Category: Dancing

The sun was shining – 21 February 2021

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For a change, the sun was shining today.

It started in the morning. The sun was shining and for some reason, best known to the weather fairies, it continued to shine on and off all day. After a week of snow and half a week of persistent rain, a day of sun is something to be savoured. We went out for a walk in the morning. Just a fairly short walk over to St Mo’s. Nothing too adventurous, just a couple of circuits of the pond. Once anti-clockwise then once clockwise. Enough to get the sense that spring isn’t too far away now and that’s a good thing.

After lunch Scamp was in the mood for some gentle gardening. Nothing too strenuous, but a bit of planting to welcome the possibility of spring. She also did some of the inevitable pruning that needs to be done at this time of year. Last week at this time we were just breaking free of the ice and snow. Today we were looking forward.

Not being a very conscientious gardener, I grabbed my camera and a couple of lenses and went to investigate the possibility of some insect life stirring in the woods of St Mo’s. Luckily I had a bottle of insect repellant with me which has protected me for about a year from the depredations of stinging and biting insects, so I sprayed my boots and sox before I ventured into the wild woods. It wasn’t there I found the PoD. No, but I did find a little shield bug and a ladybird that had decided it wasn’t quite spring yet, and another week or so of hibernation wouldn’t do any ladybirds any harm. PoD was in fact spotted just beside the circuit path and was a bunch of hawthorn berries, maybe dating back to 2019 and certainly desiccated. It was the texture of them that caught my eye and they were captured perfectly by the new Sigma 105mm macro.

Dinner at home was basic stuff. ‘Rats’ for Scamp and steak mince for me. Both served with potatoes. Mince ’n’ tatties. What’s not to like. Ratatouille, also a good basic staple in this house.

Dance class tonight really centred on our new waltz routine and the Spin Turn in particular. I think we almost have it, but our teachers have promised a video for us to watch and practise with. By next week I’m sure Scamp will have taught it to me.

Tonight’s topic should have been “Eye”, but I just couldn’t produce something I was happy with, so tomorrow will be a catch up.

The weather tomorrow looks good, so we might manage a walk along the canal if the weather fairies have got it right.

 

The day that the rains came – 14 February 2021

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At last the snow was retreating.

We’d had a long day yesterday. Today was a day for catching up with stuff and not doing much more than that. What I did do was post yesterday’s Robin painting and catch up with yesterday’s blog. I also baked some bread, practised the rumba we learned over the last two weeks, learned a new waltz routine and baked a loaf.

The catch up of blog and painting were done in the morning and the early afternoon. The bread was made in the early afternoon, but didn’t even see the oven until about 8pm, just after the dance class where we learned the new waltz routine which looked quite complicated at first until I realised that it was made up of bits and pieces we’d picked up in Michael’s and Kirsty’s classes, then it was just a case of fitting them together as seamlessly as possible. We also went over the rumba routine we learned last week and got rid of some of the rough edges.

Spoke to JIC in the evening and discussed finance with him and also Vixen’s sore eye. I swear that dog is the most accident prone canine I’ve ever heard of. For such a big, strong, absolutely fearless animal, she’s had more than her fair share of bumps and scrapes.

That was about it apart from one of us standing at the window every half hour reporting on the disappearing snow. The only problem is that it’s disappearing too slowly for some folk!

Tomorrow we may go shopping on foot. I might take a more interesting photo than today’s PoD which was some moss growing on our Magnolia Stellata. That and also get today’s “Venice” prompt finished and tomorrow’s “Cycle” completed too. If I get half of those thing completed, I’ll be a happier bunny.

V Day – 13 February 2021

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Vaccination day for me today. It’s a long wait until 4.40pm!

I just couldn’t settle today. Bobby Flavell, our neighbour, and I had agreed to travel up to the vaccination centre on the bus. What paranoia that created. Travelling in the closed confines of a bus! With other people on board! Would we survive? Bobby couldn’t get his car out to drive there and I couldn’t be sure of getting mine back into a parking space when we returned. Besides which, so many DPD, Argos and other delivery vans bombing up our snow covered street meant there had been a couple of bumps and a lot of near misses. The bus seemed the sensible option.

As it happened, it was the driver, Bobby and I on the bus. It didn’t even have to stop all the way to the Muirfield. We even got dropped off almost right at the door, meaning we were there about half an hour early.

We waited in the first queue to have our basic details taken then a quick temperature check and we were into the second queue.
Next stop was the verification of our letter, confirmation of our details and formal agreement to have the vaccine.
The next station was where things almost went pear shaped. Here we had to list any medication we were on and any allergies we had. I explained that I have had a severe allergic reaction to certain shellfish. This seemed to raise a flag because some vaccines use shellfish extract as a transmission agent. I’m not sure if that was the exact description or not, I just had this vision of all the planning, re-planning  and checking out we’d gone through to get here and then being told, “Sorry mate. This one will kill you, not cure you”. However, all was well. I was getting the Astra-Zeneca vaccine which doesn’t use shellfish.
On to the table with those bright red syringes in their box. The actual vaccination was a bit of an anti-climax. The only problem was that with the allergy problem I’d to sit for 15 minutes to make sure everything was ok, while Bobby was off scot free. However, like a good neighbour he waited for me in the anteroom and we caught the bus home. Done!

Today’s PoD celebrated the occasion with my Mini-Me, Zog, taking my place and the nurse ready with what looks like a very big syringe! I’d planned it in the afternoon and it took all of five minutes to set up and take.

Dancing in the evening with a Valentine’s Zoom Dance. Great fun as usual, and maybe more so because we can actually participate in a few more dances, although the waltz and quickstep are taking second place to the more compact sequence dances as space is limited in our living room. Still good fun.

No time to do a sketch or painting, but that was to be expected on such a busy day. As you will realise, this is another catch-up blog post.

Hopefully on Sunday I will clear my feet and I’ll be able to start on Monday with a clean sheet.

We had more snow on Saturday, only a light covering and the temperature is starting to rise. Sunday might see the beginning of a much needed thaw. May go out to get the essentials for dinner, that’s all.

An improving picture – 6 February 2021

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It was actually dry when we woke today.

We’ve had so much rain recently, it was quite a surprise to look out of a window without raindrops on it. Even when Scamp announced she was going to walk down to the shops to get tonight’s dinner, it was still dry. I wasn’t going. I was staying to work on tonight’s sketch which involved people, or at least a person and I really need the practise in people drawing. When she returned, she reported that there was a bit of rain in the wind, but nothing like the last few days.

After lunch I went for a walk round St Mo’s. ‘Round the Policies’ as Colin would say. Just checking out the usual photo spots to see if there was anything worthwhile. I did see a crocodile, actually a log lying low in the water with two branch stubs that looked like eyes. Well, it looked like that to me. I thought it might make PoD, but a bit of chimping dispelled that thought. No, PoD went to some green blobs. Fruiting bodies of moss. I can’t remember when I first saw the ‘Green Blobs’, but it was many years ago and they were growing on a low tree branch. They are the most remarkable things and only really visible when you look carefully and it helps to be looking through a macro lens. With a potential PoD and a crocodile, it was time to head home.

Dinner tonight turned out to be, not the chicken that Scamp had lugged up from the shops, but a veg curry made from a Spice Tailor kit. It tasted brilliant, really superb. Scamp made it, that’s why.

With that done and the PoD sorted, I started making more detailed preparatory drawings for “Dance”. Finally got one I liked and laid on a few washes. It started to come together and that’s what went on display around the world on Facebook tonight. I know it’s not perfect, but it gives the feeling of movement, I think. That’s what I was aiming for.

Well, it stayed dry almost all day today but it’s to be much colder tomorrow if the weather fairies are to be believed. We’ll wait and wonder.

A stay at home day – 2 February 2021

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It started as a dry day, but that didn’t last too long.

The rain started about 11am and never really went away all day. A cold wind was building from the east and we made the decision to stay at home today.

After lunch I made a pot of soup and against Scamp’s better judgment, added a tin of mixed salad beans to it. She had wanted Canellini beans instead, but it was too late, the beans had been cast (into the soup). As it turned out, the salad beans were a bit tough, but worked out well. They provided texture and a little extra fibre.

Today’s sketch request for ‘Every Day in February’ was Black Cat and I thought I’d found a decent photo of one on Wikipedia, but then I remembered I had a photo of the cat that lived with Hazy and Neil D, Brandy. Found the photo and decided that it would do nicely. I didn’t have a PoD either, but I didn’t want to do another flower photo, so instead it would have to be The Weemen. This time it was a return to the jungle with the Professor and, because the Munky is now lost, it was the turn of the Pandy to become the star. That’s what the PoD is all about!

It was getting late when I started the painting of Brandy and although I got a fair likeness, I wasn’t happy with it, so I started again with a pencil sketch. Halfway through it was going well, so I added some pencil shading to finish it. I was quite pleased with it and it got Scamp’s approval too. More importantly it got Hazy’s seal of approval.

We had a quick practise of the rumba routine and fitted it to the tune we’d been learning it from after Stewart sent us the music. I won’t say we were perfect, but we were a lot better than on Sunday.

Later we reminisced over cruise photos from 2010 on the Thomson Dream. It wasn’t the prettiest ship, but for the most part we had a good time on it. It’s now gone to meet its maker I believe.

The wind is getting up now and it’s still raining on and off. Warnings of snow tomorrow. Nic the Chick is hinting that schools may restart after the end of this month. I’m sure that will be a relief to many parents and all teachers.

I don’t know what we’ll wake to tomorrow, rain or snow, but we have our last weekly test booked for tomorrow afternoon, so walks, photos and sketches will have to be planned round that.

A day for recharging batteries – 31 January 2021

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After the biz of yesterday, we both agreed we needed a slower pace today.

We did think of going out for a walk in the morning, but although it was bright enough, it was cold and there was a scattering of snow on  the ground, so we talked ourselves out of it. I think I might have eaten just a little too much yesterday, so a light lunch was called for. On Friday I’d bought half a sourdough loaf I don’t really like sourdough bread to eat on its own, but toasted it is delicious, so we had scrambled egg on toast.

Feeling a lot better, I settled down to documenting yesterday’s highlights. My usual readers will probably have read all about it by now. Scamp was pruning the greenery that was covering some of the blooms we got yesterday and that made the display look even better. With photos and blog posted, I decided it was safe to go for a walk in St Mo’s. Nobody had moved from their parking spot today and I was loathe to give up my space and have to park by the side of the road when I got back from somewhere more interesting than St Mo’s. Besides, I’d left it a bit late and the light was already fading.

<Technospeak>
I walked round the pond, then out through the woodland looking for likely subjects. I wanted to try out a new focusing method on the Sony, called “Back Button Focusing”. I’d read about it before, but it seemed a bit complicated to set up although most photogs seem happy with the results. Basically, you nominate a button to be your focusing button and remove the shutter button’s ability to refresh focus. Then you can take your time focusing using the back button and when you’re happy, press the shutter to take the photo. It only took me about ten minutes to set it up and it did seem to work as described. I took some photos using it, but couldn’t work out how to return the setup to the camera default where a half press on the shutter sets focus. I decided the light was fading too much and I was almost sure I had at least one shot on the card that would make PoD, so I set off for home.  It had indeed worked. Most of the photos I’d take were solidly in focus. After re-reading the instructions I found the magic button on the camera that would not only return it to normal service, but could be used to switch on the Back Button Focusing again. PoD turned out to be a monochrome leaf dangling pitifully from a branch with new buds starting to form. The old and the new.
</Technospeak>

After yesterday’s overindulgence, tonight’s dinner was a much pared down affair. A simple Spaghetti a la Carbonara. It might have been even better if I’d cooked the spaghetti properly, but it was edible.

Dancing class tonight centred on the rumba routine we’d been learning and I’d been dreading. We had a practise before the class and it was going fine until the music started, then it went to pot. However by the end of the lesson it was looking and feeling much better. I actually enjoyed it.

Spoke to JIC and found out that Vixen now has an injured shoulder, caused, according to JIC, by her having two speeds, Full Ahead and Stop. After being out walks with her I can understand that.

A gentler G&T each tonight and an early(ish) bed again. Temperature is already heading towards zero. More snow predicted for tomorrow, the first day of February and the start of the 28 Drawings Later challenge on FB.

We took Katy skating – 23 January 2021

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It was a cold start again. No snow and only a little bit of ice, but frost covering all the cars.

We decided we’d make a fairly leisurely start today. In fact it was well into afternoon before we booted up and walked around St Mo’s. I reckoned there would be enough ice for Katy and there was. I took Scamp on a trek out into the wild woods at the back of St Mo’s. I thought I’d make a slight detour to show her my hibernating ladybird, but shock, horror, no ladybird. Perhaps the two sunny days recently have brought it out of its winter sleep. Let’s hope so. We did find a lush crop of hair ice on the exact same log I’d found it earlier in the month. Plenty of other logs nearby in the same state of degradation with no sign of the strange ice formation on them. Apparently it’s linked to a specific type of fungus. Strange stuff.

Katy had been wanting to go skating for weeks, but the thaw had put paid to her chances. I was sure the ice would be thick enough today and it was … but only just. I got her to pose and even as I was setting up the camera, I could tell that the ice was starting to melt. I could even see the dead leaves under the ice moving in the current. Took a swift half dozen or so shots from various angles. Some with extra illumination, some not. As we were walking away from the tiny pond I ’chimped’ them and none of them were truly sharp. Not to worry I was sure I’d find a more accessible shot on the other side of the big pond.

We walked round the pond after we’d survived the tangled brambles and the two leaps of faith across the burn. There I found what I was looking for. The rain from last week had frozen solid on the path making walking it without YakTrax treacherous. Not so for a minifig with ice skates. Katy posed again and this time I got the shot. Not perfect, but much better than the first shots. I have to be careful here. Katy is not technically a Weeman. She is a WeeWummin. She’s my ice skater. She made PoD.

Dinner was Fish Fingers and Baked Potato for Scamp and M&S Beef Burger with Baked Potato for me. Both washed down with a glass of Malbec. Not the best tasting wine I’ve ever had. It tasted raw and bitter to me, although Scamp found it really nice.

Entertainment started at 7.30pm in the form of a Zoom Dance. It was a particularly well attended dance and our feet are feeling the effects of dancing the night away. It finished just half an hour ago. Great fun as usual and another Zoom Class to look forward to tomorrow.

Apart from the dance class we may go out for a walk if the weather is conducive. It may be cold tomorrow as the temperature is -2.4c just now.

Just walking in the rain – 17 January 2021

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It was raining when we woke and it stayed raining until early afternoon.

When the rain switched off for a while, we went for a walk. Down to Broadwood Loch today along, with what seemed to be, hundreds of others. At first I thought there might be a football game on, or a BMX race perhaps. Both stadium and BMX track are close to one another and sandwich a big parking area between them. That big parking area was full of cars when we walked down over the boardwalk and across the dam. But it was neither the football nor the BMX that was drawing the crowds. It was the sunshine and the fresh air that enticed the people to leave their cars and walk round the loch. A conveyer belt of people, it seemed like, were walking round the big pond in both directions. We took a different route and walked round the exercise machines instead. Easier to maintain social distancing there.

We continued our walk up under the underpasses at the roundabout and it was there that the rain returned. It had made a tentative attempt at a shower earlier, but this had definitely the look of a whole afternoon of rain and that’s what it turned out to be. I could have sneaked in a quick circuit of St Mo’s, but I’d forgotten my phone and felt slightly compromised without it, so I joined Scamp and walked home instead.

I was in charge of dinner tonight and it was to be Lemon Chicken with Za’atar. Lots of lemons and lots of spices in a complicated recipe with a marinade. However it followed the standard rule of Acid, Oil, Salt and Spices or Herbs, so I trusted it. It was soon mixed up and put in the fridge to infuse with the chicken breasts for a couple of hours. Time to wash my red Bergy jacket that really, and I mean REALLY needs washed and proofed. With that done and the photos (all three of them) reviewed in Lightroom, it was time for a cup of tea.

Two hours later the chicken came out of the fridge smelling ‘interesting’. Poured it into a roasting tray and slid it into a hot oven for 45mins. Meanwhile I picked PoD which was a view looking across the ice sheet that covered Broadwood Loch. All three were the same view in different formats, portrait, landscape and squint. I picked my favourite and uploaded it.

Chicken came out of the oven smelling beautiful and so it tasted. All that prep had come good in the end and even although I don’t really like lemon in food, I enjoyed this recipe. Definitely worth making again with some subtle changes.

The big deal of the day was our first virtual dance class with Stewart & Jane. After a dodgy start when they started teaching a different version from the video they’d sent us, it worked out well and we coped with it fairly happily and without too many mistakes. Roll on next week. Today was Rumba part 1 and Mambo. Next week we continue with Rumba. Learned a lot tonight and enjoyed it.

Spoke to JIC and heard more detail about his recent good news. We can’t say too much about it just now, but glad he passed his MBA with Distinction. Well done that man.

Tomorrow we have no plans, other than to get our Tesco order. If it’s dry we may go for a walk. If it’s not we won’t. I’ve got a letter to write and the final Christmas decorations to put in the loft.

Under the weather – 16 January 2021

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I suppose we’re always under the weather. It doesn’t matter if it’s rain or snow our sunshine, the weather is always above us, ergo we are always under the weather.

However I had a sore throat, was a bit shivery and ached all over just the typical symptoms of a cold. I could have languished in it and stayed in bed with a good book, but I was a big brave boy and I had things to do, so I forced myself to get up. As usual, a hot shower helped and a couple of fizzy vitamin C tabs kicked some more life into me, as did a cup of coffee. It was raining otherwise I’d have gone out for a walk, if it was dry, but instead I stayed in for the morning at least.

Lunch was beans on toast. When was the last time you had beans on toast? I can’t remember, but it was a long time ago. You forget just how good simple food can be. The rain had stopped, so I suggested to Scamp that we might go out for a walk and she agreed. Just a wander around St Mo’s would do today, sticking to the paths for once. No wandering into the woods, getting wet and making the cold worse. It got today’s PoD there which is a single seed on the cow parsley that I love. Apparently they are edible for humans as well as birds and taste slightly of aniseed. I may try them sometime. It looked as if all the ice had gone, but only from the grass and the paths. There were still ice floes on the pond. It was nice to see the ducks returning from their winter holiday in the Canary Isles. They flew in when we were on our second circuit. I hope they enjoyed the visit to their little yellow cousins.

Back home we were having good warming food for dinner. Mince ’n’ Tatties with Cabbage for me and Bubble ’n’ Squeak for Scamp. Again, plain, simple food. Before that there was Limoncello to make. I decanted the yellow liquor from the jar and ditched the lemon rind. Then, I mixed a cup of caster sugar with a cup of boiling water to make the syrup and poured it in in stages into the alcohol. Actually all the syrup was needed to sweeten the limoncello and then it could be poured into a vodka bottle with the remainder half filling an old limoncello bottle. One to go into the cupboard and one to chill in the fridge. Home made Limoncello. A great Christmas prezzy. Thank you again Scamp.

After dinner we watched a video of what we hope Stewart & Jane have planned for the first of the Sunday Zoom Dance Lessons. Actually looking forward to it now. Feeling much better after a decent walk round the pond in the afternoon and I’ve just taken the second of my vitamin C drinks of the day. Hoping to feel back to normal tomorrow.

So, tomorrow we’re hoping to do a bit of dance practise and that’s about it. Weather looks like today. Rain and sunny spells.

The world is warming up – 10 January 2021

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And it’s raining.

I liked the snow. I even liked the ice, but like an old friend who overstays his welcome, it was good to see it go. Today it was on its way to another place that needed snow and ice.

We decided to go for a walk in the morning because it was dry and the temperature was above zero. Almost as soon as we closed the door, the rain started. We intended walking round St Mo’s, but without grippers, that was going to be a tough trek, so instead we walked round along the pavement beside the road and just took our time to go the longest road we could to get back to the house. Not the most scenic of routes and the camera stayed safely in the bag the whole time. I intended going out myself for a walk later, but that didn’t happen.

Instead we had lunch and then I started to make some soup. I remember my mum pouring boiling water from a kettle on the leeks in the garden and me digging them up to make soup. That’s what I did today. My last three leeks were meant to make the soup on New Year’s Day, but we never got round to it. Today we came out of the big freeze and although the ice and snow were leaving us, they still held the raised bed in their grasp, so I had to resort to my mum’s trick with the kettle. It worked and the leeks came out. Well, two of them did, the third one broke getting it out, but I did manage to get both halves eventually and they were going to be cut up anyway.

With the soup on the go, I started doing the prep for the veggie chilli we were having for dinner. We’d decided that we’d use what we had in the fridge for the chilli. Peppers, onions, carrots and butternut squash all went in to the pot along with a tin of tomatoes and a litre of stock. It was a bit monotone, more yellow than I’d intended, but I chopped up two of my small jalapeños that I’ve kept in the freezer, thinking they would provide some heat if not any colour. The didn’t do much of anything for the chilli. After thinking about it, I remembered that Sim, and expert on chillies and said she’d put the whole chilli into a curry seeds included. I’d been too careful, removing all the seeds. Next time I’ll use the whole chopped up pepper. Probably that will make it too hot! The soup was a bit thin, but ok. The chilli was a bit bland in colour and taste, but both together filled a space.

We were supposed to be taking part in a Zoom dance class tonight. Scamp was really looking forward to it, but I wasn’t. I always feel so uncoordinated in a dance class, a ballroom class anyway, but I was willing to put up with it for Scamp. She had the booking confirmed by the teacher and we were ready to go at 7pm. That slot came and went, so most of the Zoom dances start at 7.30pm, so that was probably the start time for a lesson too. 7.30pm came and went with no message to give us the starting link. We eventually gave up at 8.30pm. Scamp is going to text the teacher tomorrow to see what the problem was.

Spoke to JIC afterwards and were amazed by his revelation that work in many of the labs in the UK is having to be shelved because many of the consumable tools are not being replaced because Covid research and vaccine development is being prioritised. It’s not until you hear from someone at the ‘coalface’ that you realise the different problems this pandemic is creating for everyone. These things don’t make it to the evening news!

PoD was a macro of raindrops on a kale leaf. The leaf is now in today’s soup. Some of the raindrops will be too!

Tomorrow we may attempt a walk somewhere and to be honest, the cars need a run to keep them healthy too. So maybe a drive to somewhere for our daily exercise walk.