Month: December 2023

Two go for a walk – 11 December 2023

Posted on by Zogman

The morning broke with the promise of a fine day, but would it last?

As we watched the clouds break and the sun begin to shine, the decision was made. We would go for a walk. I chose Drumpellier as the likely destination. I know Scamp likes walking in the woods and I do too. It’s usually a place where I can be sure of getting a photo or two, so suited and booted for a walk in the woods, we set off.

By around 10.30 we were walking between the two ponds that make up Lochend Loch. We were walking counterclockwise today, against the normal flow of pedestrians. We took our usual route, choosing the second path that offered us an entrance to the woods. It’s a long straight path that takes you deep into the woodland, then there’s an almost 180º turn and another slightly shorter path before we turned off as we usually do to climb up the long slope to the crest of the hill then down the other side. Every now and again we’d come across a handful of seeds scattered by someone on the side of the path with magpies and the occasional crows making a breakfast of them. We’ve often seen these seeds and wondered if it’s just folk like us, or maybe folk working in the park who put these seeds down.

There are a myriad of paths and trails all the way through the woodland. Some are obviously deer trails and some look as if they are ramblers trails, but we generally keep to the main paths and each of us has their favourites. Today we walked a shorter and less strenuous route than normal, then I suggested we add on a walk round the cricket ground. It’s strange to think that an industrial place like Coatbridge would have a cricket ground in a corner of the woodland, but it’s true. We walked back down the road that would take us back to the loch and from there, back to the car park.

We needed some ‘messages’ and I suggested Morrisons as a change from Tesco. That’s how we came home with three bags full of stuff. Scamp was delighted to find that Morrisons stocked her old favourite fruity sauce. I was delighted to find a bargain bottle of whisky. We both bought more than we really needed, but a change is as good as a rest, some say and we needed a change from Tesco.

I finally bit the bullet and drove up to the town centre to get my hair cut. I swear it took the girl less than five minutes to give me a number 3 on the sides and a number 4 on the top. Then trim my terrifying eyebrows. Worth the £7.90 she asked for, so I gave her a tenner!

While I was out, Scamp had put her fancy new Christmas lights round the wee tree Jamie and Simonne brought from their garden. The clever thing about them is that you set the start time for them, then they stay on for six hours and automatically switch off after that time.  So smart!

I got a few photos today, but my favourite, and PoD, was a view over Lochend Loch with the sky reflected in the still water.

Cleverly, Scamp had turned the chicken stock from yesterday into a small pot of soup by adding more veg. That was dinner tonight with an M&S pizza to fill a wee space if we needed it.

Tomorrow I think Scamp may be meeting June, Shona and Ian. I’m intending to stay at home incase a parcel arrives.

 

In the Toon – 10 December 2023

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Just a flying visit today. It was dull, it was wet and it was miserable. It was Scotland!

I was taking a lens in to WEX to sell it on to some lucky girls or boys who really needed an 18mm f2.8 Samyang FE lens. I imagine they will be clamouring to be the first to get their hands on it, even with the mark-up WEX will put on it.

I took a crowded train in to Queen Street and walked up Bath Street and down the other side in the rain, handed in my boxed lens and got the paperwork, then I was back over the hill again to the city centre in the rain. I walked down Buchanan Street heading for George Square and on the way I took a few shots. Then I thought to myself, “Why bother. You’ve delivered the lens. Just go home.” Sometimes it’s sensible to listen to yourself. I turned in to Queen Street station and had 3 minutes to get through the crowds and on to the Edinburgh express. First stop Croy. I thought the train going in to Glasgow was busy, but this one was rammed!

Phoned home to see if Scamp wanted anything in Tesco, got a negative to that and then drove home to a lunch of bacon and egg washed down with a cup of coffee. I expect my jacket is still dripping!

Two days ago I photographed a poor wee rose bud clinging to its broken branch. It got PoD. Yesterday I cut it down, smashed the end of its stem to let the poor thing take in some water and carefully placed it in a rose vase on the kitchen window sill. It took about fifteen shots to get what I was looking for, but eventually I was happy with the result and today it got PoD for the second time.

Dinner tonight was an experimental Chicken Poached in Chicken Stock with Roast Potatoes, Baby Mushrooms and Multicoloured Veg. Served with a Chicken and Pea Jus. I think Scamp has been watching too much Masterchef the Professionals! It was delightful. I could almost hear that presenter’s breathy delivery with Gregg shouting in the background OH MATE!!!

We watched the sad end of one person’s journey in Strictly. The show is becoming a parody of itself. Not funny anymore, results predetermined. I give it one more season before it’s completely kaput.

Spoke to Jamie and thought he sounded more upbeat than of late, even if their wall might need repaired, but glad to hear that work can now begin again for a week or so.

No plans for tomorrow. I think it might rain!

I think my jacket’s still wet – 9 December 2023

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It was a wet day. Far wetter and duller than we’d hoped we’d get. But we were so fed up with looking out at rain that we drove over to Stirling to see if it was any better there.

Actually, it was better. Certainly not as wet as Cumbersheugh. We had half intended to do some shopping in Waitrose, but there were queues for every parking space and people just crawling round hoping against hope that they’d be the luck on who could nick a space that someone was coming out of. It never happens that way. It’s always the car you’ve just passed that moves and it’s the person behind you that nabs the space. We gave up and drove to the multi. £2.50 to park all day at weekends. I could probably have burned that amount on petrol cruising round the Waitrose car park.

We walked in to Stirling itself and the rain was definitely lighter. Coffee with a panini each and a seat at the window to boot. For once – right place at the right time. Fed and watered Scamp went off to wander the aisles of M&S while I went to the Made in Stirling shop where they sell old lenses and even older cameras. I wasn’t buying today, just taking in some retail therapy. I also found some interesting mountain paintings. Very minimalist. Just two colours it seemed at first, black and white, but on closer inspection there was a whole palette of subdued colours. Must try that some time. I’ll add it to my list of things to do when I’m not taking photos.

I met up with Scamp in the Thistle Centre as agreed and we also agreed that we would forego the retail pleasures in store in Waitrose and just go home. Drove up to Tesco to pick up my pills that today’s email had said were waiting for me, but the pharmacy was closed for lunch. So we drove home.

Later in the afternoon I did get my meds and next door in Tesco I got a bottle of Drambuie to add to my evening whisky to make a Rusty Nail. I even got money off!

I finally hung up my sodden jacket in the boiler cupboard where it could drip and dry in peace over night, while Scamp and I could have a cup of white tea for Scamp and a coffee for me.

I sold my Samyang 18mm f2.8 lens in the afternoon. It’s a good lens, but I just don’t need it any more and the extra money I get from the sale will go to more glass!

Tonight’s dinner was Miso Pork Ramen converted to Miso Chicken Ramen to suit Scamp. It was a bit of a mess, but worth trying again some time, although Scamp isn’t very impressed with the Chinese version of soup.

 

We watched a tedious semi-final of Strictly later. I lost count of the number of times contestants were given a ‘Surprise’ of a video of family members wishing them well. Some of the dancing was good and some was poor. We both have a short leet of possible winners. I’m willing to bet that neither of us is right!

PoD was a photo of a perfectly good, if slightly waterlogged table outside Cafe Nero in Stirling with nobody sit-in at it! I have no idea why! 😉

Tomorrow looks like a re-run of today with more rain and less light. Roll on the 22nd December, the shortest day. After that it should get a bit brighter.

Jags – 8 December 2023

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Today it rained, but thankfully not as heavy nor as continuous as yesterday’s deluge.

I was on the ball this morning, or so I thought. There was a bud on the Alec’s Red rose in the front garden that was on a broken stem. We’d agreed that it was pointless trying to save it and we kept forgetting to cut it. As it wasn’t raining when we woke, once I’d showered and dressed, the first think I did was to grab camera and photograph it. Scamp doesn’t like the idea of photographing dead flowers and I don’t really agree with it either, but this shot appealed to me. I don’t know why, it just did. I took only about half a dozen shots before the rain came and I returned to the safety of the house. One in the bag. After yesterday’s lack of light, I was just pleased to have enough sunlight to take a photo.

After I’d imported the photos and was happy that I did actually have some photos in the bag, I started working on a short leet of photos for the 2024 Calendar. It’s a long winded process, but if I work a month at a time it doesn’t take too long. By the time I’d stopped, I’d completed up to the end of August 2023. Far too many photos, far more than I’d need, but this is the long leet. More culling will reduce it to the short leet from which I’ll choose a maximum of four photos per month. Believe me, it works … in my head, at least.

Lunch today had been booked last week for Brodens which is becoming our go-to lunch venue on a Friday. It’s slightly more expensive than Broadwood Farm, but the food is cooked fresh for you and it just tastes better. Plus I can get a pint of Guinness with my meal, but not today.

Today we were getting our Covid and Flu jags. One in the right arm and one in the left arm. The vaccine place was The Link across from The Tryst at the Town Centre which at least two of my readers will remember, I’m sure. Since I knew I’d be driving later in the afternoon and because of Scotland’s draconian drink driving rules, I knew one pint would put me over the limit.

The Link wasn’t exactly overrun with customers for the jags. It was us two and a bloke called Andy, who lives around the corner for a while before another couple of folk daundered in. We were told after we had our two jags that we hadn’t to drive for 15minutes after our jabs because we wouldn’t be insured if we had an accident. I didn’t think that applied to us, because we’d had jags instead of jabs!

Went to pick up Scamp’s prescription and my B12 prescription from the chemist and waited for half an hour in the queue, only to be told that mine hadn’t arrived from “Central Distribution” yet. That’s what more efficiency organisation gives you, a longer wait for everything!

Scamp watched the final of Professional Masterchef and I must admit I watched it too in amazement at what the three cooks produced.

Later we watched an interesting tongue in cheek ‘documentary’ about the discovery, testing and marketing of Viagra. Lots of double entendres. At times it was like watching an old Carry On film. Who knew that most of the testing was done in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, but it was first sold in America and only much later in the UK.

Tomorrow looks like another day of deluges. We’re looking for somewhere with less rain.

 

 

Rain – 7 December 2023

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It rained all day. Non stop rain. Continuous and soaking rain and it was so dark outside too. Get the message?

Scamp was going out to lunch today with her pal, Mags and I was hoping to get myself a cheap(ish) pair of jeans.

I was also hoping to drive in to Glasgow for an undisclosed shopping expedition. Instead, I chose to drive to The Fort. For once I got parked quickly and went for a walk around the circular shopping area. I didn’t find what I was looking for and thought I’d cut my losses and just do what I’d intended doing to start with and drive down the M8 to Glasgow. However, after I’d walked back to the car, I was soaked, well, I wasn’t, but my jacket was.

Instead of Glasgow, I drove back to Cumbersheugh and got the veg and chicken I needed for tonight’s dinner. That and a Ginsters for my lunch. Then I drove home. Scamp was on her way home on the bus by that time.

I kept hoping that the rain would stop, but I’d seen the weather reports yesterday and had read the forecast on my phone, so I knew it was a forlorn hope. The rain was on for the day.

By the way, I got my jeans and Scamp enjoyed her lunch!

Let’s hope tomorrow is bright, like the Gerbera, but I’d settle for dry!

Coffee again – 6 December 2023

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Out in the morning for the third time this week, but this time it was both of us who were going out.

Scamp was heading for Glasgow to find an undisclosed purchase and I was going for a coffee. I gave Scamp a lift to the station and then managed to pick up a box of Christmas cards and had just enough time to write them before the meeting began

I was meeting Colin and John for coffee in Costa. I think I’ve had my fill now of poor coffee. Not terrible, just not good coffee. But I did have a good blether with Colin and John. I laughed when one of my FPs (Former Pupils) walked past pushing a pram, and who then did a double take at the sight of at least two of her former teachers sitting there. Even worse, she returned to the counter with another FP, presumably to corroborate her discovery that we were still in the land of the living!

After about an hour and a half we were talked out and went our separate ways. I drove home through what must have been freezing fog, I reckon. It certainly wasn’t very pleasant to drive through. I’d had the fog lights on earlier in the day, but didn’t need them on the way back.

After footering about for a while back home and once again praising a central heating system that keeps the living room at a comfortable temperature, I was just thinking about heading over to St Mo’s to grab some misty, if not foggy photos when a message from Scamp arrived on my phone to tell me she was on the bus home. That’s when I realised I was supposed to be making soup for dinner and I hadn’t started it yet.

The early warning gave me about 45 minutes to get going. It was another “What have we got that’s worth cooking” soup which finally settled down to be Leek, Red Pepper, Carrot, Turnip and Kale soup with a handful of Broth Mix added in for good measure. By the time Scamp arrived the soup was simmering nicely and I did go out with the A7 to get some photos.

There had been fog in the morning, but by the time I was in St Mo’s, it had dissipated and the temperature was dropping just like the weather fairies had said. The fog had left a light film of moisture on the branches and berries on the bushes and as the temperature dropped below zero, that moisture became spikes of ice crystals. Very pretty to look at but very cold. I got a few photos of them, but PoD went to a crop of a shot of wildfowl on St Mo’s pond. The crop made it look, to my eyes, like a sort of panorama. I was quite pleased with it. However a black & white image of a man and his dog walking over the boardwalk got more attention on Flickr.

No dance practise tonight because the teacher is crocked. She twisted her ankle when she was out walking her dogs at luchtime.  That’s a pity, because I’m getting to like her style and her classes.  Maybe next week.

We watched the final episode of Shetland and found out who the murderer was as well as discovering how the sorry tale unwound itself. Clever writing, producing, acting and scenery. I’m beginning to feel that I know what Shetland looks like now.

Tomorrow Scamp is out again for lunch this time with Mags and I may take the opportunity to do some painting or to go in to Glasgow. It depends on the weather!

Yet more bloodletting – 5 December 2023

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Today I had my annual checkup with the nurse.

Actually the checkup today was with the sister, as these annual checkups usually are. She checked my BP, then tried it again. On the third try, I asked if there was something wrong and she said my BP was quite low. After she had looked at my record she asked me if I would mind them reducing some of my meds. Mind? I said I’d be delighted. I’ve felt for months if not years that my blood pressure meds are too low and nobody listened, now here was somebody listening. Long story short she has reduced one of my BP meds by half for a month and will monitor it after that. That, and the fact that and having lost a bit of weight and was stabilising at that, was the good news.

The not so good was that my vitamin B12 level was lower than it should have been and the doc wanted to get more blood tests. She took the blood and said the doc would review it in a week or so. So now I wait to see what the doc has to say probably in a phone consultation in a week or so.

It’s always the same when I got for an annual checkup. One good thing and one not so good. That’s life, I suppose.

That left me with the rest of the day to play with, but it wasn’t a playing day, in fact it was dull and dreary. Cold too, with the temperature barely reaching 3ºc. At least it was a positive temperature, not sub zero. We should be grateful for small mercies!

Finally, later than I’d intended the sun broke through the clouds and I dragged myself out to St Mo’s for a walk and hopefully a photo or two. I think I left it just too late for the good light, but I did get some sunset photos of the light through the trees. My favourite, and PoD was a shot over the pond of the gulls and geese circling and trying to find a bit of clear water to land on in the middle of the partly frozen pond.

Tomorrow another early(ish) rise and coffee in Costa with Colin Campbell and John Malley. Looking forward to that.

 

It’s thawing – 4 December 2023

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Finally the rain was falling this morning and the snow was on the back foot.

Snow is great fun if you’re a youngster, but for the rest of us, it’s just something we have to work with until the rain comes or the temperature rises. Thankfully, the rain came today and the snow is all but gone.

I was out this morning for coffee with Fred. We met in Tesco and had a good hour or so’s blether about anything, but mainly we both just had a right good moan about everything. The coffee wasn’t all that bad, certainly better than a standard Costa coffee, but nothing to write home about. When we were done, we bumped into each other again and again doing the shopping round the store, but Fred was pushing a trolley and I was just carrying a basket, so I was finished first by a long way. We said “Cheerio’ and I drove home under a sky that was clearing quite nicely. Then it rained!

After lunch I finally decided that the weather was improving and I headed over to St Mo’s to see what effect the rain was having on the snow. Actually, the hard packed snow on the paths was almost all gone. Whereas in the areas where the snow was undisturbed, was where it was lingering the most. There is probably a good scientific reason for that, there always is, but I don’t understand it.

Back home and after a first run through the photos to weed out the weak shots and the no-hopers, I did a bit of post processing and one or two shots came out looking quite presentable. A wide angle shot over the pond got PoD.

Dinner was another “What have we got in the fridge” sauce with penne pasta. I wasn’t all that impressed with the result, but Scamp was. So I’ll accept that praise.

Today I did the climb up into the loft to find The Snowman table cover that has to come down early and be rolled out on the floor to allow the warmth in the room to soften out all the creases. As I’m sitting looking at it just now, it’s almost perfectly flat again after almost a year in the cold. I suppose being a Snowman table cover it will be used to the cold.

Tomorrow I have another morning appointment, but this time it’s at at the doc’s for may annual check-up. I’m sure the sister will have questions to ask me and I have a few to ask her. Apart from that, we have no plans for tomorrow, but I have a bag of sweeties that I’m hoping I can plunder when I get back!

Just above zero – 3 December 2023

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Not much above zero, but a move in the right direction.

This was another day for not straying far from the warm house. I did go out for a while, but only as far as the garden, wearing wellies. They are quicker to put on and take off than boots and although clumsy, you can tramp through lots more stuff without worrying about water or snow leaking into your socks!

The road outside is passable now, I think. It’s not the going down the hill that bothers me, it’s the coming back up again, especially if it’s icy. But even with that improvement it didn’t encourage me to walk over to St Mo’s just to see the same hard trodden snow and a few weeds fighting to rid themselves of the snowy covering. I suppose I could have taken a few ‘camera on the ice’ shots, but I’m always caution with these pictures. One crack in a thin bit of ice and I’d need a new camera and an almost equally expensive lens. All for a few shots that I’d probably discard in the first cull.

Instead I managed to get a few close ups of desiccated flowers and little bits of colour among the white of the snow. When you’ve been sitting in a warm room for almost two days, you forget just how bitingly cold it is outside. I managed to get three decent photos that would find a place on Flickr and my favourite, and PoD, was the wee bell shaped flowers. I say flowers, but I’m guessing they are really the sepals, that protect the flower buds. Anyway they looked too fragile to survive in this ‘real’ winter that’s suddenly descended on us.

Dinner tonight was Fishcakes for Scamp and Stew and Sausage for me Both served potatoes. The dessert was Scamp’s Christmas Sponge with Amaretto Mincemeat which sounds a strange concoction, but it really works.

A rather cobbled together Sunday Strictly. One person dropped out due to ‘injury’, so he forfeited his place. That meant they had about an hour to fill with anything they could get their hands on, because there was no voting nonsense tonight. It was really quite sad to watch. Too much waffle, too much junk. We turned it off.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard of their problems sleeping in a cold house with a steel roof and no upstairs heating or insulation. I do not envy them that. Jamie was also bemoaning the problems with more planned rail strikes. It’s the drivers this time and while I sympathise with their need for a decent wage for a decent day’s work, it seems that every month there is another group of rail workers going on strike. This seemingly continuous strike action won’t win them any sympathy from the travelling public.
End of rant!

Hoping to meet Fred for coffee and a blether in Tesco tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Hazy – 2 December 2023

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Happy Birthday Hazy.

Unbeknown to us, during the night, Mother Nature had seen fit to dump at least 40mm of snow on us. We didn’t ask for it, but then again, we didn’t pay for it, but it would have been only polite to tell us that it was coming. Admittedly, the weather fairies had been telling us for a week or so that it was snow was on the way, but to paraphrase Lou Reed “You can’t alway believer your weather fairies.”

As well as that, it was Hazy’s birthday today. That gives me yet another chance to say Happy Birthday Hazy! As if I needed another opportunity for that. Once Scamp and I had sung the obligatory Happy Birthday song we had a chance to sit and talk to her. Our conversation covered many topics like Neil getting ready to go to a wedding and bow ties for koalas. Just don’t ask. It would take too long to explain it. That was a great way to start the day.

I was fairly eager to go out and get some photos in the snow. Only ’fairly’ because I was eager to take some photos, but the weather machine was predicting low temperatures. But I dressed for the season and even wore my knee length gaiters, as well as boots, lined walking trousers, thick cardigan and double layer Berghaus jacket. If you’ve got to face the frozen snowy wastes of Scotland, do it comfortably.

The road into St Mo’s hadn’t been ploughed or gritted and was treacherous to walk on, as was the norm. The paths with the less hard packed snow was easier to walk on and I love the Crump, Crump, Crump as the snow moves on the boardwalk. Three lenses with me. One long, one medium and one very short. All were used and over 70 photos taken. For once, not very many of them were rejected in the first cull, but I’m sure more will follow on the second run through. PoD went to a photo of a lone tree in a grassy area of St Mo’s. The tree has a lovely shape, bent and twisted, and it stood out well against the sky. It was a good walk, but even although I was well wrapped up, I was feeling the cold when I was walking home.

Two pieces ‘n’ flat sausage for lunch warmed me up and so did the big long radiator in the living room. Most of the afternoon was spent raking through the photos and finding a group of them good enough for Flickr. Eventually I settled of three.

Dinner tonight was re-heated chilli from Thursday. It tasted good, but I had to agree with Scamp that it lacked texture. Certainly worth trying again.

We watched ‘Strictly’ and, as usual, disagreed with panel’s votes.

Tomorrow if the roads are clear we may go out for a run somewhere. Somewhere not too snowy if that’s possible.