Category: A Walk

Out on the town – 4 April 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Not me, this time, but Scamp. Off into Glasgow by herself!

I drove Scamp to the train station and then came home. I was going to have a photography day out, but before that, there was work to do. I started to tidy up the back bedroom to give us more space to decant the contents of the cupboards and bookcases from our bedroom in preparation for the decorating.

It was still a beautiful morning when I was finished, so I packed the camera bags and my boots into the car and drove over to Bothwell to take some photos of Bothwell Castle. Well, that was the plan. Just as I was passing the slip road to the eastbound M8 all the traffic slowed to a crawl. Two lanes of it. I knew I could take the outside lane and drive to the castle on the A road rather than the clogged motorway. I’d just made my move as many others now had when the overhead gantry demanded I return to the original road. Then what was a five lane motorway became a two lane motorway and that’s when I knew something serious was going on. Long story short, an articulated lorry had ended up on its side on the ‘alternative’ road I was hoping to take and all five lanes of traffic was being funnelled into the two lanes heading for Hamilton. I joined the queue and an hour and a half later did find Bothwell Castle.

I took some photos, but they weren’t inspiring. Too many barriers at the front and an incredibly complicated scaffolding creation was shoring up the back of the building. I only stayed for about half an hour and then headed for home. It took another hour to get back, partly due to my sat nav packing in on me and partly due to the increased traffic load. Eventually got back, not long after Scamp.

A couple of slices of toast and a cup of tea and I had a look at the photos and wasn’t impressed. Instead I took a camera over to St Mo’s to bolster the photos of the castle. Found an old bike that had been lobbed into the nettles and brambles by the side of the path to Condorrat. Took two photos of it and knew the second one was PoD. I was right. I took some more photos, but they weren’t very good. Just a bad day with one and eventually two good photos. I thought myself lucky, because there was a lorry driver somewhere who had a worse day than me. I checked tonight and he survived the crash and was taken to hospital. It didn’t even make the Scottish News!

We’d had a clear out of the freezer earlier in the week. Some food went in the bin. Too old or didn’t look right. Of the remainder, some went back in and some went into the fridge to defrost slowly. We had those for our dinner tonight. Chicken and Chips! What’s not to like?

Tomorrow Scamp is hoping to get back to FitSteps, then visit Isobel, and for the second day in a row, I have a free morning. Maybe lunch at Brodens for us afterwards? We’ll see.

Just walkin’ in the rain – 3 April 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We did stuff today, both of us doing different stuff for a change.

We were both sitting around for most of the morning, doing Wordle and complaining about the stupid pangrams on Spelling Bee, then Scamp made the statement that was in both our heads. She said she didn’t know if she wanted to go to the Tea Dance in Motherwell. I asked her why and she gave the same reason that was in my head. The woman who runs the dance has already admitted that she’s not a teacher and that she isn’t registered. She charges more for the dance than our dance teachers charge for theirs and a lot more than Kirsty charges for an hour long dance class. Also, if she’s not certified, does she have insurance? That hasn’t been made clear. We agreed that we’d give up on that Tea Dance and support Stewart & Jane’s, as we’ve been doing, instead. Also, Scamp was waiting for a dress to be delivered and it looked like it would be coming in the afternoon. Another reason, if it was needed to cancel the Motherwell dance.

The decision made and the air in the room cleared a little. That left the afternoon free. After lunch we started doing some cleaning up. Mine was computer based. I cleared out the old catalog that had become borked and replaced it with the one I’d downloaded with Carbon Copier from my ‘Snapshots’. It only covered March, but it worked and that meant I now had January to March in the catalog. Then I added in the first two days of April and that meant the catalog was up to date. I know that means nothing to anyone but me but it’s a reminder to me of how to repair a catalog if/when I need to do that. Relieved!

While I was doing virtual cleaning, Scamp was upstairs tackling the bookcase in our room, clearing it out shelf by shelf and keeping the articles in different named big Tesco bags. When she’s finished, it means we’ll be able to move the bookcase when we start painting the room. The first step on the upstairs redecorating. As I write, the bookcase is empty and the bags are filling up the upstairs small bedroom.

Although Scamp’s work had been mainly physical, mine, being computer based, meant a lot of sitting down, waiting for complete their transition between disk drives. By the time I’d finished I was getting grouchy and sore from sitting around for so long, so despite the fact that it was still raining – did I mention it’s been raining all day? – I put on my big Belky jacket and took the A6500 out for a walk in the rain. I did get a few shots, but really photography was a secondary consideration today. I just wanted to get out of the house for a while. I came home wet, but happier. Walking in the rain is good for the soul, as long as you’ve got dry clothes to change into! PoD was a photo looking across the pond in the rain with Alder seedheads in the foreground, one with an orange water drop! What created it I do not know.

Kirsty’s class was a bit of a shambles for me tonight. The dance floor really is too small and people kept getting in others way and that was with just three couples. I really need to do more practise in Foxtrot.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going into Glasgow by herself on a secret mission. I think I’m might go out somewhere too if I can find a dry hour or two.

Huntigowk – 1 April 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We had to be on our guard today, at least until midday when Huntigowk ended.

I didn’t see any gowks and didn’t end up as one … at least as far as I know. Scamp did get involved in one, though. In her word puzzle on the tablet she had to type the answers in backwards. Quite a clever catch. Wordle had nothing like that, neither did Spelling Bee. Maybe Americans don’t know what a gowk is …!

I did my usual clean up of the computer this morning, only to find out that Lightroom had got itself in a bit of fix with the photo files being in the correct folder, and the catalog being updated, but the files themselves were invisible. It’s still not fixed properly, but I think I may have a solution. Not an elegant solution, but it might work. I’m going to sleep on it and test it tomorrow. I’m just thinking, maybe Americans do Huntigowk after all.

After a couple of lovely warm days, we came down to reality with a bump today. Cloudy with the constant threat of rain. We didn’t bother going out because it appears the weather profile spreads right across Scotland and down into the north of England too. No chance to drive through it into sunshine.

We had a serious look online at a replacement laptop for Scamp’s ageing HP this afternoon. JL wanted serious money and Currys was just a shambles. Eventually found what looks like a reasonably priced laptop with a decent spec on the HP site. We’re maybe going in to Glasgow tomorrow now that the Easter holiday is over (for adults at least), to get a hands-on with the machines in JL or maybe Currys. At least that will give us an idea what we’re getting for our money.

I waxed my boots later and went for a walk which I knew would make them mucky again, but at least I’d know they started out clean. Again it was the second shot I took that became PoD. It’s the view down that lane through the avenue of trees with a couple and their dog. It’s one of my clichés, I know, but I like the composition.

Dinner was pasta with mushrooms, peppers, onion, chicken, spinach and half a tin of tomatoes. A kind of “what have we got in the fridge” pasta, but it worked. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.

Tomorrow, as I say we may go laptop hunting.

The beginning of Summer – 31 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Allegedly the beginning of British Summer Time. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Having said that, today was a lovely day if you were in the sun and out of the wind. Unluckily for us, we were working in the back garden which is still in the shade and in the canyon the wind whistles through. Today’s task was to clean out the wee plastic greenhouse, clean and de-gunk the things that were going back in and to bundle up the pots and things that were going out. I spent most of the time scrubbing and cleaning the tools and the ‘keeper’ pots. I ended up smelling of Jeyes fluid. But as Scamp said, the greenhouse, which doubles as a shed, was looking a lot better. How long it will stay that way I wouldn’t like to say.

We started just after lunch and were finished much quicker than I’d anticipated. With the changing of the clocks very early this morning we ‘lost’ an hour, but had a lot more light in the early evening. It’s good to see the evenings lengthening, especially if we get some sun too. Scamp was delighted to see that some of her fritillaries in the front garden had flowers. We grew them some years ago, but couldn’t sustain them over the winter. Hopefully we’ll have more luck with these ones. I need to get some stakes cut to help prop up the old apple tree in the back garden. We found some likely pieces of wood today that might be strong enough for the job. Probably two will be enough to take the load, especially once the fruit starts to set.

I took a walk to St Mo’s later in the afternoon and one of the first shots I took got PoD. I thought it was just a big bud on a branch of a tree, but later noticed the telltale sign shaped like a horses hoof that tells you it’s a Horse Chestnut. Quite chuffed to find that there’s a horse chestnut tree nearby. Something to watch out for in a few months. When I was on my way back home I spotted two butterflies, probably Peacocks. Another sign that things are warming up.

Dinner tonight was Chicken Curry made with the leftovers from yesterday’s chicken and a Spice Tailor kit. Quite rich tasting with just enough spice to brighten it up.

Spoke to Jamie and heard that they now have a prospective date for the works to be completed around the middle of April. Glad they’re having a short holiday in the Lakes and using half of the time to go on a map reading course. Sounds interesting and very useful for the pair of adventurers and mountaineers.

Both Scamp and I are feeling better rested now even if we were working in the afternoon. We’re still a bit drained with all that has been going on at the weekend. Hopefully a ‘normal’ week will put us back on track to be ready for summer!

Late night – Early morning – 30 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Never a good combination!

It’s not a good combination. Got to bed about 1am this morning after an interesting jam session with Scamp, Nancy and Crawford. Up at our usual time. Showered, dressed and off to dance class.

The bowling club, where we hold our dance class, was having an Easter Egg hunt and some of the children seemed to think they had free rein to charge through the hall. A few sharp words from the dance teachers to the parents made sure it only happened once.

We started with the Valentino Jive which seems to have nothing to do with Rudolph and even less to do with Jiving! Never mind, it got us all on the floor and moving. Next we went into the Spring Waltz with the “Spitfire Arms” we learned about last week and with the addition of CBM (Contra Body Movement) which basically means when your foot goes in one direction, your body turns in the opposite direction. We thought the Spitfire was difficult, but a quick explanation this morning simplified it. We are still wondering how to do the CBM. It looks so simple and obvious when the teachers are demonstrating it, but it’s not so simple or obvious when we tried to dance it. However we struggled on and have almost mastered the Spitfire now.

To break up the tension from CBM and Spitfires, we danced a couple of tracks of sequence dances, then we were into Jive. Jiving is fairly easy and the individual parts are quite easy to pick up. It’s the putting together of those individual parts that’s the difficult bit. I admit, I was lost after a while and couldn’t even remember the routines we learned last week and there were only two of them!
A couple of tracks of Tina Tango finished off our dance class for the day.

While we were driving home we passed a sign on the M8 that told us it was 10min to the Kingston Bridge. Usually it’s at least 15min. Could that mean we could shave about 10min off the homeward journey if we risked the M8/M80 instead of the M74/M73? Worth a try. For the first time in a long time we crossed the Kingston Bridge at an amazing 50mph and were back home with 15mins to spare. Fantastic! And all because everyone else was heading in the opposite direction, going to the west coast. Hundreds of them in a gigantic traffic jam while we tootled along at a pleasant pace.

After lunch I went out for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which is a scruffy looking catkin. Not brilliant, but it ticks a box. It was very cloudy today with the occasional heavy shower. While I was out, Scamp was busy planting her new birthday azelea.

Dinner was roast chicken with roast veg and potatoes. Ate it while we watched Gardener’s World whilst almost falling asleep. Late night last night, an exhausting dance class, physically and mentally today then the realisation that we’d lose an hour’s sleep as we enter British Summer Time tomorrow meant an early bed for both of us. That’s where I’m off to now.

Tomorrow is earmarked for recovery.

Grangemouth – 26 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We were heading for Grangemouth today to another garden centre.

Tried to drive the sensible way which was past the garden centre on the motorway and take the next exit. Found I was in the wrong lane and had to drive a mile or so down the road before I could turn at a roundabout and head back then took the correct lane and was driving to the garden centre but was stopped in an enormously long queue at roadworks. Gave up and went back towards the Kelpies and found an other queue for the same roadworks, from the other side. This one was managed and we got through to the garden centre easily. What a fankle!

We found so many new-to-us plants, I thought we’d have to hire a trailer to get them all home. Also found an interesting looking pre-cut and drilled wooden raised bed that might just replace the old rotten wooden one that’s over 10 years old now and falling apart. Still not sure it will fit into the space I’ve got, but thinking about it. Tape measure is coming out tomorrow.

Scamp found lots of plants she liked, but restricted herself to a pot for the new azalea and a bag of ericaceous composts to fill the pot with. I got a clever potato pot. Just to make it clear, it was the design of the pot that was clever, not the actual potatoes, although they might be too! I got a bag of seed potatoes that are now chitting on the back bedroom window sill. My last purchase was a delicate little Orchid. (Possibly tomorrow’s PoD, all being well).

While Scamp wandered round a clothes shop called Klass I paid for and lugged the garden acquisitions to the car, then had a look round the Fruit and Veg stall that is an adjoins the garden centre and found a focaccia loaf for £2. Last one on the stall and added it and a bag of Spanish apples to what was already making the wee blue car groan on its wheels. We got a few more things and then drove home. This time I didn’t take any wrong turnings or get stuck in roadworks. I just drove home!

I took a camera over to St Mo’s to see what it would find and the result, and PoD, was the first shot I took. It’s a bunch of apple blossom flowers I saw in St Mo’s.

Dinner tonight was soup. I made it and although it was a bit bland in colour and taste, it filled a wee space, as did the focaccia. Definitely not as good as my home baked one, but a good substitute. We’ll look for it next time.

A short practise tonight of the Foxtrot for Kirsty’s class tomorrow and I think we’re now ready to test it out. Might need an extra half hour practise tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow Scamp is out for tea in a wee tea shop in Condorrat with the Witches and I’m on my own for a while. I have no plans at present.

Rain – 25 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Today was the opposite of yesterday. I think it rained from morning to night. If it didn’t, then it certainly felt like it did.

We finally got round to putting the cases into the loft again to let them sleep until our next adventure needs them to carry our load to some exciting place. Not exactly sure when or where that will be, yet. Hopefully it will be somewhere. Plans were made over dinner yesterday that may come to fruition.

There wasn’t much to do today after the cases had gone we had a bit more space, especially in my room. I planted some chilli seeds Scamp had bought me. The seeds came with a big metal pot and two bags of compost. They weren’t exactly pulling out the stops with the seed allocation. Six seeds in the packet. I arranged five of them into a pentagon with the final one taking up position in the centre. (I like to be accurate with these things.) I watered them and sat them on the bookcase in the back bedroom. According to the instructions, they were to be placed in a bright place but not in direct sun. The north facing window should be ideal. Good luck little chillies.

In the afternoon, Scamp brought out her mighty steam iron and got to work ironing everything she could lay her hands on. I took that as my cue to off for a walk in the rain, with the possibility of getting some photos. I’d taken a couple earlier just as bankers in the rain. They were Bellis flowers. What we used to call “Wee Daisies” before we got all technical and Latin. I did find a couple of worthwhile shots and one of them got into Flickr, but it was the Bellis that made PoD.

Dinner tonight was another “what’s in the fridge” pasta creation. It turned out quite well, but we both agreed that it cooled down really quickly.

Watched the semi-final of Mastermind and the first semi of University Challenge. I got a few questions correct, as did Scamp.

Hoping to go and get ericaceous (acidic) compost tomorrow to pot up Scamp’s new azalea.

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Scamp – 24 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp’s Birthday today.

A lazy morning for both of us. Lots of prezzies opened and lots of smiles. Hazy phoned in the morning and I gave them space to talk while I tidied up downstairs.

After lunch Scamp wanted to get her new plants into pots and distributed round the garden. I took a camera for a walk in St Mo’s. Not a lot to be seen, but I did get some photos of a bunch of dandelions sitting on a wall and with a fence to give them some extra support.

Scamp had requested that dinner should be, Chicken & Pea Traybake, to give it its proper name, The same meal we had on Thursday. I was chef, of course, but the real cook was the oven because it did all the hard work. Dessert was Viennetta. All washed down with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Jamie and Simonne’s Christmas parcel.

Spoke to Jamie later in the day and heard that the main works seem to be finished and now the push seems to be on to get the plastering completed. The hope being that when that is finished, they can move back it full time.

We watched the final episode of this season’s Death in Paradise. The story was dragged out even more than it usually is. Lots of old faces returning for this finale. Maybe this is, as one critic wrote, the Death of Death in Paradise. We can but hope.

I think Scamp enjoyed her birthday. I really hope she did.

Tomorrow we may tidy up some loose ends.

Stirling in the rain – 20 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Met Alex today to go for a wander through Stirling.

Picked Alex up at the train station and we drove through the rain to Stirling and parked at the multi-storey carpark in the town. Alex had had a haircut in the morning. Number 2 on top and a Number 1/2 on the back. Very brave when it’s only the middle of March, but who am I to say. Then he left his hat in the car. Not so clever, so first stop was M&S for a cheap bunnet. Then it was coffee time in Nero and plans were laid.

We walked up King Street in the rain and then on to Baker Street and Broad Street with its canons still guarding the road to the castle. On the way we found a flowering cherry tree that had dropped some of its flower on the metal metal seating in a park, and that’s where today’s PoD came from.

We got as far as Mar’s Wark, a townhouse from the 1500s and decided the rain was on for the day and started to head back down the hill. About halfway down the rain lessened and by the time we were down in the shopping precinct, it had stopped. Too late to go back and anyway, plans had been altered to give us a place to go for lunch.

We drove out along the St Andrews road to Coffee Bothy and had lunch. I knew, when I saw the amount of mayonnaise on my Cajun Chicken sandwich that I was going to suffer for it later, and I did. I didn’t even enjoy the food today which is really strange.

We drove back through much lighter traffic than I thought we’d have, and manage to get Alex back in time for his 4:37 train home. We agreed that we hadn’t seen the best of Stirling today and vowed to come back on a DRY day. It was really annoying driving back into the makings of a good sunset, after such a disappointing day, weather-wise.

Later Scamp and I drove up to the British Legion for our midweek dance class. Only two of us tonight, which meant there was nowhere to hide. It wasn’t my best dance class. I made countless mistakes, despite Kirsty and Scamp trying their hardest to ease me in to it. It just wasn’t working for me.

Hoping to go to a tea dance tomorrow. You can’t say I’m not a glutton for punishment!

Admiring my handiwork – 19 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Surprisingly, no aches and pains, no pulled muscles either from yesterday’s tentative return to home decorating.

In fact, we drove up to the local B&Q to see if they had the paint we’re intending to use in the front bedroom. They didn’t have it in stock. It wasn’t a great surprise, they never have what you need in this store. Scamp agreed and said that you don’t see crowds of people shopping for anything in this store. It’s usually joiners and builders we see in this B&Q. I’m guessing they get a good trade discount, paid for through the full price the general public have to fork out. I’m amazed it’s still in business.

So, it was in and out again as quick as possible today and then on to Tesco for the weekly shop. No problem with the general public there. Tuesdays are usually busy and the shelves are usually full. We avoid Mondays when the bakery department seem to take the day off en masse.

Back home and after lunch I had a quick discussion with my brother on WhatsApp about where we’d go this week. I put up a good case for Stirling which has architecture and the occasional grand church which he likes and what can be gorgeous view along the carse to the Lomond hills which suits me.

With that settled I went out for a walk in St Mo’s, but I could just have returned home after a five minutes walk because I found today’s PoD not a hundred metres from our front door. Just a wee daisy that had made its home in a crack in the pavement next to an inspection plug for the wireless cable. A shot in the bag is always a great thing.

Wandered round St Mo’s anyway since the photowalk is not just about taking photos, but also about keeping moving, getting some exercise and increasing my daily step count.

When I got home, I was just going through today’s 17 photos when Scamp started cheering. I thought we’d won the lottery before I remembered we had just torn up Saturday’s failed chance to become a millionaire. No, it was the early arrival of Laura & (Big)Ross’s baby girl and John & Marion’s first grandchild. Three weeks early. Good luck to them all.

Dinner tonight was Paella a family favourite that I hadn’t made for months, and it showed. A bit soggy, but apart from that it was fine. It filled a space as we say.

Tomorrow Alex and I are off to terrorise Stirling. Scamp has nothing planned apart from cleaning and ironing.