Category: Trees

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!

Old friends and Drumpellier – 3 August 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp suggested a walk in Drumpellier. It had been ages since we’d been there, so I agreed.

I know that face. We were just getting out of the car when I saw Brian Gregg walking along with his wee boy. He seemed surprised to see me and asked “Do you come here often?” When I said we did, he looked a bit disappointed. Probably thinking “Am I going to meet them here every week?” Then he relaxed a bit and told me about his near misses looking for a permanent position at a school nearer to home. Also about dodgy interviews in North Lanarkshire. No great surprise there. Everyone has stories about questionable tactics in NLC. However he eventually got a placement nearby and seemed to be enjoying it. That is if you can enjoy the last few days of your annual holiday. He was heading home and we were just starting our walk.

Today we were going anti-clockwise round the loch. That’s our usual direction. We’d chosen one of the side paths and were just at the point where we could lengthen the walk or keep it short when the rain started. Not heavy real, just a drizzle, but enough to make ripples on the standing water beside the path. I suggested we take the shorter route just in case it came on heavier. We followed the path for a while then Scamp suggested we take another side path, up a hill. We walked up clambering over tree roots and round established trees. When we got to the top the path turned and went back down the hill in a slightly different direction, bringing us back to the path we’d just left. When we came out of the cover of the trees the rain had gone, so we walked up the hill to the cricket pitch. A cricket pitch in Coatbridge who would have guessed that? We sat for a while there then walked back down again. It was just that sort of day!

Back beside the loch we went to the cafe to get lunch. Roll ’n’ Tattie Scone for Scamp and the ubiquitous Roll ’n’ Sausage for me both on dry rolls – no butter. A cup of boiling hot coffee for me and peppemint tea for Scamp. Then back home to get some fruit and sweeties at Tesco.

PoD was a photo of an oak branch with a single red leaf among the green. It made me think, is this autumn coming already? Surely not.

Scamp made dinner which was the same as yesterday with a Wagu burger in place of the bacon and an omelette for her. Burger was ok. I bought it in Waitrose the other day because it was cheap. Glad I didn’t pay full price.

Scamp is out early tomorrow to get her tooth repair completed. She is expecting to get the crown fitted after having waited quite some time. We may go out to lunch afterwards if the dentist says that’s ok!

 

A day in Japan – 17 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The gardens needed it – 8 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today was wet. It went from drizzle to full on downpour, but it was wet all day!

We weren’t going far today anyway. I might have gone in to Glasgow to get myself a new suit, a dark suit, both my other suits are light grey and a dark one would be a change. Also, only one of my suits actually fits me, the other one fits like a sugar bag. Not a good look. Anyway, that decision was taken away from me with one look at the weather. The furthest we were going today was Tesco.

Just a normal Monday shopping trip. Nothing exciting unless you class short dated tomatoes, carrots and onions as exciting. Three bags full it was today, all bundled into the boot and drove home.

What we did do was give our plants a bit of a soaking in the rainwater. My two chilli plants seemed to come to no harm in it and Scamp’s Cerinthe seedlings seemed to grow even taller after being in the downpours.

After lunch I gave in, put on my boots and my walking trousers and went out looking for a photo that would become PoD. It was really wet wherever I went and after about half an hour I was sure I could feel that squidgy sensation that you only get when you’ve got a leaky boot. But I was out in the middle of the park when it made itself known and I still hadn’t got that magic PoD. Then it appeared. It was a water droplet hanging from a larch needle. I took my time and eventually shot half a dozen frames of it. One of which I deemed sharp enough to become the PoD for today. Then, and only then, I squidged my way home. The sock on my right foot told the tale. There was a leak and it looks like there is a crack in the tread of my boot and that’s where the water is getting in. It might be a cut, not a crack, but the result is the same. I wouldn’t think it’s repairable, although someone on YouTube will know different, I’m sure. I might need to shell out for a new pair of boots now.

Today’s EDiM asked for An Ant. I originally thought of drawing a couple of Leaf Cutter Ants, but couldn’t find a clear enough photo to draw them from. I finally settled for a Flying Ant. There were a lot of these scary looking beasties flying around last year, I seem to remember. Apparently there is an actual Flying Ant Day. In the UK it seems to be around the 17th July. It all depends on the temperature and windspeed. There, I bet you didn’t know that!

Tomorrow we’re booked for lunch with Shona. Not sure yet where we’ll be going. Like the Flying Ants, it depends on the weather!

Stuck in the toilet – 28 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out in the morning to her FitSteps class and out again in the afternoon for coffee with Isobel. I was stuck in the toilet.

Actually it’s not as bad as it seems. Yes, I was in the toilet, but I was replacing the carpet tiles in there. There are only six tiles to lay, but every one has to have cut-outs to accommodate pipes or the curved base of the toilet bowl or door frames.

This was probably the third or fourth time I’ve had to relay the tiles. The good thing about it is that the outgoing tiles act as templates for marking out the new ones. It’s the cutting that’s the most difficult stage. It’s been quite a while since I last had to do this job, but after a couple of tiles, it all came flooding back. The secret is to mark the back of each tile out using the old tile as a template and a white wax sewing pencil. Then with a sharp Stanley knife you cut halfway through the stiff backing. That should allow you to crack the new tile along that line. The most awkward part is hacking through the carpet fabric. It’s not easy working in such a confined space, but once you get into a rhythm it all goes fairly smoothly, but I don’t fancy having to do it for a living! By the time Scamp got back from FitSteps I was working on the last tile. Six new tiles laid in just over an hour.

After a spot of lunch I drove Scamp up to Costa in the town centre to meet Isobel, June and Ian. I didn’t wait, I had other fish to fry or in this case sausages to fry. Stopped at the butcher’s in Condorrat for mince, stew rolls and flat sausages. Some call them Lorne sausages, some call them square sliced (pronounced Skwer Sliced). To me they have always been flat sausages. That was my section of the freezer filled again with mince and stew. One of the sausages was for lunch, as was one of the rolls.

When Scamp got home I took the A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s later to get some photos. I couldn’t really see anything that appealed to me, but the two trees with the upwardly mobile branch made me smile. It became PoD.

When I got back, Scamp was working in the garden. That reminded me that I hadn’t planted my anniversary present, a packet of Sunflower seeds, so I set to and planted almost all 20 of the seeds. I had some left and offered them to Scamp to plant. Not that it’s a competition or anything like that. Just a friendly neighbourly gesture. We’ll see who’s pops out of the soil first – of course it’s a competition.

There is just an outside chance that we may go to Edinburgh on the train tomorrow. Weather permitting, of course.

Strawberries and a drive – 25 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Yesterday I said we might go out for a run today, or else we’d stay home and pot up the strawberries. We actually achieved both!

There was quite a cold snap last night, or early this morning. I’d put the strawberries into the greenhouse to hopefully protect them from the worst of the cold. The Busy Lizzies were already in the greenhouse. The strawberries didn’t seem to have noticed the cold, but the poor wee Lizzies were looking a bit sorry for themselves. Scamp took them out and sat them in the sun for a while, hoping aginst hope that they’d recover. It might have worked, but we’ll find out for sure tomorrow.

It was cold in the morning, but the sun was warm, so we made the decision to pot up the strawberries in their tower pot. It’s a terracotta pot with eight hole for the plants and is the same material as an old fashioned flowerpot. That means it needs to be soaked in water before planting or else it will draw the moisture from the compost, so it has been sitting in a bucket of water for about a week. We made up some compost using two different strengths and then added some gravel to assist with drainage. We only had six wee strawberries in their pots all different varieties. Bad calculation on my part. I’m the Maths Man, apparently. It’s just coontin’ I can’t do. It didn’t take us long, working together for once and not arguing … very much and the pot is now sitting in the place Scamp prepared for it.

After lunch, the sky was still clear, apart from a few fluffy white clouds and I suggested we drive up to the Carron Reservoir to get some landscape photos. It was a fair climb for the wee blue car, up the Tak Ma Doon road with its hairpin bends and 2nd gear hills. Then it was feathering the brakes for the run down the other side. Instead of heading across the road at the end, we turned left for a mile or so and found an almost empty carpark where the parking machine was ‘Out of Order’. Even better.

I put my boots on and we walked through the woods and up past the dam. As we got there a small child, we couldn’t determine what variety it was, was running along beside the dam wall with its parents, holding a ‘6’ balloon. Almost at the middle of the dam, and after a gigantic party popper had fired confetti into the air, it let go of the balloon, just a few seconds before a low flying Easyjet plane appeared over the hill. A bit foolhardy, considering the plane was almost certainly on final to Glasgow Airport. However all was well and the screaming trio ran down the grassy slopes and into the woods.

I took some more shots of the reservoir and the scenery behind. Perfect day for landscapes and the surrounding hills just finished off the view. We sat for a while just watching the world go by and the balloon disappearing into the clouds. Then we walked back and drove the scenic route back, along the banks of the reservoir and down the Crow Road then homeward.

Stir fry for dinner tonight then watched another semi-final of University Challenge were the ‘goodies’ won and the ‘baddies’ were vanquished! Later another episode of Magpie Murders teased us with more information but inevitably complicated more than it explained.

PoD didn’t turn out to include the reservoir or the clouds, but was of the woods and a carpet of pine cones.

You’ll hardly believe this, but Hazy has a Split Rock plant Ruby Flush (Pleiospilos Nelii) called Phileas almost the same as my unnamed Lithops! Some people can’t see green cheese … ! 😉

Tomorrow Scamp is booked for coffee or it may be lunch with the Witches. I have other plans which I won’t reveal yet.

 

The Messages – 22 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

According to the weather fairies, it was going to rain today. They were right, but only just.

The morning was lovely, well, again it was lovely to look out at it. However, it was still cold outside. We had agreed last night that we’d go shopping today. Not Tesco or Lidl, we’d been there during the week. Instead, we were going to Stirling – to Waitrose. Waitrose just sucks you in and makes you spend more than you’d intended to. Whereas, in Tesco and to a certain extent, Lidl you know where everything is and you can buy the things you need, rather than what you want.

When we got home there was a cardboard box that had dropped through our letterbox. Inside were six little plant plug plants, Busy Lizzies. Tiny little plants that are now in the greenhouse until they get strong enough to be planted out in the garden. Strange to think that delicate little plug plants are delivered by post.

Scamp found a suitable hanger to hold a fuchsia and it’s now hanging on a hook in the back garden. While she was gardening, I took the Sony A7 out with a couple of lenses for a walk in St Mo’s. PoD turned out to be a close up of some larch needles positively glowing in the afternoon sunshine.

By the time I got home the clouds were beginning to mass and as I’m writing this, the first rain in a week or so has been falling.

Dinner tonight was a Veg Lasagne by Charlie Bigham. This is the third one we’ve had (not tonight, we’re not that greedy!) and they have all been exceptionally good.

Tomorrow we are expecting more rain and cold winds from the north. Brrr!

Saying goodbye to Margie – 20 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today we said goodbye to an old friend.

It was a tough morning and I’m not going into details. She was a lovely lady, a singer in Scamp’s Gems singing group. She was also a painter who produced some beautiful artwork in all media types, but her favourites were ballet dancers in the style of Monet. We’ll both miss her greatly. May she rest in peace.

Back home it was a beautiful day, as long as you had shelter from that east wind again. It looks like spring, but it doesn’t feel like it. However, I went for a walk in St Mo’s with a macro lens doing all the work today on the A7. The first thing to do was to check up on the three little orange ladybirds. My first surprise was that three had become one. Where had the other two gone? The answer was waiting a couple of trees away. There had only been one orange ladybird there last week. Now there are three! So have two ladybirds moved from one tree to another or is it just a floating community in the woods? I reckon they are just fed up with me photographing them and are trying to mess with my head.

Not a lot else happened today. Potatoes, bacon and cabbage was dinner for me. Scamp replaced the bacon with more cabbage!
PoD was the new trio of ladybirds, but take a look at the pair of old leaded glass windows I captured on my phone last week in Glasgow.

Remember I was writing about Scamp and I being labourerers the other day?  Well, today Scott’s wife handed in a bunch of roses and a box of chocolates to say thanks for the help!  That was a brightener for the day!

Tomorrow we’re intending doing some planting in the garden.

 

Gardening – 2 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

An hour in the garden for me. More for Scamp.

We hadn’t got to bed until about 1am yesterday and our ‘little nightcap’ worked well, so we didn’t wake until well past breakfast time. By the time I was stumbling out of bed it was getting nearer lunchtime than breakfast. We both avoided the news in the morning, not wanting to know the result of the Australian GP which we’d watch while having lunch at midday. Instead, we solved Wordle and Spelling Bee.

Scamp described the end of the F1 GP as “Carnage” and she was right. “Shambles” is another word to describe it. Two restarts after the race had been ‘red flagged’ which means that the cars had to return to the pit lane to allow the debris of two big crashes to be cleared up. It was a bit over cautious on the part of the race officials. It could all have been handled much better in our opinion under a ‘Safety Car’. In the end it was a carnage and a shambles that did nothing but take away from what could have been a good race. Questions will be asked of the officials before the next race in Baku in four weeks time. Could this be connected in any way with the fact that the dance class is also off for about four weeks? Just asking.

With lunch past and the entertainment finished for the day, Scamp was looking to the garden to see what she could cut down, chop up or repot. I was called out on the pretext that my opinion was needed on what to keep and what to chop. I was also asked what I was going to do about the raised bed. I muttered something about taking down the pea frame and sloped off to charge the power drill that I’d need to remove the rusted screws. Actually, once I’d removed the six rusted screws with the power screwdriver, the fate of the raised bed was resolved when part of the back wall of the bed came clean away with the pea frame. The whole thing needs to be taken apart before it comes apart of its own volition. But that was a task for another day. Instead I took the pea frame apart, retained the uprights to become apple tree supports and chucked everything else in the bin. Then went to prepare my dinner which would be slow cooked lamb shoulder shank, done in the Instant Pot. Then I gathered my lenses for today’s expedition to St Mo’s.

It was actually quite mild today, much warmer than yesterday and with no wind, that warmth was getting through.

PoD was an update on the Horse Chestnut bud from a week ago today.

Tomorrow if the weather is as predicted, reasonably sunny, we may go for a walk.

Dancin’ – 4 March 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today we were going dancing, but not until the evening.

That meant we needed to find something to fill up the hours before the dance.

After lunch we went for a walk to the shops to find something quick and easy to make for dinner. That turned out to be an M&S curry each. On the way back I was told to go and have a walk round St Mo’s. I eventually agreed, but as Scamp took the road back to the house, I noticed a couple walking along the path through the trees and thought that make a good photo. Three or four frames later I reckoned I had a PoD. Then I want for that walk around St Mo’s hoping it would help to lessen the headaches I have had for weeks now. Thankfully it did, but I didn’t get any more competition for PoD.

After dinner we got better dressed and drove out to Brookfield, almost driving in the wheel tracks of our taxi driving neighbour who was leaving just before us. He seemed surprised that we were off to a dance on a Saturday night. . He left the M8 at the airport and we carried on to the Irvine turn off and from there to the hall at Brookfield.

When we got there, the hall was better than half full and we managed to grab a couple of seats at David and Carol’s table (another tea dance couple). The first dance as always was a waltz. We’ve been trying hard to master the Foxtrot and the Quickstep, but have disregarded the Waltz recently. It should have been easy to just join together the two routines we knew, but it was made difficult by the fact that there were other people on the dance floor and they kept getting in our way. We did a partial foxtrot and succeeded in completing the quickstep a couple of times. A tentative Rhumba after a couple of tries began to look like it should do too. Lots of folk up for Salsa and I surprised Scamp by introducing a decent Tornado which neither of us could really remember, but ‘muscle memory’ came to our aid after I got us into the starting position and it just worked after that.

Closing time was 10.30pm and it was almost a pleasant drive through a Glasgow devoid of the traffic jam we usually have to face in the afternoons. Back home we watched the qualifying of the first F1 GP of 2023 from Bahrain. It looks like this year won’t be the walkover for Red Bull that last year was.

Far too late we went to bed, that’s why this is a catch-up. No plans for tomorrow, yet.