Category: Family

A day in the Toon – 9 November 2023

Posted on by Zogman

A spot of lunch turned into a photowalk. What a surprise!

In the morning I had my annual retinopathy check at the health centre and thankfully the girl doing the technical stuff didn’t think I needed drops and I breathed a sigh of relief. I hate being blind for an hour afterwards and having to wear sunglasses in November. I nearly needed them Today anyway, because the sun was shining from a cloudless sky. I got the bus back home because Scamp was using the car. A quick cup of coffee and a challenging Wordle, then Scamp returned to pick me up and drop me at the station to get the train in to Glasgow to meet Alex.

I found him waiting for me at the bus station after I’d walked up from the train station. We took a few shots of the Pavilion Theatre and then went for coffee in an absolutely stowed Nero and made rough plans for the day. It was also a chance to pick Alex’s brains about a standard zoom lens for the A6500. As I thought, he picked my favoured lens as the one with the best results in his opinion and confirmed my thoughts on the cheaper one with the widest range as not worth considering. So, it looks like I’ll be asking Santa for a Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN lens. He used to have that lens and only parted with it to concentrate of prime lenses, ie. not zooms.

With the technical stuff discussed, we went for a walk along Ingram street following the good light, but never quite reaching it. It felt like when you see a rainbow and the nearer you get to it, the further away it goes! Eventually we tired of this game and went Paesano for a pizza lunch. That will be the third pizza lunch I’ve had this week. I was hoping I was hoping to continue my recent weigh loss success, but that looks unlikely now!

After lunch we continued to search for the good light eventually managed to track it down to Argyle Street. By then the light had lost a considerable amount of its former brightness and we started making our way back towards the bus station and home, but not before we had another coffee and then a walk around the Christmas market and entertainments that were being assembled in St Enoch’s square.

PoD was a photo opportunity I say on Sauchiehall Street (AKA Sausage Roll Street). A lovely bit of bright light on the girl and after swapping the bloke’s head for a better one, we had a conversation in progress. It’s now on Flickr as is my second choice of a view of a girl having alfresco lunch on the steps of the Royal Concert Hall looking down Buchanan Street (AKA Bucky Street).

I took the slow X3 bus home and was entertained by Kevin Bridges “We Need to Talk About . . . Kevin Bridges”. Absolutely brilliant! Thank you Jamie for the recommendation.

Tomorrow I’ve loads to do because I couldn’t be bothered to do it today. The story of my life.

Remember, Remember – 5 November 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Remember, remember, the fifth of November, but was the day memorable? No, not really. Here’s what I remember about it.

In the late morning we drove up to Tesco at the town centre rather than the one at Craigmarloch. For some reason, Craigmarloch don’t sell Tesco Bran Flakes any more. Yes, they sell Fruit and Fibre Bran Flakes and also Kellogg Bran Flakes, but not their own brand. I wondered if the main Tesco in the town was hogging all the BFs, and so it was that we drove up to the heady heights of the Town Centre with the sole purpose of sourcing those cardboard look-alike breakfast cereals.

After wandering round putting loads of stuff in the trolley, we entered the cereal aisle and there they were! Three boxes of Tesco Bran Flakes, so we bought them all. Now we didn’t! Of course we only bought one, just on the off chance that they wouldn’t be as good as Scamp remembered them. Maybe they would have some secret additives, or be made from a different type of cardboard. Anyway, we guarded them with our lives until we got them home safely. I’m sure a taste test will be conducted tomorrow.

Back home and after lunch I chopped up a couple of lamb neck fillets and fried them with onions, dates, orange juice, five different spices (but not five spice) and tipped the lot into the slow cooker and set it to cook slowly for three hours. That would be my dinner tonight, Lamb Tagine. Scamp was having salmon and we’d share rice.

I took the A7 out for a walk later in the afternoon and, although there was very little of note to photograph, I did get some landscape shots of the Campsie Fells and some late afternoon sun shots around St Mo’s. One group of the Campsie shots went into the Lightroom mincer and came out as a reasonable panorama which made PoD.

The meat in the tagine cooked perfectly, but the dates were overpoweringly sweet, so note to self – use half the quantity in future. Other than that, it was lovely. It was a bit oily, but you must expect that with the cheaper cuts of lamb. Scamp’s salmon fillet was a bit smaller than she expected, but still made a decent meal with her fancy rice cooked with peas, peppers and mushrooms. I had the boring white rice this time, but I’ll maybe make the fancy stuff next time.
Dessert was Apple and Blackcurrant crumble topped with ice cream and it was our own apples and blackcurrants, too so that made it taste extra special.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard that while the roof repairs are going well, there are new problems that have been revealed. More consultations and more form filling, no doubt. But at least he seems to be enjoying the new job, even if he missed a day because they were marooned on their own little island after the torrential rain flooded all the roads!

Tomorrow morning I have a visit to the dentist to look forward to. We may go out later if the weather is kind to us.

 

 

 

 

Now that’s Dancin’! – 2 November 2023

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A more successful day on the dance floor.

We spoke to Hazy in the morning and heard about Neil’s return to school and his new inhaler that makes a noise. A simple idea that sounds (no pun intended) like it will work! It was good to hear that they hadn’t suffered any damage from the gale force winds they’d had recently. Also good to know that Hazy and Simonne are willing to compare and contrast some holiday homes for next year. Hopefully they will find a good one!

Later I started the ‘new’ computer and after entering my password only about ten times, I think I’ve ticked all the required boxes at last. Touch wood, it seems to be settled down now, still the same operating system and version as it was before the crash, and it’s unlikely that I’ll try installing the update again. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s because I’ve used the external SSDs to drive the computer that causes a conflict with the software the update is trying to inject into the system. If I want an update, I’ll have to do it the long way which takes about four hours. It’s not worth it. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!

We drove to Glenburn Community Centre for today’s tea dance. Quite a small group to start with, then more and more folk joined in. We managed two tracks of Waltz Nioli and although they weren’t faultless, they were pretty good. We even did a couple of Joy’s Walz later in the afternoon and it was looking good too. Best of all, we managed two tracks of Quickstep! Something I’d never have thought I’d do. That was all down to a combination of Scamp’s and Kirsty’s teaching. Thank you both. These successes were won at the loss of the sequence dances. I just couldn’t get into the rhythm of them. Similarly, the Salsa we danced was pathetic. We used to be so much better than what we danced today. Still, progress was made on some hard stuff!

Back home I went for a walk, even although it was almost dark. I did get a couple of photos which were just presentable and no more. One heavily edited one made PoD. Along with it on Flickr are a couple of photos from Fannyside from last week. They’re much better.

Scamp and I are hoping to speak on the phone tomorrow to someone about the complaint we’ve made to the Ombudsman. It looks as if things are moving there.

Other than the above, not much planned for Friday. Scamp may find time in her busy schedule to meet June, Ian, Shona and Isobel for coffee after FitSteps.

 

Time to go home – 26 October 2023

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It always come to this day.

Up at 6:15 to say ‘Cheerio’ to Jamie and Simonne and help them cram their rucksacks, bags, jackets and still sodden wellies into the car. Jamie just as efficient as ever had intended the drive south to start at 7:00 and it was 7:10 when they left. We sat for a while, then went back to bed for an hour or so to snooze before I made breakfast and we made plans for the day.

I’d already decided we were going out somewhere, anywhere, well not really ‘just anywhere’, but somewhere interesting or somewhere for lunch. We had to keep ourselves occupied, otherwise the house was going to feel empty. In the end, I chose the destination and I was sure Scamp would be happy with it.

We drove over to Cafe Bothy which has rebranded itself as Coffee Bothy unfortunately. I much preferred the original! Cafe or Coffee, the name is irrelevant, it was the food we were going for. It’s a busy place where you can never get a table right away, but the buzzer in Scamp’s hand buzzed after a much shorter time than normal and we had a corner table. Usually Scamp has Mac ’n’ Cheese and I have Sri Lankan Lamb Curry, but today I was making the big bold change to Mince ’n’ Tatties with Peas and Carrots but Scamp stayed resolute with her macaroni. As with all big changes, I wasn’t sure how it would work out, but the mince was just like my mum made and like Scamp showed me how to make and which I now make myself. In a word, delicious. Steamed carrots with a bit of bite to them and peas, well, just peas really, but fine for an addition of colour to the mince. This is also one of the few places you can get a two cup cafetière of coffee – decent coffee, Columbian or Java. Always Java for me.

After we paid and avoided the cream filled doughnuts, we went for a walk round the overpriced deli shop that is always an addition to cafe’s now and Scamp bought some fresh farm eggs. The farm is next door to the cafe, so the eggs are probably fresh. It was getting a bit dull and we felt that at 3pm it was beginning to get dark, but thankfully there was just enough light to grab some photos. PoD came from there and it was a shot of the Wallace Monument after a pylon and power cables were removed in ON1 and Lightroom. The colours in the trees really encouraged me to take the shot.

I bought myself a new computer mouse in Currys. It’s a Logitech silent mouse, not a squeak from it! My old Logitech Bluetooth mouse really need a new pair of microswitches, but they are difficult to lay your hands on these days. Anyway, it was probably as cheap to just buy a new one. It’s white, but that will never last, so I’m told!

Back home, the house did feel a bit empty, but after we’d turned the bed back into a sofa again the back bedroom looked like my room again. It’s just waiting now to get some stuff spread around it and it will feel like home from home!

We got a message from Jamie and Simonne saying they had a fairly uneventful drive south and they even sent us a photo of the house as it is now with its scaffolding in place. It even had a blue sky above it. The automatic headlights switched on in our car as we were driving home. By 4pm it was already evening!

The prompt today asked for ‘Remove’. My answer is a removal van owned and driven by The Man With A Van. Available for house clearances and disposal of unwanted goods in addition to removals, sometimes known as a Midnight Flit!

Cash only! No questions asked.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending to go to her FitSteps class, leaving me with the possible opportunity to start messing up the back room!

 

 

 

Climbing Higher – 26 October 2023

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Today the climbers were off to Ben Lomond hoping to bag a Munro.

While the mountaineers were driving to Rowandennan to start the climb, we were happy to have and extra hour or two’s snooze.

The first thing we chose to do was have a quick practise of the Tango which I thought I had down pat. That’s all I’ll say at this time.

Afterwards we dragged ourselves out into the real world, and drove over to Tesco for the inevitable shopping. We did add a couple of extra things just for the visitors and just for fun.

In the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s hoping the sun might shine through the clouds. It did, but only on the distant Campsie Fells, but not on Cumbersheugh. A mist had come down just after midday, but then a breeze made it disappear, leaving water droplets on some of the weeds. One weed in particular had a spiderweb with wee beads of water. That became PoD on a dull Scottish day.

The climbers returned after their trip to the peak of Ben Lomond. Munro bagged! Simonne had some beautiful photos taken from just below the peak but the photos from the actual Trig point were covered by mist and rain. It’s Scotland. It’s like that. They just had time for a quick shower before heading off to dinner with Andrew, Cat and the kids.

Dinner was Monday served on Wednesday, ie Pasta. Actually Penne pasta and a very nice sauce with three types of tomatoes: baby tomatoes, blitzed plum tomatoes and passata. Don’t know what I did right but we both enjoyed it and I doubt if I’ll be able to make it like that again.

While they were off eating again, we drove to midweek dance class with Kirsty and a chance for me to prove that I didn’t have it down pat after all. Despite all Scamp’s encouragement, I just couldn’t confidently get it right every time. Finally I asked the teacher to lead me through it and it worked. That doesn’t mean she is better than Scamp, just she explained it differently and probably hauled me round with more confidence. After that we got the entire Tango to work almost every time.

Today’s prompt was “Dangerous”. I could have drawn almost anything to fulfil today’s prompt of ‘Dangerous’. In the end I settled for a lion. A pretty dangerous beast by all accounts.
With that said, according to the BBC, it is only the 10th most dangerous creature in the world. The Mosquito is the biggest killer with Humans in second place. Makes you think!

We drove home through driving rain again and when Jamie and Simonne returned we sat and talked for an hour with a wee drink to mark what was really the end of a great week. Unfortunately Jamie was driving tomorrow, so he had to abstain from the drinking.

Tomorrow will probably be another early rise, but a sad one.

Climbers and Shoppers – 23 October 2023

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While Jamie and Simonne were climbing the Pap of Glencoe, we went shopping. That was strenuous enough for us.

Jamie and Simonne were up around six and out by seven on the road to Glencoe to meet up with one of Simonne’s friends to climb the Pap of Glencoe, a steep climb up to the peak above Glencoe village. We’d never climbed it or even considered climbing it. We did, however, many years ago take the path up to the lochan above the village. Mountain climbing newer was one of our pursuits.

While the climbers were away enjoying brilliant sunshine and blue skies, we were stuck in the cloudy central belt. With no great scenic views around us and no signs of weather improving we went shopping. Just over to Tesco to get something for dinner and odds and ends of essentials.

Later, after lunch, Scamp went out and raked all the leaves that the strong winds from last week had dumped on our front grass and I took a camera out for a walk in St Mo’s and my PoD was leaves too. A few copper coloured beech leaves still clinging to a branch.

When I came back I drew a distorted looking hand scratching the panel off a scratch card to reveal what might or might not be a lucky ticket. The prompt was “Scratchy”. Not the most interesting of choices, but at least it was done. It should have been done yesterday, but I was too tired last night to get any drawing done and I went to bed early. Luckily I’d offered an ‘amnesty’ to the Inktoberists and took myself up on the offer too!
Later I completed today’s sketch which was the even more vague, ‘Celestial’. Two sketches done on the same day. Both reasonable and both in ink.

Next thing to do was to roast the chicken we’d bought earlier and await the return of the mountaineers. Scamp made a great job of the chicken which we had with with Suffolk potatoes (to make the visitors feel at home, even if they don’t eat potatoes normally) and a salad.

We watched a tedious American GP which became even more complicated when two of the leading drivers were disqualified for having the wrong kind of wood on the underside of their cars – or something like that.

Tomorrow we’re all having a day off driving and we’re going out east.

Right on time – 21 October 2023

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We got a message from Jamie this morning just after 9am to say they were just leaving the hotel and they should be with us before 12noon.

Right on time the white Volvo appeared outside at 11.50. That’s Jamie. Always on time. After we’d decanted all the bags, rucksacks, jackets and boots, Scamp took the wee Yew tree they’d brought out into the back garden. Then we heard the stories about the floods they’d encountered on the way up and I was even more pleased that they’d decided to break their journey north.

After lunch which was a bowl of tomato soup, we drove to Colzium and walked the same route Scamp and I had walked last week. The burn was even higher today, of course because of the week’s rain we’d had and the big red acer at the top of the avenue in front of the big house was even brighter red, if that was possible. A photo of it made PoD.

Back home, Jamie and Simonne were getting ready to go into Glasgow to meet Chris and Yvonne for dinner, but found out that Uber don’t seem to like Cumbersheugh. Or more likely, the taxi drivers in Cumbersheugh discourage Uber drivers from picking up in the town. So it was the local taxi that took them into Glasgow!

Dinner for us was delivered from Bombay Dreams later in the evening after an irate phone call from the driver asking me to open the house door and turn the light on so he could see where the house was. I did as he asked and then he appeared very apologetic saying he’d been in the wrong street! Easily done in Cumbersheugh because when it was build it was numbered by writing all the numbers down on pieces of paper and sticking them at random on house doors. At least that’s how it seems. Who would be a delivery driver in Cumbersheugh?!

We watched Strictly on catch-up. Well, Scamp watched Strictly and I glanced up occasionally from my Inktober sketch. I don’t think I missed much.

The sketch prompt today was “Chains”. I tried steel chains and paper chains and neither of them interested me much. I eventually chose a key chain. The prompt asked for “Chains”, plural, but being a poor pensioner, I could only afford one on my key, and an imaginary one at that! That was my excuse.

Tomorrow we might all go out for a walk somewhere, or maybe we’ll point the hillwalkers at a local hill and let them get on with it!

 

Still Wet, Still Windy – 20 October 2023

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I could write, “For details of the day see yesterday”, but I won’t.

It started like yesterday, with wind and rain, but things needed to be done. Scamp was off to FitSteps until the phone rang and it was Kirsty hoping she’d catch Scamp, which she just managed to do. The message was that today’s class was cancelled because too many folk had called off. I must say it sounded like the most sensible answer, but I think Scamp was disappointed. Can’t blame her.

So where to start? First thing and easiest to set up was the tomato soup. Just a case of tipping the roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic and peppers into a pot adding a tin of tomatoes a cup of water and a litre of stock. Bring it to the boil and simmer for 30mins. Next was to thaw out the stew and dust it with flour, salt and pepper and leave it to dry out a bit and once the soup had had its 30mins, we drove to M&S for fripperies like fruit and bread, then Tesco for breakfast stuff and essentials like tonic and ice lollies. Got to get your priorities right.

Back home it was time to fry off the stew in the big wok and, once it was nicely browned, pitch it into the Instant Pot with carrots and onions and some stock, set it to slow cook for about 4 hours. Sit back and enjoy a Ginsters lunch. I know they’re not good for me and that they give me heartburn, but they do taste great. Scamp had a fried egg sandwich. Much healthier I’m sure. Simonne phoned to say they were on their way, so we were all running to schedule.

I kept thinking (hoping) it was getting lighter outside and that the rain was getting lighter, the way you do when you know you’re just lying to yourself. I eventually decided that an inside photo was the way to go today and took today’s PoD which is a bunch of carnations sitting at the kitchen window with the rain splattering on the glass.

The bed for the visitors was still to be made, so we got that done and the remaining obstacles were removed to the front room, leaving the room quite neat and tidy.

Next task was to blitz the soup and decant it to another pot. It was looking good, then Simonne phoned to say they were almost at Scotch Corner and were going to break the journey because the traffic was really bad and there had been a number of accidents. I think we both felt relieved to hear that. It’s a long journey in normal weather, but much more challenging with so many weather warnings across the whole country. We got a message later to say they’d arrive at Kendal and were going for dinner and a pint! Well deserved I’d say.

So we had some of the soup for starter with some Giovani Rana pasta to follow. Not the best we’d had from that range, but still better than Tesco.

Today’s prompt was ‘Frost’. I could not decide what to draw for Frost. Then, lateral thinking again, I found a picture of Robert Frost and tried another fifteen minute sketch. It worked.

We’re now expecting the visitors tomorrow, just as I predicted in Thursday’s blog! Some of us had these skills and some haven’t! Oh yes, and I did have heartburn thanks to the Ginsters, and I’ve taken my Gaviscon!

Oh what a beautiful morning – 11 October 2023

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And the makings of a beautiful day.

Scamp was out in the morning to have coffee with June. While she was out I found a subject for today’s Inktober prompt – “Wander”. I started work on it right away, drawing on a Seagate A4 sketchbook. I usually draw ideas to begin with in a cheap sketchbook, but have been caught out many times by working up a good sketch in them, then when I put a watercolour wash on them the paper soaks up the water, buckles and the sketch becomes a disaster area. Now I’ve learned to draw on decent quality paper that will hold the watercolour without falling apart. Yes, the paper is more expensive, but it saves a lot of swearing!

Lunch, when Scamp came in was, soup. Quite delicious soup. Then with the sun still shining I walked over to St Mo’s and found myself surrounded by dragonflies. Yesterday’s unseasonably warm weather coupled with today’s sunshine must have released a hatch of the insects. Mainly they were Common Darters with a few Black Darters too. I grabbed a few shots with the 85mm lens which performed really well, even if it didn’t allow me to get as close as a macro lens would. I also found a big clump of mushrooms that had appeared overnight. Again I think it was the weather than had encouraged them to sprout. This time it was the combination of warm weather and lots of rain, two things fungi thrive on. The mushrooms got PoD.

Back home Scamp was talking to her sister in Skye on the phone, but I didn’t hear much of the conversation because I was trying to scan in today’s sketch and post process the photos from the afternoon. We were going out to Kirsty’s dance class tonight, so I knew I had to get everything done as early as possible.

A photo of a tree beside the Luggie got ‘Explore’ on Flickr. I was quite impressed. It was almost OOC (Out Of Camera, meaning it had minimal processing). Second one in about a month!

Dinner tonight was a rather excellent fish ’n’ chips with beetroot. Not the best beetroot, but the fish made up for it. A lovely slice of cod!

There were only two couples for class tonight, but it was very useful. Plenty of room for dancing and also lots of tips from Kirsty about the little dance nuances I frequently forget. Lessons learned. She even got the chance to give us a quick and very short Quickstep routine to work on. Next week it’s Tango. Must remember a rose to hold in my clenched teeth!

Came home and opened the fridge door and the internal light went off. Oh No! Has the fridge been listening to us discussing replacing it? However, it was just the bulb that had blown. We’ll have to go out and source one tomorrow.

No other plans tomorrow. We’ll see what transpires.

 

A coffee, a walk and a blether – 5 October 2023

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A coffee, a walk and a blether

Going out for the above with my brother.

Another wet day, but Scamp offered me a lift to the town centre to hopefully catch a bus into Glasgow that would take less than an hour to get there. I did catch the bus and it did take significantly less than an hour for the journey. Scamp herself was off to meet Shona for coffee and a blether too. It must be blethering weather.

In Glasgow I was early and I used that time to see what JL had in the way of freezers and fridge-freezers. Actually, they had a fair selection and I took some photos of the price and size labels, both are important to us. I also took a selfie of me standing in front of two freezers. Not because I like taking selfies in shops, but because Scamp would get an idea just how tall they fridge-freezers were. Some were taller than me. How’s a 5’9” high bloke meant to get things out of the top shelf of that fridge?
JL’s main door was locked and the shutters were down when I was walking over and I thought “Oops! Maybe these tales of the High Street closures are coming home to roost”. But it seems that there was just a problem with the doors.

Walked back to the bus station and met Alex coming off his bus. We had our usual coffee in Nero and I told him I’d found a lens I fancied was available in WEX in Glasgow. We intended getting a bus up Bath Street to the shop, because it’s a fair walk, but there was a lot of work being done on the pavement all the way up Bath Street and temporary bus stops everywhere, so we chose to face that mountain and walk up the hill in the rain.
Found the lens in WEX and gave it a good try out on the A6500. It looked fine and I was sure it would do the job I intended it for, but I wanted a second opinion which I got from Alex. Still not sure about splashing the cash (or plastic) I said I’d sleep on it. I’ve not done that yet, so I’ll see how I feel tomorrow, all being well.

We walked back to the city centre and went to Paesano for lunch. Number 5 (Cooked ham – No cheese) for Alex. Number 3 (Anchovies and Olive for me). Since I was bussing it today, I had a glass of red to go with lunch. We sat and talked about family, cameras, life in general and, of course, the lens.

Alex wanted to visit a wee old second hand shop on Trongate and I wanted to get freezer bags for Scamp, both in that direction so we took our time. I got the bags, Alex had a browse round guitar amps. He’s found his old electric guitar and enjoyed playing with it even without an amp. I think I’m a bit to blame telling him about Crawford and I jamming!

I had one more shopping trip and that was Cass Art for a couple of cheap sketch books. Got them and walked in the general direction of the bus station after a coffee in the Nero in Queen Street. I got PoD which was red and black wrought iron chairs and black wrought iron tables covered in rain splashes outside the Counting House at George Square. Nice easy wide angle shot.

We both went our ways at the bus station and I just got the X3 as the driver was opening the bus. Perfect timing.

Back home it was a baked potato for dinner, just the potato with butter. Lovely. Then it was time to work on the sketch for today which I admit I’d roughed out yesterday. The prompt was “Map”. My take on it was a fictitious map that had been well used on yellowed paper with the standard ’X” marks the spot mark on it. I liked the effect of the fold lines.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps as usual and I might make a phone call to reserve a lens.