Category: Family

Fog – 18 December 2021

Posted on by Zogman

Thick, then thinning. Wet and clinging. That’s fog.

For a week my phone’s weather app has been predicting fog on Saturday. Today it changed its prediction to sunshine. Unfortunately it had already ordered the fog and, like on Amazon, once you’ve paid for it, you’re already too late to change the order. So we had that grey sheet of obliteration all day.

Last night we got the message that today’s dance class had been cancelled, so the silver lining to that cloud was that we had more time to parcel up the prezzies and send them on their way. I say ‘We’, but you all know that it’s Scamp who does all the work. I just do what I’m told (for a change). Today was no exception. Hazy and Neil’s parcel needed a firm top for the box, so I cut a bit of heavy card from one of my big A1 sketch pads and it fitted perfectly. Scamp was ordering and paying for the delivery label the we hit the first problem. The printer wasn’t working. The PC said the printer couldn’t be found. Of course it was because of the new modem which had a new address and password. There was a neat solution, of course. You only need to bring the printer near the modem and press a button on the modem and on the printer and the two will connect without the need for a password. It’s never that easy. This must be a slightly newer version of the modem. It was only after a lot of swearing and searching on the InterWeb that I found you have to hold the WPS button down for about five seconds then do the same on the WiFi button on the printer. With our old modem you just pressed the WPS button, no need to long press it. Once that was cleared up and the labels printed and fixed on the parcels we could relax.

Well, not exactly, that was the next problem. The time was 12:10 and the Post Office closed at 12:30 today, so I got my jacket on and legged it over to Condorrat to hand the parcel over. Thankfully there was no queue and I got it into the bag and the receipt in my hands just as the Parcelforce men were loading the sacks. One down.

With a bit of time to spare now, I went to the butchers to get stew for my dinner this week, plus some Tattie Scones, plus four black puddings, plus a steak pie for my dinner tonight. Walked back to find Scamp had tidied up the carnage in the living room and it was time for a cup of Sumatran coffee. Hazy and Neil’s parcel is going DPD for logistical reasons. That is, I’d already paid for the DPD delivery before realising that we could have sent them both by Parcelforce.

After lunch Scamp and I went out in the fog for a walk round St Mo’s. It was that creepy fog that is thick in some places and non-existent in others. I grabbed a quick shot of a bloke striding home along the path through the trees and with a bit of work, that made PoD. Lots of spiderwebs revealed by the water droplets courtesy of the fog. Very etherial but very few that made a good shot.

Steak pie was lovely, if a little sparse in steak. I couldn’t tell you when I last had a butcher’s steak pie. Half of it is gone with the other half for dinner tomorrow. Scamp had a white dinner Cauliflower and Potatoes.

Later we watched a stretched out Strictly. We weren’t totally surprised by the winning competitor, nor were we impressed by the performance. The worst thing was the time wasting that was going on. I gave up after a while with all the weeping and ‘emulsion’ people were showing. How many crocodiles did they need to collect all those tears?

Thanks for the email address Hazy. We did eventually get signed in and found the film we were looking for on Amazon Prime, plus another one I wanted to see.

Tomorrow looks a bit like today, foggy. Maybe another walk in a different direction.

Another dull, wet day – 15 December 2021

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It rained all day today, but Scamp went out for a walk in the rain.

It was a busy day, though. While Scamp was out posting Christmas cards the engineer arrived to service the boiler. While he was working away Hazy phoned. I just knew she was more interested in getting more information from her mum than talking to me, so I asked her to phone back which she did. Scamp arrived back just in time to save me pulling a cupboard apart to find the maintenance log for the engineer to sign. He gave us a lot of useful information in the time he was here. He showed us a much better way to use the central heating and keep the house warmer too. It’s always good to get information from someone who knows what they’re talking about. In half an hour he passed on more useful knowledge than the bloke from Scottish Gas had given us when he was fitting the boiler. So, the boiler was fine, as you’d expect considering it’s just over a year old, and the house is now a lot warmer without getting too hot.

Once he was on his way, we settled down to hear what was going on in Hazy’s house, while one of her cats was screaming to be fed. Poor wee soul hadn’t been fed for years apparently. Worse still, that bad girl was too busy talking on the phone to do anything about it. Scamp related her tale of woe about NHS waiting lists and the difference if you’re willing to pay. I hardly got a word in edgewise, but that was probably for the best ”It’s always good to get information from someone who knows what they’re talking about”.

After lunch Jackie phoned and I took the opportunity to boot up and go out for a walk in the rain. If it was good enough for Scamp, it was good enough for me. PoD came from that walk and is one of those little weeds I delight in photographing with raindrops clinging to the bracts that used to hold flowers. There is a saying “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” My thoughts today were “If life gives you rain, photograph it.” That’s what I did. Of course the photo is slightly fake edited. I used the new masking tools in Lightroom to blur the background while keeping the subject sharp. It’s not perfect, but it’s a pretty clever tool.

I walked down to the shops and got some frozen sweet corn to make Celeriac and Sweetcorn soup. It sounds awful, but it actually tastes very good. We were both agreed on that.

Years ago I made an adjustable lens hood for one of my Oly lenses. I found the drawing for it tonight and managed to export it from the PC to the Mac and print it out from there. Transferred it to a sheet of neoprene and lo and behold, it fits the new macro lens that didn’t come with a lens hood. I need to get some black velcro tomorrow to finish it.

That’s about it for today. Like I said, it was a busy day. I think we may be going to the Fort tomorrow.

Out for a walk – 5 December 2021

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Scamp wanted to go out for a walk today. I agreed.

We went for a walk around the exercise machines. As we were going out there was a Santa changing out of his suit at the corner. It turned out he wasn’t the real Santa, but was Angela, our next-door neighbour’s father changing back into his normal clothes after giving out the medals at the annual Santa Race which is run at Broadwood Stadium every year. A bit disappointing to miss the race this year because we’ve been to the last few.

I bowed to Scamp’s decision about where we should go for our walk round the exercise machines and although it was cold and a bit slippery in places we had a non-eventful walk. We stopped at M&S for some tangerines for Scamp and a bottle of full cream milk for me to make Panna cotta for tonight’s pudding. Mackerel for lunch for me and the usual black pudding and egg for Scamp.

After lunch I went for my second walk of the day, this time in St Mo’s, and a macro shot of a mushroom got PoD. Not the most magnificent shot of the week, but the best one of the day.

Dinner tonight was a yesterday’s soup for starter, followed by rough ribeye steak for me and a trout fillet for Scamp. Both served with potatoes and cabbage. Panna cotta for pudding. More panna cotta for tomorrow.

Spoke to Jamie later  and heard all about the trials and tribulations of moving house.  We’ve had them ourselves, a few times, but in a different century and a different world.

Watching the most ridiculous F1 GP where Hamilton is being helped by the stewards to bring it to a tie going into the final race. This isn’t racing, this is politics.

No plans for tomorrow.

A birthday and going for the messages – 2 December 2021

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Just a normal shopping day at Tesco, after the singing.

The singing was done in text format over WhatsApp to Hazy and went along the lines of:
“Happy Birthday to you”

I drove us to Tesco and Scamp consulted her Little List as the basis of the shopping. While we were wandering around the aisles I bumped into Fred and found out that things are looking up now at home. Glad to hear that. We’ve agreed to have a coffee sometime soon. The list had about ten items on it and we left an hour or so later with four big bags full of groceries. Drove home in time for a cup of coffee before lunch.

After lunch Hazy sent a message to ask if we wanted to do a Zoom call. Of course we did. Scamp sang “Happy Birthday” to Hazy. I was out of the room at the time, but that was probably for the best. Singing is not my forté I’m afraid. We sat and talked for a quite a while. It was good to speak face to face, even a virtual face to face after such a long time. So much has happened since our family holiday in Cumbria back in July.

After we said our goodbyes and closed down the computer the light had almost disappeared, then the sun broke out through the clouds and all was well again. I grabbed both cameras and headed out looking for deer. I didn’t find any deer. I did find an interesting sky that might make it to Flickr once I get it looking at its best. PoD, however, went to a spear of whin with a strip of sunset orange below it. I liked the picture when I saw it through the viewfinder, but even better for me, was the format. The long narrow strip fitted the subject perfectly in my eyes.

Smoked haddock and cabbage risotto for dinner cooked in the oven. It doesn’t sound very appetising, but you’d be wrong for rejecting it just because of its ingredients. It was lovely, and best of all, no standing stirring the rice for twenty minutes. Just let the oven do the hard work.

I hope you had a lovely day Hazy.

I don’t really know what we’re doing tomorrow. Nothing planned yet.

 

Tea Dancin’ – 29 November 2021

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With a judge called Isobel.

It was a dull morning, but most of the afternoon would be inside, so we weren’t all that worried.

Picked up Isobel and drove through some soaking drizzly rain to Falkirk. Got to the church with a few minutes to spare and dropped the two ladies off as near as I could to the path to the church hall. Then I went to park the car. I walked back to the church and that’s when Scamp told me the bag with the shoes was still in the car’s boot. So I had to walk back and pick up the bag. Missed the first two dances as a result. Probably my fault. On the way back I managed to get a few photos of the church.

We were on the floor for more than a few different dances. Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot and Rumba, we stumbled through them all. Starting off badly, but improving as we went. That’s what happens when you’ve not danced for a couple of weeks. We also joined in with most of the sequence dances we know. The guy playing the keyboard kept everything going really well.

Things started to fall apart when we left. I had told Scamp that I’d bring the car up to the church to pick them up. Because Falkirk is a maze of one way streets and the fact that it was dark by then and raining, I struggled to find a way to the entrance into the church carpark and tried to phone Scamp to tell her to meet me back on the street where I’d dropped them off, but the phone kept going to voicemail. Apparently her phone was in the shoe bag which was now in the boot of the car. Not knowing that, I left a message on the phone. I finally found the street that took me to the entrance to the church carpark, but when I got there, No Scamp or Isobel. I assumed she’d got the message and had gone to the street where I’d dropped them off earlier in the day. I left and headed for the street . That’s when my phone rang and Scamp speaking on Isobel’s phone, asking me why I’d driven away! They had been sheltering in an alcove on the dark side of the church and had seen me drive in and then drive off again. All in all, it was a comedy of errors, just not funny. Not at all funny.

Just to put the tin lid on things, there was a problem with the SD card in the camera and none of my photos had been recorded. It would have been good if Sony had thought to put a big “NO CARD” message in the middle the screen, instead of a tiny little note in the top left corner of the screen.

They say that problems come in threes. I think I’ve had my three today.

The Christmas cactus stepped into the gap left but the dodgy SD card and that made PoD.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better than today.

Snow – 28 November 2021

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Today we woke to snow, just as the forecasters predicted … for once.

Yes, a layer of the white stuff coated the paths and the grass this morning. The temperature was 1.1ºc. Above zero, but only just. I was thinking that I might go out and get some snowy scene photos, but then again, there was no real need to rush. The snow would probably be there in an hour or so too. Time to finish the chapter in my book.

I eventually pulled on my boots, got my heavy Bergy jacket and my furry hat. Then, armed with both Sony cameras I went off to the snowy wastes of St Mo’s. I did get PoD with the A7, but most of the photos were macros taken with the A6000. Surprisingly, when I got them processed, I had far more ‘keepers’ than I thought I’d have.

Back home, my next task was to decant some of yesterday’s leaves into the compost bin. The easiest way, and much to Scamp’s dismay, was to bring the garden waste wheelie bin through the house to the back garden. Then shovel the leaves into the bin. The contents of the bin were in far better nick than I’d have expected. There was a lot of good looking, well rotted compost in there and also a fair number of worms eating their way through what was left of some vegetable matter. The already chopped up leaves will give them something new in their diet.

Our own diet today was Tomato and Red Pepper soup followed by Pan Fried Chicken Breast with potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower. It sounds fancy, but I was cooking, so some corners were cut and some license has been taken with the description. The chicken was half the breast from the chicken I cooked yesterday. The broccoli and cauliflower were from an M&S packet and the potatoes were mingin’. Too old and mouldy looking. Still, pudding was an M&S Cherry Steamed Pudding. I could never have made that, but I could bake it in the microwave for 1min 30sec.

Spoke to Jamie and found out the full story of Simonne’s injured hand and the extent of the injuries. She’s back to the hospital tomorrow to get the dressing changed and check that healing is properly in progress. Neither dog seems to have any serious injuries.
Things seem to be moving on the house front too with some work already completed and others in the pipeline.

Today’s PoD is a view along the path to Condorrat with a tweak or two in Lightroom. Doesn’t it make it look cold!

Tomorrow we are intending to take Isobel to the tea dance in Falkirk. It’s a test too, to see if Scamp can manage to dance with the new glasses on. If it works we may attempt a class on Saturday. Temperature now is -1ºc. Below zero, but only just.

Arwen Arrives – 26 November 2021

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A wild lady is Arwen.

Named after the Lady of Rivendell, Arwen is a storm that started battering the east of the UK this afternoon. I’d gone out in the early afternoon before she could swoop over us and it was bitter cold just about 4ºc which with windchill reduced to approximately -267ºc or thereabouts. At least that’s how it felt. However, I did get some photos and my favourite was the one you see above. It’s the pond at St Mo’s with Deone’s butterfly seat in the distance.

One circuit of the pond was enough for me today. The wind was beginning to rise as I was coming home and I was glad I’d my Bergy jacket with its fleece lining to keep out the worst of the weather.

Earlier, in the morning I’d washed the downstairs windows, but that only gave Scamp the opportunity to change the curtains. I did the taking down of the curtains, Scamp did the changeover and then I put the new ones up. Yes, she was right, they did need changing.

Earlier still, we spoke to Hazy and found what was happening down Epsom way. Lots of interesting things going on down there and we now have a singing school teacher in the family!

All that and a phone call from Margie to tell Scamp about her trips to hospital and the swearing from some Larky folk who were in the ward with her. I’d could have told her, that’s not swearing, it’s just the way they talk. The sweary words are just used as punctuation!

Storm Arwen has been making a nuisance of itself for some time now, since about 3pm, and is still roaming around the houses here.  It’s been gathering all the leaves from around the estate and dumping them on our front garden, then clattering them off our front window.  The storm doesn’t seem to be lessening  and it will be here for most of the night and some of tomorrow it seems. I don’t know how much sleep we’ll get, but it will soon be time to find out.

Tomorrow I’m intending cooking a roast chicken for dinner. I’m sure I’ll need some assistance from Scamp, but maybe not too much. I don’t think we’ll be going far until Arwen heads off south.

Frosty – 22 November 2021

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Our first sub-zero morning this winter. Yes, winter, because it feels like autumn has silently slid into that colder season.

The temperature this morning was -0.4ºc. There were no birds bathing this morning because the birdbath was frozen over. When I went out to break the ice I had to use a half brick to get through the top layer of ice. Still there were no takers for a quick splash. Can’t say I blame them.

It might be cold, but it was bright. Really too bright to take photos. I’d intended making some bread, but instead I made one last backup of Mojave on the iMac and then plunged headlong into installing Catalina. I’d rather have stayed with Mojave, but fewer and fewer apps would now run on that older version of the Mac OS. The consolation is that both the MBP and the iMac will now be running the same OS and should play nice with each other. They should, but like two siblings separated by a few years, I’m sure they will fight and throw the occasional hissy fit. The update didn’t take all that long and most things worked as before. My real regret was the loss of Excel. My version runs in 32bit mode and Catalina only supports 64bit, so I am now stuck with the vastly inferior Apple Numbers.

After lunch and when I was getting itchy feet, I took the Sony for a walk in St Mo’s. There wasn’t much to see although I did spook a deer in the woods. I got a photo of what looked like a family group of fungi all cambering over each other to get their foties took. That’s available for perusal on Flickr, but PoD went to a yellow leaf tangled in a tree. I used an updated version of Lightroom to pull it out of the gloaming gloom. Lightroom is becoming more and more sophisticated with each update. More and more useful too.

I think the highest temperature we reached today was about 5ºc. Not great, but above zero at least. We spoke to Jamie in the evening and found that even down south it had been cold today. House preparation seems to be going ahead apace. The electrician has been and said that the wiring is up to scratch but the sockets need to be replaced. Vixen has approved the house in general, but isn’t sure about those stairs.The carpets have been bought a will be laid soon. The removals company has been booked too. Lots of stuff is being sorted as you’d expect with two new, young house owners!

Tomorrow we may go out for a short walk if Scamp is fit enough and I have to pick someone’s brains about cataract surgery outside the NHS. Other than that, no plans.

 

Dull, Dull, Dull – 16 November 2021

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We had wished for sunshine today, but apparently it was out of stock.

Since I was up first for a change and it wasn’t actually raining, I grabbed the Sony and went for a walk … round the garden. That’s where I got today’s PoD which is a lovely little Fuchsia hanging on a hook in the back garden. It’s splash of colour was very welcome.  Came back in because the rain had started and stayed on for the day.

I’d just come back in when Hazy phoned. We had a long talk about consultations, because it’s not just Scamp who’s having problems just now. Hazel is steeling herself for a hospital appointment, Neil is being overloaded with school work and his granny isn’t doing too well either. I think it’s something to do with the time of the year. There seems to be a dip in enthusiasm just after the clocks go back. Daylight seems in short supply and darkness comes early. Nothing to look forward to until Christmas and that’s still over a month away.

I drove down to the shops to get tonight’s dinner and that was the extent of our travel. A load of scaffolding was delivered to the ‘pensioners’ house next door. It appears that there is work to be done on the roof. That was a little bit of excitement on a really dull day.

Scamp is sticking to her pledge and working with the glasses, even although they are heavy and keep pulling down on her nose. If I get finished this blog tonight, that will be me up to date. Take a few days off from blog posting and it takes more than a few to get it up to date. It’s good fun to read what happened last year though!

Tomorrow I’ve got a coffee appointment booked with Val. That might brighten my day, and give Scamp a rest from me!

Goldfish bowl – 15 November 2021

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Today the lenses came out and the glasses went on and there was a long face.

Today was the day Scamp had chosen to remove her lenses for the four week preparation for her next visit to Hairmyres, when she would be measured for the lenses that might just improve her sight and remove the cataracts that have been growing. It was not a day without its tension and sufferance. However as everyone she’s met has told her, “It will be worth it in the long run.” Not much consolation when you’re looking at a world that has no straight lines. It must be what a goldfish sees from its bowl. I don’t think you’re really encouraged to put goldfish in bowls these days, but apparently you can do that to people, because It Will Be Worth It …

The rest of the day was quite dull and dreary. Just what you expect after coming down from the heights of a weekend filled with bright lights, music, glitz and some glamour. I think my dad got it right: Auld Claes and Purrich. Even the weather seemed to be dragging us down.

I did go out in the late afternoon when the sky brightened for a while. I walked part of the woods in St Mo’s looking for ‘beasties’ while Scamp watched TV from her goldfish bowl. I came back with a few shots of a spider on a tree and that got PoD.

It being Monday, pasta was on the menu. It was one of those,’ What’s in the fridge’, meals. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. Today’s worked. Finely chopped veg cooked with some finely chopped pancetta, then passata added to make the sauce. Served with penne. A Monday dinner.

Watched an interesting Brazilian GP. Some good driving with some very clever tactics. F1 is becoming more and more a statisticians race, where the outcome is carefully calculated on a constantly changing spreadsheet. Some of the fun has gone out of it.

We had a surprise invitation from Jamie to a video call from their new house. They got their keys today and they both looked delighted. They took us round the garden, through the downstairs rooms and then up those notorious stairs to upper floor and that ridiculously small door. It looks like it was a pair of cave explorers who lived in it before, not a couple who are older than us! Beautiful house all the same. Oh, and that garden!!

Hoping the weather fairies have got it wrong and it’s going to be a lovely day tomorrow.