Old friends – 14 January 2024

It was a cold start to a colder day.

Ice and frost welcomed us to the start of another winter day. Nobody seemed to want to go out and that included us. However, after lunch I did put my boots on and walked over to St Mo’s. Not surprisingly there wasn’t much change from yesterday, so I went for a walk in the woods and that’s where I found two old friends. Two sixteen spot ladybirds, each neatly tucked into two different crevices in a tree. I’m sure they hatch in the late summer or early autumn and hibernate through the winter months. Always the same variety with orange wing casing and white spots. Totally different from the ‘normal’ ladybirds we usually see with red wing cases and black spots. Usually I find them in groups of two or three, huddled together, but todays ones were each in their own little hollow. Maybe they weren’t talking to each other.

Two trees away I found a green shield bug. That’s a rare occurrence in winter. As far as I can tell, they hibernate in grasses and leaf litter during winter months, but this one was half way up a tree.

I walked back after that, happy that I’d managed to get something other than trees and reflections in the pond for a potential PoD. Then I found when I opened the computer that my reflection photo from a couple of days ago had been awarded “Explore” which is the Flickr equivalent of ‘going viral’. Suddenly the whole Flickr world wants to ‘like’ your photo and some folk comment on your photo. It’s kind of embarrassing, because it’s usually a run of the mill photo that gets the accolade. I have no idea who chooses the photo to get the award and I have no idea what formula they use. I just accept it and say thank you!

Dinner tonight was a rather strange M&S packet of DIY Fajitas. We heated up the chicken and veg packet in the microwave then did the same to the packet of tortillas spread the tortillas with the supplied tomato salsa and sour cream then put a layer of the chicken and veg mix on top before rolling them up. The kit made four fajitas, two each and although a bit messy and awkward to eat, they tasted ok, a bit spicy, but nothing too hot. Would we try them again? Maybe not. Not really very substantial and messy to make, although that might be down to my lack of fajita making skill.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about the problems commuting to work while fields on either side are temporary ponds and how they are having to contend with the cold winds from the east while their roof is being replaced. I don’t envy them.

PoD was the green shield bug. Two images merged in a program called Affinity Photo. It’s what photogs call a Focus Stack. Too complicated to describe here and too boring for non-photogs.

We had a flurry of snow in the late afternoon and if it returns tomorrow, that might change our plans for driving to Larky to get Scamp’s glasses fixed.

Oh what a beautiful morning – 11 October 2023

And the makings of a beautiful day.

Scamp was out in the morning to have coffee with June. While she was out I found a subject for today’s Inktober prompt – “Wander”. I started work on it right away, drawing on a Seagate A4 sketchbook. I usually draw ideas to begin with in a cheap sketchbook, but have been caught out many times by working up a good sketch in them, then when I put a watercolour wash on them the paper soaks up the water, buckles and the sketch becomes a disaster area. Now I’ve learned to draw on decent quality paper that will hold the watercolour without falling apart. Yes, the paper is more expensive, but it saves a lot of swearing!

Lunch, when Scamp came in was, soup. Quite delicious soup. Then with the sun still shining I walked over to St Mo’s and found myself surrounded by dragonflies. Yesterday’s unseasonably warm weather coupled with today’s sunshine must have released a hatch of the insects. Mainly they were Common Darters with a few Black Darters too. I grabbed a few shots with the 85mm lens which performed really well, even if it didn’t allow me to get as close as a macro lens would. I also found a big clump of mushrooms that had appeared overnight. Again I think it was the weather than had encouraged them to sprout. This time it was the combination of warm weather and lots of rain, two things fungi thrive on. The mushrooms got PoD.

Back home Scamp was talking to her sister in Skye on the phone, but I didn’t hear much of the conversation because I was trying to scan in today’s sketch and post process the photos from the afternoon. We were going out to Kirsty’s dance class tonight, so I knew I had to get everything done as early as possible.

A photo of a tree beside the Luggie got ‘Explore’ on Flickr. I was quite impressed. It was almost OOC (Out Of Camera, meaning it had minimal processing). Second one in about a month!

Dinner tonight was a rather excellent fish ’n’ chips with beetroot. Not the best beetroot, but the fish made up for it. A lovely slice of cod!

There were only two couples for class tonight, but it was very useful. Plenty of room for dancing and also lots of tips from Kirsty about the little dance nuances I frequently forget. Lessons learned. She even got the chance to give us a quick and very short Quickstep routine to work on. Next week it’s Tango. Must remember a rose to hold in my clenched teeth!

Came home and opened the fridge door and the internal light went off. Oh No! Has the fridge been listening to us discussing replacing it? However, it was just the bulb that had blown. We’ll have to go out and source one tomorrow.

No other plans tomorrow. We’ll see what transpires.

 

Not going far – 29 August 2023

I had enough exercise yesterday. I didn’t want any more today.

Scamp was out early to get her nails ‘done’ again, then she was meeting Shona for coffee. I was asked if I wanted to join them, but I decided they would get on better without me!

Instead I stayed home and read for a while and looked through the photos that had arrived in Flickr overnight. The window cleaner arrived and I spent a wee while blethering to him. Basically, I did nothing, or as close to nothing as I felt I could get away with.

After Scamp arrived home with her new lilac nails we had lunch and then I went for a walk in St Mo’s. It was one of those days with gusty winds blowing the rain clouds around, creating what the weather fairies delight in calling ‘scattered showers’. PoD went to a rather demonic looking photo of what looks like a pair of horns behind a bush. It’s actually a macro of an earwig’s rear end! There are over 1000 species of earwigs in the world and only 4 are native to the UK.

The competitor for PoD was a shot of a Peacock butterfly with its wings locked together to keep a sudden rain shower out of their delicate upper surface. As soon as the rain stopped the wings folded out and it sat there taking in the warmth from the sun that had appeared after the cloud cleared.

Dinner tonight was an experiment. Pasta Carbonara with mushrooms, shallots and finely sliced bacon. It seemed to go down well and will be worth trying another time.

A short dance practise in the evening  just to make sure the Joy’s Waltz and the new short(ish) cha-cha are firmly in my head.

Tomorrow is an early rise. Scamp and the rest of the witches are off to Pitlochry on the bus for the day. I’m driving them to the Town Centre to catch the bus which leaves at 8.45am! I hope they have a great day. No singing on the bus, though!

Out to Lunch – 25 August 2023

It was Scamp who suggested that we go out to lunch today.

In the morning she went to her FitSteps class and I did some housekeeping. Actual, physical tidying-up housekeeping, but also the more interesting and almost invisible housekeeping on the computer. I was searching for a sofa bed that I knew was in the back bedroom / painting room / spare room. I’d seen it recently under a pile of books, a rucksack and a blizzard of paper. After some rearranging of things, a disposing of rubbish and just finding better places for jackets and hats to live, there, under it all was the sofa bed. It’s not completely unearthed yet, but now I know where to look the next time I might need it.

The computer clean-up took longer, although there was far less physical work involved. It’s so easy to get sidetracked into looking at photos you haven’t seen for a while and then that leads to more photos that look interesting until nearly an hour has gone and you still haven’t accomplished what you set out to do. It was when Scamp returned I realised that I was only half way through the clean up or what became a clear out. However I did manage to get the required photos put in the bin and their replacement put in place. I’ve still to empty the bin, because, well, I’ll need to check that I wasn’t throwing good photos out with the bad, and you never know when I’ll need that one or that one or …

I shut the computer down. I powered it off and we went out to lunch, just as the rain came on. Thankfully it didn’t last long because we’d agreed to walk down to Broadwood Farm for a cheap lunch and a glass of something alcoholic. After all it was Friday and the end of the historical working week. Not that I’ve been involved in any working for a while now, but you have to keep these traditions alive! Fish & Chips for Scamp and small carvery for me. Small because that means two of the three meats that are always available, Gammon, Turkey and Cardboard. It’s actually advertised as Roast Beef, but it’s so dry the gravy won’t be absorbed into it and it tastes like cardboard, so let’s cut to the chase here and call it what it is – Cardboard. Some mixed veg and Cauliflower Cheese brightened up the plate and actually the food was good, washed down with a pint of Tennents for me and a glass of 19 Crimes Red for Scamp. The father of a family sitting on the other side of the room had a broad southern Irish accent, and although he was speaking quite loudly, I couldn’t understand more than about three words in every sentence. This got me thinking: Is that what I sound like to English folk? I must ask Simonne the next time we meet. Scamp thinks Simonne can probably decode my accent by now!

Back home the streets were drying, but not for long. I was just thinking I might get an hour in St Mo’s when down it came, straight down rain. As soon as it had disappeared to bother somebody else, I got my boots on and went for a walk with the A6500 and a 50mm macro lens. The 50 did its magic again. 50mm used to be the lens to stick on your camera. A general purpose go anywhere lens that could handle most things. That part hasn’t really changed, but having the ‘macro’ part means it’s possible to focus down to about 30mm from the front of the lens and still get super sharp images. Kind of two lenses in one. Today it took a photo of a swan drying its wings while standing on a rock in the middle of St Mo’s pond – the swan was standing on the rock, not me, BTW! Daft, but not stupid. It took a photo of a tiny, about 3mm long spider on a web. Last, but not least it took a photo of a Red Admiral butterfly sunning itself on a bush. First red admiral I’ve seen this year and even better, there were actually two of them! The butterfly got PoD and the other two are able to be viewed on Flickr.

Swans are sneaky things.  You’ve only got to ask Jamie about their wiles!  The one referred to in the previous paragraph successfully enveigled itself into the photograph, but it’s now been bounced out and replaced with the butterfly.  Swan’s! You can never turn your back on them for a minute.  Ask Jamie!

A thin G&T each tonight because we’re out early tomorrow intending to drive to Brookfield to demonstrate that we have been practising the Outside Spin, if not the Cross Basic.

Happy Birthday Jamie – 16 August 2023

Hope you had a good day.

We didn’t do very much this morning. Yesterday was a bit of a buzz. Scamp was out in the morning and in the afternoon. I was out in the morning then spread my 10,000 odd steps all over the west end before I brought the street legal blue car back. Today was different. We weren’t sure what the weather was going to do, and neither was the weather. Eventually we settled on lunch in a new restaurant that seemed as if it was in the middle of a building site.

We got a seat next to the loudest woman in the place. She had finished her main course by the time we arrived and was just starting into what looked like a 15cm x 15cm x 15cm brick of Sticky Toffee Pudding with custard. All she seemed to do was stuff her face with the chocolate coated pudding while she FaceTimed with someone on her phone. Eventually she decided she had to leave NOW and got up and left, leaving most of the dark brown brick untouched Suddenly the restaurant was a much quieter place.

The food was good, but not exceptional. I had a double gammon steak with egg, pineapple and chips. Steaks were small, so they ended up being the same size as a normal one. Scamp had fish ’n’ chips one of her standard tests for a new restaurant. The food was fine for a cheap lunch. We agreed we’d probably go back, but maybe to the carvery next time.

Drove home via Lidl where I wanted a cob loaf and between us added more to the basket than we really wanted, or needed, but Lidl’s like that. You see things in there you haven’t seen for ages.

About a month ago I scraped the rear wing of the car when I was parking. Today I wondered if the old trick of using Brasso to spread the top coat over the scratch would still work. The answer is it works a treat. Brasso is a very fine abrasive and if you rub it on to the affected area it heats up and the paint skin melts into the scrape. Allegedly toothpaste does the same thing.

I took the A7 out for a walk in the afternoon while Scamp was reading. For the first time in ages I got lots of photos. I’d actually taken some in the morning. The Shooting Stars that had flowered so well in May were now spreading their tiny seeds anywhere they could find some damp earth and the seed pods were almost empty, but very photogenic. St Mo’s however produced some insect life. Dragonflies, peacock butterflies and mating damselflies especially were in great supply, but the PoD went to a teasel in the garden that’s beginning to show its needles. This is the first time I’ve grown them and I’m looking to see them flowering.

No plans yet for tomorrow. As usual it all depends on the weather.

Over 400 photos yesterday – 9 today – 7 August 2023

That’s the way it goes with photography sometimes.

Scamp went out in the morning to get us milk and bread and I stayed in because a parcel was arriving and also to organise some photos to send to Alex. I’d meant to do it last week, but life got in the way. It was a pleasant enough day in between the rain showers.

Later we went down to Calders because Scamp wanted a bag of compost to replant some pots. She needed a bit strong boy to carry the bag and since we couldn’t find one, I was the labourer today. For once, we went looking for compost and that’s what we came home with. No extra flowers or plants and no other paraphernalia. Amazing. We’re both a bit prone to adding things that we don’t need when we go to garden centres. Later in the afternoon, I was still working on yesterday’s photos after I’d emailed Alex’s photos and Scamp had finished repotting the plants and had just decided to take a walk over to the park to get some photos when the rain came on. So instead of a walk to the park, I grabbed some photos in the garden and that’s where today’s PoD came from it’s an unknown fly on an Astrantia flower. It’s amazingly sharp given that the breeze and rain were moving things around, and of course the insect was moving too. The anti-shake on this camera works.

That was about it for the day. Just a normal Monday with a bit of sun, a bit of wind and some rain.

Hoping to go in to Glasgow tomorrow to get some photos from the Time Trial while Scamp is off meeting June for coffee.

 

The Auld Guys – 25 July 2023

Coffee, Sarcasm and Laughs. That’s what the Auld Guys are best at.

In the morning I drove Scamp up to the town centre to get her nails redone for Saturday. Back home I had time for a shower and browse through my photos on Flickr before Scamp returned with shiny pink nails and a smile on her face. These were non-sparkly nails this time Hazy.

Now I was driving over to Abronhill to pick up Val and we were meeting Fred for coffee in Costa. This was a Return of the Auld Guys. We’ve not met up for probably more than a year, and to be honest, probably not since Covid put an end to meetings entirely for two years! I think we all enjoyed the banter and the blether. Val’s in a wheel chair and I can see that he’s not happy about it, but at least he can get around with it, if slowly. The chair folds up quite neatly and fits in the back of the car quite comfortably. Fred was his usual charming self, and yes, that was sarcasm. After a couple of hours we were talked out and I drove Val back home where Jeanette was waiting for him.

I went home via Tesco where I’d been given a shopping list to bring back because Scamp was baking shortbread today. This was the first switching on of the new food processor. It was certainly efficient at mixing the butter flour and sugar and beating it into submission. With the shortbread in the oven, Scamp washed and dried the bowls of the machine and then demonstrated the fine slicing of a courgette. We didn’t really need sliced courgette today, but we’ve got in a little Tupperware box, just in case we find a use for it, yes, more sarcasm!

We were going to need some meat for Thursday, so we drove over to Muirhead to stock up on more meat and fish than we really needed, but the meat, especially in that shop is so enticing, I always buy too much. Drove there on the motorway and came back the scenic route, on the wee narrow country roads that Scamp hates but the views of the Campsies took her mind off that.

Back home again, I took the A6500 out for a walk in St Mo’s and found a strange wee yellow insect. It turned out to be the nymph of a Bronze Sheildbug. I’d never seen one before, but Google Images found it right away and confirmed its existence.

Yesterday I’d quite fancied the Mushroom and Bacon Carbonara at The Bothy and today, for dinner, I made my take on what I thought it would look like.

That was about it for a fairly well filled day. The shortbread, by the way, was probably the lighted Scamp has made in a long time.

I’m probably meeting Alex for coffee and serious camera talk and Scamp is booked for coffee with one of her ex-workmates.

 

Lunch at the Bothy – 24 July 2023

After Wordle and Spelling Bee were done, the day was our own.

But first, even before Wordle, there was a big cardboard box to open, and inside as … another big cardboard box. Inside that was the usual amount of bumf you get when you buy something fairly expensive. “READ ME FIRST” was on the first page, so that was put to the side to read later. Next the inevitable expanded polystyrene to unpack and crumble into the carpet, then more bumf to read at a later date and finally the food processor was revealed in all its shiny plastic glory. Oh yes, and we got a recipe book, not an app to download and install on our phone, but an honest to goodness recipe book and a hard back one to boot! We might read that later, mainly because it didn’t scream at us “READ ME FIRST”!

While Scamp went into the kitchen to wash all the bowls and the lethal looking cutters and slicers, I read through some of the paperwork and some of the recipes. It’s amazing the variety of breads, cakes and soups you can make in one of these clever devices. I may even attempt some of them sometime.

Satisfied that all the washable bits had been washed and dried and after reading the recipe book and completing Wordle and Spelling Bee, Scamp suggested we go out to lunch as we’d planned at The Bothy just outside Stirling. As usual these days we were handed a buzzer and told to browse round the shop. Not long afterwards our buzzer buzzed. I did quite fancy the Mushroom and Bacon Carbonara on the ‘specials’ board, but inevitably I ordered the Sri Lankan Lamb Curry and Scamp had Mac ’n’ Cheese as I suspected. Two coffees to wash it down and two ginormous Cream Donuts to take home in a box.

Scamp was looking for another rose, but not for us this time and she wanted a pot to replant “Harley” the Harlequin Berberis we thought we’d lost in the June heatwave. It’s not quite recovered its variegation yet, but maybe once it’s repotted it will regain its colour. We drove round the outskirts of Stirling to Dobbies, but they had none of the rose variety she was looking for. We did get a heather plant to replace one that had died in June, a pop-up bin for the garden and a packet of basil seeds for me to plant.

I thought there was just a chance that we’d find the rose in Calders in Cumbersheugh, so we went there on our way home. Scamp knows one of the gardeners and she asked him if he had any and thankfully he had. A bit of local knowledge goes a long way, and it’s a true saying “It’s now what you know, but who you know. A quick visit to Tesco on the way home and we were done, or nearly.

I hadn’t a photo of the day so far, so back home I got my boots out and took the A6500 out with the big clumsy 105mm macro lens and in about an hour I took 130 photos. Most were rubbish, but I did capture a male Common Darter dragonfly. I’ve been keeping a careful eye on the battery performance of the new camera and it’s actually almost within the parameters that are advertised for it, so not such a big problem as I initially thought.

That was a good day. Weather wasn’t all that good, but it stayed dry all day. Scamp’s off to get her nails done again. I’m hoping to do an Auld Guys coffee morning tomorrow with Val and Fred.

Another box arrives – 21 July 2023

Scamp was out early to go to the dentist to get phase two of her tooth replacement completed. This one involved two injections and a reshaping of the old tooth to take the new ceramic crown. Also she had x-rays taken and an impression made. The procedure lasted just under an hour and a sorry looking Scamp arrived home with that numb mouth we’ve all suffered at some time.

Meanwhile there was a knock at the door just after 9pm and there stood a man holding a big cardboard box with my name on it. It was a new camera, well, it was a second-hand camera really. I rarely buy new now. It was a Sony A6500 first announced in 2016, so it is old, but not ancient. It will replace the A6000 I’ve had for a few years. I’m selling the A6000 to offset the price of the new kit. I had a look over the new camera and it does all the things I want it to and a few other things as well. I think it’s a keeper, but I’ve only had a few hours in a busy day to play test it. Over the weekend I’m hoping to find a dry hour or so in the midst of all the rain that’s predicted to test it out more fully.

 

When Scamp returned and after her mouth had thawed out, I though it might be a good idea to walk down to Broadwood Farm for lunch. I’d had their carvery a couple of times and fish ’n’ chips the last time. Both were perfectly fine and good value for what we paid. The fact that I could also have a pint of Tennents had no bearing on the matter at all. Anyway, today I had one of their pizzas. I think they made a mistake with the pizza. I think they baked the cardboard box and threw away the pizza. It was totally tasteless and running with oil from the pepperoni. Never again.

After we walked back Scamp wanted to cut the grass front and back. I moved all the pots from the front of the front garden to allow her to run the mower down the edge of the tarmac path, then I replaced them. Once she’d finished mowing the front and was emptying the mower, I strimmed around the other three sided of the front grass. Then I strimmed round the pots in the back garden. I don’t mind the strimming, it is hard on my back, but I hate cleaning the mower afterwards.. The actual cutting of the grass takes about 10 – 15 minutes. Cleaning the mower afterwards can take half an hour. There must be a better way to do this.

By then I was thinking I might take the new camera over and introduce it to St Mo’s. It performed quite well, although the battery power diminished very quickly. Admittedly I’d been adjusting settings quite a lot that mean the rear screen is on a lot and that uses a fair bit of power. It’s something I’ll check in the coming week. PoD was a cluster of caterpillars high up in a tree. I think they are the caterpillars of the Buff Tip Moth, but I’m not sure.

The weather predictions for the weekend don’t look great. Lots of rain for most of the UK. I think our first lot is due tonight, so it might be a wet drive to dance class tomorrow. Other than that, no real plans.

Rain, Sun and Wind – 2 July 2023

Three words to sum up today as far as weather goes. There was rain. Sometimes heavy sometimes light, but always there on the horizon. Then there were occasions sunbursts, sometimes while the rain was falling, but welcome when they appeared. Lastly there was wind for the third day recently. Gusty wind blowing in from the west. Very unseasonable weather after a Flaming June.

Scamp was out planting her new flowers. They are a white Salvia and a white Penstemon. Both in the new pot she bought (but didn’t wear) yesterday. They are now ensconced in the front garden to strengthen the barrier and hopefully prevent the Scottish Terrier from round the corner from crapping in our front grass. If that doesn’t work, then we’ll have to resort to digging pits with sharpened spikes at the bottom, between the pots or the ‘nuclear option’ – Land Mines. Anyway, for now the flower pots are doing a good job of keeping Hamish at bay. In the afternoon I swear I saw Scamp out in the front garden watering the plants while the rain was tipping it down. I now have seriously concerns about her sanity.

Later in the afternoon I put my boots on and went for a walk in St Mo’s, hoping to get some photos of some yellow Flag Irises, but was disappointed to find that they were long gone. That spell of hot weather had forced the flowering of these elegant plants way ahead of their usual blooming time. What I did find was a couple of Batman hoverflies, so called because they have what looks like the Batman symbol on their thorax. Then a Five Spot Burnet moth feeding on its favourite knapweed flower. After some discussion with myself, the Burnet moth got PoD.

Watched a crazy Austrian GP with almost half the field succumbing to five second penalties for exceeding ’Track Limits’. For once, Charles Leclerc didn’t find the wall!

We don’t have any plans for tomorrow.