Category: A Walk

Tying up loose ends – 25 April 2022

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Scamp was out this morning to have coffee with her big sister. I got the free run of the house.

A wee bit of painting started the day. I think it was seeing Fred’s latest painting that encouraged me. He paints with the strangest equipment. Today’s picture was sketched on the back of an old canvas, then painted using emulsion paint, and just to make it even odder, he didn’t use brushes, but chose to use wooden coffee stirrers like the ones you get with a take-away coffee. Then for the fine detail, he used cocktail sticks to “move the paint around.” I, on the other hand used watercolours an brushes on a sketch book. That almost felt like cheating by comparison!

With my painting drying, I made up my mind to check off some other things that had been bugging me, or things I was delaying until “tomorrow”, although tomorrow never comes, we know that.
Well, today I was going to go and get lunch. To do that I’d need to drive Scamp’s Wee Red Car up to Tesco. The brakes had been repaired, but Scamp didn’t feel they were as positive as they used to be. A test drive had been on the cards for weeks now. Time it was done.
While I was at Tesco I was going to ask the pharmacist for something to deal with sores that had appeared on my leg. Much quicker to ask the pharmacist than to wade through the telephone conversations explaining the problem to a doc. Once, that is, you finally get to talk to a doc or a nurse.
The third thing on the list was to go up and have a chin wag with Fred and hand over some books he showed an interest in.
So in one fell swoop I drove the car and the brakes, although a bit softer than previously were ok. I got some cream from the chemist for mild eczema which is what the rash is, and I delivered the books to Fred and heard all about his problems with NHS. Everyone has a story to tell about the NHS and doctors these days. Back with rolls and a roll ’n’ sausage was on the menu for lunch. Scamp had a roll ’n’ egg instead.

It was colder than normal today and cloudy. In fact both of us had had a little rain shower while we were out. Nothing to be bothered about, but good to know there is still some water up in them clouds.

Later in the afternoon I got dressed for the wild woods and went off in search of, what I thought might be a Shamrock. It turned out to be a Wood Sorrel which is just as good. I’d seen it yesterday when I was out, but didn’t have the correct lens. Today I had the right lens and got the shot. Nice little bit of light too from a break in the clouds too. That became PoD.

Standard Monday dinner today. Red Pasta. A bit posher than normal pasta, the sauce started off with shallots chopped fine and half a tin of anchovies, both being fried in the oil from the anchovies. Next, half a tin of good chopped tomatoes and a large dollop of good tomato concentrate. All this done while the pasta was cooking for 14mins after the water had returned to the boil. Pasta water added as was required to the sauce. Heaped into bowls with three little anchovies sitting on top. Delicious!

Watched another episode of The Split, and thought the title of Saturday’s PoD was quite apt: “Oh what a tangled web we weave. When first we practice to deceive”

Tomorrow we may be travelling in the Glasgow to look for dresses fit for a wedding. My heavy tartan skirt is hanging up in the back bedroom!

Posted today – 24 April 2022

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Hopefully this blog will be posted the same day it was written. That will make it the first since April 13th. Here goes!

I spent most of the morning and some the afternoon writing the last few blog posts, posting them and also posting photos on Flickr. I always start off with good intentions on days when we’re on holiday, but I never quite manage to stick to those intentions. After all, I’m on holiday and blog writing, which can sometimes be good fun to do, can also be a terrible drag. Anyway, the backlog is gone for now.

After lunch we went for a walk round Broadwood stadium, the long way round. Over to the boardwalk and over that wibbly, wobbly way to dry land. Who in their right mind makes a boardwalk from plastic. Halfway along the boardwalk it feels like it’s ready to tip you into the loch it crosses. Typical NLC cost cutting. Some day it’s just going to collapse and then an investigation will begin and ‘Lessons will be learned’. After that they will replace it with another cheapo plastic boardwalk until the same thing happens again.
Well, we survived the boardwalk today, but it’s in a far worse state than it was in the last time we crossed it. We walked on over the dam then up past the exercise machines stopping on the dam to take a photo of a herring gull at the outfall from the loch. I never knew there were herrings in Broadwood Loch. We also got a good laugh at a Crested Grebe with its bad hair do. Unfortunately, the Sony 55-210mm lens wasn’t in a focusing mood today, so I don’t have a record of it.

We were sorted for dinner, so didn’t need to stop at the shops on the way home and I reckoned I had at least one decent shot from the birdwatching at the dam, so I didn’t need a walk over to St Mo’s.

Scamp watered the back garden using a watering can. I preferred to use the hose and watered the front garden. It will be so much easier if we get an outside tap fitted, but the tap adaptor worked for today. Also, as Carlyn, next door had watered our plants while we were away down south, I watered her’s today.

Dinner was steak for me and salmon for Scamp with a side of salad in the style of Simonne, but really nothing like as good as hers. I must practise that culinary skill.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about his plans for the coming week, jetting off to the US again to cause more mayhem by pouring oil on troubled waters. Good luck with pleasing all of the people all of the time, Jamie.

PoD was the herring-less gull.

Tomorrow I may plant my sort-of cow parsley, some in pots and some in the ground. I also need to get my hair cut soon as May is approaching fast. At least my kilt fits, I tried it on yesterday.

More dancin’ – 23 April 2022

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Dance class this morning. Wasn’t looking forward to it.

Queen of Hearts rumba to start with. Not a great favourite of mine, but certainly one of Scamp’s. All these rumbas and cha-chas just melt together into a conglomeration of steps that I can remember individually, but not in the correct sequence. I think that’s why I enjoyed Salsa so much, because you learned the steps of different moves and danced them in the order you wanted. Ballroom is a minefield for me.

Anyway, next was Quickstep and here I felt a bit better, mainly because Scamp and I had practised it the night before and I was beginning to come to terms with it. Maybe not to the speed of Paulo Nutini’s “Pencil Full of Lead”, but to a slightly more sedate Putting on the Ritz, I could handle it, or so I thought. My feet just wouldn’t do what they were supposed to do or go where they were supposed to go. I was having a bad day today.

After a quick break for a couple of sequence dances it was Sweetheart Cha Cha next. Actually I think we acquitted ourselves better at what is my most hated dance. I actually managed to fit in a couple of ronde near the end of the routine.

That was about it for today’s torture. The hall was being set up for a dance tonight and we were allowed away five minutes early for good behaviour.

We drove home via the Clyde tunnel to try to avoid the stramash that is the Kingston Bridge at any time on any day of the week. It actually worked. Although we still had to attempt to merge back into the main M8 stream after travelling along the express way, we didn’t have that agonising crawl up and over the bridge. I’ll maybe try that way again.

After lunch I took the A6000 with the standard lens and the 55-210mm lens for a walk in St Mo’s. A tangle of spider webs made PoD. While I was out, my dance teacher, Scamp, was perfecting her ‘Fishtails’ to that same Paulo Nutini track I mentioned earlier and was encouraging me to try keeping to the rhythm of the music, which, strangely enough was what Stewart was trying to get me to do during the dance class. Maybe that’s a path worth taking. I’ll try.

Tomorrow is maybe the last really warm bright day we’re going to have for a while. We may go a walk in the afternoon to enjoy it while it lasts.

 

Paisley – 22 April 2022

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Met Alex at the bus station in Glasgow and we walked down to Central station where we got the train to Paisley Gilmour Street station.

Ollie got home yesterday and I think the entire family is delighted with his progress. Alex, of course, had photos.

We got out at Paisley and walked through the town, had a bite to eat in Subway then got lost walking the wrong direction but found an old church at the end of a cobbled street at the top of a hill that looked interesting, so photos were taken. Further on another big sandstone church caught our eye and we spent some time there.

My phone was playing silly buggers and wouldn’t connect to the internet, but after a lot of swearing and a restart it was back in business and told me we were heading in exactly the wrong direction. We walked back through the town and passed a trio of blokes who were busking in the street. One of them looked familiar and the name “Rab Noakes” sprung into my head. I checked later and found I was right. I’m guessing he was just doing it for fun.

We manage half an hour in the Abbey and I got a few interesting photos of the stained glass windows, than we walked around and checked out the gargoyles, including the one that looks like the Alien from the movie.

I wanted some photos of Anchor Mill. Scamp and I have passed it many times driving through the town to go to the Paisley tea dance, but never had the time to stop and take some photos. Today was different. Not only had I the time and the company, I also had my ND filters and the attachments they needed to reduce the light getting in to the camera and allow me to use a slow shutter speed. Too much techy nonsense there, but basically I wanted to make the moving water look smooth and smoky. For once it worked a treat.

With that done, we were finished with our stated intentions and headed back to Glasgow on the train.

At St Enoch’s we bumped into Ross Malley and thankfully just missed his sister’s entourage as today was her hen party. I introduced him to Alex, we talked for a while, and then we went our separate ways. Alex and I walked up Bucky Street watched a street entertainer trying to whip up the Glasgow crowd to a frenzy and failing to encourage them to part with their cash for watching him jump through hoops of fire and knives.

We headed for our buses on opposite sides of the bus station and vowed we’d go back to Paisley again soon.

A shared Special fish supper bought on the way back home made a decent Friday night dinner for us. Scamp had been working in the garden and sowing some of the seeds she’d bought in the English garden centre.

The picture of Anchor Mill was PoD.

Tomorrow we’re dancing so we had a quick practise tonight.

Recovery – 20 April 2022

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Today was a getting back to normal day. Auld Claes and Purrich.

We went for the messages in the morning. Just the usual things and a wander round Tesco with a trolley. Not a lot of fun, but it has to be done.

Later, after lunch, Scamp was working in the garden, cutting the front grass and feeling grateful that we don’t have an enormous lawn, so do not need a petrol driven mower that just runs away with you. I too the Sony over to St Mo’s and set it loose taking photos of the whin bushes that are in full golden bloom just now. Basically that was it for the day. One of the pictures of the whin bushes got PoD.

Tomorrow we may be going dancing in Paisley.

Last full day – 18 April 2022

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Our last full day at the house and we wanted to cram everything we could into those 12 waking hours.

It started off with a walk round the garden and the outside of this remarkable house and also some time for interior shots. I was glad I’d brought along the 18mm wide angle lens. Really useful for showing off the odd shaped rooms. Flowers, oh yes, lots of photos of flowers, but also photos of plants in Jamie’s greenhouse. Not just the immediate environs either, but also the church next door, St Mary’s. A few shots of that too. I’d thought I might get a last walk through it and down to the wee bridge, but there just wasn’t enough time.

Jamie drove us to look for some plants at a garden centre. The first place we went to had some plants they wanted and bought, but no compost which they needed. The second one was more like a retirement home for ill and dying plants. Not worth the name of a garden centre. The third one did have plants, compost and seeds. They didn’t want the seeds, but we did. I wanted Teasel seeds, but I also grabbed Yellow Rattle, Basil and Rocket micro greens. Scamp bought me a packet of Ammi majus which look like Cow Parsley, so hopefully I can have some in the garden, to save me walking to St Mo’s to capture hoverflies in the summer. Thanks Scamp!

Then we were off again, being driven to Bury St Edmonds to go for a walk through the Abbey gardens. Clever planting in the gardens with good colour combinations. We took more photos of the ruins in the gardens, but time constraints didn’t allow us a chance to visit the actual abbey. Maybe another time, if we’re allowed back. Outside the big ornate front entrance to the gardens there were a bollard and a post box that had been yarn bombed. I don’t know what I liked best, the Easter bunny or the flower garden with the bee. Both fun additions to the street furniture.

We had a rather high cholesterol lunch in Cafe Nero. My favourite being a Chouxnut which Jamie called a Croconut because that’s what they are called in the US where he’d seen them first. It is a soft choux pastry filled with white chocolate mousse topped with caramel biscuit fondant and crushed biscuits. Delicious and very fattening, but who’s counting when you’re on your holidays! I haven’t seen them up north, but maybe that’s a good thing.

Then we were driven back to the house, because Jamie wanted to show off his latest acquisition, a petrol driven lawn mower. Not a ride-on one, although that may come. Scamp was the first to try it out and found it a little bit more demanding than she’d anticipated. I have a video! I was a bit more cautious, since I’d had a chance to watch Scamp’s antics and realise that you don’t just go full speed all the time. I don’t do the ‘grass hoovering’ at home, but I can see how much of a boon this must be when you have such a big lawn on a slope.

Jamie wanted a head and shoulders shot for his profile page and I took a few shots when we were finished playing with the new toy. After a bit of cosmetic adjustments in Lightroom he was satisfied with the result.

After that it was time to start stuffing all our clothes into our bags, and for me, finding places to store cameras, lenses and all the assorted paraphernalia that photogs carry about with them. We had a final drink and then it was time for bed.

PoD was an ingenious lock on a little shed which holds the gas canisters that provide the means of cooking in the house.

Tomorrow is the long journey home.

The payback day – 17 April 2022

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Yesterday was the day of the big posh lunch. Today was different.

While Simonne was at church in the morning we were just wandering around the garden, or maybe it was just me who was wandering around the garden taking photos. Scamp was weeding the flower beds and Jamie was in his greenhouse. I took the opportunity to go for a walk round the church and down to that dry stream bed. Again I went right at the bottom, but went on past the bridge into uncharted territory. I soon found a path turning left dividing two field and climbing a hill. That’s where I found the Small Tortoiseshell butterfly that became today’s PoD. I met a couple there who gave me directions to get back to the house by a different route, past a football park. I thanked them and followed their directions, but just as I found the combination football/cricket ground, I felt the tug of the leash. Scamp was telling me Simonne was back and it was almost lunch time. No time to find the alternative path. I retraced my steps.

After lunch we stared in the garden again. Scamp and Simonne were rooting out the weeds in the flower beds and Jamie was intent on breaking up the compacted ground near the sheds. We think the sheds had originally been stables because they had the two part doors you associate with stables. That might be a total fallacy, but it would also fit the house and garden. Anyway, there is a large area of well trodden earth at the end of the lawn and it does look like the bald patch on the back of a man’s head.

Jamie was making heavy weather of digging into the compacted earth with a trowel, so I had a scrounge around the shed to see if there was anything a bit bigger and with more heft. I found what turned out to be a garden fork adaption for digging out Ragwort from horses’ pasture land. Ragwort is a weed with bright yellow flowers. The entire plant is deadly poisonous to animals, but especially sheep and horses. I think the fork must have belonged to Simonne, but it was easily better than the trowel Jamie was using. After he saw how easily I was breaking up the soil with it, Jamie took over from me and I found a hoe in the shed and used it to further break up the bigger clods. Between us we managed to clear the entire area.

Jamie had initially thought he’d get the area raked, rolled and seeded, but he sensibly decided to leave that until the next day at least and water the beds instead. Once he’d started watering his end of the garden, Simonne started watering the flower beds and Scamp went to sit in the ‘Gallery’ and read. The place was looking a lot better and we were both pleased that we’d done at least something when we were “Dahn Sarf” as Ray, a Londoner, would say.

While they were watering the garden I found another of the elusive Bee Flies and this time I managed to get a few shots of it on my phone before it flew away. I think we’d done enough for one day. We all sat and had a beer in the Gallery which is a little lean-to sun trap on the side of the house. We listened to the church bells and the rooks, then watched the sun go down behind the church.

Later we watched a strange film “Black Crabs”. A Swedish production with badly lip synched dialog, but beautiful photography.

Tomorrow we may be going to Bury St Edmonds to walk round the abbey gardens.

Walking the dog – 15 April 2022

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A bit of freedom for Vixen.

In the morning, after breakfast and a cup of Jamie’s coffee from his posh Sage coffee machine, we went for a walk round the garden, a conducted tour, in fact. The garden covers half an acre. I don’t know how big that is, but it is a fair swathe of grass with a veg area purely for Jamie and lots of island areas of flowers that are Simonne’s area. Best of all, he has a greenhouse, a real glass glazed one, not a little plastic one like ours. Lots of potential there.

After the tour, Jamie drove us to a dog walking field where Vixen could run as far as she wanted without fear of meeting any other four legged friends (or enemies). We spent about an hour wandering round three fields of different shapes and sizes. Vixen may have been the reason we were there, but I was searching the trees and hedges for photo opportunities. Almost right away I saw a Bee Fly, but of course my camera was still in the bag, but my phone was handy and was sure I could grab a snap with it. Next time I’ll buy a mobile with a macro facility. Missed the Bee Fly, but at least I saw one.

What I did find was an almost totally brown Shield Bug and I did get two photos of it. There were apple trees in one of the field hedges and they were still holding their blossom and one of the Lensbaby shots of the blossom was in for PoD. With Vixen exhausted and my Lensbaby having captured a potential PoD, Jamie drove us back home for lunch.

After lunch the other three went to do some gentle work in the garden and I took my camera for a walk past the old church and down the hill to the dried up stream bed at the bottom. I turned right before the bridge over the stream bed and walked for about half a mile to another bridge over the same stream bed, crossed the bridge, turned left and found my way back to the house. I was passing between two fields. One with what looked like beans and the other with some form of corn or maize. The soil was interspersed with big chunks of flint.

By the time I got back, there was just enough time to have a beer in The Gallery before dinner.

PoD did indeed go to the apple blossom.

Tomorrow we’re off to Bury St Edmonds for lunch.

We asked for rain and got it today – 12 April 2022

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It was dry for a while in the morning, then the rain came … and stayed all day.

Not the best of days weather wise. It was just a wet day. All day long the rain continued. Sometimes lighter, sometimes heavier, but always there in the breeze.  The garden need the rain, so we shouldn’t complain too much.

Since we weren’t going anywhere important today, I got some thread and a needle and started sewing on a pair of elbow patches that I’ve been promising to fix for at least six months, probably more. They’re supposed to be iron-on, but the glue isn’t very strong, so it’s much better to stitch them on. Finally with the help of a needle threader that Scamp had, I managed to get both of them sewn on. It’s amazing the things you do on a wet day.

Lunch was a highlight. Hazy had given me a “Crimpet” for my birthday. It’s a two part press device for making sealed little bread parcels using bread ‘Thins’. I’d never heard of ’Thins’ before, but Scamp had and we bought some yesterday from Tesco. Basically you put one slice of ‘Thin’ in the black bottom tray of the Crimpet, then load it up with your chosen filling. My first one was cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes and wafer thin beef. Next put another ‘Thin’ on top. Place the yellow Crimpet part on top and press down firmly. What comes out is a beautifully sealed bread parcel that can be toasted, fried in a frying pan or baked in the oven. We toasted ours (Scamp’s was cheddar, tomato and turkey breast) and we both agreed it was a winner. I don’t know where Hazy gets these amazing gadgets from, but this is one of her best so far. Thank you my dear. I think we may try dry frying them tomorrow to see how that affects the taste.

After lunch we went down to the shops in the rain to get some messages and the makings of tonight’s dinner which was to be Stir Fry. It really was a miserable day, but when we got back, I took the camera out into garden in the drizzle and got a few photos. The best one, if slightly out of focus was Scamp’s sweet peas growing in a tray in the greenhouse.

Tomorrow we’re off on our travels taking Shona to the hospital in Falkirk where the orthopaedic surgeon wants to have a look at a wee bone she broke in her arm. It happened last week when she had a fall.

We might go for a coffee at Torwood while she’s at the hospital.

Dancin’ – 9 April 2022

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It was back to reality this morning with a bump.

Up fairly early. Washed, shaved, dressed and ready to face the day. Scamp skipped the shaving.

We were off to Brookfield to take a few more faltering steps on the way to being dancers. Today started with a fairly easy Valentino Jive which even Stewart, the teacher, got wrong to start with. We got it right most of the time, especially on the second track. Then we were straight into the Quickstep. As is usual, the teachers walked through the full routine, then danced it through at full speed, to music and we thought No Way! Heavens, there are Fishtails in it. Fishtails have been my nemesis for years now. Even when we tried the first few steps, I was just making things up until we got pulled up for it. We got pulled up quite quickly and it was Stewart who explained in simple terms what we were being asked to do. Could it really be that easy? Well, actually it could. After half an hour I was getting most of the footwork correct. After about forty five minutes I was adding in Fishtails, correctly danced for once. Of course we made mistakes, but not nearly as many as I thought we would. Needs practise, and needs practise in a big room.

Next was a short interlude of Mambo Marina sequence dance before we went back to last week’s Cha-Cha. It’s not quite as bad as it was. We have been practising it at home and I’m beginning to think I might be able to dance this some day. Maybe not some day soon, but some day. The teachers were adding some more advanced steps to fill out the dance, but we didn’t really take much notice. Best to get the basics right before we go on to advanced steps.

Driving home wasn’t as stressful as it was on Thursday, mainly because we didn’t try to cross the Kingston Bridge, but took the M74 instead. It’s a few miles longer, but at least you can travel at the legal limit all the way and not be in a start-stop line of cars with the other lanes always travelling faster than you. We may do that again.

We had picked up a lot of free food at Brookfield with a couple of loafs, half a dozen eggs and some potatoes filling our bags as we left. Such a shame that the food is being thrown away otherwise.

Scamp and I went a walk down to the shops in the afternoon and got a few things, then on the walk back, I took a detour round St Mo’s. Saw a hoverfly, first this year, sitting on some whin bushes. A bright whin flower got PoD, narrowly beating another branch of blossom.

Dinner tonight was provided by Bombay Dreams. We both ate half of our portion, leaving the other half for tomorrow’s lunch or dinner.

Got a message from Hazy to say that Neil still wasn’t getting rid of his chest infection and his dad was driving him to A&E. Message later to say that he had had tests done and he is just slowly recovering and there is nothing to worry about, thankfully.

Spent the evening catching up on yesterday’s blog post, but if I get this posted soon I will be all caught up!

With that in mind, I’m off to bed. I might read another chapter of my book James Oswald’s “All That Lives”. It’s a bit formulaic. It feels like he’s in a writing rut. Shame, because his early books were really good.

No plans for tomorrow. Hopefully it will be another beautiful day like today.