Back to dull again – 12 December 2023

One good day and then back to dull grey skies and rain. Scotland the Grim.

Scamp was going out to meet June and Shona. I reckoned I would be surplus to requirements, so I left them to it and stayed home in case a parcel arrived. I felt that was a reasonable excuse / reason, even if Jamie had sent me a message to tell me it wouldn’t arrive until afternoon. What I did attempt was a watercolour wash over a rough sketch of a house. It was a tutorial I saw on the December issue of Urban Sketchers. It looked good when the tutor did it. Not so good on mine. I left it to dry and went to look for something to photograph, preferably inside, because it was raining.

Scamp arrived home later looking drookit and we had toast & beans for lunch. Not long after lunch the parcel arrived. It’s sitting in the living room now, looking at me and silently inviting me to slit the sellotape and look in, but I know better than that. Scamp would not be a happy bunny if I did that. I may do as she suggested and cover it with a table cloth and pretend it’s a low table until the big day. Thank you Jamie and Simonne!

Dinner tonight was Spaghetti Carbonara the way Val told me to make it. No cream! Just two eggs with one additional egg yolk, beaten up with grated parmesan. A slice of smoked bacon cut into thin strips and fried in a pan (I added mushrooms, but it’s probably better without) while your spaghetti is boiling. Once everything is ready, pour the eggy mixture into the pan with the bacon, drain the spaghetti well and add to the eggy, cheesy mixture. Grind on some pepper and mix the spaghetti with the egg mixture. You can do the cheffy thing where you flick the egg mix over the spaghetti if you want to look as if you know what you’re doing. Serve immediately. Spaghetti Carbonara the Val way.

Today’s PoD is an old favourite of mine, Christmas Cactus. A two frame focus stack to get back and front in focus.

Thank you again Jamie and Simonne for the parcel. I wonder what’s in it!

That was about it for today. Tomorrow, Scamp is out for coffee again, this time with Isobel. I may go with her or I might return to my painting.

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