Category: St Mo’s

The first day of May – 1 May 2026

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According to my mum, I should have been out washing my face in the May morning dew. Instead I was taking photos.

I dropped Scamp off at her friend’s house and drove home to have breakfast, but I’d already put a camera in the boot of the car and it was such a beautiful day …

It would have been a great shame to go home for breakfast and then find the beautiful morning light had turned to a damp, dreary drizzle. It was never in doubt. The photography had to come first. I’d a few shots in the bag when I noticed the fisherman on the other side of the pond. Finding the best approach, down the slippery banking to the pond is downright dangerous and I was toting a new lens that I didn’t want to drop in the pond, but half a dozen and a little more photos later I’d not only not fallen in, I’d also managed to climb back up and on to the path without any slips or slides. I took a few more photos, but I knew the best of the day in the camera bag. I took the long way home and had breakfast.

The rest of the morning was collecting meds and shopping. I even took the wee Blue car to the car wash, half expecting the operator to say that famous phrase “Hopeless cases not accepted”. Instead he put me through the car wash, possibly because nobody else was using it today.

I dropped in at an old friend and stayed blethering and catching up with him for about an hour. Then I made lunch and found a note from Scamp saying her meds were due today too, so not having anything else to do I drove over to the medical centre and it was RAINING!

I’ve started my first EDiM (Every Day in May) sketch, but now I can’t remember how to post them on Facebook. I’ll need to check with my old versions of EDiF. I also planted a final batch of Maris Piper potatoes.

That’s about it. Normality will probably reign tomorrow.

A better day – 30 April 2026

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Shona was going home for a few hours. and we were going for lunch.

Shona was meeting with one of her best friends for a blether and for tea. She’s really been a powerhouse these last three days. Thankfully, the pressure on her is gradually releasing now, and she, herself, is relaxing a bit. Today she made some decisions about Paul, and that must have been hard. We, too were destressing.

We drove to Torwood for lunch. Just a couple of Toasties and a chance to talk about gardens and other simple things. Scamp got a couple of plants and they are now growing in tubs in the back garden. I’m sure there a lot more waiting to be found in Torwood!

Came home via M&S and we loaded up, on veg and things for tonight’s dinner. After that I put my boots on and went for a walk in St Mo’s where I got some photos of Larch Needles. Larch being one of the few conifers to drop their needles in the winter. One of them was guaranteed a place as PoD.

By the time I got back home, carrying more requests from Scamp, Shona had returned and we had Fish Risotto for dinner. Then we took Shona back home to prepare for more relations coming to visit and hopefully help.

I had bought a new camera bag from Amazon a couple of days ago, but it was just a little bit too small, so I bought another, larger one today. One will go back to Mr Bezos’s house and one will stay. If neither of them suit me, both will go back.

Scamp is off with the ‘Witches’ tomorrow, so it will be an early rise for both of us.

Busy doing nothing – 18 April 2026

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One of those days when I managed to keep myself busy, but didn’t actually do anything worthwhile. I’m getting quite good at it.

We went over to Condorrat to get some rolls for lunch and to post a birthday card to one of Scamp’s witchy friends. Wandered past what used to be called Brodans, but is now in the process of being converted into an Italian restaurant. Maybe next year at or around this time, it might open its doors. So far all that has been accomplished is a few holes have been drilled in the wall and a bit of plastering has been scraped off part of the wall. Wheels turn slowly in Condorrat.

The rolls were converted into Egg Rolls for Scamp and a Bacon Roll for me. I don’t know about the egg rolls, but the bacon rolls were the best I’ve had for ages.

I was eventually coaxed into going for a walk in St Mo’s. It had been a rainy morning, full of April Showers, but the afternoon promised some good weather. I took on the challenge and went for a circuit and a half of St Mo’s pond, carrying the wrong lens as usual. Most of the photos were of blossom from the trees in the park. PoD went to a Dogwood branch backlit with a warm background bokeh. I quite liked it.

Dinner tonight was Fish ’n’ Chips from the local chip shop. Fish was delicious, but the chips were just reheated potatoes. Could do better!

We watched an episode of Gardeners World tonight. It was about the new area in Regent’s Park. It opens to the public on or about 27th April. Looks like an interesting place to visit, Hazy / Neil. Oh by the way, Hazy, I’m still struggling through “A Drop of Corruption”. It’s a bit of a slog, but an interesting slog!

All seems to be well here. Speak in a few days.

Dancin’ – 16 April 2026

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Back to Glenburn this afternoon to get some exercise, dancing.

Before that, I went for a walk in St Mo’s just in case I wouldn’t have time to grab any photos before we left for Glenburn and I was quite happy with my little collection of flowers and plants. A fair amount of sun to make things bright and cheerful. I even managed to get my PoD which is a Horse Chestnut candelabra just opening up to expose the flower buds.

I had been allowed 45 minutes to get to St Mo’s, grab my photos and get back in time for a quick lunch and an even quicker change before we made our way over to the outskirts of Paisley. I made it just in time with a few seconds before the cutoff time.

The hall was only about half full when we got to Glenburn, but gradually the cars arrived and the hall ended up almost as busy as it usually is. The usual mix of Ballroom, Jive and Latin in the first half, then in the second half it was almost all sequence. Since the schools were still on holiday, it was safe for us to take advantage and dance for almost all the available time. If we’re running a bit late and the schools are open, our journey home takes much longer with parents ferrying their little darlings home.

Dinner was from M&S and was Scottish salmon all butter en croute. It was remarkably good. I think we may have it again some time

We watched an illuminating episode of Grayson Perry interviewing folk about their adventures with AI in America. It really did make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. What are these folk thinking about? Do they live in a different universe from us? One woman claimed she had married her AI ‘boy friend’. The more I hear about AI, the less I want to hear.

Note to self: Thursday Prezzy was a box of grapes, which were deemed to be great!

We watched the final of The Apprentice and agreed that the best woman won. There were no men in the final!

Tomorrow I may be meeting Charlie McKillop for a beer or two and a catch up. Steven may be there too.

Off visiting – 9 April 2026

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This time we were visiting a solicitor.

Nothing underhand was happening, just a visit to a solicitor to get some advice. I was a bit concerned about it, I admit, but I was more worried about finding a place to park. Thankfully in this posh one-way street there were quite a few places where we could leave the Blue car for an hour or so at no cost.

On the way home we stopped at a local garden centre for lunch and a cup of coffee for me and a cup of peppermint tea for Scamp. I wanted a potato pot to get my next batch of potatoes planted. I’d used one of the two part pots before and they worked well. They have an inner pot and an outer. The inner pot has large holes cut in it, almost the height of the pot itself for drainage. The outer pot is slightly larger than the inner pot and has channels for the inner pot to fit into. Much easier to see than to describe. Just take my word for it, that the whole shebang does its job well. Scamp found herself a new pair of gardening gloves. Her old ones had lasted for ages and she found the exact same gloves. For once, we didn’t come home with more plants!

We drove through a couple of heavy rain showers, what Scamp calls the Cumbersheugh Cloud. There were plenty of clouds too, so I decided to work on the computer for a while until the weather improved. Meanwhile Scamp was doing a bit of cleaning. About an hour later the sky cleared and I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got a few shots. It wasn’t until I got home, I saw a better subject than I’d found on my walk. Just a Tiarella plant hanging over the edge of a pot in our garden. A few photos later I was happy with my results.

Dinner was a pizza with anchovies a fairly familiar light dinner for us. Then I stared in earnest to look through today’s photos. The Tiarella plant’s hanging leaf got PoD.

No plans for tomorrow yet.

Out to lunch – 3 April 2026

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Today Scamp and Shona met Isobel for a chat and a coffee. I stayed out of the way!

I met Scamp and Shona for lunch just after midday, at a new restaurant in Cumbersheugh, Bellissimo.
Scamp had Mussels for a starter and Seabass with Lemon sauce and mixed veg.
Shona had Italian Meatballs as a starter, with a main of Pollo Milanese.
My starter was Seasoned chicken strips in batter and my main was Penne Arrabiata.
All in all, a good meal although the food was slow in coming. We’d give it another shot, especially as our old faithful, Brodens is now gone.
We dropped Shona off at the Lidl store in the north of the town and then we drove home.

I took my Sony 24-105mm lens and the A7c out for a walk later in the afternoon. Gusty winds made photographing difficult, but not impossible. One of my favourite shots, a Horse Chestnut leaf just about to burst open, got PoD. It was another cold day and that gusty wind didn’t help.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go to Edinburgh, but there have been a lot of high wind warnings in place, so we’ll check the weather before we make any rash decisions tomorrow morning.

Dancin’ and School Ties – 2 April 2026

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Strange mixture.

Today started with a bit of shopping. Quite a large bit of shopping too, but it was all basic foodstuffs … boring. We had a cup of coffee when we got home and realised we had about 15min to get ready for our afternoon out in Glenburn for today’s Tea Dance.

After a frantic scrabble, we headed off to this Paisley offshoot and arrived just in time. It was the usual format of mainly ballroom dances in the first half and sequence dances in the second half. We usually leave about half an hour early to avoid the schools coming out and clogging up the roads with little darlings who are picked up by doting aunts, uncles, grans etc, because the poor things can’t walk long distances. It was different in my day. We had to walk to school and back again. It toughened you up etc, etc …
Anyway, the weans would be out and enjoying themselves when we left at the end of the dances.

The drive home was much swifter than it usually is. I’ve a plan for the fastest way to get to Glenburn and a different route for returning. It might seem daft, but it does work, for me at least.

I took a camera and lens out for a walk in St Mo’s when we got home and got a photo of a school tie hanging from a lamp post. I don’t know what the scribbles on the tie were, but just to be safe, I removed some of the writing.

We’re hoping to go to have coffee with Isobel and Shona tomorrow and maybe a quick lunch afterwards. If everything works out, of course. Storm ‘Dave’ looks as if it’s going to show up at the weekend. Let’s hope it’s not as violent as the weather fairies are predicting.

Spending money – 31 March 2026

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At least it was money I was spending this time.

I’d had two lenses break down on me recently. One lens I’d been using almost solely and another older lens that had a limited range, but which produced lovely clear photos.Two within a week. I couldn’t believe it. I think I read every article that existed, trying to find a solution but couldn’t find anyone who would admit to having the same problem as me. I thought I could just run them until they completely failed, but then realise that would be damaging the cameras too, so I stopped using them and fell back on another pair of older, but solidly performing lenses for a while. But they weren’t the same as the two broken down lenses. The final straw that broke my camel’s back was when I took one of the lenses to a reputable repair company in Glasgow and was told how much it would cost to repair it.

Today I paid for one new lens. It’s exactly the same make and model as the one that failed me but this time I have a 2 year warranty and a guarantee from John Lewis that covers me for accidental damage. I hope I never have to use it.

Alex was the first person I’d heard talk about Buyers Remorse. The feeling, just as you leave the shop or when you remove your credit card from the machine, that you’ve made a mistake. We’ve all felt it at one time or another, but for some reason the feeling wasn’t there this morning. Scamp had run me to the train station. I was intending to go to JL to see if they had the lens and even if they did have it, I’d have a try with it. Even if I liked what I saw, I’d still walk up the hill to WEX to compare it with the one I knew they had. But I didn’t do that either. I just checked there were no scratches on the metal mount, no fingerprints on the lens glass and bought it there and then. It was mine. Even more was what the tech guy in the repair shop had said. “Don’t buy second hand. It’s false economy.” He was right.

The PoD was one of the first shots I took with the lens today. Looking through the front blossoms to focus out the flowers and then to have the blurred image of the flowers behind. It worked exactly like I planned it.

Tomorrow I may get Buyer’s Remorse tomorrow, more than likely I will, but it will disappear.

Scamp is intending to go to a ‘Witches’ lunch tomorrow and I may go and take some photos.

A dull, windy day – 30 March 2026

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I had great plans for today, but none of them came to fruition.

Neither of us could settle last night. Scamp seemed to have the ‘Rumbling Tums’ and I was wide awake and just couldn’t get to sleep. I think it was the changing of the clocks in the middle of the early Sunday morning that caused it.

I’d half thought of going in to Glasgow to look for a new lens that would work on all three cameras. Then I looked at how to Reissue the SSL and Reinstall it on my Namecheap account. That’s when I realised I hadn’t a clue what any of that actually meant, so I left it and had a cup of coffee instead.

It was another blustery day to begin with, but as the day trundled on, the windspeed gently dropped away. In the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got good use of my little rechargeable hand warmers. Lots of Canada Geese again, more than yesterday, so I’m guessing they are getting ready to fly north again although the temperature isn’t as high as I’d expect now that we’re on the edge of reaching April. Not a lot of buds on the trees here, so I’m thinking there might be another spell of cold weather to come yet.

Despite the increase in the waterfowl groups, PoD was Colt’s Foot Daisies. One of my dad’s favourite wildflowers. Every spring when I see them, it reminds me of him, showing me how the stems looked like horses shoes.

Dinner tonight was Mince and Tatties again with a few slice of beetroot. Scamp had a Fried Egg wit her Tatties. Later in the evening I had a home made Tattie Scone made with yesterday’s leftover potatoes. Scamp has left her’s and if she doesn’t grab it by midday tomorrow I may be tempted to snaffle her’s too!

No dancing tonight, because Kirsty is having a fortnight off. It was good not to have to drive over to the town centre for an hour’s dancing. I do enjoy it, but she sometimes repeats and repeats the steps. We could do with a bit of variation in the classes.

Tomorrow we may make that trip to Glasgow. Both the lenses I have are now useless. I’ll just have to bite the bullet and spend some money on one new one, at least.

Another wild old day – 29 March 2026

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The clocks went forward an hour in the middle of the night, but we were deep in sleep then, so we must take other folk’s word for it.

It may have been the start of British Summer Time, but it certainly didn’t feel like it this morning. A howling wind and lashing rain doesn’t really fit very well with the concept of Summer in any country. Not that it mattered much because neither of us were going very far today.

Sunday lunch is usually Black Pudding, Bacon and maybe a fried egg for me. Today we both had Poached Egg on Toast. Me, because my stomach was a bit upset and I wanted to have a lighter lunch than normal. Scamp, because she wanted to be up sides with me. It must be about a year since I’ve had a poached egg and today’s was just excellent, because Scamp cooked it!

The furthest I got today was a walk around St Mo’s pond with my Tamron 70-180mm, watching the swans chasing the Canada Geese away from the area where they were nest building. Although the swans seemed to be winning, I felt that the geese were just giving them the run-around. Eventually the swans returned to the nesting area, but not before one swan puffed itself up and became quite threatening to me. I took Jamie’s hint and left sharpish, but only because my portable hand warmer had run out of charge … honest!
That swan made PoD.

When I got home, Scamp was just finishing off a sponge cake and allowing it to cool. Today’s main for me was Mince and Tatties with the usual addition of sliced Beetroot. Scamp had a slice of Salmon with mashed potatoes. Dessert was the Sponge with custard. Delightfully light sponge. Again, Scamp’s work, not mine – as if I could make something like that!!

Spoke to Jamie and heard that he was planting out his seeds in the greenhouse. Although it was cold down there too, I think it wasn’t quite as cold as we’ve had for the past couple of weeks. A planned power outage from his council was going to mean that he had to work from home later in the week.

Tomorrow we may go out somewhere. Kirsty’s class is cancelled for the next two weeks for Easter holidays.