Paper to paper

Mr Toots kindly donated a couple of sheets of Kentmere ArtDoc paper - for which I am most grateful. So much so, I loaded some in the back of an old Franka 6x9 and shot Mr Toots with it. Then when I had developed this neg, dried it and what have you, I shoved it in the enlarger to biggern it up onto Adox-MCC which I then developed and toned.
Nice eh?

There again

I mean, we were there again, waving our arms about in a meaningful way. This is Walter who is the expert arm waver. We flail around in unison - or nearly in unison anyway and,  feel all the better for it too.

Nice eh?

Not the snap, obviously. The island and everything.

Lifeboat

We live on an island, near Scotland - all part of the UK for now anyway. And we have a couple of lifeboat stations here - for which i am most grateful. It used to be just the Stornoway lifeboat then the Leverburgh one got going and 'shouts' for the Stornoway one halved apparently. So last weekend when we were in town having luncheon with William and Gemma, it was a surprise to catch the lifeboat boys rushing around to get out on a sunny but windy day.

One crew was a tad late - too busy eating Guga perhaps and missed the boat. Literally.

The crew of this French Round Britain Race yacht sorting their sails after the gales got more than they bargained for as the huge engines of the lifeboat started up!

Blow up

There she is; that one down there with the mechanical paddling device and all that. The one next to the one with an engine. See it? If you look very carefully you can see the name of the tub Freyja scrawled on her rubber bits. No, sorry, that's rubbed off as we have had some rain recently. Hard to believe but there you are. It has water in it too. Should be just on the outside I'm told, but it fills up with the rain. I hope it's the rain anyway.

Did a bit of soloing yesterday. On this little blow-up and on the good tub Freyja. Hoisted the sails and everything. Did a few gybes, drifted around a bit, sailed backwards, bobbed a bit, tangled and un-tangled the big string, wrestled with the recalcitrant mechanical paddling device, cursed politely at the furling thing when the string fell off the drum thing. Had a fine old time all is all and entertained the Stornoway massive in the process.

I even tooked some snaps.

I'm telling you,,

Things

I now have a lovely new developing tank to use thanks to some special friends who wanted to mark the passing of another year with me still breathing. It's great that tank - doesn't leak or anything - like most of the ones I had before. This was from the first roll through it. 

Many thanks. Very much appreciated.

Stornoway in the future

This was taken in the future. It's a new technique too long and complicated to bother you with here. I'm liking this though. To be able to 'see' into the future with a camera [not electric imaging device] is really cutting my biscuit at the moment.

It must be the green tea

Maybe it was the green tea all brewed nicely at 81c and all that. Radio4 seemed to have taken a turn for the interesting - just like my dream last night when my [un-named] friend and Eve my partner rode a tandem along a narrow path on a cliff edge and.....

No, it wasn't nice.

You see, Radio4 seemed to have a taken an odd turn Monday morning and I wasn't sure whether I was hallucinating. Recycled radio and the Cold Swedish Winter had me both enthralled and wierded up as well. And everything.

Our darling furry-face of a cat HHHCB was there listening with me, hiding behind her pile of books and the flowers. I snapped her up with a handy Fuji Instax camera and here we have it.

Malcolm

He enjoys his job so much, even his troosers are smiling. The 'staff' holds the ladder and thinks of times to come.

Malcolm Macleod for that's who it is, takes THE snap of the day at the opening of the marina. Loves that ladder he does. Takes it everywhere. I must get him on the good- tub Freyja with it :-) 

I also snapped up this fellow-me-lad who was cycling in the sunshine from there to there. His tent pole was broken so Mr Flying Monk used his piston rods to help him fix it. Apparently.

No, I didn't mean what you are thinking.

Masting

It's up again.
Did the deed of re-upping the mast in the corner of the harbour between some old fishing boats - which did indeed make our little tub Freyja look very tidy indeed. We had the mast down after a little incident at sea a few days ago. Today, despite the breeze, rain and what have you, and a lot of help from Eddy and Gerald, the thing is now pointing up the right way, the wire string is all attached in the right places and most of the piles of gull-poo has been washed off the deck.

I might even go out next week and attach the sails again, have a little bob around the outer harbour, sing laugh and shout. Hopefully, no-one shall hear me.

Oh well.

I'm still reeling from the carnival day - all that goings on and everything. Of course it's raining today, the wind is breezing so not sure I can do what we had planned. I might have to invade the darkroom - maybe print this magnificence.

"Harrrrrr" or something equally pantomime

Vikings eh?

We've had more than our share of Viking types here recently. There was one lot straight out of panto who shouted Harrrr a lot and waved faux axes and shields around, wore leather and slept on blow-up mattress! Blow-up mattresses? Are you sure? Why didn't they sleep on straw or something. Can't be proper Vikings can they?

Then there were the Nordic Vikings who sailed into port in their 120 ft long longboat. Now these are proper Vikings surely! Lovely wooden boat, sleeping on the bottom of the boat under canvas and not a 'Harrrr' among them. I mean, even the huge mast broke on one voyage and they still kept going - found another tree and now they are off again!

I mean,,,,,,

Proper mast that

And a proper boat.


Harrrrr !
See, didn't even flinch

what........

Another snap from my occasional series - "Can't think of what to post".

They were CaNadien or something - making a lovely squawk as they performed at the opening of the marina on the pontoon we clouted somewhat ungracefully with the good tub Freyja the other day.

I snapped them up with the Zorki-4 armed with a Jupiter12 lens. The darkroom revealed this. Eh?

On the nice Kentmere Fineprint finegrain fb paper. No longer made sadly.

There 'it' is

Told you I was going in the darkroom and I did, helped by the lashing wind and rain outside. Mostly outside anyway. Must sort the darkish room roof.

This I might add is from a 35mm neg onto Kentmere Fineprint paper. I can't just come up with a title for this so I'm hoping someone else will.

I like it all the same, name or no-name.

Words speak louder than snaps

Perhaps I should institute a podcast just so you can hear my dulcet tones as I thrash about on the pooter trying to say something sensible here. Or perhaps not.

You might even get the chance to hear this lot squawking their way up the road. Simon Fraser Uni band from Canada by all accounts - and to be honest I rather liked the racket they made.

And they stood on our new pontoons as they were officially opened and what have you. Actually, now I come to think of it they were the old pontoons rocking about under them as they marched and everything, squeezing, blowing and banging the drum things.  Brave eh? And when I say 'our' pontoons, I really mean the island's not mine and Eve's - even if our little water-filled dingy is sitting adjacent to it. At least, I hope is sitting adjacent to it and not floating off round the harbour again on a little trippette of its own. Again.

See how marchy they were. Typical CanAdiens I'd say. Apart from the bagpipe bit. Obviously.

This little set of snaps says it all really. There is no need for a podcast you'll be pleased to read.

Darkishroom here I came .

Carni Val

Yes, the Isle of Lewis has a CarniVal. Not quite the Somerset Guy Fawkes carnivals but good fun all the same. [I mean, don't listen to me but have a look at this little vid  ]. It rained today of course. It has to rain as it's carnival. They opened the Marina too - officially that is. There's been boats all over the place all year. And a right old racket going on on south beach harbour - a musical interlude I'm led to believe. Not a patch on the Canadien pipe band playing as they walked and everything. I think I even saw someone enjoying themselves - albeit briefly.

I made sure I didn't smile. It's not the done thing don't you know.

The mariner is open!

Or was it the marina? Never mind. It is open. On account the minuscule numbers of fisherperson boats that float and go out to sea and what have you and the flocks of yotties bobbing round about this area in their petite palaces of gin. Makes sense to put in a few pontoons, have loos and showers that are open seven days a week and charge an arm and a leg.

It is helped rather by the lack of available places for cars on the ferries so visitors can't get here so easily. Good thing too - far too many people here already.

Rare snaps of Toots

Toots with his bargain bike now shod with non-rotten tyres and waiting to be ridden. Taken at the back end of the darkish room.

The darkish room is to print the film pouring out of the many cameras lurking around the gaff there. See, this 'ere is Toots snapping the grass or something on the machair opposite the gaff. In sunshine. So it wasn't that recent then.

That's there the flowers and everything. Tooked by me with the cheapest camera I have [Viv UW&S] with the cheapest film [Polypan-f], almost in focus and everything.

We might have to wait a while before we see Mr Toots' snaps - possibly even in colour. Oh no, I forgot, there was no film in his camera at the time :-)

Wake me when it stops raining please

Tiger wakes enough to see it's still raining and his human pets - Freda and Pat - are still around to wait on him paw and paw.

Porpi off the blunt end

It's not all bad news that sailing lark. One can take a camera - even if it's a point and shoot, pop a roll of cheap polypan-f in and enjoy the sunshine.

One of the many porpi we saw [is that the plural? It is for me]

Luckily Eve doesn't look here so I can post this snap of her operating the steering stick.

You know, that hat really is stylish. Somewhere, probably.