Relaxing – 16 April 2023

Woke with a cough and a sore throat again.

Since Thursday I’ve been plagued with a cough and a sore throat. Today I was just feeling yuk for most of the day. I’m guessing I picked up somebody’s Lurgy on the train coming up from down south. The carriage we were in from Peterborough to Edinburgh was stowed, so it’s a fair bet that’s where it came from. I’d felt better last night and hoped that today would bring even more improvement, but it didn’t. It looks like I’ll just have to ride it out Thankfully Scamp seems to be free of the effects of whatever it was.

With that in mind I decided to have a lazy day, not doing much at all. More or less the story of my life if I can get away with it! However, while Scamp walked down to the shops to get some fish for tonight’s Cabbage and Smoked Haddock Risotto, I did some swift reorganisation of the living room with boxes piled on the coffee table and the Sarracenia pitcher plant balanced on top to give me the image that became PoD. Beautiful colours and patterns on the pitcher plant, but it does look like a triffid. Then I managed to put everything back in its rightful place before Scamp returned … just!

Later we did some gentle gardening. Scamp looked a bit disappointed to find a single stem of Astilbe growing where a forest had been last year. Me? I was quite happy to see one strand had survived the shock and awe attack. You just can’t keep Astilbe down. We replanted the astilbe and transplanted what we think are Candelabra Primula from where a single plant grew in the wilderness last year to a more easily seen spot beside the steps. I chopped up the remaining kale plants, collecting a few leaves from them to freeze for use later in the year. I think if we remove the top planks from the failing raised bed we can grow some kale and maybe some leeks in it for another year. After that we can make a decision on its long term viability, all being well.

Spoke to Jamie after dinner to hear how things were now that we are out of their hair. It seemed like they were doing today what we’d been doing yesterday. Told him the coffee tub for storing coffee was a clever design that works well. Forgot to tell him that I liked the coffee that came with it. So: Thank you Jamie for the coffee it tastes good now that I’ve got the grind right again!

Sent Hazy a movie I’d made demonstrating the brilliant design of the herb stripper she gave me for my birthday. I’d never seen anything like this before. Three different sized holes in a ceramic dish strip the leaves from the stem of herbs like Thyme much quicker and more efficiently than doing it by hand. Such a clever girl for finding these things.

Such clever folk we have as family. We should be and are grateful to all of you.

No plans for tomorrow. I’m going to dope myself up with a wee hot toddy tonight then go to bed to read a (relatively) new Carl Hiaasen book, Squeeze Me, hoping the cough will have abated by morning. Backlog from my blog gone when I post this!

Out for a walk – 3 April 2023

We said it it was a good day, we’d go for a walk and we did.

I’d like to say that we were up early and out walking, but in reality it was nearer 11am before we got on the road. We drove to Chatelherault just outside Hamilton and left for a walk to the Green Bridge. It’s still a bridge, but as I’ve mentioned before in these pages, it’s not been green for a long time. We started off looking over the Duke’s Bridge to Cadzow Castle where some of the trees have been chopped down and the view of the castle is improved, even if there is only part of one wall remaining intact. There were actually people working on the site which was good to see, but I’ve no idea what they were doing. “Making it safe” was Scamp’s guess and that could be the case. We walked over the Duke’s Bridge that crosses the Avon water and then the climb started.

We took the easier route round the south side of the castle but the workmen had disappeared for their lunch. We headed left after the initial climb and walked past the ancient Cadzow Oaks which probably date from the 1400s. They are absolutely huge chunks of wood and could have been where Tolkien got the idea for Ents if he’d ever been to Scotland.

Further on, with blue sky above us, birds singing in the trees and the occasional fluffy cloud passing overhead it was an ideal day for a walk in the countryside. Newborn baby lambs in the field beside the path added to the picture, but oh, we’re not as fit as we used to be and after an hour and a bit of following the wandering path we were beginning to tire of the up hill and down dale route of the path. After we checked our progress on the phone and found that we weren’t even near the half way point, we decided to cut our losses and head back the way we had come. There wasn’t another path anyway! Next time we’ll walk the route in a clockwise direction, with options for alternative shortcuts back. Next time! There will be a next time.

But this time we still had to navigate the up hill and down dale switchback path. Although we had the benefit of being almost at the path’s highest point when we turned back, so we were heading downhill all the way to the Visitor Centre.

The information page on Chatelherault says the Oaks Café has “healthy snacks and tasty treats on the menu suit all culinary requirements.” I don’t think the person who wrote that had been in the Oaks Café. I asked for Peppermint tea for Scamp, but after having a look at the packets the server’s reply was a Larky “Nane!” So it was a latte then. My Americano was perfect, I have no complaints there, but I looked in vain for the “tasty treats” Instead there were anaemic sponge cakes with white icing, and various dull looking slabs of pastry. Maybe the “tasty treats” had all been sold or maybe there were “Nane”. At least the coffee was good.

We drove back home and Scamp went out to work in the garden in the sunshine. I dumped the photos on the computer and found that half of them were out of focus. Of the ones that were left, I chose a view of Cadzow Castle to be PoD.

It was a good day. We both really need to get up and go out earlier and more often to get back into shape, especially if dancing is going to be limited for the next month.

Tomorrow Scamp is booked for lunch with Mags and I’m at a loose end. I’ll find something to do, I’m sure

A day in the Toon – 30 March 2023

Meeting my brother for a walk, some photos, a spot of lunch and a blether.

His choice was Glasgow and my choice was Glasgow too today. However, his idea was a walk round what we could call the City Centre, while I wanted to head out to the west in search of interesting architecture. We combined the two with a walk round the city centre photographing interesting architecture. First though we had the traditional coffee in Nero and caught up on what was happening in both families.

With the updates done we headed off down Buchanan Street to get some photos of the subway entrance on Buchanan Street itself. It has a lovely green glass cover over the entrance, although you don’t really see the green tinge unless the sun is shining like it was today. From there we ignored all the retail opportunities on either side and Alex took some shots of the other, completely different, entrance to St Enoch’s subway station. It’s a futuristic domed glass cover, not at all like Buchanan Street’s green glass box.

Two in the bag for Alex. Next we walked east along Argyle Street which used to be a fashionable street for clothes, but is now a bit down at heel with more and more shops with closed signs on the windows and doors. A sign of the times perhaps. We were looking for cranes. Big, gigantic tower cranes. They were right at the end of Argyle Street. I could see what I wanted to photograph, but if I stood on one side, signs and traffic lights were obstructing my view and if I stood on the other side it was the old sandstone buildings that were in my way. The only way to solve it was to wait until the green man appeared and stand halfway across the road. Bingo, three shots taken before the lights changed! Of course, we both took a lot more than that, but they were only fillers. The ones from the middle of the road were the money shots.

We walked round and had a cursory glance at Merchant City Cameras which will forever be Quiggs. It’s not been the same since Mr Quigg’s son sold the shop. I think the present owners are struggling to keep it afloat. Not surprising as it’s only enthusiasts who are buying cameras when mobile phones do such a good job of capturing the moment.

We walked back to Miller Street to Paesano. The real reason Alex wanted to come to Glasgow. Best pizzas in town. Only bettered occasionally by the West End shop of the same name. We must try that one the next time we’re out west.

Next target was the GOMA in Queen Street. That’s where today’s PoD came from. I just liked the relaxed way that bloke was sitting there.

Our final jaunt was down the Clyde Walkway to admire the graffiti. I also grabbed some shots of the mirror glass frontage of the Archdiocese of Glasgow building which stands next to the much older St Andrew’s Cathedral.

From there it was the long plod up to Buchanan Street bus station, a quick hug and then off home on our respective buses.

Back home Scamp had retained the last of the Just Soup and that became dinner. We had a first run through of the new Quickstep routine and, as Scamp had told me, it wasn’t nearly as fearsome as I’d imagined. Another practise tomorrow if all goes well and we should be fit for Saturday.

No great plans for tomorrow, although Scamp fancies going to her FitSteps class. Having just completed over 16,500 steps today, I’ll pass on that class.

Coffee with John – 28 March 2023

Scamp was out for coffee with Isobel. I went over to John’s for coffee too.

Scamp was intending to meet Isobel for coffee at their usual haunt that is the Costa near TJ Hughes. Isobel caused confusion by phoning me to ask where Scamp was. When I told her, she should be at Costa by then. That’s when I got worried. Was the car giving trouble? Had she broken down somewhere? I phoned her and she replied that she was in Costa as agreed, but couldn’t see Isobel. Another call to Isobel cleared things up. She was at the other Costa (we’ve got two Costas in the Antonine Centre! Lucky us) at the other end of the centre. Long story short, they met up at the Costa near Tesco. Phew!

When she returned I had a quick cup of coffee and a cold meat sandwich then headed off to see John and hand over two parcels for Marion. We had a coffee and discussed the way the world was going wrong and how we’d have put it right if they’d only asked. It had been raining when I left the house and the clouds were getting lower. In Hamilton the skies were noticeable lighter and the clouds higher, plus it wasn’t raining. You see, that’s what happens when you live in South Lanarkshire. You pay a bit more council tax, but you get better weather. As if to prove this hypothesis, when I was driving home later, the rain started again just as I was leaving the boundaries of Hamilton. It continued to rain for the rest of the day and may be raining now. I rest my case Your Honour!

My camera hadn’t been out of the bag all day, but I still needed a photo for PoD. I turned to flowers, as I usually do in such times, and today’s PoD is a bunch of yellow Alstroemeria with some Sweet William and a bunch of Stocks as supporting actors. All shot on the tabletop with the A7iii + LensBaby Sweet 50 lens to blur out the edges.

Scamp’s turn to make dinner and it was a chicken stir-fry and although it was a bit dry it’s taste made up for that.

No plans for tomorrow. We’ll see what happens, but it might involve a Quickstep practise.

 

Up in the sky – 20 March 2023

We didn’t quite make it up above the clouds where there is always a blue sky, but we were close.

Today we were going for lunch in Glasgow. We walked to Condorrat to get the bus, because drink would be taken.

It was good to get someone else to do the driving, even if it was a ramshackle bus we were on. Every few stops it would give itself a shrug and I was wondering if it would get going again, but it did and it got us in to town a lot quicker than the sluggish X3 would.

It was a dismal day and we were heading out to alongside the River Clyde on an X19. Another case of the “X” not meaning eXpress, but it was an interesting journey, especially when the bus changed lanes going over the “Squinty Bridge”. Oh, it was strange to be driving on the right hand lane and then crossing back to the left lane when we were across. It was also a pain, because we’d missed our stop and had to walk back of the Squinty Bridge in the rain to find our destination. Thankfully we didn’t have to change lanes.

We walked straight in to the Red elevator of the Radisson Red boutique hotel and took it up to the 9th floor and got a table. It wasn’t right at the window, but we still had a decent view. Scamp had booked it a few weeks ago and we were both impressed with the food and drink, although I only had a beer. Scamp had Strawberry Fields Forever which was a take on a Strawberry Daiquiri. Maybe just a bit too sweet. For food we shared Salmon Teriyaki, Spicy Chicken Bao Buns and Cauliflower Pakora which had the strangest sour coriander dip. Strange but absolutely lovely. I didn’t like the salmon, but that’s just me. Scamp said the spicy chicken was too strong for her taste, but we both agreed the cauliflower pakora was excellent. The view was great, but it would have been so much better if the drizzle hadn’t dulled everything down. There was no attempt to rush us through our lunch and we both had coffee afterwards. It was a lovely lunch and I think we’ll be back, but only if it’s another “buy one, get one free” offer.

We walked back to the bus stop and got an X19 back into town. Scamp and I both had things we were looking for. I was looking for water soluble graphite pencils to try on watercolour paper. Scamp was buying prezzies.

We got the X3 back home because although it’s slow, we don’t have to walk too far to get home.

PoD was a two frame panorama created in Lightroom and tweaked in Photoshop.

We had a really good day. Good food, interesting food too and great company. It will be better in the summer I’m sure.

We have no plans as yet for tomorrow.

Officially Spring – 1 March 2023

We drove up to Costa at the town centre this morning for coffee with Isobel on the first day of metrological spring.

Unfortunately, half the weans in the town were also there roaring and shouting, crying and screaming and generally being obnoxious. For the second day this week, all the schools in Scotland were closed while their teachers were out protesting. The noise made this the most uncomfortable couple of hours I’ve had although the coffee was good for a change. I just feel sorry for the folk who have to work in that place with that noise all day.

Isobel gave Scamp a bunch of roses, and gave me a bottle of wine as anniversary presents. Then she explained the tortuous details of her side of the family tree while Scamp made notes to send to her cousin in Australia. I’ve never really been interested in genealogy, and seeing the complexity of this family’s family tree ensured that I won’t be delving into ours any time soon. We dropped Isobel off at her house afterwards and did some shopping in Tesco on our way home.

My daily walk in St Mo’s brought a hibernating or perhaps a just hatched sixteen spot orange ladybird as PoD. I now know where at least around ten of these insects can be found. All orange and all with sixteen spots. I did take a couple of photos of some clumps of Cladonia lichen too, but the ladybird was the winner.

Scamp made leek & potato soup for a starter and she had cauliflower, broccoli and potatoes for her main course. I had soup and then steak and kidney stew with potatoes and the left over cauliflower and broccoli. The Instant Pot heated the stew using the slow cooker function. Useful tool.

Watched Landscape Artist of the Year and we both disagreed with the judges decision. Of the three finalists, the winner would have been in last place if they’d asked me to judge.

Tomorrow Scamp would like to go out somewhere different. I’ll sleep with my thinking cap on tonight.

A new month, a new challenge, an old friend – 1 February 2023

Today is the first day of February. White Rabbits (x3), but the first of February also brings the EDIF (Every Day in February) challenge. Let the torture begin.

This month’s prompts are all films. Not such a good topic for me, but that’s what a challenge is all about. Today’s prompt is The Red Shoes. Now I have actually watched this film, or so I’m told by Scamp, so no excuses, I just drew a pair of ballet shoes. But before we get to that, here’s how the day started:

For once, both Scamp and I were bamboozled by today’s Spelling Bee. Wordle was fine and we got the hidden word, but Spelling Bee with its “american” dictionary was a nightmare. Eventually we gave up. If you want to try, here are the letters for today:

N I E Z M T G

The challenge is to rearrange them into a word with at least 7 letters. I put them into an anagram solver and it couldn’t do it. Can you?

I was picking Val up to take him for coffee and a blether today. He’s not been too steady on his feet recently, so we tried out the new Costa which has a drive through. We got parked right next to the front door but although there is a disabled parking and a paved path to the shop entrance, the only lowered pavement for wheelchairs and such can only be accessed from the road! The heavy door couldn’t be opened by someone in a wheelchair. This is a new build. Only about six months old. Don’t they think about disabled access?

Anyway, we had our coffee and a cake each and then it was the old Val I was talking to. We started talking tech! Me talking about running my iMac from a collection of external SSDs and Val talking about having a Raspberry Pi that works better and faster than his Mac Book Air. Two hours flew by. The only down side was the half gallon of full fat milk they put into each of our Flat Whites. Slight exaggeration there, but not much. I drove him home and we agreed to do it again in a month’s time.

The sun was still shining when I dropped him off at his door and I thought I could grab a few shots from up on Fannyside. Of all the photos I took, my favourite was an old fence post with a green mound of moss and its fruiting bodies standing proud against the sky. That was easily the PoD!

Dinner tonight was Fish ’n’ Chips, home made. Lovely bit of fish, although Scamp thought it was slightly overdone. I disagreed.

Back home and just after dinner I got a sketch done of a pair of ballet shoes. Splashed on some red paint, added some ink and that’s the first one done. The challenge has begun.

Tomorrow’s prompt is “You’ve Got Mail” I’ll have to bend the rules a bit to get that one done. Also tomorrow we’ve an appointment with Andrew in Falkirk. We’ll be interested to hear what he has to say.

Looking at Planes – 16 January 2023

Yesterday my first box of coffee arrived. Today my next box was due.

I was expecting a delivery of coffee from Rave Coffee and it was being delivered by Royal Mail, who apparently weren’t on strike today! I wasn’t entirely hopeful, although Royal Mail are slightly better than their other half, Parcel Force. We should really have gone out for a walk earlier, but we waited to see if the temperature would rise above zero first. It did finally stagger above 0ºc and began to melt the snow that had appeared during the night. Scamp offered to stay at home in case the parcel came early, so dressed appropriately I took a camera, three lenses and a Gorilla Pod tripod to St Mo’s to photograph the snow. It was just the thinnest scraping of snow, but it changed the look of the park completely.

I walked into the woods and got a few shots. No deer today. Must be their day off. I did find an old oak leaf worn almost transparent, looking very nice with the sun shining behind it. A gang of Cladonia and a single pine cone on a branch vied with it for PoD, but the oak leaf won in the end. As I was walking home I got an email to say the coffee had been delivered. They had been as good as their word.

After lunch we drove to the Town Centre and headed for Barrhead Travel to see if they could magic some seats on a plane to somewhere warm, but there was a queue at Barrhead Travel and instead we went to Hays Travel over the bridge and down into the depths of Phase 4. The manky and run-down oldest part of the centre. We sat for almost an hour with Sandra who tried her best to get us a cruise that wouldn’t mean taking out a second mortgage. We looked at P&O, NCL, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean and although some of their prices were in our range, none of them had flights from Glasgow or Edinburgh. Seats on the planes were the problem. Apparently we were just too late thinking about it for this year. Finally the poor woman, almost apologetically, offered Marlella as an alternative. They used to be called Thompson and their cruises covered the ports we were interested in.

Long story short, almost two hours after we walked through her door, we had a cruise booked. Not on P&O or any of the other big companies, but with Marella, a smaller company and on a smaller ship with new ports to look forward to exploring and some old favourites we haven’t been to for a few years. Not in August because it’s just too hot for us delicate flowers, but in the early summer. Best of all, we have flights from Glasgow! That was a struggle, but I’m glad we’re settled now. Scamp did all the research as usual and we’d actually looked at Marella last week. I couldn’t have done that amount of research without loosing the rag, so thank you Scamp for making it so easy. We’ve a few things still to do, but time to do them.

Tomorrow it’s back to reality and shopping in Tesco!

 

Out on the town – 8 December 2022

We were both out to lunch today, but in different place and with different people.

Scamp has a lunch date with her pal Mags and I had a photo walk booked with Alex. We caught the same bus, but I hopped off early at Greenfaulds, crossed the road at the underpass and caught the fast bus in to Glasgow.

I got there half an hour before we’d agreed to meet and as there was no sign I decided that either Alex was still travelling or else, more likely, he too had come in early and had gone to get some photos. Either way, I probably had time to get my hair cut. Just walked in and got a chair right away. Fifteen minutes later I was back out with a number four all over, plus ears and eye brows done for less than a tenner. Walked back to the bus station and met Alex. He had been off on his own taking photos.

He wanted to take some photos of the old Pavilion theatre and once we walked over to it, I could see why. Even although it was midday, the sun had a distinct warmth to its colour. We took a few photos and it wasn’t until I was processing one tonight I noticed just how steep the hill it was built on was. We walk past these buildings all the time and don’t notice these things. With a few photos in the bag we went for coffee in Nero because photogs run on coffee.

During the coffee break we set out a plan for the day. This was Alex’s choice of venue and he had an outline plan of what he wanted to take. I added in a few ideas of my own and we started out down the hill to Buchanan Street Subway entrance which always draws us when the light is strong and it was very strong today. A few photos there and then on to George Square where we took some photos of the carnival rides.

A stop in Paesano for a pizza lunch and a glass of red wine for me because I wasn’t driving today and then on toe Princes Square for more photos. From there we walked on through St Enoch’s Square to the Clyde and walked down the walkway to the Squiggly Bridge whose proper name is the Tradeston Bridge, but nobody calls it that, taking photos all the way. Then it was back to Nero in St Enoch’s for more coffee before our final photo destination for the day which was George Square for some early evening ‘blue hour’ shots of the attractions. When SD cards were full we walked back and got our buses home. This time I chose to take the X3, the slow bus because I’d already completed 13,000 odd steps and the X3, while slow, stops nearly at our door.

264 photos taken and after the first cull 114 of them were on the cutting room floor, leaving an acceptable 150 deemed worthy of a place in today’s shoot. PoD went to a monochrome shot of Buchanan Street Subway entrance/exit, but another two shots are in Flickr.

Tomorrow Scamp is probably going to FitSteps, but I’m hoping to have a relaxing morning.

A day at the fair – 23 November 2022

Got the train in to Glasgow to celebrate the fact that they weren’t on strike today!

Spoke to Hazy this morning and we heard all about the joys of being a house owner. Also found out that although Neil’s nose is a lot better and healing nicely after his op, although it hasn’t affected his snoring ability! We discussed Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City books and his appearance on The Big Scottish Book Club.

Scamp didn’t need the car today, so I drove down to the station and got the train in to Glasgow to meet my brother. As usual, we went for a coffee and discussed what to do and where to go. I’d hoped to go and photograph the lights at the Christmas market in St Enoch’s Square or just get some street shots. We agreed that the Christmas market would be good with a few fairground attractions thrown in for good measure.

First, Alex wanted to photograph the inside of Princes Square and wasn’t sure if we were allowed to take photos. It appeared that almost everyone was taking photos inside, although we were the odd ones out because we were using ‘real’ cameras. Everyone else had phone cameras. We got the photos, then bumped into Mirka and Artur who used to go to salsa class in Glasgow. It appeared that Mirka was trying hard to get Artur to go to a new class in Motherwell, but he’s still resisting!

Photos taken and goodbyes said, we went to lunch in Il Pavone in the basement of the department store. We both had pizzas, but I struggled to finish mine and in the end had to give up. Too much veg and far too much cheese.

Once we’d been fed we walked down to the Christmas market which wasn’t quite as busy as I’d hoped. Fewer rides too, but the did have an enormous spinning wheel called The Booster. It looked scary. I tried my best to get some decent shots of it and although I got a few, most of the pics went in the bin when I got home. We both prowled around trying to find something to capture our interest. My favourite place was a Pick ’n’ Mix stall that seemed to attract all sorts of folk. That’s where PoD came from.

Eventually we’d had enough and headed back. I went to Queen Street and Alex went to the bus station. We agreed to do it again, but actually we will be doing something like it again when we’re going to lunch tomorrow with Alex and Carol.

I did have a wee space for dinner when I got home because Scamp had made Veggie Chilli with brown lentils. Totally different from mine. Very nice, but maybe needed some more chilli. Poor Scamp had been working all day tidying up and hoovering while my brother and I had been out on the town!

Tomorrow, like I said, Alex and Carol, Scamp and I are hoping to have lunch down Clydeside. The teachers across Scotland are all on strike tomorrow for the first time in almost 40 years. That will mean thousands of weans will be having a free holiday! Hope they don’t go where we’re going.