Category: Family

Recovery – 7 April 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Long day yesterday and a late night, so today would be recovery.

Late night yesterday after a lot of dancing, so today we would need some time to recover. Also there was a blog to write and post before I could get round to writing this. That’s what happens when you miss a day. So, here goes.

It was wet again this morning, in fact it was the rain on the window that woke me about 7am, then I went back to sleep! Dithered about in the morning solving Wordle and not getting a Pangram. Lunch was an omelette for Scamp and a slice of liver with an egg for me.

Then we watched another F1 GP from Suzuka in Japan. Horrible looking crash right at the start. I’m always amazed and impressed to see the drivers walk away from what looks like a scrap yard that used to be a couple of million pound racing cars. From then on it was a bit of a war of attrition. With the weak falling by the wayside. Glad to see Leclerc being bested again by Sainz. It begs the question again, why are Ferrari ditching Sainz in favour of far less skilled loser Leclerc? Answers on a postcard please.

Scamp wanted to hoover the living room and I just wanted out. I offered her a walk in St Mo’s but she declined. I took the A6500 with the weird looking LensBaby to get some unusual photos of anything that came to mind. What came to mind was a bunch of dandelions at the side of the path. Then I found a moth, a Welsh Wave (Venusia cambrica), I think, camouflaged on a tree. Both are on Flickr. But when I got home I saw the PoD. Today’s occasional bright sunshine encouraged the split rock, know as Terry, to display his orange flower!

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard about his map reading course in the wilds of the Lakes, and also about the progress being made with the house. Hopefully it will be ready soon, after a long wait.

Hoping for a dry day for a trip into Glasgow for lunch.

Happy Birthday Scamp – 24 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp’s Birthday today.

A lazy morning for both of us. Lots of prezzies opened and lots of smiles. Hazy phoned in the morning and I gave them space to talk while I tidied up downstairs.

After lunch Scamp wanted to get her new plants into pots and distributed round the garden. I took a camera for a walk in St Mo’s. Not a lot to be seen, but I did get some photos of a bunch of dandelions sitting on a wall and with a fence to give them some extra support.

Scamp had requested that dinner should be, Chicken & Pea Traybake, to give it its proper name, The same meal we had on Thursday. I was chef, of course, but the real cook was the oven because it did all the hard work. Dessert was Viennetta. All washed down with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Jamie and Simonne’s Christmas parcel.

Spoke to Jamie later in the day and heard that the main works seem to be finished and now the push seems to be on to get the plastering completed. The hope being that when that is finished, they can move back it full time.

We watched the final episode of this season’s Death in Paradise. The story was dragged out even more than it usually is. Lots of old faces returning for this finale. Maybe this is, as one critic wrote, the Death of Death in Paradise. We can but hope.

I think Scamp enjoyed her birthday. I really hope she did.

Tomorrow we may tidy up some loose ends.

Driving in my car – 22 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We set out this morning to drive to Bishopbriggs to get 2 cans of green paint. We got back home four hours later with only one can.

Wild morning after a wild night. Strong winds driving rain and hail storms all day. Got to B&Q and found the paint. Unfortunately they only had one can of silk finish, but loads of cans of matt. We bought the single can and left with that, some sealing strips for the shower and some sealant remover, also for the shower. Scamp was also looking for some flowers for her tub that hangs on the back fence, but they didn’t have the mixed pansies she was looking for.

I suggested that we drop in at Calders on the way home to get some pansies there. Again, there were no trays of mixed flowers, just plain colours. When Calders took over what was the Tesco owned Dobbies garden centre they set about enlarging the shop and the plant area. Today it’s become massive. The down side is that the folk who used to work there have almost all left now and it’s teenagers who are in charge of the plants and most of them have little or no gardening knowledge. The old shop itself was a bit crowd, but now it’s crammed full of display stands, to the point where it’s becoming a fire hazard. If there was a fire in that building, it would only need one person to panic, stumble into one of these displays and the exits would be blocked. We both felt uncomfortable in it.

Anyway, no pansies were for sale today, so I coaxed Scamp into going to Torwood garden centre, near Falkirk, just another 10 miles or so along the motorway. We still didn’t get the pansies, but she did get some Tiarella flowers which, apparently we say at Edinburgh Botanic Gardens a few years ago. Pretty wee pink flowers. We also got a Geisha Orange azalea to replace one we had a few years ago and also a packet Cerinthe and also Basil seeds. We stayed at Torwood for our lunch. Just a bite to eat in the middle of the day.

We drove home through more rain and hail and pulled off just after Castlecary to go to Tesco for the makings of tonight’s Fish Curry the recipe courtesy of Jamie. Just as well we took the slip road off, because ahead of us the main motorway ground to a halt. This looked more serious than the usual late Friday afternoon moving carpark. But we were off the motorway and driving up to Tesco where I spent about 20 minutes wandering round the shelves looking for Edamame beans. I’d given up and went to the checkout, but asked the lady on the till if she knew where we’d find them. She did, and got a runner to go and bring a pot of them. I was so grateful for that bit of help and now we just had to drive home, almost four hours after we set out.

Back home the skies cleared and the sun shone. I didn’t have to be asked twice. I put my boots on and went for a walk in St Mo’s. Dramatic skies all around and the occasional shower of rain but I did get a PoD which is a view across the pond to more incoming rain clouds.

Scamp made the dinner and I processed the photos. The curry was very tasty but it’s been repeating on me all evening. Other than that and a lack of salt it looks like another keeper from Jamie & Simonne. Thank you.

Tomorrow’s dance class was hanging in the balance, but it’s going to go ahead. More driving, although today’s was self inflicted. Hopefully the weather will have calmed down by then.

Stirling in the rain – 20 March 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Met Alex today to go for a wander through Stirling.

Picked Alex up at the train station and we drove through the rain to Stirling and parked at the multi-storey carpark in the town. Alex had had a haircut in the morning. Number 2 on top and a Number 1/2 on the back. Very brave when it’s only the middle of March, but who am I to say. Then he left his hat in the car. Not so clever, so first stop was M&S for a cheap bunnet. Then it was coffee time in Nero and plans were laid.

We walked up King Street in the rain and then on to Baker Street and Broad Street with its canons still guarding the road to the castle. On the way we found a flowering cherry tree that had dropped some of its flower on the metal metal seating in a park, and that’s where today’s PoD came from.

We got as far as Mar’s Wark, a townhouse from the 1500s and decided the rain was on for the day and started to head back down the hill. About halfway down the rain lessened and by the time we were down in the shopping precinct, it had stopped. Too late to go back and anyway, plans had been altered to give us a place to go for lunch.

We drove out along the St Andrews road to Coffee Bothy and had lunch. I knew, when I saw the amount of mayonnaise on my Cajun Chicken sandwich that I was going to suffer for it later, and I did. I didn’t even enjoy the food today which is really strange.

We drove back through much lighter traffic than I thought we’d have, and manage to get Alex back in time for his 4:37 train home. We agreed that we hadn’t seen the best of Stirling today and vowed to come back on a DRY day. It was really annoying driving back into the makings of a good sunset, after such a disappointing day, weather-wise.

Later Scamp and I drove up to the British Legion for our midweek dance class. Only two of us tonight, which meant there was nowhere to hide. It wasn’t my best dance class. I made countless mistakes, despite Kirsty and Scamp trying their hardest to ease me in to it. It just wasn’t working for me.

Hoping to go to a tea dance tomorrow. You can’t say I’m not a glutton for punishment!

The 29th day of February – 29 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It only happens once in every four years and today was it.

Scamp was out to lunch (again) with Isobel and I was out taking photos with Alex. She drove to the Village and I took the bus in to Glasgow. Maybe we were celebrating ‘family’ because of this special day. Or may be we were just out having lunch.

Alex and I met at the bus station and went for a coffee while we discussed our outline plan for the day. I suggested taking the subway to Kelvinbridge, taking some photos, having a Paesano pizza for lunch and taking in some architecture and graffiti. I was fairly sure this would suit Alex as well as me, and I was right.

There were a few places around Kelvinbridge that met both our requirements. I always find the way the Kelvin rushes over the rapids and down under the bridge a bit strange and unnerving. I can’t explain that, I just find it a bit nightmarish and it always draws me in to watch it again. It’s something to do with a bridge above me with the water of the River Kelvin running under me.

We left the Kelvin to do it’s stuff and walk up the hill to Paesano (West End). Fed and watered we walked down the steps that took us to the walkway above the Kelvin and over it to photograph both Mrs McChicken and also the Caledonian Mansions a restored sandstone building above us on the corner of Gt Western Road. Alex loves architecture and so do I to a certain extent. From there we returned to Gt Western Road and walked west to Byres Road.

While I was buying two books with a book token I got from Scamp at Christmas, Alex was off photographing a wee lane near the Spanish restaurant Scamp and I had visited on Monday. We met up again outside the book shop and headed towards the subway to go back to the city centre. It was there we found some lovely light on Kelvinside Hillhead Parish Church and spent another twenty minutes or more photographing it from all angles. Alex demonstrating his ability to photograph the reflections of it on car bonnets and roofs. He is one of the most inventive photogs I know.

Finally we walked into the subway and as the train came in, Alex was asked by a lady who seemed three sheets to the wind whether that train went to Glasgow. It’s a strange question, because the trains follow two concentric routes round the city. All trains go to Glasgow! He tried to explain that to them and they got on anyway. It was all part of a big adventure to them. Unfortunately we were in the same carriage as them and were caught up in their conversations which revolved around Fascinators and Hats. I sense a wedding was in the offing. When they got off at Buchanan Street I distinctly heard one ask if the train went any further. To which the answer was probably YES and NO. It’s all to do with the concentricity.

We went on to St Enoch and found some more subjects to photograph. Centered around the Metropolitan Church of St Andrew and the reflection of it on the mirror glass of its next door neighbour.

Another coffee to prepare us for the bus home and we went our separate ways. I had 105 photos with three of them rejected. Alex had a lot more. It was a really good day. Good conversation and interesting photos. I look forward to sharing them soon.

Today’s PoD was the Caledonian Mansions building.
Today’s prompt was for Gold. I’m not a seeker of wealth, so generally don’t have much gold about my person. Neither do I have any fish, although I did used to have a few Goldfish and a lovely Shubunkan until the cat found it, but I digress. I chose a goldfish as my final sketch for EDiF 2024. Such a placid fish it only needed some air bubbled through the water in its tank and the occasional flake food. This was an official 15 minute sketch with about half an hour of paint splashing later.

Scamp seemed to have a good day with Isobel who is considering whether to have another knee op. Strangely, so is Alex’s wife thinking the same thing. She has an appointment with the doc tomorrow to discuss the likelihood of it getting done. Who knows, they may end up in the same ward!

No plans for tomorrow, but I’m hoping I won’t be doing any sketching for a wee while.

 

Out to Lunch – 23 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

We were booked for lunch today with June and Ian.

A coffee in the morning to wake me up and for some reason I didn’t feel as good as I had. No reason, I just didn’t. I was messing around with stuff on the computer and then realised I’d been awarded Explore for a B&W photo looking down the boardwalk at St Mo’s. That brightened things up.

Before we knew it, it was time to get the heavy coats on and head off to Brodens for lunch. June and Ian were already there. Scamp ordered Mac ’n’ Cheese with a side of skinny fries and a glass of red. June and Ian had Fish ’n’ Chips with a lager shandy. I had Steak Pie with mash and my usual pint of Guinness. We had long ranging discussions about family and friends. I found out that Ian had tried for Glasgow School of Art when he was much younger, but didn’t get in. Who knew that? Certainly not me. We must have sat there blethering, eating and drinking for two hours at least, probably nearer three. That’s the great thing about having a local restaurant, there is no “We need the table back in 90 minutes.” You can relax in a local place.

As usual Scamp and I walked back home. She went straight home, but I went for a walk in St Mo’s hoping for some decent photos. The first shot I took was today’s PoD. Lovely light on the Campsie Fells with the Meikle Bin just showing white through the trees. The snow must have come when we were in Brodens. We were too busy to see it. Not much else worth posting, but the lighting on the hills and the clouds made one shot good enough.

When I got home Scamp said she didn’t think I was fit to go to dance class tomorrow and I had to agree. Yesterday I’d have said I was fine, but not today. I feel better now, but I didn’t when we discussed it. It’s a strange thing this cold/flu. It really gets a hold on you. Scamp did the needful and wrote the apology to S&J. Sorry we’re not going to make it tomorrow.

The prompt for today was Khaki. That’s an old man’s colour. But I have to remember … So I drew a portly gentleman wearing a pair of khaki shorts. Knee length!
It’s what the well dressed man is wearing to the beach this year. Generously cut to allow for air circulation and enough pockets to carry insect repellent, sun cream and and perhaps a small bottle each of Burgundy and Chartreuse. Or maybe a refreshingTangerine or some Plums. This well tailored garment lends itself to all tastes.
If you’ve been following the sketches you’ll understand the meaning.

Tomorrow we have no plans. Maybe we’ll drive somewhere nice. Don’t know where. Scamp fancies a pair of sandals, but hasn’t seen any yet.

The Frogs and Fairies Return

Posted on by Zogman

Around about this time of year the frogs return to the pond to mate.

Also around this time some of the local fairies dress up the woodland area of St Mo’s to look like a fairy dell. Today they outdid themselves. Not only little tree houses with tiny wee washing lines complete with pegs and clothes, but also a competition to see how many new red and white toadstools you could find among the trees. I lost count at ten, but I’m sure there were a lot more I couldn’t find. I did take some pictures, though. The last surprise was the cache of ‘Jewels’ hidden among the trees. I chose not to take anything, because you can’t always trust the tricky fairies! We had missed the fairy garden last year because we were on holiday. I’m glad we didn’t miss it this year.

The frogs are back! It’s that time of year again when the frogs start to congregate in the ponds to search for a mate. This one was the first I’ve seen this year, I’m guessing it got there early to check out the venue and the competition. It easily got PoD. This is the first time I’ve used On1 Photo Raw 2024 in earnest. I used the Brilliance filter and then toned it down a bit to retain some detail in the highlights. Most impressed with the result.

Today’s prompt was Champagne
It’s not my usual drink of choice, but it was what was asked for. As usual I started off with a rough sketch to get the proportions and angles and stuff, just drawn on A4 bank with a Pigma micron 02 black pen. Once I was happy with everything I started the ‘good’ sketch on better paper. It looked too clean and tidy and some of the angles were plain wrong. So I retrieved my rough and splashed on some colour and that looked so much better. The moral is Never throw away your rough sketch until you are sure the ‘good’ sketch works.
Note to self: Learn how to sketch running water (or champagne!)

Spoke to Jamie and discussed the videos he sent. Nothing to do with the house this time, just views of the flooded road beside his house. Lucky for them, for once, to have a house, built on a hill and also high above the road. Others weren’t so lucky and the videos of nutters driving full tilt into the floods makes you wonder for their mentality.

Tomorrow Scamp is hoping to see the dentist to get an assessment of the damage to a big old back tooth, now missing its filling.

Cormorant – 15 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

It was a wet day today. Nothing really to recommend it, except that there was no mist today, unlike yesterday.

After a lazy start and a light lunch, we drove up to Tesco in the town centre to get some messages. As I’ve said before, there is more of a choice there and why stint yourself when you can add five minutes to your drive and get a far better choice. We bumped into Shona there and remarked on her new hair colour. Then we drove home. Some days are full of exciting surprises and some are days like today.

I went for a walk round St Mo’s because the rain had stopped for a while and I wanted to get out. Scamp was busy booking a hair appointment for tomorrow. Not hair colouring, just hair cutting. Occasionally a Cormorant visits the pond in St Mo’s and it was standing there today holding its wings out to dry. It would take quite a while for them to dry today because although it was mild, the wind had disappeared with the rain. As I said, it was drying its wings, but it kept turning round to see what I was up to behind it and one of those times I managed to get a full face to face shot. Quite pleased with it. PoD done and dusted.

Dinner tonight was roast chicken and it was done perfectly. I also roasted some beetroot we’d bought at the weekend and it will probably go into a salad or on a piece of bread tomorrow. I cut the tops off carefully, Hazy, and they are now sitting in their water bath on the kitchen window sill. The garlic and spring onion were getting leggy so they are now planted in soil in the greenhouse.

I found today’s prompt, Chartreuse, one of the most restrictive this year in EDiF.
Chartreuse is an alcohol based herbal liqueur made by monks in southern France to a secret recipe. It sounded to me like an upmarket Buckfast, also made by monks to a secret recipe. The two main differences are the cost and the colour. Chartreuse is green or yellow and Buckfast is brown with red tinges (or so I’m told). I liked the idea of green wine, but not the cost.

The clock is in the picture because the first time I heard the word Chartreuse was in the track “Clockwork Chartreuse” on the Loudon Wainwright III album “Attempted Mustache” back in the early ’70s. The lyrics are fairly violent and probably wouldn’t be allowed in these PC days.

Scamp is booked to get her hair cut tomorrow morning and I might cut mine in the afternoon. Twins!

Blue skies in Paisley – 13 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Out taking photos with Alex.

I was out fairly early today, early for me, anyway. Walked to the bus stop under a bright blue sky and with the sun to brighten my day. Got the bus in to Glasgow and for once it was Alex who was late. His bus was going the slow way for a change. I didn’t mind, it gave me a chance to do some people watching in the bus station.

When he arrived we went for a coffee and discussed our options. I agreed with his suggestion of Paisley but rejected his offer of the Riverside Museum. He suggested we put my suggestion of Bowling on the back burner until the better weather came in. So we settled on Paisley as a destination. We walked down to Central Station bought our tickets and had just enough time to walk along to platform 12 to catch the train.

It’s a short journey to Paisley from Glasgow and so much better than driving there. I remember the pain it was to navigate round the one way system to get to Glenburn when we were just starting going to the tea dances. It was strange that the sat nav would give us directions from the house to Glenburn via Paisley town centre, but on the way home it took us a totally different way. I never did understand that. Anyway, we arrived in Paisley and started making our way to the waterfalls of the White Cart Water for some motion photos before Alex suggested we go for something to eat.

We wandered round Paisley looking for somewhere we could get a decent lunch and eventually settled on The Ugly Duck. A dingy looking place but the food was brilliant. Nothing flash, just a massive cheese burger with two burgers, a slice of bacon between them, pickles, lettuce and a slice of melting cheese. All washed down with a coke for Alex and Irn Bru for me. First time I’ve had Irn Bru for years. Now that we were fed, we made our way down to the White Cart to get some photos.

The weather was still just what the weather fairies had predicted. Sunny with the occasional cloud to give a bit of interest. The water was coming over the rapids at quite a rate, not surprising given the amount of rain that had fallen last night. We spent about half an hour choosing different viewpoints around the rocks.

When we had had enough we walked down to the Abbey and took a few photos there, both inside and outside. We didn’t linger long because the building was closing just after 4pm, but by then we had all the photos we wanted. When we were coming out a bloke stopped me and asked if we were there to photograph the Alien. That is Alien as in the film of the same name. I told him I hadn’t seen it the last time we had been there, so he pointed it out to me. Ha! Hidden in plain sight. I got some shots of it. It’s the spitting image of Alien.

Alex wanted to get some photos of the Town Hall and when we rounded the corner that would take us to it, the sun was displaying it perfectly. Another twenty odd photos and we were almost finished. Another bloke, about my age, stopped to ask if we’d got any good photos and then told me a story about how he and his pal had ‘borrowed’ his pal’s dad’s canoe when they were boys, and paddled down the rapids and on to the River Clyde where they fell in the water after clearing the rapids and travelling all that way. I never thought to ask him what had happened to the canoe!

We were indeed done. We walked back to the station, just in time again for the train back to Central. A cup of coffee and we parted company, but not before I handed him his birthday present which was the bow tie I’d made for him and struggled with for about a week. He’s just sent me a photo showing him wearing it! He really suits it.

Scamp had been working in the garden while I was off galavanting, and seemed to enjoy her day. Dinner was ‘Rats’ for Scamp on a pancake which looked more like a Crepe Suzette thickness than a pancake. I had a couple with syrup and they were lovely.

PoD just had to be the rapids that bloke had shot all those years ago. And I managed to finish off the prompt for yesterday which was Burgundy. I described it as:

“A rather messy glass of red wine and an empty bottle that might at one time have contained an expensive red wine. I enjoyed painting this subject, and I followed my mantra for all edible (or drinkable) still lifes which is to remove the evidence. And that is what I’m doing now. Hic!
Cheers!!”

No plans for tomorrow, but it looks like the weather will revert to rain again.

Recipe from the past – 11 February 2024

Posted on by Zogman

A dull misty day with occasional rain showers. Oh for some sun!

After a lazy start to the day, and after watching Laura Kuenssberg ripping into more politicians, I decided to go out in the early afternoon and get some photos taken, even if it was raining, but first there was a lamb breast to prepare and put in the oven

I’d found the recipe in my blog for just over a year ago and it had worked then, so it would work again. I had recorded the gas settings and the timings, so I stuck strictly to them. With it safely in the oven, I left Scamp in charge and walked across to St Mo’s

I did the circular tour of the pond and did manage to get some decent photos for a change. Of course it was when I was walking home that the really good light appeared and by that time I’d almost filled the 16GB card that was my self-imposed limit for the day. I did manage to squeeze another couple of shot in just to make the most of the light. As it happened, the PoD turned out to be one of the first shots I’d taken of a group of Cladonia lichen. I didn’t quit manage to get all of it in focus with a single shot, so did the next best thing and took one shot focusing on the nearest stalk and another of the further away one, then blended the two in Affinity Photo which is downright brilliant at this trick.

The prompt today asked for Olive. I did think of painting a picture of Olive Oyl, but I’d painted that lady some time ago in response for another prompt. So instead I tried the easy answer and drew some Kalamata olives in a wee bowl. I love olives of whatever variety, but have to be careful not to eat too many, if you understand what I mean. Luckily for me I didn’t have any in the house, so the temptation did not arise.

The lamb was quite excellent and just as good as I remembered it from a year ago. Served with potatoes, carrots, turnip and cabbage. Scamp, of course, only had the veg.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about his calamitous week with Simonne falling off her skittish horse, but no bones broken, just a bit painful. The latest setback is that there may be a problem with the new dormer windows. All to do with one member of the council being off ill, so no decisions can be made until they return. Really? If this was a company they’d all be sacked and replaced long ago. If it wasn’t for bad luck Jamie and Simonne wouldn’t have any luck at all.

We watched a comedy tonight. It was called Death in Paradise. It’s becoming more of a farce every week. Every ‘actor’ more wooden than the last.

Apparently we need MORE messages tomorrow. I thought we’d bought enough last week and on Saturday, but it appears I’m wrong and we’re probably going shopping again tomorrow.