What a Year 2017 was! I was mighty glad to see the back of it.
In January we were waiting for a call to go into ARI for a triple heart bypass. That was a shock to start with as we had no idea of that. It all started with a check up, ecg and being sent for an angiogram and a possible stent at ARI snowballed into this. We had a family wedding at the end of October and G was being careful as he was getting a bit more breathless but at that point we had not had a meeting with the surgeon, Diagnosed at the end of August, saw surgeon at end of November, and expected the op to be sometime February/March but that came and went. Then the letter that they could not meet the time given and nothing given as a possibility.
Tuesday 1 September 2020
Friday 12 January 2018
Wheeling Whaup's Year with her Camera (A Year with My Camera - Sandra)
I've always loved taking photos since I got a shot of Mum's Brownie camera when I was small. I thought this was a kind of magic. I think I learnt to think before pressing the shutter and knew about looking for where the sun was and shadows but little else. I progressed to my own Brownie and then up the levels where did pick up a bit on fast films/slow films but apertures shutter speeds and so on remained unknown. I did try developing my own films in late teens and by time I was in university I had progressed to semi automatic. All these basically point and shoot as I look back. Somehow I progressed by recording travels with various point and shoot slides and colour prints but never thought deeply about how you could achieve different results. That does not mean to say that I did not have some superb results - I did, but they were a large element of luck.
Then along came digital and point and shoot became so so easy and any complete fiasco could be zapped so no-one knew. I had taken out library books but they were so 'techy' I lost interest pretty fast. I did try an odd course of a day, but the tech speak really got me. When I got my first Lumix with a zoom, new horizons opened and I realised that this wee machine was a wee miracle. By now the camera was for recording travels and time for recording was limited as moved on with group. A light weight wee miracle filled the bill precisely. With a great zoom I could capture some photos of birds which delighted me and with macro could record wild flowers for later identification, but was increasingly aware that I could achieve other things, but courses were all talking stops. etc that turned me cold. I had seen the book A Year with My Camera when looking for 'guide books' and kept coming back to it. I checked out the website and was more intrigued as this looked like like a dooable thing for me. Well I signed up. got my email. joined the facebook group, got the books and disciplined myself to not dive in, and got the planner at which point I nearly panicked. Those 30 photos! What on earth did some of those mean? Extreme edit? Eh? Abstract? Self portrait - I hate getting photo taken and selfies left me cold. I have never used the self timer on my cameras - yet, texture - what? Then I saw some of what others were posting and started to think. I've got some which cover that. So I have been going through my photos and I do have some already but all are basically on auto which is wonder gizmo and which to me is essential for group travel. But I do want to get control.
So week 1 assignment taking a photo on auto of white paper and black paper to see what the camera does. White paper was no problem but the only black I could lay my hands on was shiny and textured. I was pretty certain that the texture and matt had to be more or less equal to give a scientific type result, so after a bit of thought came up with a white t shirt and a black one. I had the equipment, but the light in the north of Scotland just now is none too brilliant and we had entered a spell of dark cloud covered sky with what we call smirr. Would the weather play ball? Well suddenly we had a sunny blink and as fast as possible set up grabbed the shots, grabbed mobile and tablet too and six photos. I was flabbergasted at the grey results. I understand what the camera sees!
Week 2 email in today. Next challenge as to where you get control of the apertures on my camera? Where do I set up the shooting session which requires bright conditions? What will be the subject? Camera manual looked out and weather forecasts checked. Mmmm Subject still not determined. Location still to be determined.
But on delivering things around the village today, I spotted likely looking subjects for the 30 day so.....
I am going to learn how to use my camera see......
Week 2 cont, Well I dug out my camera manual and found the bit which said apertures. I also discovered all sorts of other things I never knew were there. It seems this camera can sing, dance, turn somersaults and virtually everything else you can think off. A gnarled ring appears to control this selection but it is rather fine and my fingers suddenly seem very large and clumsy. I need to find the lowest number f stop and at the other end the highest number. This is going to be rather a delicate manoevre and into the bargain, I still have not a clue on the subject which must be set up in the place with the brightest spot outside. So now I think I need to find the tripod to eliminate camera shake, as well as find subject for this exercise. Then there is the question of light - bright light - and the forecast is dodgy again.
So practice using that delicate wheel to find the stops available.
find tripod,
decide on subject to show the aim,
watch for best bright location in garden.
pray for a decent spell to get photos.
But then there is that #make 30 photos challenge to add to as well. The auto facility is really appealing and will be until I can control that wee wheel. That is what I hope to achieve in one year. I am not expecting to be a wizard in 2 weeks
Then along came digital and point and shoot became so so easy and any complete fiasco could be zapped so no-one knew. I had taken out library books but they were so 'techy' I lost interest pretty fast. I did try an odd course of a day, but the tech speak really got me. When I got my first Lumix with a zoom, new horizons opened and I realised that this wee machine was a wee miracle. By now the camera was for recording travels and time for recording was limited as moved on with group. A light weight wee miracle filled the bill precisely. With a great zoom I could capture some photos of birds which delighted me and with macro could record wild flowers for later identification, but was increasingly aware that I could achieve other things, but courses were all talking stops. etc that turned me cold. I had seen the book A Year with My Camera when looking for 'guide books' and kept coming back to it. I checked out the website and was more intrigued as this looked like like a dooable thing for me. Well I signed up. got my email. joined the facebook group, got the books and disciplined myself to not dive in, and got the planner at which point I nearly panicked. Those 30 photos! What on earth did some of those mean? Extreme edit? Eh? Abstract? Self portrait - I hate getting photo taken and selfies left me cold. I have never used the self timer on my cameras - yet, texture - what? Then I saw some of what others were posting and started to think. I've got some which cover that. So I have been going through my photos and I do have some already but all are basically on auto which is wonder gizmo and which to me is essential for group travel. But I do want to get control.
So week 1 assignment taking a photo on auto of white paper and black paper to see what the camera does. White paper was no problem but the only black I could lay my hands on was shiny and textured. I was pretty certain that the texture and matt had to be more or less equal to give a scientific type result, so after a bit of thought came up with a white t shirt and a black one. I had the equipment, but the light in the north of Scotland just now is none too brilliant and we had entered a spell of dark cloud covered sky with what we call smirr. Would the weather play ball? Well suddenly we had a sunny blink and as fast as possible set up grabbed the shots, grabbed mobile and tablet too and six photos. I was flabbergasted at the grey results. I understand what the camera sees!
Week 2 email in today. Next challenge as to where you get control of the apertures on my camera? Where do I set up the shooting session which requires bright conditions? What will be the subject? Camera manual looked out and weather forecasts checked. Mmmm Subject still not determined. Location still to be determined.
But on delivering things around the village today, I spotted likely looking subjects for the 30 day so.....
I am going to learn how to use my camera see......
Week 2 cont, Well I dug out my camera manual and found the bit which said apertures. I also discovered all sorts of other things I never knew were there. It seems this camera can sing, dance, turn somersaults and virtually everything else you can think off. A gnarled ring appears to control this selection but it is rather fine and my fingers suddenly seem very large and clumsy. I need to find the lowest number f stop and at the other end the highest number. This is going to be rather a delicate manoevre and into the bargain, I still have not a clue on the subject which must be set up in the place with the brightest spot outside. So now I think I need to find the tripod to eliminate camera shake, as well as find subject for this exercise. Then there is the question of light - bright light - and the forecast is dodgy again.
So practice using that delicate wheel to find the stops available.
find tripod,
decide on subject to show the aim,
watch for best bright location in garden.
pray for a decent spell to get photos.
But then there is that #make 30 photos challenge to add to as well. The auto facility is really appealing and will be until I can control that wee wheel. That is what I hope to achieve in one year. I am not expecting to be a wizard in 2 weeks
Monday 23 June 2014
That Mock Referendum for Moray Schools!
There was something awfully odd about the results of that referendum on 18th June. The result gleefully declared by a member of the Moray Youth Council (who?) was so far out of step with all the others, it was immediately questionable. (As an aside Moray Council apparently consulted the young re libraries with some odd responses too. Was it this group only?)
The claim was made that all Moray pupils eligible to vote in September were on this voters roll. That means all those in S4,5 and 6 on paper. Well no, as quite a few on the S4 roll will not be 16 until after 18th September - nothing unusual as it depends on the intake dates which do not correspond to referendum dates. Some 1700 youngsters appear to be on the roll.
These youngsters apparently had had talks from all sides and debated the issue. When? Leading up to 18th June? Errr - yes. All of them?
Why the skepticism - well from end of April until 6th or 7th June the SQA exams were in full swing and it would seem other things would be taking priority. Besides the schools have study leave so all the candidates were not in school to participate in talks/debates. Rural youngsters would also have transport issues. The group involved in exams - S4,5 6.
Furthermore to this, many of these pupils would be leaving school once their exams were finished and not all finished on 6th June, by any means. Leavers forms would be completed and the youngsters leave as and when, so the eligible roll would be diminished. Now its one of the quirks of school administration that school leavers remain on school rolls until the end of the school year, so we've got ghosts on the roll. Some appear to have been 'genned' up to come in to vote. Many knew nothing about it at all, and for many excellent reasons maybe could not come into vote, even if they had known. Thought crosses mind - were these in the know sort of 'selected'.
Now there is every good reason for the youngsters - all of them, get information from all sides, debate it ask questions about it and so on. Well its what all should be doing. What is bothersome, is that far from all those on the 'voters roll' had equal access to information - all the information.Reports are coming in that many did not know anything. Why not?
An equally odd thing thing is that those returning to school after the exams, come back to a new timetable.The whole school move up a year to new timetables. Therefore the eligible voters would now be in S5 and 6 only and not all of S5 are old enough. New S4 are not eligible. These returning youngsters would be concerned with sorting out next sessions' courses, helping with the visiting P7 inductions and not Referendum debates.
As said earlier, the results were odd - very odd and some of the possible reasons are here. It does not appear to have been clear and open to all eligible 'young voters'.
The claim was made that all Moray pupils eligible to vote in September were on this voters roll. That means all those in S4,5 and 6 on paper. Well no, as quite a few on the S4 roll will not be 16 until after 18th September - nothing unusual as it depends on the intake dates which do not correspond to referendum dates. Some 1700 youngsters appear to be on the roll.
These youngsters apparently had had talks from all sides and debated the issue. When? Leading up to 18th June? Errr - yes. All of them?
Why the skepticism - well from end of April until 6th or 7th June the SQA exams were in full swing and it would seem other things would be taking priority. Besides the schools have study leave so all the candidates were not in school to participate in talks/debates. Rural youngsters would also have transport issues. The group involved in exams - S4,5 6.
Furthermore to this, many of these pupils would be leaving school once their exams were finished and not all finished on 6th June, by any means. Leavers forms would be completed and the youngsters leave as and when, so the eligible roll would be diminished. Now its one of the quirks of school administration that school leavers remain on school rolls until the end of the school year, so we've got ghosts on the roll. Some appear to have been 'genned' up to come in to vote. Many knew nothing about it at all, and for many excellent reasons maybe could not come into vote, even if they had known. Thought crosses mind - were these in the know sort of 'selected'.
Now there is every good reason for the youngsters - all of them, get information from all sides, debate it ask questions about it and so on. Well its what all should be doing. What is bothersome, is that far from all those on the 'voters roll' had equal access to information - all the information.Reports are coming in that many did not know anything. Why not?
An equally odd thing thing is that those returning to school after the exams, come back to a new timetable.The whole school move up a year to new timetables. Therefore the eligible voters would now be in S5 and 6 only and not all of S5 are old enough. New S4 are not eligible. These returning youngsters would be concerned with sorting out next sessions' courses, helping with the visiting P7 inductions and not Referendum debates.
As said earlier, the results were odd - very odd and some of the possible reasons are here. It does not appear to have been clear and open to all eligible 'young voters'.
Thursday 17 January 2013
Badgers are active in winter
1 Result at 3rd Jan 2013
2. Definitely a badger
3. Christmas Eve to Christmas Day 2012 - no reindeer did that!
The story above is a bit back to front. The tale actually started in early November when something was disturbed under the birdtable which is only about 2 to 3 meters from the patio door when we slipped out with the dog in early evening. A little later and another day we saw the creature more fully. It appeared to be grazing on the 'cereals' which had grown from the seed the birds had scattered from the feeder & we had left as 'extra' for the them this winter. The animal eventually came out from behind the birdtable and we could quite clearly see the badger markings. It was impossible to try to get a photo through the door and when we tried to very gently open the door, we were rumbled and it was off!
About the middle of November - well 15th just after my daughter got home, there was a return visit which we could see markings very clearly and the bold one came right out towards the door. This time we got the door open but the photos were useless as we could not use tripods. After this we did not see the visitor again although we were sure they had been around. Neighbours helped to identify a route into the garden over a wall., under their fence.
On Christmas morning the scene in the third photo was my greeting! The scratches on the birdtable base are surprisingly deep. That was no reindeer. In the intervening time we had heard tales of badgers sleeping in coal bunkers and 'cosying' up in garden sheds, followed by digging up garden beds and heaving gates off hinges. Well until Christmas Eve we had had no evidence of 'destruction' and certainly no uninvited guests appear to be sleeping around our place.
On 27th December, our lad brought us a camera trap on loan to see if we could get pictures. Wishing that I had Gordon Buchanan around to help, I fitted batteries and endeavoured to set it, which proved surprisingly tricky as 30secs allowed for each step. Now that is very little when you are grappling with an unfamiliar bit of kit which as it turned out was 'Americanised'. The year is very wrong but!! Then we attempted to secure it as best we could laid down peanut bait, set it and waited. On the third night the bait had vanished. In the meantime I had to nip out, switch camera off during day and grab the bait out of a very greedy dog's reach & replace each night and reset camera. These camera trap things are hard work!
However, we were rewarded with lovely back and bum views of our visitor - the camera was too high, but we had something. We have since moved the camera nearer the birdtable and lower, but this move coincided with the weather turning much colder so we've had no luck so far. Even snickers are not tempting enough! We do however, remain optimistic that we may get a cherished front view of a badger.
Where are we? In the midst of Malt Whisky Country in Moray's Speyside.
Friday 30 April 2010
Wednesday 28 April 2010
The BBC doesn’t understand devolution - Times Online
In view of the court ruling, it seems that Scotland is up against the ignorance of Joe Public re devolution.
Read this
The BBC doesn’t understand devolution - Times Online
Read this
The BBC doesn’t understand devolution - Times Online
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About Me
- The Wheeling Whaup
- Geography graduate Scottish university,Scot with Viking blood,