Category: A Walk

Strawberries and a drive – 25 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Yesterday I said we might go out for a run today, or else we’d stay home and pot up the strawberries. We actually achieved both!

There was quite a cold snap last night, or early this morning. I’d put the strawberries into the greenhouse to hopefully protect them from the worst of the cold. The Busy Lizzies were already in the greenhouse. The strawberries didn’t seem to have noticed the cold, but the poor wee Lizzies were looking a bit sorry for themselves. Scamp took them out and sat them in the sun for a while, hoping aginst hope that they’d recover. It might have worked, but we’ll find out for sure tomorrow.

It was cold in the morning, but the sun was warm, so we made the decision to pot up the strawberries in their tower pot. It’s a terracotta pot with eight hole for the plants and is the same material as an old fashioned flowerpot. That means it needs to be soaked in water before planting or else it will draw the moisture from the compost, so it has been sitting in a bucket of water for about a week. We made up some compost using two different strengths and then added some gravel to assist with drainage. We only had six wee strawberries in their pots all different varieties. Bad calculation on my part. I’m the Maths Man, apparently. It’s just coontin’ I can’t do. It didn’t take us long, working together for once and not arguing … very much and the pot is now sitting in the place Scamp prepared for it.

After lunch, the sky was still clear, apart from a few fluffy white clouds and I suggested we drive up to the Carron Reservoir to get some landscape photos. It was a fair climb for the wee blue car, up the Tak Ma Doon road with its hairpin bends and 2nd gear hills. Then it was feathering the brakes for the run down the other side. Instead of heading across the road at the end, we turned left for a mile or so and found an almost empty carpark where the parking machine was ‘Out of Order’. Even better.

I put my boots on and we walked through the woods and up past the dam. As we got there a small child, we couldn’t determine what variety it was, was running along beside the dam wall with its parents, holding a ‘6’ balloon. Almost at the middle of the dam, and after a gigantic party popper had fired confetti into the air, it let go of the balloon, just a few seconds before a low flying Easyjet plane appeared over the hill. A bit foolhardy, considering the plane was almost certainly on final to Glasgow Airport. However all was well and the screaming trio ran down the grassy slopes and into the woods.

I took some more shots of the reservoir and the scenery behind. Perfect day for landscapes and the surrounding hills just finished off the view. We sat for a while just watching the world go by and the balloon disappearing into the clouds. Then we walked back and drove the scenic route back, along the banks of the reservoir and down the Crow Road then homeward.

Stir fry for dinner tonight then watched another semi-final of University Challenge were the ‘goodies’ won and the ‘baddies’ were vanquished! Later another episode of Magpie Murders teased us with more information but inevitably complicated more than it explained.

PoD didn’t turn out to include the reservoir or the clouds, but was of the woods and a carpet of pine cones.

You’ll hardly believe this, but Hazy has a Split Rock plant Ruby Flush (Pleiospilos Nelii) called Phileas almost the same as my unnamed Lithops! Some people can’t see green cheese … ! 😉

Tomorrow Scamp is booked for coffee or it may be lunch with the Witches. I have other plans which I won’t reveal yet.

 

Some said how alarming – 23 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

… and some said how funny. An alarm call at 3pm. Just testing, they said.

There wasn’t much to say about today. It was a usual Sunday. We walked down to the shops and got the makings of lunch, milk and a bag of donuts. Donuts because it was Sunday if you need a reason.

After lunch I was doodling on the computer trying out a new toy Adobe had added to Lightroom and not told anyone. It was very clever. I’m sure you’re not at all interested, so I won’t waste your time. However, at 2.59 precisely according to my computer the most awful racket started. Of course, it was our early warning that the world is going to end or the SNP have spent half a million pounds on a waste paper basket, or something equally unlikely. The testing of the system. Thank goodness it only lasted for ten seconds. Total waste of money and time.

Later I went out looking for a pedestal to box in the pipes behind the wash hand basin in the downstairs toilet. I thought I might get one in B&Q, but couldn’t see any. I asked the assistant at the bathroom section and she searched the B&Q website, but there were none available online. I could have got one in Screwfix, but they close at 4pm on a Sunday and what time was it on my phone when I looked? That’s right, 4pm! I might try them tomorrow.

I left the search until tomorrow and headed out for some peace and quiet up at Fannyside. Beautiful light on the road across the moor and I managed to grab a few photos of the new line of windmills on a ridge one by Airdrie. PoD went to favourite view of mine between two stands of Scots Pines, looking over to the Campsies in the distance with a beautiful cloudscape overhead. It’s nice to just see it rather than fake it.

Dinner tonight was Jersey Royal potatoes and Broccoli with a Tuna steak for Scamp and Lamb burgers for me. Pudding was Meringue with Whipped Cream, Raspberries and Blueberries. Looked good and tasted even better.

Spoke to Jamie later and it seems that they have had a gardening week just like us. Nothing to report on both ends of the conversation, which is good.

Watched another two episodes of Magpie Murders. Confusing and enthralling at the same time. Thank you Alex for that.

I don’t think we have any plans for tomorrow at this time.

 

The Messages – 22 April 2023

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According to the weather fairies, it was going to rain today. They were right, but only just.

The morning was lovely, well, again it was lovely to look out at it. However, it was still cold outside. We had agreed last night that we’d go shopping today. Not Tesco or Lidl, we’d been there during the week. Instead, we were going to Stirling – to Waitrose. Waitrose just sucks you in and makes you spend more than you’d intended to. Whereas, in Tesco and to a certain extent, Lidl you know where everything is and you can buy the things you need, rather than what you want.

When we got home there was a cardboard box that had dropped through our letterbox. Inside were six little plant plug plants, Busy Lizzies. Tiny little plants that are now in the greenhouse until they get strong enough to be planted out in the garden. Strange to think that delicate little plug plants are delivered by post.

Scamp found a suitable hanger to hold a fuchsia and it’s now hanging on a hook in the back garden. While she was gardening, I took the Sony A7 out with a couple of lenses for a walk in St Mo’s. PoD turned out to be a close up of some larch needles positively glowing in the afternoon sunshine.

By the time I got home the clouds were beginning to mass and as I’m writing this, the first rain in a week or so has been falling.

Dinner tonight was a Veg Lasagne by Charlie Bigham. This is the third one we’ve had (not tonight, we’re not that greedy!) and they have all been exceptionally good.

Tomorrow we are expecting more rain and cold winds from the north. Brrr!

Another bright but cold morning – 21 April 2023

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We had hoped to go out somewhere this Friday morning, but I’d ordered a bottle of rum that was arriving some time today, but before 10pm. Amazon can be so exact with its timings these days!

To accommodate Mr Bezos, and because it was still quite cool outside, We waited until about 11.30 when thankfully Mr B sent an email to say that the delivery would be between 3.45 and 6.45pm. That is a lot more helpful than ‘before 10pm’. So, we’d about four hours to make the most of. We settled on a walk along the canal to Twechar and back. Then maybe a visit to Lidl in Kilsyth. Done!

Off we went. It had been a dry week with hardly a hint of rain, so no boots needed, walking shoes or trainers would suffice. We parked at Auchinstarry quarry where the ambitious ones were intent on scaling the heights of the practise face of the old quarry. The more confident, or just less cautious, climbers attempt the heights of the more difficult (so I’m told) face of the arc of the main quarry where a wrong footing will catapult you into the cold deep waters of the quarry itself. Untold wrecks are allegedly submerged there and many are the tales told about what they contain.

We weren’t going climbing. Too old and sensible for that, besides the clanging of the carabiners would drive us crazy. We were walking anti-clockwise from Auchinstarry, around the old mineral railway line to Twechar then back along the canal footpath back to Auchinstarry. A distance of about 3.25 miles, mainly on the flat, but with a couple of hills. I think we only met a couple of folk on the way to Twechar along the old railway. On the way back on the footpath beside the canal we did have to give way to a few bikes. It was on the way back we realised that the cool east wind that had been on our backs on the outward leg was now in our faces. Also, there is very little to shelter us from the wind on the canal path, while the lower mineral line still has a lot of bushes that act as wind breaks. The upshot is that we should have gone clockwise today. Never mind, we saw a heron steely eyed stalking along the far bank of the canal and further on, Mrs Mallard out with the chicks. PoD was a photo of a house that sits on the far bank of the canal and provides some lovely reflections in the canal itself. It was taken with the new toy, the Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS.
It took us an hour and a half to complete today’s walk and that included time ‘wasted’ taking photos and a wee rest spot on the way back from Twechar. Thankfully the cough I’ve had for the past week or so seems to have gone (fingers crossed and touch wood) and I felt fine, during and after our walk.

We drove down to Lidl for something for lunch and a few odds and ends. After lunch Scamp went out to plant some Antirrhinums and I found that the basil I’d planted earlier in the week had started sprouting. Dinner tonight was a tub of Chilli that Scamp found in the freezer. While not the strongest tasting meal we’ve had, it filled a space.

My Dark Matter rum did indeed come as promised, just after 5pm and because it was alcohol, I had to give the guy my year of birth! Maybe it’s because I look so young. There you are, I finished this blog with a funny!

I believe there are plans to go shopping tomorrow. That will be fine, because the sunny days have apparently gone for a week or so.

Saying goodbye to Margie – 20 April 2023

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Today we said goodbye to an old friend.

It was a tough morning and I’m not going into details. She was a lovely lady, a singer in Scamp’s Gems singing group. She was also a painter who produced some beautiful artwork in all media types, but her favourites were ballet dancers in the style of Monet. We’ll both miss her greatly. May she rest in peace.

Back home it was a beautiful day, as long as you had shelter from that east wind again. It looks like spring, but it doesn’t feel like it. However, I went for a walk in St Mo’s with a macro lens doing all the work today on the A7. The first thing to do was to check up on the three little orange ladybirds. My first surprise was that three had become one. Where had the other two gone? The answer was waiting a couple of trees away. There had only been one orange ladybird there last week. Now there are three! So have two ladybirds moved from one tree to another or is it just a floating community in the woods? I reckon they are just fed up with me photographing them and are trying to mess with my head.

Not a lot else happened today. Potatoes, bacon and cabbage was dinner for me. Scamp replaced the bacon with more cabbage!
PoD was the new trio of ladybirds, but take a look at the pair of old leaded glass windows I captured on my phone last week in Glasgow.

Remember I was writing about Scamp and I being labourerers the other day?  Well, today Scott’s wife handed in a bunch of roses and a box of chocolates to say thanks for the help!  That was a brightener for the day!

Tomorrow we’re intending doing some planting in the garden.

 

Warm sun, Cold wind – 19 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

The wind was gusty today and from the east. Never a good combination.

We’d considered going out for a run today, somewhere scenic, but the temperature was just 8.5ºc when we woke and it was taking quite a long time to rise. We sat for a while enjoying the warmth of sun shining in the window while knowing it would be much cooler outside.

After lunch we went for a walk round Broadwood Loch. Unfortunately they are still working on the forest section. Re-laying paths and improving the drainage, apparently. We did see one bloke driving a small dump truck. I’m beginning to think he’s the only one working on this project which started in February and doesn’t seem to have an end date, at least not one that’s been made public. Still the dump truck drives around and it’s keeping someone in a job.

Broadwood is a big featureless walk if you exclude the forest section. Unlike Drumpellier, it doesn’t have any side paths to explore. Today with the bright sun in our faces going down one side of the loch and the east wind in our faces going down the other, it was a bit of a trudge. Thankfully Scamp suggested we cut it short and miss out the walk past the exercise machines and I was happy to agree. 2.7miles we walked and I got two decent photos from it. PoD became a picture of some blossom. Scamp held the branch for me to keep it steady in the gusts. Broadwood is not the most scenic of walks, but I think that’s what I said at the start of the paragraph.

Maybe my exertions from yesterday’s labouring were beginning to take their toll on me today. I just didn’t feel as fit as I should be. Maybe I need to get out more. Two shorter walks a day rather than one long one might be a solution.

Tomorrow we are going to Margie’s funeral. She died on the 8th of April. It will be a long day.

Labourers – 18 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

I felt better when I woke this morning.

Neither of us had anything much on our to-do lists, so we had quite a lazy start to the day. We completed Wordle and Spelling Bee and watched Scott, who lives at the corner, barrowing sand to his back garden. It must be a nice change for him to be transporting sand rather than the hardcore he’s been ferrying for the last week. I think the idea of having an easy maintenance garden with artificial grass was a good one, but he may have blinded himself to the amount of work it takes to set the whole thing up.

Scamp went for the messages later in the morning and we also settled on Cod & Prawns with Fennel & White Wine for dinner. It sounds terribly posh, but it’s one of the easiest recipes I’ve got, and a one-pan recipe to boot.

Just after lunch we noticed two of Scott’s neighbours carrying some wooden planks round to the garden and we decided if we helped out, the job would be done in half the time. Scamp and I carried two 3m heavy plastic panels between us. We’re still not sure what they are, but by the look of them they were decking panels. They were awkward things to manoeuvre round the corners of the narrow public path, but we managed about six of them in total, then we switched to carrying two 3m lengths of 3” square timber instead (note the seamless switch between metric and imperial there ????).

I thought we’d done enough labouring for one day, but Scamp had more tasks in store. She is rearranging the pots in the back garden and using some of them to create a border at the front of the front garden, to prevent unwanted dogs from crapping on our grass. If that doesn’t work, pepper might be the solution! Allied to this is the fact that the peony rose needs to go in to a more suitable container that will give it some room to stretch its roots. With that in mind, we mixed up two lots of compost and added some perlite, then planted the peony. It’s now in its allotted place under the front window where it will get the sun from morning until late afternoon.

Now we really were finished for the day and we could enjoy a beer. A Broadside Shandy for Scamp and the rest of the bottle for me. The sun was tempting me out, so I added my +1 diopter close-up lens to the 35mm LensBaby and went off to find a subject in St Mo’s. Came home with a few catkin shots, but PoD went to an experimental distorted image from this morning when the sun began to cut through the clouds. It was that same setup of the LensBaby with the +1 diopter. I just liked all the out of focus highlights.

According to the weather fairies, it’s to be a good day tomorrow again. We might go out for a run somewhere. No labouring, I hope.

A dull day, a dull head – 17 April 2023

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Woke after a good night’s sleep, but the cough is still there. Thankfully it left the sore throat somewhere during the night and it’s now lost.

We didn’t really have any plans for today other than to go looking for a terracotta strawberry planter, and some strawberries to put in it for Scamp, and a little pot of Lithops (Living Stones) for me. Also, both of us wanted a rosemary bush to replace the one that died during the winter. That meant a visit to Torwood for most if not all of those things.

We did find some of the above, but not all. However, we found other things that we couldn’t have done without. A tray of Antirrhinum aka Snapdragons or as my mum used to call them Map-maps. Much easier names to remember than Antirrhinum. We had lunch in the cafe at Torwood. A quiche and a tipsy cake to share with a coffee and a peppermint tea. Then we were gone.

I’d brought a camera, of course and we stopped at Haggs so that I could get some shots with the new ultra-wide lens. The sky was clearing, but not nearly quick enough, but I got some moody ultra-wide, ultra low level (nearly in the water) shots of the canal. A couple walking along the tow path probably though I was going in for a swim, but thankfully that didn’t happen.

A collapsible pop up rubbish bin for the garden was on our list but we didn’t find it in Torwood, instead, Scamp spotted one in B&Q. Also at B&Q we found a tray of Busy Lizzies for Scamp’s Wanderella planter. Our final purchase was six square blue carpet tiles to replace the dark green ones that I’ve been promising to replace for years. The first dull day, that will be my chance to take out the green and bring in the blue.

Back home and after we’d unpacked everything, it was time to do some basic gardening. For me it was potting up two Teasel plants and chopping up the old rosemary bush. We did get a tiny little rosemary bush at Torwood, but it will be a long while before it grows to big enough to donate some leaves to a lamb casserole. Meanwhile, Scamp was potting things and planting other things and generally being a powerhouse of gardening prowess. Just watching her made me tired and I had to sit down – that’s my excuse!

PoD was that low shot along the Forth & Clyde canal.

Dinner tonight was made by the gardening powerhouse herself and it was Mac ’n’ Cheese! Of course it was delicious.

Tomorrow is supposed to be bright and sunny, so say the weather fairies if you believe them. We’ll see how it turns out.

 

Not one but two! – 15 April 2023

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Saturday was a bright sunny day, but I wasn’t going out incase it came early and I missed it.

We were out in the garden today. My main task was to prune the Alec’s Red rose in the front garden. Scamp wanted to cut the front grass because it was becoming a bit untidy. I offered to move the flower pots that divides us from our next door neighbours, a sort of demarcation line. I’ve no problem with them now. I admit I had to start with, but believe it or not, I’m a lot calmer now. I wouldn’t have said that yesterday, but John’s ok. Just a bloke getting by like the rest of us.

After I’d moved the flower pots, Scamp had cut the untidy grass and I’d risked a slipped disk by hauling the pots back again, I started on the rose, or roses as it turned out. I tried not to be too brutal with the fifty year old Alec’s Red, and it looked the better for the trim. Then Scamp suggested that I do the same with Schoolgirl which grows up a trellis beside the front door. I was a bit more ‘enthusiastic’ with Schoolgirl. Hopefully not too enthusiastic. It’s a strong rose, it can take it.

While we were in the garden, a parcel arrived. Scamp said it was for me, but it wasn’t the lens. It was a Sarracenia. A carnivorous pitcher plant. Our last one had died during the winter. I’ll try to be more careful with this one and give it the protection it deserves. It’s actually quite a pretty plant with mottled ‘pitchers’.

I’d been meaning to plant more basil seeds for a week or two now, so I got underway with that while Scamp planted some Cerinthe seeds. It has a dark blue flower not unlike the Shrimp plant. It’s another one we saw in Jamie and Simonne’s garden. It’s an annual which means it grows, flowers and sets seeds then dies. However it does self-seed which means we should get a lot more flowers the next year, all being well.

Later the DPD lady handed me a heavier parcel. It’s a hefty piece of kit, the Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 16-35mm F4 ZA OSS and has a hefty name too. After it was unpacked and tested, I took it over to St Mo’s to see what it could do. It could do loads of things. It took the PoD which was a simple view across the pond, but a high quality one. Worth waiting almost a year for, I think. Worth all the hassle yesterday? Well, maybe not. That was unnecessary stress MPB and I’ll say so in my review.

On the way back from St Mo’s I picked up a Chicken Chop Suey with Fried Rice for Scamp and a Chicken Chow Mein for me from Golden Bowl. The chow mein was a bit dry if I’m going to be critical, but it was good.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to get a chance to test the new toy further afield, but that depends on the weather.

A decision made – 14 April 2023

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Scamp was going out for coffee with her friend from work. I was driving to Larky after I’d had my PSA test done at the health centre.

I’d already made the decision to buy a new lens from a company I’ve used many times in the past, MPB in Brighton. Not a brand new lens, second hand. I’d made the decision the day before, but the day before was the 13th and I thought it would be unlucky to buy it on the 13th, so had left the actual purchase until today.

I’d put the lens in my ‘basket’ on the website, filled in my details and had just completed my two part verification when I got a message to say that the lens had gone! Someone had beaten me to it. I admit, I panicked, thinking I’d been the subject of a scam. How could two people have put the same lens into the basket at the same time? I’d never heard of such a thing. Scamp reminded me that time was ticking away and I’d miss my appointment if I wasn’t careful. Before I went, I checked with the bank to make sure my payment hadn’t gone through. It hadn’t. Slightly relieved, I drove to the health centre.

The nurse who did the blood letting was careful and quick, even better, later when I removed the plaster she’d put on the tiny wee scratch the needle made there was almost nothing to see. Probably the best experience I’ve had, getting my bloods taken, and maybe that calmed me down as much as anything.

When I got back I tried to phone MPB, but the help line wasn’t open on Fridays! I did get through to a European site and the girl I spoke to confirmed that the lens had indeed gone, but seemed as surprised as I was that two people could be trying to buy an article at the same time. Scamp left me to it and went to meet her friend. I checked the website one more time and that particular lens had gone, however there was an almost exactly the same one for a few quid less. With fingers crossed I went through the entire procedure again and it all worked perfectly, just as it had in the past. I was relieved when I got an email from the carrier saying the lens would be delivered the next day. However, I think that may be my last purchase from MPB.

After all that I drove to Larky and picked up my new reading glasses, then drove back home again after buying a four cheeses loaf for Scamp at the Co-op. A 50 mile round trip might seem a long way for a pair of glasses, but we both trust Simpson to look after our eyes, and Scamp will be next to get an appointment.

Scamp was home by the time I came back and I explained what I’d done and that it was all resolved.

A walk in St Mo’s to stretch my legs and calm my nerves and PoD went to a bunch of Cowslips. Another sign that Spring is here.

A wee glass of wine later to celebrate? Maybe that’s not the correct word for drawing a line under a difficult day.

Tomorrow I’ll be waiting for the email from DPD to say when the lens will come.