Month: June 2020

A wet, wet day – 10 June 2020

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I think from the outset that it wasn’t going to be a day for working in the garden, or even for getting some outside photos.

Today’s topic was ‘Draw your lunch’. For once a simple, yet difficult task. We take lunch for granted, it’s just something to fill your stomach until dinner time. It’s usually simple, often quickly cobbled together and sometimes it’s something to use up leftovers. It’s never anything you’d ever consider drawing, and that’s the genius of this topic. The other thing that’s unstated is that if it’s to be done properly, it has to be sketched in the morning, before lunch, and I needed that nudge to get started.

We were sharing half of yesterday’s second Quiche Lorraine, so I sliced it up and got started. I started on the last page of my A4 Seawhite sketchbook and even after having a telephone conversation with Scamp’s aunt halfway through, got it done in time to have lunch. I’d like to say I ate the evidence, but this time Scamp beat me to it and I ended up with the other slice! It was ok yesterday, not as good as the smoked salmon and broccoli, but today, eaten cold it was delicious. Maybe the flavours intensified with the time in the fridge. After lunch I posted the painting on Instagram and Facebook.

While I was talking to Isobel and then laying down the washes on the sketch, Scamp was off in Tesco, originally to get some soft cheese for tonight’s dinner. However when she came home with, I think I counted four bags worth of stuff, I knew she had had a great time buying Tesco!

With no sign of a let up in the rain, I adjourned to the Craft Room. The conversion from Painting Room to Craft Room involves removing the easel from the card table and replacing it with the sewing machine. I’d found a new and hopefully better pattern for a mask. This one was a more fitted mask. It seemed to work, but now we need to have three layer masks to make sure none of the little baddies get in. I’ve got another pattern ready to try to hopefully accomplish that too. Maybe tomorrow.

Dinner was macaroni with soft cheese, bacon, peas and basil. I managed to squeeze all that in and also make it taste quite good. It’s been added to the ‘worth trying again’ pile.

We are rather hoping the rain will disappear for a while tomorrow so we can get out for a while.

Another gardening day – 9 June 2020

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For Scamp it was. I was only the labourer.

Scamp set out in the morning with her tool belt on ready to do battle with the Pieris and the Rhododendron. She worked like a trojan scraping away the moss and compacted top soil on both, then pruned the pieris then together we hauled it around until it was sitting in a better position. My job for the day was to repot the Rosemary which had been stuck in a rather small pot for quite some time now and we’d been promising it a new pot with fresh compost for a while now. Today was the day. Again, it was moved to a sunnier spot in the garden, although there wasn’t a lot of sun for it to sit in today. It was all a bit dull and grey.

After lunch we walked to the shops to get tortilla wraps, broccoli and smoked salmon for tonight’s dinner which was to be quick quiche. Found the recipe in an old newspaper where they used a tortilla wrap instead of shortcrust pastry for the base and sides of the quiche. What a difference it makes. Done in half the time with no faffing around chilling the pastry or blind baking.

Walked back and it felt like there was just the hint of rain in the wind. I decided to ignore it and go for a walk in St Mo’s just to make sure I had a photo for today. I saw a bloke fly fishing in the pond. I’ve heard of Fly Fishing in Yemen, but this must be the first time I’ve seen anyone fly fishing in the pond at St Mo’s. I suppose it’s possible to catch perch or maybe even a small pike with a fly, but usually it’s blokes with umbrellas, gigantic bait boxes and a six pack of Tennents or the sneaky little bottle of Bucky who sit there all day. This bloke was standing and moving. He was doing some nifty casts too. It might take you some time to see him, he’s well camouflaged! That photo got PoD. Those eagle eyed out there might have noticed in the photo that there were a lot of rain splashes in the water. I decided to cut short my walk and head for home, only having a hoodie as rain protection.

The quiche was lovely. Broccoli and smoked salmon. Something Jackie taught me up in Skye. It’s a very good combination. Scamp made another quiche, a Quiche Lorraine, but the flavours weren’t as strong as the first one.

Target for today was to Draw Something Huge. After a great deal of thought, I decided on the head-up kelpie. I can’t remember if he is Duke or Baron, all I know is that the head-down kelpie likes to be called Harry the Happy Kelpie, but that’s something he told me and it’s supposed to be a secret, so don’t go blabbing it. Pencil rough then Lamy ABC kids fountain pen (great for sketching), then a gentle water wash to give some light shadows. Always difficult to sketch such an icon, but I think I got away with it.

Tomorrow it looks wet for most of the afternoon. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong. I hope I am.

Out for a run – 8 June 2020

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On four wheels and then on two.

Scamp wanted some pots for the front garden and some compost. I wanted some Polyfilla and something to kill the bugs that are becoming a pest in the front garden.

When we went out, George was washing their car and cursing the bird crap on it. I gave him my anti-birdcrap spray and told him it worked well if you give it some time to soak through. They have a Toyota Aygo and I’d read good things about it. I asked him what it was like, knowing that he doesn’t drive, but his partner does. He said “It’s ok, but it’s a woman’s car.” Oh dear, wrong thing to say. Scamp was talking to Angela next door and both heads went up at the same time. “What did you just say??!” I think he was outnumbered and knew it. He changed the subject double quick.

We drove to B&Q, but the ‘Q’ in B&Q obviously stands for Queue, because this one stretched all the way along past Halfords. I think there must be a lot of Lockdown DIY fanatics out there, desperate for a chance to redecorate their entire house or, maybe even to build a new one. With all the money they’ll be saving by not going on holiday and all the spare time they have on their hands, why not? We weren’t that desperate, so we went to Calders instead.

Queue there was zero. We walked straight in and I got lumbered with one of their unwheelable, unsteerable and heavy low trolleys. They really are a nightmare, but I knew I needed one of these clumsy behemoths to carry the compost bags safely. We got the pots and compost and a bug spray to kill off whatever it is that’s destroying Scamp’s eryngium buds in the front garden. Loaded up the Juke and off we went home via the new shops. Scamp went to get lunch and I went to get some lock ’n’ lock storage alternatives and some jammy cakes and oh look, a Toblerone fell into my basket! Also noted that Home Bargains were selling the same bug killer for half what we paid. Bummer!

Lugged the compost and stuff in and had lunch. Then organised a photo of the car to draw later. Scamp had started repotting a rose and splitting up a heather plant, so I thought it was high time I was out of there and getting photos. Cycled to the off road path beside the railway and stood, resting my bum on the crossbar of the bike while gazing across to the Two Amigos (the two beech trees that used to be three) and feeling the warmth of the sun on my face. Sometimes that’s what you need. Just some quiet time in the sun. No need for foreign holidays and the stress of air travel. Just some time in the sun.

Got back home and made Pesto Pasta for dinner. It was lovely at the time, but the garlic is beginning to make its presence felt now.

PoD was some foxgloves glowing in the sun. Three sketches added to the Lockdown Library on Instagram. All caught up and once this blog is posted I’ll be off to bed.

Tomorrow? Looks like it will be decent for most of the day, but deteriorating in the late afternoon.

On gardening leave – 7 June 2020

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This was going to be a day in the garden.

After lunch, Scamp was out first potting up her lavender and a lemon balm using the new potting tray. I was sitting in the sun, sketching cars to catch up with yesterday’s prompt. Today’s prompt wasn’t going to be possible because it was ‘Something Architectural’ and architecture is not a strong point in Cumbersheugh, but I knew I’d think up something.

Later in the afternoon it was my turn to use the new tray. It’s really just a big bit of grey plastic with a short lip on three sides and a bigger lip at the back. However it does a great job of keeping the place tidy. I used it to mix up some potting compost from some John Innes compost and some sharp sand, then I repotted almost all of the chilli plants. Some were really needing a bit more root room and some just looked a bit under the weather, so some fresh compost will hopefully help both lots. Also planted two rows of carrots. One row of normal carrots and one of stump roots. Also planted out some leeks we’d bought last week and kale that I’d grown from seed. Scamp planted the chard we got last week in a pot. I think the raised bed is full now with peas, carrots, leeks and kale. Put down some slug prevention wool pellets too.

Sat in the garden for a while afterwards just to take in some rays and plan our next moves in the tiny green space we call a garden. It also gave us a chance to appraise our successes and discuss our failures, few though they are. Then the clouds gathered and we went inside to make the dinner.

I make it sound as if I was a participant in preparing dinner, but really it was Scamp who did all the work. She had also made Poached Pears with Yoghurt Icecream which was our pudding. Main for her was Salmon with the usual veg and I had a Beef, Cheese and Garlic Truffle, a bit like a posh burger, but much, much tastier. Got it from the local butcher and I will certainly go back for more to be put in the freezer. Pudding was just as good as it usually is. This must be one of Scamp’s signature dishes, to use the phrase of the moment. I baked some bread, but we are still to taste it. Will report back tomorrow if I remember.

Spoke to JIC later and discussed the lockdown from his point of view, the problem of squirrels in his garden and Covid-19.

PoD was my meconopsis which has just flowered properly with a few buds in reserve for later in the week perhaps. You might be able to see today’s sketches on Instagram later, but they won’t be available here, or on Flickr. Not that good I’m afraid.

Weather looks like it will be warm again before it deteriorates later in the week.

The Fish Supper – 6 June 2020

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Isn’t it funny that sometimes the most basic of food, like a fish supper from a chip shop is the best thing in the whole wide world?

I suppose it’s the old folk’s version of a McDonald’s. It’s comfort food. In these days of reduced choice when we are all having to cook our own food, it’s the basic food we crave. It’s the food that takes us back to our childhood. For me it was a treat on a Saturday night to have a fish supper. Preferably bought at the chip shop and eaten on the hoof on the way home. Just brilliant. Later it was pizza that caught our eyes, but a fish supper is hard to beat. Must have lashings of vinegar and salt and then, if you’re feeling flush, a couple of pickled onions. Or for the really adventurous, a jar of mussels. Unfortunately the latter are now off the menu for me. Such a pity

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The day started earlier when we woke around 9am leaving me a decadent hour in bed to read part of the first chapter of Spook Street by Mick Herron book four in a six part series/serial. Finally dragged myself out of bed and out of Millennium London about 10.30am for coffee and Sudoku in that order.

Scamp wanted to go for a walk today and the day seemed very promising with blue sky and white clouds. Just the occasional sprinkle of rain to hold us in check. Finally we went out to Condorrat to find out when the chip shop opened and if we needed to phone an order first. It turned out that there was no desperate need to phone an order, so with that knowledge, we headed for Broadwood and the ‘exercise path’. In other words, the walk past the exercise machines. It was indeed a beautiful day and no sign of the rain that had been threatening. Took a few photos on the way, but didn’t really rate any of them.

Back home, I got changed into cycling gear and took the Dewdrop out for a test run. It behaved very well. I think there’s a slight issue with the front disk break, it may not be seated perfectly, but it’s nothing to worry about. The virtually new wheel is perfect.

Came home and the sun was still shining, so opened a can of Guinness and sat with Scamp in the garden discussing what needed to be done now that the first flush of flowers is over. Planning over a glass of stout is the best way to do it. Actually putting it into practice is probably another story … for another day.

Got changed and walked over to Condorrat again, this time with cash in our pockets. This must be the first time I’ve used cash in over a month! The fish supper surpassed my expectations. You may think this is just hyperbole, but believe me, food cooked for you outside your own house is a luxury these days.

A close-up picture of a lupin made PoD and I accidentally, on purpose forgot to do the required sketch. I’ll play catch-up tomorrow.

Tomorrow is not to be as good as today, but we’ll take what we get and say ‘thank you’.

Domain disaster averted – 5 June 2020

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You’re lucky to be reading this!

It all started with an email this morning telling me that my domain name (the bit that starts ‘dhcampbell’) had expired and if I didn’t do something about it, i.e. pay them money, I’d lose the website. Well, that was a nice thing to read on a Saturday morning. I checked the address the email had come from and it was genuine, so I tried to contact my domain name provider, but couldn’t find an email address for them on their site. I did find a ‘chat’ box, but that timed out after a few minutes. After waiting for 20mins on the phone to them, I gave up on that too. Long story short, I eventually found that I could log a return call from them and did that. Had lunch and then Scamp and I went out for a walk. A very quiet walk on my part. Came home and checked for a reply, but there were none. Then I found a message to the effect that the message that started it all off was not about my domain at all, it was about a site they’d held for me “as a goodwill gesture”! It would have possibly have been an good idea to tell me that some time in the last year. I got the phone call from the help line exactly on time and the person on the other end confirmed what it said on the message. A message that had only been posted at 3.08pm today. I think I now know why. I’m guessing their switchboard was jammed with irate callers wanting to know what the hell they were doing. I may be looking for another domain name provider soon.

Our walk in the afternoon was round St Mo’s pond and then Scamp told me she was going to go to the butchers to get me a steak for dinner and I was to walk round the pond again and get some photos. There was nothing really worth photographing today, but I went anyway. It was only on the way home I found today’s PoD when a bee landed on the Marguerite flower I was photographing and made it much more interesting.

Scamp potted up her new rose today and it does look very elegant. Beautiful big pink flowers and what a perfume. I think she likes it!

Steak was very nice. Just on the over side of medium rare. Juicy and just what I needed to calm down.

Quick sketch today of two garlic bulbs. Couldn’t find anything I wanted to draw, so I reverted to another list. An old EDiM list this time. Looks much better than the 2020 list, although it was written at a time ago when we were free, there were shops, great metal birds flew in the sky and every year we were allowed to go on holiday. Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it.

Tomorrow looks a bit warmer and calmer than today. It was a bit breezy!

Out for a spin – 4 June 2020

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The weather wasn’t very promising, but we just had to get out of the house.

Drove to Torwood Garden Centre to get a pot for Scamp’s new rose. Ended up with a boot full of plants, compost and other ‘essentials’ Plus the back foot well was also being used as secondary storage. We did manage to leave some stuff at the garden centre for other folk, but not a lot. I shouldn’t complain because I got some leek plants and some chard which we did have seeds for, but were too late to sow this year.

Interesting to see their method for limiting the number of folk in the centre. Torwood is the best organised I’ve seen so far. You need to take a trolley in to the shop, you can’t go in without one. They have 30 trolleys and a maximum of two people can go in with one trolley. That way they limit the number of people in the place to a maximum of 60 at any one time. Check out is so much better than Calders. Torwood have two tills running and no big long queue. The path to the tills is clearly marked and when you get there, every step in the process is calculated and run with military precision. I was impressed.

We had bought a longer hose and back home, after lunch I assembled it. It was a lot more complicated than our old one and it gave us both a headache trying to roll it back into the carrier without any kinks. I think we’ve managed it, but it won’t be needed for a while because it rained nearly all day. This is only the start of the deluges according to the weather fairies, but we shouldn’t complain after all the hot sunny days.

Dinner tonight was Thai Chicken Stir Fry from the Muirhead butchers, but I made a mess of cooking it and it ended up too dry. I tried to blame Scamp, but we both knew it was my own fault.

PoD was a flower we saw at Torwood. It’s a Paeonia Patio ‘Kiev’. Too big and showy for Scamp and she’s probably right. It wasn’t a day for taking pictures. Sunny then wet then sunny …

Hoping against hope that the weather fairies will have got it wrong and tomorrow will be dry and sunny.

A fair bit cooler – 3 June 2020

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It was a bit of a culture shock the 10º drop in temperature, but it made a pleasant change … sort of!

Watched a social distanced Cheltenham Science Festival which was compéred by a friend of ours Jamie G. It was about colour and the various presenters produced a great show with limited resources. Impressed

Spoke to Hazy later in the morning and caught up with a few things like gardens and temperatures. For once, we were warmer than down south, well, we had been warmer before today.

After the phone went down I set to work putting the bathroom back to the way it had been before Monday. That took a bit longer than I anticipated because most of the tubes of silicone I was going to use as adhesive to stick the plastic boards back on were either going off, or had been used before and were solid. I found one more expensive tube that had been part used, but was still liquid inside and that got the job done. It sometimes pays to use the full price materials rather than B&Q own brand. With the bathroom sorted, I had to do the same thing with the cupboard in the back bedroom. The boxed-in part of the cupboard had been ripped out when I was trying in vain to find an isolator to turn the water off to the toilet on Monday. That’s why I was replacing the panels in the toilet. This was easier. I just drilled a few holes in the plywood and screwed it in place with wood screws. Oh, the benefit of having a power drill with screwdriver bits. Pity the batteries are so bog awful.

After lunch we went out for a walk round St Mo’s. We went round once and then Scamp went home for coffee and cake, while I did another circuit to get a PoD which turned out to be the spider you see here.

Yesterday I did do a sketch. It was a quick pen sketch of my well worn Palomino Blackwing soft pencil. A Christmas present from Hazy and Neil-D. Great sketching pencil, probably the best ones I’ve ever used. I still have nine left, but will keep using this one until it’s right down to a nub. I’ve got a pencil extender ready for that eventuality, but it’s actually quite comfortable using a small pencil. Try it sometime.
Today’s sketch was a pencil sketch of my baseball hat. Bought about this time last year to take on holiday. I don’t think it will be going far this year.

Tomorrow we may go out somewhere for a drive. More rain forecast. If I have time I’ll take the bike out for that trial run.

Back at the wheelhouse – 2 June 2020

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Before the wheelhouse visit, there was a toilet to fix. Almost as important there was a consignment of coffee due in today and Scamp was off to see Isobel. There you are, the day in a nutshell.

Scamp had a timeline sorted out. She’d go and visit Isobel in the Village and if the plumber hadn’t been by the time she returned, I could go to Clachan of Campsie and she’d stay in until he and the coffee came. Sounded like a plan.

However, before she went I did a rain dance. Not a real dance. Instead I washed the car which is usually the equivalent of it. Almost every time I wash the car, the rain comes on. Lockdown has seriously restricted our driving, but it hasn’t stopped the trees producing their annual sticky buds, or the seagulls crapping their sticky paint removing crap all over the cars. At least the detergent gets rid of the resin from the trees, but the seagull crap is almost impenetrable by any spray or detergent, although the Supergard™ spray is good if you catch the dirt before it gets bonded to the paintwork. That wasn’t the case today. It was the worst mess I’ve ever had to remove, but finally I declared it good enough.

After coffee, Scamp went of to cheer up Isobel and I finished my Sudoku. An hour or so later the plumber arrived and declared that the problem wasn’t with the bit I was playing around with yesterday, but with the float valve (no, I don’t know what that is). He fitted a new one and the toilet now fills, stops and waits for the button to be pushed before emptying and repeating the cycle.

Speaking about cycles. Scamp arrived just as the plumber was leaving, so that gave me the opportunity to drive out to Wheelcraft. Got as far as Twechar and the first drops of rain appeared on the windscreen. They didn’t last and the sun came out. Then a mile or two down the road I drove into the next shower. It was like that all the way there. Place was mobbed as usual with a variety of bikes in various degrees of disassembly. There was even an expensive and complicated looking three wheeler recumbent. I really liked the look of that one, but I’d hate to be riding it with a big sixteen wheeler artic on my tail. Now Big Al may take a while to get round to fixing your wheel, but when you get it back, it looks like a totally new one, just out of the wrapping paper. Gladly paid him then asked if I could take a photo of him in his workshop. I’d brought my old Oly 5 with the Samyang 7.5mm fisheye lens. Ideal for making his work area look even more crowded than it already is. That was the PoD.

Not so much rain on the way back, so I set to and built the wheel back up with the brake disk and tyres on and was just thinking I’d go out for a quick test run when the sky darkened and we could hear the rain battering on the back window. Then hailstones started and I sadly put the bike back in the hall, hopeful that I might get to test out Big Al’s work tomorrow.

Today was Blackout Tuesday to mark the killing of George Floyd in America. All over social media black squares appeared. I added mine. I’m not political. I think Scamp has taught me that life isn’t black and white, it’s all shades of grey. I had never heard of George Floyd before the 25th May. He may have been a good man, he may have been a bad man. I don’t know. I don’t believe he was perfect. What I do know is that he shouldn’t have been killed, so that’s why I put my own black square on Facebook and Instagram. I didn’t post any pictures today, apart from here. Here is different, it’s another shade of grey. This is my site and I choose what content goes on here. That’s why there is a picture at the top of the page and that is why this paragraph is here too.

Tomorrow, the rain might stop.

Went to see a man about a wheel – 1 June 2020

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Before I went to see a man about a wheel, I had a look at the upstairs toilet. It’s been a bit flaky for a while now with the overflow running into the toilet. Usually it stops after a few minutes, but this morning it just kept running. Not dribbling either, but running fast. As soon as water was coming in, it was going out again. Couldn’t find a stopcock in the toilet area, so had to turn off the water at the rising main. Long story short, the plumber is coming tomorrow, hopefully in the morning.

Phoned the bike shop to see what the progress report was on the bike wheel. Basically there was no progress because he couldn’t find the wheel. I said I’d drive over and help him look for it. His workspace is incredible. There must be well over a hundred wheels in this tiny little room, all waiting to be repaired, plus another fifty or so rims and well over a hundred hubs. He’s a great bike mechanic, but he is so disorganised, it’s a wonder he gets anything done at all and this coming from me, a master of chaos. I found my bike wheel right away and after some discussion he said he would start it as soon as he’d finished the one he was working on. Then we had a discussion about what was wrong with the world in general and teenagers in particular. He said he’d give me a ring when the wheel was ready.

When I walked down the lane to my car I saw today’s PoD. I had brought my camera of course, for just this eventuality. As it happened, the depth of field wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, but I actually like the hills slightly out of focus. It gives more prominence to the foreground which is the interesting part.

Back home Scamp was admiring the new rose she’d bought.  It arrived earlier in a big cardboard box about a metre high and about 30cm square at the base.  It really is an impressive rose and I’ve forgotten its name already.  Now the search begins for a suitable pot to put it in.  She was tired of sunbathing which she’d been doing all afternoon I think, and wanted to go for a walk. I’d been driving in a hot car for an hour or so and I too fancied a walk. We walked to St Mo’s and went round the pond once. As usual, too many people in too small a space. About a dozen teenagers sitting swearing and drinking at the start of the forest. I wondered what Big Al would have to say about that.

Tonight I was free to sketch anything I fancied. What I chose was my dad’s Bahco shifting spanner. A lovely big heavy piece of kit made of Vanadium Steel. It made a good model with curves, straight lines and lots of texture. This was Lockdown Library No 50.  The half century!

At 9.15 my phone rang. Big Al had finished the wheel and it would be ready to pick up in the morning. I think the man must sleep in that workshop.

Hopefully the plumber will come tomorrow morning and I’ll be free to go and collect my rebuilt wheel, then we may drive down to speak to Isobel.  However, the weather doesn’t look that clever tomorrow with rain forecast and a significant drop in temperature.