Bart ‘the Dachshund’ was staying for a sleepover on Saturday night. On Sunday morning I let them out into the back garden and they ended up playing for a long time in the snow. It was wonderful to see them chase, tease and play while heavy snow was falling. From the shelter of the back door, I had a dry vanatage position for taking these images. Hope they do the fun they had justice.
Category: West End
I finally managed to get out with Lola to the Kelvin to try my new lens at fast action photography. I was already impressed with the sharpness of this lens, but now I’m also bowled over with it’s performance in action. I am absolutely over the moon with the new lens.
Daddy, daddy, get me out of here
Ha ha, I’m underground
Sister, sister, please take me down
Ah ha I’m underground
Daddy, daddy, get me out
Thanks to Euan for keeping his ear to the ground and sniffing out a wonderful photographic opportunity. A little bridie (or was it a mole) told him that the metal doors to the derelict Kelvinbridge Railway Station and Tunnel Entrance are unlocked. So we ended up taking the Underground to Kelvinbridge at lunchtime to go underground.
Indeed, the doors were unlocked. We passed fairly quickly through the first rubbish filled section and entered the Kelvinbridge Railway Tunnel for some serious exploration. An amazing place. We walked for quite a bit, losing sight of the tunnel entrance behind us, but seeing light in front of us, likely from the air vents at the derelict Botanics Station.
On our return, we looked at the first section more closely. How did we miss that. It was a gem of a derelict railway station. Heaps of rubbish and rotten tyres, but plenty of rusty metal grils, stairs and remainders of platforms. Pity we ran out of time, but we’ll be back.
Unexpected but very welcome sunshine made a dreig Saturday afternoon wander along the River Kelvin more than just a dog walk. While Lola was running ragged with her furry friends, I lingered along the banks of the river trying to capture ghosts.
A combination of the smooth water with the sunlight filtering through the trees created a mix of colourful reflections and ghostly patches where the sunshine hit the brown, hazy water. With hindsight I wish I had spend a bit more time exploiting this unusual opportunity.
Bloody vuvuzelas! Due to their deafening noise, we didn’t hear the fire engines of at least three fire brigades going past. It was only when I took Lola out for her walk after the game had finished that I noticed all the commotion outside. Lots of people flocking towards Queens Terrace to see the old Notre Dame school and chapel ablaze.
I rushed home to get my camera (and Lynn) and went back along Victoria Circus. We joined a small crowd congregating at the end of a pathway up towards the school to the West side of the fire with a clear view onto the side of the Chapel and the South-North spur of the red sandstone building. A great vantage point from which most of these images were taken. What a disaster, another Glasgow landmark under development mysterously going up in flames.
A bit later, I walked round further, but the view from Queens Terrace was poor due to the cordened of road with the building and the fire obscured by trees. A couple of shots though before deciding to go back to the much better vantage point.
The fire, sparks, steam clouds, water beams and lights provided opportunities for some wonderful shots. Quite a few images that all have there own strengths. Although some appear to be similar, look at them thoroughly, as there are significant and interesting differences in their detail, like a spark cloud in the sky or behind the lit windows.
Our usual Saturday afternoon walk is always and eventful time for our little Lola. People and dogs galore, and with a bit of luck she can steal some bread from the children feeding the ducks in the river. Nothing is better than splashing in the river, fetching sticks, running circles around ‘slow’ friends and chasing or getting chased by ‘fast’ friends.
The weather was dry but very overcast this afternoon. Trees are budding, but strangely enough and lots of blossoms coming out in the West End gardens, but no blossoms out along the River Kelvin yet. So I just spend an hour throwing sticks and shooting Lola running into the river and clambering back onto the river bank. Then Cara, a bouncy Visla, joined us for the usual dog chases.
While out playing in the back lane with Lola, I tried to get some action shots of Lola jumping for the ball. So I tried to throw the ball with my left hand and shoot with my right hand. Man, this is way too difficult. I kept throwing the ball against the wall or in the bushes.
The one above and the four below are the best one of about a dozen I took.
Our first walk along the River Kelvin after our two week holiday in the sun and Lola’s 18 day sleep over in Largs. Lola has lost a little weight (and is looking in good shape!), but has not lost her interest in fun, running and ripping sticks to bits. Although it was overcast, it was still a very nice afternoon for a wander along the Kelvin Walkway. The heavy rain overnight had turned the place to a mud bath, but all the more fun.
Lola was having a ball, running with dogs, running circles around other dogs, splashing through the mud and waters, fun digging in an existing hole and ripping reeds and sticks to bits.
While Lola was having fun in the nud, I spotted this little dipper flying from stone to stone on the side of the river. I managed to take a few shots, albeit not the best, as I had to crop a tiny portion of the original taken with my 70-200mm. In fact these are at 100% size, by cropping 800×533 pixels from the original 21mp image. Quite pleased. Need to keep my eyes peeled and bring my bigger guns the next time.
In the end… home to a warm shower.
You may wonder if Christmas is any different for Lola than an ordinary Sunday, or in other words, is it possible to spoil Lola even more than normal? Indeed, she was spoiled rotten, ripping her own presents open, ripping through the leftover wrappings of our presents, playing with deafening squeeky toys before lunch and getting lots of treats.
The wrapped presents were much more successful than the two soft squeeky toys. The Christmas sock and Santa lasted minutes before the stuffing was being pulled out. Someone suggested that whippets would make excellent dog toy testers. I completely disagree, as no single toy would pass quality control any more. One tiny fault with the stitching and it is ripped open before you can blink with the stuffing scattered all over the house.
All in all, a great morning with a lot of fun. And we got some nice presents ourselves as well.
When we got up this morning, it was to a very big disappointment. Even with all the warnings and predictions, still no snow in Glasgow, when the rest of the country is covered by inches. Life’s not fair! A short ‘do your business first thing’ wander through the back lane and then quickly back to our warm and cosy beds (with Lola’s cosier and warmer than ours!) for another hour of well deserved sleep. A much needed extra hour after a little bit too much red wine last night.
An hour or so later, we got up to go to Churchill’s to get the Sunday papers. When we opened the front door, surprise, surprise, an inch or two of snow had fallen since our first outing. Lola loved it and went into a bouncy, snow snorting, playing mood. Fun with snow all the way to the newsagents and back. As usual, Lola’s good nose sniffed out the treats along the way. Lola reappeared from a hole in hedge with a complete smoked sausage in her mouth.
After reading the papers in bed with a cup of tea, it was time for a play out the back. As you can see from the images, Lola’s a happy bunny in the snow.