Category: Family

Rain stopped play – 10 September 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Cloudy morning today, but the sun did manage to get through after a while. A coffee first then I could start work.

Today I was making Focaccia as the starter for tonight’s dinner and also a variation on Bread & Butter Pudding for dessert. Scamp had the much easier main course to make which was Sea Bass with Tomatoes and Potatoes. Focaccia is a sloppy dough with loads of olive oil to make it slippy and also sloppy. The first time I made it I kneaded it by hand and I remember chasing this messy dough all over the work surface. Yes, I did learn how to control a very wet dough, but vowed that the next time I’d let Mr Kenwood’s Chef do the hard work. So it was that I added all the ingredients into the bowl and let the dough hook go to work. About twenty minutes later I had a sort of dough and decide I could make it a bit wetter. Bad move. That meant the dough was too wet and I’d to add more flour. Eventually, I had the dough I wanted and I slopped it into a plastic tub to rise.

After lunch and after we’d watched Laura Kuenssberg tearing apart a new politician, it was time to check if the dough had “doubled in size”. Not quite, so I gave it another half hour to be sure and the sun was shining. That was the half hour it needed. It was ready to be slopped out on the work surface again, chopped into two big slippery pieces and stretched out in two baking trays to rest and stretch and grow bigger again with more olive oil in and around it. Another hour later, the sun was still shining and the dough was ready to be prepared for baking. I turned the oven on and poked my finger into the focaccia making big deep holes in it and then adding even more olive oil plus some rosemary, sun dried tomatoes and some sea salt. Then they went into the oven for 20mins. When they came out they looked fine, so guess what I added. Yes, more olive oil and then left them to rest and drink in all its green oily goodness.

I was watching the weather that wasn’t looking quite so sunny but I reckoned I could still get an hour in St Mo’s for some photos. A few minutes later, it was the sound that alerted me. The rain was coming down in torrents and Scamp’s washing was almost dry. Managed to save most of it, but the walk in St Mo’s wasn’t going to happen today. Instead I decided to photograph the rain. That will explain the title of today’s blog.

Later buttered four croissants, spread jam on them and set them aside. Next I beat up three eggs, some vanilla essence and some sugar then nearly boiled some milk and cream before chucking it into the bowl with the eggy mixture, arranged the croissants, tastefully, in a heatproof bowl and poured the creamy-eggy mess on top. Drizzled some sugar on top and stuck it in the oven to do its thing. I’d only made custard!! A bit lumpy in places and a bit thin in places, but custard, none the less! I was impressed. Plonked some rasps on top and there we had dessert.

Scamp only had to fry a fish or two, boil a few potatoes and chuck in some tomatoes. I had created a dessert with my own bare hands!

Focaccia was lovely and sticky. Scamp said it was missing something and I have to agree, I just don’t know what that ‘something’ was.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about swimming in the sea and thankfully the bat survey may now have passed muster with those who know about such things. I bet that’s a weight of their minds.

Tomorrow we may go in to Glasgow on the bus or the train. Oh, yes, and it’s still raining!

 

 

Mrs Robinson goes to a dance – 7 September 2023

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Today we were taking Isobel to a tea dance in deepest Paisley.

It was a muggy morning with heavy skies and no sign of the sun, but it did clear up in time for us to drive to the Village to pick up Isobel. We were the first folk to arrive in the hall at Glenburn and had the pick of the tables!

The room filled up quickly and we were joined by a couple who we meet on Saturday mornings. It was a waltz to start with and I made a fair hash of it, but at least we were on the floor. The usual order of two ballroom tracks followed by two sequence tracks continued up until tea time then we had time to sit and blether. I think my favourite dance today was the social foxtrot. It’s a nice easy tempo to dance to and nothing strenuous or difficult to remember and no need to work about getting in folk’s way, plenty of time to take avoiding action.

We left as usual just after 3pm to avoid the schools coming out and managed the transition from M77 to M74 with ease. A bit longer road than going over the Kingston Bridge, but so much more relaxing than having to crawl along behind the car in front always looking for a space to appear in the lane that’s travelling faster than yours. It gave Isobel a chance to look around at different scenery too. She even explained what the massively tall fence round just outside the city boundary was. I thought it was a council tip and the fence was to keep the seagulls away, or the poly bags in, but it was a golf practise range. I’ve been driving that road every Saturday for weeks and never realised that’s what it was. You live and learn.

Dropped Isobel off at her house and drove home via Tesco for fruit and to replenish Scamp’s Pimms cupboard, but by then the clouds were thickening and it looked like it had been raining in Cumbersheugh village. Back home the streets were dry, but maybe that was a precursor for what is forecast for next week.

On the way to Glenburn there were notifications of Ayr Air Show beginning tomorrow and lasting until Sunday. I thought we might go, but in the air show page on the net, it didn’t look all that enticing. I think we’ve seen most of the aircraft before. The only good thing about it is that it’s free, the down side is you are standing, possibly for an hour waiting for something that might be cancelled due to weather conditions. We might not bother.

I took out my ancient Tamron SP 70-300mm f4-5.6 Di for a walk in the park when we got back. It’s a Nikon fit, but it works on the Sony A7iii on a Viltrox adapter in manual mode. It has a load of faults, but still produces the occasional good image. Today was a good image day.
A shot of Field Thistles beginning to fill the air with their fluff balls became PoD.

Tomorrow, no plans. I think I might sit with my feet up. Walking around Glasgow all afternoon yesterday, dancing class at night and a tea dance today takes it out of my poor wee legs and feet!

A day among the beasties – 22 August 2023

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The beasties in question were damselflies, dragonflies, butterflies and a single little caterpillar with a face that only its mother would love!

In the morning we did little except Wordle and Spelling Bee. Then Hazy phoned and we had a good half hour chat about the Wales holiday with the Welsh side of the family. Pity the house wasn’t quite up to the Cumbrian one, but you always have to take estate agent’s descriptions and photos with a pinch of salt. Glad that everyone took their turn at cooking, and it’s alway good when everyone sits down to a meal together.

Lunchtime arrived much quicker than I expected and after we were fed and watered, we walked down to the shops to get some messages. It was on the way back home that I thought I might just manage to get some more butterfly or dragonfly photos in St Mo’s

So on with the boots and out I went to see what I would find today. It was actually quite warm in the sun and I made the right decision for once and left my raincoat at home and wore a hoodie instead. There were hosts of dragonflies about, but they were too busy dive bombing each other and flying dogfights among the rushes. Mostly they were common darters, with the males outnumbering the females about 2:1. I gave them up as a subject for today. The days are getting shorter as we move into the last quarter of August, so the dragonflies had other things on their mind.

I did find a couple of peacock butterflies sunning themselves on the flowers, but they were too far into the bushes and I knew they’d fly off as soon as they saw me coming. Also, it’s prime tick weather just now and I don’t want any more of these black devils on me. Neither them nor the inevitable clegs which you may know as horse flies. So, no butterflies either. I was busy photographing two hoverflies on a lovely pink knapweed when a common blue damsels dropped in and sat quite comfortably watching me at work before it too became a subject. I kept expecting it to fly off, but it seemed happy and obviously saw that I wasn’t a danger to it. With a couple of dozen photos taken, I headed for home for dinner which was cauliflower and potatoes with a cheese sauce.

It wasn’t until I was processing the photos that I noticed the cheeky green insect (don’t know what it was) poking its head up from the knapweed flower. Photobombed by a tiny green insect. That shot became PoD!

A quick practise tonight of Joy’s Waltz, especially the Outside Spin. Then a run through for Scamp of the new Cross Basic in the cha-cha which is really just another of Jane’s add-ons that are designed to look elegant, but cause a lot of grief! Most of the problems were ironed out … eventually.

I’m planning on meeting Alex from the train tomorrow and we’re heading to Auchinstarry to get some photos of the barges at the marina.  Scamp might be having coffee with Isobel.

Gardening and wildflowers – 20 August 2023

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A lazy day, with little to recommend it.

We did a bit of gardening in the late morning, just pruning the Buddleia in the hope that it would encourage more flowers, but I really think it’s past now and needs a serious haircut before the winter winds arrive. Scamp was busy moving some Honesty plants from the nursery pots to the pots they will hopefully live in until they flower next year. She can be quite ruthless with plants, ripping them out if she thinks they are ‘going over’, ie not producing the flowers they should be. I was also chopping down as much of the Aquilegia I could get away with. It’s well past first flush of flowering and there’s just the chance that it might flower again before the end of the year. More work needing done:

  • Sunflowers need staked.
  • I think we need to think about some winter colour.
  • We need to remove this year’s flowers from the Rhododendrons. This one is contentious. Some folk think we shouldn’t remove the old floret stems and some think we should.

Basically the garden is doing well. The few veg I have are coming along nicely, especially the leeks and the kale. Maybe we should plant some tatties soon for a Christmas crop.

In the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got a few interesting wildflower photos, there being very little insect life about apart from the usual skittish Common Darters. It was a very green photo of a Pineapple Plant that got PoD. I remember when I was wee, being amazed that they did actually taste like pineapples! They smell like them too. As they are low growing, it’s probably best to just smell them rather than eat them as you don’t know what has been ‘watering’ them!

Dinner tonight was a Chicken Milanese we got from the butchers a week or so ago. Scamp was not impressed and I have to agree her version is better. Dessert was Apricot and Brioche Pudding. A bit like Bread and Butter Pudding, but posher!

Spoke to Jamie tonight and heard about his posh dinner on Friday. Sounded lovely. We must go look for The Unruly Pig. That’s the name of the restaurant, by the way.  We think our garden is growing well until we hear about their garden and then ours pales a bit in comparison.  However, ours is easier to maintain.

No real plans for tomorrow. It depends on the weather.

Happy Birthday Jamie – 16 August 2023

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Hope you had a good day.

We didn’t do very much this morning. Yesterday was a bit of a buzz. Scamp was out in the morning and in the afternoon. I was out in the morning then spread my 10,000 odd steps all over the west end before I brought the street legal blue car back. Today was different. We weren’t sure what the weather was going to do, and neither was the weather. Eventually we settled on lunch in a new restaurant that seemed as if it was in the middle of a building site.

We got a seat next to the loudest woman in the place. She had finished her main course by the time we arrived and was just starting into what looked like a 15cm x 15cm x 15cm brick of Sticky Toffee Pudding with custard. All she seemed to do was stuff her face with the chocolate coated pudding while she FaceTimed with someone on her phone. Eventually she decided she had to leave NOW and got up and left, leaving most of the dark brown brick untouched Suddenly the restaurant was a much quieter place.

The food was good, but not exceptional. I had a double gammon steak with egg, pineapple and chips. Steaks were small, so they ended up being the same size as a normal one. Scamp had fish ’n’ chips one of her standard tests for a new restaurant. The food was fine for a cheap lunch. We agreed we’d probably go back, but maybe to the carvery next time.

Drove home via Lidl where I wanted a cob loaf and between us added more to the basket than we really wanted, or needed, but Lidl’s like that. You see things in there you haven’t seen for ages.

About a month ago I scraped the rear wing of the car when I was parking. Today I wondered if the old trick of using Brasso to spread the top coat over the scratch would still work. The answer is it works a treat. Brasso is a very fine abrasive and if you rub it on to the affected area it heats up and the paint skin melts into the scrape. Allegedly toothpaste does the same thing.

I took the A7 out for a walk in the afternoon while Scamp was reading. For the first time in ages I got lots of photos. I’d actually taken some in the morning. The Shooting Stars that had flowered so well in May were now spreading their tiny seeds anywhere they could find some damp earth and the seed pods were almost empty, but very photogenic. St Mo’s however produced some insect life. Dragonflies, peacock butterflies and mating damselflies especially were in great supply, but the PoD went to a teasel in the garden that’s beginning to show its needles. This is the first time I’ve grown them and I’m looking to see them flowering.

No plans yet for tomorrow. As usual it all depends on the weather.

A dull day in Glasgow – 9 August 2023

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Yesterday it was parking. Today my complaint was transport.

Scamp drove me down to the station this morning to catch the train to Glasgow to meet Alex. I just missed the train by seconds, and had to wait 20 mins for the next one which appeared on the board as the train I missed was disappearing around the bend. I wandered along the platform and back again then went for a seat in the waiting room because I’d decided to carry two cameras and three lenses. One each and an extra one if the need arose. Sat for a while then as the platform got busier, I walked back to see how long it was now before the train. Apparently it was on time at Falkirk, the previous stop to mine. Then things started to go wrong. Originally it was due in 14 minutes, then that changed to 16 minutes and then it just read DELAYED. Now we all know that if you remove the L the Y and the second E, the truth is there to read. This train was DEAD. The announcement came soon after that and it told us that the train was due at 11.24am. Amazingly it did arrive right at that time. Admittedly that doesn’t happen often, but it’s still annoying when it does.

Met Alex at the bus station after I walked up from the train station in Glasgow and we went for coffee. Our usual start to a day taking photos in Glasgow. I suggested we go down Buchanan Street through St Enoch’s an on to the Clyde Walkway where we can walk downstream to the Squinty Bridge. Hopefully the day would brighten up from its dull start and the sun would shine (Spoiler alert: It didn’t). I think I was surprised that he agreed right away, so that’s what we did.

We took some photos of the artwork that constantly changes on the concrete panels of the walkway. We took some shots. My out and out favourite was the chicken with the lip ring and the amazing reflections in its eyes. I don’t know how they achieved that. Such clever and artistic people doing graffiti nowadays. Take a look at it on Flickr if you get the chance. With that done we crossed the South Portland St Suspension Bridge. I don’t ever remember being on that bridge, but somehow it felt familiar. That’s where PoD came from. Taken from the Gorbals end of the bridge looking back to the city. A wee slightly wobbly man with a clinking poly bag told us we shouldn’t be taking photos of his pals down on the steps and when he realised we’d Scottish accents he smile and we were his pals. His passing remark was “Glasgow’s a lovely city”, and you know something? He was right!
We saw another two better dressed gents crossing the bridge looking like they’d been to a wedding or maybe a posh lunch walking with a man carrying an orange box filled with plants. It looked like they were together, but trying to deny it. Strange things happen on the south side of the Clyde

We turned right and walked along into what turned out to be the financial district. Lots and lots of new high rise office blocks. Most of them owned by or affiliated to Barclays. We walked on because we were beginning to feel hunger pangs. Crossed back over at the Squiggly Bridge and made our way back into the city.

We found a Nero on a street corner and lunch was BLT sandwich for Alex and mushroom Tostati for me. Not really a lunch, just something to keep the wolf from the door.

Walked back up Buchanan Street and caught our individual bus home, except, to keep things symmetrical, I just missed the X3 home and had to wait 20 minutes for the next one!

Dinner tonight was yesterday’s curry reheated but with fish instead of eggs. Still delicious, just different.

Tonight we had a quick rehearsal of Joy’s Waltz and the new Rumba because we may be going to a tea dance tomorrow.

Coffee with Isobel – 2 August 2023

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We were out this morning to Costa to meet Isobel.

For once, I have to admit that the coffee I had tasted like real coffee. Usually it tastes of nothing, but on bad days it tastes and looks like dirty water. In answer to your unasked question, Yes I do know what dirty water tastes like. We sat for a while listening to Isobel’s account of her granddaughter, Teal’s graduation. She, Teal, is following in her mother’s footsteps into education, but into primary teaching, not secondary. Good luck to her, I hope she enjoys it. She showed us her photo book like any proud grandparent would.

Scamp showed her some of our photos from the cruise and elaborated on them with some stories. A usual with Isobel, she told stories too. That’s what makes her interesting to listen to. You think at first she’s making them up, then you realise she isn’t. Sharp as a tack is Isobel. She too had been dancing in the Tower Ballroom some years ago, but we all agreed that the dance floor was quite the best we’d seen and she would have seen a lot more than we had.

After an hour or so, she left to do her shopping and we drove home for lunch with rain threatening all the time. Scamp was making jam from brambles juice that had been in the freezer for about three years. When she was making it, we noticed that the jam thermometer we were using, which used to belong to my cousin in Ayrshire, seemed to have lost its red pigment and only a pale orange line remained. I think we might need to get a new one. However it was accurate enough to to get the jam to the right temperature. The jam is probably cooled by now and ready for its lids to go on. She got three jars worth of jam from the fruit juice.

I took a walk later in St Mo’s and brought back an assortment of photos, but none of them beat a shot I’d taken in the early afternoon of a Calla Lily which was sitting on a table in front of the TV. The unpowered TV provided a decent black background for the photo and a bit of jiggery pokery with Lightroom brought a black background that emphasised the colours of the lily. That was PoD, although it did look a bit like a multicoloured cormorant!  Scamp and I agreed on its similarity to a duck!

Dinner tonight was an old favourite.  Cabbage, Potatoes and Bacon.  It doesn’t sound very appetising, but it tastes great.  Scamp is the master at making it.

No plans for tomorrow, the weather looks like it might be dry, so we may get out somewhere.

The day after the day before – 30 July 2023

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As predicted, today was a day for recovery.

The furthest I went today was St Mo’s for a wander round the pond.  I did find a PoD when I was out.  It’s a soldier beetle showing off its agility on a grass leaf.  Just like a pole dancer, I’m led to believe. I thought I should add that just in case of any repercussions. It was one of those days that promised rain, but didn’t seem to know where it had put it.  Big black clouds threatened downpours, then hurried off elsewhere without a single drop being dispensed.  It was windy, though and that made insect and flower photography difficult.

Before I went out, Scamp had gone for a walk to the shops while I wrote up yesterday’s blog.  We’d decided to have Cod and Paprika Chowder.  It’s a simple recipe as long as you prep things before you start and that’s what I did today.  For once I was organised.  I must have made a mistake somewhere, because it turned out much thicker than normal.  That was easily repaired with a dollop of milk stirred in.  Tasted fine.

Spoke to Jamie and talked yesterday’s Blackpool visit. We forgot to mention that  someone asked for a Gavotte! Even better, at least four couples were dancing it.   So strange after being taught the rudiments of this ancient dance while we were on this year’s cruise.

That was about it for this rest day.  Tomorrow, everything will get back to normal again, hopefully.

A busy day – 27 July 2023

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A day that started fairly slowly, then accelerated.

After Wordle and Spelling Bee and a cup of coffee in the morning, I finally posted some of my recent photos to Alex. I’d meant to send them on Monday, but didn’t have the time. Told him yesterday that I’d post them that night but left it too late, but today they flew into the ether in two batches. Found the box for the A6000 and checked that all (most) of the bits and pieces were there. Did some last minute shopping later in the morning. Stew in the Instant Pot was set to Low and allowed to cook in slow cooker mode. Scamp made the Coffee and Brandy Trifles and then it was lunch. After lunch Scamp made the starters Portobello Mushrooms with Parma Ham then started hoovering downstairs while I dusted shelves and window sills then carted all my accoutrements (rubbish) upstairs to where I hoped I’d be able to find them again when I needed them!

Simonne texted to say that she was finished a bit earlier than she’d expected and arrived in mid afternoon. That left lots of time for Scamp to interrogate here about what was happening down south and also to break the news that Crawford and Nancy would be joining us. That didn’t faze her at all, I never thought it would. We talked for quite a while before the other two arrived.

Lots more to catch up on with Crawford’s eye injury. Who knew a floater in your eye could tear away the retina or that it could be laser ‘stitched’ back in place! My part in the dinner was the stew that would have potatoes and cabbage as an accompaniment while Scamp had a lentil stew instead. Lots more stories to tell after dinner but Simonne had to leave to drive back to her hotel in Edinburgh for a couple of hours sleep before her early flight the next day. We said our goodbyes and she drove away with the agreement that she’d come and stay the next time business brought her up north.

Crawford and I had a whisky later because Nancy was driving today. They also left a bit earlier than usual because Nancy was driving down to Wales in the morning and Crawford was following later in the day.

The dishwasher did the heavy lifting later and the rest was left until morning.

PoD was one of Scamp’s alliums with the seed buds just opening.

Tomorrow, a more relaxing day would be good.

 

 

More rain again – 16 July 2023

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It seems we are in a cyclic weather pattern. Wet in the early morning which continues to mid afternoon when the sky brightens a bit and the rain gradually fades out. By evening, around 7pm the sky clears and there is colourful sunset. By late evening and into the night the clouds reappear and the cycle continues.

This pattern has continued for more than a week now with little change and we’re really becoming quite fed up with it. I think it’s time the powers that be had a word with the weather fairies and told them to get the finger out and give us July sunshine in July. That’s what we pay our taxes for and we’re just not getting value for money! Get It Sorted.

Today followed that pattern, albeit with the addition of some wind, surplus from that presently being handed out to those in the south west of the UK. We had two plans for today. One for a damp day and one for a dry one. We implemented the Damp Day Plan and drove up to Tesco to “Get the Messages”. Came home with a boot fairly full of essential foods, beverages plus assorted household stuff.

After lunch I took my recently waxed boots for a walk in St Mo’s along with the A7 and the big, heavy macro lens. I was looking for ‘beasties’. I got one long shot of a Common Darter dragonfly and just over 30 shots of a Wolf Spider. That’s what happens when you forget that you’ve set the High Speed Motorwind. Even worse, I had switched the camera to ‘silent shooting’, so I didn’t even have the machine gun noise to warn me that I was filling up the SD card at a frightening rate with shots I’d just had to ditch in the bin later. No wonder the camera felt heavier when I was going home. I’d dressed for the rain we’d been promised, but the weather fairies got it wrong again and I was sweltering in a, supposedly, breathable rain jacket. Still, I did get the shot of Wolfie, the female wolf spider with her egg sac dragging behind her.

Dinner was Fennel with Cod and Prawns. It’s a long time since I’ve made it and, even if I say so myself, it tasted great. Even better was the fact that there were individual pots of ice cream for dessert! Scamp had Salted Caramel and I had Chocolate.

Spoke to Jamie after dinner and heard that we may indeed be getting a visit from Simonne this coming week as she’s on a whirlwind tour of labs in Central Scotland. Also heard that the plans for the new roof of their house may not be ready in time to get it replaced until spring. The wheels of English Heritage do turn slowly.

Watched Sewing Bee later and commiserated with the contestant who didn’t quite make it to the semi-final. Good to hear in the news that Djokovic was beaten by Alcaraz in the mens final at Wimbledon.

Hopefully we’ll get some good weather tomorrow and we’ll be using the Dry Day plan!