Category: weather

Going for the messages – 28 January 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It was a lovely bright morning and it seemed a shame to waste it sitting in the house.

So, after some discussion, we decided to drive to Stirling to get some messages in Waitrose and have a walk through the town. In the end, and with a very full car boot we decided to have a coffee in Waitrose rather than walk down to Nero. The coffee wasn’t the best, but Scamp was happy with her latte and an iced bun staved off the hunger pangs for a while.

Instead of driving straight home, we turned off the motorway and parked near Haggs. From there we had a walk along the Forth and Clyde canal. The weather held up and with a few fluffy clouds in the sky and an almost perfectly flat calm on the canal we walked along the canal, heading east. Beautiful reflections on the still water gave me plenty of opportunity for photos. Even when we passed one of the locks, the water stayed still and allowed more photo opportunities.

Not far past the canal lock we turned and walked back to the car. We saw a couple of swans following the twists and turns of the canal, presumably looking for a good place to land. Unfortunately I just missed them! Maybe next time.

Back home and after we’d emptied the car, Scamp went out to plant two new pot plants, pink at the front and purple in the back. Both Primulas. Not happy with that, she did a bit of pruning and also stayed out in the sunshine just tidying up the back garden.

Dinner was a shared pizza from Waitrose. Then after I’d downloaded today’s photos and posted a couple, we watched another Landscape Artist of the Year. I don’t know where they find these ‘artists’, but today’s lot were some of the worst we’ve seen. Hopefully they will improve soon.

A week or so, Scamp asked Hazel to ask Neil if his mum knew where she, Scamp, could get Panch Phoron, a Bengali five spice mix. Today a parcel dropped through our letterbox and inside was a packet of Punch Pooran which is the same mix with a slightly different name. Attached was a message from Neil’s mum saying “Happy Cooking”. Isn’t it great when a plan comes together!

PoD went to a view looking east along the Forth and Clyde canal.

No great plans for tomorrow. Scamp says she might do some ironing. I may take a load of odds and ends to the council skips.

Posted at last – 27 January 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I only had one thing to do today and I almost managed it.

I was parcelling up my annual calendar to go to Jamie and Hazel, unfortunately, as I was walking to the Post Office, I realised I’d forgotten to write a note to go with it. I’m sure it won’t matter, it’s the contents that are more important.

That was about as far as I got today, I didn’t even go for a walk round St Mo’s, because it was bitterly cold. I took my hand warmers that Alex had told me about and they worked really well again, keeping my fingers toasty! While I was away, Scamp did some washing and that was about it.

I’d intended to take some stuff to the local tip, but after walking to Condorrat I didn’t really feel like going out again. According to the weather fairies, the weather is to be a bit clearer tomorrow, but there is a chance of snow for us later in the week. How much snow and how long it will last has not been disclosed yet. We had a fairly heavy snowfall last year at almost exactly the same time in January. I remember driving to East Kilbride with Scamp when I went to have my second appointment with Mr Sharmer (Sharmer the Charmer).

PoD was an inside shot again. It’s my old Olympus E-PL5. Battered and bruised, it still works almost perfectly. “Black on Black” was the title.

Hopefully we’ll get out for a walk, or maybe a trip into Glasgow tomorrow. Just to get out of the house for a change of scenery.

Scrubbing the floor – 26 January 2026

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We weren’t down on our knees doing the scrubbing. We’ve got a machine to do that for us now!

In the morning we built up the Vax carpet cleaner. It’s a bit of a beast! With a lot of reading of the instructions we managed to get it built up. Then we added some water and a glug or two of the magic carpet cleaning stuff, plugged it in and started it going. It’ quite noisy and it was soaking the carpet, until we realised we could push it forward quite quickly, but had to withdraw it fairly slowly so the muck in the carpet was sucked into the chamber. In the end we were both impressed with the efficiency of this new technology. So far we only have a small bottle, but I imagine we’ll get a larger bottle before the end of the week. We were impressed by the amount of muck that was sucked into the dirty water container!!

After that we walked down to the shops to get something for lunch and also something for dinner. It was cold and a bit windy, but the weather fairies are warning us that it’s going to get even windier before the end of the week.

I took myself out for a walk in St Mo’s later and got a few photos, but even fairly early in the afternoon, the light was fading quickly. For a change I took the small A6500 with me. I usually use a nylon cord to suspend my cameras when I’m walking. I almost made the mistake of letting the A6500 dangle, but realised just in time that there was no cord on the camera today and caught it before it fell. Eejit!

Once round the pond was enough for me today. If there had been more light and it it hadn’t been quite so cold I’d have gone for a second round, but once was enough today.

We drove over to Kirsty’s class at The Link and completed the third part of the three part Tango routine. It was a bit repetitive in places and the constant turns were causing some of the ladies, Scamp included to become dizzy, so I don’t think the full routine will be danced very often.

PoD was a three holly leaves making a break for freedom from a nearby wooden fence.

I think we may be going shopping tomorrow, but as usual at this time of year, it all depends on the weather

Dancin’ – 22 January 2026

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Today was Thursday and every second Thursday we go dancing in the afternoon if we can manage it.

We drove through the rain today to get to Glenburn and were surprised to see a lot of empty tables. We knew that David and Carol wouldn’t be there, but hoped that more would be coming, and they were coming. In their dribs and drabs they filed in, paid their entrance fee, had a word with Stewart or Jane and found a spare seat to change their shoes to dance shoes and join in the conversation. I think it’s the camaraderie I like best about dancing, especially dancing in Glenburn. There are no airs and graces, everybody talks to everybody else, plus there is always some Tea Loaf to go round at half time!

Today we hardly missed a dance. Sometimes one of us would get it a bit wrong, but nobody notices or sometimes just pretends not to notice and the dance goes on. Some ballroom dances today but lots of sequence dances. Most people gravitate to one or other, other just dance. The time seemed to pass very quickly today and then it was time for the Tea part of the tea dance. After the tea drinking and the chat, we started again. The second half of the afternoon is usually all sequence and it’s a shorter half than the first half. We’re usually in a rush to get out before the schools come out, because the roads get busy then, with the homeward rush beginning. We just took it easy today and drove the M8/M73 route with is longer in miles travelled, but usually faster than the stop/start on the Kingston Bridge. In the end, there’s very little difference between both routes.

Dinner tonight was a chicken curry, made from an easy recipe that provides all the spices for you, leaving you to supply your own meat, fish or veg. It’s one of our favourite dinners and this one was no exception.

We watched another episode of Landscape Artist of theYear. They, the experts picked the wrong person this week. They need a good talking to these folk. Too busy spouting nonsense and then picking a numpty as this week’s winner. Bah!

Since it was dark by the time we got back from Glenburn, PoD was an inside shoot. It turned out to be three miniatures of whisky on a white ground. “Getting ready for Burns Night on Sunday” the story said!

Tomorrow I think Scamp may be going Fit Stepping in the morning. If it’s dry, I may go over the road for a walk. If it’s wet, I’ll probably start filling a black bag with rubbish to go to the skips.

Another bright clear day – 20 January 2026

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Maybe not quite as good as yesterday, but by midday the clouds were clearing and the sun was getting through. Plus, of course, it wasn’t raining.

Scamp went out first. She was heading for Tesco and I was gathering all my bits and pieces together then headed off not far behind her. I was using the A7c and saw a lone berry on a tree on the way to St Mo’s. Turned the camera on and saw the message “Battery Exhausted”. I was glad I wasn’t far from home and could just walk back and grab my A7iii instead. If I’d been in the depth of the woods and seen that message, I’d have been saying ‘Sweary Words’. Lots of them.

With the cameras swapped over, and with about 80% charge in the A7iii I was good for an hour or so. I wandered round the pond and got a few shots, the first one being the lone berry on the tree! As usual I went half way round the pond then reversed my direction and went the other way. It’s strange that the view one way round the pond is totally different from the other direction. The proof is the PoD which I didn’t see when I was walking anticlockwise, but found it right in front of me when I was walking back, clockwise!

With some shots in the bag and a PoD taken, I walked home and bumped into Scamp unpacking the car. I was settling down to look at the photos when Scamp showed me her new box of ‘Rice Krispies’ which weren’t normal Rice Krispies, but some alien version with twice the amount of sugar. We’re both trying to reduce the amount of sugar we eat and I could see she wasn’t happy with these lumps of sugar. It was still light so I suggested I’d walk over to the shops and buy a proper box for her. Usually Scamp will disagree, as a measure of her annoyance, she gave in and allowed me to go search a Real box of Rice Krispies. She also handed me a winning ThunderBall ticket that’s been stuck on the fridge for far too long. So, off I trotted and redeemed the ThunderBall ticket for three new ones. Then I walked down to the shops and picked up the a box of the Real Rice Crisps. After that, calm returned to the house. We won’t find out if we’ve won a million pounds until tomorrow, but at least breakfast will a quieter affair.

The PoD was what looks like three leaves stuck together by the rain and backlit by the low sun. I liked it. If you prefer a photo of Oak Moss ( that isn’t only on oak trees and isn’t moss at all, look on Flickr).

We watched ‘The Night Manager’ (second series) and I’ll admit I became completely engrossed in it. Can’t wait until next week!

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet Alex for a photo walk round Glasgow. I think Scamp has a meeting with the other witches.

 

Sunshine at last! – 19 January 2026

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Hooray for a day of bright sunshine. A bit chilly, but we can live with that, we’re Scottish!

I was out in the morning to get my broken tooth replaced with another more solid one. I had already had the preparation done and this was just the fitting and gluing in place. Also I talked the dentist into repairing a tooth whose cap had come off a month or so ago. She very kindly did both jobs at the same time, well one after the other, obviously!

Drove home with a strange feeling in my mouth. My tongue was a bit upset with this new interloper, but by the time I got home, tongue and tooth were getting along fine. Let’s hope it’s a marriage that will last.

The sun was still shining brightly when I got back, so I took that as a sign that I should get out and get some photos while the big ball was still in the sky. I drove up to Fannyside.

When I was driving there I passed a load of new houses. One of them had a jet of water outside it shooting straight up into the sky. The water must have been more than three storeys high. One poor bloke was in charge of waving traffic through the water. Somebody was going to have the “Looong Monday” John Prine sang about.

I hadn’t been to Fannyside this year, and went for a walk. I found some old rotting fence posts simply covered with Cladonia lichen and took a few shots. I gave myself a limit of the farmhouse at the top of the hill. From there I walked back, past the car and on as far as a stand of trees that create interesting shadows if the sun is in the right place. Then I had to drive back home to have lunch. For once I stuck to my pledge and got back with a fair few photos, certainly enough to get one or two ‘keepers’. On the way home I noticed the gusher had stopped gushing and the road was almost dry again.

Scamp had an appointment for a video appointment with a neurologist who specialises in Essential Tremor treatment. We were only on-line for about fifteen minutes, but in that time he, the neurologist, had agreed with Scamp that she should go to Dundee to have more tests to find if the procedure would work for her. He also explained that more modern techniques were now available. Now we have to wait and see what the outcome of a Dundee visit will be.

Today’s PoD was a stand of trees on a long straight road at Fannyside.

Today’s dance class with Kirsty was a bit of a hit and miss. We danced three different routines, but none of them seemed to gel with either of us. Scamp was feeling dizzy with some of them and I just felt lost. As Scamp said tonight, Kirsty is good at demonstrating, but isn’t great at choreography. I know I left wondering what I’d learned tonight and couldn’t really say I’d learned anything useful. Maybe next week Kirsty.

Tomorrow we’re possibly going shopping.

A fairly lazy day … for me – 16 January 2026

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The furthest I went today was a short trip up to the town centre to drop Scamp off at her FitSteps class. She was meeting Isobel after that for a blether. I was going home.

I’d half intended going for a run up to Fannyside to get some landscape shots, but it was drizzling and it was cold and I like my creature comforts, so I drove home instead, knowing that Scamp wouldn’t be back for a couple of hours and I’d a couple of things I wanted to fix in the house.

It was one of those silly things, a misaligned toilet seat that should have been easy to do. A five minute job. We’ve all made that mistake. I firmly believe there is no such thing as a ‘Five Minute Job’.

I got my socket set out and started finding which of the sockets would fit. They are in such an awkward position, the nuts that hold the seat, but I couldn’t find the socket I needed and was beginning to wish I’d never started the job. Then I realised none of the sockets would work because the nut holding the seat wasn’t the normal hexagonal one. Then I remembered that there was a special plastic one I’d used when I fitted the seat before. After that it was easy to loosen one nut, tighten the other one and then tighten the original one again. All in all, that five minute job took almost an hour.

The rest of my time was taken up with the beginnings of a tidying up of my room. I’d an old briefcase that I wasn’t ever going to use again. It took a while for me to empty it of old papers and note, odds and ends and basically rubbish. The next one to go will probably be my ancient Black & Decker boxed drill with its totally useless battery pack. Why I keep these things, I do not know.

By the time I was finished, Scamp had returned and we had lunch. I’d missed an hour or so of decent weather and now it was raining again. I decided that PoD was likely to be a photo I’d taken yesterday of a wee bear ornament. I used a neat little app I’d bought years ago to change the creation date from yesterday to today and it looked genuine. Isn’t it great when you realise you bought an app years ago that adapted perfectly to work on today’s PoD. Sometimes plans do come together.

Dinner was Fish Risotto baked in the oven. Later we watched the first episode of Landscape Artist of the Year with a new presenter. Then we watched The Great Pottery Throwdown which is just Bakeoff with a twist. They make things out of clay, rather than flour. Even the presentation of it is too much like Bakeoff.

I think we have a quorum for dance class tomorrow.

Off the leash – 15 January 2026

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There was a big cardboard box heading our way today.

The man handed over the big cardboard box which wasn’t quite as heavy as it looked. We put it on the table and gently sliced away its Sellotape binding and even more gently lifted the contents out with their wicker handle. Then we untied the bow and stripped away the cellophane covering to reveal a large basket which looked as if it was made completely of fruit. Strawberries, some dipped in chocolate, different kinds of sliced melons, grapes on sticks and pineapple flowers. All arranged beautifully and very fresh. WoW!!!

It wasn’t until later we realised everything was held on spikes that had been driven into a carved out cabbage to support them. Ingenious! Of course we had to sample all of them just to make sure they were real and they were they were also delicious. Thank you Jamie and Sim. A wonderful surprise and the fruit is just ripe too!

Scamp was expecting visitors, Annette and Shona who were both coming for a blether, so you can imagine they too were impressed with this basket of so many fruits. I drove off before the ladies arrived, leaving Scamp to present the goodies.

I was heading for Kincardine Bridge on the Fife side of the River Forth. I’d taken photos there before and was hoping for a decent day, but it wasn’t quite as good as I’d thought. A bit breezy and decidedly cool on the banks of the river there. I’d been there a few times and knew you sometimes just have to take what you get. I walked along the path beside the water and guessed the tide was still coming in. I went as far as the old pipeline and turned back. I had a bunnet on, but had left my Buff at home. Silly old fool. I had my photos for the day and thought I’d head home when my phone chirped. It was a message from yesterday’s optician to say my glasses were ready to uplift. It seemed a shame to drive home when I could add a few miles to the journey and pick up the glasses, so that’s what I did.

The glasses were fine, as I knew they would be, so I paid the assistant and did head home this time. I missed Shona who was off at yet another meeting. However, I did bump into Annette and as she was driving home, she left me a space to park in. Thank you Annette.

That was most of the excitement for the day. The photos were ok, but nothing special. The fruit however made an excellent dessert after our Potato, Bacon and Cabbage dinner. Would you believe it, Scamp chopped up the cabbage and cooked it to go with the potatoes and bacon. Waste not, Want not!

Thanks again, Jamie and Sim for a lovely Christmas surprise.

PoD was a view looking over to the Kincardine Bridge.

Tomorrow Scamp is off to the first FitSteps class of the year. I may go a photographing again if the weather is good.

Busy day – 12 January 2026

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The morning was the relaxing part of the day. The rest was kind of busy.

I had a couple of very belated Christmas cards to write, just a catch-up with people I used to work with and cards that I’d put on the back burner too many times for my conscience. They were a bit of a scribble, but both were different and to totally different people, so both where written as opposed to battered out on a computer keyboard. With that done, I felt a lot better.

We drove to the Town Centre Tesco for Scamp to collect some messages for tomorrow’s dinner with Crawford and Nancy at our house. Another tick in another box. The third thing for today was my annual retinopathy check which seemed to pass without too many questions. Then we were free to drive home on a cold afternoon. The occasional splashes of rain driven by a cold wind that seemed to continually change direction.

Walked over to St Mo’s more for the walk than for any photos, but the rain kindly stayed away for the half hour I was there. I got a couple of shots. PoD went to desiccated hawthorn berries on almost bare branches.

A spot of lunch and then we were getting ready to go to the first weekday dance class of the year. Today’s class was Tango. Slightly different from our Saturday class, but well worth going to. Little things to pick up on, like crossing my foot behind, not in front of the other.

Back home we watched our usual Monday trio of puzzles and games. Then as I was trimming and twiddling with today’s photos I discovered there was a problem with a couple of day’s photos. Two hours the dulling of the first of our automatic lights announced that it was 11pm. Bed time was coming up fast.

That’s when I started writing the blog. The tangled wires and stuff in Lightroom will have to wait until tomorrow to be fixed. It’s a busy life us retired folk lead!

Tomorrow I’m going to be baker of bread. I’ll also be a helper for Scamp when she needs it. Another busy day then Crawford and Nancy are coming for dinner. More high jinks!

 

And then the rain came – 11 January 2026

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Finally the rain came today and washed away all the frost and a whole lot of the ice. Hopefully a fresh start.

It was a dull day. I don’t think I saw the sun today. Lunch was French Toast for both of us on thick-cut bread. Long time since we’ve thick-cut, and it was good.

I went for a walk round St Mo’s in the rain, just to get out of the house. I got a few shots that didn’t really impress me, and when I came home I chose instead to build a little garden for myself. I think it was Hazel who gave me the idea of a table-top. Instead of a loaf of bread as a subject, mine was a table-top garden.

One thing I did manage to do today was to create a link each for the A7c and the A7iii to record the GPS positioning digitally on the SD cards. I’ve struggled with this for what seems like years, but now I may have found the answer.  Hoping to write it up tomorrow for later access.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and we picked his brains about carpet cleaners, the good ones and the problems with some of them. I think we’re settled on the fact that we do need one, especially for the living room, it’s just the plethora of them that overwhelms us as Carpet Cleaner Newbies!

Good to hear that Simonne is going to Italy for a training week. Some folk are just born lucky. Just back from Trinidad and she jets off to Italy. Hope you enjoy the trip, S.

We have high winds today, for the first time this year. Hope it fades away for morning.

No real plans for tomorrow, but Scamp wants to go shopping and I have an appointment with the docs for Eye Screening. I’d rather be in Italy, thanks!