Category: A Walk

Coffee with the boys – 27 August 2019

Posted on by Zogman

Thought I had plenty of time to do stuff before I went to meet Fred and Val. I was wrong.

Just after 8am and Scamp had already phoned the docs to speak to the nurse. She’d been complaining of pains like a stitch, just under her ribcage for a couple of days. She suspected she had pulled a muscle, maybe when she had been evacuating her stomach contents last week. The nurse, when she phoned back agreed and gave her an appointment with the doc at 10.30. In the meantime, she decided to do a washing. Why waste time she said! Drove up to the doc’s and after examining her, the doc said she had torn a couple of fibres in either the diaphragm or on the abdominal wall. She gave her a prescription for Co-codamol which should take the pain away and with the added benefit that she can sell any she has left outside St Mo’s. We’ll know better tomorrow if the painkillers were successful. Once I’ve coaxed her down from the ceiling.

Coffee with the boys was the usual bun fight with everything except Brexit and religion being fair game for discussion and a severe slagging. However, we were a bit more restrained than normal. Must be something to do with summer coming to an end soon. At least that’s my theory.

Went for a walk in the afternoon and got some lovely close up shots of a patient dragonfly. This was the fifteenth shot in a series that started off with me about a metre away and ended up with the lens almost, but not quite touching the insect’s wing. It’s a game. Take a shot move in a bit. Repeat. No time to chimp, just assume that the shot worked. After a while you begin to wonder who’s watching whom. I definitely get the impression that I’m the one under surveillance when I’m photographing dragonflies. Damselflies are much more shy and timid. Dragonflies are just sizing you up.
Earlier in the day I’d taken a couple of shots of Cumbersheugh’s remarkable architecture, but decided that, like the town itself, it was a bit grey and boring. A bit of sun would have been an improvement, but it wasn’t on offer then. The dragonfly was a clear winner of PoD.

Almost finished making my final selections for the photography part of Colin’s flower show submission. Tomorrow I’m hoping to frame and mat the painting. Such a lot of work for a flower show.

Hopefully Scamp will have a restful night’s sleep and be fully fit for dancing tomorrow. For some reason the pain doesn’t affect her when she’s standing or walking, so maybe the dancing will be good exercise for her.

Another roaster – 25 August 2019

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It was a beautiful morning. Today was set to be another hot one.

Scamp wanted to go looking for plants today to bring some new colour to the garden. We headed off to Torwood to see what they could offer. As there was a 20% reduction on all plants, we expected there to be a big queue, but surprisingly the carpark was only half full. Grabbed a bundle of flowering plants and also some curly kale plus some leeks. Just something to fill up the raised bed.

Back home and after the usual Sunday fried lunch I had a bit of a longer snooze than I’d anticipated while Scamp planted out her flowers, then sat and read in the garden. I don’t know how she can do it with the noisy neighbours, their adult kids, plus the grand weans shouting at each other. I think some of them must be deaf. That’s why they keep shouting instead of conducting a normal conversation.

When I woke I realised I still hadn’t a firm favourite for PoD, so I put a pair of shorts on and went over to St Mo’s to see what was what. Spotted a Painted Lady right away, feeding on a scabious flower. Banged a few shots of that into the E-M1. Got a few shots of a dragonfly too, but it was really far away across the bog and I wasn’t going wading in St Mo’s bog. You never know what’s under your feet there. Well, you do know, and that’s worse than not knowing.

That sort of summed up Sunday. Just another hot day, but finally I have a picture of a Painted Lady to present to the waiting public.

Tomorrow Scamp’s off with the Witches to Glasgow and I’m off the leash for a few hours.

Roundabout chaos – 23 August 2019

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It was one of those days that promised a lot but failed to deliver

In the morning, it looked like it would brighten up and be a lovely day. Good wind to break up the clouds and just the hint of sunshine and blue sky now and again. However, it didn’t quite make it and it all degenerated into a dull, cloudy day.

It didn’t keep us in, not us. We were out and ready to buy a new strimmer cable and were driving merrily along past St Mo’s school when the traffic all jammed up. The lights had been switched on and they weren’t properly phased in. Confusing signals from the lights on the roundabout and drivers unsure of what was being asked of them brought the entire roundabout to a halt. Really and truly, in this day and age I’d have expected a computer model to have been built to check the traffic flow. Yes, it would have cost money, but so do six technicians wandering around with their chins on their hands, looking at the carnage on the roundabout and pretending they were thinking about it. What they were really doing was waiting for someone, anyone with a plan to tell them what they’d done wrong. Most of them were wearing brand new Hi Vis jackets, not a mark on them. These weren’t workies, these were managers, consultants and planners and all of them numpties. We managed to get through the mess and bought the strimmer cable then drove home. It was still the same when we drove round the roundabout a second time. Six numpties without a clue how to fix it. Oh dear.

We drove in to the new shops and this time we were buying!! Prices weren’t too bad. Haven’t checked the quality yet, but it’s another option for shopping and a competitor for Tesco can’t be a bad thing.

After lunch I went for a run and avoided the roundabout from hell. Drove over to Fannyside and got a few photos, but it’s just not the same as Venice or Dubrovnik, it’s just Fannyside. The best of a bad lot got PoD. On the way home, just for the fun of it, I drove round the roundabout which was doing what it says on the tin, making the traffic travel round it. Somebody, somewhere had found the solution. Ask a workie who would actually know what they were doing and get him to fix it.

Couldn’t be bothered going to the Balloon Festival tonight. No other reason, just couldn’t be bothered.

Tomorrow we may go out to lunch somewhere nice.

Finally up to date! – 22 August 2019

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Today the blog came up to date. Flickr’s up to date with the option to add more holiday photos when I want to. Blog is up to date and posted. Just today’s post to get done before the witching hour and all will be well.

So, today. It started out well in the morning with some sunshine and a bowl of porridge from oats I’d bought in Wales. They needed to go, as did the older ones that were taking up space in the cupboard. Today we needed a good clear out and Scamp was the one to do it! I just bought new porridge oats. She did all the cleaning of the house. I got the last of the washing into the machine.

Scamp decided that it would rain later, so it would be a good idea to cut the grass in the morning. That’s when we found the strimmer cord, not the electric cable, but the cord that whirls round at a fair rate of knots and severs the grass, was dead. Every time we pulled out a new bit and switched on the machine the cord would break again. Need to get a new cord. Bear in mind that this is the original cord. Since the grass still needed cut, we hauled out the mower and while I moved all the pots and troughs around, Scamp cut the back grass. While she was busy upstairs cleaning stuff, I offered to cut the front grass. The mower has been playing up for year, at least three years. The blade is chipped and blunt, but the dangerous bit is that the interlock that will switch off the mower when you release the handle doesn’t work any more and hasn’t for some time. For someone who is usually safety conscious, Scamp was quite laissez faire about the lack of a safety cut-off. For me, I’d say it was becoming a liability and we need to think of getting a new one. I think I may have talked her round, but if she reads this, she’ll stonewall again. Won’t you dear?

With the cleaning done and the front and back grass cut it was lunchtime. Earlier in the day I’d bitten the bullet and bought X-Plane 11. A pure indulgence. Some would call it a game, but what do they know. It’s a flight simulator with very realistic graphics and it had just finished downloading. That gave me something to do in the afternoon when the rains came. I did fly it a couple of times but had to go out and get the PoD sorted out. It turned out to be an orange Rudbeckia flower I saw in St Mo’s. Dinner was a roast chicken and it was cooking while I was out walking. Cooking in the new roasting pan Scamp had bought yesterday. It’s still sitting in that pan while I’m writing this and the smell is very tempting. Unfortunately, Scamp has just put it in the fridge so it’s out of sight, out of mind!

No plans for tomorrow yet, although we might go to the Strathaven Balloon Festival if the weather is decent tomorrow evening.

Dancing (x1)

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Back in the old routine, almost.

Down at Blackfriars for some new moves in all three dance styles. The jive one was fairly easy and I think I can remember it quite well because it was a variation on a move we did a long while ago, The Boston Hitch. Waltz move was very stylish, but doesn’t have a name yet. Neither did the Quickstep move and it was the most challenging of them all. Overall, it was a successful hour and we learned more about dance craft from Michael. Coffee then home in the rain.

The rain didn’t go off when we got home, it just kept going and going. Eventually I gave in and went for a walk over to St Mo’s in the rain. Got a few shots, but nothing special. My favourite, and therefore PoD was my alliterative lunch Corned beef and coffee from a cat cup. It was an espresso cup that Scamp bought me yesterday in Perth. I thought at first it would be too small to fit under the portafilter, but it did just fine. A perfect size.

No dancing tonight as Jamie Gal is off somewhere important again. Dinner was mince ’n’ tatties for me and rats ’n’ tatties for Scamp. I expect she’ll have the remainder for lunch tomorrow and I’m hoping to have the remaining mince with an egg cracked into it and poached in the gravy. A Larky special!

No other plans for tomorrow. It looks like more rain.

Perf – 20 August 2019

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Today was a red letter day. Today the retail park opened its doors.

Today the first shop in the new retail park opened. It’s only been about 30 years since the first road sign was erected, directing drivers to the, soon to be built, retail park. Thirty years. That’s not bad for Cumbersheugh.

However, that’s not where we were going. We were off to Perth, or Perf to give it its proper name. We were going for the run up the M9 hoping for some sunshine to show off the scenery and I was hoping to get some coffee and tea, plus some for Hazy. Drive up was quite decent with sunny spells and then sudden showers.

Went for a walk through the town and found an Artisan Bakery, with Artisan prices, but the bread looked good so we splashed out and bought a sun-dried tomato loaf and a sultana bread, like a pale version of a hot cross bun, oh yes, and a slice of pizza which looked good.

Got the coffee and tea and walked down to the viewing gallery over the Tay. It always reminds us of standing at the rail of a cruise ship. Today was no exception. That was about it for Perf. Drove back into heavy rain at both the places I was hoping to take some photos.

On the way home, and just before home we turned into the new retail park and went to see how big the queues were at the first shop to open (and only one so far). Queues were pretty long and the shop which is really Iceland was extra busy. Prices were good overall, but as Scamp said, it depends on what you’re buying.

Today’s PoD turned out to be a little set up I’d been thinking about for some time and a copy of one I’d seen on Flickr. It’s a Fimo pea in a pea pod. The Happy Pea!

Tomorrow it’s just a normal Wednesday – Dancing (x2) hopefully.

Glasses, beasties and a tick – 19 August 2019

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Out in the morning to Larky to get my new glasses which are helping me to write this blog post.

Not a lot else to report. Rain showers threatening all day, but not quite materialising. Finally went out for a walk along the canal and got some interesting photos of beasties. Lots and lots of Peacock butterflies and also a couple of Painted Ladies, but none that wanted to linger long enough to get their photos taken.

No dancing tonight because Jamie G is off working somewhere, so it was a more leisurely dinner. Prawn & Pea Risotto made with our own peas, but not home grown prawns. Added a small dollop of Mascarpone at the end instead of butter and it seemed to taste quite good.

After a snooze on the couch I discovered the tiny wee tick on my upper arm. Tiniest wee tick I’ve seen. It’s gone now, but the nip lingers on.

PoD was a hover fly giving itself a good scratch on a leaf.

Tomorrow we may go to Perth.

An improving situation all round – 18 August 2019

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Today Scamp started to feel a lot better.

I’d actually been feeling ok yesterday, but today I was back to my normal cheery self. Spoke to Hazy in the morning and I think that cheered Scamp up a bit.

Decided against going to salsa in the afternoon as we didn’t want to pass on what we now think was Norovirus. It’s a nasty piece of work and not something I’d wish on my worst enemy, well, maybe my worstest enemy, but not just somebody I didn’t get on with.

I went out for a walk to St Mo’s in the afternoon and got some more beastie shots, really only just hover flies. Took 13 kept 5 which is almost a 1:3 proportion. PoD was a head shot of a hoverfly. Apparently it’s a female Syrphus ribesii. So says Paul Johnston on Flickr and he know all these beasties by Latin name.

We both attempted solid food today and felt the benefit of it. Dull cloudy day with occasional rain showers, but also sunny periods. Good Scottish weather.

No salsa tomorrow as the teacher is off galavanting again. Quite glad really for the same reason we didn’t want to go to sals today.

Nothing planned for tomorrow, but may pick up my new glasses from Larky.

Happy Birthday Jamie – 16 August 2019

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Hope you’re feeling better than me on your birthday.

Still not quite back to normal. Can’t hear properly yet. Still feeling the sickness, but down below is an improving situation.

Went for a walk down the Luggie to see what had changed. What had changed was there was nobody to bring me lunch and I had to walk all he way along the path without a tender or even a shuttle bus to help me out. Is this normal life? I want to go back on the ship.

Got some beastie photos. Took 36 kept 8 that’s about a 1:4 ratio which is normal. PoD was a hover fly feeding.

Back to auld claes and purrich as my dad would say.

Tomorrow we may go out and have some lunch. Better remember to take my cruise card.

Split – Almost a dolphin – 13 August 2019

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Because of our late departure from Venice and because, Cap’n Bob said, of traffic on the sea lane from Venice to Split, we were late arriving in Split. The sea was calm, almost flat calm and … was that a dolphin just breaking surface?

I got a lovely shot of where the dolphin had been, and maybe just the ghost of a grey object below the water, but it wasn’t until we were home that we found Scamp had actually captured one of the mammals with it’s fin just breaking the surface. A lucky shot, but luckys count.

We’d been to Split before and weren’t impressed. If you follow Game of Thrones, there are places you’d love here, be as we hadn’t ever watched a whole episode, it was just another ferry port to us. However as a preparation I’d watched a short YouTube video about the town and found that we’d missed the main part of the town, the new part, not the old town. We were berthed at the very edge of the dockside and had miles to walk in to town. Not that it mattered and we had all day to pass in this place and it was the last port on the trip, so we’d make the most of it and the heat. I found a tea shop, i.e. a shop that sold dry tea leaves. Got some Assam and some fruit teas too. Found some impressive looking wide piazzas and squares also an old elegant looking opera house. Lots of shops and then we were in to the old town with its teacup water fountain. The forum was mobbed. It seemed that everyone had decided to descend on it today. Maybe it’s like that every day. It looked very grand and the two punters dressed up as Roman centurions were doing a roaring trade fleecing the punters for €5 a time to get their photos taken with them. Walked through an old market area, had a beer in a dockside cafe and then back to the ship.

Spent the afternoon lounging on the balcony watching a group of boys daring each other to jump from higher and higher places on the cliffs into the sea. That and watching another group swimming with two dogs that seemed inexhaustible climbing on rocks and swimming. I must admit I was tempted to go for a swim myself. The water looked a beautiful green-blue colour. However, I left it too late and then it was time to leave Split for the long run down the Adriatic into the Mediterranean and on to Malta.

One final dinner in Cafe Jardin, but no dancing tonight. Already our thoughts were turning to the packing we’d have to start tomorrow, but not before we had a G&T on the balcony and watched the stars.

PoD was the Forum filled with people. Is this how it would have looked in Roman times? Probably something similar.

Tomorrow is a final sea day.