Month: June 2025

It’s been a long time – 10 June 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today we had agreed to visit the Kelpies. It’s been a long time since we last went to see the big horses.

Today we woke to sunshine and blue skies. That made a nice change from the grey skies and rain we’ve been looking at for the last few weeks. Scamp was looking for more flowers for the garden too, so that gave us two places to visit.

We went to find some flowers first and our destination was Klondyke garden centre near Grangemouth. They always have a good selection of plants, possibly too many, because there is limited space in the boot of the Blue car. I can’t really complain, though, because I got a couple of flowers too. Scamp found one of the grasses she’d been looking for. Its proper name is Stipa tenuissima or Pony Tails grass. It’s to be a memorial to June. A nice idea to remember her. She says that June will be able to wave to her in the morning.

After we’d paid for the plants, we headed to Helix Park, home of the Kelpies – The Big Horses. The Kelpies were looking magnificent today, shining brightly in the sunshine. Such a pity they built the Helix Park beside a sewage works. The stink today was awful. It’s the first time I’ve noticed it, but you could hardly ignore it.

We had a coffee in the restaurant. I was supposed to get scones to go with the coffee, but I decided to share a sandwich instead. Scamp was not amused. To make it up to her, I bought us both a ’99’ ice cream cone. That seemed to do the trick.

We drove home after admiring the Kelpies and getting a few new views of them. PoD went to two ladies discussing what was going on inside the great beasts.

Scamp set to and got most of the flowers and plants into their place later in the afternoon, but I’m sure there might still be time to shuffle them around later in the week.

We have no plans for tomorrow, but we do need to take some stuff to the tip. Not very interesting, but it needs to be done.

Another damp, dismal, day – 9 June 2025

Posted on by Zogman

More or less what we expected after reading the weather report and checking online. It’s a Monday. Mondays are often dull. We had to cancel the visit to the Kelpies. I don’t think they’d be coming out anyway today.

With a lot of help from Scamp, I parcelled up my unwanted, too narrow and too short, dance sneakers, then drove over to UPS and gave the box and the proof of posting to the lady there and she said everything was in order. It’s up to UPS and Amazon now to do the rest of the business.

Next was a trip to Tesco for the usual lunch requirements. I did think about going for a walk in St Mo’s, but the constant showers didn’t encourage me to go walking in the rain. Instead I read a few more pages in my latest book, Murder Mindfully. It’s described as a the darkly comic bestselling thriller. I don’t know about the best seller, but it’s certainly very dark and at times funny. About a third through it now and I’m still not sure what’s going on or where it’s going!

I took some photos of the next batch of partly dried flowers that landed on the mat a couple of days ago. Then it was time to get ready to go to Kirsty’s class. Tonight we were reprising Waltz Nioli. I’d forgotten just how much I had forgotten. This was the dance class wearing my new dance sneakers and I must say they were very comfortable. I’d been told by a lot of folk that they make you think you have nothing on your feet and now I see exactly what they mean. Lovely, light trainers.

Drove home through more rain and around 7pm we had our dinner which was Giovanni Rana Tortelloni pasta and yesterday’s refried baby potatoes. Very nice and filling too.

After dinner I took some more photos of the flowers, but it was one of the earlier ones that got PoD.

Tomorrow we may have another chance to see the big horses, if they’re not too rusty.

It’s raining again – 8 June 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Us humans are never truly happy. Last month we were complaining about the heat and the likelihood of their being a drought. This week we’re complaining because it’s raining.

Today I was waiting for another pair of dance trainers. I ordered a pair just over a week ago and they arrived last week, but were the wrong size when they arrived. Yesterday I found a pair online that were the recommended size (one half size larger than normal) and promptly ordered them, expecting to wait another week before they would be delivered, but no, they would be delivered today! Hooray!

It was one of those days when the sun shines in the morning, but before afternoon there is a gradual darkening of the sky and then the rain comes thumping down, only for the sun to come out later and the cycle to begin again.

Scamp took advantage of a dry spell to cut the grass in the back garden, or to be more exact, to strim the grass in the back garden. Strimming the grass is quite a lot quicker than using the lawn mower, and, as Scamp will tell you, cleaning a strimmer is much quicker than cleaning a mower. Once she was finished, we went for a walk round the front garden and Scamp laid out her plans for removing the plants that have passed flowering and also for what will replace them. Just as we were finishing, the Amazon man handed me a big brown paper box, quite like a shoe box actually!

In trepidation, I tried the trainers and although they might be a little bit big, they will work perfectly well. Light as a feather and worth every penny. I’m hoping I’ll get a chance to wear them tomorrow to Monday dance class.

I went for a walk around St Mo’s and almost got it dry all the way. Just a ten minute shelter under some trees when the rain came on, but otherwise ok. A little branch with some Hawthorn leaves and berries looking like a miniature Bonsai got PoD.

After a lot of disagreements, we settled on Sea Bass and potatoes for Scamp’s dinner and Lamb Burgers and potatoes for mine. Dessert was meringue nests with strawberries, raspberries and cream. Lovely.

Spoke to Jamie and told him all about Scamp’s scan. Then we heard all about their 80 visitors to the Open Garden project. They also took part in a Bake Off game where they had to bake a cake and also amongst other things, a batch of macarons. I wonder what Jamie’s gran would have thought of that!

Tomorrow I think we may be going to look at a couple of horses.

Another fairly early rise for us dancers – 7 June 2025

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Up and out by 9.45am to join the M80 then the M8 and trundle along through torrential rain to Brookfield and a fairly large dance class. The last one for a fortnight.

First dance was the Charnwood cha-cha. Actually a routine we are fairly au fait with. A gentle cha-cha that doesn’t stress you too much and works quite well. Next was a short Foxtrot which again didn’t put us under too much pressure, mainly because we’d done most of it before.

A break for a sequence dance was next, Scamp’s favourite, the Tina Tango, the Ed Sheeran version. We’ve danced it so many times, I sometimes think I can get through the routine blindfolded – but I can’t! After that it was Rona’s Rumba. It’s not my favourite rumba routine, but Jane wrote it for a friend of hers who died recently after a short illness and it’s just a case of learning it for her and Rona’s sake.

We just had to slide in a House of Bamboo for all the line dancers in the class. At least it’s one of the dances where people smile as they dance it, not at all like Waltz Across Texas, a terrible dirge of a dance.

We finished up with the Mayfair Quickstep which isn’t a real quickstep, but gets you moving round the floor at quite a pace.

We said goodbye to everyone and drove home again to even more heavy rain. This was probably the last dance class for a couple of weeks … thankfully. Having said that, I did actually enjoy the class and clarified some of the routines with help from Jane.

Easy run home and just when I thought I’d go out for a walk, the rain returned with a vengeance. It was that sort of day. I did remember to wish Jamie and Simonne a good day with their Open Gardens day. The house and gardens did look grand in the photos he sent. Well done you pair!!

PoD was taken in the garden and is another Schoolgirl photos, but taken in the back garden this time, after the last rain shower.

Today’s dinner was a take on Chicken & Pea tray bake. This time it was a spiced up version with skin on, bone in chicken thighs with potato wedges and red onions. This was our first attempt at it, but we agreed it needed some refinement.

No real plans for tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

A bit of a wasted day – 6 June 2025

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A day when the cloud cover hinted at rain in the wind, but the deluge never really got going.

Scamp went out to FitSteps in the morning and I’d intended spending the morning clearing up my expenses, but instead I used up most of my free hour reading.

We were supposed to have an Amazon parcel delivered in the early afternoon, but for whatever reason, by the delivery time had disappeared, I had a message to say it wouldn’t be delivered until late afternoon. That sort of spoiled our day, but Scamp took it as a challenge to haul out the strimmer and tidy up the edges of the front garden. Not to be outdone, I dug out spades full of compost from the bottom of the back garden compost bin to fill up the potato bags and pail. Most of the compost was very well rotted and simply crumbled through my hands. I dug out enough of the compost to fill two potato bags and one potato bucket. That should help to produce a decent crop of potatoes later in the year.

I had a few spaces in the raised bed, so rather that leave it barren, I planted out some leeks. I’d planted some about a month ago and they were looking quite good considering they had been in the ground all through those hot days of May. I’m hoping the new planting will also begin to show in a week or two.

Dinner tonight, we agreed, would be fish and chips from the Condorrat chip shop. I walked there and on the way remembered I was going to photograph a lovely big rhododendron bush that was growing wild beside the path. I even managed to get a bee’s bum sticking out of one of the florets! PoD sorted. The fish ’n’ chips were good, but not the best I’ve ever tasted. Could do better IMO Condorrat.

My parcel from Amazon which held a pair of dance trainers arrived as we were starting our fish and chips, and after that wait, they were just slightly too short. I’ll send them back tomorrow.

Tomorrow we’re intending to go to Saturday dance class but without my new dance trainers. 🙁

The weather fairies get it wrong – 5 June 2025

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The weather fairies predicted that today would be worse than yesterday with 100% chance of rain. It was cold, but it was dry almost all day. Sometimes even the weather fairies get it wrong.

We went out to meet Isobel for coffee and a blether in Costa. It was a cold wind blowing across the car park, but for once it was warm in Costa. Scamp spent the first half hour showing Isobel the photos from our visit to Hazel & Neil. I just sat there and added the occasional comment. Then Scamp explained the scan process to Isobel and answered all her questions. When both of them were talked out, Isobel went off to the bank and then went shopping.

We drove to our nearest Tesco and collected a trolley full of provisions for the coming week, or at least part of it. Back home it was lunch time. After that, Scamp started pruning some of the straggling branches from bushes and fading flowers, while I put new batteries in the string of lights round the rowan tree. I think it’s wrapped up in enough tape to make the battery box watertight, at least I hope it is. I’ll do the switch on later in the evening.

While Scamp was starting a new jigsaw, I took the A7iii out for a walk in St Mo’s and got a few decent photos of a bright green Cucumber Spider. Hadn’t seen one last year, but at least I got one today. I was quite pleased with that. While I was out I wandered down to the shops and bought some chocolate for Scamp and a cake each for us.

Dinner tonight was an absolutely delightful Prawn & Pea Risotto that Scamp made. It was light with creamy rice that was just al dente and no more flavoured with lemon and mint. I could never achieve that level of delicacy.

PoD went to that Cucumber Spider.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending to go to FitSteps. I’m intending doing some banking!  Pocket money banking.

Westward Ho – 4 June 2025

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Today we were going west. Along a great road. In fact we were on the Great Western Road to Gartnavel Hospital to drop Scamp off for her brain scan.

I was glad I didn’t listen to my, now dodgy, sat nav as it tried to direct me through a line of bollards and then a steel barrier onto a road that no longer exists. In fact, a road that hasn’t existed for about 10 years. That’s what’s good about Nissans. Their technology make life more interesting. The sat nav was trying to direct us off at junction 17 of the M8, when we knew we should leave by junction 18. The rest was fairly well know to us from when we went dancing twice a week along Woodlands Road. Not exactly on the road, but in a building, just off Woodlands Road!

I dropped Scamp off at the hospital and as she was happy to go into the hospital alone and there were no spaces in the car park anyway, I drove back into the centre of Glasgow and parked in the JL car park.

I was too early to meet Alex, so I thought I’d have a wander through town first. That was before I saw the sheets of rain being blown down the street. Maybe it would be best to walk through the car park and over the covered bridge to Buchanan Galleries. From there I only had to cross the road to get to the bus station where Alex would arrive about 20 mins later.

The bus station is busy and a great place for people-watching. That’s what I ended up doing. “All human life is here” was a leader in the Times Literary Supplement some years ago and it can certainly be applied to train stations, airports and bus stations. Watching folk coming and going some carefully consulting their watches when connections are simply not connecting. My connection worked today when Alex strode along the concourse.

We walked down to Nero and discussed our plans for today. We agreed to do our usual walk down Buchanan Street, on through St Enoch’s Square and down to the Clyde Walkway to see what new graffiti there was. The answer was, not a lot. I’m guessing the rain that had fallen during the last week would make outdoor painting difficult, if not impossible.

I got a message around about then to say that everything was going well. Her injection had been in the back of her hand and she was now going to wait for it to spread through her body.

We on the other hand walked on past the St Andrews Church and further still until I found an old cobbled street that I recognised as Paddy’s Market. The market’s name originated with the large numbers of Irish immigrants who came to Scotland in the early 19th century, and I remembered it as a dirty alleyway where much wheeling and dealing went on. Now it’s just a cobbled street with some poor quality, but colourful graffiti adorned the walls. The view down through Paddy’s Market made PoD.

From there we walked up to Paesano for lunch. We agreed that it was one of the best pizzas we’d had. Quite, quite delicious. We had a look through the GOMA, but there wasn’t much to see there so we headed round the corner and had a coffee in Costa. Just then I got a message saying Scamp was on the bus back into town. I’d told her I would collect her, but Scamp is her own woman. Always has been.

We three sat and talked about the day in town and in Gartnavel and then we all headed home. Scamp was keeping her distance because she had been warned that the injection could be slightly contagious and she didn’t want Alex carrying it in to the house. Very thoughtful.

We split up at JL we were going to get the car from the car park and Alex was heading for the bus. A strange thing happened when we went to pay for our parking. I was parked on level 6 but I tried to pay on level 1, but I, and everyone else on level1, got the same message that card was rejected. We walked up to level 2 and got the same result. In fact, everyone had the same problem. Then one girl showed us where the help button was. We pressed it and before we could explain to the operator that the machine wasn’t working, he told us to go straight to the exit because the gate would be open for us due to a system error!! That saved us £14 for the day’s parking!! Wasn’t that nice! A lovely way to end the day.

Tomorrow we may visit Isobel in the morning for coffee and a blether.

A late rise – 3 June 2025

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One of those days when we never heard the alarm clock go off.

Maybe that was because we didn’t set the alarm clock in the first place. In fact, I’m not sure we still have an alarm clock, but if we did have, we wouldn’t have heard it this morning.

After breakfast, and after Wordle et al, we drove over to Go Outdoors in Coatbridge, to search for a pair of trainers, nice cheap(ish) ones, like the ones I’d tried on and rejected in the same chain, in Kingston. It took a bit of searching, but I eventually found what I was looking for and this time I didn’t reject them. They seemed to fit perfectly for a change.

When we got back in the car I tried to set our next destination on the sat nav, which was Currys for a new tablet for Scamp. That was when the sat nav went bonkers. It decided that we were actually in France and then somewhere down Africa way. I tried switching the engine off, counting to ten and trying again, with the same result. Eventually I gave in and drove to the Currys by memory. Switched the engine off and locked the car.

We found the tablet Scamp had sourced on the internet and bought it in Currys. Then we did some shopping for something that would work for tonight’s dinner across the car park in Tesco. That should give the car and sat nav enough time to cool its wheels and settle down to work. It did. It gave us the correct directions to take us home. I’ve not got a clue what caused that mishap. It’s the first time I’ve experienced it.

I drove to Tesco in the town centre for petrol and Scamp searched unsuccessfully for a new dress, then we went home. Just got stopped and parked at the house when the skies opened and we were in the middle of a downpour. Nearly got soaked walking from the car to the house. That was the first of many such downpours today, in fact, as I’m writing this, another one is starting. Such strange weather.

Quite a fiery chicken curry for dinner that was cooled down with an ice lolly as a dessert.

PoD was a photo of a Lupin plant in the garden. I always liked the strong colours of lupins. If you find the photo on Flickr and can go back one step, you’ll find a photo of one of the London Parakeets that fly in gangs around the city.

Tomorrow Scamp and I are intending to drive to Glasgow for her scan, and after dropping her off, I’m hoping to meet Alex.

A cold day – 2 June 2025

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Well, I felt it was cold even although Scamp didn’t seem to agree.

While she was out planting and pruning plants I was in communication with Hazy trying to fix the on-line problem. Late last night I thought I’d found the solution. In fact I’d actually found the problem, but with a bit of help from Hazy it became more easy to understand what was going on. I say that, but it took me a few hours to get my head round it properly.

I ended up leaving it to the expert and sat and read for an hour or so in the afternoon, while Hazy dug deeper into the problem and Scamp started pruning her plants into a better shape. I wonder, do all women have this innate ability to be calm in the face of adversity? Probably they do.

Got a message from one of the tea dancers for a photo of the Japanese Garden for his wife to paint. That took my mind off my digital problems for an hour or so trying to source the original.

In the late afternoon we went to Kirsty’s class to be faced with the Viennese Waltz. We’d learned part of it from Stewart & Jane a few months ago and it was doable. The tempo was suited to absolute beginners and the steps were easily accomplished. Not today and not under Kirsty’s tutelage. After a couple of circuits I was out of breath and Scamp was feeling dizzy. If you watch it on Strictly, it looks so easy and the speed is not a problem. How different it is when you try to dance it. For the first time ever, we left the class early. I don’t want to see another Viennese Waltz again.

Dinner was a pizza, a small one. Then the message I was waiting for from Hazy. She’d done most of the work required to remove most of the problems and had in fact removed the remaining bits and pieces. I really don’t know how she can do all that. Amazing. Between us we wrote out or reply. Hopefully we’ll know tomorrow what the result is.

PoD was a shot of Scamp’s Thalictrum plant. It’s a lovely plant with soft pink flowers that bob nicely in the breeze.

Thankfully we’ve just been given the all-clear by the host company. A weight off my mind!

Webmonkeys Rule!!

Maybe looking for a pair of trainers tomorrow.

A lazy Sunday gone bad – 1 June 2025

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It started as a normal Sunday, then it deteriorated into a bit of a mess.

It rained for a while, then the weather fairies took charge and turned the taps on full blast for most of the morning. It was on and off for the rest of the day. In the afternoon I did manage to get out during a short dry spell and grabbed today’s PoD which was a shot of Fiery Tempest a brilliant scarlet red Geum which manages to bounce back from the buffeting wind that is channelled down between the houses.

Dinner tonight was Mushroom and Chicken in Pasta an invention of Scamp’s that went down very nicely with a bottle of South African red wine.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about the preparations for the Open Gardens show down south. It sounds like a great idea at first, but there is an enormous amount of work involved.

Watched a bad tempered Spanish F1 GP. Lots of seemingly pointless crashes at high speed. Just cool down guys!

Halfway through talking to Jamie, I realised I had a worrying message on my phone to the effect that I was breaking one of the rules of the hosting company. Phoned Hazy and the upshot is that she seems sure she can fix it. What would I do without a Webmonkey?

Tomorrow, I’ll dig deeper into this morass … provided I get some sleep tonight.