Category: A Walk

A walk in the woods – 6 March 2021

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Different woods.

It being a beautiful morning, Scamp was raring to go out … somewhere … anywhere. By the time we did get out the sun had disappeared and the clouds were sliding in. Those same milky white clouds that have dogged us all week. We walked down to Broadwood Loch and followed the path clockwise, which like yesterday was against the natural flow of people on the Broadwood Travelator. Again we took the first available exit and walked through the woods where we found a single deer, a hind, grazing beside Orchardton Pond. It stood for a few minutes inspecting us before it returned to its grazing. It was not in the least fazed by these humans pointing things at it. I suppose it must get used to the people walking along this path. I’m sure it wouldn’t be so happy being next to the Broadwood Travelator.

We left the deer to its breakfast and walked deeper into the woods following a winding path between the trees which eventually brought us back to the main path where we continued to walk against the flow until we were back on familiar ground along the ‘exercise machines’ path and from there back up the hills to home. My back was aching carrying one small and one big camera. I really have to be more sensible about these things. One camera is enough with a couple of lenses, but not the great weight of the 105mm macro or the old 70-300mm tele. A walk is no fun when you’re carrying a heavy load. Anyway, I’d pointed a piece of glass at a deer and got a few shots, one of which I was certain would make a decent PoD. As it was, there were quite a few decent shots, but I settled on this shot of the deer hind as my PoD.

Exercise over for the day, I settled down to finish yesterday’s Sudoku and then to select eight photos to send with my bi-monthly (that is every second month, not twice a month) email to my brother. Actually I was running a bit late this time as ‘Every Day in February’ had stolen away so much time. That took most of the remaining afternoon and is in fact, just posted!

Dinner tonight was courtesy of Bombay Dreams which is soldiering on as a delivery service. Quite the best Indian food in Cumbersheugh by a long way and enormous portions. Also the hottest Rogan Josh I’ve had anywhere and the squeakiest Paneer that Scamp has eaten. Half of it was consumed tonight and the remainder we’ll keep until tomorrow, possibly for dinner tomorrow night.

A gentle dance practise tonight just to make sure we (for ’we’ read ’I’) remember it for tomorrow’s lesson. I got both the rumba and the waltz correct … second time around. That was quite good for me. We were both happy with it.

Tomorrow looks like rain. I doubt if a walk will be on the cards, but you never know.

Round a different pond – 5 March 2021

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… and into the woods as well.

It was dry in the morning, but cold. Scamp’s wee red car needed a run to warm it up, charge the battery and get the wheels moving, so she got to choose the destination. She chose Drumpellier. It being a Friday, lots of folk were off work and lots of folk had chosen Drumpellier as a place to walk with their pals or push a pram, some even joined the two together and went for a walk with their pal while pushing a pram. Multitasking. Even worse, half the car park was cordoned off to allow the Council workies to get their machines out and lay new footpaths. Spaces in the car park were at a premium, but Scamp found one and just drove into it and we were there.

We walk counterclockwise round the loch. It’s really too big to be a pond. Counterclockwise was not the correct way. Almost everyone else was walking clockwise. Almost everyone else was walking round the loch too on the main path. Scamp doesn’t do that. She likes to leave the main path and take the roads less travelled. That isn’t a metaphor for anything, she just likes the less busy paths. With all that in mind, we took the first available turning away from the main path and discovered the woods. Oak and beech woodlands in Coatbridge isn’t what I was expecting, nor were the deer we saw in bit of bogland between the wooded paths. We only took two paths and easy ones at that, but we both agreed that we’d go back again some time, all being well. We’d also take the path less walked and avoid the conveyer belt everyone else was travelling on. At the end of the path we walked through the Peace Garden and bumped into two guys, one in a wheelchair and one walking. Both retired, the one in the wheelchair hadn’t been out of the house since November. I’m glad he and his pal, both photogs, got a dry day, even if it was cold.

In the afternoon, after lunch I went for a walk in St Mo’s on my way to the shops, but nothing I saw replaced the PoD I’d taken at Drumpellier. It was a wee child’s toy sitting on a stubby branch of a tree . Hopefully whoever lost it will find it again some day soon.

Don’t have any plans for tomorrow. It may involve another walk and then again it might not. It all adds to the mystery of life.

Cold damp and dull – 4 March 2021

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That about sums up today.

Sometimes it’s hard to get up much interest, especially when the sun isn’t interested in doing much work. I assume it is up there, above the clouds, but it’s shirking on it’s job as far as I’m concerned. Nothing but milky white skies and the occasional rain. I’m looking for Spring and not finding it.

Scamp wanted to go for seed compost today and the only place we could be sure of getting any was B&Q. We could have driven to Falkirk, to the garden centre there, but until the Littlest Witch decides we’ve been good enough to allow us to go to garden centres, we’d have to go through the rigmarole of ordering online and then using click and collect. Plus it’s not the same as being free to wander round the plants and look at things. At least B&Q for all its faults, and there are a fair few, has an outdoor section with plants and a selection of compost types and bag sizes. Scamp eventually settled on two bags of seed compost. One for immediate use and another as a backup for later use. We agreed that it’s still a bit early for planting seeds, better to wait until later in the month or possibly even until April. Scotland is always a bit behind the rest of the uk in gardening terms.

Before we went driving through Cumbersheugh to B&Q I thought it might be a good idea to put some petrol in Blue. It’s been so long since I filled the tank, some time last year I believe, that I couldn’t remember which side the filler cap was on. Yes, I know there is a sign on the dash to tell you, but that’s not much use when you’ve just switched the engine off. Besides, it’s something I really should know without a prompt. It was passenger’s side.

Back home and after lunch, which was ‘Gluey Soup’ (Scamp’s description) I went for a walk in St Mo’s with the stated purpose of re-photographing yesterday’s PoD using the macro lens. Perhaps it was that statement of intent that made Scamp decide that a day inside would be better than watching me grovelling around moss covered stones. I did find the source of yesterday’s PoD and as you can see, well hopefully you can see, you get a much more “up close and personal” view with a macro lens. When I was looking at the photos on the computer, later, I was amazed at the detail the new lens resolves. I really am impressed.

The light wasn’t good today, but I was finding some good subjects when I got talking to a bloke who just walks round and round St Mo’s pond. I’d just intended to pass the time of day with him, but instead we stood there for about half an hour talking, or me listening and him talking. Eventually when he left to continue his circuits, what light there had been had gone and I’d missed my chance of more macros. Hopefully the light will be better tomorrow.

Phoned the garage today about the horn problem and the car is booked in for next Wednesday. That will mean a drive to Stirling, breaking the rules set by the Littlest Witch and the rest of her lying cohort, at least that’s the way they are portrayed by the media. While Alex Salmond is held up as a shining light of truth. Aye Right!

Tomorrow, hopefully, we might get out for a walk … together.

Just one of those days – 3 March 2021

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They say they come in threes.

Woke to the sound of something trying to find a way into the loft from the roof! I suspected a bird, but it could have been something more sinister like the squirrel that tormented us for weeks over a year ago. I’d boxes to put up in the loft anyway, so it was up, shower then grab a torch and a facemask. The facemasks we all have to wear these days are great for using if I have to go up into our loft and don’t want to breathe in the fibreglass fibres I usually disturb. The rat trap we had used against the squirrel was still there and still empty but there was definite activity and it seemed to be between the sarking and the roof tiles and it was definitely a bird. That means it has found an access hole in the gable end of the house. There is no way I’m going up onto the roof to fix it. That’s a job for a roofer. That was problem one.

The rest of the day went reasonably well. I sawed up the old steel clothes pole from the back garden. I used to be able to wield a hacksaw for hours of metalwork at work. Today I was knackered after sawing through an old, rusty hollow steel pole about 70mm diameter. Put the pole and a host of other clutter Scamp had found in a cupboard in the car and took it all away to the council skips.

After lunch I made a pot of soup for dinner and with it simmering away I went for a walk in St Mo’s and although the light was poor, I got a few photos. Certainly enough to create a PoD from. It’s a sepia toned shot of some moss fruiting bodies taken with the kit lens. Weather was mild, but when I was heading home it turned into a damp cold smirr.

After dinner we were just settling down to watch the final of Landscape Artist of the Year when the phone rang. It was my niece phoning to say that she and her son were locked out of the bathroom and could I open a padlock. I’ll explain. Her son, has learning difficulties and has a habit of sneaking into the bathroom and filling the bath which sometimes overflows and runs down into the person below’s flat. To stop this I put a hasp and staple on the top of the door and locked it with a padlock. Somehow the keys had gone missing tonight and her son needed to use the toilet. Could I help. Problem two. So I drove up to the house and unscrewed the staple from the door jamb. The easiest thing to do. Drove home. Accidentally pressed on the horn and no sound. Tried it again intentionally and still no sound. Problem three. I’ll check again tomorrow, but I think this will require a trip to the garage in Stirling.

Like I said at the start: They say they come in threes. I hope I’ve had mine for the month! Don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow. We’ll need to wait and see.

Under a milky white sky – 2 March 2021

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Yes, it was a milky white sky this morning. Although the weather fairies told us that the sun would come out of hiding, they forgot to mention that it wouldn’t happen until about 4pm.

There was no real need to get up and go anywhere in the Central Belt today because it looked like the white sky stretched from west to east and there was no getting away from it. Worse still, my phone was out of charge and my Kindle was too. Just to complete the trilogy, my Fitbit was telling me it was feeling a bit deflated on the power front too. I plugged in the phone and the kindle but forced the Fitbit to work for its dose of energy which it did in a disgruntled way beeping every hour to tell me to move my backside, which I also did in a disgruntled way. I blame the milky white sky for it all.

Eventually after lunch, we got ourselves in gear and went a walk to the shops. Scamp went to get milk and sensible stuff while I went for ice cream and sticky toffee pudding. Just a different kind of sensible. We carried our messages home and then while Scamp went out to comb the front grass, well, actually she was raking it, but when it was done it looked as if someone had combed it badly. While she went to do that, I went for a walk in St Mo’s. It felt a bit cold, so I wore my big Bergy jacket with its fleece, but actually it wasn’t all that bad once you were out and walking. The light was improving, but not enough to create shadows. For that you need directional light and there was none. I went to visit the ladybirds which were still hibernating and that’s when the sun started to shine, about 4pm.

Although the photos of the ladybirds are interesting to me, I realise they have limited appeal to the general public. It was while I was walking home that I tried my old 10-20mm Sigma lens and grabbed a few landscapes. When I looked at them on the computer I thought a monochrome format improved them and that’s what you see here.

Dinner tonight was Scamp’s job. She made Chickpea and Spinach Curry and I thought it was delicious. She thought it was OK, but that there was too much salt in it. She’s a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to seasoning, so I let her be right – just this once. My job was to make the flatbread and it turned out OK, but Scamp thought it was delicious. It’s not that I’m a perfectionist about flatbread …

Interesting text from Hazy this morning which I missed when my phone was filling its boots with electricity. She told me that while they were out for a walk they passed a cafe where I had coffee a few years ago and sat writing a speech for a certain wedding. Now that is nice to know. It has changed its name and probably been through a few iterations since that day, but it’s still there.

Tomorrow we don’t have any plans. The weather looks like it will be the same as today. We might go out somewhere and look for breaks in the clouds.

Bakin’ Bagels – 28 February 2021

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That’s not all we did today, but probably the most interesting thing.

I actually got up earlier than usual to start to tidy up the dining table. It was a shocking mess of cables, external hard drives, papers and just junk. All of it mine. Once it was fairly clear and not just dumped in another place, but filed away properly for once, I could start on the dough for the bagels. But first, it was time for a Sunday fry-up. Some traditions must be adhered to.

The bagel kit was part of my Christmas present from my son and his wife. Every month for six months a blue box appears on the mat with the ingredients and instructions to make some bread related food. This month’s had been languishing for a good few weeks. I’ve only once eaten a bagel and that was in Starbucks. As my daughter commented, it might not have been the most representative of bagels. All I knew about them was that they were boiled before they were baked, which sounded strange. Still, the dough awaited me. Got it mixed and kneaded and transferred to the bowl to prove (rise).

It would take a good hour or so for the dough to double in size, so we went for a walk in St Mo’s. The sky had started of milky white this morning and kept promising to clear, but it had just remained white all day. We went twice round the pond with lots of other folk who were also waiting for the emergence of that bit white disk in the sky. It didn’t happen and we all went home disappointed. All except one little girl with pale blue wellies who was discovering the delights of puddles and also the brilliant way that bulrushes smash into a thousand pieces when you bash them on the ground. Such simple pleasures are wasted on children.

I couldn’t see anything worth photographing, even with my new macro lens. I eventually settled on a shot of a park bench sitting under a tree. I spent an hour at home covering up the berm bend of a BMX track with grass in Lightroom and eventually made it PoD.

Back at the bakehouse I chopped up the dough into ten pieces and made them into doughnut shapes before boiling them in water for 45secs on each side (they float, you see). Then I sprinkled most of them with poppy seeds and baked them. The came out looking like the picture, but were a bit chewy and in need of some salt. However, having only once tried a bagel, I didn’t know if that was what they should taste like. I don’t know where you’d find anyone in Cumbersheugh who could tell you what a bagel is, far less where to buy one. Do you think Amazon sells them?

While I was bagel boiling and baking, Scamp was creating a fish pie. It’s one of her sister’s masterpieces and something we look forward to when we visit Skye. Hers was almost as good as the Skye Pie but was a lot of work. First cook the fish in milk, then let it cool. Make a sauce with the milk. Boil the potatoes and mash them with butter before assembling everything, adding some peas and bunging it in the fridge for a while. Finally baking it in the oven to heat it up and also to crisp up the potato topping. I thought it tasted fine, but Scamp, the perfectionist wasn’t sure. More investigation needed I think.

Dancing menu tonight was Mayfair Quickstep – Waltz Routine – Rumba Routine with new steps – Square Tango. We both felt we did really well with all of the above and Scamp got a quick thumbs up text from Stewart afterwards to confirm that we were doing well! Must keep up the good work during the week.

Final drawing for EDiF and 28DL was Bird Box. Mine was a simple wooden bird box like the ones we used to make in school. Birds don’t care about fancy painted details. All they are looking for is a place to hatch and rear their offspring. That’s what my drawing shows. All done for another year, although I may do EDiMay if the prompts take my fancy DV.

Spoke to JIC after the dance class and heard that they have actually been sitting out in their garden!!!  Probably without coats on too!!  What is the world coming to?

Our monthly Covid test is on the cards for tomorrow, otherwise the day is our own. Looks like a better day than today.

An improving day – 27 February 2021

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It started off dull and foggy, but it ended up much better.

We hadn’t anywhere to go today and no real reason to go there anyway. However we drove over to Kilsyth on the pretext of going shopping in Lidl. I wanted a bottle of their excellent Hortus gin and Scamp wanted ‘messages’. We achieved our aim and got both. I was very good and didn’t open the gin right away when we got home. Instead, I went out for a walk in St Mo’s but that’s not where today’s PoD came from. I got that much earlier.

The light was beautifully soft for a while after the fog had lifted and so had the heaviest of the clouds. The freesias on the windowsill were looking great and I grabbed a few shots, but I knew they would look better on a dark background. I hung Scamp’s black cardigan on the handle of the window and banged off another half dozen shots, one of which Scamp chose as PoD. No cardigans were harmed making this picture.

The trip to St Mo’s was just because the light was improving and I did find some more subjects. A tiny little spider for one. The first spider I’ve seen this year. Another was a little branch from a weed with lots of water droplets, probably from the morning’s fog, shining brightly. It seemed to be one of those days when you couldn’t put a foot wrong. Except I did put both feet wrong and came home with wet sox again!

Scamp suggested we do a Golden Bowl (best Chinese food in Cumbersheugh) and I readily agreed. Chicken Chop Suey with Fried Rice for Scamp and Special Chow Mein for me. Washed down with a glass of Red.

In the evening we practised the waltz routine and it is looking good. Much more ‘together’ than it’s been all week. Partly due to S&J’s video, but more to do with Scamp breaking things down and working out whose foot goes where, when. We also found the real name of a song Stewart uses for the rumba routine. Tried Shazzam, but it’s rubbish now. Used Sound Hound and it worked first time. It’s now in the dance music folder in Spotify.

Today’s topic was “Chess”. I dug out my old wooden chess men and set them up to fight. Black lost. That’s what happens when you paint yourself into a corner.

If the weather is decent tomorrow we may go for a walk somewhere.

Off to Motherwell again – 26 February 2021

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We had promised ourselves a picnic somewhere today. The somewhere happened, the picnic didn’t.

When we left the house I was wondering if we’d get anywhere at all. We kept getting a message on the dashboard that there was a System Error with Start/Stop which is the technology that stops the engine to avoid excessive C02 going through the exhaust. Not a serious problem, but annoying and will need investigated by the garage. We did our best to ignore the incessant beeps and drove to Motherwell again to Barons Haugh for a walk in a different direction. We started out along the same path as last time, but turned in the opposite direction after about half a mile. We walked along a mucky path that eventually took us … almost back to the carpark, but we continued on and pretended we hadn’t noticed the carpark. We found a Japanese Garden that would have offended any Japanese folk who chose to visit it. It was a bit sorry looking. The water in the stream that wound through it was muddy, discoloured and full of rotting plants. It looked as if nobody had taken any time to look after it for some time. Such a pity and a disappointment.

Further on we found the “Big Hoose” which is private and exclusive by the looks of the cars in the forecourt. Outside it is the Covenanter’s Oak which is reputed to be the oldest tree in North Lanarkshire. Not a great claim to fame, but it’s an impressive tree. After that we wandered down the narrow ravine cut by the Dalziel Burn down to an old cemetery where my brother has taken some lovely photographs. Now I don’t like taking photos in cemeteries and didn’t take my camera out of its bag today. Back to the carpark was by a steep and fairly narrow single track road. Wouldn’t fancy meeting anyone coming the opposite way on this narrow road with high walls on each side. We drove home without any sign of the previous problems from the car. Still worth watching.

Scamp wanted to do “some dusting” after lunch and I wanted to get some more photos, but made a pig’s ear of all the settings on the camera and almost came home empty handed, but one shot worked really well and that’s what became PoD.

Today’s prompt was ‘Airplane’. I don’t like the word Airplane. I prefer Aircraft or Airies, but a prompt is a prompt. The sketch is based on a Handley Page Jetstream I saw at Brooklands in Surrey. The one there wasn’t in flying condition and probably never will be again, but it was a beautiful aircraft.

Very short practise session for the end of the waltz. Scamp had been working through it after her ‘dusting’ and seemed happy that we’ve ironed out that part of the routine at least. Now we just have to fix the rest of the dance!

No plans for tomorrow.

Dances with Wolves – 25 February 2021

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Honestly, it will all become clear

It was a lovely morning which we kind of wasted by sitting inside. We had a webinar booked with the man from Falkirk. There is the risk that listening to someone who is so steeped in his subject may turn out to be heavy in jargon and ultimately tedious. No fear of that with this twosome. Both he and his sidekick explained the intricacies of the financial world in simple terms, leavened with a fair amount of humour. He and his female counterpart would make excellent teachers.

By the time we were through and had returned to the here and now, it was almost lunchtime so we had our toasted cheese and listened to Nic the Chick twisting and turning, trying to make everyone believe she’s squeaky clean. Now I much prefer the Sturgeon to the Salmond, but neither of them are to be believed. As my pal John would say, “You know they’re lying because their lips are moving.” That sums up politics and politicians as far as I’m concerned. To clear our heads we went for a walk.

We needed food for dinner, so we walked down to the shops, via St Mo’s because the weather was still good, if not as bright as it had been earlier. Came home laden with more than we had intended getting, but who’s counting how many cakes we need?

Today’s prompt was “Wolf” and since there are no wolves near where we live, I resorted to Google to find some likely subjects. With half a dozen chosen I dumped them into Google Drive and sat down to finish today’s Sudoku. Then I dumped some kidney beans, some chilli paste and a few hot peppers in yesterday’s bolognese and voila we have a chilli for tonight’s dinner. Scamp was having fish with veg and rice, so we agreed to half the rice between us and dinner was sorted. Mine was a bit tasteless, but boy it was hot. Wish I’d bought some sour cream at the shops.

After dinner had slid down, we attempted Stewart and Jane’s waltz Spin Turn. I tried it in my dancing shoes, but the didn’t slide enough on the carpet. I tried it in my sox, but the gripped the carpet too. I didn’t trust my bare feet to Scamp’s dancing shoes, but the most help was Scamp’s count of the beats and also slowing down Stewart and Jane’s tutorial video to 75%. I even found how to use iMovie to slow the video but not distort the speech. Perfect. Well, as close to perfect as we were going to get tonight.

I’d already sorted out PoD which is some Cladonia lichen with a little moss tree making a macro garden of sorts. Looks totally alien to me as most macro shots do. It’s a miniature world of its own. Time to tackle that wolf. I glanced at some tutorials on YouTube that promised methods for drawing realistic wolf heads, but most of them were from influencers who just shout at you and then stumble through 25 minutes of ‘tutorial’ with about 5 minutes of content. After suffering a few of these, I took my sketchpad and pencils up stairs, turned the heater on low and had a good look at the wolf pictures I’d found on Google. From them I built up a framework of a dog-like head and from there stretched out some parts and reduced others until a lupine head appeared. A little bit of yellow watercolour for the eye and we were done.

Tomorrow the weather looks settled, so I think we’ll try a drive somewhere with a flask of coffee and a couple of pieces. A February picnic.

 

A dry day at last – 24 February 2021

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Today it was dry in the morning and it seemed a shame to waste the day.

So it was boots on and just a light raincoat, because it wasn’t really all that cold. It wasn’t warm either, well, it is Scotland in February so what do you expect? We walked down and around the Broadwood boardwalk. I attempted a few shots of a goosander that was feeding in the shallows, but the settings I was using yesterday wouldn’t be suitable for today’s camera/lens setup and the photos were junk. Lots of folk out walking along the dam wall, making good use of a dry day for a change.

On the way back home I took a detour round St Mo’s pond while Scamp headed home. Just the two circuits today and got talking to a bloke I sometimes see there. We discussed a chestnut brown headed duck we’d both just seen. Neither of us was sure what it was, then he suggested a Potchard and that sounded familiar. I checked when I got home and it looks like he was right. I’d got a couple of shots of it once I’d sorted out the settings. Later in the walk I spotted Mr Grey or one of his close relatives fishing in the reeds. However it was two Canada geese that made PoD. One of the few clear shots I had today with the Tamron 70-300mm on the adaptor.

Dinner tonight was ‘Rats’ for Scamp with a baked potato and Spaghetti Bolognese for me using mince that had been in the freezer since October 2020. Tasted fine. I might even have the rest for dinner tomorrow if it survives past lunch.

The prompt today was Golf. I’d already worked out what the painting, because it would be a painting, would be. As usual I roughed it out on the cheap Cass Art sketch book and as usual, that became the finished sketch. It’s not the best quality sketch book, far from it, but it has a lovely ‘tooth’ (the grain of the paper that catches the graphite of the pencil). It’s not so clever at holding the paint and the colours tend to be a bit muddy because the paper absorbs the water so much. It’s also not quite white, so that doesn’t help. With all that said, it’s great for working on with a pencil.

Golf is not a game I ever thought I’d excel at, and I was right. Others wax lyrical about it, but I just don’t see the point. I used to have a boss who played every Sunday and on a Monday morning all the folk in the office, including me, would skive off because he would be too busy discussing the day’s golf with the other golfers in the office. My father-in-law was a golfer too. My wife and I couldn’t get married on a Saturday morning because that was his day and time for playing golf. I think it’s the paraphernalia that fascinates people about golf. It’s the dress code, the shiny golf clubs and the language, the jargon of golf that makes them feel part of an elite group. I never was one for joining groups, elite or not. Maybe that’s why golf is not for me.

We watched Landscape Artist of the Year and we were both surprised and shocked at the artists that blagged their way to the final. I could paint better than them!

The weather looks even better for tomorrow. We may go somewhere. I’ll get the settings sorted before we go out!