Category: A Walk

A working day – 30 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

I was making a bow tie today and Scamp was gardening.

In the morning, Scamp decided to go shopping by herself. I started planning out the making of the bowtie.

I was using what some Quilters and Crafters call “Fat Quarters” and the fabric was cotton with a repeating Star Wars stormtroopers patter n because I thought it would fit in well with an upcoming “Black & White” evening dance.

But first, Scamp had returned and it was time for lunch. Banana sandwich for Scamp, Sunday’s stew reheated for me. Then it was back to the bow tie.

After carefully measuring a previously successful bow tie, and checking it twice as all good craftspeople do, I cut out the four patterns needed for the tie. It was then I realised that maybe I should have been more careful with the orientation of the ‘Stormies’, but it was too late now.

I ironed on the interfacing which stiffens the tie on one side only of a matching pair of parts. From then on it was just a case of joining pairs of parts together (right sides together), stitching all round the perimeter apart from a pinkie length of gap on one side and easing the entire bow tie right through the gap and shaking it out. Ironed it next then sewed up the gap. Then it was time to see if it fitted, and if the storms would be sitting right side up. First attempt was a bit of a disaster when the tie unknotted itself. Second attempt was a success. I’d even managed to get the Stormies sitting the right way up!!! Delighted.
Although, if it had been Sewing Bee, the participants would have sewn a full outfit in the time it took me to make a bow tie!

Scamp had been strimming the edging of the front grass and was tidying the pots and together we put them back in their places.

There was just enough light left by then to have a walk in St Mo’s. Today’s PoD came from there and is Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus sericia)

Today’s sketch prompt was “Violin”. Not much leeway there, but luckily I’d drawn one before, although this is a poor comparison when viewed with the original. Still, it’s finished and just about to be posted.

Lovely piece of haddock for dinner tonight. Great fat chunky pieces of fish with some chips. That’s a good midweek dinner.

We were dancing Paso La Paz tonight. Lots of stamping of feet and posturing. The jury is still out on whether it was taught correctly or not. I’m not going to be drawn into that argument.

We may go dancing tomorrow or we may not. We’ll wait and see.

Out to lunch – 29 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

I’d said we might go out somewhere today and we did.

It wasn’t quite the place I was thinking about. Instead of driving, we got the bus to the town centre and from there another bus to Dunfermline. After a coffee in Nero, we had a walk around Pittencrief Park and spent a good half hour or more in the glasshouses. Actually it’s one big glasshouse that’s divided into three spaces. Despite the time of year and the cold outside, the plants were mostly all growing well and the carp in the pond were getting even bigger than the last time we had been there.

I took 48 photos, 46 of them in the glasshouses and two outside. There were quite a few exotic specimens inside. A purple/blue Brazilian Spider Flower which does actually look like a spider. A Japanese Lantern Plant, and PoD, a pair of tiny little parachutes like the feathery dandelion clock seeds, but with a spiral tail. Have a look and you’ll see what I mean.

Eventually we went for a walk around the formal gardens. All the rose bushes are untouched still, I expected to see them cut down to the ground. But very few flowers to be seen. Just one or two around the paths.

From there we walked up through the town and had lunch in Wetherspoons. Not the best we’ve ever had, but it filled a space. I ordered Roasted Cauliflower and Spinach for Scamp and Chicken Jalfrezi for me. What came was Chicken, presumably Jalfrezi, for Scamp and probably Beef Madras for me. We should have sent them back, but had started them before we noticed. I must say that is the first time I’ve had a poor meal in Wetherspoons. Scamp has complained about it when she has been in the Cumbersheugh Wetherspoons with her pal Mags, but my food has always been fine. Must be more careful and critical in future.

We walked back to the bus station via M&S and arrived at the stance about two minutes late. Didn’t even see the bus leaving. That meant a half hour wait for the next bus. Lovely scenery going back. Beautiful light on the hills and I was in a bus, so couldn’t stop to take photos. Never mind, I was sure I had loads on my card, and I was right.

Watched Bake Off tonight and didn’t get the result we were hoping for. I suppose that’s life.

While we were out, I got a call from Val. I don’t think he’s keeping very well. I might go and see him this week or next.

Today’s prompt was Navigator. I sketched a Silva Compass, just like the broken one I’ve got in a drawer in my room. The design hasn’t changed much in the fifty odd years since I bought it … the price has!

No big plans for tomorrow. I might make a bow tie for Saturday.

Everything is upside down – 27 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It’s changeover day from BST to GMT. It’s happened since 1916! It must have been a greater pain back then!

Once we’d changed all the manual clocks, apart from one which I realise I forgot to turn back, we could settle down for a while, well, Scamp could settle down. I was heading up to the health centre for my annual booster jags. One arm for Flu and one arm for Covid, then I could go home to relax after I’d done some shopping.

Then we could relax for a while because Scamp was going to an exhibition by a local dance troupe hoping to fund a visit to take part in the Easter Day march through New York. All the witches were going and I was picking two of them up when they were ready to come home.

I spent a lot of the afternoon working out the best way to upgrade the old SSD that runs macOS Monterey to macOS Ventura. I’m still not entirely sure it is possible, although I’ve done a similar update a couple of years ago. I think I’m ready for the challenge which may start tomorrow. The other thing I did was make the stew for my dinner tonight. It looked a bit bland after it had been cooking gently for an hour and a half, When Scamp returned later in the afternoon, she took one look and said three words Too Much Water. Now I’ll know for the future. The third thing was to walk to the shops to get replacement CR 2025 for my loupe magnifier. The shop had plenty CR 2032 batteries, but no 2025s. Maybe tomorrow.

On the way to the shops I noticed a child’s wooden train wagon lying in some leaves. It looked as if it had been run over a few times, but it was still recognisable for what it was. A couple of shots secured its image for posterity. That toy made PoD.

Then came the message from Scamp to say they were ready to come home. By now it was around 6pm, dark and raining. It took me more than the half hour I’d allowed to find the restaurant the exhibition was in, and only then after I’d phoned Scamp to say I was lost. As it turned out I was right next to the restaurant and must have looked a proper fool!

The stew was a lot better than it looked and I’ve got the other half of it to make lunch for me tomorrow. Too much water and too much flour on the meat. Those were my take-aways from today’s cookery class.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about his week. Which was a difficult one, reading the eulogy for a person he worked with. I didn’t envy him that task and was glad that I never had to do that when I was working.

Today’s prompt was “Road”. Quite open ended and I enjoyed drawing cars running round a figure of eight track. Nothing amazing, but it covered the prompt.

As far as I know we have no plans for tomorrow.

Off to the Far East – 24 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It was a fairly early rise for me, well, for us. I was meeting Alex at 11am in Glasgow to catch a bus to Edinburgh. £16 return to take the train and £0 to take the bus. A no brainer … or so we thought.

We did meet up in the bus station and got seats in the bus without any problem. I thought the bus would only stop at the bus station in Edinburgh, but as it turned out you could press the button to request a stop anywhere. We got off at Haymarket and walked up to Ladyfield and walked through the ‘canyon’, where Alex got his first taste of the architecture that had appeared in the last twenty odd years. We spent a fair amount of time investigation photographic opportunities.

After I managed to drag him away, we went and had coffee in the wee Nero that Scamp and I use regularly. Next was a walk up to the Grassmarket where a lot of green and white flags were waving. There was also a lot of singing and banging of drums signifying a football crowd. As it turned out, it wasn’t Celtic, but a team of football supporters from Cyprus, Omonia Nicosia who were making all the noise. A good natured crowd.

We walked up the steep West Bow and marvelled at the amount of people happy to wait in a queue on the street to gain entry to the Harry Potter Museum. We weren’t all that interested in Harry, but we took a few photos of the crowds. It was there that I got today’s PoD. I spotted two girls on a high walkway above West Bow taking photos of the crowd. That was an easy PoD.

We continued on up to the Royal Mile and St Giles which Alex wanted to see. I had never been in St Giles and it was a well lit building, but surprisingly, noting great to photograph. We left there and waked down the long Playfair steps and finally got somewhere to eat in the National Gallery of Scotland’s restaurant. Maybe I’m getting more critical of eating places, but I wasn’t that impressed with it and maybe a bit overpriced. Foodies!

We decided we’d done a fair bit of Edinburgh, so we found the bus station and got on a bus to take us to Glasgow. The journey from Glasgow to Edinburgh took about an hour. The journey back to Glasgow took just over two hours. I think there might have been problems on the motorway because the road was jammed solid with traffic just crawling. When we did eventually get to Glasgow it was another 40 minutes to get home.

In retrospect, maybe it would have been better to pay the price of the train tickets, rather than sit in a bus that was crawling along the motorway. That would have been £16 well spent.

Prompt for the day was Expedition and it turned into a childish sketch of an expedition of aliens preparing to take off to Earth from a distant planet. A poor prompt deserves a poor sketch.

We have no plans for tomorrow, other than not going to Edinburgh on the bus.

Silence – 21 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

When I woke this morning it was to silence.

The wind that had been driving the rain and battering the windows was gone. Off to Scandinavia the weather fairies say. I don’t care where it went, I’m just glad to get a bit of peace and quiet in the morning when I wake.

We watched the US GP after we rose. A fairly exciting one this time and a fast track too. I wonder what it’s like sitting at the start line staring up at that great hill in front of you. Verstappen showed his skill by keeping Norris in his place. I think the road is clear for him now.

We didn’t have much else to do in the morning, just the usual Wordle and Spelling Bee with a cup of coffee, watching the clock because Scamp was off to get her Covid and Flu jags in the afternoon. I drove her to her appointed place, Muirhead and dropped her off at the clinic then parked the car at the Co-op as agreed. Then I went shopping at the butchers in the village. I was looking for mince and stew, but it’s such a temptation in that shop, I knew I’d buy some other stuff too. I got the mince and stew, then added beef olives, a nice meaty spare rib, a salmon fillet for Scamp and a bag of Tattie Scones. Expensive, yes, but it’s good fish and meat, that’s why I go back.

By the time I got back to the car, Scamp had returned and we drove home by the back road, hoping for some photos of the Campsies, but the parking place was occupied by one of the folk who keep their horses there, and it was feeding time, so I didn’t stop.

Back home I got dressed for the weather (Still wet and windy) and walked round St Mo’s. Got a couple of decent shots in the low afternoon sun. PoD went to the low level shot of leaves in the woods.

I had a bit of a sore stomach when I got back and my dinner as a result was tea and toast. Better to keep it simple and not aggravate anything. Scamp had a mash-up of yesterday’s leftover mash and haggis, formed into little black and white burger shapes and dry fried in the frying pan. For once I wasn’t interested. Maybe I will be tomorrow when hopefully my stomach will be back to normal.

Today’s prompt was Rhinoceros. Not the easiest thing to draw, but I was quite pleased with the first attempt, not so happy with the second, but in try Goldilocks style, the third one was just right. Sketched in ink with a fountain pen and then given a quick wash with clean water to bleed the ink into the dark areas. You don’t realise just how prehistoric these animals look until you start working with the details.

We have no plans for tomorrow … yet.

Expect Strong Winds – 20 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

That’s what the weather fairies have been saying for a few days now.

Well, it didn’t look like the weather fairies were telling the truth in the morning. Dull to start with followed by sunshine and occasional showers, but we knew it wouldn’t last, and it didn’t.

By early afternoon it was clouding over and the gentle breeze turned into gusty winds which blew in some ragged showers. Luckily we didn’t really need to go out anywhere because we had agreed on a Scottish favourite, Haggis, Neeps and Tatties. With an addition of Carrots to add a wee bit of colour to the feast.

While Scamp was getting the veg ready,I went for a walk in St Mo’s. I’d offered her the chance to walk with me, but she preferred to stay at home in the warm. It was a sensible choice, because there wasn’t much to photograph today, but I enjoyed the walk, which seems a stupid thing to say when you’re walking into driving rain, but with a good jacket and lots of layers, it’s a fairly pleasant walk twice round the pond at St Mo’s. PoD turned out to be an old favourite, looking down the boardwalk and catching the clouds being driven on by those strengthening winds. Converted to monochrome it looked distinctly uninviting!

The prompt for today was ‘Uncharted’. I’ve drawn a subject similar to that a few times for the monthly challenges, so this one was already in my head and it turned out to be a Treasure Island theme with an island with the actual treasure part torn from the map! “Arrr, Jim me lad!” Any other piratical comments are equally happily accepted. Drawn on cheap Cass Art absorbent paper with a Lamy ABC children’s fountain pen that Lamy no longer make! Why? It’s a great pen to keep in your pocket. Rarely leaks and if it’s kept clean it works really well.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard about his ‘normal’ week and we told him about our ‘normal’ week. It seems like his weather is a bit like ours, but without the really high winds.

The forecast says the winds will calm down a bit tomorrow. How quickly and by how much is not clear, it depends on what app you read. We’ll go with the best one and ignore the rest.
Strangely, I was just reading last year’s blog for the 20th Oct and the weather was much like I was describing today!

Tomorrow Scamp is booked to go to Muirhead just after midday to get her Flu and Covid jags. I have to wait until Sunday to get mine.

Lunch – 18 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was off to FitSteps in the morning.

While she was out, I decided to make sure I got a PoD, so I went over to St Mo’s. The sun had been shining when we woke, but by the time I got out, the sun had disappeared and the clouds were rolling in. I got quite a few decent shots, but the low light meant that they were all going to be ‘gritty’ looking with digital noise. Not a big problem as Lightroom is excellent are smoothing out the grit.
Just as I was heading home, the rain started and it was coming down in sheets. You could see it against the dark of the trees blowing along in waves. Thankfully I had my new jacket on and it was proving its worth as it shed the rain easily.

Scamp was a few minutes ahead of me and after we’d done Wordle and Spelling Bee, we had an hour or so to read before getting ready to walk over to Brodens for lunch with June and Ian. Fish and chips for three of us and Mac ’n’ Cheese for Scamp. I risked a pint of Guinness as I didn’t think I’d be driving anywhere in the afternoon. It had been some time since the two sisters had been together for a blether so Ian and I let them talk amongst themselves and gave Scamp a chance to show off the latest baby photos we’d been sent, the ones June hadn’t seen yet. The two ladies had fairly large desserts while Ian had a latte and I had another Guinness, a half pint this time.

We paid up and made plans to come back again. June and Ian walked round onto Condorrat Main Street to get their taxi home and we started walking back. Next thing, John, the taxi driver, pulled up and gave us a lift to the house. That’s just the kind of person he is. He and Carlyn had been shopping and I offered to help, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Although it was just a short journey, It was kind of them to stop for us.

Today’s PoD came from St Mo’s and was a baby conifer with raindrops beading on its needles. Lovely blue/green which contrasted well with the warm yellows and oranges around us.

Today’s prompt was “Drive” and I sketched, not one, but two Hard Disk Drives. It should have been three, but I couldn’t be bothered to add the last one. One drive could probably be formatted as an extra storage medium. The other two are really only fit for the skips.

It looks like there will be enough folk for a class tomorrow, so I think that means we might be going to Brookfield to join them.

Cardigan, Doll and Sketching – 16 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was off to meet Isobel in the morning. Just before she left, she got an “Ur ye in?” text from Hazy, to which she replied “Phone dad. Ahm gaun oot!” Those of you who are englanders might not understand this and I’m not explaining. We had a three way discussion of the week so far, then Scamp was off to drive up to Costa for her meeting with her cousin. Meanwhile, Hazy and I had a discussion of books, new cars and Bake Off. Nice to know we’re on the same footing with Bake Off. Thanks for the recommendations, H.

It was a fairly lengthy phone call, almost an hour by my reckoning and I really enjoyed it. My task for the day was to find my Lamy Safari fountain pens, refill them with black drawing ink and get a sketch done. I actually cleaned and filled the Safari and the ABC child’s pen, although I only used the Safari for today’s prompt which was Grungy, not Grunge as I thought it was. Grungy was much easier for me. Just pick a face from Google that looked lived in and sketch it with a lot of corrections. That did the trick. By the time Scamp had returned, I was done. Fifteen minutes later the sketch was scanned, resized and posted.

After lunch, Scamp parcelled up a cardigan and a woollen doll Isobel had knitted, then I did the addressing of them to Grian and Scamp went off to post them. She’d already posted a couple of cards. One to Allan & Jaki and another to the new Gran & Grandpa.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk to St Mo’s. On the way I dropped in at Brodens and booked a tab for June, Ian, Scamp and I. St Mo’s was a bit dull by the time I was getting there, but I did manage to get a couple of decent shots from the batch I took. Just leaves showing off their autumn colours. Lazy photography.

Tonight was a simple dinner. We had the last of the Butternut Squash soup from a couple of days ago, then Scamp had home made Ratatouille, “Rats” to us, and I had a veggie chilli which had been maturing nicely in the freezer and was blinding hot once it was reheated!

No dance class tonight. It seemed to be a last minute decision by Kirsty. No reason given. Maybe it was because it was October Week and she thought there wouldn’t be enough folk. We don’t know.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go to the Tea Dance in Paisley.

Everybody need a good punch sometimes – 15 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It was me who needed it. Scamp just needed elastic.

That meant a drive to The Fort. We could have taken a bus there, but it would have meant a good half a dozen changes and really, it would have been quicker walking. No, we drove, because that was one of our reasons for buying a car.

Before we drove away, however, I needed to stabilise the tyre pressures in the car. I thought I’d need to use the fancy new electronic pump at the garage, but as it happened, all that was needed was to release some pressure from two of the tyres. After that we were balanced again. It all started just before the car went in for service and before the new tyres were fitted, so I can’t even blame either party. It’s a pneumatic mystery.

We drove to The Fort. It was absolutely jumping! We’d both forgotten this is October week or “Tattie Week” as we used to call it. The holiday began during October in the 1930s when children were taken out of school to help with the potato harvest. The tradition continued until the 1980s when new farm machinery made handpicking obsolete. You see what you’re missing, all you youngsters! Anyway, although there were no tatties being picked at The Fort, there were hundreds of weans out with mums and dads, desperate to spend money.

Scamp was looking for elastic and after getting help from one bloke who was filling shelves in Hobbycraft, we solved the elastic problem. I was looking for a leather punch to put a new hole in my belt and managed to get one for a tenner. With our first boxes ticked, we fought our way through the mob to find two baby cards. One for the mum and dad, Jaki and Alan and another for Gran and Grandpa Jackie and Murdo. Now we were free to stravaig as far and wide as we could in this great shopping complex. Scamp went to find some fruit and I went browsing in Waterstones and found the latest Ian Rankin book. Rebus Goes To Jail or something like that. After that we drove home, still checking those tyre pressures, but they were fine.

I had hoped to go for a walk and take some photos in the late afternoon, but after attempting to fix a computer problem with Scamp I gave up the idea and went for a scrounge in the garden instead. That’s where today’s PoD came from. It’s another change of colour for Switch Ophelia the colour changing Hydrangea. Taken with the Sony A6500 and a Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 an excellent combination.

Today’s prompt was Guidebook and my sketch was a wee sarcastic jibe at the folk who still post sketches done in iPad and even AI generators. No actual sketching and certainly no ink used in a group that is only for ink sketchers. Some folk think they’re so clever, that nobody will notice. But we do!

Tomorrow Scamp is intending having coffee with Isobel. I might dust off my old Lamy fountain pens and do some even older fashioned ink sketching. The prompt is Grungy.

A cold start to the day – 14 October 2024

Posted on by Zogman

A temperature of 3ºc in the morning is just a little cool. We decided to read in bed for a while before facing the day. At least it was a Positive three degrees! We should be thankful for small mercies.

Eventually we did drag ourselves out of bed and I started by collecting the odds and ends of things that needed to be taken to the skips once the world had defrosted. After that it was the inevitable Wordle and Spelling Bee that took up my time and soon it was lunch time.

We both had the same thing for lunch, it was the remains of the leftover chicken from Saturday. It had lasted well and although, maybe a bit dry, had plenty of flavour. Scamp has boiled the carcass and made the basis of some stock with it. After lunch I had a look at a couple of recipe books to find the makings of Butternut Squash soup. Probably using the leftover chicken stock. As it happened, it’s still leftover, but in the fridge now.

I’d gathered up a big barrel shaped collapsible container full of the chopped up buddleia and teasel bushes yesterday and today they went into the boot of the blue car along with a big plastic basin full of old phones with some odds and ends. The old blue zip-up bag went onto the back seat and that just left room for me and my camera bag.

The skips were busy today, it being Monday. They’re always busy, but on a Monday it’s busier than normal. Folk are cutting down and trimming trees and bushes as the flowers fade and the leaves start falling. The garden waste skips were the busiest today. I got all the bags and basins emptied and then went for a run up to Fannyside.

Fannyside is such a quiet space and if there is just a gentle breeze like there was today, it’s the most peaceful place on earth. Only the birds calling from the trees and the occasional plane making very little noise, but drawing white con trails across a blue sky. A great place to watch the world go by. I took a few photos, but only two made it to Flickr and of the pair, only one got PoD. It’s a wee Flowerpot Man Jackie gave us many years ago. He lives on a ledge in the downstairs toilet and holds one of the Christmas Cacti. His face always brings a smile to mine.

Back home I was ready to start that Butternut Squash soup. This was a new recipe to me, from a Mary Berry book. One of the thousands she’s written. I did eventually get it made and although I thought it was a bit thin, Scamp disagreed. In the end I had two bowl of it and Scamp only had one, so it wasn’t that thin!

Today’s prompt asked for “Roam”. I couldn’t be bothered with another person walking up a hill with a rucksack on their back, so instead I rearranged the letters and turned it into “Roma” and sketched what might have been a grand building in Rome. Actually I drew the sketch yesterday and kept it on the back burner until today. Who’s to know?

The plan for tomorrow is to go to The Fort. Scamp is looking for elastic and I’m hoping to get a leather punch to make more holes in my belt. I must be losing more weight!