Month: March 2022

A busy musical day – 11 March 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Music rarely has a place in the blog, but it has today.

The day started with Scamp driving us to Tesco. Just a usual Friday shop. Basics and a bottle of wine. Unfortunately, the wine wasn’t for us but for friends we were visiting later.

Back home I started making dough for a loaf. I usually take a loaf to Crawford and Nancy in Larky. Scamp reckoned a small loaf would be enough for four of us and small loaves are easier to hand knead, so that’s what I did.

After lunch I went out for a walk and a hope for more frog photos, if they were still there. They were, and the photos were taken. They were taken with my big clunky Tamron 70-300mm lens. It was a great lens some years ago when I first bought it for my Nikon D7000, then things started going wrong. The Vibration Control would sometimes take a day off and just refuse to work. Focusing too was a hit and a miss. I got it repaired, and it worked for a while after that, but it really wasn’t to be trusted. Now I’ve got a Sony and a Nikon adapter which allows the lens to work in manual mode only and without VC. I don’t use a long lens very much and this one covers the times when I need a lens that’s longer than 105mm.

By the time I came back the dough had risen quite well and was ready to go into the little cane basket for its second prove as I looked through the photos from today’s shoot. Surprisingly, some were better than I’d expected. In fact one of the m made PoD.

That had given the bread time to puff up a bit and I bunged it in the oven for the required 25 mins. It came out almost as flat as a pancake. I decided we’d try it tomorrow, but there was no way it was going to Larky.

Time was getting on and it was nearly time to drive over to the the Town Behind the Wall. I was taking a ukulele and a steel strung guitar, because Crawford wanted to have a jam session with him playing uke and me playing guitar. I wasn’t looking forward to it all that much, but it was a really great evening. Both instruments were tuned together and we ran through many of his old favourites, but songs I hadn’t expected. I was very rough to start with, but as the night progressed, I started to settle in to the chord sequences. What I did find was that the finger tips of my left hand were painfully tingling. It’s been a long time since I’ve sat for an hour and a half playing a guitar.  While we were singing and playing, the ladies were in the sitting room blethering.

We left just after midnight, so as you will have guessed by now, this is a catch-up. A small glass of rum as a nightcap because I was driving to dance class in the morning, then it was off to bed.

Tomorrow we’re going to the first dance class in about five weeks. Hope we can remember which foot goes first!

 

Dancing’ – 10 March 2022

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Today we were back dancing in Paisley.

I expected them to, at least, have some bunting out and maybe even some Scottish flags to celebrate the return of Sheila. What did we get? We got told off for “just waltzing in at any time”. Admittedly it was said tongue in cheek, but where were the balloons and streamers?

In the morning we spoke to Hazy for a while and found out how painful it is to to have a pain reducing patch ripped off, removing some skin in the process. Apparently Neil will be able to walk again once he’s out of traction.

After speaking to Hazy, I reckoned I had enough time to go on a frog hunt in St Mo’s. It is usually about the first or second week in March they arrive for a few all night parties with a bit of hanky panky, leaving great rafts of spawn clogging up the shallows of the ponds. Today was one of those days, and the frogs and a few toads too were congregating happily splashing through the water and playing leapfrog, at least that’s what it looked like. I got a few photos of the celebrations, some of which will be posted on Frog Porn later tonight. One particularly smug looking individual made it to PoD.

I’d just enough time after getting the photos to get home for a quick bite to eat before we were off to Paisley to the first Tea Dance in ages. It was a fairly reduced affair with a lot of the regulars having called off due to a resurgence of Covid. That left a bit more room for us to stagger around making more mistakes than we were getting right. I think a lot more practise needs to be done before the next one. Having said that, we did get up for almost every dance we knew how to do and even some of the old hands were having difficulty getting their old feet to find the proper steps in the correct order. Next time we’ll be better.

We left early, and again found that the traffic was much lighter with that 30minute difference. Of course everything snarled as we neared the Kingston Bridge, but that’s just inevitable. It would have been much worse if we had waited until the end of the dance.

No plans really for tomorrow apart from, perhaps, a visit to Larky later.

 

Going for the messages – 9 March 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Some days are filled with sunshine.  Other days are dull.  Today was dull and the highlight was going for the messages.

Scamp drove us to The Fort today, or to be more precise, she drove us to Morrisons at The Fort.  We needed some messages and it was a dull day.  Also the wee Red car needed a run to charge its battery and to get its wheels moving again.  Scamp doesn’t like the twisty roads I drive on to The Fort and also there were roadworks on part of that route that were predicted to last for months and months, so we went by an alternative route.  It took us through Stepps, Ruchazie, Garthamlock and finally Provanhall, not Easterhouse, Provanhall.  There is a difference. I admit I was lost for most of the journey after Stepps.  There page markers had nearly all disappeared.  Where was the Golfers Rest?  Where was the bit of the canal that used to run parallel to the road. The Monkland Canal.  Gone was the answer.  Then as Scamp recited the names of places as we drove past, bits of it came back.  All things change.

We missed a turning at The Fort and drove on to Morrisons.  The order we visited them in was unimportant.  We bought some messages, but the main thing that Scamp had come for Branston Fruity Sauce was unavailable.  It wasn’t until we came home and I did a bit of internet digging that we discovered that Rich and Fruity Sauce, had been added to the list of over 400 products have been recalled after they were found to contain the carcinogen Sudan 1.  This was a bit surprising and worrying as the recall happened in 2005 and we still have an ‘in date’ bottle of the sauce in the cupboard!  I blame Brexit.

On the way back we did stop at The Fort.  Scamp wanted to go to M&S and I wanted to look for a book in Waterstones.  Both of us came back empty handed.  Scamp couldn’t find anything that suited her and I refused to pay £16 for a book I could get for £9 in Amazon.  She drove us home and I managed to find some of the places that I’d lost on the way in, or to be more correct I managed to find a school where the Golfers Rest used to be and a motorway slip road that was the Monkland Canal.

In the morning I found today’s photo in the bathroom.  It’s a close up of Scamp’s swimming goggles that she wears to prevent soap from getting in her eyes when she’s washing her hair.  I liked the water droplets on the goggles and the shine on the chrome tap.  There’s a group on Flickr where some of my photos land, called The Monochrome Mind.  For the first time in ages, I saw this photo in Black & White, not colour.  It went in to that group today.  A wee abstract for a change.

We had fish ’n’ chips tonight for dinner.  Smoked haddock and chips to be more precise.  Best bit of fish I’ve had for ages.  Beautifully cooked by Scamp.

Tomorrow it’s sequins and dance shoes.  We’re hoping to go to a tea dance in Paisley.

Off exploring – 8 March 2022

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This looked like the last good day for a while, so we went walking again.

We were off to East Kilbride today to Calderglen Country Park. One of EK’s best kept secrets. I think they just want it kept neat and tidy with none of the scruff from Glasgow and North Lanarkshire allowed access. But the reckoned without us. We’d been there before, when there were signs showing where it was and how to get in, so we got in!

It really is a lovely park with walks through steep sided glens and bridges across rushing streams. Well, actually it’s just bridges across the same rushing stream, but who’s counting. Most of the paths were in good nick, but there were a few places that could perhaps have done with a fence to prevent the unwary from taking a tumble. We didn’t take a tumble, but the opportunity was there. Light was lovely, especially since the trees are still bare, allowing it to shine through the branches and cast long shadows on the ground.

As we walked, we both remembered different bits of the path as we reached them. I’m not sure we had walked the full circuit we did today, the last time we were there, but certainly bits of it were familiar. I made a few miscalculations photographically speaking. I was finding it difficult to get focus on a big patch of snowdrops through the tracery of tree branches and set the camera to manual focus just to check that I was controlling it, not the other way round. It was only after taking a good dozen photos, I realised I hadn’t set it back to automatic. Luckily nobody but me would notice the difference! In fact the PoD was one of the slightly out of focus shots.

Lots of folk with lots of dogs. I think we only passed two people who didn’t have a four legged animal trotting along beside them. Most of the folk were friendly with a smile and a “Morning!” However, there were some who didn’t recognise our faces and just KNEW we were outsiders. Maybe Glasgow ‘Keelies’ or worse still, North Lanarkshire Louts, here to steal our scenery or leave litter everywhere. They were the ones who didn’t speak.

We had hoped to have a seat, a coffee and a bite to eat at the end of our walk, but there was a 20 – 30min wait for a table at the cafe and food was going to take between 15 and 20mins. Gone were my chances of a roll ’n’ sausage with fried onions. Instead we both settled for a flat white and slice of tipsy cake to eat in the car. Eat in the car, because there was a really cold wind getting up and we didn’t want to sit on the wooden benches in the outside courtyard chittering. Drove home afterwards with half the tipsy cake to eat later.

That was about it for the day. Dinner tonight was Muttar Paneer (Peas and Indian cheese) for dinner. Scamp made the dinner, I made the flat bread.

Happy 8th Wedding Anniversary to Jamie and Sim. Hope you had a great day.

Tomorrow looks wet, in fact I do believe the weather is practising as I write! Maybe another bread kit tomorrow.

A walk in the wilds – 7 March 2022

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My first walk in and around Fannyside for a while.

Scamp was out to lunch with The Witches and I was like a knotless thread. It was another beautiful day and I didn’t want to spend it in the house. Nor did I fancy sitting in a car going somewhere, only to find I had half an hour there before driving back home. I chose to go to Fannyside Moor. Lots of big sky and silence. Not total silence, you understand. No, there was the soughing of wind in the pine trees and the distant sound of cars and vans on the single track road across the moor itself. There were sheep bleating somewhere and most joyous of all, I listened to a lark ascending. Not the Vaughan Williams piece, but a real lark, really ascending into a clear blue sky.

I’d parked at my usual place, on a rough bit of earth by a gate, but not blocking the gate and between two stands of Scots Pines. It’s on a ninety degree corner, but off the road. Just as well, because this is a single track road, just wide enough for a van or a tractor, but not nearly wide enough for two cars to pass without one or other losing a wing mirror. My kit for today was Sony A7iii with 105mm macro lens (just in case), kit lens and 18mm super wide. Actually that’s almost all my lenses. I’ve got others, but they are mainly mounted on adapters and that’s more to carry, too much.

I walked roughly east first almost as far as the farm, but not quite. Farms = dogs = trouble. Best avoided if possible. Halfway along the road I met a grumpy looking woman driving what an old Australian pen pal called a Ute. A four wheel drive go anywhere beefed up jeep. A utility vehicle. I climbed the verge to let her through, but she didn’t acknowledge me at all. I think she thought she owned Fannyside. Maybe she did. She slowed right down to have a good look at the Blue car, then drove on for a bit and stopped again. I think now she was checking that I wasn’t dumping rubbish, fly tipping. I hadn’t. I walked on, she drove on. I got some photos of lichen that covered some of the old fence posts. I also took some landscape shots. Then another car came the other way. Another Ute, another woman driver, but this one gave me a cheery wave as she passed. I’d walked as far as I wanted. Took some sheep photos then walked back.

Turned 90º and walked south until the cold north west breeze got a bit of an edge to it and I walked back to the car. Not far from it I spotted what looked like a pebble on a fence post and examination showed it to be a ladybird, a dark brown one with white spots. I remembered seeing one here before. I tried a few shots, but there was nothing to lean on or to give me some support. A walk back to the car brought a tripod. The flexible Benbo. Hated by many, but loved by those who persevere with its idiosyncrasies. It’s a steep learning curve getting the best out of it, but it’s a great bit of kit. Almost rock solid on most surfaces, todays thick matted grass was a challenge. Eventually I used it as a monopod and got the shots.

Back home, Scamp had returned from the lunch. I decided it was time the Blue car had a wash and as the day was still warm out of the wind, I took brush and bucket and got rid of the road muck from the last few weeks. I even gave Scamp’s wee red car a scrub too.

Fired up the computer and got the shots processed. At first I thought I’d captured images of a Cream Spot Ladybird, but then after a bit more investigation it turned out it was. Striped Ladybird (Myzia oblongoguttata). It was more a maroon colour than brown and it’s fairly clear to see that they are indeed stripes and not spots. Something new learned today.

Scamp didn’t need any dinner, but I baked the second Fougasse so she could try it while I had the leftover stew from yesterday. Unfortunately, on her second bite she cracked another part of her damaged tooth. Tomorrow she’s going to bend the truth a bit and get the dentist to fix it. Something he should have done months ago. If he won’t do it, I think we might go private again. It’s the way the country is going these days.

I was quite please with my ladybird photos and it was one of them that made PoD.

Tomorrow after we hopefully resolve the dental problem we may go out for a walk.

The middle way – 6 March 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Another beautiful morning that turned into a beautiful day.

It seemed a shame to waste such a beautiful day sitting in the house wondering where to go, or sitting in the car driving to somewhere that would be full of other folk out doing the same thing. The ‘doing the same thing’ wasn’t the problem, it was the sitting in the car that was just another way of wasting a good day. We took the middle way. We drove over to Kilsyth, to Colzium estate and walked round the various paths in this once private estate. So many different areas in what is really quite a small park. Enough steep climbs to make your legs ache and then the gentle descents to the sound of rushing water. Then there were the woods to walk through with their banks of snowdrops just beginning to fade, but with the promise of daffodils to take their place. Just a Sunday morning in the fresh air.

Back home I was planning to wash the car, but that did not come to pass. Instead, after lunch, I did a bit of gentle pruning of some of the rose bushes. It was a first prune with the chance of a more aggressive one after the risk of a late frost is gone. I also cut back the pieris which had been battered in the winds of a couple of weeks ago and become quite ‘leggy’. It seemed a shame to cut it back when it was just coming in to flower, but hopefully some of that energy will go into making new growth later in the year. I went looking for a basin to help with washing yesterday’s mud off my boots and in the process found half a dozen seed potatoes we’d bought weeks ago and forgotten about. They are now chitting on the window ledge of my room. After that, Scamp asked me to make a loaf and as I’d a kit for making a Fougasse which is a fancy French flatbread containing caramelised red onions. Unfortunately, our red onion was a bit smelly, so I substituted a shallot instead and it worked! The kit I had made two, but I only baked one. There’s one waiting in the fridge for tomorrow. With the fougasse dough proving, I got started on the stew for my dinner while Scamp hung out the washing, rejoicing in the fact that the sun had come round fare enough to shine on the sheets on the Whirly! Then she was off with the secateurs to dead head the Spirea. I never did find enough time to wash the car. Maybe tomorrow.

Spoke to Jamie later and found out that it had been more of a restful week than it has of late. That’s good to know. I’m glad they are getting settled into the new house.

Scamp is off to meet the rest of The Witches for lunch tomorrow. I might send out an invitation to the extended Auld Guys to see if anyone is free for coffee. Other than that, nothing much planned, except maybe a bit of splashing on of paint on a canvas, perhaps.  By the way, the Fougasse was delicious

Round the pond

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And into the bog.

It was a beautiful morning with blue skies and light fluffy clouds. The only problem was we had no destination in mind to view this wonderful day from. After a lot of procrastination we finally settled on Broadwood Loch with the added extension of the walk through the woods. So, booted up, we set off into the morning.

I’m not that keen on the walk round Broadwood. Apart from the resident swans and the cormorants there’s not much of interest to see there, but the extension into the woodland does sometimes spring a few surprises, like the occasional deer which seem to view humans as a necessary part of the landscape and nothing to get fussed about. There were no deer today though. What we did find was a fir tree with Christmas baubles hanging from its branches. We had no idea why someone would provide this entertainment for people visiting the woodland, but it created a photo opportunity.

Further into the woods, we came to the part that’s usually flooded and that was the state of it today. I went first as Genghis Pathfinder trying to find the best way through the mud and murky water. I picked the wrong route and sank ankle deep in the mud, backtracked and discovered the water was only half as deep. As I led Scamp through the water which barely covered the rubber soles of her boots, a bloke coming the opposite way decided that it would be safer to go back the way he had come than to risk his new trainers getting dirty or wet. Actually both of us got through with dry feet. More a testament to the construction of our footwear than to my navigation skills.

We were past the worst of the wetland and walked on round the remainder of the loch and then past the exercise machines to the shops. Curry for dinner and ice cream for afters was the reason for the visit and we headed for home feeling so much better for the walk.

After lunch I decided I needed more photos to bolster my small collection from the morning’s walk. I brushed off most of the mud from my jeans and put my boots back on then carrying the 105mm macro lens on my Sony A7, I walked over to St Mo’s. I missed a deer on the other side of the road, deep in the woods, but got a few shots of Cladonia lichen in a nice little bit of afternoon light in the boggy area near the motorway slip road. Quite happy with the afternoon’s haul, I headed back over St Mo’s park and found that some kind soul had planted some crocuses into the grass. Nice little splash of blue/purple and those were the last shots today, but they didn’t quite make the cut.

M&S curry for dinner. Chicken for me and Veg for Scamp with ice cream to follow. I actually sat and read for a while tonight after the photos were posted on Flickr. The book was The Second Cut by Louise Welsh . Good story, but better read as the sequel to The Cutting Room which I read 20 years ago! TWENTY YEARS AGO!! PoD was one of the Cladonia pictures. The Christmas tree in Broadwood is on Flickr too.

We have no plans for tomorrow, but the weather looks good.

 

Today we went on an adventure – 4 March 2022

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We went in to Glasgow on the bus.

When was the last time you were on a bus? That was the question Scamp asked me today when we were waiting for the X28. I was on a bus last year, but she didn’t reveal when she was last on a bus. It was an experience. Another little step on the road to ‘normal’ whatever ‘normal’ will be once we get there. We deliberately chose the ‘fast bus’ rather than the X3 which takes about four days to get in to the city from our house, or at least it feels like that.

We started our expedition with a wander round JL. There was nothing interesting for me in the ‘toy shop’. Big boys’ toys that is. Computers, cameras and lenses. Nothing interestingly cheap enough to actually spend money on. Scamp was looking for dresses for the two weddings we’re invited to in May. There was nothing much for her in JL either. One dress she liked the style of, but not the colour. Others she said she had dismissed, but still wanted to show me. I think she was just hoping I’d cast my tailor’s eye over them and say “I could make that one”, but I didn’t. I restrict my tailoring skills to taking up the legs of a pair of jeans, these days.

From there we walked down Buchanan Galleries. Now I often call Buchanan Street ‘Bucky Street’, but ‘Bucky Galleries’ just doesn’t have the same ring. At the end of the Galleries Scamp disappeared into a shop and went for a walk. I was pulled back to the shop with a swift phone call to ask where I thought I was going. Apparently I was meant to wait outside the shop like a good little boy. My usual reply to commands like that is “Hope you’ve got your bus pass, ‘cause it’s a long walk home.” Of course that didn’t work this time. We both had our bus passes, and no car to take us home. Going out without the car is sometimes almost as scary as going out without your phone. Anyway my advice was required on another dress which had already been rejected. This time I was more agreeable and suggested she try it on. Actually, I had to agree that it suited her once I saw it on. She bought it. Photos will be sent to interested parties. To celebrate, we went to Paesano for a pizza lunch. Well it was Friday after all. On the way there we wandered past the next place they had started filming. Again turning Glasgow into Gotham for Batgirl or some such American nonsense.

We walked down to Argyle Street to peruse the dress offerings of M&S, but nothing took her eye. We walked back to Cafe Nero at St Enoch’s then to Waterstones because I’d a book token burning a hole in my pocket, but I couldn’t find the book I was planning to use it on. Up Bucky Street and home on the X37 which was just as quick as the X28 in the morning. It was a beautiful day, all day. The weather fairies had it wrong with their threats of heavy clouds and rain. You can’t trust anybody these days.

PoD was a view down Virginia Street to the buildings at the end which seem to crowd in on one another. If you view it on Flickr you will notice that it’s had it’s GPS location stamped on it and it’s been mapped automatically by the software. Neat little trick of linking the camera to an app on the phone by bluetooth. Impressed? I was!

Tomorrow looks like a good day again. Let’s see if we go anywhere interesting.

 

Off to look at the flowers – 3 March 2022

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We were off to Torwood today to look at the flowers and probably buy some.

As it happened, it was only me who got some flowers and Scamp got grass. It was good to see a business starting to build itself up again after the damage Covid has done to so many. Everywhere there were rolling cages of plants being unpacked and put into displays. Spring was springing up. Scamp got two little ornamental grasses. Last year she got one and it has survived the winter winds, the snow and the ice and has come back smiling. I couldn’t understand the reason she liked it, but now I do. It brings a little bit of movement to a dull season. The new two will increase that interest and movement. I got a tri-colour buddleia, something I’ve never seen before. I’ll be interested to see how it turns out.

Today’s PoD was another flower. This time, from the garden. The flower is a Heleborus Orientalis Lenten Rose (Christmas Rose) which is just beginning to flower. I don’t know what I was doing wrong here, but this was the only acceptable shot I got of it on a calm day, so it wasn’t a problem with the wind buffeting the flowers. With a good sharp lens, and with a good camera. The only weak point was the finger that pressed the shutter. I must take the blame for the twenty odd shots that went in the bin. There’s another good shot of a trio of crocuses (‘croci’ sounds so affected although it is grammatically correct) on Flickr.

I was supposed to be meeting Alex tomorrow, but we both agreed that the weather had taken a turn for the worse and as he’s on duty as taxi driver incase his daughter’s baby decides it’s time to face the world, he’d better stay near home. It makes sense and family must always come first.

Weather tomorrow doesn’t look good, but we might go in to Glasgow on the bus. Long time since we’ve done that.

 

Off to Bombay – 2 March 2022

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Not the hot place, but the place in Hamilton where they make the hot stuff.

It was a dull and wet day in the morning and we couldn’t decide where to go. I think it was me who suggested Bombay Cottage in Hamilton where they make good curries and great big naan bread that is baked to order. Scamp wanted our plain naan ‘well done’ and when it came it was indeed singed beautifully. My curry which was a Chicken Salsa-Syrah was a bit tasteless but hot. Scamp had her usual Cauliflower Shimla Bhaji which was fine, but the sauce was a bit thin. However, it’s the naan and the ice cream that are the stars in this curry house. There is nothing much to see in Hamilton now, so we just drove home.

In the afternoon I went out for a photo walk and brought back one decent shot of a sycamore seed sprouting in the leaf litter and another of a man walking down the much photographed lane between Condorrat and the new shops. This truly is the path that keeps giving. After some consideration, the sprouting baby tree got PoD.

When I came home there was Scamp with a big smile and an equally big bunch of flowers that had come from John & Marion with a card that said “Hope you’re recovering well after your operation”. Isn’t that nice.

I’d intended going out with Alex for a walk and a blether on Friday because the weather seemed to be picking up for the weekend. However, today it looks like Friday will be dull and wet, so he’s suggested we call off until next week. I think it’s a good idea too. We might go for a coffee in Hamilton or Motherwell, if the weather is too bad for a walk. I just want to lust after his new camera which is almost as good as mine, just almost.

Tomorrow also looks wet. We haven’t got any definite plans, but if there’s a dry spell we may risk a walk.

Here’s a thought. I was just browsing on the ‘net and found the Berghaus page. Did you know that they’ll repair any jacket, trousers or boots free of charge. That’s their commitment to Reuse – Repair – Recycle. Wouldn’t it be good if more places did that. I don’t see Apple or Dell doing it though!

Hoping for a dry hour tomorrow.