Mountain climbing and lunch with Shona – 6 February 2024

Today we were taking Shona out to lunch.

Scamp and I had planned to take Shona to Cafe Bothy. It’s actually called Coffee Bothy now, but we prefer the original name. It’s a great wee restaurant in a place called Blairlogie in Clackmannanshire. Isobel was the first one who found it, being guided by her granddaughter and Isobel introduced us to it. Shona had never heard of it, which isn’t surprising as it’s in the middle of nowhere on a farm off a single track road. Shona had Fish ’n’ Chips, Scamp had Mac ’n’ Cheese and I had Mince ’n’ Tatties. All with the apostrophe correctly place before and after the n you’ll notice! That was the main course. We all opted for cakes rather than pudding afterwards and it was Strawberry Tart for Shona, Cream Doughnut for Scamp and a Gypsy Cream for me with coffees to follow of course.

Fed and watered, Scamp suggested we drive to Dollar park for a walk. Unfortunately we couldn’t find it and instead we drove up and up and up a steep single-track road to a car park for Castle Campbell instead. From there we walked up and up and up, then down the other side. We had walked up the hill many years ago, but we’d forgotten just how steep the climb is. The two ladies gave up, when it looked like we’d have to wade across a ford, but I was determined to get a photo on such a beautiful day. As it happened, I didn’t need to ford the burn because there was a bridge tucked away out of sight from the road. I did manage to get up to the top, and got the photo I was hoping for, but I was really knackered after it. The castle wasn’t open. It doesn’t open until April. We may go back then and if we can get parked again, we might take our time and go visit the castle properly.

I walked back down the hill from the castle then over the bridge and up the hill on the other side wondering all the time what kind of vehicle the custodians must have if they travel that road every day to open up. Whatever it is it most certainly isn’t a wee blue car! The drive home was scenic, but I didn’t see anything that was any better than a castle among the trees with a rushing burn beside it. Very ‘Outlander’.

We dropped Shona off at her house with time to spare before Ben came home from school. Driving into the sun was strenuous, not that I’m complaining because the sun was shining, far from it. But I decided I needed to clean the glass in the car inside and out. When I got the Juke I got a big bag of useless spray bottles as part of the ‘deal’. I used the Bug Remover spray and the Seagull Crap remover too, but I remembered as I was driving home, peering through a grey windscreen that there was Glass Cleaner in the bag. I found it when we got home and cleaned all the windows inside and out. I also cleaned the wing mirrors. Hopefully that should make driving less of a bind.

The prompt for today was “Plum”. Being a generous person I added a couple more plums to the singular fruit that was requested and just to be sure they were fresh, I ate half of one. That’s what you see here. Believe that and you’re softer than these plums look!!

Alex had to cancel our photo walk this week because he was needed at home. Hopefully we’ll get out next week. This week was tight anyway. Just one of these weeks when everything piles up.

Tomorrow we may be going dancing in Motherwell. Scamp has been talking about it for weeks and we really need to go there to see how good it is and if it’s an alternative to Glenburn.

Yet another wet day – 3 January 2024

Admittedly, the rain wasn’t constant. We did get some respite in the short dry spells.

There may have been dry spells, but there wasn’t much light to go with it. I know, I should be grateful for the fact that the rain wasn’t constant like it has been, but just a little bit of sunshine would help a lot to relieve the awful dullness. That’s the thing about January, it is terribly dull.

Scamp was out in the morning to visit Isobel. She had done something to her front door and couldn’t get it to lock, but the maintenance man was coming to fix it and Scamp went to have a blether with her while she waited. The door was easily fixed and the bloke showed Isobel what she was doing wrong. It’s sometimes the simplest things that trip us up.

While she was out I was fighting with the printer. I was working my way printing out the calendars and everything was going well until it suddenly failed to pick up the paper and reported a paper jam. The paper wasn’t jammed, it just couldn’t find it. I told it so umpteen times, but it just wouldn’t listen. Printers are so cantankerous and so pig headed they just refuse to accept that it’s THEIR fault, not ours. Eventually I got fed up arguing with it and turned it off. When I started it again, instead of loading a dozen sheets I only gave it six and asked it to print pages 1 to 6 inclusive. It did that. Good, it was seeing sense and behaving. Then I loaded another six sheets and it went on strike again. This time I read the riot act to it, warning it that I’d been looking in Amazon for a new, better behaved printer and if it didn’t mend its ways it was going in the skip. That finally got through its thick plastic skull and it printed off three lots without a whimper. After that I gave it a pat and allowed it the rest of the day off. I might return to the fray tomorrow.

After lunch I wandered round the house looking for things to photograph, but couldn’t find anything until after dinner I remembered the teasels that were drying out in the back bedroom. I don’t know if you’ve ever lifted a teasel, but if you do feel the need, wear thick leather gloves because those thorns on the stem are lethal. Anyway, after a fair few test shots of the jaggy seed pods, I took four shots of the teasels with the camera on a tripod and with the magic of Photoshop managed to get almost all of the apprentice porcupine in focus. Technically it’s called focus stacking, but you don’t need to know that, do you?

We watched the New Year Bakeoff, Hazy, and we enjoyed it. We had already watched the Christmas one. I think the New Year one was better. Also, Hazy, I opened the tin of coffee and made a cup of espresso with it. Very nice indeed, and no need to grind, either. Thank you both for that.

Oh yes, and on the subject of coffee, if the weather improves tomorrow we may go in to Glasgow, just for a walk and maybe a coffee and a cake.

Coffee again – 6 December 2023

Out in the morning for the third time this week, but this time it was both of us who were going out.

Scamp was heading for Glasgow to find an undisclosed purchase and I was going for a coffee. I gave Scamp a lift to the station and then managed to pick up a box of Christmas cards and had just enough time to write them before the meeting began

I was meeting Colin and John for coffee in Costa. I think I’ve had my fill now of poor coffee. Not terrible, just not good coffee. But I did have a good blether with Colin and John. I laughed when one of my FPs (Former Pupils) walked past pushing a pram, and who then did a double take at the sight of at least two of her former teachers sitting there. Even worse, she returned to the counter with another FP, presumably to corroborate her discovery that we were still in the land of the living!

After about an hour and a half we were talked out and went our separate ways. I drove home through what must have been freezing fog, I reckon. It certainly wasn’t very pleasant to drive through. I’d had the fog lights on earlier in the day, but didn’t need them on the way back.

After footering about for a while back home and once again praising a central heating system that keeps the living room at a comfortable temperature, I was just thinking about heading over to St Mo’s to grab some misty, if not foggy photos when a message from Scamp arrived on my phone to tell me she was on the bus home. That’s when I realised I was supposed to be making soup for dinner and I hadn’t started it yet.

The early warning gave me about 45 minutes to get going. It was another “What have we got that’s worth cooking” soup which finally settled down to be Leek, Red Pepper, Carrot, Turnip and Kale soup with a handful of Broth Mix added in for good measure. By the time Scamp arrived the soup was simmering nicely and I did go out with the A7 to get some photos.

There had been fog in the morning, but by the time I was in St Mo’s, it had dissipated and the temperature was dropping just like the weather fairies had said. The fog had left a light film of moisture on the branches and berries on the bushes and as the temperature dropped below zero, that moisture became spikes of ice crystals. Very pretty to look at but very cold. I got a few photos of them, but PoD went to a crop of a shot of wildfowl on St Mo’s pond. The crop made it look, to my eyes, like a sort of panorama. I was quite pleased with it. However a black & white image of a man and his dog walking over the boardwalk got more attention on Flickr.

No dance practise tonight because the teacher is crocked. She twisted her ankle when she was out walking her dogs at luchtime.  That’s a pity, because I’m getting to like her style and her classes.  Maybe next week.

We watched the final episode of Shetland and found out who the murderer was as well as discovering how the sorry tale unwound itself. Clever writing, producing, acting and scenery. I’m beginning to feel that I know what Shetland looks like now.

Tomorrow Scamp is out again for lunch this time with Mags and I may take the opportunity to do some painting or to go in to Glasgow. It depends on the weather!

It’s thawing – 4 December 2023

Finally the rain was falling this morning and the snow was on the back foot.

Snow is great fun if you’re a youngster, but for the rest of us, it’s just something we have to work with until the rain comes or the temperature rises. Thankfully, the rain came today and the snow is all but gone.

I was out this morning for coffee with Fred. We met in Tesco and had a good hour or so’s blether about anything, but mainly we both just had a right good moan about everything. The coffee wasn’t all that bad, certainly better than a standard Costa coffee, but nothing to write home about. When we were done, we bumped into each other again and again doing the shopping round the store, but Fred was pushing a trolley and I was just carrying a basket, so I was finished first by a long way. We said “Cheerio’ and I drove home under a sky that was clearing quite nicely. Then it rained!

After lunch I finally decided that the weather was improving and I headed over to St Mo’s to see what effect the rain was having on the snow. Actually, the hard packed snow on the paths was almost all gone. Whereas in the areas where the snow was undisturbed, was where it was lingering the most. There is probably a good scientific reason for that, there always is, but I don’t understand it.

Back home and after a first run through the photos to weed out the weak shots and the no-hopers, I did a bit of post processing and one or two shots came out looking quite presentable. A wide angle shot over the pond got PoD.

Dinner was another “What have we got in the fridge” sauce with penne pasta. I wasn’t all that impressed with the result, but Scamp was. So I’ll accept that praise.

Today I did the climb up into the loft to find The Snowman table cover that has to come down early and be rolled out on the floor to allow the warmth in the room to soften out all the creases. As I’m sitting looking at it just now, it’s almost perfectly flat again after almost a year in the cold. I suppose being a Snowman table cover it will be used to the cold.

Tomorrow I have another morning appointment, but this time it’s at at the doc’s for may annual check-up. I’m sure the sister will have questions to ask me and I have a few to ask her. Apart from that, we have no plans for tomorrow, but I have a bag of sweeties that I’m hoping I can plunder when I get back!

Glasgow again – 27 November 2023

Today we drove in to Glasgow, just for a change.

Actually we drove to The Fort today, but couldn’t find what we were looking for there and the place was really quite busy for a Monday morning. Even the gigantic car park at The Fort was nearly full. So we changed our plans and drove down the M8 to Glasgow which was busy, but not as busy as The Fort.

We took a walk through the Buchanan Galleries and then down Buchanan Street before we went for a walk round the partly assembled Christmas market in George Square. Not nearly as many stalls as usual and an ice rink that is a ’work in progress’. That is, not quite finished yet. A bit disappointing, really. Coffee in the new Nero Coffee House which is unlike most Neros in that it is light and airy with none of the dark stained wood most of them have. Quite impressive! Scamp had her usual Single Shot, Extra Hot, Latte and I had an Americano with hot milk on the side. Unfortunately I also had the new Christmas blend which I found bitter an unpleasant. I won’t be having that again.

It was a lovely day with bright sky and a few clouds. On the walk back to the car I got today’s PoD which was a bunch of weeds growing out of a poorly maintained brick wall. I liked the limited sharpness of the picture thanks to the new lens’s wide aperture. It’s amazing the difference a decent lens makes.

There was just enough light when we got home to make me want to get another photo or two in St Mo’s, but by then the light was failing and it had started to rain. I gave it two circuits of the pond and walked home.

I was on dinner duty today and it was Pasta Carbonara tonight. I carefully separated one egg yolk from the white and then added another two full eggs to the cup before I accidentally tipped it over on the worktop! Surely this wasn’t going to be another Disaaaaster Day! I managed to save most of the eggs and got them back into the cup, but then I had the mess on the worktop to clean up and egg white is such a sticky horrible thing to clean up. But in the end the carbonara was ok, just ok, but edible and the kitchen was back to normal again.

None of the photos I took were really good, so the Urban Garden retained its PoD status. I’m still working on another shot from Glasgow that might make it into Flickr tomorrow.

I think between Hazy and Simonne we’ve managed to find and book a cottage for a week next summer. That’s another little brightener to give us all something to look forward to. Thank you very much ladies for all your research work.

No quickstep practise tonight, but maybe some tomorrow if we’re not too busy.

Other than that, no plans for tomorrow other than a bit of light shopping, all being well.

A walk in the woods – 15 October 2023

Another bright day that really deserved to be appreciated from outside the window.
A bright day, but a cold start. When I was making the breakfast it was 2.1ºc. That’s kind of cool, too cool for my liking. However the heating had kicked in and the house was warm. Thank goodness for the Hive.

We decided on a walk in Colzium estate in Kilsyth. My reason for wanting to go there was to see the colours of the Acers, but I was a bit disappointed by how few of the trees were showing off their colourful leaves that usually brighten this month. However, all was not lost because one tree at the top of the main avenue was a burst of colour. I grabber a couple of photos, one of which was vastly over exposed, but back home one touch of the computer keyboard and it became PoD. The washed out colours came back as did the detail in the leaves. Technology can be amazing when it works.

We walked on round the Big House and up the drive to the Tak Ma Doon road, then down through the trees to the main path that follows the Colzium burn up to the wee narrow bridge at the top. On the way I got another interesting shot of one of the many waterfalls the burn splashes down on its way to the more gentle stream through Kilsyth itself. I got one good shot of the waterfall and three that the camera thought were more interesting, Shots of branches and leaves. The first shot, the one I took, not the camera is available to peruse on Flickr.

We crossed the bridge and walked down the other side of the burn to the road at the bottom. There’s a cafe on the other side of the burn and we went there for a coffee each and a cake to share. There were two big family groups who had nabbed all the seats, but we weren’t bothered. We walked further down and found a whole line of unused seat on the rise above the bandstand. A perfect place to look out over the estate and enjoy the coffee and the cake and a chance for a selfie!

When we were walking back to the car we met a bloke who asked if I’d taken any good shots. Then he told me he’d spotted a kingfisher beside the Colzium Burn where it runs through a park in the town. He admitted that he hadn’t brought his camera, but I will make sure I take mine the next time I’m in Lidl!

Back home, lunch was tea and toast for Scamp and Brie, Apple and Honey on brown bread. Our own apple too! Lovely and probably much better for us than the usual Sunday fry-up.

Scamp was desperate to cut the back grass, so I kindly let her, then John next door knocked on the door and asked if he could borrow our strimmer. His had broken down halfway through strimming his front grass. I didn’t mind, because I’d volunteered to strim our back grass and that would put off the inevitable.

Unfortunately, John brought the strimmer back and I gave in and strimmed the edges at the back garden. Then I cleaned both the mower and the strimmer and gave them a liberal spray with WD40 and put them away for the winter. It’s unlikely we’ll get another chance to cut the grass this year.

Dinner tonight was Sea Bream with Potatoes, Peas and Sweet Corn. Perfectly cooked by Scamp, of course.

Spoke to Jamie later and discussed plans for next week. All seems to be in order down south and the pair are still keen to get some serious walking done. We’ll just watch!

PoD was indeed the first shot of the day, the beautiful colours of the Acers. The prompt for today was “Dagger”. I drew a Dirk, a Thrusting dagger, Wikipedia calls it. It’s Scots name is Sgian Dubh, meaning Black Knife. This sketch is loosely based on my own Sgian Dubh which I only wear with highland dress at weddings.

No plans for tomorrow, although clearing a bedroom will be on the cards I fear!

Out for coffee with Val – 10 October 2023

Up fairly early … for me.

Set off to pick up Val just before 11am and we drove to Costa. Not the Costa I was expecting to go to, but eventually we found the right one of the three Costas in Cumbersheugh. Sat there and drank coffee, ate cakes, discussed kitchens and showers. Then found that we had both bought the exact same dishwasher. First one for Val, third one for us. After an hour and a big bit it was to take Val home. We should do this more often and we will do this more often if I have my way.

Drove home via Tesco to get some fruit and veg and a slice of brie which, along with a few slices of our own apples and a generous spoonful of honey made the filling in a brown bread sandwich for my lunch. Scamp had already had her lunch while Val and I were blethering.

After lunch and with the sky seeming to clear, I went for a walk in St Mo’s with the A6500 having a shot of the 85mm. The close ups the pairing produced were good, but the surprise was the way it handled a long shot across the pond to catch a bloke on his phone, sitting on the Living Lounge seat nearly half a mile away. I later enlarged it and it’s ready to be viewed on Flickr. It didn’t get PoD, that went to two spiders on a web.

Scamp offered to help me get more of the workload finished at a sensible time by making tonight’s dinner which was her signature Prawn & Pea Risotto. Best one for ages, Scamp!

Today’s prompt was “Fortune”. I tried to draw a Fortune Teller’s view of a crystal ball. I thought this would be a fairly easy sketch to do. How wrong I was. The left hand was fairly easy, but have you tried drawing your right hand with the pen in your left (reverse that if you’re left handed) It’s impossible. I even tried photographing my right hand and sketching from that with only slightly more success as you can see here. If I’d only had a crystal ball I could have seen the mess I was going to make!

It’s Scamp’s turn to go out for coffee tomorrow with June. I might try to update the laptop to Monterey. That’s where it happened, you know! Google it!

Back to Glasgow – 13 August 2023

Back to Glasgow for the final race of this year’s championship. So much more interesting in my opinion, than watching 22 overpaid blokes kicking a ball around a park for 90 minutes.

Today was the Women’s Elite Road Race and I didn’t envy them the climb up the Crow Road, although the ride down the other side might have been quite enjoyable! We stayed within a square section of Glasgow, bounded by George Square to the North and Ingram Street to the north. We didn’t wander far from South Frederick Street to the east and Queen Street to the west. We’d travelled in by train for a change. Much more comfortable and certainly faster than the X3 bus. We had arrived with time to spare and had a coffee in the Costa in Queen Street. That used to be our place to confer on what we’d learned (or not) in Michael’s dance class on a Wednesday.

Suitably refreshed we walked along through the barricades to find a suitable place to watch the race. It took longer than we’d anticipated for the riders to arrive in the city centre, but immediately there was a breakaway followed by the pursuing peloton. Scamp was satisfied with her spot, but I moved around finding more interesting perspectives all around the square we’d nominated as ‘Ours.’

From Scamp’s lookout position she could see the progress of the riders who were riding along one side of Cathedral Street, eastbound then after returning along George Street and up the awkward climb up Montrose Street, returned along Cathedral Street and down to George Square. On second thoughts, maybe the Crow Road was easier because they only had to do the climb once. Montrose Street they had to do six times. This was a devious and demanding circuit. Allegedly there were 50 corners in the city centre circuit!

I think for once we saw the whole race and today my shot count was about 330 of which around 95 were rejected. Not bad for the A6500.

We managed to get the fast train back to Cumbersheugh and then drove home.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about his pizza making skills. We were most impressed, Jamie. When you next visit you must make one for us! His tomatoes are also looking good. Glad your garden is growing well.

PoD was a breakaway group on Ingram Street in Glasgow

Tomorrow we have no cycling dates although I may need to go and get a new rear wiper for the blue car or I fear it won’t pass MoT. A good hoovering would help too!

 

Bike Porn – 6 August 2023

Scamp suggested we take the train in to Glasgow to watch the Elite Men’s Road Race circuit of Glasgow City Centre. I agreed to drive us to the station, but no further.

After all the driving yesterday, a leisurely trip into Glasgow would be most welcome. I hadn’t realised just how busy Glasgow would be. The first indication was how few seats there were on an eight carriage train. We both managed to get a seat, but there were very few left.

We waited in Queen Street station because we had a fairly good view out of the tinted window looking down on the circuit. Then, being Glasgow, it started raining, so best to keep dry for a while and watch the cyclists go past the window. I took a few trial shots but really wanted to get down and see the race proper, from street level once the rain had stopped. I’d two places kind of earmarked for useful shots. The first, looking back from the station entrance down George Street wasn’t very good, because there were lots of folk thinking the same thing and the sight line wasn’t the best, but I shot off a few frames there. My next destination was in front of the Tron Church where hopefully I’d get a straight view down George Street, but soon realised that was where one of the BBC camera men was, so instead I chose to stand at the tight bend where I guessed the cyclists would be clinging to the apex as they say in F1! I changed lenses to an ultra wide angle and rattled off a few more frames. Better, but thank goodness for motordrive. Hold the shutter button down and hope for the best. During a lull in the race when no team cars or motorcycles or cyclist were passing the volunteers who were in charge of the passing places kept us amused. Some were more entertaining than others. One in particular, a woman, seemed to be enjoying directing people to Buchanan Galleries and the train station and generally making folk smile.

After an hour or so Scamp thought she’d like a coffee and to be honest, I needed a walk, plus a coffee would be good. We walked up Sauchiehall Street and bumped into Fred Brown and Anne Muir who I used to work beside. Fred was keen to tell me he’d volunteered to go down to a four day week. I’m sure he’ll enjoy that little bit of ‘me time’. Anne has to wait a few years yet to get her freedom. They were off to see Oppenheimer in the GFT. We had coffee in the Black Sheep coffee shop and Scamp declared it very good.

On our way back to the station it started raining and we saw a Just Eat cyclist take a tumble on the slippery wet pedestrian precinct. I don’t think he’d survive long in the road race.

Just managed to catch the fast train home and again an almost full train.

Two fish suppers were our dinner tonight supplied by the Condorrat chip shop.

A shot of a few cyclists taking the straightest line through the chicane at the Tron got PoD. One of the best of the 419 shots taken!

No plans as yet for tomorrow.

A day in Japan – 17 May 2023

Scamp was out early this morning to get her hair cut.

When she came back I was just finishing hanging out the washing. It was a lovely morning again and we discussing where to go when Scamp said she fancied going to the Japanese Garden near Dollar. I tidied up the things I was messing about with on the computer and off we went.

Scamp had bought the tickets online before we left, so we knew we’d get in, but we had to squeeze into one of the last three spaces in the overflow carpark. Then it was just a case of picking up a map and walking round the pond. We’d been before back in October last year and had seen the place in its autumn colours. We were hoping to see it in its spring regalia, but we were disappointed. A few of the azaleas were flowering in bright yellows and one or two rhododendrons were also flowering but everything else was green. It seems like it’s not just us who are running about a month late this year.

On the map we’d been given there was a mysterious number that would apparently unlock a gate. We looked where we thought the gate should be, but it wasn’t there. Finally we found it at the other end of the garden. There was a keypad on the gatepost and when we punched in the mysterious number the gate opened to allow us into the woodland walk. For the most part the walk was through woods, as you’d expect, but we could see a children’s adventure playground at the top of a hill, but ignored it and walked on. That’s where we found the ‘village’.

The noticeboard explained that last year’s storm ‘Arwen’ had felled or damaged a lot of the trees in the garden but that even the damage led to new beginnings. It was scamp who say the first tree stump with a heavy rope wrapped around the top and a variety of mosses and little trees growing in it. Then she saw the houses. Taller stumps topped off with roofs and with windows and doors added. Loads of these tree houses making something new from Arwen’s destruction a nice bit of creative thinking.

We wanted to have a coffee and a bite to eat, but the cafe was understaffed and there was a half hour wait before they’d be taking orders, so we left.

Scamp suggested we go to The Bothy for lunch instead. It was a great idea, but everyone of the townships we drove through had 20mph signs on entry. Why? There was no-one on the streets? We reached the cafe and after a bit of a wait we did get lunch with a cafetière of good coffee for me and peppermint tea for Scamp. Happy, we drove home.

Neither of us fancied dinner tonight and just to finish off the day I washed the car. I know it will be covered in seagull crap tomorrow, but I washed it today.

PoD was a view through one bridge to another in the Japanese Garden.

The prompt for today was A Pencil Case. This is my go-everywhere pencil case. Unfortunately, today it has no pencil in it, but the prompt only asked for the case! So I fulfilled the brief. The case does contain a pencil sharpener just in the unlikely event that a pencil jumps into the case and needs sharpening. This is the slimmed down version of the real pencil case which holds so many odds and ends that I have difficulty zipping it up.

No plans for tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.