Month: June 2021

A day in “The Toon” – 10 June 2021

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Glasgow, that is, not a Cartoon.

We were going to JL to look for towels. Well, Scamp wanted to buy some towels, but as the towels are on the same floor as the ”Toys”. I helped for a while before I went to see what goodies were available to purchase. There were lots of ‘returns’ and ‘reductions’, but I’ve seen the sort of thing that JL calls ‘returns’ and I’ve bought one or two, but almost immediately returned them myself. Some have obviously been dropped, some come in boxes that have been used as footballs in a playground but some are genuine bargains. None of the bargains were available today, but there was a nice Sony 6500 camera whose box was held together with half a roll of sellotape and a bit of duct tape. A snip at just under £1.5k! Really? You expect people to shell out real money for that? Thankfully Scamp led me away from these ‘bargains’.

We walked down Bucky Street and from there to George Square where we watched two blokes on a part recumbent tandem, cycling round the square. It looked a bit strange because the bloke at the front was cycling like it was a recumbent and steering while the one on the back was cycling upright, like a normal bike. It all looked a bit Heath Robinson.

We walked down Queen Street to Cass Art where I wanted to get a couple of tubes of their own make watercolour paint. It’s a lot cheaper than W&N and not too bad at all. With the paint bought we waked down and along to St Enoch’s Square for coffee and a panini each for lunch. Outside I took some shots of the subway entrance which looks like part of a futuristic spaceship. It made PoD, which is a miracle as it’s almost all out of focus. If you look closely at the pigeons on top of the domed shape, you will see they are not nearly in focus. The moral of the story is that if you want to fiddle with the settings on a complex camera, try to remind yourself of that when you go to take photos. Of course I didn’t notice my error until we got home.

On the way home we stopped at Tiso for Scamp to have a look for a replacement weatherproof jacket since her old one is getting a bit tatty. We were both shocked by the limited range of sizes in the ladies jackets and also the price! I got the last pair of size 36 walking trousers. This is my second pair, I’ve already got a pair of lined trousers, this pair are unlined, ‘summer’ trousers.

Back home we had Bacon and Borlotti Beans and it was as good as it usually is. It did try to rain when we left Glasgow which, if it had continued would have washed some of the sticky sugar that drips on the cars from the trees outside the house. Unfortunately it stopped as quickly as it had come. It must have been one of those ‘passing showers’ the weather fairies talk about. We need real rain!

Tomorrow we are booked to do a return trip to Ravenscraig with Shona to get her second jag. She’s offered to take us for a coffee afterwards. What a nice girl!

It almost rained today – 9 June 2021

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Not quite rain, but a definite dampness in the air.

Scamp was feeling a bit fragile this morning, having been a bit sick during the night, but after a big dollop of the white medicine that has been sitting on the top of the cupboard for ages she gradually felt better as the day progressed. I think the medicine is peppermint flavoured white emulsion paint, but it seemed to do the trick.

Just before lunchtime there was a sprinkling of rain. Not enough to satisfy Scamp, but better than nothing. It didn’t last long either, but it did at least wet the plants. After it had turned off again, I went out to photograph School Girl, the rose at the front door. The first flower bud opened today and it was right at the top. Standing on tiptoes I could just get a clear shot of it. It looked good with the raindrops beading on the leaves and gave me another chance to get lots of salacious views on Flickr with the usual title of “Wet Schoolgirl” or something similar. You’d be surprised by just how many views, not likes, just views, that title brings in. I really don’t know draws so many people people to a picture of a peachy pink rose ☺️!

Because of the delicate state of the patient, and the disappointing weather today we didn’t really go very far. We just kept waiting for more of the promised rain. It never came back for a long time and I got fed up waiting, so I grabbed a camera and took it for a walk in St Mo’s. I was sure I’d already got a decent PoD, but if you don’t go and look, you can’t complain about not having a photo. I went, I looked but I didn’t get anything that beat the rose picture, partly because the battery died after about ten shots.

By dinner time Scamp was feeling like her old self again and she even made tonight’s dinner which was Kedgeree and although it was a bit dry, I liked it and told her so. She thought it needed salt and more liquid. Maybe she’s right, but it was fine for me.

After dinner the rain returned. It seemed to be just about enough to wet the ground again, so we may have to consider doing a rain dance tomorrow if the dry spell continues.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow and also hoping that Scamp gets a restful night’s sleep tonight.

Coffee and Visitors’ Biscuits – 8 June 2021

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It was the biscuits that swung it for me.

Isobel phoned this morning asking if we wanted to come down and visit today. She said we could have a cup of coffee and she’d bought Visitors’ biscuits. I didn’t know what visitors’ biscuits were, but I was fairly sure they weren’t Rich Teas or Digestives, so I was up for it, so was Scamp. She was on the phone to Annette about a certain caravan in St Andrews that would become vacant some time soon, so I agreed for her and said Scamp would phone her when the deal was done with Annette.

I had a couple of Aquilegia plants to pot up for Isobel, so I got started to that and we were almost ready to go. Just a quick cup of coffee first then we were off to the Village.

We had an entertaining hour or so with Isobel then she gave us a guided tour of her garden. She has a wealth of plants in her fairly small garden and takes no prisoners. If she thinks a plant if failing, it gets chucked out. I’m sure Scamp gets some of her gardening nous from Isobel. Oh yes, and the biscuits were Tunnocks Teacakes and very nice they were too!

On the way home we stopped at Tesco and came out with a shopping bag fairly clinking with our ‘groceries’. A bottle of gin, one of Pimms and one of Limoncello. All the bottles were reduced, so some money spent, but a fair amount saved too! We drove home.

Hazy phoned almost as we crossed the threshold of the house and we had a long chat. Lots of books discussed and yes, Hazy, The Hidden Palace is now on my wish list. I may even re-read the Gollem and the Djinni too, if I can remember how to read after all the Audible books!

Went for a walk in St Mo’s in the afternoon to give the ‘new’ Samyang 18mm lens a good test and it passed with flying colours. Every shot from macro, through middle distance to far distance was in focus. It’s such a pity that I had to shell out an extra £50 to buy the lens station that would allow me to upgrade the firmware. It’s just another case of a company expecting users to do their work for them and also having to pay for the privilege. The rush to get technology on the market ahead of rivals means that the tech itself goes on the shelf only part finished. It’s things like this that make me give up on some companies like Samyang. Yes, they are cheap, but yes, they are nasty too! Rant number 2 this week is over.

Dinner tonight was Butter Chicken, but for some reason this time the sauce was a bit acidic. It can only be down to the passata as that’s really the only thing that was changed since the last time. Next time I’ll just used blitzed tomatoes. Still makes a decent curry sauce, though.

PoD went to a bunch of clover flowers photographed with the updated Samyang 18mm.

No plans for tomorrow. It looks like being a wet morning.

 

 

A busy day – 7 June 2021

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Scamp was off to meet her sister. I was head gardener for a while.

Lots of things I could have been doing, but I chose to put my free time to good use and scrubbed out the bird bath then refilled it. My chilli plants have been desperate for more space and some real compost, not the floor sweepings B&Q seem to think they can foist off as ‘peat free’. What is this sudden panic to make everything peat free? Crofters up north have been digging it up, drying it out and burning it in their fireplaces for centuries. Suddenly they are virtually criminals because apparently that peat has been storing carbon and saving the planet. It seems strange to me that all these activists use the same terms like “locking away the carbon”. It’s as if this new jargon explains everything, when in actual fact it’s more like The King’s New Clothes. Everyone seems afraid to ask them what that means in Topsy and Tim language. How does it lock it away? Where does the peat put the carbon? I think it’s all smoke and mirrors, but probably not peat smoke. Anyway, I used some general purpose compost which may or may not have peat in it and the chillies are probably better off in it than in the B&Q floor sweepings. Rant over. After that I soaked the plants in the bird bath, muddying the water and undoing all the good work I’d done there.

Before I started the gardening I’d made a pizza dough and left it to prove in the warm living room. When Scamp came home I’d just finished rolling and stretching some of the dough to a rough circle and put it into the proving oven (the grill that had been preheated for about five minutes) to puff up. It was just a simple tomato base with extra chopped up fresh tomatoes and some grated mozzarella on top. Baked for about fifteen minutes at gas 6 – that was just a reminder for me. It was very successful.

Next Scamp wanted to wash her car, but couldn’t reach the roof, so I did that and then gave it all a bit of a soapy wash while Scamp scrubbed off the sticky sugary stuff that drips from the trees in late spring. Then I set up the hose for her to wash it all off and started on my car. It made sense to just get it all done at the same time. Thank you Bobby Flavell for the use of your outside tap again.

With the cars sparkling in the sun, Scamp decided to water the garden. Easier to use our own water for that, so I fixed up the hose and let her get on with it while I went for a walk in St Mo’s. Not a lot of movement, but one little Common Blue damselfly sat and watched me while I carefully dragged my camera out of the bag and took its picture a few times.

After dinner the Amazon man dropped off a parcel I’d ordered last night. It was a Samyang Lens Station. Basically the 18mm lens I use on the Sony camera is crap at focusing. However, Samyang will sell you a piece of kit that connects your lens through the computer to their website where you can download a new firmware file that will improve the focusing. It’s a neat scam and it certainly works! Thankfully, so did the lens afterwards, because I’d read horror stories on websites to the effect that the software could wreck your lens. Maybe it could, but it only improved mine. I’ll do a field test tomorrow just to make sure.

Finally wrote to my brother. The last email I sent him was in March! So much going on? Not really, just bad time management on my part. Must get better organised.

The last thing to do on a busy day was to have a quick dance practise just to make sure that the muscle memory was working properly. It was, after a false start!

No plans for tomorrow. We’re waiting to see what the weather will be like.

Wall to Wall sunshine – 6 June 2021

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Long may it last, even if we do have to water the garden!

After lunch we went for a walk round St Mo’s pond and stood watching the damselflies. I managed to capture one or two of them, or it could be that I caught the same one once or twice. Who knows with damselflies, they all look the same, don’t they? Well maybe not, because occasionally you can spot slight differences in their wing structure, some also have defects that mark them as different from the rest, just like humans, I suspect. Anyway, I was using the Sony camera and the Sigma macro lens and I did manage to get a PoD.

From St Mo’s we went down to Broadwood Stadium to extend our walk and take in the exercise machines path, then back across the dam through the houses and the underpass before climbing the long steep hill to St Mo’s school and then home. Not a bad walk. Later I wanted to see if any dragonflies had appeared, so I went for a short walk over to the pond, but there was no sign of life and it was getting late in the afternoon, so I headed home, because tonight was a dance class and I didn’t want to be in a rush to get dinner made and get a quick practise in. I needn’t have worried, Scamp was on the ball and had my burger cooking while her scallops were waiting their turn to go in the other pan.

Dance class tonight started with Mambo Marina which is a fairly old sequence dance that we learned months ago, but of course I’d forgotten bits of it. A quick reprise from Scamp and I was good to go. The Foxtrot was going to be next and it was nowhere near as easy as the MM. Lots of little tricky bits to it and we couldn’t agree on the correct footwork, but Jane and Stewart soon ironed out our problems and it was plain sailing after that. Last part of tonight’s lesson was the Cha-Cha. It is such an energy sapping dance. Most of the moves are fine, but it’s that little cha-cha step that has to be done right to keep in the tempo of the dance, that’s the problem. However, we managed to get it completed without too much trouble. We sat in the garden to cool down after that with a couple of beers. It really was a beautiful night.

Spoke to JIC later and got the low down on house hunting in and around Cambridge, Simonne’s run today and how JIC’s ankle injury is doing. Gave him some sage advice from his gran on how to prevent birds from eating all his veg. Black thread was her secret weapon. I imagine it works equally well with English sparrows as it did with Scottish ones! I hope so anyway.

Watched a Crash – Bang, Baku GP. Not driver errors this time, but tyre failures. More like Wacky Races than a GP!

Tomorrow morning Scamp is off to have coffee with June. I’m hoping to finish my epistle to Alex.

Hooray for rain – 5 June 2021

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Out looking for compost and a pot.

Such exciting lives we lead sometimes. What could be a more satisfying thing to do on a Saturday afternoon that taking a trip to the garden centre for a bag of ericaceous compost and a chance to compare the size, shape and price of different plant pots. In the end we did buy the compost, but passed on the pots, judging them no better than the one we’d bought earlier in the week. For once we were totally focused on the task in hand and didn’t really look at the plants on sale, we just bought the compost and went home.

It was a was a warm day and I just knew Scamp would want to get the new rhododendron planted in its slightly acidic compost. I, on the other hand wanted to have a look for some damsels or even some dragons. It was warm enough to wear a pair of shorts instead of jeans and that’s what I did. I walked over to St Mo’s, but there were no damsels or dragons to be seen. I took some photos of hawthorn blossom before I found what would be PoD. It was a little black fly crawling about on a tree trunk. I’m guessing it’s a Wasp Fly of some description, but I was struck by its strange eyes. The compound eye seems to have a simple eye in the middle of it. Since it’s on Flickr, someone will probably be able to ID it for me. Anyway, it got PoD.

Came back and Scamp was putting the final touches to the planting and was trying to water the rhododendron in, but something was blocking the watering can. She cleaned the rose from the watering can but that didn’t help, then she found that something was stuck in the spout. After prodding it with a garden cane, out popped a snail, complete with shell. How it managed to climb into the watering can and get stuck in the spout we’ll never know. I thought it was only Incy Wincy Spider who did things like that!

After dinner we watched a Baku F1 GP qualifying session with more than its fair share of crashes. Everyone seemed to want to throw their million pound race cars into the barriers today … and that was just the qualifying! What will the actual race be like, tomorrow?

Since we had missed last week’s dance practise, we though we should do a walk through of what we’ve learned so far, and we have learned quite a lot. Tonight we walked through two different waltz routines, a rumba, a tango and a cha-cha. We sort of walked through the first part of the foxtrot too, but couldn’t remember or agree on the first five or six steps. Hopefully it will all become clear tomorrow.

My weather app on my phone has been promising rain today for most of the week. It was apparently going to start at 4pm. They got it wrong by almost an hour. Just after 4.45 the first raindrops hit the window. It turned to hail for a time and then went back to rain again. It didn’t last all that long, but it did mean we didn’t have to water the garden, so the snail will be relieved.

Tomorrow seems like a better day and if the weather app is as accurate as it was today we may get out for a walk.

Coffee for three – 4 June 2021

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For the first time in ages we had a quorum when the call went out for coffee.

Scamp was away first to meet Veronica for a walk around Broadwood Loch. I was next, away to meet Val for coffee. We had barely sat down when Colin joined us. I’d missed his reply to my email invitation. For the first time in ages most of us were available. Fred had to call off as he was taking his wife to a hospital appointment. As you can imagine, discussions were wide ranging and interesting but without politics rearing its ugly head. Time just flew by and it was Val who had to leave first to meet his wife to go shopping. That seemed to break the spell and we all left to go our separate ways.

Back home and after lunch, Scamp drove us up to Tesco and we did a bit of shopping. Just essentials today, although I did get a few bottles of beer and Scamp selected a suitable bottle of wine, oh yes, and some ice cream. Like I said, just the essentials.

Back home, I grabbed the Sony with its big, heavy, slow macro lens, put it in a small rucksack and went over to St Mo’s on a damsel-hunt. I couldn’t find anything worth taking the camera out of its bag for, but wandered round the pond and then tried again. Immediately I found a couple of Large Red damselflies sitting on the upstand of the boardwalk. Took a few shots, then went looking for a dragonfly or two, but none were there to be found today. Walked back and found the two damselflies were now joined in the mating position with the male grasping the female at the back of her head. They sat quite patiently and gave me the opportunity to get some detailed photos. The Sigma 105mm may be big, heavy and slow to focus, but it really does resolve a lot of detail when it gets the chance. The mating pair became PoD. The rucksack makes it much easier to carry heavy kit like the Sony/Sigma pair although it is a bit more awkward to get quick access to the camera compared to the black Lowepro sling bag.

Scamp went out to sit and read in the garden later while I made Paella for dinner. It turned out really well although I hadn’t done anything different to what I’d done many times before. It’s probably just an extra gram or two of spice or herbs that tilts the flavour enough to make things taste different.

Tomorrow we may go out to get some more compost for the rhododendron and I may shovel some more earth on the potatoes which are showing their green leaves above the soil again.

What a difference a day makes – 3 June 2021

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Today dawned dull, cloudy and wet.

It wasn’t actually raining when we woke, but it had been. The streets were wet and those clouds showed no sign of breaking up any time soon.

After we finally got out of bed and dressed we noticed a visitor on the kitchen window. I don’t know what kind of fly it is, but I’m sure I’ve seen one before somewhere, probably on a window. I got a few shots with the Oly then for good measure, I took some more with the Sony. Sony won hands down. That was six shots in the bag, and one of them became PoD, but only after a fair bit of work. The great thing about the Sigma 105mm macro on the Sony is the detail it finds in things. The bad thing about it is the detail if finds in things. I’d washed that window on Monday or Tuesday. Today was Thursday and the window was covered in pollen which the camera and lens captured just as perfectly as it captured the detail in the fly’s wings and body. It took about an hour’s work to retain the fly’s details while blurring out the dust and pollen from the window glass. Photoshop is a cracking tool once you have time to work out how to use it!

We drove to Falkirk in the late morning to pick up our wedding rings that had been faultlessly repaired by the lady at McMaster’s. Mine cost nothing to resize, presumably because she could reuse the gold dust she’d cut off and because it was only 9ct. Scamp’s on the other hand was quite expensive because it needed a relatively large piece of 18ct gold inserted. It doesn’t matter, we are both now wearing the rings we exchanged when we got married.

On the way back we stopped at Torwood to get a pot and some compost to plant Scamp’s new rhododendron. After lunch Scamp started the baking of a tray of ‘Brookies’ which I’m told are Brownie Cookies. I went out for a walk in St Mo’s and continued on to the shops to get milk and some marshmallows which I seem to have become addicted to recently. No photos were taken in St Mo’s because there were no insects of any description flying today. When I got back home the baking was in full swing and by dinner time there was a box of Brookies to share. They weren’t as sweet as the usual brownies I’ve tasted, but had a nice crunch to them. Lots more there for tomorrow.

The clouds finally parted and the sun shone for an hour at night and we had a walk in the garden, deciding what to put where now that there’s a new plant to fit in. We’re still not decided on the final position, but I’m sure we’ll find enough of a space to squeeze it in.

I’m adding another photo from yesterday into today’s blog. Walking round the gardens yesterday, I found what looked like a good composition looking past the Reg Butler sculpture ‘Girl’, through the gap in the hedge to the people in the distance. However these two folk wouldn’t budge. In frustration, I took the shot anyway, including them. Just as I was pressing the shutter I heard the girl say “It’s not a very good sculpture is it? It looks corroded or something”. To which her partner replied “Hmm.”
Those who Can, Do. Those who Can’t, become critics. Thank goodness for the almost silent shutter on the Oly!!

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet Val for coffee and a catch up and Scamp is intending going walking with Veronica.

Lovely Scones – 2 June 2021

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Today we were off to The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

I didn’t think we were going to have a very special day as were driving along the M9 towards the capital. The mist came down and the sun disappeared for a while, but as we were nearing the city itself, the sun broke through and although the mist stayed for a bit longer, it was gradually being burned off by the sun. I was worried about parking in Embra because it’s a long time since we’ve driven there. We usually travel by train, but that would have meant a drive to the station, train to Embra, bus to the nearest stop to the botanic gardens and then the same again in reverse going home. It was much easier to just bite the bullet and drive. I needn’t have worried, we got parked about 100m from the entrance, plus it didn’t break the bank to park for the whole day. Scamp had printed off our entrance passes this morning (it’s free entrance, but you must pre-book a time slot). We were in and through the gates in no time.

So … where would we go first? That question was answered by a girl just inside the gate who gave us a potted description of the layout of the garden and told us where to go first on today’s adventure. Entrance, as I said was free, but they did ask for a voluntary contribution to go to upkeep. We’d have done that anyway, so were happy to part with a few quid to make us feel better. We climbed the Chinese Hillside first. It wasn’t a strenuous as it sounds. It was about as heavy going as a walk round St Mo’s. Not energy sapping at all. However, the Rhododendron bushes were amazing, absolutely beautiful. Then there were bunches of gigantic blue Meconopsis. Mine failed to make an appearance this year. Theirs were stunning. I won’t go on and itemise every flower, plant and tree we saw. It would bore you and unless you could see it all for yourself it would be pointless. If you’re ever in Embra, make a point of going to see the Botanic Garden. In the three hours we were there, we only saw less than half of the garden.

After a couple of hours we needed a break, so we stopped for coffee. The first time we found the coffee stall, the queue had about fifteen folk waiting to be served. It’s just an outside stall, it looks like the restaurant is being renovated while Covid rules are fluid. We gave up on that first visit, but on the second attempt there were only about six or seven couples in the queue. Scamp went to grab a seat and I went to queue. We just had a coffee each and a scone with butter and jam. That’s where the title of the blog came from. I don’t think we were expecting anything special in the coffee or the scone, but the coffee tasted like coffee and the scones were lovely. Scamp remarked on it a couple of times. I think she’d have been happy with a slice of bread and a cup of water today because she looked absolutely delighted with everything she saw. I must admit I enjoyed the visit too and took 140 photos. Two of which are on Flickr now.  PoD went to a Gazania that we saw in the shop on the site.

After three hours we decided we’d seen enough and rather than spoil the day, we’d leave the other half of the garden to another time. But we didn’t leave empty handed, Scamp got a yellow rhododendron plant a little plant for the garden too. Best part of the day for me was the Meconopsis. Best part for Scamp was … All Of It! And of course, the scones, because they were Lovely Scones!

There was a surprise waiting for me at home. A big box had arrived while we were out, addressed to me and when I opened it, inside was a Venus Fly Trap and a Pitcher Plant. I had said earlier in the year that I was going to get a Venus Fly Trap to catch the little white flies that plagued my chilli plants last year. Now I have them. The Pitcher Plant is actually in the garden just now. It seems to be hardy and safe down to -7ºc. We’ll see. Maybe it will trap slugs too!

Tomorrow will hopefully be a lazy day. We may go to visit the jeweller to get our wedding rings back.

An undecided day – 1 June 2021

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It’s wasn’t us who were undecided, it was the weather.

It looked as if it would be another scorching day when we woke, but it never really reached full scorch. It was warm, but not bright all the time. The sun came and went for most of the day.

The first task today was to water the garden. Scamp did the front and I did the back. I think I got the heavy end of the stick, because there are only about a dozen pots of plants at the front and easily, easily thirty at the back. However, it was my choice and it was good just walking about spraying water on the thirsty plants. It also gave me a chance to stand there and admire all the things we’ve grown. Such a variety of flowers, greenery and vegetables.

After we put the hose away and had a coffee we had some admin to do. The boring things like backing up my photos, paying off my debts and also changing providers for house insurance. The problem is there’s no real shortcut to them, but they have to be done. One thing I didn’t have to do today was a sketch. May is over and with it, EDiM. I’ll miss it in some ways, but in others I’m really glad I don’t have to start working on a sketch at 10pm, then trying to get it into the computer and posted on Flickr before I write the blog. As it is, it’s just before 10pm now and I’m already halfway through the blog.

We’d walked down to the shops after lunch and bought what we needed for dinner which was to be a stir fry. On the way back I veered off to walk round St Mo’s, hoping for a chance to snap those dragonflies from yesterday. They seemed to have disappeared. Maybe the lack of constant sun was giving them problems. I think they need the sun to keep their bodies warm. I did almost capture a little red damselfly and a Jenny Long Legs, but it was a couple of Wolf Spiders that took most of my attention. The one of the female trailing her egg sac got PoD. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but anyway, they like to bask in the sun with their load because the heat helps the eggs to hatch. It looks such an uncomfortable existence. Almost as uncomfortable as a woman in the last weeks of pregnancy. The swelling is proportionally the same.

It sounds like most of our time was spent being active or doing work, but that’s only half the story. Although it wasn’t exactly wall to wall sunshine today it was still warm enough to sit in the garden with a beer and that’s what we did for the odd hour or two, just reading or daydreaming.

Dinner tonight, as I said, was a stir fry. Scamp made hers with rice as the base and I used noodles for mine. Hers looked a lot better than mine, but mine tasted good. I’d do that again. Maybe even without the tuition from my wife next time!

So, photos are in Flickr and the blog is just about to be posted and it’s just after 10pm. That must be a record … if it all works out.

While some of Scotland went down to level 1 today, most of the Central Belt were fated to remain in level 2. It’s not a big benefit for us really. More people from more households could meet indoors and soft play centres could open again, but neither of these would affect us. It appears that Covid cases are on the rise again across the Central Belt and this is a preventative measure. Better to be safe than sorry, I suppose.

Tomorrow we may be going east to look at some flowers.