Category: A Walk

A long day – 17 February 2022

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A long day with a good result.

Phone call from the hospital at around 9.15am to ask if we could manage to get there for 10.30am instead of 12 noon which was the time we were told to be there. No explanation, but it was possibly because of cancellations due to the the weather which was quite ‘interesting’. Hail showers and gale force winds then blinding sunshine would make some people want to reschedule. We just said “Yes”.

Drove in to Glasgow and got parked in the correct place for once and Scamp got booked in. When she was called through to the clinic itself, I left to go home. Drove through what really was a car park on a four lane road reduced down to two lanes. Found myself in the correct lane except it was blocked by a white lining lorry. Fought my way through and eventually got on to the motorway heading east after losing almost an hour clearing the stramash. From there it was easy going.

After a cup of strong coffee the world began to settle down. I’d been told two and a half hours for the prep, operation and recovery, so I reckoned I had enough time to go and get some essentials at Tesco and put some expensive fuel into the car too. I’d just got to the self service till when my phone played the ‘unknown number’ tune and an 0141 number showed on the screen. Would this be another automated american robot voice telling me it was from The Amazon Prime? No it was from the hospital to say that Scamp would be ready to pick up in 15minutes. I thanked the bloke and said I was on my way. Paid for the stuff and body swerved the petrol station and drove back in to Glasgow to the hospital.

By now the log jam at the roadworks had extended itself by about 200m further down the road. Where, in the morning, I’d been able to just cruise into the hospital carpark, now there were about ten vehicles in front of me and they weren’t moving. Long story short, I got there, picked up the patient with her clear plastic pirate’s eyepatch and we navigated through the traffic jam for the second time today. This time it was easier and I was lucky that most folk were avoiding the lane I needed to be in, so we were on the M8 east in double quick time.

It looks as if the surgery has done exactly what the surgeon predicted. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely liveable with according to Scamp. It certainly looks like a clean job. She’s not removed the eyepatch yet, and only when she does will she be able to properly assess the full extent of the improvement. Now a week’s wait until the next one.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s later in the afternoon got PoD, which is a baby larch flower, and then extended the walk down to the shops to get some fish for tonight’s dinner which was Fennel, Leek and Cod. It’s like a thick creamy soup with fish and prawns in it. Eaten with a spoon! That was our Anniversary Dinner. Later we watched The Apprentice with a Rum ’n’ Coke each. Mine was Dark Matter and Scamp’s was Kraken.

Wow! That was a busy day. Frantic at times, but with a good conclusion. Tomorrow we are hoping to take it easier and watch the predicted snow fall!

Walking in the rain – 15 February 2022

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This morning Scamp wanted to go for a walk.

After breakfast and after footering about for a while, Scamp said “I’m going for a walk”. I thought I’d better go with her just in case she dropped her glasses and couldn’t find her way home. Anyway, it was an opportunity to get a morning photo and maybe avoid having the go out later in the rain to get one.

We walked down to Broadwood, aiming to go round the boardwalk, then across the dam and up the hill to the shops to get milk on the way home. We were walking across the boardwalk when we felt the first drops of rain. It wasn’t too heavy at first, but soon settled into a soaking rain shower. We decided to cut out the walk over the dam and just walk to the shops. That was when the wind got up and we were feeling the full force of the rain blowing over the loch with no windbreaks to give us shelter. By the time we got to the stadium and some shelter from the rain and wind, we were already fairly wet. Bergy jackets are great for keeping your top half dry, but our jeans were just like blotting paper, soaking up the rain. We went to the shops and got milk and some oranges, then made our way home from there with a bit of blue sky here and there letting us know that the worst of the rain had gone.

After lunch and still footering about Scamp suggested we eat out of the freezer today. It was a good idea as the freezer is getting stuffed with food and we really could do with eating some of it instead of throwing it out when it finally goes out of date. That’s what we did, except, Scamp changed her mind and instead of the fish she was going to have, made a ratatouille instead, but keeping to the ethos of ‘eat out of the freezer’ she ate out our the fridge instead. I had a tub of mince ragu in the freezer and that would make a good sauce for some pasta. Scamp went further by making shortcrust pastry for a rhubarb & ginger pie. I’d plenty of time until I needed to defrost and cook my ragu, so it was boots on again and off to St Mo’s to bolster the few photos I’d taken in the morning. PoD came from that walk. It’s a macro of the fruiting bodies of moss plants. I find them fascinating.  Also worth noting is that today’s PoD is the 3,333rd photo to be nominated PoD in the ten years of 365s!

Dinner was good and we both have some left over for tomorrow’s lunch. Rhubarb & ginger pie was fine, but although the pastry was excellent, the rhubarb was a bit tasteless, Scamp thought and I chipped in with the ginger being a bit tough. As I was in charge of chopping up the ginger, I have to shoulder half the blame.

Today’s prompt was Up On The Roof. I’m fairly happy with that music and familiar with it too, however with two named storms due to make landfall in the next few days, ’up on the roof’ was not a place I wanted to be. Instead I drew on an old favourite of mine and sketched one of the gargoyles from Notre-Dame long before the fire. I hope these stone devils made it through the flames.
My apologies to any French people viewing this as I’ve take a few liberties with the architecture of Paris :-\

Tomorrow the first of the storms is set to come our way. Different reports give different scenarios. Hopefully it will just be a glancing blow we’ll get and not a full on body punch. I don’t see us going very far.

Down the Green – 14 February 2022

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Someone brought a dog into the house next door and it was practising its barking this morning.

So, after breakfast, I drove up to Tesco to post a parcel and get away from the racket. Actually, Tesco at about 9am is quite doable. No big queues and not a lot of people. The biggest groups were men musing about which oversized bunch of red roses to buy for someone they fancied, or had forgotten to send a Valentine card to. The same men were to be seen later striding across the car park looking sheepish and pretending they weren’t carrying a bouquet.

Back home (and without a bouquet) it seemed a shame to waste a good day and Scamp had previous said she fancied a walk down Glasgow Green, so that’s where we went. It seems a bit strange that Glasgow Council provide tour buses that visit the People’s Palace but the building remains closed. Apparently due to ”essential building maintenance works to the building interior” according to Glasgow Life who own the building. If there is work being done to the building, you’d expect there to be builders’ vans and lorries outside, and the sound of essential building maintenance being done, but there is total silence. Strange that. We walked past what used to be a fine building and on down to the McLennan Arch then back past the old Boathouse which is being renovated to make a community hub and here there IS work being done with plenty of folk working on site. The work here is under the umbrella of Glasgow Building Preservation Trust and not anything to do with Glasgow Life, thankfully.

We walked further up river and crossed the Clyde to Richmond Park. Half the park has been sold to developers who are presumably building houses on the site. The park itself has been left to rack and ruin, literally. The boating pond is still there, but it’s been a long time since much boating has been done on it. It gets really depressing when you see the damage Glasgow Council had done to the green places in the city. They have closed so many buildings and failed to maintain others. They should be ashamed.

Yesterday’s prompt was Chantilly Lace. I listened to that song for as long as I could stand and this was my abiding memory, the telephone he kept answering. Why didn’t he just put her on hold like any sensible person would?
I should have posted it yesterday, but the day just seemed to disappear. I blame the whisky or it might have been the gin or the wine!

Love is Like a Butterfly was today’s prompt.  Another delightful melody, thanks for that Dolly. I chose to attempt a painting of a real butterfly (without satin wings). It a fair representation of a Small Copper.

Palomino Blackwing soft pencil
Cass Art watercolours
Seawhite A5 Concertina sketchbook

#EDiF #28DL

Walked back to the car and drove home. I was pretty sure I had enough photos for a PoD and it turned out I was right, but I went for a walk later in the afternoon and took some more. You can never have enough photos. While I was out, Scamp was working in the garden getting things sorted out for a new gardening year. She had to give up eventually because she just couldn’t see properly to get the work done. I think I may be her eyes tomorrow.

Nothing else planned for tomorrow, but we better make the best of it, because Wednesday and Thursday don’t look like great weather days.

A short post on a wet day – 12 February 2022

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There wasn’t much to say about today. Certainly not much good anyway. It rained almost all day.

We were just getting ready to go out for a walk to the shops when the rain came thumping down. It showed no signs of stopping, but as we needed bread, I volunteered to go for it. By the time I’d walked the half mile to the shops and back I was soaked. Not soaked to the skin, thanks to my Bergy jacket and its Goretex lining, but sodden enough to know I wasn’t going out there again today unless there was a real need.

I had a Kilmarnock Pie for my lunch and Scamp had a chicken pie. I don’t know if the folk in Kilmarnock actually eat these pies, but it they do, I pity them. Gristly beef in an almost solid gravy in a mutton pie base with a flaky pastry top. The flaky pastry was good, the rest I should have flung in the bin. Scamp’s chicken pie was much better, apparently.

Late in the afternoon the sky did clear and by the time I got over to St Mo’s, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. Saw some signs of new growth in the woods with what looked like a sycamore seedling sprouting through the leaf litter. Tried breathing some life into it in Lightroom, but it didn’t quite make the cut. I’ll try again tomorrow if the light is behaving itself again. Tried for a photo of a coot in the pond, but then the swan family arrived and scared it away, but they provided today’s PoD.

Today’s prompt was Born To Run, much more in my comfort zone. Always one to shy away from attempting to draw a famous face, I decided a back view would be safer. Even so there were hurdles to be hurdled, rivers to cross and bridges to be burned. Did I get the shape and colour of the guitar right? Was his hair too frilly? Artist’s decision is final and my decision is, it’s near enough for me.

That was about it for today. Hoping for better weather earlier tomorrow so we can get out for a walk.

 

We went for a walk – 11 February 2022

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Today turned out a lot brighter than we expected, but cold at -3º when woke. There was no sense in wasting a dry and sunny day, so it was boots on and out!

Since it’s just a week to go until the op, Scamp had discarded her lenses and was wearing the dreaded glasses. She decided she’d like to go for a walk somewhere different. I suggested Mugdock and that’s where we went, by the long road, the wrong road. Well, it’s been a while since we last drove there and it was a nice, clear, cold day, so a bit of sight seeing just added to the outdoor experience. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Finally, we got there and got parked quite easily. We walked round the castle and the loch and then back to the car. That sounds like a poor walk, but we covered about 10,000 steps, so it was a fairly decent ramble across boardwalks, muddy paths, frozen paths. The loch was still frozen when we got to it with the mallards sitting on the ice wondering what was happening.

When we arrived back at the centre, we had a roll ’n’ egg for Scamp and a roll ’n’ sausage for me. To wash it down we had what they called a Flat White each, but as Scamp said, you were unlikely to overdose on caffein after drinking it. It was more like a Babyccino! It went in the bin and we went to look for seed compost in the nearby Calder’s garden centre. We couldn’t find any so we drove to Dobbies and got a bag of the stuff there. From there it was the long drag home.

Dinner tonight was Sweet Potato Soup and then Pizza. Watching yesterday’s Apprentice where Scamp’s least favourite competitor was sacked. I too was delighted.

PoD was a shot taken up the main avenue of the estate among the high pines.

The prompt for today was Moon River, so this may need some explanation.
Moon River left me very little wriggle room, apart from painting a moody shot of a moon reflected in a river, and I have no idea what a ‘Huckleberry Friend’ is. Almost a fortnight ago I showed the prompt to one of my wife’s friends who immediately said Breakfast at Tiffany’s and my wife agreed. The only Breakfast at Tiffany’s I’d heard of was a song by Deep Blue Something, but I guessed that wasn’t what the ladies were talking about. Sooooo, I kind of turned it on its head and sketched a breakfast of sorts in a little cafe called Tiff & Ann’s. That’s what you see here. I added the blue box because apparently that’s what Tiffany’s is famed for, that and eye watering prices. I never like to make things too easy to understand. A big thank you to Sheila and Margie without whom I’d have painted a moon and a river and Huckleberry Hound!!

Tomorrow looks like rain, in fact the weather is practising for it tonight. We may go out if we can manage to get a dry spell.

 

Going for the messages – 10 February 2022

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Scamp had considered going to a tea dance today, but then thought better not, just in case of picking up a nasty.

When Scamp makes a decision, she sticks to it. Nothing will changer her mind. So we definitely not going dancing today. It was probably the right choice, but she knew that it was the last chance for a dance for at least a fortnight, maybe more, depending on what the consultant said after the eye op. What she did say was that we needed a ‘few things’. The ‘things’ were mainly vegetables and I suggested we take a trip to Waitrose in Stirling for them. Veg are usually fresh. There is a good fish counter and also a meat counter. The fact that they seem to be the only place in the central belt where you can get Chocolate and Nut Cantuccini is merely accidental!

Weather was terrible again. Driving through the rain and spray from countless lorries and white vans, but we got to Waitrose and managed to get all the veg, plus some fish and some diced pork with a wee bonus of three bits of lamb’s liver which may do nicely for tomorrow’s lunch. Oh yes and two boxes of Cantuccini. One to use and one to squirrel away.

After a French Toast lunch, I went out into the cold to get some photos. The weather had cleared up after we got back and the sun was shining brightly. I got a few close-up shots with nice textures, rusty wire as you can see and attempted to capture some backlit sphagnum moss that was looking very fresh and green. The only down side was that my little ladybird had disappeared. Maybe the bright sun had convinced it that spring had arrived. I’m hoping so.

I went shopping for even more food after I was finished at St Mo’s and by the time I came back, Scamp was starting to make Sweet Potato Soup for dinner. It tasted a bit spicier than mine, it was fine. More in the pot for tomorrow.

I’m beginning to struggle with the music and film prompts from EDiF, but as Scamp says, it’s prompts like these that make you think.
Today’s prompt was Vienna. That word, is now synonymous with Ultravox for many people. Rather than draw the famous ‘girl and horse’ scene or the one where Midge sings his wee heart out at the start, I chose the fade out scene where they all walk off towards that big scary building in the distance. I think it’s the moody atmosphere and the restricted palette of purples and blues that I like. That’s Vienna for me, just don’t mention Joe Dolce!

No plans for tomorrow, but the weather looks bright and clear, although the temperature is due to go down to -4ºc tonight!

 

Coffee with a crowd – 9 February 2022

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Four of us meeting for coffee. When was the last time that happened?

Up and out fairly early to meet Val, Colin and John for coffee and a blether this morning, and there was a lot of blethering! I’d forgotten to tell John which of the town’s three Costas we were meeting in, but after that we got down to the business of comparing ailments, discussing our latest tech and telling tall stories. Two hours flew past before we knew it and it was time to say cheerio until the next meeting. Hopefully we’ll be able to coax Fred to join us next time.

After the coffee we all made our separate ways home. I dropped in at Tesco on the way to get some baby wipes to allow Scamp to swab her eyelids, apparently it has to be done twice a day for a week before the op. After lunch I watched the hail battering down and decided to wait a while before going out again. Later, I took a calculated risk thinking that I might manage to get a few photos at St Mo’s then get down to the shops and back before the next shower. I almost made it too. I just lingered too long getting photos of the pond looking very placid. Five minutes later I was being battered by hail. I did get to the shops, though and brought back the necessities for making tonight’s stir-fry dinner.

The photos weren’t too bad. I was using an old 10-20mm wide angle Nikon lens bolted onto an adapter which in turn was connected to the A6000. After reading about it last night I managed to get the combination to focus manually and was really pleased with the finished result. A worthwhile PoD.

Today’s prompt was Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White. I sort of knew it as a piece of music my dad used to have, played on trumpet by Eddie Calvert. I never even knew there were lyrics for it. I listened to both today, the Eddie Calvert version and the sung version and wondered why they added lyrics.
But today’s sketch didn’t come from either, it came from a suggestion from Scamp that I draw a couple of paint pots. That sounded like a good idea and that’s what you see here!
Doesn’t it irritate you when the colour that goes on the wall is nothing like the one on the paint chart or the paint tin? I think that’s what happened to this poor decorator.

A short dance practise tonight with Mambo Marina, Tina Tango and two variations on the Rumba. Meanwhile our two dance teachers are sunning themselves in the Caribbean! It’s just not fair.

No plans for tomorrow. High winds and snow predicted.

Another rainy day – 7 February 2022

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Just a miserable day with a smirr that never really became ‘real’ rain.

We spoke to Hazy in the morning and she sounded good. Neil was off school today with what was probably a virus, but certainly NOT COVID. She reminded us about a film that her sister-in-law is in on C4 tonight. We’d forgotten to add it to our recording schedule, but Scamp did that later. Good to hear that there is likely to be a sequel to Around the World … You can always rely on Hazy to know these things. We all agreed that David Tennant played his part really well.

Drove up to Tesco in the morning to get milk and Scamp’s meds. Got the milk and bread and rolls and bananas but drove home without the pills. Had a coffee to see if that would help then went back to Tesco and got the pills. The chemist is next to Tesco, you see. On that second drive up the hill to the shop, the rain had formed into a mist that just seemed to cling to the pine trees by the side of the road. In a way I was wishing I’d brought my camera to maybe get some etherial misty shots of the bare trees, but as soon as I was in the mist, I came out again. Very localised. By the time I was coming home it had all but cleared, but that was probably because the wind had changed direction and was causing it to thin. No point in getting the camera and going back. Anyway, I’d been up that road twice. I wasn’t going back to get a photo of some mist.

Roll ’n’ Banana for Scamp’s lunch. Roll ’n’ Corned Beef for mine. Tried reading my latest book, The Ugly Bus, but couldn’t settle. Kept waiting and hoping that the wind would rip a hole in the clouds and the sun would poke its head through. Then that is exactly what happened and I wasted no time in getting properly shod and dressed for a cold day and took some bread to feed the ducks.

Rather than feed the greedy swans, I scattered some bread as I was walking. A couple of crows scoffed a few slices and I also broadcast some of the bread among the trees beside the path to the shops. There, on a tree, I found a little painted plaque hanging with this message painted on it:
“Stay close to people who feel like SUNSHINE”.
I thought that was worth a photo and it’s now on Flickr. The swans DID grab most of the bread, but the good stuff went to the ducks, geese and coots. The swans got the ‘hard tack’.

PoD was a wee bit of whin bush, although you may call it ‘Gorse’. It looked fierce with its jaggy spines and its flower buds starting to show. Soon they’ll be yellow flowers.

Today’s prompt was Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. Not the most thought provoking track you’ve ever heard and difficult to work with as a prompt. My offering is the alarm clock that sits on my bedside table and has done for more years than I care to remember. I don’t use it as an alarm much now. I’ve got a phone that can do that if needed and a watch that can confirm the need to rise and shine, but the alarm still reminds me of the days when I had to get up at 7am to Go-Go to work. The yo-yo is a mere figment of my imagination, but it’s in the lyrics. It’s years since I touched a genuine Lumar.

That’s me seven days in. First quarter is complete!

Tomorrow, Scamp has an appointment to get her hair cut in the morning. I’ve an email and a letter to write and we may go looking for an eye clinic in the afternoon, just to make sure we know where we’re going next week. If we pass anywhere offering a decent lunch, that will be a bonus!

 

 

Snow, Rain and Wind – 6 February 2022

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Welcome to Scotland. Three seasons in one day. We don’t do Summer.

I blame it on being out too late last night, too late for ‘auld yins’ anyway. I also blame it on the little nightcap we shared last night, but for whatever reason, we slept like logs last night. Logs that didn’t want to wake up or get up this morning. We both took one look out the window at the horizontal snow and said “No, not this morning, thank you!”

However, duty calls and there was a lot of work needing to be done today. A lot of blog, needed writing and sketches needing sketched and of course paintings needing colours splashed on them. So it was with a heavy heart that I dragged myself out of bed, just before 10am. Scamp did likewise. A couple of cups of coffee each put us in a better frame of mind and we were soon ready to face breakfast.

After we had fed ourselves we put on boots and coats and heavy jackets and went out to survey the wilderness. The snow had stopped, but the temperature hadn’t risen much above zero and that wind was cutting. Even with my woolly hat and my knockoff Buff, the wind was still finding ways through my armour. Once round the pond was good enough for Scamp, I’m made of sterner stuff and knew I needed some photos to fill the blog and put on Flickr. I NEEDED a PoD after yesterday’s poor carnations.

We walked once round the pond and then Scamp left for the warmth of the house. I went for a walk in the woods, but didn’t find much to photograph. On my way back I found the little weed that made PoD. I think it’s the dried remains of a Yellow Rattle plant. So called, apparently because the flowers are yellow and when the seed pods are ripe, the seeds rattle inside the hard thin skin of the pod. There you are, you learned something today. I didn’t make it up either, it came from Monty Don the gardener who swears by yellow rattle for keeping coarse grass under control.

After I came home, dumped the photos into the computer and satisfied myself that I did have a prospective PoD, I started on yesterday’s sketch which had the prompt Walking On Broken Glass. I’d already decided what my take on that prompt would be and although I overpainted it, it looked like what I had in my head for yesterday’s sketch.

The next thing to do was yesterday’s blog which I wrote and posted. Scamp had claimed the rights to today’s dinner which was to be curry. A special ‘dry’ curry baked in the oven. She busied away in the kitchen making it and there were some delicious smells coming from there soon after. While she was busy with that, I started making a pizza, a Quattro Stagioni (Four Seasons). Not a real one, unfortunately, but a painting. Today’s prompt was The Four Seasons. I could have done four paintings of St Mo’s if only the temperature had risen a bit above zero, but as I said at the start, we only had Three Seasons today. I was quite pleased with the painting when it was finished and I learned from my mistakes and didn’t overpaint this one.
In watercolour the important thing is to know when to stop.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and for once neither of us had much to say.  Heard a bit about their plans and gave him  the latest updates on the cataract op.

In blog writing it’s also important to know when to stop and that’s what I’m going to do now. I’ve had a busy day and I’m going to have an early night. By the way, that curry was the best I’ve had for ages. Really unusual to have a curry without a sauce, but it worked perfectly. I take my hat off to you Scamp. Beautifully executed meal, and totally veggie too!

Tomorrow we have no plans.

A bit wet and a bit windy too – 5 February 2022

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There wasn’t much to say about today. We could have gone out, but we didn’t. It tried to snow, then it got fed up with that and it just turned to sleet, then rain, heavy rain. We didn’t even have a dance class to go to.

I went out in the afternoon for a walk round St Mo’s and came back with a few shots of rivers of rain running down the paths, Not very interesting. Oh, yes and it rained some more. Torrential soaking rain. My boots kept my feet dry, and my jacket took a beating, but kept my top dry. The walking trousers are great for keeping me warm, but no use for keeping the rain out. They just soak it up. Admittedly that’s not what they’re meant to do, they’re just to keep my legs warm, so I shouldn’t really complain. But I do!

When I looked at the photos I had, they weren’t really worth looking at. Instead today’s PoD was a photo of a couple of carnation flowers with the kitchen window and some raindrops providing the backdrop.

In the evening we drove to Hamilton for dinner with John and Marion. A cold starter of Salmon and Lemon Juice. Two of my least favourite flavours, but it was delicious. Main was Chicken & Chorizo with Pan Fried Cubed Potatoes and Green Beans. Also delicious. Of course Scamp didn’t eat the green beans, because they squeak, but she apologised to Marion. Pudding was Deconstructed Black Forest Gateau for Scamp and Pear & Apple Crumble with a Praline Topping for me. That had to be the best crumble I’ve ever eaten. Nuts, grains of some kind and home made crunchy caramel. Amazing.

Scamp and Marion discussed Laura and Ross’s upcoming wedding almost all night, plus we got our official invitation to the event in May. It was a really good night that we both enjoyed. Nice to meet up with folk again, face to face.

It was late when we got home, so a G ’n’ T for both of us as a nightcap ensured that this would be a catch-up blog, as you’ve probably guessed and we hoped that tomorrow (ie today) would be better weather wise.