Category: Garden

In the Toon – 10 December 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Just a flying visit today. It was dull, it was wet and it was miserable. It was Scotland!

I was taking a lens in to WEX to sell it on to some lucky girls or boys who really needed an 18mm f2.8 Samyang FE lens. I imagine they will be clamouring to be the first to get their hands on it, even with the mark-up WEX will put on it.

I took a crowded train in to Queen Street and walked up Bath Street and down the other side in the rain, handed in my boxed lens and got the paperwork, then I was back over the hill again to the city centre in the rain. I walked down Buchanan Street heading for George Square and on the way I took a few shots. Then I thought to myself, “Why bother. You’ve delivered the lens. Just go home.” Sometimes it’s sensible to listen to yourself. I turned in to Queen Street station and had 3 minutes to get through the crowds and on to the Edinburgh express. First stop Croy. I thought the train going in to Glasgow was busy, but this one was rammed!

Phoned home to see if Scamp wanted anything in Tesco, got a negative to that and then drove home to a lunch of bacon and egg washed down with a cup of coffee. I expect my jacket is still dripping!

Two days ago I photographed a poor wee rose bud clinging to its broken branch. It got PoD. Yesterday I cut it down, smashed the end of its stem to let the poor thing take in some water and carefully placed it in a rose vase on the kitchen window sill. It took about fifteen shots to get what I was looking for, but eventually I was happy with the result and today it got PoD for the second time.

Dinner tonight was an experimental Chicken Poached in Chicken Stock with Roast Potatoes, Baby Mushrooms and Multicoloured Veg. Served with a Chicken and Pea Jus. I think Scamp has been watching too much Masterchef the Professionals! It was delightful. I could almost hear that presenter’s breathy delivery with Gregg shouting in the background OH MATE!!!

We watched the sad end of one person’s journey in Strictly. The show is becoming a parody of itself. Not funny anymore, results predetermined. I give it one more season before it’s completely kaput.

Spoke to Jamie and thought he sounded more upbeat than of late, even if their wall might need repaired, but glad to hear that work can now begin again for a week or so.

No plans for tomorrow. I think it might rain!

Just above zero – 3 December 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Not much above zero, but a move in the right direction.

This was another day for not straying far from the warm house. I did go out for a while, but only as far as the garden, wearing wellies. They are quicker to put on and take off than boots and although clumsy, you can tramp through lots more stuff without worrying about water or snow leaking into your socks!

The road outside is passable now, I think. It’s not the going down the hill that bothers me, it’s the coming back up again, especially if it’s icy. But even with that improvement it didn’t encourage me to walk over to St Mo’s just to see the same hard trodden snow and a few weeds fighting to rid themselves of the snowy covering. I suppose I could have taken a few ‘camera on the ice’ shots, but I’m always caution with these pictures. One crack in a thin bit of ice and I’d need a new camera and an almost equally expensive lens. All for a few shots that I’d probably discard in the first cull.

Instead I managed to get a few close ups of desiccated flowers and little bits of colour among the white of the snow. When you’ve been sitting in a warm room for almost two days, you forget just how bitingly cold it is outside. I managed to get three decent photos that would find a place on Flickr and my favourite, and PoD, was the wee bell shaped flowers. I say flowers, but I’m guessing they are really the sepals, that protect the flower buds. Anyway they looked too fragile to survive in this ‘real’ winter that’s suddenly descended on us.

Dinner tonight was Fishcakes for Scamp and Stew and Sausage for me Both served potatoes. The dessert was Scamp’s Christmas Sponge with Amaretto Mincemeat which sounds a strange concoction, but it really works.

A rather cobbled together Sunday Strictly. One person dropped out due to ‘injury’, so he forfeited his place. That meant they had about an hour to fill with anything they could get their hands on, because there was no voting nonsense tonight. It was really quite sad to watch. Too much waffle, too much junk. We turned it off.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard of their problems sleeping in a cold house with a steel roof and no upstairs heating or insulation. I do not envy them that. Jamie was also bemoaning the problems with more planned rail strikes. It’s the drivers this time and while I sympathise with their need for a decent wage for a decent day’s work, it seems that every month there is another group of rail workers going on strike. This seemingly continuous strike action won’t win them any sympathy from the travelling public.
End of rant!

Hoping to meet Fred for coffee and a blether in Tesco tomorrow.

Just a normal Sunday – 19 November 2023

Posted on by Zogman

A dull day with not a lot to recommend it weatherwise.

I spent most of the morning flicking through Flickr and for once enjoyed just looking through other folk’s pictures. I’m sure Scamp was doing Wordle and Spelling Bee, but I’d fallen out with both after Wordle had claimed that I hadn’t completed my 146th puzzle and sent me back to 1 again. I’ll not have that from these dastardly americans. I’ll just stop playing their stupid game and then they’ll be sorry.
I’ll start fresh tomorrow!

Lunch for me was bacon, egg, mushrooms, tomatoes and scorched Padron peppers. The only place I know I can get the peppers is Waitrose, so every time I go there I get a packet of them. Some of them are a bit hot, and there’s no way to tell if you’re going to get a hot one or a normal one. That makes them more interesting. Scamp had the more sedate egg, black pudding, mushrooms and tomatoes.

We watched what turned out to be a really interesting Las Vegas F1 GP. Lots of thrills and a few spills with the lead changing hands a few times before the inevitable happened and the world champion bullied his way to the front. As always it was the battle for 2nd and 3rd places that held the most interest and probably skill.

It was the first time the race had been held in Las Vegas and the lead up to it took more time than was really necessary, but I’m guessing it’s the American way to overload the race with the glitz and glamour. Because the race took so long to get started, it was late in finishing too and the light was beginning to fade when I finally walked over to St Mo’s for what I thought would be today’s PoD. As it happened, I got one landscape shot that was worth uploading, but PoD went to a grab shot I’d taken in the morning of a Rudbeckia flower in the garden. The plant has been flowering for about two months now and it’s survived high winds and torrential rain and is flowering still. While I was out in St Mo’s, Scamp was gardening, planting out some bulbs that will hopefully provide some much needed colour next spring.

I’d my apron on today to make my dinner. I’d bought a couple of short ribs at Waitrose and the recipe I was using said to brown them in a casserole for ten minutes. I knew I’d need a bit of protection from the spatter that would come from the fatty meat and I was glad of the protection the apron gave me. Then the meat had to rest while I made the slurry that would provide the base for it in the pot. Too many things to list here, but half a can of stout went into it too. Finally the meat went on top, the lid went on and it was set to cook for about 3 hours in the oven.

Scamp had chopped up onions, carrots and turnip and that made the veg part of the meal which we had with potatoes. I was too slow getting the meat roasted and the slurry made, consequently I had to cut the cooking time to two and a bit hours, but the meat was fine, and the veg went well with it. Scamp had a veggie version of the dinner and her’s seemed to be good too.

Spoke to Jamie later in the evening and heard about poor Vixen being upset having been in different kennels twice in a month. Poor thing wouldn’t know if she was coming or going. I’m sure she’ll settle down soon. Jamie and Simonne were meant to be doing a run today, but the weather was against it and Simonne wasn’t feeling well into the bargain, so they’d cancelled.

No real plans for tomorrow, although we need to get the CO2 monitor replaced before we get the boiler maintenance done. Also, I believe a visit to IKEA is on the cards for this week.

What a fun day! – 1 November 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Yes, sarcasm again.

Today was dull, wet and occasionally windy. A good day to spend almost all the morning planning what I was going to do with the iMac and almost all of the afternoon finding the plan didn’t work. Macs big selling point has always been that they are really easy to work with and forgiving. Not mine. It simply refused to boot and came up with a friendly message telling me that it had restarted because of a problem and that I should press a key, any key to get it to do it again. If it wasn’t for the fact that it’s made of aluminium, I think I’d have set it on fire. However, it wasn’t as if I was going anywhere with rain lashing the windows, so I had a plate of Scamp’s excellent Potato and Leek soup.

I did wander out into the garden for the few minutes it was dry in the afternoon and grabbed a few shots of leaves and the flowers that are still growing in the garden. When the rain restarted, (just like the computer) I came back in and rejoined the fight against technology. I reread my notes on how to boot an iMac using an SSD and then watched the video by Andrew Tsai again to find where I’d made my mistake. Found it and dealt with it with just enough time to drive up to the British Legion for tonight’s dance class which would include Tango and Quickstep with the possibility of a Waltz thrown in. We actually did quite well in the tango thanks in no small part to Scamp’s lesson in the late afternoon. So well, in fact that Kirsty, who runs the class, praised us in front of the whole class on the way we synchronised our kicks and flicks! Embarrassing, but in a good way. We managed the simple steps of the quickstep and also added in the optional fancy steps. We didn’t really get a chance to dance the waltz, but we did a couple of rounds of the floor when the rest of the folk were putting their jackets on.

Back home I followed most of Mr Tsai’s instructions to the letter and surprisingly it worked. It took about two hours to go from a black screen to a colourful screen showing Elgol in all its glory and most of the software back in place. Thank goodness. I was really starting to believe it was a goner this time.

PoD was one of the five photos I took today and it’s a leaf from a Gooseberry. Bush. No sketches, because Inktober is over for another year.

Tomorrow more rain is forecast but we may go for a drive somewhere in Paisley and with a bit of luck there will be tea and teabread!

Glorious Light! – 30 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today was a much brighter and much colder day than yesterday.

We watched the Mexican GP and it was a fairly lively affair with the home boy, Perez going off at the first bend after attempting an overtaking manoeuvre that was always going to end in tears for somebody. After bouncing his car around on the run-off area, he took it back to the garage and said “It’s Broke!” In Mexican I presume. Of course the golden boy won the race as Scamp had predicted he would.

Today was Monday and Monday is a day for doing shopping. Nothing fancy, just the messages. The boring stuff like bread and cauliflower, rice and coffee, fruit and onions, essentials. Plus a bag of jam doughnuts and a couple of bottles of wine. Because man cannot live by bread alone, and neither can woman! Tesco shopping it was today. We talked about going to Morrisons or Waitrose, but neither of us were interested in travelling far afield. Sometimes it’s better to stay local.

When we got back it was lunch time and that meant the rest of the soup I made yesterday. It was thicker today and the taste was stronger. Just the thing with a slice of bread ‘dooked’ in it. When that was done I waited long enough to see what the weather was going to do later in the week. Then got my boots on and my jacket with the inner sleeve still damp from yesterday’s soaking and drove over to Fannyside where I thought I’d get some autumn colour from the trees. While I was off in the country, Scamp was brushing up the leaves in the garden, in the sunshine.

The light was nothing short of amazing today. After yesterday’s rain had cleared the air, you could see for miles. I was heading for the old ruin of Jawhill Farm. The farm wasn’t really the centre of attention today, it was the trees that were the stars. They were that lovely rusty gold colour that leaves get just before they fall and the sun was getting low in the sky picking out the textures in the farmers’ fields. Blue sky overhead with just enough broken clouds to give a bit of interest to the scene. These days don’t come often, so we have to make the most of them. It’s a pity the cold east wind was really cutting. I was glad I’d picked the heavy Bergy jacket, rather than my fleece.

On the way back to the car I passed three cattle, two cows and one bullock in a field. I just had to have a picture of the bullock. Its coat was almost the same colour as the leaves I’d been photographing and it only had one horn. I don’t know what the story was there. The farm house made PoD, but the bullock got second place.

Today the penultimate prompt for Inktober 2023 was Rush. I duplicated it and it became Rushes, Bull Rushes. I’ve been reading some comments about the prompts this year being a bit too obscure and I have to agree. There have to be better prompts than the ones we’ve been given recently. For the past few years these one word prompts stump a lot of people who then give up on the whole thing. Anyway, today’s sketch was done in fountain pen and a water wash to get some shading.

Tomorrow we have no plans, but the weather looks good, but cold again.

Dancin’ – 28 October 2023

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Actually a very interesting and useful dance class for a change!

It was a pleasant drive to Brookfield today. Light traffic on the motorway and a blue sky with fluffy white clouds overhead. A marked difference to the dark grey clouds hanging over the Campsie Fells when we left the house.

There is a children’s dance class in the hall before us now. Normally they aren’t a problem, but lately they have been taking longer and longer to pack up which eats into our class time. They were even later this morning and we only had a one hour time slot due to The Committee needing to set up the hall for their Halloween party tonight. I don’t think our teachers were very pleased and we got the impression that words would be said to the organising Committee.

The teachers made good use of the limited time we had for the class but the Sally Ann Cha-Cha that was the warm-up was a shambles. Nobody seemed to know where they were going and no two couples were in time with each other. Thankfully, things got better after that. We started with the Tango which got tangled with Kirsty’s tango in our heads and it took a few tracks before we were entirely happy with it. But we did manage to master the Prom Turn to Rock Turn with a bit of help from Jane. It had baffled us a fortnight ago.

Next up was Joy’s Waltz which we sort of know, but are not fully cognisant with. We sorted out a few problem steps in it too with help from Stewart.

Last dance of the morning was the Quickstep and Scamp devised a neat shortened version of the routine that would allow us to dance it without stopping. Clever teacher, Scamp! And with that our hour was up and the class was over.

We drove home through equally light traffic. I don’t know what happened today to give us a record time of just over 30mins for the run home.

We both had a fairly lazy hour after lunch, reading and basking in the sunshine while I chased an errant bluebottle round the house but didn’t catch and release it until much later in the afternoon. I think it found its way in while Scamp was in the garden, potting up a Yew tree she’d asked Jamie to bring up. She was also increasing her numbers of pelargoniums and geraniums by taking cuttings of both.

Dinner was to be Fish Risotto and we didn’t have any smoked fish in the freezer, so I booted up and went for a walk over St Mo’s, then down the path behind the school that would take me to the shops. That’s where I found todays PoD. It’s a bit weird looking, which is ok for Halloween, I suppose, but it’s actually the seed pods of a clump of Flag Irises that grow in a boggy area beside the path I liked the colours and the shapes of the seed pods and the seeds themselves. I may go back tomorrow and collect some seeds to sow. Don’t know if they will grow or not. We’ll find out some day, hopefully.

Prompt for today was “Sparkle”. I don’t have a very sparkling personality, but I did think up today’s sketch which was a pink ice cream sundae with sparklers sticking out of it. A splash of paint and a cherry on the top made it look quite festive, I thought!

The dinner worked very well and the bluebottle was released into a cold Saturday evening.

Tomorrow we’ve to have heavy rain all day, but an hour extra in our bed. Don’t know if I will take that walk over to St Mo’s to collect some seed. We’ll see.

 

Just a Monday – 16 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Shopping, taking photos and a very short bit of gentle gardening.

Some days when I’m writing this blog I look back on the day that’s almost finished and ask myself “What DID we do today?” This was one of those days.

Wordle and Spelling Bee took up about half an hour of the morning, then I started messing about with a bit of software I’d downloaded. It’s called SyncTime and I’ve got the ‘Lite’ version which is another way of saying ‘Free’ version. I have lots of tutorial videos, mainly dance related on two different computers and I want to synchronise them, but hadn’t really looked into solutions for the problem until recently. SyncTime seemed to be just what I was looking for, but it’s especially ‘Lite’ on explanations. I spent most of the morning trying to work out what was happening. Now I have a better idea of what I’m getting myself into, I don’t think SyncTime is the solution. More investigation (or time wasting) required. I’m sure Scamp would agree with the bracketed description.

Lunch was soup and then we went out to ‘get the messages’. Just a 15min walk to the shops, but it breaks up the day. On the way back I took a detour to St Mo’s and Scamp walked home after she eventually got across the road. There is work being done on one of the dual carriageways just now and that means the traffic on the other roads in the town is a lot heavier than normal. Crossing the road becomes a dangerous pastime, because everyone is in a hurry, pedestrians included.

There wasn’t much to see in St Mo’s and although I did get a couple of shots, I wasn’t really impressed with them. They filled a space and that was all you could say about them. I really think that the 365 as it was is coming to an end. I know I’ve said it before, but it’s becoming truer every year. It keeps getting more difficult to find fresh subjects to tackle. That doesn’t mean the blog will be closing. It’s a pain too, but if I have a dull day I just write wee stories like this one!

After I’d shortlisted two photos and processed them, I went out into the garden to pot up three different basil pots. The first was a new one we bought in Lidl yesterday and it was seriously pot bound. The second was a pot of basil we got in Tesco and had on the kitchen windowsill for too long. I think the poor plant had exhausted all the nutrients in the soil. It too was pot bound. The third was a wee pot I’d grown from seed, but it wasn’t making much ground. There were about ten separate seedlings in the pot, but all clumped together. They were separated and planted into new soil then dumped in the birdbath to soak up some rainwater. The other two were just transplanted into bigger pots to give their roots some elbow room and then they too were given a soak in the birdbath. I left them for about half an hour before I brought them in to the kitchen again. I hope the new compost gives them some energy.

On the subject of plants, Hazy. ‘Nelly’ is definitely splitting. I’ll try to remember to send you a photograph of her tomorrow. Looking very healthy!

Sketch prompt was Angel. I thought of drawing the Christmas tree fairy until I realised that a fairy and an angel are two different things! So it was a different angel. She stands over the old Hutchesontown Library in Glasgow. She has stood there since 1906. Everytime I see this angel I think of the Paul Simon song “Call me Al”, and I “see angels in the architecture”, but it’s the architecture of Glasgow. I always liked this sculpture and she fits the prompt perfectly.

PoD turned out to be a yellow leaf caught in some weeds.

Tomorrow we may go out for a spin.

A walk in the woods – 15 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

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!

Watching them Running Races – 1 October 2023

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We were out fairly early (for us) to watch the Great Scottish Run.

We got the train in to Glasgow and were both amazed at the number of runners on the train, already dressed in shorts and vests. It was a lovely morning though and when we got to Glasgow, the start for the race at George Square was already thronged with folk. Some were the 10k runners who had already completed their race and were walking around with their medals dangling from their necks. Some were friends and family of those whose Half Marathon was still to begin. Some were just like us, folk who came to cheer on the runners, bang on the plastic barriers to make a noise and also to take photos. I was in the ‘take photos’ category.

We found a space in the barrier on the starting straight and watched the runners practising their starts before the race proper started. Then, almost exactly on time the gun went off and so did the runners. Elite runners first, then the ‘good’ club runners, followed by the less serious group and finally those just hoping to finish and be able to walk tomorrow.

I must admit I wasn’t as enthralled with the race as I had been with the cycle race a month or so ago. However I was impressed with the pace everyone set, even the less serious group were making a good show of things. Scamp, a marathon runner herself stood and clapped and banged on the barriers as well as shouting encouragement. I could see that she wished she’d kept up with her running, but it’s easier out in the countryside where we used to live. Not so in the urban area we’re in now. Not so safe either.

After we watched all of the estimated 20,000 go through the starting gate and face the hill up St Vincent Street I managed to get just four photos of the runners taking up the entire width of the road. And every shot was out of focus!!! Thankfully I didn’t know that until I got home. Maybe I should replace that shonky, unreliable kit lens. Some day, maybe I will.

We found a Cafe Nero that didn’t have a queue right out the door (almost, but not quite) we had a coffee and a pastry each to stave off our hunger pangs. Then we walked over the the Jamaica Bridge to watch the elite runners turn on to Clyde Street and head for the pastures of Glasgow Green. That’s where I got the shot of the floating runner from. Taken with that same shonky, unreliable kit lens!

After we’d watched the runners coming round that bend and saw one poor bloke being supported by an older man, maybe his father, and felt relieved when both of them started jogging on towards The Green. After that we headed home.

In the afternoon, and after lunch, Scamp went out to plant some bulbs we’d bought during the week and then went on to cut the front grass too. I knew I’d have at least one decent PoD shot among the 500 odd I’d taken, so I started moving folders around the SSDs to create enough space to allow me to archive the September photos. It took a while, probably a good hour or more. If I’d been using external hard drives, I’d still be working at it tomorrow too.

Dinner for Scamp was salmon with cauliflower and potatoes. I roasted a large lamb shank in the le cruiset in the oven. I got it in the butchers at Muirhead and it was pre-marinated in herbs and mint. Truly it was delicious with the same veg as Scamp’s. There’s some left over that I might freeze or just eat during the week.

Final east for the day was to do the first Inktober 2023 sketch where the prompt was ‘Dream’. You can see my rather hastily drawn sketch here. Not my best work, but I’m hoping I improve as I remember how to do this sketching lark.

Tomorrow we’re booked for lunch with June & Ian and Crawford & Nancy. Should be a lively lunch!

 

Curry for lunch – 30 September 2023

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We couldn’t decide where to go today, but eventually settled on a curry in Hamilton.

Not the most exotic place to have lunch, but according to the sign, there’s only one Bombay Cottage, so we drove to Hamilton to have a curry for lunch. Scamp had here usual Cauliflower Shimla Bhaji and for a change I had Chicken Tikka rather than my usual Chicken Rogan Josh. I’d have it again. It’s not been a favourite of mine, mainly because the sauce can be really thin and really spicy hot. This one was much milder and I could taste the onions and spices in the sauce. The chicken was as moist as any I’ve had. The only down side was the naan bread which had too much ghee and was a bit bland. Scamp had asked for well done, but either the bloke taking the order wasn’t listening or he forgot. He looked as if he was half asleep.

Fed and watered, because the drinks were very watery, we headed home into a constant drizzle in what was left of the day. Not a great day for photographs, but I did a round of the garden when we got home and the picture of a teasel flower was PoD.

We watched Strictly at night and I felt it really dragged. A few ‘no hopers’ a few trying desperately to impress and the rest were there to get their faces on TV or were brought in to fill in spaces. I’m only watching it to see them dancing in the Tower Ballroom in Blackpool, now that we’ve been there!

That was it for the last day in September. Inktober starts tomorrow and that will mean an extra hour or so’s work for me sketching, scanning and posting my efforts, then answering inane questions from those who can’t read the rules.
“But why do we have to sketch in ink?”
“Because it’s in the rules”
“But why?”
“Because I said so.”
“But why can’t I use a pencil?”
“Because you’d probably injure yourself”
“But why can’t I just use my IPad”
“Because you’re now banned! Next!”
“But why do I have to …”

Sometimes it’s a pain being an admin. Sometimes it’s fun. ????

Tomorrow we may be going to watch the Great Scottish Run. Watching, not competing!