her her proper title) was the main subject, I thought it would be good to take the photo from behind her podium and leave Dennis to take the official photo from the press gallery. Just a little bit of nonsense for a dull day.