Category: St Mo’s

Sitting in the sun – 10 July 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was up early to go to the hairdressers. I didn’t need my hair dressed, so I stayed at home.

Scamp returned home looking wonderful and without a hair out of place not long after I started today’s Wordle et al puzzles. She had about an hour free before her next appointment, this time with Isobel.

When she had left to meet Isobel, I took one of our folding seats out to the front and read another chapter of “Stone and Sky”, the latest Ben Aaronovitch book. It’s probably the most confusing Rivers of London book I’ve read so far. I keep thinking I’ve read it before, but I haven’t. Sometimes it reads like a Young Adult book, sometimes it’s Police Procedural. Sometimes it’s about fairies and unicorns. Always it’s worth reading and now at book ten in the series, it’s getting complicated, but I know it will mostly all turn out fine in the end.

It was hot today. Not just warm, but hot. I think the maximum temperature that was reached was just over 25ºc which is hot for Scotland. Tonight the weather fairies were warning us that it’s going to be even hotter tomorrow. I don’t think I can take much more of this heatwave nonsense!

After Scamp returned with all the gossip from her meeting with Isobel, we had lunch and Scamp went in to Gardener mode and I just kept out of the way. Eventually I decided to take a walk to St Mo’s and get some photos. There didn’t seem to be too much insect or animal activity, so I headed down past the back of St Mo’s school and found today’s PoD waiting for me. As far as I can see the mating insects are Five Spot Burnet Moths, but what is the creature below them, breaking free of its cocoon? Another Burnet Moth perhaps? It doesn’t look like one. Maybe some clever person will be able to ID it.

Dinner tonight was a salad with baby potatoes, beetroot, feta cheese, prawns and lettuce. I’ve probably missed something out, but you get the idea. We washed it down with a half bottle of Bijou white wine. Highly recommended!

And that was about it for today. A hot day due to get even hotter tomorrow. Speaking about tomorrow, we’re hoping to go out for dinner with our pals in Larky.

 

 

Out for a spin – 8 July 2025

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Just a run round old haunts.

We spoke to Hazel on a bright sunny morning. We had a good blether about people we knew and books we’d been reading. Caught up with what the foxes were doing, which was appropriate, because foxes were playing a big part in my book today.

Once we were all up to date with each other, Scamp and I struggled and complained about Wordle and all its hangers on. We seem to do nothing but moan about the links the setters find for the morning puzzles, but we still do them religiously, every day.

We both agreed that the weather was too good to waste sitting in the house and we went for a drive over to Gouldings Garden Centre in Rosebank partly to have a spot of lunch and partly so Scamp could ogle the plants on display. Scamp had Mac ’n’ Cheese for lunch and I had what was advertised as Chilli con Carne. I’m not so sure there was a great deal of Carne in the Chilli. There did seem to be a little bit of sugar in it though, which was strange. Scamp said her Mac ’n’ Cheese was a bit sweet too. Hmm were Gouldings kitchen trying to mask something in their lunch menu? Maybe.
When we were leaving with a handful of plants each, I bumped into an ex-teacher, with his wife. It’s been ages since I’ve met him, but he hasn’t changed … thankfully.

We drove along Clydeside for a while and then turned off, heading for Kirkmuirhill and found ourselves behind a slow moving tractor on what was in effect a single lane road. It was a slow crawl through Auchinheath to Kirkmuirhill where eventually the tractor turned off and we had the road to ourselves. Eventually reaching Lidl in Larkhall where we got a flowerpot for one of the new plants and a bottle of Hortus gin for me. I think Scamp enjoyed the run in the country and so did I. We’ve now gathered a few more plants for filling up borders and replacing older ones.

I took a camera and a 50mm f2.8 macro lens out for a walk when we got back. Got a couple of decent shots among the many I took. PoD went to a Cucumber Spider wrapping up its prey. The spider is easily recognised. It’s bright green with a red spot on its bum.

Tomorrow I should book my annual bloodletting at the doc’s, since they asked so nicely, and there may be plants that need a new home.

 

Sunshine! – 7 July 2025

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At last we had a day of sunshine with no rain. Hopefully it will stay around for a few days before we start begging for rain again.

Fred phoned me this morning just as Scamp and I were heading out to get the messages and Scamp insisted I take the call. We had a long blether about friends and the stupids who run the health centre. Thankfully Fred didn’t get a chance to sidle into his favourite subject, Politics. Just a blether.

When Scamp returned and I brought in the bags from the car and we had lunch. After that, Scamp started planning changes to the back and front garden. Some plants aren’t doing very well and need to be moved to cooler positions, while others that need more sun are being sent to the front garden. It’s a constant cycle in a garden.

Just exactly on time, a box arrived from Parcel Force. Most unlike them to be on time. Inside was a new battery for the small Dyson cleaner. They really know how to make things easy for you. I took out three screws, removed the old battery and replaced it with the new one. Done and dusted in less than five minutes. Why can’t everything be as easy as that?

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s, mainly to test out an old lens I’ve had for years and hardly used. It’s a 16-35mm f4 Sony and although it produces decent images, I don’t use it enough, so it needs, like the plants in the garden, to be moved somewhere else. I’m not sure yet if it’s going to go, but it’s a possibility.

It was quite warm, but windy today which meant it was difficult to get the picture of the day to sit still long enough for me to get the photo I wanted. Eventually after about a dozen shots, I got what I wanted. The photo is of a Soldier Beetle sitting by itself on the head of a Cow Parsley plant. I liked the ‘bokeh’, the out of focus blobs in the background.

Scamp made dinner tonight it was a simple meal of trout fillet with Cornish potatoes dressed with a salad of lettuce, apple, shallot, pepper and tomatoes. All very like what Simonne made for us last year, down in Dent.

Well, the sun is still shining and the skies are blue. I think you could say we got our wish today. Tomorrow we’re intending going looking for Parsley plants for the planter in the garden.

More Rain – 5 July 2025

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I’m going to use my mum’s chant on the weather:
“Rain, Rain, Go away. Come again another day.”

I’m getting really fed up with the constant drizzle. It just drags you down, and although a month or so ago we were praying for rain, we’ve had enough now, thank you very much.

We did get past the door today, though. Scamp and I went for a walk down to the shops and came back with two big shopping bags full of food for today and probably tomorrow as well. The parking situation is so bad on our street, nobody wants to move out of their space for fear of not getting back into their parking place when they come back. We need the council to take the bull by the horns and mark the parking spaces properly instead of allowing any Tom, Dick and Harry from just parking their car anywhere. It wouldn’t cost very much to white line the street and then we’d be able to see who the unthoughtful parkers are. Annoyingly, some of the streets in our area have already been white lined, but that was about three years ago, and there has been no further action on the matter.
There, now my blood pressure is back to normal again.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s in the late afternoon and found a baby’s dummy (or pacifier if you’re posh) lying on the path. That gave me an idea for today’s PoD. One of the dozen photos I’d taken was good enough to pass the test and did become PoD.

Dinner was a Smoked Haddock Fillet with Cheese Sauce for Scamp. I had a Lamb Biryani. Both from M&S. Where would we be without you!

That was the end of a rather boring day. We’re hoping against hope that tomorrow will be just a wee bit drier and a wee bit sunnier.

Today it rained – 27 June 2025

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I could almost finish the blog there with that statement, but that would be no fun.

We had intended to go in to Glasgow today to get a pair of trainers. I know the trainers I want, but the idea of wandering around Glasgow in the rain didn’t appeal much, so instead we waited to see if the rain would go off. It didn’t. Scamp did some tidying up and I went for a walk in St Mo’s.

While I was walking round St Mo’s looking for inspiration, this wee snail crossed my path. Both of us were very wet and both of us were on a mission. My mission was to get back home and dry again. I don’t know what mission the snail was on, but it knew where it was going.

Scamp and I had each chosen a different meal for dinner. Scamp was having Fish Fingers and Tomatoes, and I chose a Rib Eye Steak with Padron Peppers and Tomatoes. (Thanks for the tomatoes Jamie, we’re working our way through them!) That meant I had to extend my walk and source the steak. I walked on to the butchers and got the steak and a couple of slices of spiced beef ham, which is really a thin cut steak with copious amounts of mixed spice dusted over it. Sounds odd, but it’s a traditional Sunday breakfast item where I come from.

It might be raining, but as one of the weather fairies said, “At least it was warm rain.” That was definitely true. I was fairly wet when I got home, but my, allegedly, breathable jacket had been choked to death and the condensation meant I had to do a complete change when I got home.

My dinner was ok, just ok. Scamp said her’s was fine. Dessert was rhubarb (thanks for the rhubarb, too Jamie) with some custard and some cream left over from yesterday. That was the highlight of my meal.

Tomorrow we’re hoping for some dry weather to get out somewhere for a walk and maybe a new pair of trainers.

The mountaineers – 25 June 2025

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Not us! Not a chance.

Today our son and his wife were driving up to Scotland for an overnight stay before they headed over to Arran for a series of guided walks, some of which will entail a fair bit of climbing. We had we’d stay at home and give encouraging advice.

One thing I must say about our son is that he is amazingly accurate with his predictions of time and timing. Today after a journey of about six hours, he was only TEN minutes outside his predicted time. That’s accuracy.

With a little time on hour hands, we tidied, Scamp cleaned and I stuffed things into cupboards where they will never be found again for months, perhaps years. Finding them will be a great surprise.

I was chef for the day and dinner was Chicken and Pea Traybake. I spent a fair while chopping up leeks, but then there was little else to do before the chicken was roasted and the peas were cooked, so I took a camera over to St Mo’s and found a bunch of pink flowers worth photographing. I was sure they were Red Campion, one of the first flowers I learned about after daisies and dandelions. I checked with Mr Google and found I was right. Ragged Robin and Red Campion are very alike, but the smoothly rounded petals told the story that these were Campions.

Dinner was a success and Scamp had made a large Tiramisu for dessert. Only half of it was consumed today which will hopefully leave lots more for us two gluttons tomorrow.

A couple of glasses of red for Scamp and me after the climbers made their way up the wooden hill and my eyes were closing.

Early rise for the youngsters tomorrow. We might have a lie in.

Shopping – 23 June 2025

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Today we were going shopping.

It was a day of hit and miss showers. Also, it was much cooler than it has been of late which was great for sleeping in. Those hot muggy days of last week were not the best for trying to get some rest.

Instead of doing the usual Tesco run we went to Waitrose in Stirling for a change. Wow, did we have a big shop today! I was beginning to think the boot wouldn’t be big enough and we’d need to buy a trailer. It’s not often we’re tempted by the variety of goods on sale there, but we were today. I’m sure I heard the wee Blue car groan when we shut the boot.

We had just unpacked when there was a knock at the door and there was a delivery man with what obviously was a box of flowers addressed to Scamp. The card inside was from Alex and Carol. We found out later it was because I’d been saying that Scamp seemed a bit down lately and Alex must have picked up on that. Such a kind thing to do. Thank you Alex and Carol.

After lunch I wanted to go out and get some photos and left Scamp reading at home. I got a few shots, most of which were of insects or wildflowers. Insects always seem to have their own agenda and either stay put for a while, or are off ‘doing things’ immediately you point a camera at them. I must have found the lazy ones today. One was a strange looking red eyed fly and the other was a little pure black insect that I’d have called a ‘Buzzer’ if I was fishing. Both flies were hiding under leaves or sitting on leaves. Either way they were sheltering form those hit and miss showers I was talking about. Of the two, I chose the Black ‘Buzzer’ as PoD.

As usual I’d been carried away with photographing insects and plants and forgot the time. Scamp was going to a dance display arranged by one of the Witches. By the time I got back she was almost ready for Jeanette Witch to pick her up.

I’d had mince for dinner yesterday and today I was converting it into Spag Bol. Not a difficult task and I soon had the feeling that the plate I was using wasn’t really going to be big enough, so I ate as much as I wanted from an excellent Spaghetti Bolognese then put the remainder, regretfully, in the bin. Dessert was the last squat peach. Just as lovely as the first one had been, two or three days ago.

Scamp staggered in just before 11pm and raved for a while about the dancing those girls and one boy could do. I’m glad she enjoyed it, but I’m not so sure I would like it.

Tomorrow I may be going to get a new pair of trainers. The ones I got from Go Outdoors are ok, just ok. I’m sure there are better ones out there.

Another hot day – 21 June 2025

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But with signs that a change is coming.

We drove over to Larky in the afternoon. We were going to see Crawford and Nancy. Crawford’s mum died last Tuesday and we just wanted to drop in to see how they were getting on. Jean was over 90, but had always been fairly active. A great gardener.

We sat and talked to C&N and the afternoon just disappeared. It had been a long time since we’d seen them and there was a fair bit of catching up to do.

We were meant to have lunch on the patio, but we had a couple of heavy showers while we were there, so it was an inside lunch.

When we left to come home the weather stayed dry all the way back, in fact it stayed that way for most of the day. It was still very warm and overcast with the threat of rain that never arrived.

In the early evening I went for a walk over to St Mo’s without really having any thought of what to photograph. I ended up taking some shots of six cygnets on the pond at St Mo’s with their mum and dad making sure they didn’t get into any trouble. That made PoD.

That was about it for today.

Hoping for some rain overnight for Scamp to get a chance to start some grass seed.

Keeping your head down – 18 June 2025

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It’s amazing the things you see if you keep your head down.

Today I was out for a walk in the afternoon, heading to the shops to get a variety of veg to make dinner. If I hadn’t had my head to the ground I would never have noticed the burned off rusted pipe on the pavement. Inside the pipe, dirt and stones had collected over time. Some seeds had landed in the old pipe too and some of them had germinated. Add a little sunlight and a plentiful amount of rain and there you have the beginnings of a miniature garden. If I’d just been striding out, or if I’d been thinking about that dinner I was going to make, I’d have missed this little garden in the street. If you don’t look, you’ll never see what’s in front of you. But be careful, watch out for busses as well as little round gardens.

You can find my garden on Flickr. The round garden didn’t quite make PoD. That award went to a White Tailed Bee feeding on a Marsh Cinquefoil flower. Much prettier, but I still like that round garden. It’s the second one I’ve found. Must go back through Flickr to find it.

Scamp was out in the afternoon to meet up with the rest of the Witches, while I was shopping. I’d half intended to drive up to Fannyside to get some landscape photos. Unfortunately the sun didn’t want to play ball today and so instead I searched out a recipe I could use for dinner tonight. I’d seen one on the BBC page and it looked simple enough for me. Actually it was fairly simple and that’s what we had tonight. It was listed as Mediterranean Vegetable Pasta, but in reality it was “What have we got in the fridge”. It served the purpose and it tasted reasonable. May make it again.

The dull weather that prevented me from going to Fannyside lasted for the remainder of the day. Dull and with the threat of rain sort of summed it up. Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Scamp is intending to meet Isobel tomorrow and I’m hoping to meet Alex for a photowalk.

My turn to cook – 17 June 2025

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It was my turn to cook today and I thought I’d made a mess of it, but surprisingly it all worked out well.

It was a dull, grey day. I don’t think either of us really wanted to do much of anything. I had finished my book and started another. I don’t know where it came from on the Kindle, but it didn’t last long there. It’s now in the Kindle Bin. An hour or so’s research and a couple of quid brought me another book, much more interesting, at least that’s what I’m hoping it will be. By the way Hazy, did you know that Stone and Sky, the new Rivers of London book, set in SCOTLAND! comes out in a couple of weeks? You probably knew that and you probably told me and I probably forgot about it. Too many wee ‘nories’ in my head, that’s what my mum would have said.

Scamp was in a redesigning mood today. Plants in their pots were needing moved and I could see where she was going with this rebuild. Too many pots containing greenery and not enough with some brighter colours. Admittedly she has some beautiful roses growing in the front garden, in pots, of course, but she needs some spots of colour too. Today was a test to see what she could create from what she already had in the garden. I was the pot lifter for the day and I agreed with her changes.

However, I did want to get a bit of photography done and once I was sure she wouldn’t strain her back humphing the pots around, I took the chance of a walk over to St Mo’s where I found a Common Blue Damselfly that was willing to be a model for me. Also a pretty pink wildflower growing beside the boardwalk. It took me a bit of research to find out that it was Valerian. I remembered the name from last year. Last, but not least was was a side view of a white wild rose, fully open and welcoming any passing bees. All are to be seen on Flickr, but the PoD was the Valerian.

Like I said at the start, it was my turn to cook today. It was Mushroom Risotto and I still think I got some of my quantities wrong, but the result worked well. It’s 20 minutes of standing by the cooker feeding the mushroom, onion, garlic, butter and rice mixture with ladles full of rehydrated mushroom flavoured liquid, meanwhile stirring almost constantly for those 20 minutes. Scamp had poached a chicken breast earlier and I added it to the mixture. I’m glad it all worked. I would have hated to have gone to all that effort for it to be a failure.

Tomorrow Scamp is hoping to meet the Witches for a blether and I may go looking for dragonflies, out in the country.