Month: October 2023

Right on time – 21 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

We got a message from Jamie this morning just after 9am to say they were just leaving the hotel and they should be with us before 12noon.

Right on time the white Volvo appeared outside at 11.50. That’s Jamie. Always on time. After we’d decanted all the bags, rucksacks, jackets and boots, Scamp took the wee Yew tree they’d brought out into the back garden. Then we heard the stories about the floods they’d encountered on the way up and I was even more pleased that they’d decided to break their journey north.

After lunch which was a bowl of tomato soup, we drove to Colzium and walked the same route Scamp and I had walked last week. The burn was even higher today, of course because of the week’s rain we’d had and the big red acer at the top of the avenue in front of the big house was even brighter red, if that was possible. A photo of it made PoD.

Back home, Jamie and Simonne were getting ready to go into Glasgow to meet Chris and Yvonne for dinner, but found out that Uber don’t seem to like Cumbersheugh. Or more likely, the taxi drivers in Cumbersheugh discourage Uber drivers from picking up in the town. So it was the local taxi that took them into Glasgow!

Dinner for us was delivered from Bombay Dreams later in the evening after an irate phone call from the driver asking me to open the house door and turn the light on so he could see where the house was. I did as he asked and then he appeared very apologetic saying he’d been in the wrong street! Easily done in Cumbersheugh because when it was build it was numbered by writing all the numbers down on pieces of paper and sticking them at random on house doors. At least that’s how it seems. Who would be a delivery driver in Cumbersheugh?!

We watched Strictly on catch-up. Well, Scamp watched Strictly and I glanced up occasionally from my Inktober sketch. I don’t think I missed much.

The sketch prompt today was “Chains”. I tried steel chains and paper chains and neither of them interested me much. I eventually chose a key chain. The prompt asked for “Chains”, plural, but being a poor pensioner, I could only afford one on my key, and an imaginary one at that! That was my excuse.

Tomorrow we might all go out for a walk somewhere, or maybe we’ll point the hillwalkers at a local hill and let them get on with it!

 

Still Wet, Still Windy – 20 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

I could write, “For details of the day see yesterday”, but I won’t.

It started like yesterday, with wind and rain, but things needed to be done. Scamp was off to FitSteps until the phone rang and it was Kirsty hoping she’d catch Scamp, which she just managed to do. The message was that today’s class was cancelled because too many folk had called off. I must say it sounded like the most sensible answer, but I think Scamp was disappointed. Can’t blame her.

So where to start? First thing and easiest to set up was the tomato soup. Just a case of tipping the roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic and peppers into a pot adding a tin of tomatoes a cup of water and a litre of stock. Bring it to the boil and simmer for 30mins. Next was to thaw out the stew and dust it with flour, salt and pepper and leave it to dry out a bit and once the soup had had its 30mins, we drove to M&S for fripperies like fruit and bread, then Tesco for breakfast stuff and essentials like tonic and ice lollies. Got to get your priorities right.

Back home it was time to fry off the stew in the big wok and, once it was nicely browned, pitch it into the Instant Pot with carrots and onions and some stock, set it to slow cook for about 4 hours. Sit back and enjoy a Ginsters lunch. I know they’re not good for me and that they give me heartburn, but they do taste great. Scamp had a fried egg sandwich. Much healthier I’m sure. Simonne phoned to say they were on their way, so we were all running to schedule.

I kept thinking (hoping) it was getting lighter outside and that the rain was getting lighter, the way you do when you know you’re just lying to yourself. I eventually decided that an inside photo was the way to go today and took today’s PoD which is a bunch of carnations sitting at the kitchen window with the rain splattering on the glass.

The bed for the visitors was still to be made, so we got that done and the remaining obstacles were removed to the front room, leaving the room quite neat and tidy.

Next task was to blitz the soup and decant it to another pot. It was looking good, then Simonne phoned to say they were almost at Scotch Corner and were going to break the journey because the traffic was really bad and there had been a number of accidents. I think we both felt relieved to hear that. It’s a long journey in normal weather, but much more challenging with so many weather warnings across the whole country. We got a message later to say they’d arrive at Kendal and were going for dinner and a pint! Well deserved I’d say.

So we had some of the soup for starter with some Giovani Rana pasta to follow. Not the best we’d had from that range, but still better than Tesco.

Today’s prompt was ‘Frost’. I could not decide what to draw for Frost. Then, lateral thinking again, I found a picture of Robert Frost and tried another fifteen minute sketch. It worked.

We’re now expecting the visitors tomorrow, just as I predicted in Thursday’s blog! Some of us had these skills and some haven’t! Oh yes, and I did have heartburn thanks to the Ginsters, and I’ve taken my Gaviscon!

Windy & Wet – 19 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Windy and Wet sort of sums up the day.

Today we woke to rain on the back window and a blustery, gusty wind at the front. It wasn’t going to be a nice day, that was for sure.

I think we lay too long this morning because everything seemed to happen in a rush after that and before we knew it, it was time to get dressed to go out to the tea dance at Glenburn. I wasn’t looking forward to the drive over the Kingston Bridge and then onto the M77 before navigating the labyrinth of streets that take us around the north of Paisley to the community centre where the dance is held. I needn’t have worried, because the roads were fairly clear for once, a combination of warnings on the TV and radio about high winds and torrential rain, and the fact that the schools were on October holiday. So we arrived in plenty of time to a nearly empty dance hall.

People did trickle in during the first quarter of an hour, but the floor did look a bit empty, compared to what it usually looks like. We danced Waltz Nioli to two waltz tracks and made a reasonable fist of it. Then a sequence dance, any one, they’re all mostly the same. Next up was a Cha-Cha which we finished, but that’s about all we could say about it. We tried to do the Tango we’d learned last night at Kirsty’s class, but I’d forgotten the steps right at the end. I don’t know if that would have improved it at all, but later, when we got home we did have a look at the video of the steps Kirsty had demonstrated and we’d danced through a couple of times. Suddenly it all fell into place. More practise needed for next Wednesday. It would have been rather a dull tea dance if it wasn’t for David and Carol injecting a bit of humour into the proceedings. I enjoy their company and sense of humour.

Drove back home by the usual M77, M73, M80 after we’d navigated the labyrinth again. Even the motorways were a lot less congested than usual.

Back home I decided I needed a walk in the park to clear my head and to get a couple of photos. Actually I got seven, but very few of them were worthwhile, which strengthens my argument for taking a break from “one photo a day” for a while. PoD went to a low viewpoint photo of some of the leaves that had been shaken from the trees by a combination of wind and rain.

Today’s sketch was finished just after midnight last night. A ten minute sketch that took about fifteen minutes if the truth be told. The prompt was ‘Plump’. This one was a bit of a struggle. I couldn’t think of anything that would fit the prompt, but then I remembered Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Alice in Wonderland and the brilliant Matt Lucas characters. Fifteen minute sketch and done!

Lots of things to do tomorrow, mainly preparing for the visitors to arrive. Hope the weather is kind to them.

Windy – 18 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

It was a breezy old day today.

We have been bombarded with warnings of extreme weather from Storm Babet from now until the weekend. We seem to be on the edge of it with a yellow warning in place for heavy rain in the next few days. The wind did get up later in the day, but earlier it seemed quite normal.

We spoke to Hazy in the morning and heard about Neil’s chest infection which has kept him off work today and given Hazy the opportunity to get her nurse’s uniform on. We discussed the progress of Nelly the split rock’s new split that seems to be progressing really well.

After we said “Cheerio”, Scamp and I drove to Tesco and bought a few odds and ends to feed our visitors who are hoping to arrive on Saturday after a long drive..

After lunch, we turned the sofa in the back room into a bed, stripped it and put on fresh sheets. We also completed the transformation of the back bedroom from a dumping ground into something that people would want to sleep in. Still some hoovering (Dysoning) and a bit of dusting to do, but the transformation is nearly complete. I even washed the window so the chilli plants could look out!

With that done, I felt it was time to go out for a walk in the wild outdoors and took the A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s. While I was out, Scamp started the prep for tonight’s Smoked Fish Curry. It’s a really old recipe from a book bought in Woolworth’s! That will give you and idea just how old it is, and it was originally for Egg Curry, but it works really well with smoked fish too.

There wasn’t much to see in St Mo’s but I did get a little cameo of an aspen leaf pierced by a reed spike and that was PoD sorted. Inktober prompt for today was Saddle. Instead of the obvious horses saddle, I drew my bike saddle. I’d completed a fairly rough pencil sketch last night, but wasn’t sure how to finish it. I tried using black ink from a brush pen, but that just didn’t look right, so I redrew it in pencil and then drew over it with a couple of ink pens. That left it as a line drawing to which I added some texture and shading … badly. Still, it fitted the brief and it’s up on Flickr now.

Dancing tonight was busy, busy, busy with six couples vying for a space on the dance floor to show off their Tango skills. It was a short dance, but with enough interesting moves to make our feet do a bit of thinking. I really like Kirsty’s style. She dances the man’s part, then the woman’s part, then to finish she enlists one of the good lady dancers to be her partner for the couple dance. What was a complicated set of moves, suddenly becomes a lot easier.

I think we may be going out into the wild weather tomorrow to go to a tea dance at Glenburn. Let’s hope we don’t get blown or washed away!

Tea for Two – 17 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

We were off to Troon today for afternoon tea.

Thanks to John and Marion we had a voucher for Afternoon Tea at Lochgreen House. We got it for our Golden Wedding and had hoped to use it sooner, but this year has been what Jackie would call a “Bourach”. A mess, a muddle, a shambles. Everything we planned had to be altered or something got in the way and the afternoon tea got pushed further and further back. Eventually we made the decision to have it either last week or this week. Even then it was going to be tight. Our final decision was made yesterday when we brooked it for today.

It was a foggy start to the day and the fog didn’t really lift until we were out through Glasgow, on to the M77 and climbing up into the Fenwick Moors. From there to Troon was clear and we parked down near the beach where there are usually hosts of wind and kite surfers, but wind surfers need wind and there was none of that today. Only the Glasgow folk, “down on the beach with their coats on” as my dad was keen to tell you. We, too, went for a walk along the path between the beach and the grassy foreshore, but eventually we found a path through the dunes that took us down to the beach. Where’s the fun of going to the seaside if you don’t get sand on your shoes?

It was a short walk, because we’d still to drive to the posh Lochgreen House. We arrived right on time and were seated in a booth and had tea, or hot water for Scamp, then we were served the three layer platter with hot food in the bottom, sandwiches in the middle and scones on the top. The scones being served with clotted cream and strawberry jam. I could almost see myself reaching for the Gaviscon when I saw that big quenelle of clotted cream!

Scamp played her vegetarian card and had a Goat’s Cheese Quiche, Vegetable Tempura and a Finger of Fish, not to be confused with a fish finger. I had Haggis Bon-Bons, Ham Quiche and a Sausage Roll that had never been near Greggs! Those were the hot foods.

My sandwiches were Chicken and Tomato, Coronation Chicken and Roast Beef with Mustard and Lettuce. Scamp’s were Egg Mayo, Tuna and Goat’s Cheese.

Two scones each, one fruit, one plain with that clotted cream and strawberry jam finished the platters, but there were six cakes to finish off too. Unfortunately, we were full by that time and asked for them to be boxed to take away.

All in all, it was a lovely afternoon in beautiful surroundings, waited on hand and foot.

Because we had some time to spare, we drove down to the big car park we usually go to and walked over the Ballast Bank to let our lunch slide down. It’s usual for us to walk over the top of the Ballast and down the other side, then take the narrow low path along the edge of the water if the tide isn’t in. That takes us back to the car park. We found a seat half way along the low path and stopped to look out to the sea. I took a few photos and then recognised a couple of folk walking towards us. They materialised into Ronnie and Millie from Brookfield. They had been dancing at the ballroom in Troon and, like us were stretching their legs with a walk in the fresh air. I think we might be going to that ballroom soon too, some Tuesday afternoon.

Drove home through the usual 4.30 rush. Thankfully we didn’t attempt the Kingston Bridge, but stuck to the M74/M73. Longer journey but much less stressful. Back home we had two cakes each. That leaves two to share tomorrow.

PoD was the view when we were climbing up through the dunes to get to the beach.

Today’s prompt was “Demon”. The demon here is The Demon Drink. As fearful a monster as any, and just like a genie, as long as he’s kept trapped in the bottle you are safe. However once you twist that cap and release him you are opening a Pandora’s box or am I just getting carried away now? Anyway, it let me splash on lots of red paint!

That was a lovely day. Good weather, good food, good company and great fun. Must do it again sometime. Now, where’s that Gaviscon?

No plans for tomorrow.

 

Just a Monday – 16 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Shopping, taking photos and a very short bit of gentle gardening.

Some days when I’m writing this blog I look back on the day that’s almost finished and ask myself “What DID we do today?” This was one of those days.

Wordle and Spelling Bee took up about half an hour of the morning, then I started messing about with a bit of software I’d downloaded. It’s called SyncTime and I’ve got the ‘Lite’ version which is another way of saying ‘Free’ version. I have lots of tutorial videos, mainly dance related on two different computers and I want to synchronise them, but hadn’t really looked into solutions for the problem until recently. SyncTime seemed to be just what I was looking for, but it’s especially ‘Lite’ on explanations. I spent most of the morning trying to work out what was happening. Now I have a better idea of what I’m getting myself into, I don’t think SyncTime is the solution. More investigation (or time wasting) required. I’m sure Scamp would agree with the bracketed description.

Lunch was soup and then we went out to ‘get the messages’. Just a 15min walk to the shops, but it breaks up the day. On the way back I took a detour to St Mo’s and Scamp walked home after she eventually got across the road. There is work being done on one of the dual carriageways just now and that means the traffic on the other roads in the town is a lot heavier than normal. Crossing the road becomes a dangerous pastime, because everyone is in a hurry, pedestrians included.

There wasn’t much to see in St Mo’s and although I did get a couple of shots, I wasn’t really impressed with them. They filled a space and that was all you could say about them. I really think that the 365 as it was is coming to an end. I know I’ve said it before, but it’s becoming truer every year. It keeps getting more difficult to find fresh subjects to tackle. That doesn’t mean the blog will be closing. It’s a pain too, but if I have a dull day I just write wee stories like this one!

After I’d shortlisted two photos and processed them, I went out into the garden to pot up three different basil pots. The first was a new one we bought in Lidl yesterday and it was seriously pot bound. The second was a pot of basil we got in Tesco and had on the kitchen windowsill for too long. I think the poor plant had exhausted all the nutrients in the soil. It too was pot bound. The third was a wee pot I’d grown from seed, but it wasn’t making much ground. There were about ten separate seedlings in the pot, but all clumped together. They were separated and planted into new soil then dumped in the birdbath to soak up some rainwater. The other two were just transplanted into bigger pots to give their roots some elbow room and then they too were given a soak in the birdbath. I left them for about half an hour before I brought them in to the kitchen again. I hope the new compost gives them some energy.

On the subject of plants, Hazy. ‘Nelly’ is definitely splitting. I’ll try to remember to send you a photograph of her tomorrow. Looking very healthy!

Sketch prompt was Angel. I thought of drawing the Christmas tree fairy until I realised that a fairy and an angel are two different things! So it was a different angel. She stands over the old Hutchesontown Library in Glasgow. She has stood there since 1906. Everytime I see this angel I think of the Paul Simon song “Call me Al”, and I “see angels in the architecture”, but it’s the architecture of Glasgow. I always liked this sculpture and she fits the prompt perfectly.

PoD turned out to be a yellow leaf caught in some weeds.

Tomorrow we may go out for a spin.

A walk in the woods – 15 October 2023

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Another bright day that really deserved to be appreciated from outside the window.
A bright day, but a cold start. When I was making the breakfast it was 2.1ºc. That’s kind of cool, too cool for my liking. However the heating had kicked in and the house was warm. Thank goodness for the Hive.

We decided on a walk in Colzium estate in Kilsyth. My reason for wanting to go there was to see the colours of the Acers, but I was a bit disappointed by how few of the trees were showing off their colourful leaves that usually brighten this month. However, all was not lost because one tree at the top of the main avenue was a burst of colour. I grabber a couple of photos, one of which was vastly over exposed, but back home one touch of the computer keyboard and it became PoD. The washed out colours came back as did the detail in the leaves. Technology can be amazing when it works.

We walked on round the Big House and up the drive to the Tak Ma Doon road, then down through the trees to the main path that follows the Colzium burn up to the wee narrow bridge at the top. On the way I got another interesting shot of one of the many waterfalls the burn splashes down on its way to the more gentle stream through Kilsyth itself. I got one good shot of the waterfall and three that the camera thought were more interesting, Shots of branches and leaves. The first shot, the one I took, not the camera is available to peruse on Flickr.

We crossed the bridge and walked down the other side of the burn to the road at the bottom. There’s a cafe on the other side of the burn and we went there for a coffee each and a cake to share. There were two big family groups who had nabbed all the seats, but we weren’t bothered. We walked further down and found a whole line of unused seat on the rise above the bandstand. A perfect place to look out over the estate and enjoy the coffee and the cake and a chance for a selfie!

When we were walking back to the car we met a bloke who asked if I’d taken any good shots. Then he told me he’d spotted a kingfisher beside the Colzium Burn where it runs through a park in the town. He admitted that he hadn’t brought his camera, but I will make sure I take mine the next time I’m in Lidl!

Back home, lunch was tea and toast for Scamp and Brie, Apple and Honey on brown bread. Our own apple too! Lovely and probably much better for us than the usual Sunday fry-up.

Scamp was desperate to cut the back grass, so I kindly let her, then John next door knocked on the door and asked if he could borrow our strimmer. His had broken down halfway through strimming his front grass. I didn’t mind, because I’d volunteered to strim our back grass and that would put off the inevitable.

Unfortunately, John brought the strimmer back and I gave in and strimmed the edges at the back garden. Then I cleaned both the mower and the strimmer and gave them a liberal spray with WD40 and put them away for the winter. It’s unlikely we’ll get another chance to cut the grass this year.

Dinner tonight was Sea Bream with Potatoes, Peas and Sweet Corn. Perfectly cooked by Scamp, of course.

Spoke to Jamie later and discussed plans for next week. All seems to be in order down south and the pair are still keen to get some serious walking done. We’ll just watch!

PoD was indeed the first shot of the day, the beautiful colours of the Acers. The prompt for today was “Dagger”. I drew a Dirk, a Thrusting dagger, Wikipedia calls it. It’s Scots name is Sgian Dubh, meaning Black Knife. This sketch is loosely based on my own Sgian Dubh which I only wear with highland dress at weddings.

No plans for tomorrow, although clearing a bedroom will be on the cards I fear!

Back in the old regime – 14 October 2023

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Driving to Brookfield today for the first class in ages.

Ah, but what a pleasant drive it was. No 40mph stretches of the motorway and no restricted lanes. What a delight that was, but how long will it last before the next phase starts? It doesn’t matter, because at least we had a stressless drive for once.

Not stressless in Brookfield. We started with the Charnwood Cha-Cha which Scamp was at pains to tell me that we’d done it before. I did remember bits of it and eventually it began to flow as it should.

Next was a new dance that was called the Ria Bachata. It was familiar up to a point. The steps were bachata steps, but the speed of the music was far too fast. It was more like a cha-cha bachata. I wasn’t impressed, but apparently we’ll be dancing it at the next ball in November, so we better start practising.

Next up today was the Tango which we learned years ago on Zoom during lockdown. This version was different, much more precise than our simple tango. Also there was a new step to master before the final “X Line” splits! Neither of us can remember its name, but I think we’ll be leaving it out of our tango version.

Finally there was the Foxtrot which I was quite confident at dancing until I came to the Continuous Hover Cross. Despite Stewart demonstrating it with Scamp and Jane dancing it with me, it felt different again from what we learned a couple of years ago. Maybe I just need to go back to those old videos and try to find our version of it. I remember it took me a long time to master it and I don’t want to go through that again.

That may be the last lesson for some time as it seems unlikely that we’ll be going to the next class and the class the week after that has been cancelled because the hall committee are putting up decorations for Halloween.

We drove home and quite a while after lunch I went out to get some photos. Nothing really seemed to be working, but then I saw a man out walking two dogs and managed to frame him between two trees and Bingo! I hd a picture of the day. On the way back from my photo walk I dropped in at Golden Bowl and brought back a Chicken Chop Suey with Fried Rice for Scamp and a Special Chow Mein for me. Both of us agreed that was a good move.

Prompt for the day was Castle. I thought of drawing a real castle, but realistically, the Rook from a chess set would fit the bill as its alternative name is Castle. I drew it while half watching Strictly and that accounts for the poor symmetry of the castle.

Tomorrow it looks like it will be cold as it’s just above 0ºc just now. We might go out for a walk in Colzium to see the colours of the Acers.

Eureka! – 13 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

It worked.

<Technospeak>
I did what I should have done in the first place and read (actually listened to) the instructions on YouTube. The writer of the instructions was Andrew Tsai, a very clever bloke who was the first person I’d heard of who explained how to replace the internal mechanical hard disk in a computer with a solid state drive, an SSD for short. I listened to his instructions this morning and found my mistake. I’d gone for the quick and dirty approach when I should have taken the slow path. That’s what I did. I formatted the old scrambled SSD and then installed the new OS from a specially set up memory stick. That took an hour and a half. I knew I didn’t have time to do the next bit, because it was going to take a lot longer.
<\Technospeak>

By then I’d done Wordle and failed to find the Spelling Bee Pangram while waiting for the ping from the computer to tell me that it had finished the first install. We had a piece ’n’ jam each and got dressed to dance. Then we drove up to the town centre to one of the new churches that used to be a carpet shop next to B&Q, but today was the venue for a Tea Dance. We got there about fifteen minutes after the opening time and by then the room was about three quarters full. Also the car park outside was completely full with minibuses. My heart sank even further than it had yesterday. We WERE going to be the youngest folk in the hall.

There was a band, two guitars, a keyboard and drums and there was a singer. Scamp knew the keyboard player whose name was Alathea and went over to speak to her at the interval. Actually the musicians were really quite good, the singer, not so much. I thought we’d have to leave after half an hour, but eventually found Scamp’s method of tuning out sounds I don’t want to hear, and concentrated on listening to the band. One of the guys who dances at the Wednesday class arrived and we all sat and blethered for a while. We had our tea and a cake and Scamp and I did dance for a couple of tracks, but with a carpeted floor, anything other than a shamble across the floor was out of the question. After that, Jim left and so did we a few minutes later. We did learn that it was a once a year tea dance and the organisers were giving up after this one. I can’t say I blame them. Too many empty tables showing a lack of interest from our age group.

We drove home and I started on the second part of the marathon installation. This time it ran like clockwork and about an hour and a half later I had a working computer again running macOS Monterey. It looks no different to macOS Big Sur which it replaces, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to upgrade Lightroom now!

With only a couple of niggles to fix, I took a walk in St Mo’s to see if I could find anything worth photographing. I didn’t find anything inspiring, so I walked down to the shops and got some mozzarella to top the pizzas I was making for dinner. I took the long way home and risked a photo of the underpass that takes you through to Blackwood. Always something dodgy lying around there, but quite an interesting perspective. That got PoD.

“Rise” was the uninspiring prompt for the day. I ended up drawing a hot air balloon, or a giant light bulb, maybe. That must have been the poorest prompt so far this Inktober.

Tomorrow we’re intending to go to the dance class again, but hopefully the roadworks will now be clear … perhaps!

 

Tinkering – 12 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today I started tinkering about with the innards of the iMac.  Not a clever thing to do.

<Technospeak>
There is a new version of Lightroom just out and I fancied installing it, but my operating system is too old.  I could have just wasted an hour of my time by installing it on the SSD that runs my system, but being a cautious individual where these things are concerned, I thought I’d install it on a backup instead.  It didn’t work because of the technique that was used to build it in the first place.  So, I found a way to use Carbon Copy Cloner to install the system from my working SSD into the backup disk.  That almost worked after an hour of watching a white line crawl across the screen.  I found a fix and that made everything work.  So at this point I had two SSDs, both running the same old system. Now I needed to install the new system, called Monterey for some reason, into the backup SSD (I did warn you.  I did put the <Technospeak> warning up).  After the same hour and a bit it got stuck and so am I.  I am thankful that I didn’t attempt to upgrade the working SSD. At least I have one working drive.  I’ll have another attempt tomorrow, because I think I have cunning plan.

To Be Continued …
<\Technospeak>

Scamp and I went shopping after that.  We both needed our meds from the chemist and Scamp was dropping off used clothes for the Salvation Army, then we went proper shopping on a small scale, just bread, milk and stuff for dinner, plus a bag of doughnuts for me and a packet of rasps for Scamp. Lunch was soup and it was very good.

Later in the afternoon I drove to B&Q to get a bulb for the fridge which thankfully is working fine now and we can even see inside it!  Then I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got a pretty good shot of the sun coming through the trees and that became PoD.  So, morning wasted on tech, but afternoon a better prospect.

Dinner was a hashed up, but perfectly satisfactory chicken and prawn paella. I had another half hearted attempt at fixing the mess I’d made of the SSD, but I was running out of time.

Prompt for today was Spicey (not how I’d have spelled it) and I sketched some of my fiery hot looking chillies for it.  Great chillies that came from Jan’s Vans in Portree, believe it or not!

We may be going dancing tomorrow … in a church of all places.  Only for oldies, none of those under 65 whippersnappers allowed in. My main worry is that we’ll be the youngest dancers there!