Category: A Walk

A more relaxing day – 14 October 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Lazy start, didn’t wake until about 10am

In such a mixed up week I completely forgot that Scamp was off this morning to her FitSteps class. Brave girl, this was only the second time she was driving the blue car for real. When she left I started thinking about today’s prompt which was ‘Empty’. A Humblebums track “Silk Pyjamas” had been in my mind for the last two days, with the lyrics ” … empty pockets, heavy debts …”. Of course, Paul Simon’s song “Diamonds on the soles of her shoes” also worked with ” … empty as a pocket with nothing to loose …”. So what I’m saying is, it just had to be an empty pocket and with that I started sketching. The music made me do it! The first attempt became the final attempt and although the hand wasn’t right, it was close enough and a splash or two of water added bit of necessary form. Sketch done with lots of time to spare.

When an energised Scamp returned, happy that she’d reverse parked and had a good exercise hour into the bargain we had a coffee and she had a shower, then we were off to lunch at Dead Deer. Scamp had Kedgeree Fish Cakes and I had Gammon Steak. Of course, both of us had chips and eggs. The bloke who served us was fairly chatty and friendly. The place wasn’t very busy for a Friday lunchtime, so he had plenty of time to spend talking to diners. After he asked if the food was ok, he turned to me and asked if I was a teacher at the High School, because the chef had seen me in passing and wasn’t sure it it was me, but didn’t want to ask. I just laughed, sometimes I can go nowhere without being spotted. Usually a nod and a smile is all I get. That’s better than “Campbell ya ba5t@rd!” and a laugh.

Since there was no rush to clear the tables, we sat and talked for a while over the dirty water that was trying hard to be coffee. Future plans and destinations were discussed and a sort of solution was found. That’s all I’m saying at present.

Back home I did manage to get out for half an hour in St Mo’s. There was a strange gathering in the woods with about half a dozen neds with Buckie bottles and a pram with a toddler in it. I thought “Oh-Oh, this looks like trouble.” But I needn’t have worried, it was all good natured. One big bloke, well over six feet tall gave me the “Ye all right mate?” to which I replied “No’ bad”. That was the correct password, apparently. Then he said “We’re just educatin’ the younger generation!” and we all laughed. I think it was a picnic they were having. A liquid one.

I found a PoD on the way back to the house.  It’s a Garden Cross spider, so called because of the cross shaped pattern on its back.  They’re quite common around here, but this was a big one, its body was about 2cm long and a beautiful chestnut colour.

No great plans for tomorrow yet.  It looks like it will be wet during the night, but promises a better day in the late morning and afternoon.

Up and out early – 13 October 2022

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This was an early shout. Synchronised alarms set for 7:30. That’s early for us.

Scamp was off to Inverness today to meet her sister for lunch and a blether and maybe just a wee G&T each.

The day started with the 7:30 alarm, then after a quick breakfast I drove Scamp to the station where she would catch the train to Glasgow. After a brisk walk up to Buchanan Street bus station, it was on to the coach for the 3.5 hour journey to Inverness. Meanwhile I’d done my bit for now and was free to enjoy a relaxing cup of coffee and a seat in the sun, because it was a beautiful morning. Instead, I walked over to Condorrat to drop a couple of birthday cards in the post box then went for a morning stroll round St Mo’s where I got a few shots that never made PoD, but at least I had something in the bag. Then I had the coffee and the seat in the sun.

I messed around with my newest piece of software ON1 2023 and was amazed at some of the things it could do, but also disappointed with the quality of some of the things it was supposed to excel at. As with all pieces of software, the first version is always poor, but after v2 or v3 most of the bugs have been ironed out and it’s only seven or eight months later the software can be relied upon to produce the goods.

Lunch time was coming up, but I had other things on my mind. I was heading out somewhere to take some photos, but where? I was starting out heading east, first stop was Torwood to get a new set of solar powered lights for the back garden. Instead of buying the cheapo ones from B&M or Home Bargains that last about three or four months, I thought Scamp deserved a set of better quality ones and I was pretty sure I’d get some at Torwood. They had quite a large selection and I managed to get what I was looking for. Unfortunately just as I was getting close to the garden centre, the rain came. It came in sheets, blowing along the valley. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a good idea to go that way after all. I cut my losses and drove back towards Cumbersheugh and stopped at Haggs for a walk along the canal, where there was still blue sky and no sign of rain. Scotland can be like that. Dry when you start out, then five miles down the road the rain is torrential. Five miles further on it’s blue sky and sunshine again.

I got a few shots at one of the locks on the Forth & Clyde canal and was happy with them. Added to the ones I had from the morning walk around St Mo’s, I should get a PoD out of the selection. All the while I was conducting an on/off WhatsApp conversation with Scamp, getting updates on her journey.

I drove home from Haggs and started thawing out my dinner which would be Pork Stew and a baked potato. I’d made the stew ages ago and buried it deep in the freezer. It was a solid brick and would take quite a while to defrost. The weather I’d met on the way east was beginning to appear around here now. Big black clouds looking quite ominous. Time to power up the computer and get the images downloaded. While that was happening, I was working out what to do for today’s prompt ‘Kind’. Another of the vague prompts that don’t give you much of a toe hold on what to draw. I finally settled on a scarecrow as a central figure and little animals in his pocket or in his straw.

Dinner first, though and while I was eating it I was watching a webinar about the new software, but the bloke who was teaching it kept stopping to answer questions and would then go back over what he’d already done. Pointless. I gave up, finished my dinner, selected the PoD and started the sketch.

Missed a message from Scamp to say that she was on the bus heading home. She sent me a message when she was passing Stirling and I drove in to Glasgow to pick her up.

As it turned out, it was a bit of a messed up day for me, although Scamp seemed to have enjoyed her outing with Jackie. Glad she did it and I’m sure Jackie is glad she went too.

Tomorrow we may be going out for lunch, somewhere local.

 

Out for a walk – 12 October 2022

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Out walking round Dalzell Estate with my brother.

The weather fairies were convinced that the weather today would start our wet in the morning, but would clear for the afternoon. I wasn’t so sure, but that’s exactly the way it turned out.

I sat and talked to Carol and Fiona and Ollie. Ollie didn’t say much, at least not much that I could understand, probably because he is only about 7months old, but he smiled a lot and made noises which is the best kind of talking.

Alex and I said goodbye to everyone and we headed off to Dalzell Estate and went for a walk in the woods. Some folk were having a picnic in a clearing. I don’t know what that was all about, but they didn’t invite us to join them so we walked on. From one of the bird hides we watched a flight of geese, some swans and a host of lapwings. I haven’t seen any lapwings (or ‘peeweeps’ as we call them on account of their call) for years. One of the serious bird photographers arrived and I think we were crowding his hide so we left to find a temple Alex wanted to show me. It was a fairly long walk, but one I remember going with him a year ago. Eventually we found the temple, but it wasn’t the one I was thinking about. After looking at a map tonight, I think I might have confused it with a mausoleum which is in the estate.

Anyway, we walked back to the car from there after admiring the “Big House”. It’s an impressive building with centuries of additions to the old part of it, but the land in front of the building has been turned into a car park which spoils the look completely. We stopped once more at the Japanese Garden where I got some decent shots of the maples. I also got a bruise on my bum when I slipped on the slimy steps up to the garden.

With some of the day left, we drove to Chatelherault in the outskirts of Hamilton and had a coffee in the cafe there, then went a walk down the broad avenue of trees that stretches for a mile or so to Hamilton itself. Walked further down to the Avon Water which was still in spate after last week’s rain. Back at the Chatelherault House itself I got PoD which is a view down the narrow avenue.

Drove home and dropped Alex at the house, then drove home for dinner before I changed from my waking gear into my dancing trousers and drove to the British Legion in Cumbersheugh for an hour long dance class. I wasn’t impressed with the first half which was Tango Serida. Not my favourite sequence dance. The second half was more interesting, but there were too many clowns in the class, every one a comic.  Let’s hope they calm down next week.

Today’s prompt was one of the vague ones, ‘Forget’. After a fair bit of soul searching, I decide on the one you see here: a note pinned to a wall.  I am a master of forgetful. My mum used to say “You’d lose yer heid if it wasn’t sewn on!” She was probably right. I haven’t lost my heid yet, but I’ve forgotten much more than I’ve remembered. Now what was I saying???

That was about it for a busy day. Tomorrow Scamp is hoping to get to Inverness for lunch with her sister. An early rise to get the train that will take her in to Glasgow and then a walk to the bus station to get the bus. Rather her than me.

Tidying up loose ends – 11 October 2022

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Lots of little things to do after yesterday’s big sale.

The morning was dry but a bit dull. We’d half intended to go down to Auchinstarry and walk along the canal, but maybe we left it too long and the clouds got heavier and the the dull got duller and when I put some washing in the machine we decided to just switch it on and wait until that was done before we went out. Coffee time, then hanging up the washing and it was lunch time.

After lunch I got a message from the DVLA to say that the red car was officially off my hands and was now tender care of a member of the motor trade. That had been worrying me, but the bloke who did the paperwork was as good as his word.

We had received our covid survey boxes last week and today we were going through the usual procedure of sticking things down our throats and then up our noses. Actually, that procedure isn’t all that painful. The pain comes when you have to fill in the online form. It’s so stilted in its language and clumsy in its operation. I understand that it’s an important document, but it have to be so dull and does it have to offer to give the instructions in Welsh on almost every page? What about Gaelic speakers? Don’t they get an option too? Anyway, the physical bit was done and the online bit was completed too. So we just needed to post the box.

Scamp wanted to get a birthday card for Margie, so we headed off to Condorrat to post the boxes and get a card. We walked a long way back because, although the day had held on to that white Scottish sky, it was still dry ( I almost pressed the “S” key instead of the “W” key when I was typing ‘white’ – honest, it was an accident!). We walked the long way home and it gave us both an opportunity to stretch our legs.

I came home and changed my trainers for a pair of boots and went off to find something that wanted to be PoD. I found a little mushroom growing out of a tree stump and with a bit of jiggery pokery it became PoD.

Dinner tonight was an old favourite. Ham, cabbage and potatoes. We were discussing this and it’s never ‘bacon’, it’s always ‘ham’. Both our mums called it ‘ham’, never bacon, except if it came from Ayrshire, because that was posh and it was Ayrshire Bacon. Anyway Ham, Cabbage and Potatoes was lovely.

The prompt for today was ‘Eagle’. Now the Bald Eagle might be more common across the pond, but here in Scotland the leading raptor is the Golden Eagle. I’ve only seen one once in the wild and that was in the north of Skye. When you see one, you know it’s an eagle. It just couldn’t be anything else.

By the way, I kept forgetting to tell you, we had a duck in the sink the other day.  Honestly, a duck in the sink.  I took a few photos before it disappeared.  No photoshop, no fiddling about, just a quick (or should that be a ‘quack’) snap.  Amazing the things you see in the sink!

Tomorrow I’m probably going over to Motherwell to meet up with Alex. If the weather is fair, we’ll go for a photo walk. If it’s raining we might go for coffee and a blether. Scamp is intending to do some ‘tidying up’. That sounds ominous.

Off to see a man about a car – 10 October 2022

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Today we sold Scamp’s wee red car

The MOT on Scamp’s car was coming up fast and for weeks we’ve had long discussions about whether to keep it or sell it, and if we sell it, who to? We eventually agreed in the middle of last week to sell it. Actually it was Scamp herself who pushed for selling it, I wanted to put it through a pre-MOT and see what the outcome of that would be although we knew it would need some work done. Anyway, after searching around to see which of the snake oil salesmen was the least dodgy, we finally agreed on We Buy Any Car. Got a price that was far in excess of what it was worth and organised a day to have it surveyed. That day was today and after less than half an hour we walked away without the old red Micra, but with a few quid in the bank, although a good bit less than the first fantasy price we got. We were both fairly happy with the whole procedure. It was as painless as it could be. It is a bit strange looking out the window at the car park and not seeing that wee red motor, but that would have happened sooner or later, anyway.

A coffee and a light lunch to settle us down and reflect on what we’d done. It was the right thing to do and the right time to do it. The rest of the day was waiting for us and it was keeping to the weather fairies promise of a dry day for a change.

We drove to Drumpellier and went for a walk in the trees. It was a bit breezy, but the light was good and lots of folk were out enjoying this little bit of sunshine. Deep in the woods of Drumpellier we came upon a tree with layers of golden leaves. The light was almost perfect and the wide angle lens managed to capture most of the scene, even if it was tearing the image a bit at the edges. I had a PoD. Usually we have an ice cream cone from a van at the park, but there was no van today. That was because, despite the sun, it was quite cold. No, a coffee in the cafe was more realistic today. After that we drove home.

Prompt for today was ‘Crabby’, or to put it into Scots, ‘Crabbit’. I searched Google and found this image, or something like it. It just said “Crabby” to me. Some days it’s just not worth getting up. You just know it’s not going to be sunshine and fun. It’s going to be furballs and frustration. Today was one of those days for Crabby Cat!

Tomorrow may be the second dry day in October, if that’s not pushing it. If it turns out as the weather fairies say, we may go for a walk.

On the Green – 9 October 2022

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The morning was dry, but not all that bright, but we’ll take ‘dry’ and get out.

We drove down to Glasgow Green where there were big spaces in the car park. It soon became clear that the reason for the spaces was the ‘pond’ that had appeared after the days of continuous rain we’ve had. Nobody wanted to park in the ‘pond’ , and neither did we, but we were there early and found a dry parking space.

We walked down to the McLennan arch near the High Court and then turned back along the path beside the Clyde. We took some time on the suspension bridge to watch some of the rowers in their twos, fours and eights and even one or two sculls. From there we walked on to the new bridge over the Clyde that would take us to Richmond Park. Not nearly as well kept as its English cousin, it’s in a bit of a state, and has been for some time now. Half of the original park was chopped up and sold to developers who now seem to have stalled, leaving it as an ugly, half finished building site. The pond is clogging up with litter and other kinds of detritus. Still, it doesn’t stop the model boat builders who were there today showing off their boats. That was the good part of the pond. We walked round the less well maintained section where there is a jungle, honestly that’s the only way to describe it, a jungle on an island in the middle of the pond. Ignored by the council, because it would cost too much to maintain. False economy, because it will just get worse with every year that passes.

We crossed back over the Clyde and walked past more building work on a piece of spare ground. This one looked more organized with proximity detectors to prevent intrusion. I photographed one that looked like a robot. Maybe it photographed me too! After a while we were recrossing our steps back to the car park where that big puddle was still guarding a few parking places.

Back home I decided it was time I cut my hair. It took longer than I thought, even with two clippers and Scamp to help me. It’s great to have a shower and have dry hair after a few minutes.

Dinner tonight was Seabass with roast veg and roast potatoes. Eaten while we watched a very strong Japanese GP which Verstappen won. Also, after a few a few scratched heads by the officials, he was also crowned World Champion because of an infringement by Le Clerc that dropped the Ferrari driver down to third place. Verstappen never seems to win a clear victory, but he did deserve today’s award.

Spoke to Jamie tonight and heard how he may have moved to his new company at the right time. Good luck to Simonne on her half marathon on Saturday.

Today’s Inktober prompt is “Nest”.  My sketch is of some wee hatchlings, what we in Larky used to call ‘Scuds” in their nest.  Not the best sketch in the world, but done and posted. PoD went to a “Meeting of Mushrooms”.  With all the UK parties having their conferences just now, maybe the mushrooms are thinking about having their own political party.  They couldn’t do much worse!

Tomorrow we’re going to see a man about a car.

Heading East – 8 October 2022

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We were determined to get out somewhere today. I chose East.

<Hazy-warning>
We drove to Culross and we were better than half way there when I remembered I was going to bring my walking boots and they were still I the cupboard they live it back at the house. But we were half way there and although it was raining, the sky was clearing the further east we went. Trainers would be fine.

When we got to the quaint wee village of Culross which Hazy hates with a vengeance, we had just parked when the rain came on much heavier so we sat in the car for a while. To make sure we stayed there, a bus parked behind us, blocking in at least half a dozen cars. Admittedly there aren’t very many place to park a bus in Culross and at least the driver stayed in the bus while he waited for his time slot to go, or maybe he was having his lunch. Culross must be one of the few places where a bus is allowed to block in six cars, legally parked in a car park. That’s the Fife mentality.

Eventually the rain eased and we got out for a walk beside the railway that has no traffic now that Longannet has been demolished. The railway used to carry slag from the power station to dump it on some reclaimed land on the east end of the town. The railway runs alongside the Firth of Forth, so we were on the path beside the railway beside the sea.

I wouldn’t say the weather was brilliant, but there were bright spells and the rain although always there wasn’t heavy. We walked a path we hadn’t been on for years. A path that zig zagged between the edge of a wood and some boggy looking grassland. A couple ahead of us had an excitable collie that kept running into the long grass and on one of its runs it spooked a deer. I don’t know who got the bigger fright, the dog or the deer. Once the dog had recovered, it seemed to think this was a great game, running into the grass to see what else it could find. The deer just ran away until it was half way across the field where it felt safe enough to start grazing again. The dog was called back and put on a leash for the rest of the walk.

We eventually found the end of the path where it rejoined the main walkway through the woods, but it was a long way round the main walk which would take us round the edge of the reclaimed land and eventually back to the car park. I suggested we take the other direction and walk the main path back to the railway walk. That’s what we did and just as we were about 100m from the car the rain came down in torrents. Just as I was framing up a couple of photos. I managed to get one of the and that made PoD. It’s the new pier at Culross with a lion rampant on a flagpole. The girl standing there was a ‘lucky’. Scamp was wet, I was soaked. We had intended going for a late lunch at Torwood garden centre, but we agreed we were both too wet for that and went home for a late lunch of tea and toast.
</Hazy-warning>

Later in the afternoon I walked down to the shops to get an M&S curry for each of us for dinner. We ate it while we watched the qualifying for the Japanese GP. It looks like a wet race tomorrow which always makes for interesting driving.

Today’s prompt was ‘Match’. Nobody believed that the newly married Mr and Mrs Match would ever settle down. In fact most of their friends said that a couple of hot-heads like these would end up in an almighty flaming row. However they proved to be the perfect match for each other.

No plans as yet for tomorrow.  Probably there will be more rain falling from the sky, but if there isn’t, there might be the chance of a walk.

 

Caught out – 7 October 2022

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Slept late today. Must have needed the rest with all the walking and exercise recently (I don’t think!)

Scamp was out in the morning for her FitSteps class. I loaded the washing machine before she left and put it on for its hour long wash. Managed to collect the first of my six active hours. It should have been eight, but six out of eight is a good start. There was blue sky and sunshine when I came back from my morning stroll round the policies as Colin would say, and the washing was done. I decided it would stay dry for a while, so I hung out the washing. Ten minutes later the rain came on. Should I take the washing in or should I risk leaving it out. A quick look to the west confirmed my suspicions that bring it in would be the smartest thing to do. It was indeed the sensible thing to do, because as soon as Scamp came in from her class there was an almighty cloudburst.

Earlier in the morning we’d considered going out to lunch if the weather held, but that wasn’t going to happen. Instead we had a banana sandwich each and watched the rain falling. We needed vegetables and some fruit so we went on a trip to Tesco to get the messages. It was still raining a bit, but the cloudburst had gone east to dampen someone else’s day. We loaded up the car with bags and drove home.

To brighten our spirits, Scamp suggested fish suppers for dinner and I readily agreed. It was while I was walking over to Condorrat that I got a couple of photos, in the gloaming, that could be blended together to make PoD. For me it kind of summed up the grim week of weather we’d had. A queue of cars heading to Glasgow, while another string of headlights heads towards Cumbersheugh on the other lane of the motorway. Meanwhile a quite surprising and colourful sunset appears above the trees. That’s Scotland for you!

The prompt for today was ‘Trip’. Various possibilities went through my head as solutions to this request, but the one that worked best, and my first thought actually was the one you see here. The poor bloke is falling, but I’m not sure if that’s a precipice or a grassy knoll or maybe a busy road. I leave it up to you, my dear readers to decide the final outcome for yourselves! It could be titled “Did you bring me a stalk of rock?” (From your trip!)

Tomorrow looks like the best day of the week. For* ‘best’* read ‘least worst’. I think we’re intending going out somewhere … anywhere.

Even more rain – 6 October 2022

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I walked down to the shops and I do believe I saw a man building a big boat and looking for pairs of animals.

We slept a bit longer than we should have this morning and it was raining. Eventually we did get up and load up the dish washer. Hazy phoned and we talked to her for a while, talking about mortgages and Capital Gains Tax and other things related to house buying. I’m sure it will be a long winded exchange of letters between solicitors, but it will be worth it in the end. Good to hear you sounding so well Hazy. I had a look at the new Mur Lafferty book. I couldn’t remember what was special about her series, but they were the Shambling Guides, weren’t they! Travel guides for zombies.

Once we’d said “cheerio”, Scamp and I had our usual competition with Wordle (She 3 – Me 6) and then for the longest word in Spelling Bee (draw at 10 letters). By that time lunch was on the horizon. I’d offered to make paella for dinner and that meant we needed some stuff, so it was boots on and raincoat on before I headed out into the deluge. Actually it was fairly dry when I was out. Just one circuit of St Mo’s then I walked down to the shops, bought the essentials and walked back. That was when deluge two arrived. Even with boots and my Goretex jacket, I was decidedly wet when I got home. Thankfully the top half of me was still dry, although I think the jacket is still dripping as are my jeans, but my socks were dry. Good boots saved the day again. While I was in St Mo’s I got my PoD which is red hawthorn berries, haws as we used to call them.

Today’s Inktober prompt was ‘Bouquet’. I was constantly tempted, with this sketch, to add just a wee bit of colour, but I steadfastly refused. A little bit of colour here and another bit of green for the leaves would have led to a watercolour sketch in no time at all and that’s not what Inktober is about! Some people in the group are taking liberties with ’sketches’ that are really just paintings. A little bit of colour is ok, but not an entire painted sketch with no signs of ink. My group, my rules.

We watched the first Portrait Artist of the Year tonight and, as usual, we were impressed with some and dismissive of others. “You can please some the people some of the time …”

It’s still raining. It hasn’t really stopped all day. We’re hoping for a drier day tomorrow so we can go out somewhere that’s not Cumbersheugh.

An early walk – 5 October 2022

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I was out early to the post office to send off a parcel to Samsung.

I’d recently bought myself a Samsung phone and as part of their deal, got a discount if I mailed them an old, but working, mobile phone. Scamp volunteered her Huawei P Smart which is now on its way to them. As I was walking over to the post office in the rain, I overtook this snail that was also heading in the same direction. It seemed to be quite sure where it was going and, as it was making fairly good snail time, I said good morning and passed on. At this point I must thank the couple on the other side of the road who stopped and waited while I took a couple of photos. I don’t know what they thought I was doing. I thanked them and walked on.

We had half intended to go out for lunch today, but as it was raining and miserably we agreed we’d walk down to Broadwood Farm for lunch. It’s a part of a chain and, of course, has never been a farm, its main stock in trade now is as a carvery of sorts. That suited me fine, but as Scamp doesn’t eat all that much meat, she had her usual Fish ’n’ Chips. I had the carvery, Turkey, Ham and Roast Beef with all the veg you could eat. Years ago Broadwood Farm was a decent pub with a fair selection of beers. Today I fancied Guinness, but they didn’t have any ‘at this time’. In that case I’d have a Belhaven Best. Oh, that was also off ‘at this time. I asked what they did have, and it turned out they only had lager, no beer. There used to be a song about “A pub with no beer”. Now it’s become a reality. The food was decent pub grub although I could have used the roast beef to repair the soles of my shoes. Next time I’ll have turkey and ham. We took a long way home via M&S for bread and fruit.

Much later in the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s and bumped into another teacher from school who was out walking her dogs and moaning about it. It was obvious that she was really enjoying it, but didn’t want to say so. Some folk are just like that. As the light was fading I walked on, still in the rain, but although I took a few more photos, there was nothing interesting in them once I’d downloaded them to the computer.

I was just thinking the other day that I’ve not seen any swallows recently.  I think the last time I saw some was about a month ago. I think they must all be back in warmer climes now.  Lucky them!

Today’s prompt for Inktober was ‘Flame’ and in an attempt to enhance my sketch I made the flame be a candle flame, put the candle in a candle holder and then had three moths flying around it. Like Moths To a Flame. It’s important to make it one candle and three moths. Odd numbers of objects are seen as more interesting than even numbers apparently.

No plans for tomorrow, now that Scamp has been dumped by her wee sister!