Category: Family

Climbing Higher – 26 October 2023

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Today the climbers were off to Ben Lomond hoping to bag a Munro.

While the mountaineers were driving to Rowandennan to start the climb, we were happy to have and extra hour or two’s snooze.

The first thing we chose to do was have a quick practise of the Tango which I thought I had down pat. That’s all I’ll say at this time.

Afterwards we dragged ourselves out into the real world, and drove over to Tesco for the inevitable shopping. We did add a couple of extra things just for the visitors and just for fun.

In the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s hoping the sun might shine through the clouds. It did, but only on the distant Campsie Fells, but not on Cumbersheugh. A mist had come down just after midday, but then a breeze made it disappear, leaving water droplets on some of the weeds. One weed in particular had a spiderweb with wee beads of water. That became PoD on a dull Scottish day.

The climbers returned after their trip to the peak of Ben Lomond. Munro bagged! Simonne had some beautiful photos taken from just below the peak but the photos from the actual Trig point were covered by mist and rain. It’s Scotland. It’s like that. They just had time for a quick shower before heading off to dinner with Andrew, Cat and the kids.

Dinner was Monday served on Wednesday, ie Pasta. Actually Penne pasta and a very nice sauce with three types of tomatoes: baby tomatoes, blitzed plum tomatoes and passata. Don’t know what I did right but we both enjoyed it and I doubt if I’ll be able to make it like that again.

While they were off eating again, we drove to midweek dance class with Kirsty and a chance for me to prove that I didn’t have it down pat after all. Despite all Scamp’s encouragement, I just couldn’t confidently get it right every time. Finally I asked the teacher to lead me through it and it worked. That doesn’t mean she is better than Scamp, just she explained it differently and probably hauled me round with more confidence. After that we got the entire Tango to work almost every time.

Today’s prompt was “Dangerous”. I could have drawn almost anything to fulfil today’s prompt of ‘Dangerous’. In the end I settled for a lion. A pretty dangerous beast by all accounts.
With that said, according to the BBC, it is only the 10th most dangerous creature in the world. The Mosquito is the biggest killer with Humans in second place. Makes you think!

We drove home through driving rain again and when Jamie and Simonne returned we sat and talked for an hour with a wee drink to mark what was really the end of a great week. Unfortunately Jamie was driving tomorrow, so he had to abstain from the drinking.

Tomorrow will probably be another early rise, but a sad one.

Climbers and Shoppers – 23 October 2023

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While Jamie and Simonne were climbing the Pap of Glencoe, we went shopping. That was strenuous enough for us.

Jamie and Simonne were up around six and out by seven on the road to Glencoe to meet up with one of Simonne’s friends to climb the Pap of Glencoe, a steep climb up to the peak above Glencoe village. We’d never climbed it or even considered climbing it. We did, however, many years ago take the path up to the lochan above the village. Mountain climbing newer was one of our pursuits.

While the climbers were away enjoying brilliant sunshine and blue skies, we were stuck in the cloudy central belt. With no great scenic views around us and no signs of weather improving we went shopping. Just over to Tesco to get something for dinner and odds and ends of essentials.

Later, after lunch, Scamp went out and raked all the leaves that the strong winds from last week had dumped on our front grass and I took a camera out for a walk in St Mo’s and my PoD was leaves too. A few copper coloured beech leaves still clinging to a branch.

When I came back I drew a distorted looking hand scratching the panel off a scratch card to reveal what might or might not be a lucky ticket. The prompt was “Scratchy”. Not the most interesting of choices, but at least it was done. It should have been done yesterday, but I was too tired last night to get any drawing done and I went to bed early. Luckily I’d offered an ‘amnesty’ to the Inktoberists and took myself up on the offer too!
Later I completed today’s sketch which was the even more vague, ‘Celestial’. Two sketches done on the same day. Both reasonable and both in ink.

Next thing to do was to roast the chicken we’d bought earlier and await the return of the mountaineers. Scamp made a great job of the chicken which we had with with Suffolk potatoes (to make the visitors feel at home, even if they don’t eat potatoes normally) and a salad.

We watched a tedious American GP which became even more complicated when two of the leading drivers were disqualified for having the wrong kind of wood on the underside of their cars – or something like that.

Tomorrow we’re all having a day off driving and we’re going out east.

Right on time – 21 October 2023

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We got a message from Jamie this morning just after 9am to say they were just leaving the hotel and they should be with us before 12noon.

Right on time the white Volvo appeared outside at 11.50. That’s Jamie. Always on time. After we’d decanted all the bags, rucksacks, jackets and boots, Scamp took the wee Yew tree they’d brought out into the back garden. Then we heard the stories about the floods they’d encountered on the way up and I was even more pleased that they’d decided to break their journey north.

After lunch which was a bowl of tomato soup, we drove to Colzium and walked the same route Scamp and I had walked last week. The burn was even higher today, of course because of the week’s rain we’d had and the big red acer at the top of the avenue in front of the big house was even brighter red, if that was possible. A photo of it made PoD.

Back home, Jamie and Simonne were getting ready to go into Glasgow to meet Chris and Yvonne for dinner, but found out that Uber don’t seem to like Cumbersheugh. Or more likely, the taxi drivers in Cumbersheugh discourage Uber drivers from picking up in the town. So it was the local taxi that took them into Glasgow!

Dinner for us was delivered from Bombay Dreams later in the evening after an irate phone call from the driver asking me to open the house door and turn the light on so he could see where the house was. I did as he asked and then he appeared very apologetic saying he’d been in the wrong street! Easily done in Cumbersheugh because when it was build it was numbered by writing all the numbers down on pieces of paper and sticking them at random on house doors. At least that’s how it seems. Who would be a delivery driver in Cumbersheugh?!

We watched Strictly on catch-up. Well, Scamp watched Strictly and I glanced up occasionally from my Inktober sketch. I don’t think I missed much.

The sketch prompt today was “Chains”. I tried steel chains and paper chains and neither of them interested me much. I eventually chose a key chain. The prompt asked for “Chains”, plural, but being a poor pensioner, I could only afford one on my key, and an imaginary one at that! That was my excuse.

Tomorrow we might all go out for a walk somewhere, or maybe we’ll point the hillwalkers at a local hill and let them get on with it!

 

Still Wet, Still Windy – 20 October 2023

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I could write, “For details of the day see yesterday”, but I won’t.

It started like yesterday, with wind and rain, but things needed to be done. Scamp was off to FitSteps until the phone rang and it was Kirsty hoping she’d catch Scamp, which she just managed to do. The message was that today’s class was cancelled because too many folk had called off. I must say it sounded like the most sensible answer, but I think Scamp was disappointed. Can’t blame her.

So where to start? First thing and easiest to set up was the tomato soup. Just a case of tipping the roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic and peppers into a pot adding a tin of tomatoes a cup of water and a litre of stock. Bring it to the boil and simmer for 30mins. Next was to thaw out the stew and dust it with flour, salt and pepper and leave it to dry out a bit and once the soup had had its 30mins, we drove to M&S for fripperies like fruit and bread, then Tesco for breakfast stuff and essentials like tonic and ice lollies. Got to get your priorities right.

Back home it was time to fry off the stew in the big wok and, once it was nicely browned, pitch it into the Instant Pot with carrots and onions and some stock, set it to slow cook for about 4 hours. Sit back and enjoy a Ginsters lunch. I know they’re not good for me and that they give me heartburn, but they do taste great. Scamp had a fried egg sandwich. Much healthier I’m sure. Simonne phoned to say they were on their way, so we were all running to schedule.

I kept thinking (hoping) it was getting lighter outside and that the rain was getting lighter, the way you do when you know you’re just lying to yourself. I eventually decided that an inside photo was the way to go today and took today’s PoD which is a bunch of carnations sitting at the kitchen window with the rain splattering on the glass.

The bed for the visitors was still to be made, so we got that done and the remaining obstacles were removed to the front room, leaving the room quite neat and tidy.

Next task was to blitz the soup and decant it to another pot. It was looking good, then Simonne phoned to say they were almost at Scotch Corner and were going to break the journey because the traffic was really bad and there had been a number of accidents. I think we both felt relieved to hear that. It’s a long journey in normal weather, but much more challenging with so many weather warnings across the whole country. We got a message later to say they’d arrive at Kendal and were going for dinner and a pint! Well deserved I’d say.

So we had some of the soup for starter with some Giovani Rana pasta to follow. Not the best we’d had from that range, but still better than Tesco.

Today’s prompt was ‘Frost’. I could not decide what to draw for Frost. Then, lateral thinking again, I found a picture of Robert Frost and tried another fifteen minute sketch. It worked.

We’re now expecting the visitors tomorrow, just as I predicted in Thursday’s blog! Some of us had these skills and some haven’t! Oh yes, and I did have heartburn thanks to the Ginsters, and I’ve taken my Gaviscon!

Oh what a beautiful morning – 11 October 2023

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And the makings of a beautiful day.

Scamp was out in the morning to have coffee with June. While she was out I found a subject for today’s Inktober prompt – “Wander”. I started work on it right away, drawing on a Seagate A4 sketchbook. I usually draw ideas to begin with in a cheap sketchbook, but have been caught out many times by working up a good sketch in them, then when I put a watercolour wash on them the paper soaks up the water, buckles and the sketch becomes a disaster area. Now I’ve learned to draw on decent quality paper that will hold the watercolour without falling apart. Yes, the paper is more expensive, but it saves a lot of swearing!

Lunch, when Scamp came in was, soup. Quite delicious soup. Then with the sun still shining I walked over to St Mo’s and found myself surrounded by dragonflies. Yesterday’s unseasonably warm weather coupled with today’s sunshine must have released a hatch of the insects. Mainly they were Common Darters with a few Black Darters too. I grabbed a few shots with the 85mm lens which performed really well, even if it didn’t allow me to get as close as a macro lens would. I also found a big clump of mushrooms that had appeared overnight. Again I think it was the weather than had encouraged them to sprout. This time it was the combination of warm weather and lots of rain, two things fungi thrive on. The mushrooms got PoD.

Back home Scamp was talking to her sister in Skye on the phone, but I didn’t hear much of the conversation because I was trying to scan in today’s sketch and post process the photos from the afternoon. We were going out to Kirsty’s dance class tonight, so I knew I had to get everything done as early as possible.

A photo of a tree beside the Luggie got ‘Explore’ on Flickr. I was quite impressed. It was almost OOC (Out Of Camera, meaning it had minimal processing). Second one in about a month!

Dinner tonight was a rather excellent fish ’n’ chips with beetroot. Not the best beetroot, but the fish made up for it. A lovely slice of cod!

There were only two couples for class tonight, but it was very useful. Plenty of room for dancing and also lots of tips from Kirsty about the little dance nuances I frequently forget. Lessons learned. She even got the chance to give us a quick and very short Quickstep routine to work on. Next week it’s Tango. Must remember a rose to hold in my clenched teeth!

Came home and opened the fridge door and the internal light went off. Oh No! Has the fridge been listening to us discussing replacing it? However, it was just the bulb that had blown. We’ll have to go out and source one tomorrow.

No other plans tomorrow. We’ll see what transpires.

 

A coffee, a walk and a blether – 5 October 2023

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A coffee, a walk and a blether

Going out for the above with my brother.

Another wet day, but Scamp offered me a lift to the town centre to hopefully catch a bus into Glasgow that would take less than an hour to get there. I did catch the bus and it did take significantly less than an hour for the journey. Scamp herself was off to meet Shona for coffee and a blether too. It must be blethering weather.

In Glasgow I was early and I used that time to see what JL had in the way of freezers and fridge-freezers. Actually, they had a fair selection and I took some photos of the price and size labels, both are important to us. I also took a selfie of me standing in front of two freezers. Not because I like taking selfies in shops, but because Scamp would get an idea just how tall they fridge-freezers were. Some were taller than me. How’s a 5’9” high bloke meant to get things out of the top shelf of that fridge?
JL’s main door was locked and the shutters were down when I was walking over and I thought “Oops! Maybe these tales of the High Street closures are coming home to roost”. But it seems that there was just a problem with the doors.

Walked back to the bus station and met Alex coming off his bus. We had our usual coffee in Nero and I told him I’d found a lens I fancied was available in WEX in Glasgow. We intended getting a bus up Bath Street to the shop, because it’s a fair walk, but there was a lot of work being done on the pavement all the way up Bath Street and temporary bus stops everywhere, so we chose to face that mountain and walk up the hill in the rain.
Found the lens in WEX and gave it a good try out on the A6500. It looked fine and I was sure it would do the job I intended it for, but I wanted a second opinion which I got from Alex. Still not sure about splashing the cash (or plastic) I said I’d sleep on it. I’ve not done that yet, so I’ll see how I feel tomorrow, all being well.

We walked back to the city centre and went to Paesano for lunch. Number 5 (Cooked ham – No cheese) for Alex. Number 3 (Anchovies and Olive for me). Since I was bussing it today, I had a glass of red to go with lunch. We sat and talked about family, cameras, life in general and, of course, the lens.

Alex wanted to visit a wee old second hand shop on Trongate and I wanted to get freezer bags for Scamp, both in that direction so we took our time. I got the bags, Alex had a browse round guitar amps. He’s found his old electric guitar and enjoyed playing with it even without an amp. I think I’m a bit to blame telling him about Crawford and I jamming!

I had one more shopping trip and that was Cass Art for a couple of cheap sketch books. Got them and walked in the general direction of the bus station after a coffee in the Nero in Queen Street. I got PoD which was red and black wrought iron chairs and black wrought iron tables covered in rain splashes outside the Counting House at George Square. Nice easy wide angle shot.

We both went our ways at the bus station and I just got the X3 as the driver was opening the bus. Perfect timing.

Back home it was a baked potato for dinner, just the potato with butter. Lovely. Then it was time to work on the sketch for today which I admit I’d roughed out yesterday. The prompt was “Map”. My take on it was a fictitious map that had been well used on yellowed paper with the standard ’X” marks the spot mark on it. I liked the effect of the fold lines.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps as usual and I might make a phone call to reserve a lens.

 

A Wet Day – 4 October 2023

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We knew it was going to be a wet day, but there was no respite today.

It was a dreich day and no mistake. It started during the night and continued all day. There’s not a lot more I can say about the weather, so I won’t.

Spoke to Hazy in the morning and we caught up with all that’s happening down south. Oh yes, and she was phoning us on her new iPhone 15. Not that I’m jealous or anything, but it does look good. Wish you health to use it Hazy and a new one when it’s done! We discussed Nelly, the Pleiospilos Nelii or Split Rock she gave in June. It’s changing its shape and Hazy thought it was going to flower, but on closer inspection it looks like it’s getting ready to split and push out two new leaves. I look forward to seeing that happen.

After we said “Cheerio”, Scamp and I had lunch. Scamp had a cheese sandwich and I had the remains of the lamb shank I cooked on Sunday. After carefully warming it in the microwave, I added some gravy granules to thicken the juices that had appeared in the bowl and made a decent lunch out of it. A toasted slice of rosemary and green olive sourdough finished off lunch. Rosemary and green olive sourdough? What would my mum have made of that? I’m sure she would have tried it, but would she have liked it? I think she would have. I don’t think my dad would have thought!

With Nelly still on my mind, I set up a tripod in the back bedroom and photographed that strange wee succulent. If you look carefully at the photo you can just see the spotted pale green leaves beginning its push up towards the light. That was PoD sorted.

I spent what was left of the afternoon sketching out my take on Dodge, today’s prompt. Yes it’s another cartoon, but it’s just for fun anyway. I never said I was an artist and maybe this proves it.

We drove up to the dance class in intermittent rain. I think this was our last full attempt at the Waltz Naioli. I’m feeling much more confident about it now and I think we could dance it in public now. It was a struggle at the start, but Kirsty is a very patient teacher who goes over and over the tricky parts of the routine. She’s nowhere near as patient as Scamp is though, but between them I can see the progress I’ve made. I didn’t want to come off the floor tonight, that’s how much I’ve enjoyed this dance. Thank you ladies!

Alex and I were supposed to be going to Paisley tomorrow, but the weather looks like a watered down version of today. The water being rain. So we’ve decided to meet in Glasgow, have a coffee and go for lunch. I think that sounds really sensible.

Lunch – 2 October 2023

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We were heading for Calders today to meet up with June & Ian and Crawford & Nancy for lunch.

It was a good day. I think everyone enjoyed it. Just a catch-up with some decent food. We’d been to Crawford and Nancy’s for dinner a fortnight ago, but June and Ian hadn’t met them for quite a while. Lots to talk about by everyone and lots of jokes and laughs. Like I said, a good day that everybody seemed to enjoy.

When we all broke up, Scamp and I went for a wander round the plants in the garden centre and she bought some violas and a cyclamen to fill up one of her now empty pots. Those pots don’t stay empty for long because Scamp usually has something in mind for them.

While she was doing that I filled a bucket of hot soapy water and gave the car the wash I’d been promising it for the last week and more. It really did need it and it looked so much better afterwards. That left me with just enough daylight time to get some photos in St Mo’s. “Spiders” was the topic for today in Inktober and that’s what I found all along the path round the pond. Spiders of every shape and size, from the size of a pin head to ones as long as my pinkie. However, they didn’t make PoD. That went to a wide angle shot of a bunch of wild geraniums growing in the wilderness area near the pond. The big blue flowers really brightened my walk.

Back home it was time to work on today’s sketch and it was a solitary spider that was my model from one of my own photos. I don’t think I’ve really done it justice, but it’s better than yesterday’s “Dream” in my opinion!

We had a quick practise of the Waltz Nioli and it worked quite well. Still a few rough edges to work on, but most of it is there now. Hopefully we’ll have another practise tomorrow.

We had a look in Which tonight hoping to get some hints on what to look for in a new fridge and a freezer, or maybe a fridge-freezer combined. Just a bit of preplanning since the freezer is not looking in good health just now. Prices are a lot higher than I expected, but I suppose everything is going up in price these days.

No real plans for tomorrow. The weather looks decent without being brilliant, but we’ll wait and see what we get.

Soil – 25 September 2023

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We were meeting Isobel for a coffee and a long blether this morning.

We drove up to the town centre and found Isobel halfway through her latte. I imagine it would have been cold by then. She seems to like cold milky coffee. I can think of few things more disgusting than that, although cold milky tea must come close. My Cortado seemed to interest her, but as she said, it hardly even a mouthful. We sat and talked for over an hour and found out that her son had delivered a bag of topsoil for her. Scamp has been looking for topsoil to pack round her roses to give the roots more of a grip in their pots. After interrogating Isobel we discovered that the soil came from Dobbies in Stirling and was reasonably priced. So reasonable that she had decided to get her son to buy another bag for her. Scamp was telling her that she was needing some and we might just go to Stirling to get a bag or two. Then I said to Isobel, “why don’t you come along for the run” and she agreed.

So it was that we drove to Stirling. lifted three bags of topsoil into a trolley, paid and left. Isobel’s quip that “It’s the shortest time I’ve been in a garden centre in my life.” was true. They hadn’t been in that plant paradise for more than fifteen minutes! While they were in looking for the topsoil I had been taking photos of the Wallace Monument and the Ochil Hills through a two meter wire fence. A bit clumsy, but the photos worked. Half a dozen shots in the bag.

We drove home and the wee blue car was struggling on the hills going home. Three full 25litre bags of damp soil and three folk too, plus a heavy camera bag and a zimmer. That was straining its three cylinders to the max, but at least were keeping most thing in threes!

We stopped in the village and used Isobel’s zimmer to transport her bag of soil up the path to her house. Then we drove back home for lunch which today was pizza.

After lunch Scamp got her tools out and started filling the rose pots with the soil. It looked like good quality stuff with maybe more than its fair share of sand mixed with the soil, but it hadn’t been very expensive, so we didn’t mind. I did consider taking a walk in St Mo’s, but when I checked the clock, it was almost dinner time and as it was Monday I was pasta chef today. A sort of cross between Penne Arrabiata and Amatriciana. It tasted fine anyway.

A quick Wednesday Waltz practise tonight and I do believe we are beginning to lick this dance into shape, but whisper it, because I don’t want it to hear!

After a bit of photoshopping and some jiggery pokery I declared one of today’s shots to be the PoD.

We have no plans for tomorrow.

Testing, Testing – 19 September 2023

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Testing yesterday’s purchase and the other acquisition.

I drove over to Alex’s to borrow his K mount adapter so I could test the ‘new’ lens. New, is a bit of a misnomer as it’s at least second hand and maybe has passed through a great many more hands since it was really New. Last night I’d found a tiny bit of mould in one of the internal elements. Nothing that would have a detrimental effect on any of the shots I was hoping to take with this piece of ‘Old Glass’. I also found a few fine scratches on the rear element, but again, they wouldn’t make any difference to the photos. Sat and talked about family and stuff with Alex and Carol and I’m sure the two cats were listening too. Pretty wee things that reminded me of Tibby.

After an hour or so I drove home and took a detour in the direction of Lenzie to a wee draw in by the side of the road to get some test photos taken of a bit of farm land that looked like a promising photo opportunity. As it happened, the light wasn’t quite as good as I thought, but it did give me a chance to test out the Pentax 50mm f2 lens I’d splashed out some money on yesterday. I was surprised at the quality of what is really a kit lens, and not really all that well rated. Last night I was having ‘buyers remorse’, but today I was delighted. It’s circa 1995 vintage, so it’s manual focus, but I knew that and it’s also very compact, especially when it’s bolted onto the Sony A7. One of the Pentax’s shots became PoD. The storm clouds you can see from the PoD followed me home and didn’t drop any rain until I was safely in the house. Sitting in the living room I took a few shots of the raindrops on the leaves of Alec’s Red and they looked good too.

Scamp had roasted a chicken for dinner with roast potatoes and cabbage to go with it. It truly was the best chicken I’ve eaten for a long time. The pudding was rhubarb and apple crumble using our own rhubarb and apples. It too was delicious. Then it was time for the test. It was time to pack the dishwasher, slide in the washer tablet, choose the program and press the start button. Like new parents we watched the counter light up and listened to the water trickling into the reservoir, then it was off and running. We could leave it to do what it was bought for. An hour and a bit later it had washed all the dishes and they were drying. A sigh or relief all round!

We had a longer practise session than I’d intended tonight, but there were rough corners to rub off the new waltz and it’s dance night tomorrow, so Kirsty will be looking for mistakes, I’m sure. Finally I got a grip on things and worked out where I was and what came next. I think most of it was muscle memory, but internal clues helped too. Not least in the help category were Scamp’s whispered prompts. We might need a reminder tomorrow, but I think we’re good to go.

No plans for tomorrow. The weather fairies are warning of heavy rain and strong winds tonight and tomorrow morning.