Category: Beasties

Yet another beautiful day – 27 May 2020

Posted on by Zogman

Another day when it was criminal to lie in bed.

So out we went again. Just a short walk this time and fairly local. Didn’t drive 30 miles just to check our eyesight as the ridiculous Dominic Cummings claimed he did. Does he really think we believe him? Does he really think our collective heads button up the back? I’m sure he’s right that Boris’s head does. Just a wee walk then. Got my first damselfly shots of this year and just as I was congratulating myself on the capture, I watched a blur of red as a damselfly appeared from stage left, grabbed a moth or maybe a fly that was sunning itself on a horse tail and scoffed it for its lunch. Amazing! It was all over in a couple of seconds.

Back home well in time for our own lunch (not a moth sandwich), then waited around the house for the Asda driver to discharge his load of groceries. With all the stuff safely stashed away, Scamp went out plastered in factor 50 to read in the sun and I took the ‘big dog’ out to see what we could see. And what we saw was one deer that saw me first and wasn’t ready for its close-up, so it made a sharp exit. Saw some tadpoles that have just the hint of frog legs appearing and also spotted Mr Grey studiously stalking something at the edge of the reed beds. Got a couple of grab shots of a pale coloured damselfly among the gorse bushes, but nothing really sharp.

Spent some time when I got back sketching out the shape of the panels of Lucy’s mask. Used Inkscape which is a free, open source vector graphics package that now runs cleanly on a Mac. Much more sophisticated than it used to be in its previous incarnation. Still more clunky than Corel, but it’s free and it works. A useful tool for the arsenal.

Today’s PoD is mating damselflies. Pretty standard, but the colours look more saturated than usual. That’s probably due to the strong sunshine they were taken in. Sketch of the day was ‘Keys’ and was just another attempt at rendering metal in ink and watercolour. Not nearly as good as yesterday’s, but still a worthwhile practise piece.

Tomorrow if the weather is good we may go out walking again. If it’s not I’m going to attempt a Lucy Mask.

Another day, another walk – 26 May 2020

Posted on by Zogman

Today I thought it was Sunday all day long. No reason why, except for Cabin Fever.

Phoned the bike shop in the morning (once I’d established that it was Tuesday and not Sunday) and got a promise the bike wheel would be finished by the end of the week. I sincerely hope that Big Al was not suffering from the same day-dislodgement that had overcome me.

After lunch we went for a walk more or less the same one as yesterday but in a slightly different direction. By the time we got home the sun was warming the place up nicely and we took the chairs out to the garden Scamp with a Pimms and me with a beer. Read for a while then got a surprise.

The girl next door, Lucy gave us a couple of facemasks she had made for us. We both thought that was very kind of her. They were much simpler than my pattern and much more effective I’d think. Curved to fit the face. She said she’d been making them for her gran and grandpa and thought we might appreciate one each too. Like I said we thought that was good of her, but then I thought, does that make us the old people next door? Scamp said “Yes, probably”. Doesn’t matter I liked the thought and because she’s just finished a fashion design course in London, the stitching was so much better than mine!

Dinner was Sea Bass with Potatoes, Broccoli and Cauliflower. Delicious! Scamp was chef tonight.

PoD went to a photo I took earlier in the day of a winged aphid on a rosebud. Scamp appreciated the detail in the picture, but wants rid of the beasties before they damage her roses.

Today’s topic was ‘A Pasta Dish’. I think by this time the setters were becoming tired with the whole EDiM thing and just throwing words and phrases at the list. This is my response to the prompt. There is a dish and there are two pieces of pasta, but really it’s a vehicle to practise drawing cutlery.

Tomorrow we are booked for an ASDA delivery in the afternoon, so any walks will have to be in the morning.

Walking – 25 May 2020

Posted on by Zogman

We woke to sunshine. No point in wasting it. Time to go out and walk.

We walked down through yesterday’s sketched underpass and on through the posh houses then across the dam at Broadwood. Walked round the exercise track without doing any exercises and then home for lunch.

After lunch, Scamp went for a walk around the shops and got the makings of dinner which was Veg Chilli. I started roughing out today’s sketch which was ‘Cutlery’. Officially it was ‘A Towel’, today being Towel Day to celebrate the life and work of Douglas Adams who wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. If you don’t understand the towel thing, read the book. I got the basics down on my roughing sketch book then Hazy phoned so I spoke to her for a while. Scamp returned soon after that and also spoke for a while.

With the dinner planned and provisioned for and a rough sketch done, I went out for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which is a White Tailed Bumblebee. Also got some clean, clear shots of one of the Canada Geese that have taken up residence in St Mo’s pond.

I quite liked tonight’s chilli, but then I would, I was chef. Scamp thought it needed more salt and also commented that it was a bit dry. I chose to disagree. There will be enough left for lunch tomorrow.

The proper drawing of the cutlery was much more difficult than I anticipated and I had decided I’d do it as an ink line drawing which leaves very little room for mistakes and corrections. In retrospect, it would have been better as a painting. Retrospect: The only 20-20 vision. It’s done and posted on Instagram and Facebook if you’re interested.

Big sensation of the day was Dominic Cummings’ refusal to accept that his actions in driving from London to Durham were a contradiction of the Government rules on Lockdown. Will he stay or will he go? That’s the question on everyone’s lips and the source of a host of memes.

Tomorrow I’m intending phoning Wheelcraft to enquire after my front wheel which they are supposed to be rebuilding. Otherwise no plans.

Sub zero – 10 May 2020

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Temperatures predicted to be below zero tonight and it didn’t feel that much warmer today.

We both did a walk around the garden trying to work out what had gone wrong with the acer which is looking very sorry for itself. Scamp thinks its roots have been too wet and that could be part of the problem, but I think it’s been sitting in the sun too long too. It seems to like the shade. Perhaps it’s a combination of the two. It’s now back in the place it’s been for the last year and has had a change of compost, with more drainage so we’ll keep a watching brief on it for the next wee while. Otherwise, things are progressing well. The cold east wind today was making some of the alliums bob about a bit and we may need to give them a bit more support soon. It was one of allium heads that got PoD.

Under Scamp’s careful tutelage I made a steak pie in the afternoon. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would. Different butcher, slightly different method, but the result was the same, just as good as last time. Even better, there’s enough left over for tomorrow’s dinner.

We needed some potatoes for tonight’s dinner, so I volunteered to go out into the cold and get some. Of course I came back with a lot more than potatoes. That’s the trouble with having to queue for your shopping, you want to make sure you get everything you went for and tend to buy things you didn’t have on your list.

Spoke to JIC tonight and heard how his garden is progressing. It sounds great and I’m sure he’s not exaggerating. His garden is huge compared to ours and I know he spends a lot of time keeping it up to scratch. I don’t think I could expend that amount of energy on a garden, but I’m sure Scamp could.

Sketch for today was a pet or an animal. Damselflies are animals according to some learned people. I took them at their word and painted a blue damselfly. I’m not sure if they, or my artwork is to everyone’s taste, but that’s not the point. It’s the act of painting that it’s all about. Doing something.

I’ve closed down the wee greenhouse tonight, just incase the weather fairies have it right with their -1º in the middle of the night. I’ve got some things to do tomorrow, including cleaning up this computer. It’s running very slowly and needs a good clean out. I think the time for a new OS is getting closer too! Oh yes, and we’re hopefully getting a Tesco order delivered tomorrow as well. A busy day beckons.

Catching up – 9 May 2020

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Never quite got round to completing (i.e. starting) yesterday’s sketch, so today I had to pay the price. Two drawings in one day.

It had been a rather hot night again last night, even with our TOG 1 quilt, so morning came rather later than it should have. The sky was grey and the clouds looked heavy. The temperature at 9am was 14ºc which is a nonsense for May.

Yesterday’s topic had been Your Favourite Drawing Tool which is just plain stupid. It’s like asking someone who their favourite child is! I couldn’t pick a favourite drawing tool, so what I did was make a selection of my favourite tools, be they pen, pencil, or eraser, because erasers are tools to. They produce highlights in a pencil sketch if used properly. Got started and with a watercolour wash on a pencil sketch, I had one tick on the To Do list. After coffee I’d start today’s sketch.

After coffee time I had a wander round the garden (like a teddybear) and found that one of the peas I’d planted the other day had disappeared, and was that a shiny, slimy trail I saw? I do believe it was. Time for some retaliation. Not pellets, but wool pellets which slugs don’t like apparently. Maybe slugs don’t knit. Pellet trap laid, I squirted some of Scamp’s patented Garlic Water on the raised bed. As well as wool, allegedly slugs don’t like the smell of garlic. So now we know that slugs are either non-knitting vampires or else leading us a merry dance. Still, I felt better doing something rather than nothing.

In the afternoon I finally got round to that second sketch which wasn’t the most interesting of subjects either. A Wall Clock or Your Alarm Clock. Now I don’t do alarm clocks much now. My phone does a good job of waking me and we don’t have that many wall clocks in the house. I chose the easiest one and drew my old alarm clock. Digital, rudimentary, made from aluminium and plastic with an LCD display. It was an instant winner. Simple pencil sketch sufficed. Two Ticks.

Later in the afternoon I helped Scamp repot her acer which was looking a bit down and started a ‘tattie bag’ with some Jersey Royal potatoes that were sprouting eyes. We kept hoping and waiting for rain, but the promised showers never really appeared. A few drops in the bird bath in the morning, about five drops in the afternoon and then the clouds left us for destination undisclosed. Maybe tomorrow the clouds will open.

There was a dance practise tonight. We danced the full El Carnaval salsa track, nearly five minutes long and very, very fast. After a rest we started on Waltz. Waltz 1 was ok and fine after a couple of false starts. The discussions (arguments) went on for over half an hour before we realised we were both wrong. Finally agreed on a middle way and danced it through a couple of times. Called it a draw and celebrated with a G ’n’ T each.

PoD turned out to be another shot of the American Cowslip called Shooting Star. They are becoming battered by the wind and the flowers may not last much longer.

Nothing much to do tomorrow except maybe a rain dance.
(And just in case you were wondering. You were always my favourite child!)

Out early and on the Dewdrop – 6 May 2020

Posted on by Zogman

I’d considered going out yesterday, but realistically it was too cold. Yes, it was warm, hot even in the sun, but the wind was cooling, too cooling. What I did say was that I would go today and I did. The wind had dropped and it was a really enjoyable run, but after only about twelve years, it looks like I need re-grease the front wheel bearings. I’d have thought the bearings would have lasted longer than 12 years 😉 I need to have a serious look at them tomorrow to find out if they can be cleaned and re-greased or if I need to buy a new cassette unit. Still, it was a good run on a warm day and contributed to my daily exercise. Got a PoD too. It turned out to be a Drinker Moth caterpillar (Euthrix potatoria).

Back home after lunch I’d half decided to go out for a walk to get some more photos, but a seat in the sun, joining Scamp at the front door was an even better option so I took that with both hands. Read a few more chapters from my latest book City of Windows. Enjoying it. Saw my first swallows while I was sitting there. It was the screaming sound they make that alerted me. Maybe they were house martins or swifts. I don’t know the difference. Must find out.

When Scamp decided that it was warm enough to take her lounger to the back garden, I finally gave in and took the Oly out for a walk in St Mo’s. It would probably have been better if I’d taken the SD card with me, but luckily there wasn’t much to photograph. Then when I was walking back across the BMX track a damselfly lifted off in front of me. No time to take a photo, even if I’d had an SD card!

By the time I came back empty handed, it was cooling down a bit and we ate our kedgeree inside, but took our tinned peaches in lime jelly outside with us. Coffee outside after that, then out of a clear blue sky a little cloud appeared and obliterated the sun. Then that same cloud grew bigger and didn’t seem to want to leave the sun. That’s when I decided it was getting too cool for comfort. Shades of what’s to come if the weather fairies are to be believed.

That was a good day. The first real run with the Dewdrop this year, my first swallow this year and my first damselfly this year. I’m happy with that.

Mobile again on four wheels – 2 May 2020

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Driving again, but still the queues persist.

Tasks for the day:

  • Get some plywood to make painting boards
  • Fix up the sparkly new lights
  • Decide on dinner

Just to get it done, I fixed up the solar cell and then the two of us got the new lights fitted round the tree. It looks a bit untidy, but I think the effect will work when it gets dark. I still believe a rethink may be necessary, but they are unwound and in place for now.

After lunch we drove to B&Q to get the plywood. Saw the length of the queue to get in and drove back home. Got into our parking space again. Battery seems to be charging ok. No plywood, so instead I used a mini roller to put gesso on a couple of boards I’d found. Old Dalerboards that were probably meant for oil painting only, so I don’t know if the acrylic gesso will stick to them. I’m sure I’ll find out tonight or tomorrow.

I took the mandatory trip over to St Mo’s for today’s photo. PoD turned out to be of a spider apparently levitating in front of some whin bushes. I don’t know what happened to the GX 80 I was using, but every shot turned out with the whin flowers looking golden rather than the more acid yellow they really are. Something went wrong somewhere with its colour balance. However, that’s what we have Lightroom for. A little bit of sliding the sliders and all was well again. PoD nearly went to a photo of a girl bunny (not a bunny girl!) wearing sunglasses. I hope whoever lost it, finds it again.

Hearty Miso Ginger Chicken Soup was our dinner tonight and we both agreed it sort of worked, but not quite. Neither of us were all that keen on the miso soup, so we’d probably replace that with chicken stock. The chicken was fine. Cut into thin strips it cooks really quickly. We both liked the Pak Choi, but would reduce the amount of ginger as it seemed to take over. Not a complete rewrite of the recipe which stayed substantially the same, just tweaking. The one thing that worked for us was the bread. A dark mix of three types of flour, so I won’t be able to make that one again!

Well, it took a while for it to get dark enough for the lights to come on round the tree, but they are sparkling brightly now so Scamp’s happy with them.

Nothing planned for tomorrow, although it seems to be a little cooler than today.

Another week in Lockdown begins, and it rains – 27 April 2020

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Actually, apart from not leaving the house much, life is pretty normal four us.

First thing on my list today was a haircut and as none of the barbers were open, it was down to me to do the bulk of it. Nothing fancy, just a number 4 all over. I got most of it done fairly easily, after all, I’ve done it quite often, usually one home trim in between the trips to the barbers. There is always a bit I can’t quit reach, despite using two different clippers and trying my best with two mirrors. As usual I had to give up and get Scamp to even out my difficult bit. It felt so much better to get that extra 30mm or so of hair removed. Job one done.

After our morning coffee, Scamp went for a walk to the shops and I got started on a canvas. I just can’t get the Bob Ross method out of my head, so this was another landscape, but this time it was just sky, mountains and water. No trees, no bushes and no rocks. I need a lot more practise before I attempt to add them to my landscapes. It was only repainted once and that’s not bad for me. This time it was a painting in oils. While I was trying to emulate Bob Ross, I had trouble working wet in wet with the oils. The last one was done in acrylic, mainly and I’m beginning to think that he didn’t do that painting in one shot. I think, since he was using oils, that he allowed the first layer to dry before he painted in the trees.

When Scamp got back she gave the painting her approval and then went to work in the garden. Her jobs today were to plant out her first batch of sweet peas an to split her bunches of primulas. I gave her a hand for a while, but as usual, she did most of the work, and the better work if the truth be told.

The weather fairies had warned that we would probably have some rain today and on the chart it seemed to arriving around 4pm. Just before 4.30 the first raindrops hit the back window and the garden enjoyed half an hour of rain which I’m sure did it a lot of good.

Now walk today, but I did manage to get my Eight Active Hours award on my Fitbit, mainly due to walking around that painting adding blobs and scrapes of colour. PoD went to a group of aphids on a rose leaf.

Dinner was yesterday’s curry re-heated and it wasn’t as hot as I’d feared it might be. Very tasty, even if I say so myself.

Tomorrow we are promised a delivery from Tesco around dinner time.

Another lovely day. Make the most of it – 24 April 2020

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It was a lovely warm day. Blue skies and wall to wall sunshine. Best of all, there was little or no wind to cool us.

To make the most of it, we sat outside in the morning and soaked up some rays. I even wore my shorts to grab as much sunshine as I could. Coffee maker was working, a bit arthritically, but working none the less and I enjoyed a cup in my folding seat at the front door. Stayed there more or less all morning with the occasional walk round the block to make sure we weren’t becoming too sedentary.

I did make one foray inside and that was to order an aeroplane. It’s a Pilatus PC12 and retails at an eye-watering $5.36M (+VAT). I managed to beat them down to £18 (+VAT). It may be delivered this year, but I have the X-Plane 11 version to fly until it can be shipped. It’s a beautifully kitted out plane and I’ve not even crashed it yet. With the deal done and downloaded, I retired to the front lawn to plan my flights and soak up some rays with another cup of coffee. I managed to nab a PoD which was a little beetle that kept circling us and eventually landed on Scamp’s coffee cup. It had previously landed on my hand, but I wasn’t quick enough to snap it. I named it Alexander for obvious reasons.

In the afternoon, after a lunch of Piece ’n’ Flat Sausage for me and Piece ’n’ Egg for my co-pilot, we went for a short constitutional round St Mo’s. Place was dull and fairly empty, so the photo of Cowslips was all I got.

Tonight’s dinner was a salad with Salmon for Scamp and an overcooked rump steak for me. Salad was lovely, but my steak was too tough.

Watched an interesting film on Amazon Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing and Charm School. The key words in the title were ‘Ballroom’ and ‘Dancing’. It was entertaining and interesting. Well, it passed an hour and a half and took our minds of Sturgeon’s revelation that things wouldn’t return to ‘normal’ until next year at least and that social distancing wouldn’t go away until the autumn, if then. Yes, we want to be treated like adults, Nick, but we like fairy stories at bedtime!

Tomorrow looks like being the last of the good weather with the possibility of rain on Sunday and almost definitely next week sometime. The gardens need it, but we want sunshine! With that said, there is just the chance of a Golden Bowl dinner tomorrow.

Early delivery – 23 April 2020

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp’s turn for breakfast and an early knock on the door.

Our veg box arrived this morning as Scamp was making breakfast just after 8.30. What a haul it was Pineapple, Melon, Avocados, Tomatoes, Grapes, Carrots, Potatoes and lots, lots more. Far more than we expected or needed, really. I’m sure well manage to eat our way through most of it though.

Just after I’d had my shower this morning, I felt a well remembered itch on my left wrist and sure enough, there was the little black spot that turned out to be a tick, the second one I’ve had this year and hopefully the last. It had been sitting quietly underneath my watch strap. I think I may have to stick to the main paths in the parks from now until the start of the winter when they die off.

Today was bin day and we are working our way through cleaning all the bins. Today’s customer was the green bin for bottles and plastic – recycling waste. I took up the cudgels and scrubbed it out with a big hard brush. I must admit it made a fair difference to the bin and was a worthwhile use of my time. It also gave me a chance to wander around and get some sun on me.

The unthinkable happened this morning.  The coffee machine wouldn’t work.   No coffee was forthcoming from it.  In fact, nothing was coming from it.  I could hear the pump doing its best, but not a drop was coming out of the basket.  Tried the steam jet and it worked, so it wasn’t the pump that was at fault.  After a bit of rudimentary stripping down, it turned out that some gunk was stuck in the dispenser.  The bit that the spray connects to.  There are four holes in the dispenser block and none of them were working.  After a lot of poking and prodding I got three of them back in business and that was as far as I was willing to go.  I watched a video of an engineer stripping down a Gaggia like mine and knew that it was well beyond my knowledge or tools.  I put it all back together again and went looking on the Which site to see what was available.  It’s not the cost that’s the problem, it’ sourcing the things in these difficult days.  Later I managed to make a cup of coffee with it, but it took a long time.  I’m afraid you pair (you know who you are) have probably made the right decision with my birthday present.  I’ll see what happens tomorrow.

After lunch I went in search of milk down at the shops. Beginning to see more and more people wearing masks now. Some, in fact most, seem to be home made. I might look for a pattern and put some of my ‘fat corners’ to good use. I did see a couple of example patterns somewhere and read of people having irritation from the elastic rubbing on their ears. There was a suggestion that you could modify the design to have a strap with a button and another with a button hole which would fasten behind the head instead. I don’t think I’d adopt that method it sounds a bit like “Do you think my heid buttons up the back?”

Hauled my bag of milk and chocolate (that’s the prize for going) back home and hadn’t taken one photo. Then I remembered the little basil seedlings that are growing on the kitchen window sill. They became the PoD.

Dinner tonight was an old time favourite. Cabbage, bacon and potatoes. Sounds uninteresting but it’s truly delicious.

Played a bit of catch-up with the Lockdown Library for Instagram. I got painter’s block yesterday, so today I’d two drawings to do. Actually I did do a quick sketch of my dance shoes last night, but wasn’t happy with it. Today I added some brushed on black ink and they came alive. So that worked for yesterday. Today’s sketch was a simple one of my old iPhone SE. Now it seem so small.

Tomorrow I may HAVE to cut my hair. It’s getting to be really annoying and messy. Its time may have come.