Category: A Walk

Walking in the woods – 10 July 2021

Posted on by Zogman

We had a lazy start, but we were both eager to get out and about.

Neither of us was all that inclined to go anywhere today. It was one of those Scottish days with the milky white sky again. However, we did need something for tonight’s dinner and a walk to stretch our legs wouldn’t go amiss. So, with that in mind, off we trotted for a walk around Broadwood Loch.

Surprisingly, there weren’t a lot of folk out walking. It was almost as if we had the place to ourselves. I think we only passed three people walking through the wooded part of the walk. There were a few more on the usual circuit of the loch itself. In the woods there might not have been many folk, but there were lots of froglets or maybe toadlets, I can’t tell the difference. Luckily we managed to avoid stepping on any. Unluckily for me I didn’t get any photos of them because my camera was set to ISO 50 from last night’s testing sessions after sensor cleaning. With that sorted, we were back in normal business.

I don’t really like pylons. They are a blot on the landscape and the central belt of Scotland seems to be full of them. However, viewed as a subject in themselves and with a bit of help from Lightroom they become quite interesting structures. One is available for viewing in Flickr. We walked around the exercise machines path, following in the footsteps of a dad and two boys on bikes. One of the boys was berated by Scamp for leaving his bike on the path. The dad agreed with her and said he was trying to teach them good bike behaviour as well as how to cycle safely. “Good luck with that.” I told him as we passed on by.

We got tonight’s dinner in M&S. Stir fry. I chose half the ingredients, Scamp chose the other half.

Back home I had a look at the photos and knew they needed something better to put on Flickr, so I changed cameras to the Oly and went off hunting beasties in St Mo’s. I’d forgotten how useful a motor wind feature is on a neat little camera like the Oly. Great for the scattergun approach to macros. Get the subject framed and almost in focus and batter off ten frames or so. Move on and do the same again. I’d taken 10 shots on our 90min walk round Broadwood. I took 140 in less than an hour round St Mo’s and with almost the same success rate.

The PoD turned out to be the pylons but a furry hoverfly came a close second, as did The Caped Crusader. See Flickr to understand that title.

I overcooked the chicken in the stir fry, but we both agreed it was edible.

No rain appeared today although there was a very threatening sky for a while. Tomorrow we may get water from the sky.

Just another Friday – 9 July 2021

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There wasn’t much to say about today.  The sky was Scottish white.  It was warm, too warm and we did nothing.

Some days are like that.  You keep waiting for things to get better, but mostly they just stay the same.  I was waiting for my coffee and tea to be delivered from the Bean Shop in Perth. Scamp went for a walk to the shops for tonight’s dinner and I stayed and waited for the text from the DPD man to say when the parcel would be delivered.  DPD usually text around 11am to say when it’s going to arrive.  If the text doesn’t come by then, it means it’s a later delivery.  When the text arrived it was to say that the parcel wouldn’t be delivered until later in the afternoon.  After lunch we did a quick round of the garden,  dead heading the flowers that had lost all their petals or had gone to seed.

After the parcel arrived I went for a walk.  That’s when I found the tree growing through the fence of St Mo’s school. I’ve always meant to photograph it, just in case the council take it into their heads to cut it down.  Today was the day.  Not great lighting, but a record of the event was made.  I’d taken the old Sigma 10-20mm lens and the Zenit Helios 44 58mm.  An Old Glass day. Both lenses work in manual only now which is a different experience to the automation I’m used to.  The Sigma took the shot of the tree.  Unfortunately that was about the only decent shot I got.

Dinner was an M&S curry each because it is Friday and nearly the weekend, if such a thing exists any more.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day, but that’s not what the weather fairies say.  They are predicting rain.  At least that will mean we don’t have to water the garden!

Marmalade, Walking and a bit of DIY – 8 July 2021

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Since the morning was a bit dull, Scamp suggested we water the garden.

Sounded sensible. Why do we always wait until the sun goes down before we get the hose out. If the sun isn’t coming out to play, then there’s no chance of the plants getting burned by the water from the hose. Apparently that’s why you should never water plants in direct sunlight. Whether that applies in Scotland is not proven.

We dug the hose out and I started on the front garden, the easy one. Not so many plants and they are nicely arranged around the edge of the grass whereas at the back there are sometimes three rows of pots, one in front of the other. When I was done, Scamp took over and watered the back garden. She also managed to water the kitchen floor, but we won’t go into that here. When we were done and were putting the hose away, I unplugged the gun end from the hose carrier and that’s when Scamp had a good idea. Why don’t we put up a hook in the bin shed and hang the gun end of the hose on that.

I dug out my cheapo Black & Decker drill with the Ni Cd batteries that are always flat when you want to use them. Just to prove me wrong, today they had held their charge from about three weeks ago and proceeded to drill a couple of holes in the wall of the bin shed. I don’t know what the wall was made from, but it was hard and quite thin. Probably a cement tile. Of course the holes were too small for the plastic plugs. So I carefully checked and got a drill that would do the job without being too big, just a nice tight fit. Put the first screw in and it started turning the plastic plug because the wall was too thin to grip the plastic. For some reason the other screw went in fine. After tightening the first screw by hand It was feeling a bit more secure. It was only meant to hold a coil of hose anyway so it would be fine. I haven’t checked it, but I’ve not heard any crashes from the bin shed, so perhaps for once my DIY skills have won the day.

After lunch we walked down to The Shops to get some veg and stuff for tonight’s dinner which was to be a Veggie Sausage Roll for Scamp and a Mince Pie for me. Both of them home made.

After we came back Scamp started the ironing and I took the Sony for a walk in St Mo’s. It was going to be a Beastie Day. There were lots of Soldier Beetles on the cow parsley and a strange little thin bodied moth with equally narrow wings. I didn’t quite get a clear shot of it, but I’ll keep my eye out for it now. PoD went to a Marmalade Hoverfly, named for the lovely orange coloured stripes on its body, I presume.

We had a dance practise tonight and went over the Waltz, Catherine Waltz, Tango and Bossa Nova. A bit of hesitation with the Catherine Waltz where I forgot how to do the Telemark Turn and Scamp misplaced a couple of Spin Turns, but otherwise not bad.

Tomorrow I’m waiting in for coffee and tea to be delivered. I discovered back in May that I had oodles of points I could use a the Perth coffee shop, so today’s purchase came to just over £7! If the delivery comes early we may go out somewhere.

Canal, Canoes and Cygnets – 7 July 2021

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We went for a walk.

It was a lovely morning and after Scamp had hung out the washing we got our boots on and went for a walk. We stepped out the door and the rain came on!

By the time we’d gone half a mile, the rain had stopped. For the first time in what seemed like ages, we drove down to Auchinstarry, parked and went for a walk along the canal towards Twechar. I’d been a bit sensible with the camera gear and only carried the Sony, the kit lens and the 18mm. I thought a change of subject to landscape would be good, but really it was the walk that was interesting me more and I knew Scamp would enjoy a walk in the countryside, especially on a day like today.

For once we weren’t bothered too much by cyclists. Maybe that was because it was midweek and some unlucky folk would be working. Some folk have to! We did see a few people out in Canadian style canoes, a few in kayaks and one person on a paddle board. That must the the most uncomfortable way to travel on water. Kneeling and paddling. Even for the experts, standing up and paddling doesn’t make sense to me. All the discomfort of windsurfing without the feeling of speed. Not my idea of fun at all.

Despite my desire for some landscape photography and despite actively shunning the macro lens today, I did succumb to taking a few shots of hoverflies, but only a few. With a blue sky above and lush green fields below, thanks to the recent rain, it was landscapes that won the day, especially with the activity on the canal giving an extra interest. I did think though, watching those Canadian canoes nearing Twechar, that I could almost hear the banjos playing the theme from Deliverance!

When we were almost back at the car Scamp spotted a large flotilla of cygnets following their mother down under the Auchinstarry bridge. Nine cygnets in all. Laying all those eggs must have been an experience Mrs Swan wouldn’t want to repeat again.

Back home Scamp started making another Swiss Roll. This is the second one and she seems much happier with it than last time. This time she opted not to include the ganache. On a taste test she thought it was a little dry. I just ate mine.

The swan and its nine cygnets made PoD.

No real plans for tomorrow, although we may go somewhere we haven’t been in a long time, but it’s not Venice!

The Dewdrop goes out – 6 July 2021

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It was a much better day than we anticipated.

Scamp was off for coffee with Isobel in the morning and I wasn’t invited. I wasn’t particularly bothered by the non-invite because I had my own plans for the day.

I’d planned that if the day was set fair, I’d take Dewdrop out for a spin. Just a short run, nothing too strenuous because I’ve not been cycling since about September last year and I wasn’t entirely sure I’d remember how to ‘go a bike’. It was easy. Dewdrop was docile and put up with me missing gears and struggling with the SPD plates on my shoes. We soon covered the 3 miles I’d earmarked as our first day out in 2021.

I had to lift the bike over a five bar gate on to the rutted old path alongside the railway. I didn’t get all the way along the path because I could see in the distance a JCB working near the end and as this path is technically private land I didn’t want to have to explain my intentions. Those intentions were to get some insect photos. So I cut my journey short and went looking for something less interesting, but still photographable.

I found it. The ‘It’ in question was a Burnet Moth and not just one, there were hundreds of them some, three to a flower. I think they were 5 Spot although they may be 6 Spot. It’s difficult to tell because the spots sometimes merge and also somtimes you get misled and find you’re counting a spot on the underwing.  Burnet moths are day flying insects and despite their startling appearance, aren’t all that rare. However they only seem to appear around here for a few days. I must just have hit it lucky today. I grabbed a few shots of course.

The other strange sight was a black slug emerging from a puddle where it had been completely submerged. As far as I could remember, slugs can’t breathe underwater, but this one was crawling along the bottom of the puddle, before it hauled itself out and then crawled over to another puddle to cross it head just above the water. Such a strange sight. I took photos … of course (on Flickr), but now I think about it, I should have taken a short video too. Is this the true origin of the Loch Ness Monster?  Is Nessie a gigantic slug?

When I got home, Scamp was back from her ‘coffee’ outing, although she said there seemed to be very little actual coffee in her cup. Maybe it was a ‘babychino’ rather than a latte.

After lunch Scamp started defrosting the freezer. It was my fault. Last night I didn’t close the door properly after I took the last of the ice cream out. The door stayed open until Scamp was going to bed around 11pm. That would mean it was gently losing its ice for about five hours. When we opened the door this morning it looked as if Frosty the Snowman had been in the freezer all night. Everything was covered in a layer of white frost. The freezer was needing defrosted anyway, so this was the incentive we needed. That’s one way of looking at it, anyway. After about an hour this afternoon with both of us taking turns at the defrosting process it was deemed clear enough to restart the freeze process. We put back about 60% of the contents. The rest were either too old to be worth keeping or Scamp didn’t think they were safe to refreeze. I’ll check next and every time and close that freezer door properly now.

Scamp made dinner tonight, a Prawn & Pea Risotto. Really lovely. Just enough mint in it to flavour the peas without overwhelming the whole thing.

We had a quick dance practise tonight just to make sure we can do the basic rumba, cha-cha and foxtrot. After a bit of discussion we came to agree on the correct moves in the correct places!

Tomorrow we may go out for a walk if the weather stays dry. It almost stayed dry today, just a little shower to remind us it was still there.

 

 

No thunder, just rain – 5 July 2021

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Rain and lots of it for most of the day.

We kept waiting for the rain to go off, but it just kept coming. Sometimes light, sometimes a bit heavier, but generally just a constant drizzle that, while good for the garden, wasn’t much good for photography.

Eventually after lunch I did make the decision to go out and try my luck because the rain had nearly stopped. While I was walking, my camera, in my bag, managed to take over 100 shots of the inside of the bag. That’s what happens when you forget to switch off the camera. Then you wonder why you have no space on your SD card and also why your battery is nearly flat. However, under MY control the camera did manage to take a few decent shots. My favourite, and PoD, was the close up of the bluebottle. If you ever wonder why you can’t sneak up on a bluebottle, take a look at those eyes. The compound eyes of flies are made up from thousands of individual receptors each one covering a slightly different, but overlapping area. So what the fly ‘sees’ is the world around it as a mosaic built up from all those thousands of cells, covering nearly 360º in every direction.

Watched an old film on iPlayer tonight Down Among the Big Boys (1993) starring Billy Connolly and Douglas Henshall. Great fun trying to work out where all the street scenes were filmed and also trying to work out who some of the bit player were. Silly story line, but interesting enough for a Monday night.

Tomorrow Scamp has a coffee appointment with Isobel and I’ve got the morning off. It might be dry, the weather fairies say, so I might get out somewhere scenic for a change … might!

 

 

Thunderstorms and torrential rain – 4 July 2021

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Looks like that’s the end of the hot summer days for a while.

We knew it was going to happen. All good things must come to an end and so do the dry days. Today started out with lovely sunshine, but we knew it wouldn’t last. The weather fairies had been adamant that thunderstorms were on the way, blowing up from the south, but you always live in hope that they got it wrong. They didn’t and not long after midday the first peal of thunder sounded the end of the hot dry spell. It was followed almost immediately by a torrential shower, and that’s the way it proceeded for the rest of the day. A few rolls of the thunder drum and then the heavy rain. I’d put out all the plants in the greenhouse to grab some of that free rain and I’m sure they enjoyed it.

Although the sun had disappeared, the air was still that heavy, muggy way you get just before thunderstorms clear the air, so when there seemed to be a dry spell, I got my shorts and tee shirt on with a raincoat on top (because I’m daft, but not totally stupid) and took the weather sealed Sony and Sigma macro out for a walk in St Mo’s. I was hoping for some butterflies or maybe, if I was lucky, a dragonfly. Neither of these were forthcoming, but I did manage to grab some shots of a hoverfly, a Helophilus pendulus no less. Commonly known as a Footballer because of its striped thorax. There haven’t been many hoverflies about so far this year, so it was good to get a clean shot of one.

I was only taking an hour out today because I had been making some tear and share bread and it was due to go in to the oven fairly soon. As agreed, I phoned Scamp on my way home and asked her to put the oven on. My timing was good for once and I was in the house barely ten minutes when the next rain shower started.

Dinner tonight was steak for me and salmon for Scamp. Both served with potatoes, broccoli and a few mushrooms that were needing used up for me. The ‘tear and share’ bread was lovely.

Dancing was Queen of Hearts rumba followed by Foxtrot and finished with Cha-Cha to Jack Savoretti’s Dancing in the Living Room. The teachers put in some simplified chassis steps instead of the two half reverse turns for the Foxtrot and that made the dance much more danceable in our living room. The final cha-cha was fine, but the song was instantly forgettable for me. Still, a good work out and good news that there is more than a chance that we will be dancing (not in our living room) by the end of the month!

Spoke to JIC later and heard about Simonne’s latest 10k which was ‘just a trail run’.  Good to hear she’s doing so well and that JIC will be getting back to the gym soon.

Tomorrow looks a lot like today has been with heavy showers and the possibility of thunderstorms for most of the day. We might manage a walk in one of the dry spells.

Walking in the rain – 3 July 2021

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Twice I walked in the rain today. Once with Scamp and once by myself. Both times were enjoyable experiences.

It started off as a sunny summer’s day, but we knew it wouldn’t last. Our weather forecaster device, the weather fairies and the weather apps on our phones told us it was going to be wet today with the possibility of thunder storms too. With that in mind, we went out for a walk around St Mo’s in the morning before the deluge. Actually the dry spell lasted longer than we’d anticipated, but by 1pm it was starting to rain.

At first there wasn’t much rain. Just a shower, the edge of a cloud. After that we thought we’d manage a walk to the shops to get something for dinner, but it was waiting and we thought we’d just stay put until this heavier shower was past. It didn’t last long, but it was a heavy shower. When it had stopped we put rain coats on and went for that walk to the shops.

We got there and back again without getting too wet, in fact you could almost see the streets drying, there was so much heat in the ground. Back home I had a look through this morning’s photos and there wasn’t a lot there, so I was just considering going out again when the third wave struck and it was much longer and heavier than before. I looked again and wondered if there was just enough for a PoD. I decided to wait out the shower and when it was finally spent I dressed lightly but with a raincoat and went out to get some wet weather photos.

I found lots of slugs and snails out enjoying the wet weather. They seem to relish the rain, probably because it makes it easier for them to ‘walk’ on the rough stones of the paths. One of those shelled gastropod achieved PoD as it made its way across my path. I saw a couple of frogs and a larger toad which was a possible PoD but was pipped by the snail.

We had a short practise of the new Rumba routine Queen of Hearts as well as the Cha-Cha. It seems like the Cha-Cha will be featured tomorrow and it’s likely the teachers will also want to make sure we’ve been doing our homework on the Rumba too. Best to be prepared.

Tomorrow looks like an inside sort of day with heavy rain and thunderstorms on the cards. No great plans for a walk then!

Just an ordinary Friday – 2 July 2021

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We went for the messages, Scamp did some housework, I went for a walk. That’s about it really!

While I’ll admit that Scamp did some housework, I had hoovered the kitchen before I’d even had my breakfast this morning. Granted, when I’d been making the breakfast I’d accidentally spilled half a box of bran flakes on the kitchen floor, but that’s a mere detail. I hoovered the kitchen.

We went for the messages. Scamp drove to Tesco and we collected the usual essentials but also bought some milk to put in between the wine bottles to stop them clinking.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s later in the afternoon and PoD was a Red Admiral butterfly, although a Lacewing was a close competitor, as was a little Ringlet butterfly. These words, Red Admiral, Lacewing, Ringlet and even Butterfly are ones we only use for three or four months a year in Scotland. After that the most common word is rain. Which neatly brings me to the next topic.

All the way through my walk I’d been watching the black clouds that were looming from the south. Just as I was getting to the house, I felt the first drops of rain. Scamp was just hanging out the clothes, fresh from the washing machine and was loathe to bring them in again, but resistance was futile. The rain just got heavier. She brought them in. Strangely, about a couple of hours later the rain stopped, the sun shone and it was a beautiful evening, but it was too late to risk putting the washing out again.

I used the new toy on my wrist to log my walk today and was surprised at just how accurate it was. Not only that, the amount of data it collected and sent to its masters in China will all be analysed by their top scientists to try to steal even more of my identity. I now know how many minutes and seconds it takes for me to walk a mile and how many Kcal I burn in the process (not enough says Scamp). Still it’s an amazing piece of tech. It even has a torch built in. That’s a godsend if you want to raid the drinks cupboard while Scamp is in her bed and I’m supposed to be writing the blog!

We watched poor Bandy Andy doing his best to play against his younger, fitter, but less bionic opponent.  However, it was all in vain.  Proving that old age and treachery won’t always beat youth and exuberance.

Tomorrow we have rain, hail, thunder and lightning forecast for our entertainment. I think the shorts and the tee shirts will be in the washing machine and I’ll be looking out my jeans and my rainy coat. No real plans.

Scamp fixes the kettle – 1 July 2021

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Scamp did some investigating and came up with a solution to the chemical smell from the kettle.

First, though we spoke to Hazy and I found out that there’s to be a new series of Good Omens. A sequel of sorts, but with Neil Gaiman in the writing team, it’s never going to be a simple sequel. Thank you Hazy for that heads up. It will be on Amazon Prime first, so bang goes my idea of cancelling Prime.

Scamp’s research led to an old fashioned solution to the smelly kettle, but it worked. Two tablespoons of Bicarbonate of Soda went in to the tank and then the tank was filled with tap water. It had to stand for an hour or so, so we left it while we went out to get some plants at Calders.

Today, Scamp chose a tray of Dahlias, a tray of Petunias (which always remind me of an old song “Don’t jump off the roof, Dad” Search for it on Spotify and you’ll find out why) and finally another Begonia. While she went to speak to Carol from Gems, I paid for the plants and sat cooling in the car. Isn’t air con the most wonderful invention, especially on days like today when the temperature is hovering around 25º?

With the gardening requirements met, we drove home via Tesco and got the ingredients for tonight’s dinner which was Chicken Salad, but will always be known as Neil’s Chicken Salad for the simple reason that he was the first one who made it for us.

Then it was time to wash out the kettle (it’s much easier calling it a kettle, rather than a water boiler). I gave it a good rinsing with about three changes of water. After that, to make sure the boiler part of it was rinsed too, we boiled one whole tank full of water, a cup at a time. Another rinse and we were good to go. It worked! It was as simple as that. That cleaning took all the chemical smell away. I must remember to ask a chemist how that worked 😏.

After lunch with a cup of normal tea smelling tea for me and White Tea for Scamp, she settled down to plant her new acquisitions. I grabbed the Oly this time and took it for a walk in St Mo’s and then out into the wild area that will soon become yet another Micky D’s. I got some really nice pictures of a Common Blue damselfly, but then I remembered I’d taken some photos of some roses in a vase on the coffee table after we’d spoken to Hazy. With a little jiggery pokery they shone on a dark background and became PoD.

We sat for a while in the garden before dinner, listening to John and Carlyn’s ‘’Ten Pence Mix wafting gently from their garden. Actually they played some decent music for a change (no Eagles). I had a beer and Scamp had a glass of her new best friend, Bramble & Raspberry Gin. Then it was time for Neil’s Chicken Salad.

This might have been the last of the really good weather. We’ve been warned by the weather fairies that rain is on the way, if not tomorrow, then Saturday and definitely by Sunday. We’ve had a good spell of warm sunny days, so we shouldn’t complain, but we will! Scamp’s leg is looking better today. The swelling is going down but it’s still itchy.

What we do tomorrow will depend on how near the rain clouds manage to get.