Bumping into a pal...

The lovely man and I met this friend while we wandered about in Stockbridge yesterday. It's always nice to see friends unexpectedly. Here she is with him.

Later on we met some other friends and had a lovely Thai meal. Here's another picture with sleepyduck near the castle. The restaurant wasn't far from here.

I have been very lacking in inspiration and motivation lately and have been erratic in looking at blogs. I will catch up soon. I was feeling a bit low last week as I heard that I didn't get the job. I gave a good interview and was second best yet again. Sadly that isn't enough when it comes to job interviews. My lovely weekend has cheered me up and I shall be back with a vengeance next week. 

Another photofriend has begun a blog. Do check him out at http://themindlesseye.blogspot.com/

Visit to Glasgow Museum of Transport

It was a lovely weekend with the lovely man as usual. We went to Glasgow's Museum of Transport as it will soon be closing and moving to another venue. We've been there and taken photos before but it was nice to go back. My resistance to setting the ISO high meant that I didn't get as many good photos as I should have but I liked this one in mono. I love the floor pattern in that bit of the museum.

After that we went to Mother India - just opposite Glasgow's Art Gallery and Museum. It's a great restaurant that serves Indian food in a tapas style so you buy lots of little dishes. The food is excellent. 

I'm having some trouble concentrating as I haven't heard how I did in my job interview yet. I'm hoping I'll hear tomorrow but I hope you've all still got everything crossed. 

Hope you've been having a lovely weekend. I'm a bit behind with all of your blogs but I'll catch up soon.

Chinese New Year in Glasgow

I could hear drums as I walked along a street in the city centre today. The source of the sound was this group who were celebrating Chinese New Year. I watched the dragon dancing for a while. In this shot it is leaving the building. At one point inside the restaurant I could see people standing and holding glasses up in the direction of the dragon.

It was a pleasant interlude to witness on my trip today. I was out looking for interview clothes and am now equipped for Friday afternoon. Hope you've still got those fingers crossed for me.

Finger puppet fun

This little chap didn't want to feed the ducks yesterday. I don't blame him as it was a bit grey and damp. Instead we had a lot of fun with finger puppets. We also had cake. Yum!

Here are some pictures of the stars of the show.

You may notice a a shady character in the background... 

Here's another shot I really liked.

It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Cow disguises itself as a car

I heard the moo but I wasn't sure whether I was seeing a car disguised as a cow or  a cow disguised as a car. The view from behind clinched it when it flicked its tail. 

Cars do not have tails. It must therefore have been a cow disguised as a car. Good disguise don't you think?

It's been a lovely weekend. Mr Duck and I had a bit of a wander around the Royal Mile before going for a meal in a Kurdish restaurant with a friend. I took the opportunity to get some lensbaby pictures and took a few that I liked.

Here is the lovely duck himself.

It's a little tricky getting the focus as sharp as I'd like when trying to capture what's happening around me since the lensbaby requires manual focus but it was nice to be playing with it again. All these are yesterday's photos and there are many more on my Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/impoftheyard/

I took some lovely pictures today which I'll share with you tomorrow as I've still to sort them all out. Those of you who explore my blog links may have noticed a new one. It's called Stretching my Comfort Zone This is definitely worth a look if you are interested in photography. I particularly like this woman's colour projects. 

I hope you've been having a good weekend. It's time for me to make a cup of tea...

Seeking signs of spring

I was in a very springlike mood this afternoon when I went out in search of a pint of milk and some signs that spring was approaching. The first thing I found was in the frozen pond.

Not very spring like but pretty, nonetheless. 

The poor ducks and other birds were inclined to mob passersby with bread as there still is not a lot water that isn't frozen. I hadn't seen so many of them here before. 

After I searched and searched I saw a couple of tiny buds on a branch that looked like they might be pushing the tiniest bit of new growth. I looked a many branches before I saw this. I did photograph it with my macro filters but not very successfully without having a tripod. 

The other sign of spring I saw was the behaviour of the pigeons though I have to confess, I've seen them trying to charm the girl pigeons all through the winter. 

It would seem for now that my belief that spring is on its way remains an article of faith rather than something I can find much evidence for here yet. It remains bitterly cold but the sunny afternoons we've been having are cheering though I still do envy those of you across Europe who are seeing the spring well on its way.

Do you think they saw the camera?

I have a liking for candid shots so here's one. I don't think they spotted the camera at all. Do you?

I had a lovely evening catching up with old friends. I've only seen the person on the left twice in around 20 years. It was good to catch up.

Now I'm home and I have the munchies so I'm off to raid the cupboards....

Cafe visit

K and I went shopping today and then had a few coffees. Here he is in one of our favourite local cafes. This is not the best photograph I've taken of him but I liked it for all the action elsewhere - the woman behind and all the paintings. 

I cancelled my appointment with the doctor today as I feel I'm on the mend at last. I'm still coughing a little and a bit sniffy but definitely much improved. I'm so glad. It's been a long time to have a cold for!

I'm hoping to get a bit more experimental with my photos. Watch this space and you might eventually see something different. 

Hope your week has started well. I've had a pleasant enough start to mine.

Relaxing Saturday...

We're having a quiet and relaxing Saturday. I can smell the duck we have in oven - yum! Hope you're having a good weekend.

What a tasty walking stick!

Here is my lovely great niece discovering the joys of eating walking sticks while sitting on granny's knee. These photos were taken at a high ISO and are therefore pretty grainy. We had a lovely afternoon celebrating my niece's 30th birthday and playing with the little on.

Here she is exploring a lovely beard.

All these new discoveries are tiring...

Now the lovely man has arrived and I'm enjoying a relaxing weekend. Sadly, I'm still coughing so it will be a visit to the doc next week. 

I have had some good news - a job interview in a couple of weeks time. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Night out...

Here's my friend G. You may have seen him before in my photos. Last night we attended the opening of an exhibition of his paintings. It was a small community venue and was a really nice event. He is pictured here in the pub where we met up before it. 

It was the first day in more than a week that I had ventured out of the house at all - apart from when I had essential stuff to do on Friday. That was due to having the cold. I am still not fully recovered but am feeling a lot better and it was so good to see the outside world again. 

Here is a small sample of paintings from the exhibition. 

We have the snow back in Glasgow at the moment. It started snowing a bit before I went out last night. When we went out in the snow later I really liked the patterns formed by it on this bush. 

It's a shaky shot but I liked that about it too.

Here he is as a younger man

Here is my friend K - a very regular star on my blog given he lives near me now. Our friendship has lasted many years. This photo was taken some time between 1988 and 1994.

I have resolved the problems I was having with getting my HP Scanjet 4750C to work with the new Mac operating system Snow Leopard. HP have stopped producing new drivers. Using Parallels Desktop, I created a virtual drive and installed Windows XP. I was able to install the scanner there. I am very pleased with myself! 

The other good news today is that I am far better rested and finally beginning to recover from my cold. To celebrate, I think I'll play with my scanner some more....

Happy Tuesday!

Entertaining

My friend K came round this evening and I cooked for him. I made a lamb stew that was really tasty. It was great to have some company as I'm still not well enough to go out and about and I'm beginning to feel a bit stir crazy. I used it as an opportunity to play with my tripod and set it up pointing at K's seat. I took lots of photos using the remote as he was talking to me. I really liked this image. I have a particular liking for how expressive hands are.