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Grey Heron – 13 October 2026

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Saw a Grey Heron hiding in the pond at St Mo’s.

I just missed a couple of heavy rain showers today. It was a rushed day. We drove to Falkirk to get a new carpet for the kitchen. That was the high point. Once Scamp had chosen the size, colour and pattern of the carpet, we paid for it and drove back home again. One new carpet in, as another went out. I don’t know how old that ancient carpet was, but it disappeared into the skip at the Council Tip today.

One brightener of the day was seeing a Grey Heron in the shallows of the pond at St Mo’s. I managed to get a few shots of the bird before it spotted me and flew off. The one shot I got was just a ‘lucky’. As it turned out, it was the only shot of the bird I got before it flew away. It’s a couple of years since I’ve seen a member of Mr Grey’s family. I hope I didn’t scare this one away completely and he/she returns to the pond soon. The heron made PoD.

We drove over for dinner with Crawford & Nancy in Larky. It’s been a long time since we could all meet together and we really enjoyed the blether. We talked so much we forgot about time and didn’t leave Larky until just before midnight. We’ll suffer for it tomorrow.

No plans for tomorrow.

What a dull day – 12 October 2026

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I don’t believe the sun got out of bed today.

For once I was up fairly early today, waiting for The Gates of Midnight to land on the carpet. It actually did arrive quite soon afterwards. I was a bit disappointed at the state of this ‘new book’, but then, after some research, I found that the soft, seemingly hand cut look was what the author had intended. I’m glad I got the hardback version or I would have missed the hand-made effect! No, I haven’t started it yet, Hazy. I might start it later tonight.

Scamp had realised she’d forgotten to replant one of her Heuchera plant (Lime Marmalade) yesterday, so she managed to get it split into four parts and divided them up round the garden. I’m sure she felt better for that, especially because it didn’t rain while she was out. After that it was the usual start to the day with a cup of coffee and the puzzles, we had lunch which was toast and beans, mainly because the beans were just passed their sell-by date and it seemed a shame not to use them. Scamp had wanted to go for a walk in the morning, probably a walk round Colzium Estate, but on checking I realised the rain had started and neither of us wanted to go for a walk in the rain. The rain seemed to be on a start/stop routine, because it couldn’t decide whether to go for the full rain option or for the drizzle. It settled for the drizzle.

We eventually walked down to the Shops for bread and stuff. Just essentials, because we were walking, not driving. On the way back, Scamp took the shopping bag and told me to go and have a walk round St Mo’s and that’s what we did. I went for a walk round the pond and she carried the ‘Messages’ home.

PoD went to  spider looking for food to fill its larder.

There wasn’t much to see in St Mo’s today. The swans came over to see if I’d anything worth eating, and then left when they realised there was no food to be had. There were lots of spiders on all the trees and desiccated branches and one of them got PoD. After that I just made my way back home. By about 4pm, the little light there was had disappeared and we amused ourselves by searching for a new kitchen carpet to replace the old charred one that’s way past its useful date.

We may go looking for a replacement kitchen carpet tomorrow. That has to be a better plan than today’s.

A lovely morning – 11 October 2026

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It was a beautiful morning today. The light was shining across the front garden lighting up the Rudbeckia flowers which have become a bit tatty these days, but still catch the light.

I managed to grab a few shots of the Rudbeckia while the good light lasted, but it didn’t stay for long. Big black clouds began to cover the sun and I took as many shots as I could before the sunshine was lost for the day. One of the decent shots became PoD along with some well worn Hydrangea Paniculata called ‘Switch Ophelia’. They start off pale pink and end up months later a light brown.
So, that was the photo shoot for the day. Nothing really wild, but it was a tick in a box.

Scamp spent most of the morning and early afternoon pruning the plants in the front garden. It’s really looking good, especially since we’re well into October now. It’s still cold in the morning and for a few days there, we had some light frost. Most mornings now there is the hint of frost. It’s hard to believe that last year at this time we were sailing around the Mediterranean!

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard that their ongoing fight about the problems whit the roof of the house have been settled. Maybe not as amicably as they’d have liked, but at least it’s finished.

No real plans for tomorrow, but we’ll make the most of the time, because it’s going to be a busy week for us.

Triffids – 9 October 2026

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A day of mixed weather, but mainly rain.

It seemed that every day I put my boots on to go for a walk, the clouds would be waiting, massing on the horizon go drop some water on me. Eventually I gave up and walked out anyway. But first I had a Pizza to make.

I’d promised to make the pizza halfway through the week, but I managed to avoid the work every day … until today. I had most of the ingredients already just waiting for a chance to make a mess. I used an old recipe I’d had for years. I carefully measured the Olive Oil, Flour, Salt and Water. According to the recipe it would take ten minutes to knead the dough, but for some reason mine took about twice that. It did look nicely smooth without lumps by the time I was finished. I left it to rise for the required hour and guessed that would give me just enough time to do a walk round St Mo’s. I was just finishing the walk and on the way home when the rain started. Nicely timed.

The dough was rising nicely when I got back and I flattened it down to clear the air bubbles and left it to do its second prove and got the topping sorted out. Just some tomatoes a handful of chopped chicken and some tuna, with a blob of Burrata cheese. Gas was on and heating to gas 7/8 and we were ready for assembly. I reckoned 10 minutes would be a good starting point for baking, with the possibility of another 10 mins if needed. In the end it took nearer 30 mins total to bake it enough.

Thankfully, although the base was a bit wet, it all held together and most important of all, it was edible!

Scamp says I should make a smaller one next week to see if that improves it! My response is “How can you improve on Perfection?”!

PoD went to an indoor shot as the weather wasn’t going to play nice, and it was a pair of Sarracenia plants, Pitcher Plants sitting in the kitchen before I started baking the pizza. Otherwise they would have swallowed the pizza whole. Very hungry plants. They are not called ’Triffids’ for nothing. Always count your fingers after touching them.

Tomorrow we may go out for lunch.

A walk in the park – 8 October 2026

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Today we caught the bus rather than the car.

It was a lovely morning, very cold in the morning with a temperature in single figures and just the hint of ice on the hardy plants in the back garden. Brrr, winter’s just around the corner.

We were just in time to catch a bus that would take us to the town centre. About fifteen minutes later we caught the bus to Dunfermline. Walked round the gardens of Pittencrieff Park and then found the big greenhouses that we enjoyed so much were closed, likely for good, by the look of things. We had hoped that they might have been repaired since the last time we’d walked through the park, but it looked as if nothing had been done in the last couple of months. This looks like the People’s Palace in Glasgow all over again. No money and no desire to do anything about it. Don’t get me started on it again!

When we walked round the park we passed a couple, possibly just a wee bit older than us walking hand in hand. I couldn’t resist a quick photo of the pair. It wasn’t until we got home I noticed their feet were synchronised in the photo! PoD sorted out.

We walked back up the hill and out of the park after Scamp had a good look at the flower garden. We usually go for lunch at Wetherspoons, but today, just for a change I suggested we go to a local place. It wasn’t busy, in fact it was us and a couple of guys who were reminiscing about past glories. Scamp had a Mushroom Risotto and I had a Pizza Marinara. Both washed down with a glass of house red. It didn’t cost a fortune, but it was good to go somewhere quiet for a change.

The down side of today was waiting for the bus that would take us home. I think we just missed a bus, and it was a bit of a wait for the next one. We were ‘entertained’ by a trio of noisy weans who were definitely on something. Quite what, I wasn’t interested in, just as long as they didn’t get on our bus. They didn’t.

Next we got caught in a loooong tailback from repairs that seem to be taking far too long to complete. They should have been finished about a year ago, but were still dragging on.

The final problem was a bus that arrived late at the Town Centre and promptly broke down. We gave up and managed to catch another one that took us a round about journey round Condorrat, but eventually dropped us off near the door.

Other than that, it was a good day. Scamp got a cardigan or two and I got a new pair of corduroys. So we both came home with “A Toy Off The Rack” if you remember that!

No plans for tomorrow so far!

Today was a bright shiny day for a while – 7 October 2026

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Scamp was out for coffee with Isabel, but I had far too much to do to go waltzing over to Costa.

Today I’d set my target on getting the 2026 September photos sorted out. I wanted to make sure that each of the photos had a Yellow or Red or Grey Tag:

A Yellow tag (Yellow means OK, but not great.)
A Red Tag (Red means excellent.)
A Grey Tag (Grey means rejected.)

Some had, some hadn’t, but most had a tag of some colour.

Then I noticed that the 2026 August photos hadn’t been tagged, so I started from them and worked up to the September photos. Some of the August photos were a bit mixed up, but most of the September ones were in the correct place.

With that done, I could delete all the rejected photos and concentrate on getting the August and September lot into some form of order on my external SSD.

Big, Deep, Breath for the next stage which was to chuck out the 2025 photos which were languishing in a very large Cache on the SSD. I’d read a bit about it and it seemed that I could remove most of these old redundant files. Heart in mouth, I deleted one year’s photos … and nothing went bang!

It all worked. I thought it worked too simply, but after leaving it for a while and coming back to it. Everything I’d planned worked. I don’t know how that happened, but it did.

Success!

That probably means nothing to you, but it meant my SSD experiment worked.

I tried to explain what I’d done, when Scamp returned, but I did see the MEGO (My Eyes Glaze Over) effect on her face.

For the remainder of the day, we went shopping and I went for a walk in St Mo’s. That’s where I saw a yellow leaf trying to hide behind a tree and that fitted the PoD prompt right away.

I might go to bed early tonight. I’ve got a sore back, partly due to the stress of working my way through about 600 photos.

Visiting the Kelpies – 6 October 2026

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The lighting was good today and it seemed a shame to waste it.

We drove over to Helix Parkwhere the Kelpies live. For once it was a lovely day, a little bit cool, but nothing my Rab jacket couldn’t cope with. We went in what Scamp calls the “wrong way round”. That means we crossed the Forth & Clyde canal and walked clockwise to reach the great beasts. It’s a totally different view you get from this direction. One worth trying if you’ve never been there before.

Unfortunately the wind was from the North West so the smell from the sewage works was just a wee bit overpowering. Typical Scotland. Design and build a beautiful pair of statues and position them right next to a sewage works and a line of pylons. That’s what the people want to see and smell apparently!

The tea shop was a bit overcrowded when we went there for a scone and a cup of coffee, but we did get a seat which was better than I thought it was going to be. Then we wandered round the ‘souvenirs’ on display in the shop. Most of it a bit overpriced, but lots to look at.

We drove from Helix Park across to Klondyke Garden Centre looking for some plants to brighten up the garden. There were lots on display and of course the inevitable Christmas toys and books. Well, at least it was October and the nights were drawing in! Scamp and I found a couple of plants that looked as if they would inject some much needed colour to the garden. I managed to find a Sarracenia (Pitcher Plant). I hadn’t seen one for ages. I think my last one didn’t like the hot weather we had during the summer. This one looked quite small, but fairly healthy.

Drove home and logged 40,000 on the way back.

Dinner was a baked potato with prawns in a Mary Rose dressing. I’d meant to make a pizza, but didn’t have the time by the time we got home.

PoD went to one of the Kelpies, backlit and with a tiny starburst shining through it.

No plans for tomorrow. Alex has his apron on and is looking after Carol while she recovers from a new knee op. So no photos for us.

Slinky – 5 October 2026

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Slinky is watching you!

Another dull day. Grey skies in the morning with the chance of more grey skies in the afternoon. However, there’s just the chance of more grey skies later! Some days are just fun, fun, fun!

This afternoon Scamp and I tackled another cupboard. Not the most riveting task, but it needs to be done. In fact, it’s been needing done for years. So, just like the chipboard, everything in the towel cupboard had to be taken out into the bedroom and evaluated for:

  1. Must Keep.
  2. Might Be Useful.
  3. Must Go.

I think I filled a whole black bag all by myself. It was a host of jotters and record books. How we will get them all loaded into the wee Blue car I do not know. Meanwhile, Scamp was searching through piles of yellowed newspaper. That was a much more difficult task than mine, but we did find a lot of birthday cards, Christmas cards and other cards from family and friends. It’s hard doing this search and destroy, but it needs to be done.

I eventually gave up and told Scamp I was going to go for a walk. Partly to clear my head and partly to get away from the clutter. Scamp did the same.

My walk took me round St Mo’s and I managed to get a PoD for today. Nothing amazing, just a Slinky sprung child’s game with a pair of evil looking eyes, from the adventure playground.

I walked home with the clouds still looking broody, then the strangest thing. I was just sitting down in the house when the sun came out and there was a blue sky! It didn’t last long, but it was good to know there was light out there.

Tomorrow we may take a break from searching through the old newspapers, or we may go out for a spin somewhere.

Michaelmas Daisies – 4 October 2026

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It was a very dull day today. I didn’t see any signs of sunshine at all.

However I managed to get a photo of some Michaelmas Daisies by some sneaky date and time changes that we won’t talk about. It’s the final result that’s important.

After getting Wordle et al sorted, and after Scamp was finished watching Laura Kuenssberg scare the pants off most of the politicians, we settled down to watch the strangest F1 race where the Bahrain race was run on the Sepang Circuit in the rain. Lots of thrills and spills and a strange mixture of contestants vied for position. Weirdest race I’ve ever seen, but quite interesting too.

I think Scamp spent most of the day working out our travel problems without much success. I spent my afternoon trying to squeeze yesterday’s Michaelmas Daisy photos into today’s PoD. I managed it with help from “A Better Finder Attributes V6”. A wonderful piece of software that allows you to do things to photos that they were never meant to do. I may even purchase V7!

That was about it for today, other than that Scamp had bought a lovely slice of smoked Hake. Not a fish we get very often in Scotland, but it was delicious. Served with potatoes and peas.

Hoping for at least a little bit of sunshine tomorrow!

Dancin’ – 3 October 2026

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It was Saturday and that means we’re probably dancing … somewhere.

We were off to Brookfield for our usual Saturday dance class. The first topic was Rhumbumbumba. It’s my least favourite stagger across the floor, tangle yourself in knots waste of time. I could give it the real description I use, but Scamp doesn’t like swearing! Suffice to say it’s absolute rubbish.

Next was the October Waltz. I’m not entirely sure we’ve done this one before, but Scamp likes it and I’m coming round to it now. After a few practices I think it and me could become friends. A fairly gentle waltz that glides along quite easily.

After the October Waltz was a Melody Foxtrot, just to loosen us up, or to be more precise, to loosen me up. Waltzes, especially fairly new ones make me tense and I end up leading with the wrong foot or even worse, standing on Scamp’s toes, but the Melody Foxtrot (which doesn’t have a Foxtrot in it) is an old friend. One that me and it get on well with.

The last part of today’s repertoire was a Butterfly Jive. I’ve never actually seen a butterfly jiving, but if I know the session is coming to an end, I’m quite happy to stagger round the dance floor copying those around me.

That should have been the end of today’s routines, but of course, Stewart was determined to squeeze in a final Rhumbumbumba. I noticed one of the men in the class was sitting it out. That was all the excuse I needed and I sat down facing him. Two old guys smiling at the antics of the dancers and not caring what they thought.

Drove home through a very quiet Glasgow on a Saturday afternoon. I think we only took about 40 minutes to get home. That must have been a new world record.

Scamp was tidying up the back garden when we got home, then Hazy phoned to ask me for some details that she needed for checking some come computer stuff. After a while I phoned her back with the numbers she wanted and she phoned back to confirm that the computer stuff checked out. A big thanks to you and Neil for clarifying that, Hazy. I was pretty sure I’d already checked it, but a second confirmation is never a bad thing. Next check is in April if all goes well!
If all that sounds a bit disjointed, don’t worry. It’s just computer talk 😉.

I went for a walk later and found the seed heads of the Yellow Flag Iris plants in St Mo’s were ripening and some of the seed pods had split open allowing the seeds to turn a rich brown. They appear every year around October in a variety of distorted shapes. That became PoD.

No real plans for tomorrow, at least not yet.