Category: Family

The day after the day before – 30 July 2023

Posted on by Zogman

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

Posted on by Zogman

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

Posted on by Zogman

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!

 

 

More rain – 11 July 2023

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Another wet morning, but then the sun shone for a while.

I think it must have rained all night. Certainly, any time I woke during the night I could hear the rain thumping down. That rain lasted all morning, after which the sun did shine for a while, sometimes through the rain and sometimes it seemed to attempt to dry the pavements.

After lunch, Hazy phoned and we had a long discussion about holiday homes with family, not our immediate family, but Neil’s. I liked the idea that Neil’s school finishes a week before the rest of the English schools. Is that really only to allow them to avoid the higher priced school holidays or is there a less sensible reason. Whatever it is, more power to their elbow. Good to know that Penny is getting better and we did learn some interesting techniques for getting cats to swallow medication!

After we’d finished talking, and after I was sure that it was safe for me to take a camera over to St Mo’s, I dressed for the weather and went for a walk. I took the A6000 which isn’t particularly water resistant and not at all waterproof, so the weather check was necessary. I was hoping to get some dragonfly photos. There were a couple of them buzzing each other over the ponds, but neither of them wanted to settle for a portrait session. What I did find were some hoverflies and damselflies and a beautiful Clouded Border moth. White with dark chocolate brown spots on the wings. At first I thought it was dead, but now I’m not so sure. I’m pretty sure it was just resting, almost hidden in the grass. It’s a night flying moth apparently so probably best not to disturb it in daytime. The moth got PoD.

There were a few spots of rain while I was out, but they didn’t come to anything and, in fact, it’s stayed dry all the rest of the day. Probably that will be enough to bring on another deluge!

Dinner tonight was an old favourite, potatoes, cabbage and bacon. Scamp, of course had no bacon. It’s an odd mixture which I remember my mum making and I hated it then. I’ve changed my opinion on this old fashioned food now.

Scamp is booked for lunch with Annette tomorrow and I intend to tidy up some loose ends.

 

On a Boat – 10 May 2023

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Or maybe it was a ship, I’m not sure.

Waited half an hour for a bus that didn’t come. Apparently the previous one hadn’t come either. Thankfully Scamp gave me a lift to the train station and I got in to Glasgow almost on time to meet Alex. Today we were heading for the Riverside Museum out in the west end, but first coffee and a quick catch-up.

According to the First Bus app, we could catch the 100 bus at George Square and it would take us right to the museum. It didn’t, because it didn’t come either. We walked back to the bus station and got the 77 which did arrive on time and a helpful driver told us were to get off and also the quickest way to get from Partick to the museum. We followed his directions and found the strange looking museum building. Inside was disappointing. Racks of cars reaching up about five storeys with no chance to see inside them and not even a viewing gallery to get a better view. Also, everything was dusty and just manky looking. Interesting building, but not very practical. Thankfully the window wall that faces the Clyde made a brilliant mirror and we used it to our advantage. That’s where the PoD came from. The great cloud and its reflection looked like a gigantic bird. Even the red crane in the background looked good.

We walked round the big sailing ship, The Glenlee, that’s permanently moored next to the museum and is free to enter. I couldn’t imagine sailing on a three masted ship like that. Equally scary was reading the captain’s log. Written in 1919, it was testament to the abilities and courage of the sailors of the time.

As we left the museum, I thought “I won’t come back until they find a better way to display the contents.” Too much crammed in to a small space. There were two high points. Lunch, which was great and that window wall. Almost everything else need spruced up and some of the items removed to storage.

We walked back to Dumbarton Road and got the bus back to the bus station. Said cheerio and went to catch our buses home. Good company, some good photos taken and the lunch was worth paying for. The final problem was that the bus I was waiting for disappeared from the display with no explanation. Three different buses from three different companies and none of them arrived! As Alex’s wife said, “You could walk from the City Centre to Partick”. We could have and probably should have!

Today’s prompt asked for Cutlery.
A knife a fork and a spoon, what could be difficult in that? Metal, that’s the answer, shiny metal objects are incredibly difficult to draw. Knives aren’t too bad, but forks and especially spoons are the very devil to render. There is a whole book waiting to be written on rendering shiny metal objects, but it can be summed up in one word.
DON’T!

Tomorrow we may go dancing!

Rain – 30 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

It was hard to decide if it was just starting to rain, or just finishing a spell of raining when we woke. In actual fact it was just trying out the different textures of rain to see which it liked the best. That too was a difficult decision for the weather, and one it toyed with for a good few hours before finally choosing to stay dry and allow the sun to shine.

There were things to do today. There was milk to buy and a sensible plain loaf, a cake wouldn’t go amiss either, cakes never do. There were people to bump into. People I hadn’t spoken to for years. The people, or person in question was Mary Jane Hunter, ex of Cumby High. She and Scamp had a lot in common apart from height. They had both had cataracts removed and corrective lenses inserted that took away their shortsightedness and gave them a totally new view on life. It’s nice to meet folk you got on with years ago and who you still admire.

Back home Scamp had covered the draining board in the kitchen with an off cut from a waterproof table cover and was potting up her ten Cerinthe seedlings to separate them and to give them a chance to develop better roots. I liked the idea and planted out some Acer seeds my brother had given me last autumn. They had been in plastic bags in the little greenhouse to keep them dry while they ‘conditioned’. Apparently the exposure to sub zero temperatures is needed for them to germinate once they are planted out in soil.

Dinner tonight was Potatoes with Carrot and Onion Mash. Protein was Hoggit Shoulder Steak for me, bought at the farmers market in Embra yesterday and Salmon for Scamp. Unfortunately for her, the salmon just didn’t taste ‘right’. So it was a vegetarian dinner for her. My hoggit was excellent soft and delicious. (2mins 30seconds per side and 5mins resting time). I couldn’t eat it all, so I’ve about a third of it sitting in the fridge for tomorrow or Tuesday. Bananas fried in Rum was requested was requested for pudding. It was excellent too. Hot, sweet, sticky orange flavoured rum coating bananas sliced long ways. Sounds messy and it was, also sounds a bit sickly and it was, but we both enjoyed it. Can’t remember exactly where I first saw it being made, but I think it was on a cruise, years ago.

Because of the rain, I couldn’t be bothered wandering around St Mo’s, getting wet and not finding anything worth photographing, so today’s PoD came from the garden. It’s an Aquilegia playing host to a family of greenfly. I think I might have to evict them soon. As usual with macros, I didn’t see the greenfly until the images had been loaded into the computer.

Spoke to Jamie and Scamp was delighted to hear that he has taken her advice and cleaned all the glazing panels in his greenhouse. They have had a few days of good weather and have almost all the flowers planted now.

We have no plans for tomorrow, and it looks like more rain.

Off looking for more culture – 27 April 2023

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Today I was getting the bus in to Glasgow to meet Alex and then find our way to the Burrell Collection in Pollock Park. Scamp was staying home and ‘tidying up’.

I got the X3 in to Glasgow. It was late and it looked as if I was going to be late to meet Alex too, but the driver managed to make us some time on the way there and we both arrived at the same time. After a bit of confusion about which street the number 57 bus for Pollock Park left at, we found with the help of a bus driver, that it left from Renfield Street. It was a ramshackle bus as most of them are in Glasgow these days but it took us to the park and we walked in to the grand new Burrell Collection building.

A very impressive building from the outside, much as I remember it before its refit, but inside it’s all changed and for once, it’s change for the better. It’s a much airier place than it used to be with space to walk around some of the exhibits. And so many exhibits. It’s hard to believe that one man and his wife could collect so many and varied antiquities in their lifetime. Harder still to know that they gifted all the collection to the city of Glasgow.

We spent an hour or so just walking round the exhibits, then the smell of food was wafting towards us from the cafe so we had a bite to eat and discussed what we’d seen so far and where we wanted to go next. It’s an amazing place, Much bigger than the Hunterian Museum, but not as enormous, nor as crowded as Kelvingrove Art Galleries. After another two or three hours we decided we’d head back into town. Another coffee and Alex suggested we should make up a list of ‘Dry’ places and ‘Wet’ places to go during the year. I think that’s a good idea.

We were both heading for the bus station again, but on opposite sides of the ‘U’ shaped concourse. I just managed to catch the X3 with no time to spare. Back home, dinner was Carrot & Lentil Curry. A staple that usually feeds us for at least two days. Followed by home made Rhubarb Pie which is lovely hot with cream, but in my opinion, even better served cold, just as it is. It’s a bit late for a slice tonight, but I’m looking forward to a piece tomorrow.

PoD was a wee man sitting in a low leather chair reading his phone. It’s entitled “A man and his phone are rarely parted.”

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps and then coffee with Isobel. I think I might devote tomorrow to laying the carpet tiles in the toilet, all being well. Oh what fun.

It rained – 10 April 2023

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As predicted by the weather fairies, Monday morning was wet.

Instead of sitting at home, Jamie drove us to a garden centre fairly nearby. I really think this was a trial for Scamp because, while Jamie and Simonne were loading plants into the boot of the car, Scamp had to accept that live plants wouldn’t survive a five hour plus rail journey with two changes on what was going to be busy trains. We had lunch in a wee cafe at the garden centre and Scamp did get some seeds to take back. Not quite the same as live plants, but the consolation prize.

In the afternoon the clouds lifted, the skies cleared and the sun shone, so we all went for a walk. Much the same route as my walk yesterday, but much longer and covering different areas of the nearby countryside. With my ultra-wide angle lens on the A7 I got some quite excellent landscape shots and some pretty shots of daffodils in the churchyard of the church next door to the house. The landscape got PoD.

Unfortunately we were going home tomorrow, so after dinner we were packing bags and taking more last photos. Then Jamie came in to the living room and said “There’s a kestrel in the front garden.” My cameras were packed away, but I did manage to get two fairly decent shots of the young bird before it flew off on those narrow wings.

We watched the final episode of the strange South African film and were left wondering what to think about the even stranger ending. I won’t say any more, just in case you ever watch it.

Tomorrow we make the trek up north.

Family Lunch – 9 April 2023

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Lots of things going on today, because Neil and Hazy were joining us for Sunday lunch.

Jamie and Simonne were organising the food, of course after Simonne returned from church, and today it was going to be Roast Leg of Lamb for the carnivores and Seabass from Aldeburgh for Scamp, the solitary pescatarian.

I did my best to keep out of the way while this was going on and went for a walk along the fields behind the church. Since this was Easter Sunday, I decided to walk through the village cemetery and on to the path from there, lest I might be drawn into the church by an overenthusiastic clergyman. I walked down to, but didn’t cross, the bridge over the stream (English don’t have ‘burns’ they have ‘streams’). Instead, I turned right and walked along the edge of the field where corn was just starting to sprout. I did eventually come to another bridge across the stream and crossed over there. I walked on for a fair stretch, but decided that I’d better not walk too far and risk not being there when N&H arrived. This time I walked up past the church and out by the main gate. I’d been taking photos all the way along, trying to get a good view of the church, but it didn’t work because it was shielded by the trees that grow all round it. I got some photos of wild flowers as I walked back to the house.

It was another beautiful day with clear blue skies, although the wind was cold. I sat on an old wooden lichen covered seat at the gable of the house and in the lee of the wind. It was so quiet. Not in the sense of no sound, because there were rooks in the big conifers cawing away loudly and there were smaller birds calling from the bushes, there were bees and ladybirds and maybe a hoverfly or two, but there was almost no mechanical noise. A very few cars. No aircraft and no people making noise. Peaceful rather than quiet, perhaps.

I shot off a few more images of the garden, but my favourite, and PoD was a little Celandine growing out of a crack in the paving stones of the patio.

Neil and Hazy arrived right on time, as I’d expect from Neil. Jamie and Scamp gave them a conducted tour of the house and the garden then we had lunch. There was much discussion between Jamie and Simonne as to whether the lamb was overcooked or not. I thought it was just right. Any less and it would probably have been oily, and it wasn’t that, nor was it too dry. A ‘Goldilocks’ lamb. It was served with Hasselback Potatoes and Asparagus. Hazy had provided the dessert which was Gü puddings. Quite delicious. We also had wine recommended by Simonne’s uncle Yves, a Côtes du Rhône and very nice it was too.

All too soon it was time for the Epsom folk to hit the road again, but it was great having them and getting to talk face to face with everyone again. We must do it again some time soon.

We watched another two episodes of the strange South African film. Leaving the final episode for tomorrow.

It had been a long day and it looks like it may be wet tomorrow morning at least. Maybe a lazy day.

 

 

Happy Birthday to Me – 8 April 2023

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Out for a walk with the prospect of a posh dinner in the evening.

Jamie, Simonne and Vixen went to Run Free in the morning, but we stayed at home and lazed about.

After lunch, Jamie drove us all to Levington on the River Orwell for a walk. We walked from The Ship Inn down through the dried reed beds to the river. From there, Simonne suggested we walk west along the banks of the river. We walked for about a mile to Nacton Shores then turned north for a few hundred yards, then north east through woods until we reached a road. We followed the road back to the pub at Levington where we had a refreshing drink before being driven back to the house.

Back at the house it was time to get ready for dinner. We were booked at the Brewers in Rattlesden for 6pm. First thoughts were that it was just a noisy pub with ideas above its station. How wrong can you be?!

Starter:

Seatrout tartare for Scamp
Lobster risotto for Simonne
Lamb + black pudding for Jamie and me

Main:

Scallops for Scamp
Beef fillet with kale for Simonne and Jamie
Pork belly with black haggis for me

Dessert:

Treacle tart for me
Date pudding for all the rest

All washed down with a variety of alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, from zero alcohol beer to a porn star martini.

On the drive home through the gloaming along the misted narrow lanes that populate this countryside, we passed a statuesque looking deer that watched us, fearlessly, not 50 metres away in a borderless field. Countless pheasants risked life and limb by darting out in front of the car, but Jamie saw us safely back to the house without turning a hair.

A rum and coke each finished off our day while we watched a strange South African series with far too much swearing (and not ‘good’ swearing either) and a dialog that switched constantly from Afrikaans (with subtitles) to English. If you’re looking for it, don’t. It’s called Unseen. Might have been better all in one language and using actors who can act.

Tomorrow the weather fairies say it’s going to rain.