Category: Family

A day of sunshine – 1 March 2021

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Just for a change!

Rather a late start, but that was because of a late night and a small dram of Tamnavulin last night. Just to help me in finishing off the last drawing of the February challenge.

It was a foggy start too, but you just knew the sun would burn it off if you gave it a chance. We gave it a chance and soon the sky was clear and there were only a few clouds sliding across it, however it was cold outside because the sun in early spring in Scotland takes a while to get it’s furnace pumped up to full heat. Sitting in the living room with the sun shining in, the light was wonderful. I used that light to illuminate what became today’s PoD which was a wilting tulip. Flowers are often more interesting when they are just past their display best, I think. I took a few, well, a couple of dozen photos of the tulips and hyacinths in that lovely directional light. While I was processing the results, Scamp went for a walk to the shops to get lunch.

After lunch we drove down to see Isobel who has a great wee sun trap at the side of her house. She had been out working in the garden and we sat for a while and exchanged books before we headed back home with some detailed instruction on when and what to prune in the garden.

Just for a laugh we put the gingerbread house out in the back garden for the birds to eat. It was much later, while I was getting ready to make dinner that I noticed a movement in among the pots. At first I thought it was a dunnock (small brown bird that forages around the pots), but it was a wee mouse. It looked smaller than a house mouse, but the same colour. It seemed interested in the house or perhaps the smells coming from it. I don’t think we really want rodents in the garden, no matter what size they are, or how cute. I think I know where it/they are coming from. The old clothes pole I cut down last year is lying behind the pots. I’d forgotten all about it, but it would be a perfect home for a rodent family. Tomorrow I’ll saw it into manageable pieces and take it off to the tip.

It seems a bit strange to be sitting writing the blog without having to do a sketch too, but February is past and I need a rest from daily drawing for a while. Maybe later in the year, all being well.

Weather looks colder for the next few days. Today was just like a spring day, let’s hope the rest of the week remembers that it is meteorological spring. No plans for tomorrow.

Bakin’ Bagels – 28 February 2021

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That’s not all we did today, but probably the most interesting thing.

I actually got up earlier than usual to start to tidy up the dining table. It was a shocking mess of cables, external hard drives, papers and just junk. All of it mine. Once it was fairly clear and not just dumped in another place, but filed away properly for once, I could start on the dough for the bagels. But first, it was time for a Sunday fry-up. Some traditions must be adhered to.

The bagel kit was part of my Christmas present from my son and his wife. Every month for six months a blue box appears on the mat with the ingredients and instructions to make some bread related food. This month’s had been languishing for a good few weeks. I’ve only once eaten a bagel and that was in Starbucks. As my daughter commented, it might not have been the most representative of bagels. All I knew about them was that they were boiled before they were baked, which sounded strange. Still, the dough awaited me. Got it mixed and kneaded and transferred to the bowl to prove (rise).

It would take a good hour or so for the dough to double in size, so we went for a walk in St Mo’s. The sky had started of milky white this morning and kept promising to clear, but it had just remained white all day. We went twice round the pond with lots of other folk who were also waiting for the emergence of that bit white disk in the sky. It didn’t happen and we all went home disappointed. All except one little girl with pale blue wellies who was discovering the delights of puddles and also the brilliant way that bulrushes smash into a thousand pieces when you bash them on the ground. Such simple pleasures are wasted on children.

I couldn’t see anything worth photographing, even with my new macro lens. I eventually settled on a shot of a park bench sitting under a tree. I spent an hour at home covering up the berm bend of a BMX track with grass in Lightroom and eventually made it PoD.

Back at the bakehouse I chopped up the dough into ten pieces and made them into doughnut shapes before boiling them in water for 45secs on each side (they float, you see). Then I sprinkled most of them with poppy seeds and baked them. The came out looking like the picture, but were a bit chewy and in need of some salt. However, having only once tried a bagel, I didn’t know if that was what they should taste like. I don’t know where you’d find anyone in Cumbersheugh who could tell you what a bagel is, far less where to buy one. Do you think Amazon sells them?

While I was bagel boiling and baking, Scamp was creating a fish pie. It’s one of her sister’s masterpieces and something we look forward to when we visit Skye. Hers was almost as good as the Skye Pie but was a lot of work. First cook the fish in milk, then let it cool. Make a sauce with the milk. Boil the potatoes and mash them with butter before assembling everything, adding some peas and bunging it in the fridge for a while. Finally baking it in the oven to heat it up and also to crisp up the potato topping. I thought it tasted fine, but Scamp, the perfectionist wasn’t sure. More investigation needed I think.

Dancing menu tonight was Mayfair Quickstep – Waltz Routine – Rumba Routine with new steps – Square Tango. We both felt we did really well with all of the above and Scamp got a quick thumbs up text from Stewart afterwards to confirm that we were doing well! Must keep up the good work during the week.

Final drawing for EDiF and 28DL was Bird Box. Mine was a simple wooden bird box like the ones we used to make in school. Birds don’t care about fancy painted details. All they are looking for is a place to hatch and rear their offspring. That’s what my drawing shows. All done for another year, although I may do EDiMay if the prompts take my fancy DV.

Spoke to JIC after the dance class and heard that they have actually been sitting out in their garden!!!  Probably without coats on too!!  What is the world coming to?

Our monthly Covid test is on the cards for tomorrow, otherwise the day is our own. Looks like a better day than today.

A wild, windy and wet day – 23 February 2021

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That’s quite enough alliteration for today thank you very much.

Despite the hammering rain and the wind, Scamp wanted to go for a walk down to the shops because we were running short on fruit. It wasn’t so bad when we were out, until we realised we had the wind at our back, but on the way home it was literally in our face. I’d thought I might take a detour through St Mo’s on the way back, but I decided that was not the thing to do in the rain, and besides we were carrying two bags of messages and my detour would have left Scamp with both, so we just went home.

I did go out a short while later when the rain stopped. The rain might have stopped, but the wind felt worse and unbelievably I was almost blown off my feet. Scamp keeps on telling me I’m getting thin and I just laugh, but maybe this once she’s right. I’ll have to stock up on steak pies and fish suppers to increase my BMI and lower my centre of gravity. I took a few photos, but nothing really stood out. Luckily I’d taken the opportunity of a grab shot on my way out. I’d seen this little dog’s collar with the red bow a few days ago and meant to get a photo. I did today and it became PoD. The rest of the shots were almost all out of focus. I was all for sending the lens back, but then relented because with the weather conditions we’re having, it’s hardly a fair test of the lens’ ability. I’ve got 30 days to make up my mind.

Spoke to Hazy later in the day and it seems that they are settling in to their ‘new’ place quite well. No activity from any river dwelling spirits yet though. If that means nothing to you, try reading the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch

Tonight Scamp got her jag. Same one as me, Astra Zeneca. So hopefully that will take some of the stress out of life for a while. Boris the Bungler made his Roadmap out of Lockdown public yesterday and Nic the Chick made her proclamation today. A couple of nice wee sarcastic jags of her own at the London Lad. Also a more sensible and cautious path out for Scotland. I don’t really mind how long it takes (within reason), just as long as it works.

Today’s prompt was “Miami” and I couldn’t think what to do for it. I finally settled on Miami Vice, the ’80s version of Crocket and Tubbs. Drew a machine vice and put a Miami logo on it. Don’t tell anyone, but if you look carefully you’ll see that I spelt Miami wrong! Twice! I could have altered it digitally in the photo but an eraser was quicker in the end!  The Palomino Blackwing pencils are really soft.  They must be about a 6B and it takes very little to smear them all over the page.  That’s why it looks so dirty.

Tomorrow seems like a re-run of today, if slightly calmer. We may go for a walk somewhere, or we may not. I’ve baking to do.

The sun was shining – 21 February 2021

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For a change, the sun was shining today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Almost gone and a snow chicken – 15 February 2021

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The snow is almost gone and a snow chicken has appeared.

We went for a walk to the shops today for milk, fruit and veg. Scamp went to M&S and I went to Iceland. Between us we got the milk and most of the fruit and veg. Of course I bought much more than Scamp. That’s my big failing, but I can also, occasionally come up trumps with some strange purchase that turn out to be useful. Today, that wasn’t the case, but the now partly empty, box of Neapolitan ice cream is in the freezer.

After lunch I went for a walk in St Mo’s. The snow there was taking longer to disappear probably because it had been compressed by hundreds of feet. I had a fair few shots of coots and moorhens on the part frozen St Mo’s pond, but they fell into a support role when I saw the Snow Chicken. Snow chickens are very rare, only seen after a heavy snow fall is rapidly thawing. They are rumoured to migrate to colder climates under cover of night. Two women seemed amused at this man staggering around a block of snow beside the BMX track at St Mo’s, occasionally crouching almost on all fours. As I walked away, they smiled at me and I smiled back. How can you explain a thing like a Snow Chicken. It will be gone tomorrow, winging its way over the mountains to return to its native Norway.

I had a quick chat with Hazy later but she had to cut the call short to sort out a cat fight! Never a dull moment in Hazy’s house 🙂

The Snow Chicken got PoD and today’s EDiF prompt was Cycle. My drawing for that was an ink sketch of my Kona Dewdrop. I finally posted yesterday’s post for the prompt Venice below.

Tomorrow we have a webinar booked with our friend in Falkirk in the morning. After that our day is our own.

The day that the rains came – 14 February 2021

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At last the snow was retreating.

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

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

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

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

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

A day for recharging batteries – 31 January 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

50 – 30 January 2021

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Today it’s exactly 50 years since we first met at our friends’ engagement party. That was a Saturday too!

It was cold and frosty with just the thinnest covering of snow, so it was boots and YakTrax just in case. Not a long walk today, just a couple of circuits of St Mo’s pond. I took the Sony plus kit lens and my old Sigma 105mm macro on the adapter. The Samyang 18mm is always in the bag. That covered all the necessary bases. Two circuits was what we predicted and that’s what we did. Cold, but not absolutely freezing. Most of the photography was of landscapes with the macro lens providing some arty-farty close ups. After lunch it was time for me to give a cursory glance at the photos and for us both to begin to prepared dinner and tidy up a bit.

Later in the afternoon a knock at the door signalled the arrival of a large box of beautiful flowers from Hazy, JIC, Neil D and Sim. (Alphabetical arrangements are always safest). To say we were taken by surprise is an understatement. It’s rarely Scamp or I are lost for words, but we were today. Thank you, you lovely people.

Dinner was a sit at the table affair and a full three course meal. We decided it would be appropriate to celebrate the fifty years since we met with a glass (or two) of Prosecco before dinner.

It began with a seafood starter. Mine being Prawn Cocktail and Scamp’s was Seared Scallops. Mains were Lightly Smoked Trout for Scamp and Sirloin Steak for me, served with potatoes. Dessert was Eve’s Pudding. All washed down with a very nice red wine. Music just had to be Songs of Leonard Cohen.

Later we tasted a bottle of Dark Matter (not the whole bottle, not yet anyway!). I had a small glass, neat and Scamp had her traditional Coke with her’s. Interesting taste of spice, something hot and treacle. We may need to try some more tomorrow, just to be sure. While sampling we watched a bit of TV and decided an early night would be best before the room started spinning too fast for us to find the door.

PoD was a landscape from the morning’s photo shoot.

Tomorrow will be the day of reckoning, I’m sure.

This, inevitably, is the catch-up write up.

Rain, Sleet and Snow – 26 January 2021

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Not a lot to recommend it, really.

It wasn’t a day for going out for a walk and even with a weatherproof camera, not a day for photography either. We were both happy to stay inside, even if it was a bit boring.

We did get a phone call from Hazy and that cheered us up. She even gave us a list of programmes to watch on the TV. Glad to hear a Librarian’s job has appeared at last. You’ve waited a long time for that. We hope you really enjoy it and end up running the show!

In the end I sat and watched a tutorial on Affinity Designer software. Not the most riveting visual feast, but very informative. Although I taught vector graphics to Higher level I was completely self taught. We didn’t get much opportunity to go on training days because money at school was always tight and any tutorials we could find were so far out of date to be absolutely useless. I wish I’d had this 2hr 45min video tutorial then. I’ve learned more in the first half hour than I had with all those old typed out and badly photocopied pages.

Because I didn’t get out to take any photos, I had to rely on the old faithful, flowers. Cut flowers, because the only flowers showing in the garden are the Christmas Roses and they’ve all been photographed out. Likewise the Christmas flowering cacti. The ‘mother’ plant is now producing the most gorgeous bright pink flowers, but I feel it too has been over photographed. Today it was the chance of Eryngium to take centre stage. This plant, also known as Sea Holly is one of Scamp’s favourites and rapidly becoming one of mine too. Not bright and showy, but the spiky dark blue flowers are eye-catching in their own way. They became PoD.

I did have one piece of good news. I got my appointment for the Covid vaccine. I’ll have to wait a fortnight to get it, but I’m not complaining … for once!

Tomorrow is looking like it will be better than today, so we may get out for a walk.

The Bin Man and The Girls – 25 January 2021

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Today I was a bin man. Not for us, but for my niece, although a few of our empty bottles went along for the ride.

Our niece was having problems getting her rubbish collected and she asked me to help her out. It wasn’t really a problem. She’d done all the hard work of sorting into different bags. I was just the transport to the council skips. For once there was no queue and no need to check proof of residential status. Just an “Ok buddy. Go right in.” Shona had done a good job of sorting all the paper, cardboard, general waste and glass. All I had to do was chuck the bags in the skips, empty the paper in the bins and the cardboard into the hopper for the crusher. Then the good bit, smashing the bottles in the big steel boxed with the rubber seals over the openings. I just love that smashing sound. Someone once told me that it’s only men who have a fascination with bonfires and throwing anything into them that isn’t bolted down. The same is true with water. Women want to walk beside it. Men want to throw things into it. Apparently it’s the same with recycling centres. Men love throwing empty bottles into those boxes to hear the smash. It’s some primal instinct.

With that done I drove up to Fannyside to see The Girls. The sheep, some white, some black who live in a field up there. The last time Scamp and I were there, the sheep stood for ages, like statues, watching us. Today they were more interested in their lunch which the farmer had just served. I took their photo anyway, because I knew they expected it. Nice backdrop of the Campsie Fells and their light covering of snow with cloud shadows giving some added 3D effects. On the way back I stopped to grab a shot of an old ruined farm which, according to the OS map is Jawhill. It’s very picturesque and would be even more so if it wasn’t for those bloody wind farms behind it, two different ones. Blots on the landscape.

Stopped at Tesco on the way home for food. Veg for soup and also milk and bread. When I got home, and after lunch, Scamp went out on a foraging mission armed with her shopping voucher from the Office for National Statistics and Oxford Uni. We had decided that we’d both use half our money to buy food for the local food banks and half we’d keep. Seems only fair. She returned looking pleased with herself. Half of her first payment now gracing the food bank donation box in Tesco. My turn later in the week.

It was Burn Night tonight and it’s traditional in this house to have Haggis, Neeps (which my spellchecker doesn’t understand) and Tatties (which it does!). So that was dinner sorted. Scamp was cooking. I was footering about with today’s photos. ‘The Ladies’ won PoD as I knew they would and should.

It started snowing about an hour ago and it’s still hard at it. I expect it will be mostly gone by tomorrow because it’s forecast to turn to rain later, but then again, they might get it completely wrong. We can only wait and see. If the weather is decent we might go for a walk.