Month: October 2026

Blue skies and sun – 31 October 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Just for a change we had blue skies and sunshine today.

We were too lazy to get up and make the most of the day. Instead we stayed in bed and read for a while. No rush to get up today, we weren’t going to dance class today. In fact we’re not intending going to dance for four whole weeks. It’s mainly due to hospital commitments.

It was actually quite good to be able to set aside a Saturday morning for things we need to do. Scamp chose to start cleaning up the back garden which needs some attention after three storms in a row. That took up most of the early afternoon. She has now to decide where her new found space is going to go. I think she’ll settle for a new plastic greenhouse, but I could be wrong

While she was doing that, I was trying to place four pieces of fabric in the correct places for a bow tie, then add in two pieces of interfacing between those four pieces of fabric. It sounds very complicated, but it actually quite simple … until you realise you’re placing most of those pieces in the wrong places!! That’s when I had to resort to Hazy’s “Frogging” tactic, or Rippit as she calls it. Which means Ripping It Out. A restart, in other words. Second attempt was better, but when I thought I’d assembled the bow tie correctly I discovered I had to rip it out again and this time, finally it all went together.

Scamp was heading for a trip to the shops and I was so fed up with bow ties, I walked half way there with her and then walked round St Mo’s to get a photo, despite the failing light. My PoD was a the remains of a Yellow Flag Iris which was beginning to lose its seeds. I think I may collect some of those seeds and plant them for next year.

Dinner tonight was the remaining Mowgli curry with my take on Flat Breads. Both were delicious.

Tomorrow I may go looking for the Flag Iris seeds. Scamp is probably working in the garden.

One problem solved – 30 October 2026

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After the turmoil from yesterday, it was good to draw a line under a mixed up day.

We should have been dancing yesterday, but instead we were struggling to find a repair man to get things going again. It was, in fact, the same gentleman who had repaired our last disaster when we were locked in our house!!

It must have taken him the sum total of 15 minutes maximum to diagnose what was wrong and get it working again. Meanwhile I was wandering around Tesco getting essentials for today’s lunch and dinner. Scamp chose one of her favourites from Mowgli to be tonight’s dinner. The smell of the curry was enough to make me salivate!

For my part, I took three parcels over to the Skips to dispose of them in their separate steel buckets. They were all well worn tubular steel rods that are well past their sell by dates. While I was out, Scamp was clearing a path for the new plastic greenhouses to fill. We haven’t actually decided on a size of the greenhouse yet, but I’m sure she will have the dimensions in her head to get the best use of the space in the back garden.

In between all these things, I managed to grab some time to take a few photos over at Fannyside. The best ones were the lichens on the old fenceposts that seem to support themselves on the single track road round the farms at Fannyside.

The dinner tasted just as good as the smell predicted. I made a batch of Australian Scones that were better than last week’s effort and now that things are getting back to normal I can relax a bit.

PoD went to a lichen covered fence post at Fannyside.

Strange message from John M, who offered to bring us back from Dundee! If you’re reading this John, I appreciate the sentiment of your offer. It was just the sort or thing I could rely on you doing. That’s what good friends do. Thank you pal.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a relaxing day, just for a change!

Dull again – 29 October 2026

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Not a lot to say about the day. We just seemed to be running around in circles and not getting anything done. Some days are like that, I know and sometimes you just have to grin and bear it. Today was one of those days.

We should have been going to a Tea Dance, but never quite got round to it. Nobody’s fault, just a dull day.

Green theme today. Just green leaves.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Swans & Cygnets – 28 October 2026

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Isn’t it nice to see two cygnets out for a paddle with mum and dad.

Scamp was out in the morning, meeting one of the witches for lunch. I wasn’t invited, but that suited me today. Idropped her off at Tesco in the Town Centre and drove home.

I was attempting to find a file that I used to have that showed the steps to make a bow tie. It seems that the original is no longer available on Pinterest. Then just by luck, this evening, I found a cut down version of the steps to make the bow tie. I don’t know who had the original version of the steps, but I think I’ve got enough now to restart the bow tie creation.

Rather than start the building of the bow tie, I began the demolition of the old plastic greenhouse. We think it was about twelve years old before it collapsed in Saturday’s storm, although it could have been longer. Anyway, it was almost rusted right through and was fairly easy to take apart with the help of a Claw Hammer and a pair of Mole Grips. Two essential tools for demolition. I managed to separate the metal tubes from the plastic supports. Hopefully we’ll take them to the skips later this week.

I went for a walk once Scamp had returned and got today’s PoD of the swans and cygnets in St Mo’s pond.

We watched another two episodes of Bergerac tonight. That leaves only one episode for tomorrow or maybe Friday. I’m a bit lost as to who the ‘baddies’ are and who are not. Time will tell.

I think we may have a last Tea Dance of the year this week.

Trapped – 27 October 2026

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Went for a walk and came home sodden. Fantastic weather we’re having.

There wasn’t much to say about this morning and early afternoon. It was just constant rain with the addition of some wind to make it even less enticing. A watered down (no pun intended) version of the past two or three days. I think I must have been going a bit crazy feeling cooped up in the house, but for some reason I decided that as the sun was shining I’d go for a walk in St Mo’s.

It wasn’t the best idea I’d had this week, but I enjoyed the first half of the walk. I even took a few decent photos. It was when I was heading home that I noticed the heavy rain clouds. I’d worn my old Berghaus totally waterproof jacket and thought I would manage to get back home before I got soaked. I was only about a quarter of the way home when the rains cane. I pulled up my hood and stashed my camera away in my bag. The bag is supposed to pretty much waterproof, but just to be sure I fitted the waterproof cover over the camera bag and walked home.

By the time I got home the Berghaus jacket was doing the job it was bought for, but my corduroy trousers were soaked as were my boots. I removed the waterproof cover from the camera bag and took out my camera which was perfectly dry. The moral of the story is “Buy good quality kit and it will look after you”.

The PoD today was an Aspen leaf trapped in an old Cow Parsley stem.

I’m hoping to finish a bow tie tomorrow. That’s my target for the day.

A quieter day – 26 October 2026

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We took advantage of a much calmer day, and we took stock of the damage done to the garden.

There wasn’t much damage done, really. Our old battered and bruised plastic greenhouse had blown down and most of the contents were strewn across the garden. We took one look at the carnage and decided it wasn’t fit to be reused. Too much damage to the metal tubes that held it up and too much rust on them meant it was no longer worth repairing. It has lasted a long time, so it will be going in the Council Tip at the first opportunity.

Most, if not all of the plants survived the wind and rain from the last few days, although my potatoes in their plastic pots were ravaged by the wind and rain. I don’t know if they will be worth digging up. We’ll see once everything returns to normal

We watched the American F1 GP and weren’t surprised with the winner. He was always going to win, it was only a matter of time before it happened.

Later we wiped off the load of leaves and branches that the Blue car had collected over the last few days and drove to Tesco. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that shop as busy as it was today. People wheeling trolleys everywhere and long queues at all the checkouts. All because of two days of heavy rain and strong winds. We only had a few things in our trolley and we got through the smaller checkout quite quickly.

No wind today, but a continuous drizzle kept us in the house most of the dull day, although I did get a few photos in the back garden of Scamp’s Cosmos flowers. They looked great even when they were soaking wet. Such cheerful blooms. The Cosmos flowers got PoD.

The weather tonight is beginning to get noisy again. The weather fairies say it will be more rain than wind this time, but we’ll wait and see what happens. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as the past few days. –

Reflections on a wet day – 25 October 2026

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Two days being terrorised by 70mph winds and torrential rain. Have they gone now or are they waiting to ambush us tomorrow?

Yesterday I was hardly past the door. Threatening messages from the Met Office every ten minutes on my phone with warnings of rain of biblical proportions. Yes, there was a lot of rain and there was a lot of noise from the wind too, but come on folks, get a grip!

Today, I thought I’d risk the waterlogged St Mo’s to get a couple of photos late in the afternoon, after a day of 70 mph gusts and torrential rain. Then, when I dug out my camera at an interesting subject, I discovered I didn’t have an SD card in the camera. I was considering heading home, then remembered I could get a decent image from my iPhone. That’s what I did. I took half a dozen photos in the park and then headed for home. From now on, I’m going to carry an SD card, even a small capacity one, in my pocket for an emergency like this from now on! When I got home I was quite pleasantly surprised by the quality my little iPhone produced and I didn’t even take my camera out of my pocket.

The greatest problem I had was the conversion of the photos from HEIC to JPG. After reading a few instructions online, I worked out how to do the conversion without too much trouble.

Although the main thrust of Storm Boelo is gone, that doesn’t mean we are in the clear. There will be more storms waiting in the wings, so we really DO need to heed the weather fairies, but whether the Met Office will be on my Christmas list, I’ll have to wait and see.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard about him having to let some of the water from his water butts go, because he reckons he has enough for now. I can understand why!

We have no real plans for tomorrow, but will keep a weather eye on the clouds.

Dancin’ – 24 October 2026

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A wild day with a lot of enjoyable dancing for a change!

We were a bit late for dance class today, mainly because of the heavy rain, but thankfully we did just manage to get Brookfield just as the class was starting. Also, just by luck, I managed to avoid the ‘Rhumbumbumba’ a dance I hate!

The first ‘Real’ dance was the October Waltz that I’m getting used to. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to perfect it next week, all being well. As for today, well, it was a bit of a mixture. Most of it worked, but there are some awkward bits that need looking at. It’s a work in progress.

Next was the ‘X Line’ Tango. A dance we learned during Covid, watching it over Zoom. That was back in 2020 when the world was young and we were ready for anything to do with dance. In other words, what I’m saying is that I’d forgotten most of it, and it’s only recently I’ve gone back to it. It’s almost there in my memory, but not quite all in the right places. I’m assured that it will come back … soon.

The Feta Foxtrot was the next on the agenda. One of Scamp’s favourites and I must say one of mine too. A nice gentle foxtrot with nothing too difficult to remember, but a lot of clever tweaks that make it much more interesting.

We finished the class with the Midnight Jive. This one is definitely embedded in my little brain and I sometimes think I’ve danced it in autopilot. Whether that is the case or not I’m not willing to say, but it’s all to do with Muscle Memory, I’m sure of that.

We weren’t driving straight home. Instead we were booked for lunch at Coast, a restaurant that sits with wonderful views across the Clyde Estuary. Of course it was pelting rain today, sot those views were mere blurs on the horizon. Still we had a decent lunch there, even if the first piece of steak from my steak and sausage pie was all gristle and completely inedible. Scamp was much happier with her Sea Bream with Risotto. I think this is only the second I’ve had bad luck with meat from Coast. Next time I’ll remind myself to have something else instead, all being well.

Instead of driving home by the M8 as we would usually do, Scamp remembered there were long delays near Glasgow Airport, so we went via the Erskine Bridge instead. I don’t think we gained any time by going that way. It would probably be just as quick risking the M8. No matter, we arrived home safely and got parked.

Not long after we got home, we could feel the wind rising. Storm Austen was handing over to the much stronger Storm Boelo. It’s blowing a hoolie just now with gusts around 50mph. Hopefully tomorrow it should calm down.

Today’s PoD was the view from the front window with the rain sheeting down. Brrr!

No plans for tomorrow.

A really dull day – 23 October 2026

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Thankfully we went to Tesco in the morning and missed most of the heavy rain.

Rain had been predicted for us, but after that early deluge, everything calmed down and we saw very little of named storm Austen. However we did have a continuous drizzle and that’s almost as annoying as rain.

I restarted cutting the fabric for the reversible bow tie. I thought I had it sorted, but now I’m thinking I might try a different version. I don’t want to waste any more fabric and end up with nothing. Maybe tomorrow I’ll do a dummy run with some cheap fabric and photograph each step so I can always come back to it after I’ve got it the way I want it. Assuming that I get it right this time around!

Hazy: I bought a packet of clips (Clover Wonder Clips) that seem to be easy to use for holding fabric layers while you stitch them. Much easier than using pins and less likely to draw blood!

I did manage to get just three photos taken today. The best of a bad lot went to a shot of some red flowers that were hanging from a pot that itself was hanging on the fence in the back garden. It was drizzling and I wasn’t hanging around. That was PoD covered.

Scamp was clearing out the fridge yesterday and found a plastic tub of home made tomato soup. That, and a Fish Finger Sandwich was dinner. The soup was excellent, but I would say that, because I made it! So was the FFS!

It looks like we’re going to have a windy couple of days tomorrow and Sunday with the next named storm, Boelo. High winds and heavy rain. Oh what fun.

Looking for shoes – 22 October 2026

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Not just any old shoes, Scamp was looking for dance shoes. Sparkly dance shoes.

We drove over to Rutherglen to Scamp’s favourite dance shoe shop. She can usually manage to pick up a couple of pairs of dance shoes there but today she was out of luck. The lady who owns the shop knew what Scamp was looking for, but didn’t have the exact ones she was looking for. However, she did get a new pair and the rhinestone sparkles on them kind of made up for her initial disappointment.

After leaving Rutherglen we got a bit lost trying to find Glasgow Green. It must be years since we were last in ‘The Green’. Thankfully the Sat Nav found a way through the twists and turns that brought us neatly to our destination and we managed to find the last slot in the car park.

Beautiful light on the Park as we walked over to M&S where Scamp was hoping to get a Rab lookalike jacket. I was heading to Jessops to get my hands on a Sony A7c ii, one step up from the one I bought a year or so ago. Both of us met up again just outside M&S in Argyle Street and neither of us found what we came for. Scamp’s raincoat was a bit tight and my camera wasn’t much better than what I’ve been using. Money back in our pockets!

The light on Glasgow Green when we were walking back was better than what we saw going into town, but after I’d looked at the photos when we got home, I wasn’t really impressed with them. The PoD went to a distorted view of a new housing development halfway to The Green.

Chicken and peas for dinner. A long time favourite.

Tomorrow it looks like it’s going to rain all day. Let’s hope they got it wrong.