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Relaxing – 16 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Woke with a cough and a sore throat again.

Since Thursday I’ve been plagued with a cough and a sore throat. Today I was just feeling yuk for most of the day. I’m guessing I picked up somebody’s Lurgy on the train coming up from down south. The carriage we were in from Peterborough to Edinburgh was stowed, so it’s a fair bet that’s where it came from. I’d felt better last night and hoped that today would bring even more improvement, but it didn’t. It looks like I’ll just have to ride it out Thankfully Scamp seems to be free of the effects of whatever it was.

With that in mind I decided to have a lazy day, not doing much at all. More or less the story of my life if I can get away with it! However, while Scamp walked down to the shops to get some fish for tonight’s Cabbage and Smoked Haddock Risotto, I did some swift reorganisation of the living room with boxes piled on the coffee table and the Sarracenia pitcher plant balanced on top to give me the image that became PoD. Beautiful colours and patterns on the pitcher plant, but it does look like a triffid. Then I managed to put everything back in its rightful place before Scamp returned … just!

Later we did some gentle gardening. Scamp looked a bit disappointed to find a single stem of Astilbe growing where a forest had been last year. Me? I was quite happy to see one strand had survived the shock and awe attack. You just can’t keep Astilbe down. We replanted the astilbe and transplanted what we think are Candelabra Primula from where a single plant grew in the wilderness last year to a more easily seen spot beside the steps. I chopped up the remaining kale plants, collecting a few leaves from them to freeze for use later in the year. I think if we remove the top planks from the failing raised bed we can grow some kale and maybe some leeks in it for another year. After that we can make a decision on its long term viability, all being well.

Spoke to Jamie after dinner to hear how things were now that we are out of their hair. It seemed like they were doing today what we’d been doing yesterday. Told him the coffee tub for storing coffee was a clever design that works well. Forgot to tell him that I liked the coffee that came with it. So: Thank you Jamie for the coffee it tastes good now that I’ve got the grind right again!

Sent Hazy a movie I’d made demonstrating the brilliant design of the herb stripper she gave me for my birthday. I’d never seen anything like this before. Three different sized holes in a ceramic dish strip the leaves from the stem of herbs like Thyme much quicker and more efficiently than doing it by hand. Such a clever girl for finding these things.

Such clever folk we have as family. We should be and are grateful to all of you.

No plans for tomorrow. I’m going to dope myself up with a wee hot toddy tonight then go to bed to read a (relatively) new Carl Hiaasen book, Squeeze Me, hoping the cough will have abated by morning. Backlog from my blog gone when I post this!

Not one but two! – 15 April 2023

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Saturday was a bright sunny day, but I wasn’t going out incase it came early and I missed it.

We were out in the garden today. My main task was to prune the Alec’s Red rose in the front garden. Scamp wanted to cut the front grass because it was becoming a bit untidy. I offered to move the flower pots that divides us from our next door neighbours, a sort of demarcation line. I’ve no problem with them now. I admit I had to start with, but believe it or not, I’m a lot calmer now. I wouldn’t have said that yesterday, but John’s ok. Just a bloke getting by like the rest of us.

After I’d moved the flower pots, Scamp had cut the untidy grass and I’d risked a slipped disk by hauling the pots back again, I started on the rose, or roses as it turned out. I tried not to be too brutal with the fifty year old Alec’s Red, and it looked the better for the trim. Then Scamp suggested that I do the same with Schoolgirl which grows up a trellis beside the front door. I was a bit more ‘enthusiastic’ with Schoolgirl. Hopefully not too enthusiastic. It’s a strong rose, it can take it.

While we were in the garden, a parcel arrived. Scamp said it was for me, but it wasn’t the lens. It was a Sarracenia. A carnivorous pitcher plant. Our last one had died during the winter. I’ll try to be more careful with this one and give it the protection it deserves. It’s actually quite a pretty plant with mottled ‘pitchers’.

I’d been meaning to plant more basil seeds for a week or two now, so I got underway with that while Scamp planted some Cerinthe seeds. It has a dark blue flower not unlike the Shrimp plant. It’s another one we saw in Jamie and Simonne’s garden. It’s an annual which means it grows, flowers and sets seeds then dies. However it does self-seed which means we should get a lot more flowers the next year, all being well.

Later the DPD lady handed me a heavier parcel. It’s a hefty piece of kit, the Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS and has a hefty name too. After it was unpacked and tested, I took it over to St Mo’s to see what it could do. It could do loads of things. It took the PoD which was a simple view across the pond, but a high quality one. Worth waiting almost a year for, I think. Worth all the hassle yesterday? Well, maybe not. That was unnecessary stress MPB and I’ll say so in my review.

On the way back from St Mo’s I picked up a Chicken Chop Suey with Fried Rice for Scamp and a Chicken Chow Mein for me from Golden Bowl. The chow mein was a bit dry if I’m going to be critical, but it was good.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to get a chance to test the new toy further afield, but that depends on the weather.

A decision made – 14 April 2023

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Scamp was going out for coffee with her friend from work. I was driving to Larky after I’d had my PSA test done at the health centre.

I’d already made the decision to buy a new lens from a company I’ve used many times in the past, MPB in Brighton. Not a brand new lens, second hand. I’d made the decision the day before, but the day before was the 13th and I thought it would be unlucky to buy it on the 13th, so had left the actual purchase until today.

I’d put the lens in my ‘basket’ on the website, filled in my details and had just completed my two part verification when I got a message to say that the lens had gone! Someone had beaten me to it. I admit, I panicked, thinking I’d been the subject of a scam. How could two people have put the same lens into the basket at the same time? I’d never heard of such a thing. Scamp reminded me that time was ticking away and I’d miss my appointment if I wasn’t careful. Before I went, I checked with the bank to make sure my payment hadn’t gone through. It hadn’t. Slightly relieved, I drove to the health centre.

The nurse who did the blood letting was careful and quick, even better, later when I removed the plaster she’d put on the tiny wee scratch the needle made there was almost nothing to see. Probably the best experience I’ve had, getting my bloods taken, and maybe that calmed me down as much as anything.

When I got back I tried to phone MPB, but the help line wasn’t open on Fridays! I did get through to a European site and the girl I spoke to confirmed that the lens had indeed gone, but seemed as surprised as I was that two people could be trying to buy an article at the same time. Scamp left me to it and went to meet her friend. I checked the website one more time and that particular lens had gone, however there was an almost exactly the same one for a few quid less. With fingers crossed I went through the entire procedure again and it all worked perfectly, just as it had in the past. I was relieved when I got an email from the carrier saying the lens would be delivered the next day. However, I think that may be my last purchase from MPB.

After all that I drove to Larky and picked up my new reading glasses, then drove back home again after buying a four cheeses loaf for Scamp at the Co-op. A 50 mile round trip might seem a long way for a pair of glasses, but we both trust Simpson to look after our eyes, and Scamp will be next to get an appointment.

Scamp was home by the time I came back and I explained what I’d done and that it was all resolved.

A walk in St Mo’s to stretch my legs and calm my nerves and PoD went to a bunch of Cowslips. Another sign that Spring is here.

A wee glass of wine later to celebrate? Maybe that’s not the correct word for drawing a line under a difficult day.

Tomorrow I’ll be waiting for the email from DPD to say when the lens will come.

Off for a bit of culture – 13 April 2023

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Meeting my brother for a wander around the West End. Glasgow West End, obviously!

Scamp was adamant that she didn’t need or want the car today, so I thanked her and drove to the station to catch a train to Glasgow. Did a bit of window shopping in JL, but it gets poorer every time I visit the “toyshop” where they keep all the cameras. Except there were no cameras for sale there, just second-hand laptops or iPads. Not called second-hand of course. They were “refurbished” or “returned goods”, but everyone knows what they are. Nothing worthwhile for me.

Walked down to Buchanan Street bus station to meet Alex and we got a bus out to Kelvingrove. We had walked a fair bit, must have been about 100m, so we had to take a break for lunch. By then the crowds had gathered to listen to the organist’s daily recital and we left, but not before I took a shot of three men in a dark corner of the main hall. One was a statue, one was a human, one was a painting, but they are all men, all looking in different directions, as men do! I’d only noticed the statue when I was taking the shot, but the other two were revealed when I was processing it at home, and it became PoD.

We left by the back door, which, allegedly is really the front door. Google “kelvingrove art gallery back to front” and make your own mind up. There’s definitely a coverup somewhere.

We walked up the hill in the general direction of Glasgow University and found the Hunterian Art Gallery. There we wandered round the rooms within the gallery all hung with paintings some with labels, but most not. I couldn’t really understand the reasoning. The guide states that it’s the way pictures used to be hung. I think they were just too lazy to label them, or maybe they’d lost the original labels and didn’t know what was in the pictures, especially the abstracts.

I enjoyed looking at the paintings, especially those by Samuel Peploe and Edward Hornel, but I knew Alex wasn’t really impressed, so we went in search of the Hunterian Museum which is nearby, but tucked away in a corner of Glasgow University. That’s Scotland for you. Hide away the good stuff or folk will want to come in and look at it!

All the things that were wrong with the gallery were sorted in the museum. There were some horrible looking things preserved in formalin in glass jars. But there were also fascinating things like an Egyptian mummy in its sarcophagus and an ancient computer that was constructed to solve complex algebraic functions and seemed to be run by allowing balls to run over metal tracks. I wish now I’d taken more time to photograph the building itself with its exposed wooden trusses in the roof. I might go back again some time, all being well.

When we had had enough culture for the day we returned to Kelvingrove for a coffee and a blether without the interruption from the organist. Then we went back into the town, got off at Charing Cross and walked down Sauchiehall Street. I caught the train home and Alex got the bus. We agreed that we maybe need to go further afield next time. I suggested Aviemore on the 50p express bus and Alex fancied Edinburgh, also 50p, but with a more regular service.

It was Chicken Milanese for dinner tonight and it was just as delicious as it usually is. Scamp was the chef, of course.

Tomorrow I’ve to collect my new glasses after I’ve given a little drop of blood at the health centre.

Off to Larky – 12 April 2023

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A trip to Larky to see Mr Simpson, the optician for my annual checkup.

I drove us over to Larky on a bright sunny morning. While I was in the optician’s reciting his mixed up alphabets, Scamp was shopping in the Coop, and recoiling at the prices she was expected to pay. This wasn’t Tesco price, apparently. Once my eyes had been deemed fit and fairly healthy, I walked along to meet her. I had been sensible enough to remember to put a pair of sunglasses in my pocket because dilated pupils and bright sun don’t work well together. We sat for a while in the car waiting for my eyes to return to normal, but eventually we decided that Scamp should drive home, since I couldn’t focus properly. A terrible thing for a photographer to admit to.

On the way home we stopped at the health centre for me to book my six monthly PSA test. With that done, my tasks were completed for the day and I could concentrate on photography in Scotland for the first time in a week … once I could see again.

It didn’t take too long for my eyes to return to normal, well, in total it took about three hours, but who’s counting because I could see again! I took the A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s just to unwind and to work out some of the aches from yesterday’s rail journeys. I thought it would be a shot of my favourite trio of ladybirds who would make PoD, but it was the little fly who won. The first fly I’ve photographed this year. I hope it’s impressed with the accolade!

A wee drink before another early night.

Tomorrow I’m off to Glasgow to meet my brother for a visit to the Hunterian Gallery and maybe the Museum.

Homeward Bound – 11 April 2023

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This is the day I always dread, and yet I look forward to being home again. It’s just the bit in between I hate the most.

We sat around after breakfast. Jamie would already be at work by now, because his working week had begun. Simonne’s would start after she dropped us off at Stowmarket station. We took one last longing look at that expanse of garden. One last photo from ’The Library’. Then we got in the car and Simonne drove us to the station. We said our goodbyes and then we waited for the first train in the chain we’d ride today.

The train, when it arrived was quite busy. Folk just like us eager to get back home after the Easter break. It wasn’t overcrowded, though, just busier than normal. There were no holdups this time, just an easy ride to Peterborough. Only a half hour wait going home. Much more doable than the hour long wait, travelling south.

This train was full, folk everywhere, including in our seats, but a gentle word from Scamp and they apologised and rose to give us our booked seats. This WAS a busy train, the busiest I’ve seen the Kings Cross to Edinburgh train. Now I understand why standard class is called “Cattle Class”. Folk were crammed in everywhere and it didn’t help that two old ladies were having a discussion in the corridor about where they could put their suitcases, while folk were trying to get to their seat. We survived, and as the guard predicted, everything quietened down by the time we got to Newcastle.

We hadn’t long to wait for our final train to Croy and then only about ten minutes until a ramshackle taxi took us home. The sun was still shining when we got home.

A cup of tea and a comfortable seat were all that was needed to dispel the memories of wafer thin cushioning in the LNER seats. It was a long journey, but a good pair of headphones and another Stella Rimmington spy story made the hours pass.

PoD went to the photo of the Old Newton garden.

Early bed tonight because I’m up and out tomorrow to Larky to get my eyes tested.

 

It rained – 10 April 2023

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As predicted by the weather fairies, Monday morning was wet.

Instead of sitting at home, Jamie drove us to a garden centre fairly nearby. I really think this was a trial for Scamp because, while Jamie and Simonne were loading plants into the boot of the car, Scamp had to accept that live plants wouldn’t survive a five hour plus rail journey with two changes on what was going to be busy trains. We had lunch in a wee cafe at the garden centre and Scamp did get some seeds to take back. Not quite the same as live plants, but the consolation prize.

In the afternoon the clouds lifted, the skies cleared and the sun shone, so we all went for a walk. Much the same route as my walk yesterday, but much longer and covering different areas of the nearby countryside. With my ultra-wide angle lens on the A7 I got some quite excellent landscape shots and some pretty shots of daffodils in the churchyard of the church next door to the house. The landscape got PoD.

Unfortunately we were going home tomorrow, so after dinner we were packing bags and taking more last photos. Then Jamie came in to the living room and said “There’s a kestrel in the front garden.” My cameras were packed away, but I did manage to get two fairly decent shots of the young bird before it flew off on those narrow wings.

We watched the final episode of the strange South African film and were left wondering what to think about the even stranger ending. I won’t say any more, just in case you ever watch it.

Tomorrow we make the trek up north.

Family Lunch – 9 April 2023

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Lots of things going on today, because Neil and Hazy were joining us for Sunday lunch.

Jamie and Simonne were organising the food, of course after Simonne returned from church, and today it was going to be Roast Leg of Lamb for the carnivores and Seabass from Aldeburgh for Scamp, the solitary pescatarian.

I did my best to keep out of the way while this was going on and went for a walk along the fields behind the church. Since this was Easter Sunday, I decided to walk through the village cemetery and on to the path from there, lest I might be drawn into the church by an overenthusiastic clergyman. I walked down to, but didn’t cross, the bridge over the stream (English don’t have ‘burns’ they have ‘streams’). Instead, I turned right and walked along the edge of the field where corn was just starting to sprout. I did eventually come to another bridge across the stream and crossed over there. I walked on for a fair stretch, but decided that I’d better not walk too far and risk not being there when N&H arrived. This time I walked up past the church and out by the main gate. I’d been taking photos all the way along, trying to get a good view of the church, but it didn’t work because it was shielded by the trees that grow all round it. I got some photos of wild flowers as I walked back to the house.

It was another beautiful day with clear blue skies, although the wind was cold. I sat on an old wooden lichen covered seat at the gable of the house and in the lee of the wind. It was so quiet. Not in the sense of no sound, because there were rooks in the big conifers cawing away loudly and there were smaller birds calling from the bushes, there were bees and ladybirds and maybe a hoverfly or two, but there was almost no mechanical noise. A very few cars. No aircraft and no people making noise. Peaceful rather than quiet, perhaps.

I shot off a few more images of the garden, but my favourite, and PoD was a little Celandine growing out of a crack in the paving stones of the patio.

Neil and Hazy arrived right on time, as I’d expect from Neil. Jamie and Scamp gave them a conducted tour of the house and the garden then we had lunch. There was much discussion between Jamie and Simonne as to whether the lamb was overcooked or not. I thought it was just right. Any less and it would probably have been oily, and it wasn’t that, nor was it too dry. A ‘Goldilocks’ lamb. It was served with Hasselback Potatoes and Asparagus. Hazy had provided the dessert which was Gü puddings. Quite delicious. We also had wine recommended by Simonne’s uncle Yves, a Côtes du Rhône and very nice it was too.

All too soon it was time for the Epsom folk to hit the road again, but it was great having them and getting to talk face to face with everyone again. We must do it again some time soon.

We watched another two episodes of the strange South African film. Leaving the final episode for tomorrow.

It had been a long day and it looks like it may be wet tomorrow morning at least. Maybe a lazy day.

 

 

Happy Birthday to Me – 8 April 2023

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Out for a walk with the prospect of a posh dinner in the evening.

Jamie, Simonne and Vixen went to Run Free in the morning, but we stayed at home and lazed about.

After lunch, Jamie drove us all to Levington on the River Orwell for a walk. We walked from The Ship Inn down through the dried reed beds to the river. From there, Simonne suggested we walk west along the banks of the river. We walked for about a mile to Nacton Shores then turned north for a few hundred yards, then north east through woods until we reached a road. We followed the road back to the pub at Levington where we had a refreshing drink before being driven back to the house.

Back at the house it was time to get ready for dinner. We were booked at the Brewers in Rattlesden for 6pm. First thoughts were that it was just a noisy pub with ideas above its station. How wrong can you be?!

Starter:

Seatrout tartare for Scamp
Lobster risotto for Simonne
Lamb + black pudding for Jamie and me

Main:

Scallops for Scamp
Beef fillet with kale for Simonne and Jamie
Pork belly with black haggis for me

Dessert:

Treacle tart for me
Date pudding for all the rest

All washed down with a variety of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, from zero alcohol beer to a porn star martini.

On the drive home through the gloaming along the misted narrow lanes that populate this countryside, we passed a statuesque looking deer that watched us, fearlessly, not 50 metres away in a borderless field. Countless pheasants risked life and limb by darting out in front of the car, but Jamie saw us safely back to the house without turning a hair.

A rum and coke each finished off our day while we watched a strange South African series with far too much swearing (and not ‘good’ swearing either) and a dialog that switched constantly from Afrikaans (with subtitles) to English. If you’re looking for it, don’t. It’s called Unseen. Might have been better all in one language and using actors who can act.

Tomorrow the weather fairies say it’s going to rain.

Off to the seaside – 7 April 2023

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A day at the beach was promised. A beach without sand? How does that work.

In the morning after breakfast, Jamie drove us all over to the Suffolk Dogs Run Free fields where we had an hour to let Vixen off the leash to do what it says on the tin. She didn’t run that far away, always keeping one of us in line of sight, but she DID run and so did Jamie and Simonne chasing her. I was glad I’d worn my boots because there were quite a few muddy puddles and we were slipping and sliding through some of them. After or allotted hour, we padlocked the gate and went back to the car then drove back to the house.

Giovanna Rana pasta. Veg for Scamp and meat filled for the carnivores, Never had the bolognese version before, but it’s not practical when one of us doesn’t eat meat and I’m happy eating the veg version. We both liked the thick grated ‘normal’ cheese on top, but missed the olive oil that we have.

Then it was time to lock Vixen in as house sitter while the gardener was working outside in the garden, because we four were going to the seaside at Aldeburgh. I’d never heard of it before, but I did know roughly where nearby Ipswitch was, and Sizewell Nuclear Powerstation and we were told it was near both.

It was a lengthy journey that would have taken a fraction of the time if we’d been crows and could have flown straight there. Or if we’d had jetpacks. We were promised jetpacks, weren’t we? A lengthy journey, but an interesting one passing between green fields that seemed to stretch to the horizon in all directions. Pretty little houses, the likes of which you see in story books. I dare say almost all of them are actually holiday homes, run through Airbnb!

We eventually arrived at Aldeburgh and Jamie found a place to park and then a place to buy a parking ticket, then we headed for the ‘beach’. The beach without any sand. Instead of sand the shore was covered in pebbles, worn round by the action of the sea. A great stainless steel scallop shell stands on the beach. It was designed as a tribute to Benjamin Britten who spent much of his life in Aldeburgh. Cut high into the sculpture’s upper edge is the line ‘I hear those voices that will not be drowned’ from Britten opera, Peter Grimes. You can find out more about it here:

 

We walked along the shingle heading into the town and Jamie bought some fish at a stall on the beach. Further on, we stopped beside a boating pond with lots of kids, mainly boys, sailing yachts. That brought back memories for Jamie and me. We all had ice cream cones at a convenient nearby shop and sat in an old seaside shelter which dated from 1911. Built to commemorate the coronation of George V. It was an excellent windbreak!

We had a quick walk through the town and Jamie stopped to buy some beer from an Adnams shop – the local brewery. Then we started the walk back to the car, walking on the road this time rather than the shingle that constantly moved under our feet. I was walking along beside Simonne when I spotted what looked like a tall windmill up above the trees in the distance, near the Sizewell reactor. It was really too far away to get a decent shot with any camera and I’d brought the smaller A6000 today. I googled it when we got back and found it was a water tower that is now a holiday home and is called The House in the Clouds. It has a really interesting history that you can read about here:

Just to fill the day up, when we got back I took some photos of the sunset over the  church next door.  Beautiful sunset.

Tomorrow is all about me – I wish!