Month: August 2025

The Constant Gardener – 31 August 2025

Posted on by Zogman

That’s not me, it’s Scamp!

I’m the one who mixes up the compost and sometimes gets the proportions wrong. I’m the one who makes a mess all over the clean, freshly cut grass. I’m the one who forgets where he put the trowel, spade, fork etc. Mainly, I’m the labourer. I carry the pots from the front garden to the back and sometimes from the back to the front. I don’t mind. Scamp’s the clever one. She remembers the names of all the flowers, but I know which of the beasties will nip you and which won’t! Between us we get the garden growing.

Today we were splitting up the Primula Candelabra into two separate plants, repotting the colour changing ’Switch Ophelia’ we also repotted a few of the newly purchased plants from last week. We dug up the potatoes from the first of the big ‘tattie bags’ and were disappointed by the size and quantity of the potatoes themselves. We’d hoped they would be bigger, but the soil they were growing in was a bit dry and dusty because of the lack of decent rain during July and August. Hopefully now that we’ve had almost a week’s worth of rain, the next crop will be better, providing they haven’t become sodden and rotted.

I went out for a walk in the afternoon over to St Mo’s and across the football pitches, hoping for some decent shots of butterflies, but there were very few on the wing today. There were some Peacocks, but none of the more exotic butterflies I’d seen a few days ago. A little drone fly on a Scabious flower got PoD. On the way back I managed to find a couple of grams of brambles that may go into a dessert some day.

Dinner was Chicken Milanese with potatoes and Scamp’s special veg mixture. Very nice it was too. Pudding was Rhubarb Crumble made with a mix of Jamie’s rhubarb and some of our own.

We spoke to Jamie later and heard about final preparations for their visit north to go to a wedding next week. Sounds like an awfully long way to go for a couple of nights. However, they are intending to meet Andrew. Oh to be a fly on that wall!

Tomorrow Scamp and I may go looking for a bread bin that will fit into a corner of our kitchen.

Dancin’ – 30 August 2025

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Back to dancing on a Saturday morning. At last!

We drove through fairly heavy traffic for a Saturday morning and found a very busy dance floor in Brookfield. Lots of faces I’d seen at Evening Socials as well as the occasional Tea Dance.

Today’s recipe was Dancing Tango to Shivers, just to warm us up, then the despicable House of Bamboo which I can now stagger round the floor at, then it was into Real Dancin’. That means Waltz. I admit I have difficulty seeing the actual Waltz in these compositions of Jane’s. This one floored me until I started listening to Scamp’s descriptions, then it began to filter through my head enough for me to direct my feet to, if not the sunny side of the street, at least the right place on the dance floor. With that said, I don’t think I’ll be adding that ‘waltz’ to my dance repertoire any time soon.

I think it was a wee bit of fluff next before we headed into the second serious dance of the morning, the Cha-Cha. I did almost manage to catch up with moves, most of which I could remember from previous Cha-Cha sessions. It was a middle range dance. By which I mean it wasn’t as embarrassing as the House of Bamboo, nor as difficult as the Waltz. It wasn’t all that fast, certainly not as fast as I’ve seen it danced. After all, it was a Latin dance and most of them are fast. A couple of short sequence dances and we were done for the day. No dance next week because the teachers are off on a week’s holiday.

Drove home through three lanes of crawling traffic cursing my change of direction until we saw the length of the queue for the Kingston Bridge, then I didn’t feel so foolish, because I’d chosen the M74/M73 as my chosen route.

Stopped at M&S for lunch supplies and then parked the car and watched the rain falling. The later it was, the heavier the rain. I gave up on the idea of taking an outside photo, then decided that if I wrapped the A6500 in cling wrap, I could get a few photos of the apple tree in the garden without getting it wet. Me? Yes, I was wet, but as someone said, we have waterproof skin!

Watched the Dutch qualification for tomorrow’s GP. Nice to see some crazy driving again.

PoD was one of the photos from the cling wrapped A6500, with some raindrops on the fruit.

May go out somewhere tomorrow if the weather plays nice which is unlikely according to the weather fairies.

Out early again – 29 August 2025

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I’m getting fed up with having to get up and out, and it looks like the dance teachers are home again and we need to go to class tomorrow morning too. It’s just too much. We older folk need out sleep too.

It was a dry morning as most mornings are just now, but by afternoon the rain clouds came rolling in and the day deteriorated.

What I did do today was drive Scamp to her FitSteps class, then I drove to the health centre to pick up some bits and pieces the doctor had left for me. After that I drove back home, filled the test bottle with smelly pee and took it back to the health centre for the nurses to analyse, the second time I’ve had to do it, recently. Maybe they just like the smell of pee!

Back home, and after I’d washed my hands a few times, just to be sure, I made a cup of coffee and settled down to solve the New York Times puzzle selection. We’ve both paid our dues an paid for the puzzles for a year. It’s not something I thought I’d be doing, paying for the right to solve a puzzle, but it has become quite popular with Scamp and me this year.

Scamp made Chick Pea and Spinach Curry from the Mowgli book and it was almost as good as mine. A few things were different, but the main part of it was really good, just not as good as mine (Hopefully Scamp won’t read that)

Today’s PoD was a bunch of pale pink flowers called ‘Daboecia’ or Irish Heath that are sitting on the back step. Another of my wife’s acquisitions, although I admit I had a hand in the choosing of them. They reminded me of Lily of the Valley. Fourteen photos taken and only one saved. The rest went in the bin, or will do soon, I think.

Another problem with the new iMac was put to bed tonight when I successfully sent half a dozen photos to Alex for him to crit. We don’t tear each other’s photos to pieces in a crit, It’s just a gentle nudge to say “I’m not really jealous … Honest)

Tomorrow, as I’ve said we are intending to go to dance class in the morning. Maybe we will stop off at IKEA on the way home. We need a new bread bin and Ikea is probably one of the cheapest places. Scamp also wants to buy a bed sheet. In a clever bit of marketing, Ikea make nice wide beds, but not to standard sizes which means you have to buy an Ikea sheet to fit your Ikea bed. Clever!

Another mixed up day – 28 August 2025

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But a day that got results too.

I was out just after 8am today to take the Blue car for a service at a garage in the other end of town. Delivered it and was told I’d get a call when it was ready to collect. Got a taxi back to the house and settled down to wait. I hadn’t dealt with this garage before, but knew one of the owners and was sure he was genuine, Besides, I knew where he lived!

My phone rang at 10.30am to say the car was fine and the service was complete, I could pick it up any time. Scamp had some business to do in the town, so we took a taxi to the garage, paid for the service, picked up the keys and drove back to the town centre. An hour and a bit later we came out with smiles on our faces, a brochure in our hands and the promise that we would go on holiday this year, DV.

Next stop was Tesco for some food and veg to fill up our depleted stock in the fridge and freezer and a bottle or two of beer and wine. When we came out, the sparkling of the roads was evidence of another rain shower we’d just missed.

Back home, we discussed our options and agreed we’d made the correct choice. While Scamp checked the details, I took a camera over to Condorrat where I bought us two small fish suppers. On the way there I got a few photos of bees on the Scabious flowers. I always feel that scabious gets a raw deal. It sound so like Scabby, and these are pretty blue balls on a stem and not at all scabby! One of the photos got PoD.

Tonight we watched another episode of Masterchef that was less than riveting and that is where we are now.

The new computer is working out well. Most things are behaving as they should and the speed of processing photos in Lightroom is quite astounding. My external hard drive is almost full, so I may need a new one soon to become another storage device for this year’s photos.

Tomorrow we may go out to lunch, if the weather sorts itself out. I’ve a few odds and ends to do at the health centre first, but I can probably get them done in the morning, once Scamp is off to FitSteps.

  • 28 August 2025

More rain – 27 August 2025

Posted on by Zogman

We still need more of the wet stuff, just for the plants and the poor frazzled grass.

The rain didn’t start until after midday. Scamp was already out and about meeting Shona for coffee and a blether in Costa. I stayed home and managed to write a wee message to Ray, who’s going through a hard patch just now. Then I caught up with Fred who was just getting home from a shopping trip to Costco. We had a fairly long chat about anything and everything. As usual we finished off by telling each other that we really should meet up for coffee some time soon, but rarely have the time to do it.

By the time I was signing off with Fred, Scamp was returning from her meeting with Shona and I’m glad to say that Scamp says she’s looking much better now that a load has been lifted from her back. She’s another one I should really give some time to.

After that Hazy was on the phone wanting to know what was happening Up North. We’d lots of things to tell her as she had lots of things to tell us. Hope Neil gets some relaxing time before school starts again next week, Hazy.

By the time we’d made all our phone calls and conversations, it was nearly dinner time. I’m struggling with trying to get my new computer speak nice with my old laptop. Especially where Adobe is concerned. I’ve already found that I’ve got a rogue Lightroom app floating around the old laptop. I may have managed to shoot it down today, but Adobe is such a twisted app, I’m not sure I’ve got rid of everything. If all else fails, I’ll get a bit of software that should allow me to store last month’s and this month’s photos without spending another fortune.

What I think I have done is get Adobe to get its ducks in a row and allow the Gmails to get working again. It wasn’t too difficult in the end. Just a case of taking my time (for once) and reading the instructions (which I rarely do)

PoD was a long-lens shot of Seagulls on the roof of a house behind us. I don’t know why we call them Seagulls, because very few of these scavengers have even seen the sea.

Tomorrow I’m intending taking the car to a garage for a service. I think it will need it.

The Rain Came – 26 August 2025

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At last, the long awaited rain came during the early hours of this morning.

I almost believe the flowers and plants in the garden were cheering when those first splashes hit. We’ve had the odd shower or two over the summer months, but today it was a deluge for a while. After that the clouds disappeared and the sun shone, then everything dulled down and a second downpour started. After that there were more showers, but not as heavy nor as long as those first two. The weather fairies are now predicting further showers, some heavy and some light in the coming weeks. Hope you down south folk get your share of the rain.

We drove over to Tesco after the first shower because Scamp wanted more compost to fill those green tubs we bought yesterday. The good thing about buying the compost from Tesco as opposed to garden centres is that Tesco stores their compost bags under the glass shelter at the front of the shop, at least that’s what happens in our Tesco shops. That means the compost bags are much lighter than those in the garden centres where the bags are stacked outside in the rain. I often think that in rainy, wintry weather, some of the goodness is washed out of the bags stacked outside.

I was due a telephone appointment with a doctor from the health centre this afternoon, some time after 2pm, I’d been told. My phone rang just after 6pm. The sister at my recent annual checkup had noted that my iron levels were a bit low and passed the message over to one of the doctors. I’d been given a course of Folic Acid and Ferrous Fumarate. Both seem to bolster the amount of red blood cells in the body. One pill in the morning and another in the evening. That’s in addition to the other pills I’m taking.
I’ve been taking both for about a month now and despite everything being normal in my results, the doc wants me to do the same test again in a month, just to make sure everything is normal. It was my turn to cook tonight and I added some spinach to the pasta to give us both some extra iron. If it’s good enough for Popeye, it’s good enough for me!

PoD was a photo of our latest addition to our garden furniture. ‘Crazy Chicken’ seems happy enough in the back garden, even in the rain!

Tomorrow Scamp is intending meeting Shona for a blether, but I’ve got to get more pills and I’ve even more tests to do.

Looking for plant pots – 25 August 2025

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Out looking for plant pots and came home with a chicken.

We slept last night with just a duvet cover on top of us. Too warm for the actual duvet itself, so the cover provided all the warmth we needed. The weather is due to break in the next few days according to the weather fairies, hopefully that will mean that the weather will return to real Scottish weather. Cold and wet.

Scamp was looking for half a dozen plant pots for the back garden, so we drove to Torwood Garden Centre to source some. A lot of the plant pots we have have suffered in the recent weather. The pots being plastic are easily damaged by bright light. It makes them brittle and it won’t be the first time I’ve picked up a pot and had the bottom fall out of it and be left with just the rim in my hands. Like everything, plastic doesn’t last for ever.

We found exactly the pots Scamp wanted almost right away, so I volunteered to get a trolley because I just knew by the look in her eye that more things would be going into that trolley before the day was through, and I was right. A raspberry bush, pansies, wallflowers some black kale plants, a pot of heather and a chicken. All went into the trolley along with lots of other things.

Once we got them all into places in the boot and the back seat of the car, we went for cup of coffee for me and peppermint tea for Scamp. Then we shared a tipsy cake, tipsy in name only I think because this was a No Alcohol tipsy cake. I’m sure tipsy cakes used to have a distinct whiff of alcohol about them, or maybe I was dreaming.

Drove home via a narrow road just outside Haggs. I wanted to get some photos of the Forth & Clyde canal from one of the locks. I got the shot, but the real interest was a red tractor in a field next to the canal being loaded up with hay bales, presumably for silage. The bloke who was driving the tractor, was also carting the bales onto a low loader with a forklift attachment to the tractor. The light was constantly changing and I duly took around twenty shots from different angles and in different lights. That gave me some photos to turn into a PoD. I was really quite taken with them.

Back home and with the pots, flowers and of course the chicken safely unloaded, it was nearly time for Kirsty’s dance class.

Today was part 4, the final part of the rumba routine. This was the most complicated part so far, but by the end of the hour I was beginning to see how it hung together with parts 1 – 3.

Tomorrow I have a phone consultation with a doctor from the health centre to see how I’m getting on with my two lots of iron tablets.

The chicken has been named Crazy Chicken and is 100% ceramic! It lives in the back garden under some bushes.

Moving up – 24 August 2025

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Today I took a deep breath and moved my catalog on to the new iMac. It caused a bit of an upheaval, but it seemed to work, or most of it worked. Still some things to iron out, but the main work is now done. The old iMac had been taking a fair bit of a pounding and every time I touched one of the SSD cables it seemed to lose another chunk of its memory.

It was a very dull day today until early evening when the skies lightened and the sun actually shone for a while. In the morning Scamp and I took it in turns to lug watering cans of that life-giving fluid round the front and back garden. Since the expected hosepipe ban isn’t in force yet, we decided to be good citizens and carry the water to the plants. They seemed to perk up after a quick drink. We’re hoping it will be enough until the promised rain comes later in the week.

Dinner for Scamp was Cauliflower Steak and for me was a ‘real’ steak. The Cauliflower one tasted good with two flavourings, but mine was tough and chewy. It might have been my cooking or it might have been an old tough bit of beef. It may be the last time I buy one of M&S’s fancy named steaks. I’ll stick to tried and tested sources, like the local butcher’s.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about Vixen’s new swimming pool in a smaller venue from her last one. Then, almost immediately, Simonne replied with a couple of photos. One of Vixen swimming and another of her just standing staring at the camera as if saying “Is that all you pair have to do with your time?”

PoD was a close up of a bunch of Antirrhinums that are having their second flowering of the year. Pretty colours in them. We always called them “Map Maps” when I was wee, for no apparent reason.

I’m going to leave it there because this new ‘puter will need a rest after a couple of weeks of inactivity and probably needs a wee rest now.

The only down side I can see for the new system is that I’ve lost access to older blog posts. Maybe I’ll find them some day in a hidden corner of the blog.

Tomorrow I might speak to a man about giving the Blue car a bit of TLC.

A dull day – 23 August 2025

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There wasn’t much sunshine today. Dull white skies, mainly.

We had intended going to Dunfermline, but I was too slow to rise and by the time I got my act together, it was getting to be too late to go.

Scamp used that time to hand water some of the thirsty plants in the garden. There hasn’t actually been an official ban on watering gardens or washing cars, but unless we get significant rainfall in the next week, I can see that being implemented. Even as I was walking over to Condorrat this evening, I noticed some of the plants beside the path were showing signs of needing some water. That’s very unusual in Scotland.

Scamp drove over to Tesco and bought enough food for us to ensure we didn’t starve for the next few days. I asked if I could help when she returned and she told me there was only on thing left in the boot of the car. Unfortunately she didn’t tell me it was a full bag of compost. That’s about the most work I’ve done all week, carrying that bag from the car to the house.

Today’s PoD was a table top photo of a bunch of white sweet peas. The background could do with some improving, but Lightroom made a great job of cleaning up the really gritty image.

Dinner tonight came from Golden Bowl in Condorrat. Chicken Chop Suey with Fried Rice for Scamp. Special Chow Mein for me. Both delicious.

We watched another Masterchef episode with the two clowns trying to look smart. How did that turn out? We also watched Anneka which Alex said was worth watching. I think the jury’s still out on that one.

Best show of the night by far was Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Shades of Clockwork Orange!

No plans for tomorrow, but we may go out somewhere.

Recovery – 22 August 2025

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Scamp went to FitSteps in the morning and I just messed around with the computer.

When she returned we walked to Condorrat to post a birthday card, then we headed back towards the shops, but she coaxed me in to going for a walk in St Mo’s while she did the shopping. PoD turned out to be a Common Darter dragonfly. The dragonflies have been few and far between recently, but there were quite a few buzzing round the ponds this afternoon. Hopefully that’s them back until mid-autumn

Dinner tonight was Fish and Leek Risotto. My job. I thought it was fine, but Scamp thought it was a bit dry. Maybe too little Cremé Fraîche? I’ll bear it in mind for next time, all being well.

That was about it for today apart from watching an episode of Masterchef that wasn’t really riveting.

We got a message from Canute & Delia last night to say that they had arrived home safely and had had a great time in Scotland.

Today was a recovery day after driving back from Queensferry in rush hour. I don’t know how folk can drive through that congestion every day.

We’re maybe going out for lunch tomorrow if the weather plays nice.