The sunset over the Moray Firth

Oh…and put your cigarette out…
After all the strangeness on this blog over the past few days, a fairly normal image.
There’s something fishy about this machine…
I’m not sure why the phrase ‘Gird Your Loins’ sprang to mind when I created the image below (lockdown lunacy). Perhaps the rope had something to do with it. The image overall looks, I think, like some kind of strange space alien warrior. I can’t help thinking, also, that this is a female space alien. The image was created using a Photoshop plugin from Flaming Pear.
And, I searched on ‘gird your loins’ and found the second image in this post which brought me to a some wonderful art and illustrations by Ted Slampyak Kinyak his site is really worth looking at. You’ll find some wonderful illustrations on Ted’s site (click here to visit).
And so now, you can go out and gird up your loins……
See the previous posting for the original image
Strangely beautiful waste materials…
Very important to keep your flange lubricated…
One of the smaller fishing boats in the harbour…
I’m sure they’re used for something…
They reminded me of the three wise monkeys….and I think they’re smiling at me!
We all need something to stop us drifting away…
A spot of symmetry mischief to round off the evening…
Even more balls!
Lean on somebody when the tide is out…
Ouch!
They come in all shapes and sizes y’know…
Can be painful…
Continuing with the ball theme…
A fine pair of balls…
The time has arrived for my iPad cover to go into the recycling bin. It was battered but doing very well but the cover started to fall apart and then the magnets in the cover, which shut the iPad down when the cover is closed, got lost and so my iPad would remain ‘lit up’ when not in use and the battery would discharge. And so, my faithful old iPad cover with its many badges, scars and many air miles will go off in the recycling truck and might be reborn as something else. Farewell old friend.
A wheel that carries a considerable amount of weight.
Here’s the little scoundrel, as ever, looking pleased with herself. No shame!
It was going to be a photograph of some interesting shells that were stuck to the rocks on the beach. Then Katy, our dog, stepped into shot. She is no appreciator of my artistic endeavours!
I made lockdown bread today. Okay, I know it looks like a cake but it certainly smells better than it looks!
I don’t know why but the words prostate examination came to mind when I took this photograph…
Do you ever take a photograph which is terrible, breaks all the rules, and yet you still like it? Here’s an image, shot into sun, badly composed, loads of lens flare, cluttered, lots of grain and probably not entirely in focus but, who cares. There’s no such thing as a bad image!! Maybe this will be the moneymaker!
Straighten up and fly right!
I can’t remember the last time I used one of these (and this one looks as though it hasn’t been used in a while…)
Here’s today’s last post. An image showing the sun setting over the MacDuff Harbour entrance. Another beautiful sunset.
The Seacat takes care of crew changes and delivers supplies to the big tankers and other ships that anchor off MacDuff and Banff.
I’ve been talking to John in Nevada about the need for exercise. We are lucky, we live in a sparsely populated area and so we can take our dog for long morning walks without meeting many (or any) people. The problem is, the 5 Km walk doesn’t offset the intake of chocolate hobnobs (an essential food item surely?). Here’s our route map.
PS: map tipped over sideways so it will fit on the page better.
Here’s some most wonderful advice from a most helpful young lady.
Because the fish markets are closed due to the lock-down, the fishing boats are all stuck in the harbour waiting for this dreadful virus to leave us be. And so, its a beautiful day but all quiet in MacDuff Harbour today.
These hungry and persistent chickens will search out food just about anywhere…
Today’s last post!
Please see last post
Doesn’t everyone want a mobile shed? This shed is high above the slipway (next post) at MacDuff Harbour and it is where the chap who controls the winches stands when the pull a boat up the slipway.
Please see the next post
The sun set over the Moray Firth a little while ago. Wonderful clear skies tonight.
Where I have spent most of my life!!!
I’ve gone a bit arty-farty today…
Not something you see every day…
You could go to an art gallery and pay a fortune of course but nature makes some interesting patterns – all for free, ever-changing and always wonderful.
I promised to send John in Nevada an image of the boats in MacDuff Harbour at low water. We’ll, we’re just past low water and the tide is well and truly out and below you can see PD182 sitting on the harbour bottom waiting for the tide to come in. The bottom of the harbour is a mixture of mud, sand and silt and so the boats cannot come to any harm. They just sit there in sludge for a few hours every day. When the tide is out and the boats are sitting on the harbour bottom, you can see that these fishing vessels have a deep draft. They’re built for the very worst conditions you will find out in the North Sea and the North Atlantic.
My pal.
Where would we be without scaffold?
Electricity…we really do take it for granted these days but, distributing electricity to all parts is a complex business…
The Monkey Island is the bit that is normally on top of a ship’s bridge where all the aerials, radar scanners and ships horn (very loud) will be found.
You can see the Voe Jarl coming into MacDuff Harbour here.
I’ve taken photographs of the Seaker before but this one from the top of the harbour wall (a sheer drop down into the sea – EEK!)
I’m guessing that the wonky ladder came later. The foot and hand holes next to the ladder were probably there before the ladder was installed. Must have been hard work chiselling out the holes. I believe the blocks are made of granite…
Who ever notices drain covers but where would we be without them? Who designs them? Who manufactures them? Who installs them?
Last post here.
Click here to see next post.
The message somebody has written in the sand reads ‘Stay Safe + heart symbol.’
Desks are never big enough and, in my case, stuff just piles up on the desk and then eventually overflows. I would drive a tidy-minded person nuts!
There is a similar law relating to tool boxes…
You’ll have to take my word for it that BF515 (BF for home port Banff, Scotland) is red (and white) but she is, and she’s being fitted out in MacDuff Harbour. In this image, it is low water and Big Red is resting on the harbour bottom.
One slip and you’re in the drink!
A fine establishment – closed due to the virus…
We have several ways of getting down to the beach here in Banff, Scotland with the dog. One of the routes, we call in the Skylark Walk, takes us across the hills and past fields where the nightingales soar high above us. And, here’s the view we get as we walk across the hills.
We all need courage at the moment…..
That’s Banff, Scotland over in the far distance…