Category: A Walk

Out for a walk – 5 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp wanted to go out for a walk today. I agreed.

We went for a walk around the exercise machines. As we were going out there was a Santa changing out of his suit at the corner. It turned out he wasn’t the real Santa, but was Angela, our next-door neighbour’s father changing back into his normal clothes after giving out the medals at the annual Santa Race which is run at Broadwood Stadium every year. A bit disappointing to miss the race this year because we’ve been to the last few.

I bowed to Scamp’s decision about where we should go for our walk round the exercise machines and although it was cold and a bit slippery in places we had a non-eventful walk. We stopped at M&S for some tangerines for Scamp and a bottle of full cream milk for me to make Panna cotta for tonight’s pudding. Mackerel for lunch for me and the usual black pudding and egg for Scamp.

After lunch I went for my second walk of the day, this time in St Mo’s, and a macro shot of a mushroom got PoD. Not the most magnificent shot of the week, but the best one of the day.

Dinner tonight was a yesterday’s soup for starter, followed by rough ribeye steak for me and a trout fillet for Scamp. Both served with potatoes and cabbage. Panna cotta for pudding. More panna cotta for tomorrow.

Spoke to Jamie later  and heard all about the trials and tribulations of moving house.  We’ve had them ourselves, a few times, but in a different century and a different world.

Watching the most ridiculous F1 GP where Hamilton is being helped by the stewards to bring it to a tie going into the final race. This isn’t racing, this is politics.

No plans for tomorrow.

Feeding the Jucks – 3 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Feeding the jucks with the wrong food, apparently.

It was a lazy start to the day. Not really cold, dull and cloudy with the occasional burst of sunshine. Not enough sunshine and not really warm enough to encourage me to leave the comfort of the house though. It wasn’t until after lunch that I took that step. Scamp wasn’t really interested in going for a walk, and I didn’t blame her.

The temperature was cooling down when I finally took the steps that led me outside. Toting both cameras again. A6000 with the macro lens and A7m2 with the standard lens for a change. I also had a loaf of green speckled bread under my arm to feed the ever hungry ducks and swans. That was my first task, to feed those hungry beaks.

A great way to start a food fight is to chuck a slice of bread into St Mo’s pond. Gulls, ducks, swans, coots and geese all diving in as if they’d never been fed for weeks. More like minutes, actually. With all the bread gone and the big daddy swan hissing his discontent at me, I emptied all the crumbs from the paper and went on my way.

I met a bloke who told me I shouldn’t really be feeding the birds with bread, because it’s not good for them. He wasn’t quite as confrontational as that, nor was he as blunt, but I got his message. I asked him what I should be giving them and he replied, sweetcorn. Apparently the enjoy sweetcorn and it’s good for them. Easily digested, he said. Then we discussed the age of the swans and how they live in different ponds, the same way we go visiting relatives and friends in other parts of the country. He did seem to know a fair bit about them and was happy to share his knowledge without making a nuisance of himself.

While I was walking round the pond thinking about what he’d said, I spotted some Canada geese in one of the quieter and deeper parts of the pond. Canada geese sometimes overwinter at the pond, but get a hard time from the resident two swans who are forever hustling them about. I took a few photos with the 6000 and the birds didn’t immediately fly away. In fact they swam a bit closer. I took some more shots with the A7 and the sun came out, lighting the trees on the far side of the pond. Potential PoD in the bag.

I was heading for the rough ground behind the pond hoping for a similar shot to yesterday’s with the low sun giving some warm light. I was much too early, probably an hour too early. I did get an interesting shot with decent light of a single cow parsley stem holding water drops in its claw-like seed heads. Another possible PoD.

After processing at home it was the geese that won the day, but the cow parsley shot is in Flickr for your perusal. Not a bad day’s photography, and a bit of information on feeding the swans stored away.

Dinner tonight was Chicken Biriyani. Spicy hot and not really a great taste. Apparently it can do some damage to your liver too. Don’t think we’ll be eating enough of it to do that much damage.

Tomorrow we may be going to dance class. To that end, Scamp and I had a quick practise of the Christmas Pudding Rock. Just a made up Christmas sequence dance. A bit of fun. Other than that, not much planned.

 

A birthday and going for the messages – 2 December 2021

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Just a normal shopping day at Tesco, after the singing.

The singing was done in text format over WhatsApp to Hazy and went along the lines of:
“Happy Birthday to you”

I drove us to Tesco and Scamp consulted her Little List as the basis of the shopping. While we were wandering around the aisles I bumped into Fred and found out that things are looking up now at home. Glad to hear that. We’ve agreed to have a coffee sometime soon. The list had about ten items on it and we left an hour or so later with four big bags full of groceries. Drove home in time for a cup of coffee before lunch.

After lunch Hazy sent a message to ask if we wanted to do a Zoom call. Of course we did. Scamp sang “Happy Birthday” to Hazy. I was out of the room at the time, but that was probably for the best. Singing is not my forté I’m afraid. We sat and talked for a quite a while. It was good to speak face to face, even a virtual face to face after such a long time. So much has happened since our family holiday in Cumbria back in July.

After we said our goodbyes and closed down the computer the light had almost disappeared, then the sun broke out through the clouds and all was well again. I grabbed both cameras and headed out looking for deer. I didn’t find any deer. I did find an interesting sky that might make it to Flickr once I get it looking at its best. PoD, however, went to a spear of whin with a strip of sunset orange below it. I liked the picture when I saw it through the viewfinder, but even better for me, was the format. The long narrow strip fitted the subject perfectly in my eyes.

Smoked haddock and cabbage risotto for dinner cooked in the oven. It doesn’t sound very appetising, but you’d be wrong for rejecting it just because of its ingredients. It was lovely, and best of all, no standing stirring the rice for twenty minutes. Just let the oven do the hard work.

I hope you had a lovely day Hazy.

I don’t really know what we’re doing tomorrow. Nothing planned yet.

 

A miserable morning – 1 December 2021

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But then it changed completely, just as the weather fairies had predicted.

I was out fairly early this morning. Collected my meds. Tuesday must be sick day because today, Wednesday, there was no queue outside the chemist and only one person in front of me inside. Next I posted a small parcel down south, Hazy. I’d a short list of things to get in Tesco while I was there and with that done, I drove home with the sky lightening all the time. It was beginning to look as if the weather app on my phone was going to be on the money with its claim for sunshine by 11am.

After a morning coffee I sat and wrote an email to Alex. Just keeping in touch and moaning about the weather. Then I grabbed my cameras and went for a walk in St Mo’s looking for something scenic in the sun.  It was cold, but at least the sun was shining and the sky was blue. On the way there I took a shot or two of the Snowberry bushes that grow beside the paths near the house. They’re well named with their bunches of white berries that look like little balls of snow. Since I was out fairly early, I thought I might get a shot of one of the St Mo’s deer. I did, but it was just a tiny speck in the distance. If you didn’t know it was there you’d miss it. The wee pond up next to the motorway exit slip road was looking good with the blue sky reflecting in it and the rusty coloured larches contrasting. I took quite a few of that scene, knowing that most would be culled in the first editing pass. Took some macro shots of the cow parsley seed heads, but I know I sometimes overdo them. I take so many, most of them fall on the cutting room floor too.

Back home, the DPD man came and took away another, larger parcel away to go down south.  It must be somebody’s birthday soon.  Then, and after lunch we discussed what to have for dinner. There’s not really much to debate, it’s Wednesday, so it’s got to be fish and probably chips. That’s when the postman arrived with a parcel for us from Hazy. It was a culinary advent calendar. Instead of doors, it has little cardboard holders with a sachet of spice or herbs in each one. At least that’s what we’re guessing is in them because Hazy has carefully covered the list of what’s in each day’s sachet. Smart girl! Scamp opened today’s which tasted like curry leaves in sea salt. I chose to make potato wedges instead of chips with the fish and we usually sprinkle them with a basil and salt mixture that Val brings back from Rome for us. Instead, today, we sprinkled Fleur de sel (Roasted Sesame, Coriander, Garlic, Cumin and Fenugreek). It was totally different from our usual basil salt and made a refreshing change. It’s my turn to open tomorrow’s packet. Thank you both!

Today’s PoD turned out to be the Snowberries. I liked it right away, which is always a good sign.

Tomorrow I think we may go shopping. Maybe just to Tesco, although we did book a Tesco delivery today too, but that’s for later in the month.

The lights came on – 30 November 2021

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The sun didn’t want to come out to play today, except for about ten seconds in the morning.

I had a gossip with Fred in the morning. It’s ages since I’ve spoken to him and I had really intended phoning him last week. I really enjoyed his patter. Nothing is sacrosanct with Fred and everything is criticised mercilessly. I spent a good three quarters of an hour being entertained, and we did get round to serious topics too, like painting. Glad to hear that he’s framed his latest extended portrait landscape and hung it in the hall. Had to cut short our conversation when my phone told me it was running low on power, so I said my goodbyes and plugged it into the charger. It might have charged quicker if I’d switched the charger on, but I’m not sure. I did switch it on an hour later when the phone was completely dead for some reason!

I drove up to Tesco to get some stuff for the dinner just after lunch. I’d intended collecting my meds from Boots at the same time, but the queue was about six or seven deep outside the shop, so I decided another day would be better. The queue in Tesco for the Post Office was even longer, and I was glad that we’d decided to send a parcel down to Epsom way by DPD instead. It should be picked up tomorrow for next day delivery, Hazy!

When I got back into the car, the headlights came on automatically. It was that sort of day. Like I said at the start, I missed the ten seconds of good daylight in the late morning. But there is a 365 to be done and it needs a photo, so I drove home, parked the car, took the messages in and then went back out to see what the world had to offer. By ‘world’, I mean St Mo’s. I was heading over there just after 4pm and it was almost dark. It was a photo of an old tree that got PoD. I’ve photographed in bright sun, rain and snow. I just love the shape of the trunk. It looks as if it’s been in the wars and it’s survived the storms earlier in the week, I’m glad to say.

Thankfully there were no problems with the SD card today and although the photos weren’t earth shattering, the PoD completed number 334 of this year’s 365. That makes it photo 3256 since I started burdening myself with a 365, over 9 years ago.

Tomorrow we are hoping to receive one parcel and also for the DPD person to uplift another. We’re just keeping the wheels of industry turning. It looks like a cold, but brighter day. Maybe more than ten seconds of good light.

 

 

Snow – 28 November 2021

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Today we woke to snow, just as the forecasters predicted … for once.

Yes, a layer of the white stuff coated the paths and the grass this morning. The temperature was 1.1ºc. Above zero, but only just. I was thinking that I might go out and get some snowy scene photos, but then again, there was no real need to rush. The snow would probably be there in an hour or so too. Time to finish the chapter in my book.

I eventually pulled on my boots, got my heavy Bergy jacket and my furry hat. Then, armed with both Sony cameras I went off to the snowy wastes of St Mo’s. I did get PoD with the A7, but most of the photos were macros taken with the A6000. Surprisingly, when I got them processed, I had far more ‘keepers’ than I thought I’d have.

Back home, my next task was to decant some of yesterday’s leaves into the compost bin. The easiest way, and much to Scamp’s dismay, was to bring the garden waste wheelie bin through the house to the back garden. Then shovel the leaves into the bin. The contents of the bin were in far better nick than I’d have expected. There was a lot of good looking, well rotted compost in there and also a fair number of worms eating their way through what was left of some vegetable matter. The already chopped up leaves will give them something new in their diet.

Our own diet today was Tomato and Red Pepper soup followed by Pan Fried Chicken Breast with potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower. It sounds fancy, but I was cooking, so some corners were cut and some license has been taken with the description. The chicken was half the breast from the chicken I cooked yesterday. The broccoli and cauliflower were from an M&S packet and the potatoes were mingin’. Too old and mouldy looking. Still, pudding was an M&S Cherry Steamed Pudding. I could never have made that, but I could bake it in the microwave for 1min 30sec.

Spoke to Jamie and found out the full story of Simonne’s injured hand and the extent of the injuries. She’s back to the hospital tomorrow to get the dressing changed and check that healing is properly in progress. Neither dog seems to have any serious injuries.
Things seem to be moving on the house front too with some work already completed and others in the pipeline.

Today’s PoD is a view along the path to Condorrat with a tweak or two in Lightroom. Doesn’t it make it look cold!

Tomorrow we are intending to take Isobel to the tea dance in Falkirk. It’s a test too, to see if Scamp can manage to dance with the new glasses on. If it works we may attempt a class on Saturday. Temperature now is -1ºc. Below zero, but only just.

Arwen Arrives – 26 November 2021

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A wild lady is Arwen.

Named after the Lady of Rivendell, Arwen is a storm that started battering the east of the UK this afternoon. I’d gone out in the early afternoon before she could swoop over us and it was bitter cold just about 4ºc which with windchill reduced to approximately -267ºc or thereabouts. At least that’s how it felt. However, I did get some photos and my favourite was the one you see above. It’s the pond at St Mo’s with Deone’s butterfly seat in the distance.

One circuit of the pond was enough for me today. The wind was beginning to rise as I was coming home and I was glad I’d my Bergy jacket with its fleece lining to keep out the worst of the weather.

Earlier, in the morning I’d washed the downstairs windows, but that only gave Scamp the opportunity to change the curtains. I did the taking down of the curtains, Scamp did the changeover and then I put the new ones up. Yes, she was right, they did need changing.

Earlier still, we spoke to Hazy and found what was happening down Epsom way. Lots of interesting things going on down there and we now have a singing school teacher in the family!

All that and a phone call from Margie to tell Scamp about her trips to hospital and the swearing from some Larky folk who were in the ward with her. I’d could have told her, that’s not swearing, it’s just the way they talk. The sweary words are just used as punctuation!

Storm Arwen has been making a nuisance of itself for some time now, since about 3pm, and is still roaming around the houses here.  It’s been gathering all the leaves from around the estate and dumping them on our front garden, then clattering them off our front window.  The storm doesn’t seem to be lessening  and it will be here for most of the night and some of tomorrow it seems. I don’t know how much sleep we’ll get, but it will soon be time to find out.

Tomorrow I’m intending cooking a roast chicken for dinner. I’m sure I’ll need some assistance from Scamp, but maybe not too much. I don’t think we’ll be going far until Arwen heads off south.

Glasgow Green – 25 November 2021

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A bright day, but a cold one. You can’t have everything.

We drove down to Glasgow Green today, Scamp’s suggestion. It had been quite a while since we’d been there. These days you have to be very calculating or very lucky to get to walk an unmolested Glasgow Green. It seems that every weekend there is preparation for, or demolition of an ‘Event’. We must just have been lucky, because we didn’t do any research for today’s walk, and the ’green’ part of Glasgow Green was just as it should be, empty of scaffolding or wire fences. Wonderful. The old boathouse was being renovated, but that’s ok, because it’s on the edge of the green and didn’t inconvenience anyone.

We walked a fair bit of the periphery of the park as did quite a few others, but the feeling of space today was cheering. It was a shot from The Green that I got today’s PoD which was the reflection of the chimney and the smoke from the Strathclyde Distillery reflected in the Clyde. Another day with that strange yellowy sky. I’m guessing it’s because the sun isn’t rising very high in the sky and is therefore shining through a thicker layer of dust and smoke than in the summer.

We walked almost as far as the bridge over the Clyde to Richmond Park, but we were both feeling the cold by then and decided a warm car would be a better choice and left Richmond Park for another day. We stopped on the way home to have a coffee in Costa at Robroyston and then stocked up of essentials (which didn’t include a bottle of gin, this time) at Lidl before driving home.

After we’d unloaded the car I changed keys and drove Scamp’s Wee Red Car to Boots at Craigmarloch to get Scamp’s prescription and also to give the wee car a run. I made sure the heat was flowing before I made my way back and got home before the St Mo’s weans came out of school.

I was half way through making Fish Curry for dinner when a strange message appeared on the TV. Something about the program being suspended, then Scamp noticed that the modem was off. I checked the electricity hadn’t tripped, but it hadn’t. Then the modem’s lights came on, but stayed at a flashing green. That’s not a good sign. I couldn’t get through to Virgin on my phone and I feared the worst. Eventually, after an hour, I got the message that there was a problem in our area, both Broadband and TV. Nothing to do but wait. Now I know what cold turkey feels like, even if I was eating hot fish curry. Then everything started up again. The electricity had gone off yesterday, for the whole street. Today it looked like the broadband had been the victim. Now, there is a group of council workies digging holes and doing some ‘repair’ work in the next street. Now call me suspicious, but … !

Tomorrow looks stormy. We look as if we’re on the edge of the ‘amber warning’, but that’s by no means certain. We’ll hang onto our hats and hope for the best.

 

Listening to my own advice – 24 November 2021

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Always a good recommendation, but rarely operated on.

Today Scamp was entertaining Annette to tea at our house in the morning. I waited until she arrived then I went out for a walk in the morning sunshine, just like I’d told myself to do. I took the Sony A7 and drove up to Fannyside Moor where I parked beside the Scots Pines that sound so good with the wind whistling through them. It was a lovely morning and the sun was shining, but the west wind was cold. I knew the wind would be colder and stronger later in the week when it swung to the north. They do say that “The North Wind doth blow and we shall have snow”. It appears that may be true before the weekend, but I get ahead of myself.

Today I was looking for some decent landscapes and Fannyside is great with its view to the south and east. I started out walking in that direction with a bit of shelter from that west wind because of the trees on my right. I couldn’t find very much to photograph until I reached a stand of trees silhouetted against a wild looking sky. That might be PoD, I thought. As I turned to head back up the hill I could hear a motorbike engine behind me. It turned out to be a quad bike. The farmer out to feed his sheep. Soon the sound of the engine was drowned out by the barking of two sheepdogs trying to run me down. A couple of shouts from the farmer brought them to heel and I continued on unharmed.

I didn’t get much else there and drove to Greenfaulds station car park where I left the car and walked along the Luggie Water for a bit. Although it is only November, the snowdrops are pushing their green shoots up under the trees. Some good lighting encouraged me to shoot some more frames and one of those shots almost made PoD. Also saw some good graffiti under the road bridge. Hardly met anyone along the path.

Back home, Annette was just leaving and after saying goodbye, we made instant pizza our lunch. The weather was still bright, so Scamp and I went for a walk over to St Mo’s. Just one circuit of the pond today because it was getting colder than in the middle of the day. Scamp got a surprise delivery of neoprene elasticated specs holders from Mr Amazon today. She says they work well, but seem to put extra stress on the already flimsy legs of the glasses. They survived the trip to St Mo’s.

Dinner tonight was Giant Fish Fingers and Spaghetti (the tinned variety). It’s quick to make and it tastes good. Plus it fulfils the rule of Fish on a Wednesday. That’s been a tradition in our family for years.

Watched the final episode of Shetland tonight. It did answer all the questions, but then started a new story that won’t resolve itself until the new series, NEXT YEAR! What will we watch until then??

In the end, neither of my initial shots made PoD, it was a landscape from Fannyside that won, looking down the road the disappears into the distance. No sign of sheepdogs or quad bikes!

Tomorrow looks cold and windy with the chance of Wintry Showers. Turn the heating up, I say.

Baking – 23 November 2021

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Get Set … Bake!

Tonight was the final of the Great British Bake Off and to celebrate I was making Multigrain Rolls.

I had a few of the Bakedin boxes that I hadn’t had time to start, so today was the day. For what were basically rolls with porridge oats on top it was a complicated recipe. Grated Linseed, Wholemeal flour, Oat bran, Milk and Eggs were some of the ingredients. It really was the stickiest dough I’ve kneaded in a long time, but they did come out looking and tasting like Multigrain Rolls, which made all that faffing about with baking trays and ”Shaping a claw with your hand and rolling a 90g piece of dough in a circular motion” worthwhile. They tasted good too, although I’d have added a bit more salt.  I might apply for next year’s Bakeoff! Aye Right!!

That was the overarching work of the day, but in between the proving and forming and kneading I made some ‘Just Soup’ which looked like it was going to end up being a vegetable stew, but with help from Scamp it turned out ok, just ok. That was dinner today along with Rice ’n’ prunes for dinner, made by Scamp.

Something happened to the NAS drive yesterday and it seems to have blocked itself. I can’t quite figure it out yet, but I do know it’s something to do with the installation of a new version of Lightroom. I’ve tried looking for help from the Synology website, but it’s the most user unfriendly ‘help’ site I’ve ever used. There are almost no simple instructions there for a newbie user like me. Everything seems to be aimed at those with a degree in Computer Science. Maybe I need to look for the Topsy and Tim version of Synology.

I also managed to squeeze in a drive down to Auchinstarry with just enough time to scramble up the steep path to Croy to record a lovely stripe of golden light on the lower slopes of the Campsie Fells. That made PoD which was lucky, because I hadn’t taken any more photos today. To be honest, I couldn’t be bothered taking photos today, there are just too many things going on just now and not enough daylight time to fit things in. I must take my own advice again and get some photos taken earlier in the day.

We made our first foray into private health care and are in the process of getting a referral from our optician for a consultation at The Nuffield. Let’s hope they are more help than the NHS at Hairmyres were.

I think Scamp has booked Annette for tea and a natter tomorrow morning, so that might give me a chance to go and get some photos if the weather is behaving itself.