Category: A Walk

Happy Birthday Scamp – 24 March 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Breakfast in bed for her, then after selecting one of her ball gown, we headed off to Glasgow for a wander and lunch.

We got the bus to Glasgow and it was a slow bus that chugged away through every township on the way and stopped at every bus stop, I think. But we mustn’t complain, it didn’t cost us anything with our Bus Pass. The SNP are good for one thing at least!

Coffee in a Nero with a Cinnamon Swirl. The pastry was good, but it was a weak version of coffee in my cup – never happy!

We walked down to see the progress that was being made at the site of the fire from a couple of weeks ago. It’s still an alien place, nothing like the building that had stood there for all those years. However, work is being done and something will take its place soon, I’m sure.

Scamp fancied going to one of the restaurants in the Merchant City. It was her day, so she got to choose. She picked Santa Lucia near The Italian Kitchen.

Her starter was Cozze Ai Pomodorini. Shetland mussels with garlic, chillies, and cherry tomatoes. Her main was Sea Bass with Veg and a Lemon Butter sauce.

My starter was Bruschetta Classica. Chargrilled sourdough topped with a vibrant mix of cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. My main was Caserecce Salsiccia e Nduja. Twisted pasta with Italian sausage and spicy Nduja sauce.

Both washed down with a bottle of wine.

Good food in a place we hadn’t visited before. I think we’ll be back.

I had no camera with me today, on purpose, but walking back to the city centre I saw a nice shiny black car covered in raindrops with the message ‘Mother of the Bride’. And a few ribbons tied to the mirrors. That was an easy PoD!

We got the X3 bus back home absolutely stowed and with people standing upstairs and down. I think that’s actually illegal, but we weren’t caring, because we had a seat! The usual noisy, cheeky weans got on at Muirhead and began to show off that they could swear. They should be made to walk home from school. I had to do it!

We walked back from the bus stop in the rain and Scamp was just in time to catch a phone call from Hazy. I let them talk because it wasn’t my day.

Tomorrow we’ve business to do in Hamilton.

Catkins in the rain – 23 March 2026

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The first day of rain in a week. I’d hoped the dry weather would have lasted longer, but we’ll take the dry week and say “Thanks”.

Scamp was out in the morning for coffee with Shona. I stayed home and left the ladies to their discussions. When Scamp returned, I decided to risk a walk. I was barely out the front door when the raindrops started falling. It’ll be fine, I said and walked over to St Mo’s, but the rain kept coming and by the time I was halfway round my walk, I turned back, but by that time my Rab jacket was quite wet. There was nothing to do but get home as soon as I could. By the time I got back, I had to do a complete change of clothes. However, I got today’s PoD which was a trio of Catkins on a branch.

Dancing tonight was the Blackwood Waltz again. I think a few of us were tired of it, but that was all that was on the menu for tonight. I couldn’t concentrate on it and eventually was ready to walk away. Scamp did her best to keep me right, but heart just wasn’t in it. Eventually we were released and we could drive home.

A parcel arrived for Scamp when she was out. It was two bunches of flowers, very well wrapped and secured. I know her big day is not until tomorrow, but I thought it a bit unfair to stick strictly to the day before she got to open the parcel.

Tomorrow, Scamp is in charge. She can choose what we do and when.

Fannyside – 22 March 2026

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I went out this morning to see if anyone had reasonably priced petrol.

Only one set of pumps had anything less than144.9p and it was a pump that I’d never used before with very few cars at it, so I stuck toe the tried and tested Tesco one at an extortionate 144.9p. How to these companies get away with selling the fuel they’ve had in their tanks for weeks at such a markup?

Anyway, I bit the bullet, filled the tank and drove over to Fannyside on the road to Slamannan and I drove at 50mph, just to make sure I got the best value for my money.

When I left home, the weather was cool with a gentle breeze, but by the time I got to Fannyside it was blowing a Hoolie and the temperature had dropped significantly. Still, I’d come to get some photos looking across the wild land and I knew I’d get some good landscapes. As it happened, it wasn’t the landscape that grabbed my attention, it was an old gnarled bush covered in bright yellow lichen. I got a few shots of the bush and also some decent landscapes and cloudscapes. Fannyside rarely lets you down. There is always something interesting to record and I’d forgotten all about the price of the petrol that took me there.

With some decent photos in the bag, I drove home to a lovely smell of stew in the kitchen. Dinner was going to be Stew with carrots, potatoes and cauliflower. Scamp had made it, not me. I can make stew, but not to the same level as Scamp’s. She had a stew made from barley and lentils and the same veg as I had.

We spoke to Jamie in the evening and gave him the full version of our trip to speak to Scamp’s consultant during the week. We also confirmed our dates for the next visit to Scotland and heard about their discussion with Andrew.

Watched a tedious Death in Paradise and then half an ancient Simon & Garfunkel concert that brightened the day and had us both singing along. We’re halfway through the concert and hopefully will see the rest tomorrow.

PoD was that yellow lichen.

No great plans for tomorrow, but we are hoping to get a bit of dancing practise.

The man who worked in the garden – 20 March 2026

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Today I was that man.

In the morning Scamp was out at FitSteps. I stayed at home because I’d promised to fix the upstairs front windows that screeched when you opened them. Some lithium grease and a shot or two of WD 40 sorted that and now they open easily, or at least better than they did.

It was in the afternoon that we started work on the front garden. Scamp did most of the work. She directed operations and told me the names of the plants and flowers she was working with. I was the labourer. I did some riddling of the coarse earth that came from last year’s potato bags and shovelled it into tubs that needed more of a covering. Scamp pruned the stragglers in the Berberis pots. We both inspected the plants that were beginning to show their heads and Scamp watered some plants. She actually watered plants because they needed the moisture. Last week we were complaining about the amount of water that was falling from the sky. Today the earth was dry(ish). How things change in a week.

For some reason I wasn’t all that bothered with taking photos, but about 5pm we were both feeling that it might be a good idea to walk over to Condorrat to get a couple of fish suppers. That way, nobody had to cook. I actually walked over without a jacket. That gives you some idea how warm it was. While I was out, I took some photos of the gorse bushes which are a lovely warm colour. Sharp thorns, but bright yellow flowers.

We watched the final of Landscape Artist 2026 and were disappointed that the Scottish person didn’t win. Why must the English always win?

Tomorrow I expect we’ll be going dancing. I’m not looking forward to the long drive home, though.

 

 

 

Chatelherault – 19 March 2026

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Out early, well … early for me on a bright Thursday morning. I was going to meet my brother for a short photo walk. I’d been warned that I had to be back in Cumbersheugh by 3pm or I’d turn into a pumpkin. I’ve been a pumpkin before and I didn’t want to repeat the experience.

I met Alex at his house and we drove over to Chatelherault and went for out usual coffee. It gives us a chance to catch up on what the other has been doing in the last week or two. The rainy weather we’d both been through recently meant that neither of us had been doing much photography, and for me at least, it was mostly indoors photography which sometimes gives me the chance to try something new, but can also be a drag. Today we agreed on a walk over the Duke’s Brig.

We’d hardly started when we both spotted a robin sitting on a fence post next to the path we were following. It was a cheeky wee bird that kept hopping along the fence as we followed it. I got a few decent shots of it and one in particular with the robin against a sparkly bokeh background became the PoD. I’ll admit that it was close run thing with a grab shot I got of two Corgies getting their photos taken, but the robin won.

We walked over the bridge and on to the Cadzow Oaks. Some eejits had started a fire at the base of the 500+ years old trees, but someone with sense had put out the fire before it could take hold. I sometimes wonder at the mentality of these people.

I was being careful and made sure I had enough time to drop Alex off at his house and leave myself enough time to get back home by 3pm, but not before we had another coffee (for me) and a juice (for Alex). We agreed that we’d try to get out again next week.

Drove back to Cumbersheugh and picked up Scamp and we drove over to Coatbridge for a meeting with her specialist who took us through Scamp’s recent meeting with the Dundee team and checked her for changes to her Essential Tremor. There had been some changes, but only slight.

Tomorrow, Scamp is hoping to go to FitSteps as usual on a Friday. Me? I may tidy up my room, but only maybe!

A walk in the park – 18 March 2026

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A long lie in after yesterday’s late night drive.

A relaxing morning was called for to recover from yesterday’s drive home from Larky. It was a lovely morning. Blue skies and light cloud. It seemed a shame not to get out in it, even if was still a bit wet underfoot. Scamp was tidying up, but also searching for signs of new growth in the pots and troughs around the back garden. For my part I got a spade and a garden fork and turned over the soil and old veg in the compost bin. The quality of compost in the bin was surprisingly good for once.
We both lifted old leeks from a couple of pots too. After they had been washed, Scamp shared them with John and Carly next door. Both of them had fed us with soup over the winter and this would hopefully be a suitable ’Thank You’.

After a light lunch Scamp suggested we go for a walk round Drumpellier Loch. I thought it was a great idea. In fact it was such a warm afternoon, for the first time in ages I walked round the woodland without my big orange Rab jacket and it really did feel like spring. On the way back to the car, we wandered round the Peace Garden in the park where Scamp wanted to see the flowers. I didn’t think there would be anything to see this early in the year, but she proved me wrong. Lots of wee pockets of flowers all around the garden. We found a monument to peach in the Peace Garden and that made PoD.
We even managed to have an ice cream cone each with raspberry on it. Real raspberry like we used to get from the ice cream van!

Back home, I unloaded the photos I’d taken, but Scamp wasn’t finished yet. She found lots more tubs to investigate and hauled a pail full of weeds out as she was going with her wee hooked digger tool.

I made dinner tonight and it was Pasta Carbonara. It’s ages since I made it, but this one was almost perfect. Maybe I could have added more cheese, but only a little amount.

We watched the first episode of AI Confidential on BBC2. I’m not sure what to make of it. Bits were surreal, but also the true story behind it made me think again. I think I’ll watch episode 2 if I get a chance. It’s thought provoking. Also it made a change from Masterchef which is becoming boring for me now. Scamp would probably disagree!

Tomorrow I’m intending to meet Alex for a short walk in Chatelherault in the morning, but I need to be back to take Scamp to see her consultant later in the afternoon.

 

Blossom – 15 March 2026

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A wet and windy day, but the cherry blossom is in bloom.

Today was Mothers Day and Scamp had breakfast in bed. Then Hazy phoned and I made a quick exit to avoid getting in the way of two ladies talking!

There wasn’t much chance to get out and get some photos today. Lots of wind and rain. The rain, coming in waves, was heavy for short spells and was driven by a blustery wind.

Thankfully we had a quite exciting F1 GP to watch in the early afternoon. For the first time in ages we had not one, but two interesting race days recently. It felt like F1 used to be, years ago. Let’s hope the officials don’t spoil it by adding in restrictions.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the rain clouds, but eventually they did blow away and I got the decent shots I’d been looking for. I guessed the Cherry Blossom would be in bloom and I was not wrong. I managed to get some good photos of the flowers on two cherry trees. A spell of warm sun helped brighten the flowers and made them stand out from the background. PoD sorted!

Scamp made dinner, which was Sea Bass with Lemon Pepper Butter, Potatoes and Cauliflower. I made dessert which was Meringue with Fruit Salad, Diced Kiwi and Ice Cream. The whole thing served with Coffee and Kahlua for Scamp and black coffee for me.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard that things may be brightening up for the pair of them. Hope it all works out, because you do both deserve a break after some long drawn out wrangling.

I believe we may be going shopping tomorrow.

It was a dancing day today – 14 March 2026

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Drove over to Brookfield for the first dance class in ages.

Traffic was quite heavy this morning when we went to Brookfield. First worrying sign was that everyone still had their outdoor jackets on. While I was signing in, Stewart broke the news that the heating was off. Something had gone wrong with the Hive heating system and this in a big hall is not a good thing.

Stewart suggested we start with a House of Bamboo to get us moving. Not my favourite line dance, but at least it warmed us up. Next was a much more complicated ‘Hobie Quickstep’. I remembered the name, but couldn’t remember the actual steps. Scamp remembered part of it, but it was just a blur to me. Also, it went on for ages and I was getting really fed up with it. A new Waltz was next. It might be named Britannia or it might not. It was really just a bit of fluff to keep us on the dance floor and moving. The final dance was Rona’s Rumba, named for an enthusiastic dancer in the class, who passed away a few years ago now. This was one of Jane’s creations because she and Rona were great friends. We finished with two old favourites, Midnight Jive and the mental Fireball. I excused myself to go to the toilet instead of chancing the Midnight Jive because although it gets your heart pumping, it’s a bit of a nothing dance. Fireball is just a fun dance, in fact I wouldn’t even call it a dance. It’s just an attempt to be the person or persons who can shout “Oi !!” and “FIREBALL” the loudest.

With that we were done and returned the hall to the poor bowlers who must have been freezing sitting in an unheated room discussing this year’s competitions. Rather them than me.

The drive home was a nightmare with two lanes being squeezed into two and a crawl for about ten miles before everything started to thin out with no rhyme nor reason for the problem. Sometimes it’s like that and some day I’d like to view the motorway from a helicopter to try to understand the flow of traffic ( or the lack of flow ).

Back home I went for a walk to stretch my legs and got today’s PoD which was a Sycamore seedling pushing its green head out of the leaf litter in St Mo’s. I thought it deserved a photo. Walked home in the rain. By the time I got home the rain was going off! Sometimes life is like that.

For ages, since I got this new iMac I’ve had the feeling that the colour balance wasn’t right. Today I found out why.  I fixed two switches in the “Displays” part of “System Settings” Here they are for when I next need to use them:

Brightness set as suits the display.
Automatically adjust brightness – OFF
True Tone – ON
Colour Profile – Adobe RGB (1998)

Remember that ya Numpty!

No plans for tomorrow, but I might see if Alex is free next week.

 

Wild, Windy and Wet – 13 March 2026

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That about sums up the early part of the day.

Scamp was out at FitSteps in the morning. While she was out I made a fair attempt at cleaning up the living room table. It’s still quite tidy now, but I’m going to attempt to clean it up before I go to bed.

When Scamp returned I couldn’t decide whether to stay home or go out for a walk. The weather sorted out that problem for me with heavy rain showers that came and went for most of the afternoon.

I finally decided to go, and got a few shots of the Grey Heron that seems to have decided that there’s good fishing to be had in St Mo’s pond. It’s a few years since we’ve had herons fishing in the ponds. I hope this one stays. They are such leisurely birds in the air with their large wingspan. I managed to get some photos without being caught in the rain showers. Also, the wind had dropped, but I was on my way home by then.

The heron didn’t get PoD. That went to a Hawthorn leaf on a tree. The green leaves seem to have appeared really quickly this spring, but the trees are holding back on the leaves just yet, at least until May arrives. I suspect.

I’d ordered some coffee beans from Henry’s a couple of days ago and complained about the likelihood of it not being delivered until tomorrow, or even Monday, but when I was leaving the house to go on my walk, the man was just coming along to deliver it, so I had to eat my words this time. I still don’t trust Royal Mail.

We got the sad news that Marion’s mum passed away a few days ago. I think we only met her a few times, but we’ve know John and Marion for a long time.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go to our first dance class in about a month. I hope we manage to get my left foot and right foot sorted out before we go!

Visiting Isobel – 12 March 2026

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It was a very windy and very wet day.

Scamp had intended meeting Isobel at Costa as usual, but a call from Isobel saying that she didn’t want to go out today because of the wind meant we’d go for tea and biscuits in Isobel’s house. It didn’t look as if I was going to get many photos today, so a blether with Isobel would be fine. Scamp had lots of photos to show her of the visit she and Shona had to Edinburgh. I hardly got a word in edgeways as Scamp and Isobel hogged the conversation. Nevermind, the coffee and biscuits made it worthwhile.

Drove home and picked up some apples and a cake for Scamp and a bag of scones for us both to share. By the time we got home, the weather had calmed down a fair bit, but squally rain showers made the chance of photo unlikely. However, after lunch the sky started clearing and I thought I’d risk a half hour walk round the pond to see if there was anything interesting to photograph.

Once round the pond and just as I was thinking that the cloud scapes were looking interesting, the first spots of rain fell. I got a few shots of the clouds before the heavens opened up and I got soaked. I did think of sheltering under the big pine trees, but by the time I reached them the rain had done its worst and I decided to walk home.

I dumped the photos in the computer after I’d changed my clothes and made a foolish mistake when I was uploading the photos. Thankfully I must have pressed the “Fixit” button and it seems as if it’s all but repaired. I’ll know for sure tomorrow.

Scamp made a really interesting Sweet ’n’ Sour dinner tonight. We must check the recipe and try it again some time soon.

The cloudscape made PoD and it looks as if it got through its problem.

I think Scamp is going to FitSteps tomorrow. Other than that, we have nothing planned.