Category: A Walk

Recovery – 8 November 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Yesterday was a busy day that started about midday and didn’t end until just before midnight. It was all because of a wedding in Glasgow that started well, almost had a stand-up fight in the middle and ended with a very noisy and boisterous finish with lots of laughter, I’m told. We were on the train home by that time.

After standing around at the station hoping for a taxi, a good Samaritan called Jonathan, (I hope I got that right) a gentleman and a scholar managed to coax a taxi driver to squeeze us in so we got home safe. Thank you Jonathan!

Today, by comparison was quite calm and pleasant. I went for a walk round St Mo’s pond and managed to capture a nice looking cloudscape that looked as if it was going to dump a load of rain on me, but thankfully it all blew past and the sun came out again.

Scamp needed a bit of a haircut today. She was booked for a procedure that required her to remove all her hair. Thankfully she had prepared for it by getting her hair cut fairly short for the wedding, but the actual ‘bald cut’ was down to me. I can now see why a lot of people get a very close cut. I’m not sure I could manage to get such a close cut, but if needs must …!

Dinner today was Mince & Tatties for me, while Scamp had potatoes with cabbage and cauliflower. The mince had been in the freezer for some time, but it tasted fine.

Spoke to Jamie and discovered that he had dug up eight Butternut squashes to keep for the winter. I think he’s digging up his vegetable patch to get it ready for next year.

We may have an early night tonight after yesterday’s long day.

A cold day – 6 November 2026

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Not a day that enticed us out, but we did go out anyway.

Drove to the town centre to meet Isabel and heard about what was happening in her side of the family. She really is an interesting person. For someone who is 90, her recall is amazing. She can tell you the names of all her families members, past and present and can tell you who married whom and also the stories attached to them. She is an entertainment!

After a couple of hours she set off with her walker to go to Tesco, but refused a lift. We drove to the much smaller Tesco on the other side of town and Scamp came back with milk and tomatoes which we needed for lunch.

After lunch I dragged myself out for a walk in St Mo’s. By that time the light was disappearing. I spotted a couple of ducks that might have been Pochards, but they were too far out in the pond to get a positive ID.

I settled for a couple of reeds that created an interesting geometric pattern. It wasn’t until I looked closely at the reeds that I noticed a slender spider waiting for an unwary insect to provide its dinner. The reed became the PoD.

Dinner tonight was Saag Paneer Kedgeree. Another of Scamp’s specialities. Hot, but not too spicy.

Tomorrow we have been invited to a wedding.

Out in Glasgow with Alex – 5 November 2026

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I got the bus from Cumbersheugh to Glasgow.

The bus was fashionably late, but the driver made up for lost time by charging along the M80 at a fair pace that got me to the bus station on time. Alex was waiting for me and we walked down Buchanan Street to a Nero where we had a coffee and discussed what we were going to do today. The rain was drizzling when we left Nero and that made us think it might be better to restrict ourselves to Glasgow today, rather than somewhere exotic like Paisley.

We walked down Buchanan Street to St Enoch’s and got some photos of the Christmas Fairs being constructed. From there we continued over to the Clyde Walkway to see what new graffiti had been added to it. The answer, wasn’t much and that made us wonder where all the good artists had disappeared to. Quite a few ‘Jakies’ hanging about the walkway and some of them were getting a bit aggressive, so we crossed the road and went or lunch.

Paesano was really busy today, but we managed to get a table for two and while Alex had a mixed peppers pizza, I stuck to Italian Sausage on my pizza. We took our time to make sure we had covered Trump’s failure to hold on to the Senate and the House in America. I have no idea what that means, buy it sounds good.

Not surprisingly, Alex wanted to go down to Guitar Guitar to look at, you guessed it … guitars. Actually he was hoping to be able to swap what turned out to be a low quality Gretch ( I think that’s how you spell it) guitar, or better still, get his money back. After a very positive response from the bloke behind the counter, we left with him feeling a lot better.

We climbed up one of Glasgow’s steep hills to get some photos of the big “Nappy Pin” that stands where Rotten Row used to be. Part of a hospital many years ago.

From there we needed another coffee and then made our way home. Hopefully our next adventure will be in two weeks time, but maybe an hour earlier, because nights are fair drawing in these days!

PoD went to a snap of a bloke standing outside the GoMA. I liked the light in this one.

Scamp and I may go out for a run somewhere tomorrow.

A day in the sun – 4 November 2026

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Scamp was going out with her witchy friends and I was staying home because although the sun was warm in the house, the same couldn’t be said for the outside. It was quite cool!

Before she went out, Scamp was determined to plant out the Cyclemen and Violas she’s brought from Torwood. I think that’s them all in the soil now. They don’t seem to mind the cold weather, coincidentally neither does Scamp. Given half a chance she will be out in the garden in all weathers.

After Scamp left for meeting up with her friends, I dug out my recent book and decided I had to either find out what was going on with the Jinni and the Golem or give up the story. After about an hour I was beginning to see parts of the story coming together. It still wasn’t entirely clear, but we are talking about mythical beings here and as such they are unwilling to make anything clear. In other words, the story continues.

Later in the day I went for a walk over to St Mo’s to see if there was anything I could do with the warm light and I did find a use for it in a fallen leaf with lovely orange markings backlit by the low sun. The PoD was in the bag!

Scamp arrived a little later and we drove over to Shona’s house for dinner. Today’s menu was a square slice of pizza, a round of garlic flavoured flat bread and finally a quiche which was a delight! Thank you Shona for collecting all those disparate flavours and making them work.

Shona had a load of stories to tell about Ben’s adventures and the possibility of him getting a house soon. Still not sure where, or any other details, but there seems to be a move on the way. I just hope he’s not being moved too far away from Shona.

We drove home a bit later than we’d intended, but managed to get a slot in the almost full parking place.

Tomorrow I’m intending to meet Alex for a photowalk, probably in Glasgow or Paisley. I’ve missed the banter for the last month or so.

I had a lazy day today – 2 November 2026

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It started with a chance to watch the Mexican GP and it was full of thrills and spills, especially the spills. One car losing its front wheel and careening into the barrier. One car almost making a complete circuit of the track before being told to pack the whole thing in and go straight to the pits, do not pass GO and do not collect £100. Really, it was like being at the dodgem cars at a fair!

Once we’d watched the winner become The Champion of the World and once we saw the champagne being poured over the winner’s head (It’s actually ginger beer I’m told) Scamp started in the garden and I began sewing up a seam on my latest bow tie. By then it was lunch time.

Scamp continued where she’d left off in the garden and I thought I’d go for a walk in St Mo’s. I really need to find an alternative place to go searching for photos, but St Mo’s is local and there are usually some interesting shots to take.

The PoD went to a back-lit tree standing amongst some trees. We don’t get the leaves from the trees for very long, so I try to make the most of the golden lights.

We had previously discussed dinner and I suggested a home-made pizza. It sounded easy, I’ve made them umpteen times before, so with a bit of luck I was sure I could knock one out. For once it worked. I had just enough dough for two pizzas. One is now chilling nicely in the fridge and the other one produced a big, fat, chunky pizza base that was covered with cheese chunks, liquidised tomatoes and some sliced mozzarella. For once I didn’t use anchovies, that would have been too much of a good thing, but the baking of the pizza was almost perfect. I was very pleased with it. Even Scamp agreed it was excellent.

We watched Mastermind and University Challenge after dinner and left Only Connect for another day.

Scamp has the dentist tomorrow and we we may have some time to spare after that, so we might go for a drive somewhere interesting. We can look forward to the other Pizza!

On Golden Pond – 1 November 2026

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I was out for a walk round St Mo’s pond when I came across these pines reflecting the low sun. It was an easy PoD.

The rest of the day was equally good looking. Warm sunshine and some decent light for a change.

I admit that I just did my usual walk around the pond, across the football pitch and into the woods to see if there were any more Yellow Iris seeds, but most had gone by the time I reached their usual place. The birds had been making a feast of them. Can’t blame them. It must be a tough existence scraping a living in the woods, especially when the school kids are using the area as a free dumping ground for their chip bags and sandwich wrappers.

Still, there are areas worth investigating if you have time to look for them. Farther into the woods there are deer tracks if you have the time and patience to watch for them. Not as many songbirds in the woods now. It appears that the Magpies are commandeering the best food areas and they are dominating the area. I imagine only the strongest will survive for a few years before the cycle returns. That’s what makes the world go round I suppose!

Walked back home and found Scamp making tonight’s dinner which was Salmon & Fennel Risotto. It came from a cookery book, but tasted great. Even better it was washed down with the remains of a bottle of yesterday’s Bardolino for me and a small bottle of Prosecco for Scamp. Altogether a decent dinner. My compliments to the chef!

Spoke to Jamie later in the evening and heard about his least favourite time of the year, having to decide who gets the “+ rating” and who has to suffer the “- rating”. I’m so glad that I’ve passed that stage of my life.

No real plans for tomorrow, but I think it will be my turn to cook!

Blue skies and sun – 31 October 2026

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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.

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.

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.