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In all their finery – 6 September 2025

Posted on by Zogman

The youngsters were up about 6am and busying themselves getting breakfast and choosing what to wear to the wedding.

We pretended we were still sleeping, but knew we were just kidding ourselves. We too got dressed and made sure they had had breakfast and had all the accoutrements you need for going to a wedding. Just to be sure, I went over the basics of the camera again and could see that she was confident with using it. It’s a fair step up from her old Nikon as I’m sure she realised.

Suddenly, the car was packed and they were dressed and ready for a final curtain call at the front door to show off their finery, then they were off to the wilds of North West Scotland where a church was waiting for them.

We didn’t go back to bed. Instead we had breakfast and sat and did what we usually to, ie Wordle, Spelling Bee and Strands … Then we made plans for the day. We’d intended going to Edinburgh, but somehow that got put on the back burner and the burner was turned off. We settled instead for a visit to Stirling. Both of us were still looking for a pair of trainers and possibly a new pair of trousers for me. I’ve been promising myself those trousers for months now, if not years. I didn’t get them, but I saw two pairs of trainers that would work for me and a couple of pairs of trousers that would do the job too. Scamp didn’t get anything either, but did express an interest in a dance skirt. We but all of the above into that same back burner and vowed to come back and look at them.

I did get a book I was interested in and got the bloke in Waterstones to tell me about another one that I’d forgotten the name of. I didn’t have the name, but I recognised the title from his desk display. Unfortunately it wasn’t in stock, but I’ll call back and order it soon. The name was Wild Houses by Colin Barrett.

Lunch was two toasties in Caffè Nero. Both the same, although one was supposed to be a Ham & Brie toast, but it was a Tuna Melt that arrived. Scamp’s order was a Tuna Melt. I suppose I could have had the Tuna Melt magically transformed into the H&B, but I was hungry and in this case the TM would do fine.

We did a bit of shopping in Waitrose to pay them for allowing us to park in their store for a couple of hours and then we drove home. I went for a walk and came back with a couple of decent photos. PoD turned out to be a Bird’s-foot Trefoil flower, viewed through a chain-link fence. I thought it made a neat frame for the wild flower!

Tomorrow we’re expecting the Photographer and her assistant to return from the North West before going out again with friends later. That’s the plan for now.

Visitors – 5 September 2025

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Visitors means tidying up, hoovering (or Dyson-ning) and maybe some dusting. So it was today when we realised that Jamie & Simmone were on their way to Scotland.

Scamp was off to FitSteps and I volunteered to hoover the stairs and the downstairs area. You forget just how much clutter there is in a house until you have to tidy it up and remove all the dust and paper. I know now just how much Scamp does in the house, while I’m swanning around pretending to be useful. But we know all that work will be short lived because I’m plain lazy.

With a bit of the work done and a space created in the back bedroom that could almost be described as “liveable in”, I changed from ‘cleaner mode’ to ‘shopper’, and went to find the articles on my shopping list. Meanwhile Scamp ‘Sorted the House’. I think that means she undid all the work I’d already done and made the house look like it was made fro humans to live in. I just let her get on with it.

Late in the afternoon the travellers arrived in Cumbersheugh and we could all rest for a while and hear about their plans for the weekend. They were coming up to Scotland for a wedding. Two of their friends were getting married on Saturday up north, near Oban. They had finally met Andrew, our business man and part-time comic.

Dinner tonight was Spinach & Chickpea Curry. I’d been the first person to make it a few months ago. Made from a book that Scamp had bought for me and a mine of useful information. It took a bit longer than I’d anticipated, but although it was a wee bit hot, it was almost as good as the first one I’d made and also tasted quite like the one Scamp had made too. I like it when a plan comes together like that.

I gave Simonne my A6500 with the kit lens a new SD card and a quick explanation of the vital bits and pieces she’d need as she was going to be photographer for the wedding. She seemed to understand most of what I was saying and, because she’d used an old Nikon before, had a fairly good knowledge of the basics of photography.

After that it was early bed for the travellers who’d driven about nine hours to reach Bonnie Scotland and were tired out. Tomorrow was going to be another long day, I feared!

PoD was a bunch of acorns hanging from a low branch on an oak tree I passed on the way to do the shopping. Not very inspiring, but at least I had something done.

Tomorrow will be an early rise for all. Then, when the youngsters drive up to meet the rest of the wedding party, we might go back to bed for another forty winks.

It’s a Burd wi’ a Burd! – 4 September 2025

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Now there’s a thing you don’t see every day!

Alex and I were on our way to Paisley when I caught a glimpse of this parrot (actually a Black-headed Caique) sitting on a girl’s shoulder. I don’t know how she managed to get it to sit there quietly, but I’m guessing Superglue or Araldite might have had something to do with it. Instant PoD!

I met Alex sitting on the steps of the Concert Hall in Glasgow and we walked down Buchanan Street and had a cup of coffee while we made plans for what to do today. We’d talked about going to Paisley the last time we were out for a photo-walk, and agreed that it was a good choice of venue for today.

We got the train to Paisley and started our walk at the Abbey. It’s quite a remarkable place, and one of my favourite architectural buildings now. We agreed that Glasgow Cathedral was a very dark and gloomy building, but the stained glass window panels in Paisley Abbey are so bright and colourful. I’m not religious, but I do like this building. None of the walls are parallel allegedly because the entire structure is tilting slightly after being built over a watercourse. I don’t know for the truth of that, but it’s something I’ve heard a lot from Paisley folk.

After a walk around it, we felt the need for some sustenance so we headed for the Ugly Duck, our go-to place for a burger. It’s not much to look at, and the food isn’t fantastic, but we both like it and I’d say it’s one of the most friendly places in the town. I managed to break a cap on one of my teeth, nothing to do with the food, I hasten to add, just me being clumsy I think. Phoned the dentist and got an appointment for next week. More money!

Alex wanted to have a look round a wee shop that’s rarely open when we’re visiting Paisley, but today it was open and Alex was just raring to go in. I’d say it was a junk shop, but maybe that’s being too critical. I’d certainly not be buying any of the cameras that were sitting on one of the shelves and I wouldn’t even touch the lenses that were stacked beside the cameras. I was actually glad to get out of it, but I could see Alex was engrossed with the variety of tack that was there.

When we eventually came out, it was starting to rain, so we headed back to the station and the train in to Glasgow again. Coffee in a Nero just off Buchanan Street. Walked up the hill and met a bunch of Hare Krishnas coming the other way. Haven’t seen them for years, but there they were dancing and singing their hearts out.

We parted at the bus station and Alex went left while I went right. The old single decker bus was waiting for me as I walked along got the walkway and it took me back through Moodiesburn where it drove through a downpour. It felt like it had been waiting for just that moment to catch us unawares. I got out at my stop to find the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. That’s Scotland fur ye!

Tomorrow I must clear up the back bedroom for Jamie and Simonne on a flying visit.

Just tidying up – 3 September 2025

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Or at least, my version of tidying up, which just means doing it on the computer, not in real life.

After we’d worked out the twisted games of Wordle, Spelling Bee and all the other assorted puzzles we play in the morning, Scamp was off to meet the rest of the witches and I was going to Tesco to get the messages. I’d a little list already made up under Scamp’s careful instructions. It was one of those days that looked as if it was just about to rain, but never did. At least, it didn’t do it until later. I’d some computer stuff to get my head round first.

<Technospeak>
Last week I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best when I removed one of my the old iMacs from the safety of the Adobe corral. Adobe allows you to have three Macs open at the same time. However, you can only use two of those three at the same time. The other one can not use Adobe software until you choose to remove one of the other two first. Confused? Yes, so was I, but them’s the rules apparently. I wanted to check to see if it was the old computer I’d removed and it was. That meant that the new iMac and my MacBook were now able to work together. I’ve more or less stopped using the old iMac now. It is getting slower than frozen treacle and crashes if you look at it the wrong way.
</Technospeak>

By the time I’d struggled through all that, Scamp was back from her meeting with the witches and just as I was heading into the garden to take some photos, the rain started. I managed to get four shots before I gave up. Out of those four shots, I kept two. The PoD was a couple of white Cosmos flowers. Not great, but done and posted.

I made dinner tonight which was Cod & Prawns with Fennel & White Wine. It’s an old recipe we’ve used a fair amount, but not for a long time. It still works, though.

I got an email from one of the Flickr managers asking if I was going to run Inktober again this year. I’d already decided that I wasn’t going to do it this year. I’d too many thing to do this October, so had to bow out. I may participate for some of the time, but not for the whole month. Pity.

Tomorrow I’m intending to meet Alex. We may go for a walk around Paisley.

A spot of lunch and a walk in the park – 2 September 2025

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Travelling by bus to Dunfermline today.

We were on the ball for a change today. Caught the bus to the town centre and then picked up another bus that took us to Dunfermline. There were heavy clouds when we left Cumbersheugh, but the further north and east we went, the lighter the sky became.

We walked from the bus station down towards Pittencrieff Park. On the way we were hoping to find some decent trainers for sale, but there wasn’t much to choose from. Scamp thought there were a few styles that might be useful, but not many. I may go back to Go Outdoors this week and have a look there.

The park was a different place to the High Street. Well kept grass and great views over the Forth to Edinburgh. We walked round the gardens and Scamp got a few ideas for plants for next year, all being well. Echinops was the main thing she was interested in. Big blue globe thistles that seem to attract the bees. I can see why she would like a few of them in the garden.

For me the heated greenhouse was the draw. I love walking round the pond, watching the carp and goldfish. The flowers too are just that bit more glamorous and bright than most of our garden flowers. My favourite, and PoD was the Gloriosa Flame Lily. Such a statement plant with its bright reds and yellows.

Lunch was in Wetherspoons. Fish ’n’ Chips for Scamp and Chicken Jalfrezi for me. Scamp had a glass of Barossa Ink and I had a pint of Innis & Gunn for me. A lunch that didn’t cost the earth.

We left Wetherspoons with plenty of time to cross the road and catch the bus back to Cumbersheugh, except, that bus just never came. Half hour wait for the next one and, of course, two of them came at the same time. The traffic was a bit heavy as we neared Cumbersheugh, but we weren’t driving, so we didn’t care. The X3 arrive about five minutes later and it took us home.

We watched the Great British Bake-off, or at least Scamp did. I was too busy posting the PoD on Flickr, and anyway, I couldn’t be bothered with all the giggles from the ‘bakers’. We also watched the Great British Sewing Bee just to finish off the day. It was much better.

That was a great day. Great idea Scamp, giving the wee Blue car a rest for a day!

Tomorrow, Scamp is intending to meet the witches for lunch. I may be sweating over a hot keyboard because I’ve still got a lot to do yet.

Looking for a bin – 1 September 2025

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A bread bin, for the kitchen. More difficult to find than you’d imagine!

We drove to Falkirk in the morning because there is a large retail park. We knew we’d be able to pick up a decent bread bin there. Or would we? The first stopping point was The Range. They didn’t have a great selection of bread bins, but they did have a load of ghosts and ghouls and that horrible candy floss looking hanging stuff that every shop seems to drag out when it’s getting near Halloween. Yes, loads of that, but only two or three bread bins.

We tried another retailer further in to the retail park. They had a few wonky looking bins that just didn’t look right. I think they had been dropped a few times before they were put on the shelf and £40 for a bread bin is a bit extortionate. So, reluctantly we drove home and on the way, dropped in to Home Bargains, but there were hardly any there too. Maybe folk just don’t want bread bins these days.

Back home, Scamp started measuring the actual space we had and realised that one of the smaller bins would suit us much better than the large, overpriced ones. Of course Amazon had loads, but sometimes it’s hard to imagine the actual size of things on the Amazon pages, but I can see us biting the bullet and getting a bread bin from Mr Bezos.

I’d intended to go out for a walk, but instead, I found myself sitting at the dining table with a dozen or so cables connecting the new iMac to the laptop and the two of them connected to an SSD and an external Hard Drive. Just to extract two month’s worth of photos from the SD cards on the cameras. Thankfully the experiment worked!

We drove up to The Link to go to Kirsty’s dance class, only to find that we hadn’t brought our dance shoe bag with us. So I drove back to the house while Scamp sent Kirsty a message to say that we WERE coming, but would be a bit late. Eventually we had about a 45 minute class that was very useful for getting the right steps at the right time!

Back home we watched what has become our trilogy on a Monday. Mastermind, Only Connect and University Challenge. We’re brainboxes, us!!!!

Pod was a view of The New Town Hall with some ominous clouds above it . I liked it, Scamp didn’t. You can’t please all of the people, all of the time!

Tomorrow we may go out somewhere that doesn’t have bread bins.

The Constant Gardener – 31 August 2025

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That’s not me, it’s Scamp!

I’m the one who mixes up the compost and sometimes gets the proportions wrong. I’m the one who makes a mess all over the clean, freshly cut grass. I’m the one who forgets where he put the trowel, spade, fork etc. Mainly, I’m the labourer. I carry the pots from the front garden to the back and sometimes from the back to the front. I don’t mind. Scamp’s the clever one. She remembers the names of all the flowers, but I know which of the beasties will nip you and which won’t! Between us we get the garden growing.

Today we were splitting up the Primula Candelabra into two separate plants, repotting the colour changing ’Switch Ophelia’ we also repotted a few of the newly purchased plants from last week. We dug up the potatoes from the first of the big ‘tattie bags’ and were disappointed by the size and quantity of the potatoes themselves. We’d hoped they would be bigger, but the soil they were growing in was a bit dry and dusty because of the lack of decent rain during July and August. Hopefully now that we’ve had almost a week’s worth of rain, the next crop will be better, providing they haven’t become sodden and rotted.

I went out for a walk in the afternoon over to St Mo’s and across the football pitches, hoping for some decent shots of butterflies, but there were very few on the wing today. There were some Peacocks, but none of the more exotic butterflies I’d seen a few days ago. A little drone fly on a Scabious flower got PoD. On the way back I managed to find a couple of grams of brambles that may go into a dessert some day.

Dinner was Chicken Milanese with potatoes and Scamp’s special veg mixture. Very nice it was too. Pudding was Rhubarb Crumble made with a mix of Jamie’s rhubarb and some of our own.

We spoke to Jamie later and heard about final preparations for their visit north to go to a wedding next week. Sounds like an awfully long way to go for a couple of nights. However, they are intending to meet Andrew. Oh to be a fly on that wall!

Tomorrow Scamp and I may go looking for a bread bin that will fit into a corner of our kitchen.

Dancin’ – 30 August 2025

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Back to dancing on a Saturday morning. At last!

We drove through fairly heavy traffic for a Saturday morning and found a very busy dance floor in Brookfield. Lots of faces I’d seen at Evening Socials as well as the occasional Tea Dance.

Today’s recipe was Dancing Tango to Shivers, just to warm us up, then the despicable House of Bamboo which I can now stagger round the floor at, then it was into Real Dancin’. That means Waltz. I admit I have difficulty seeing the actual Waltz in these compositions of Jane’s. This one floored me until I started listening to Scamp’s descriptions, then it began to filter through my head enough for me to direct my feet to, if not the sunny side of the street, at least the right place on the dance floor. With that said, I don’t think I’ll be adding that ‘waltz’ to my dance repertoire any time soon.

I think it was a wee bit of fluff next before we headed into the second serious dance of the morning, the Cha-Cha. I did almost manage to catch up with moves, most of which I could remember from previous Cha-Cha sessions. It was a middle range dance. By which I mean it wasn’t as embarrassing as the House of Bamboo, nor as difficult as the Waltz. It wasn’t all that fast, certainly not as fast as I’ve seen it danced. After all, it was a Latin dance and most of them are fast. A couple of short sequence dances and we were done for the day. No dance next week because the teachers are off on a week’s holiday.

Drove home through three lanes of crawling traffic cursing my change of direction until we saw the length of the queue for the Kingston Bridge, then I didn’t feel so foolish, because I’d chosen the M74/M73 as my chosen route.

Stopped at M&S for lunch supplies and then parked the car and watched the rain falling. The later it was, the heavier the rain. I gave up on the idea of taking an outside photo, then decided that if I wrapped the A6500 in cling wrap, I could get a few photos of the apple tree in the garden without getting it wet. Me? Yes, I was wet, but as someone said, we have waterproof skin!

Watched the Dutch qualification for tomorrow’s GP. Nice to see some crazy driving again.

PoD was one of the photos from the cling wrapped A6500, with some raindrops on the fruit.

May go out somewhere tomorrow if the weather plays nice which is unlikely according to the weather fairies.

Out early again – 29 August 2025

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I’m getting fed up with having to get up and out, and it looks like the dance teachers are home again and we need to go to class tomorrow morning too. It’s just too much. We older folk need out sleep too.

It was a dry morning as most mornings are just now, but by afternoon the rain clouds came rolling in and the day deteriorated.

What I did do today was drive Scamp to her FitSteps class, then I drove to the health centre to pick up some bits and pieces the doctor had left for me. After that I drove back home, filled the test bottle with smelly pee and took it back to the health centre for the nurses to analyse, the second time I’ve had to do it, recently. Maybe they just like the smell of pee!

Back home, and after I’d washed my hands a few times, just to be sure, I made a cup of coffee and settled down to solve the New York Times puzzle selection. We’ve both paid our dues an paid for the puzzles for a year. It’s not something I thought I’d be doing, paying for the right to solve a puzzle, but it has become quite popular with Scamp and me this year.

Scamp made Chick Pea and Spinach Curry from the Mowgli book and it was almost as good as mine. A few things were different, but the main part of it was really good, just not as good as mine (Hopefully Scamp won’t read that)

Today’s PoD was a bunch of pale pink flowers called ‘Daboecia’ or Irish Heath that are sitting on the back step. Another of my wife’s acquisitions, although I admit I had a hand in the choosing of them. They reminded me of Lily of the Valley. Fourteen photos taken and only one saved. The rest went in the bin, or will do soon, I think.

Another problem with the new iMac was put to bed tonight when I successfully sent half a dozen photos to Alex for him to crit. We don’t tear each other’s photos to pieces in a crit, It’s just a gentle nudge to say “I’m not really jealous … Honest)

Tomorrow, as I’ve said we are intending to go to dance class in the morning. Maybe we will stop off at IKEA on the way home. We need a new bread bin and Ikea is probably one of the cheapest places. Scamp also wants to buy a bed sheet. In a clever bit of marketing, Ikea make nice wide beds, but not to standard sizes which means you have to buy an Ikea sheet to fit your Ikea bed. Clever!

Another mixed up day – 28 August 2025

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But a day that got results too.

I was out just after 8am today to take the Blue car for a service at a garage in the other end of town. Delivered it and was told I’d get a call when it was ready to collect. Got a taxi back to the house and settled down to wait. I hadn’t dealt with this garage before, but knew one of the owners and was sure he was genuine, Besides, I knew where he lived!

My phone rang at 10.30am to say the car was fine and the service was complete, I could pick it up any time. Scamp had some business to do in the town, so we took a taxi to the garage, paid for the service, picked up the keys and drove back to the town centre. An hour and a bit later we came out with smiles on our faces, a brochure in our hands and the promise that we would go on holiday this year, DV.

Next stop was Tesco for some food and veg to fill up our depleted stock in the fridge and freezer and a bottle or two of beer and wine. When we came out, the sparkling of the roads was evidence of another rain shower we’d just missed.

Back home, we discussed our options and agreed we’d made the correct choice. While Scamp checked the details, I took a camera over to Condorrat where I bought us two small fish suppers. On the way there I got a few photos of bees on the Scabious flowers. I always feel that scabious gets a raw deal. It sound so like Scabby, and these are pretty blue balls on a stem and not at all scabby! One of the photos got PoD.

Tonight we watched another episode of Masterchef that was less than riveting and that is where we are now.

The new computer is working out well. Most things are behaving as they should and the speed of processing photos in Lightroom is quite astounding. My external hard drive is almost full, so I may need a new one soon to become another storage device for this year’s photos.

Tomorrow we may go out to lunch, if the weather sorts itself out. I’ve a few odds and ends to do at the health centre first, but I can probably get them done in the morning, once Scamp is off to FitSteps.

  • 28 August 2025