Category: Flowers

Dancin’ – 27 June 2026

Posted on by Zogman

For the first time in ages, we drove through some busy traffic to go to the dance class in Brookfield.

There were only four couples taking part and the topics were mainly quite easy, easy enough for me to manage them. We started with House of Bamboo then the Feta Foxtrot, The Britannia Waltz, The Salsa Gibraltar (which was new to us and not a real salsa), the Electric Slide (which I ‘Elected’ not to take part in) and we finished up with the Bossa Nova. Quite a full dance card.

The heat in the hall was quite stifling for a while, even with the front door and back door open. The floor was a mess. It looked as if some folk had been dragging chairs and tables across it and leaving a bit of a mess. I’m sure the teachers will be putting in a complaint.

It as raining when we came out of the dance class. I was glad to have brought my rain jacket and Scamp had her umbrella. More busy traffic heading back to the city. It must be something to do with the school holidays starting. However, by taking a few shortcuts we managed to avoid a lot of the traffic.

The weather at home was quite clammy and generally uncomfortable. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a cooler breeze. Scamp was doing a bit of weeding in the afternoon and I took the opportunity to ask her how I needed to go about changing my old credit card for the new regime. The way she explained it, made it look simple. I expect it is in reality. I just need to put it into practice now.

I went for a walk in the afternoon and got a fair amount of photos. My favourite was a combination of three shots of wild geraniums, merged together in Photoshop. After a struggle, I got it working and it looks pretty good.

We have no plans for tomorrow as far as I know.

Fathers’ Day – 21 June 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It was so good to feel the sun on my back today. What a difference a couple of days makes.

Spoke to Hazy in the morning and discussed books, little foxes and general garden stuff. Also having to keep the curtains closed to stop the room getting too hot. Hope you managed to get some sleep during the afternoon, Hazy.

Scamp and I went for a walk to the shops in the morning. Scamp was in charge of the fruit and veg for tonight’s dinner. I was in charge of getting the ice cream. Walking back to the house I just knew I was over dressed for the day. Shorts and Tee shirt would be better than jeans and a jersey.

And so it was that in the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got a photo of some ‘Big Daisies’. I never did know their proper name, but my mum always called them ‘Big Daisies’ and that name stuck. One of those photos made PoD.

Scamp and I sat in the garden when I got back and discussed what we’d like to do with the front garden to improve the colours. We didn’t come to a conclusion as we couldn’t quite agree on who had the best ideas.

Today was Fathers’ Day and I was allowed to have anything I wanted for dinner. I settled for Mince ’n’ Tatties. Scamp makes the best mince and tatties anywhere that’s why I chose it as my favourite. I had extra cabbage and beetroot too. (Sorry Jamie)

I spoke to Jamie later in the evening and heard about the open gardens plots that are opened to any gardeners in the vicinity. One of today’s groups actually had a live quartet playing in one of the gardens. That’s an idea for you and Simonne for next year, Jamie.

Tomorrow we’re off to Falkirk in the morning to do some signing and shopping. Hope it’s a bit cooler.

 

 

Flowers and Beasties – 20 June 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I was just looking through my June catalogs today and out of 20 photos in the month of June, 16 were of plants or insects. I think I need to get out more.

Last night we had planned to go to Edinburgh today. We were going to do a part of the Water of Leith Walk. We’d looked at the maps and checked the weather and everything seemed to be fine. We agree to get the train to Croy this morning then get another train to take us to the start of the walk. Continue along the walk then rejoin the road to Edinburgh after that. Unfortunately, we slept in and by the time we’d had breakfast it was realistically too late to do the walk. Maybe another day.
Then we read today’s news that a topless man was wandering around the streets of Leith with what looked like a knife in his hand. I’m glad we slept in today.

Today’s walk took me over to St Mo’s in the sunshine. I was looking for dragonflies, but there weren’t any about. There were plenty of damselflies, mainly Common Blues, but none of their big brothers and sisters. I settled for some Blues, but the PoD went to a Flag Iris with a snail sheltering under its leaf.

Dinner tonight was going to be fish & chips from Condorrat, but in the end we settled for a home-made version which was very, very good. Excellent fish made by our resident chef. Although I must admit that my culinary skills were called upon to ‘Flip the Fish’. I think that was what improved the taste of the fish.

For the first time in ages we got to sit in the garden with a glass of something and a good book until the clouds crowded in. Not a bad day after yesterday.

No plans for tomorrow.

Another dull day – 18 June 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I’m getting fed up with the constant dull weather. I think my weather needs an upgrade.

We drove to Torwood today to get a white rose. Scamp has been suggesting a white rose might look good in the garden. A way to add a bit of light to the garden. I had to agree with her. Our front garden has lots of colour, but not one white rose. We also needed a bag of perlite to help aerate the soil.

At the garden centre we found quite a few white roses and Scamp selected one she liked the look of, ‘Diamond Dad’. Well, it is nearing Father’s Day! She also picked up a white Campanula to finish off the white theme. The only thing we forgot was at the Perlite we came for. We had lunch in the garden centre too. Just a Toastie each with tea and coffee.

Drove home just as the rain started and that rain lasted all day. I imagine it’s still raining now.

We were intending to have a couple of friends over on Friday for dinner, but a last minute phone call told us that my pal Crawford had pulled a muscle in his back and was presently at the local hospital. We agreed to find another suitable date when he is feeling better. We had just finish agreeing food for Friday, so that was now on hold, but I started making the Courgette, Pea and Spinach we’d decided on as a test. It was a really heavy soup that will need a bit of work to make it edible. I think we’ll try it again some other time and maybe chuck out the recipe book too. Perhaps that was a lucky break!

PoD was a wee ceramic lamb I saw in the garden centre. It looked as if it was sniffing the flowers.

No real plans for tomorrow, although we may meet Shona for lunch. We may get some Perlite too, but not to eat!

 

The wanderers return – 15 June 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Jamie and Simonne returned from their mountain climbing today.

In the morning we drove down to M&S. We’d usually just walk to the shops, but today we had quite a lot of food to bring back, so taking the car seemed to be the sensible thing to do.

Jamie had predicted that they would arrive back to ours by about 3pm. As usual, he was almost exactly correct, unloading the car at five minutes past three! You can always rely on him to get an accurate time check!

Back home and after lunch I went for a walk in St Mo’s. There wasn’t much of interest today, but I did manage to capture a nicely ball shaped Queen Anne’s Lace or Wild Carrot and that made PoD.

Dinner was all about soup and pizzas. Tomato soup and three different varieties of pizza. One large, thick rectangular one, one really hot and spicy one and an oval, thin one. Pizzas to suit everyone and almost all of them consumed while we talked at the dining table.

We talked for a while in the evening, exchanging ideas for the rest of the summer and hearing more about the walks the pair had done on Arran and the people, good and bad, they had met. Eventually it was time for the youngsters to head off to bed, and it wasn’t much later for us to do the same.

I think we’ll have an early rise tomorrow.

 

A warmer day – 14 June 2026

Posted on by Zogman

A dry and a warm day. I didn’t do very much but Scamp was busy in the garden for most of the morning.

Later, she heard from a neighbour that Aldi was selling trays of Dahlias at a knock-down price, so off we trotted to the shops and came home with a bag of cocktails, a bottle of beer and the dahlias. The flowers looked good and they are now happily ensconced in the garden. I just hope the slugs don’t manage to sniff them out.

After lunch I went for a walk. While Scamp took advantage of the gentle warm breeze to hang out some washing, knowing that it was extremely unlikely to rain.

In St Mo’s, a single dragonfly was circling the pond. I think it was one of the Four-Spotted Chasers that I saw earlier in the week. Just in case it flew away, I grabbed a couple of shots, for the record. Apart from that, there wasn’t much to see, but it was good to get out in the warm, without a raincoat.

On the way home from my walk, I managed to get a couple of shots of a Wild Geranium, just coming in to flower and that made PoD.

Dinner tonight was Tomato Soup, Tuna steak with potatoes and Cavolo Nero Kale, and some of Jamie’s Rhubarb stewed at home. A lovely dinner.

Watched the Spanish GP saw Hamilton win his first race for Ferrari. I’m still not clear on what was happening to Antonelli on track, when he had to retire his car. Maybe he’d been bad, and that was his punishment.

No plans for tomorrow.

Rain, Rain, Go Away … – 11 June 2026

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… Come again another day.

It was a very wet day. We complain when we have no rain for a fortnight and we complain when “It’s always raining”. We’re just never pleased that’s what’s wrong. The weather is just the weather, that’s all.

Having said that, it was a dull day. What we, in Scotland would call a Dreich day. I think I went out once in the afternoon to do some shopping, but I was glad to get back home again, in the dry. I hope our hardy hillwalkers were having a better time than us.

One thing the weather did do, was give me a chance to tidy up some of my computer stuff. I’d noticed that the bin in the Mac was filling up drastically. I usually don’t have a problem with it, because I use Noodlesoft’s ‘Hazel’ app to keep it under control, but for some reason it wasn’t working the way it should. I think I’ve managed to clear the blockage tonight and things will flow again.

Dinner tonight was one of Scamp’s specialities, Cabbage, Bacon and Potatoes, with the addition of Jamie’s Asparagus. Nice and crunchy. Now we’ll have to wait another year for it to regrow, all being well. So thank you to all you gardeners.

Today’s PoD was another Alec’s Red flower dripping in the rain.

We have no real plans for tomorrow, but I may go out looking for a decent pair of trainers as the Goretex on mine is wearing a bit thin, as are the soles!

Lunch – 10 June 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Our visitors were off the mark quite early this morning. Thankfully they didn’t interrupt our beauty sleep!

A lazy start to a day that didn’t quite know what to do with itself. One minute it was pelting down with rain and the next the sun was splitting the trees.

Scamp drove over to Shona’s house and brought her over to ours. We were booked for lunch in the afternoon. At a new restaurant, at least, it was new to us. The food was OK, just ok, as far as I was concerned. The starter was Rosemary Focaccia allegedly with side plates of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), nor Balsamic. However the Pesto, Nduja and Sugo Dips saved the day. Neither of us could find any EVOO, just dry bread.
The mains were much better. Risotto with king prawns, cherry tomatoes and roasted red peppers was great, according to Scamp and Shona quickly cleared a large plate of Spaghetti alla Carbonara. My Penne all ‘Amatriciana wasn’t just spicy, it was on fire!
Scamp and I had three flavours of ice cream and Shona had Sicilian Bombolini which looked interesting. Like an upmarket Italian churros.
All in all it wasn’t at all bad. Food service was slow and some of the drinks were a bit overpriced. Alcoholic drinks vastly overpriced. Would I go back. Probably, but in a few weeks, when they iron out some of the problems.

When we got back home, Scamp and Shona had great fun watching the videos Jamie had created earlier in the week.

I went out to leave them to it and walked over St Mo’s in the rain. I discovered that a ‘bunnet’ is a great thing for keeping the rain off you. PoD went to a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee on a Marsh Cinquefoil.

No plans for tomorrow because the walkers will be on Arran. We may go looking for trainers for me.

The gardener’s nightmare – 9 June 2026

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Today was one of those days when you just have to knuckle down and get things done.

Scamp was out for coffee with Isobel and was intending to bring some messages back with her.

Yesterday I made a list of things to do today. Today I added to that list. The only thing to do then was to get started.

The first thing to do was some tidying up of May. I’d a lot of loose ends that needed clearing up. Nothing difficult, but a whole lot of little things that I wanted to sort out. The blog was one of them.

The blog was only half finished but it didn’t take too long to roughly fix it. Next job was to get all the independent units of it into the correct order. I knew the problems it would bring if all the dates were in the wrong places. Best to get it sorted while it was still clear in my head. After that I had some tomatoes and veg to chop up to be made into soup for freezing later.

Scamp returned just after I was checking that all my tasks had been completed properly. By then it was time for lunch.

Jamie and Simonne got back about 4.30 and although the black clouds were gathering, I thought I could get a few shots before the rains came. It didn’t quite work, because I got caught in a rain shower. Nothing very heavy, but then I heard the rumbling of thunder and thought walking through the trees wasn’t the smartest place, but sometimes I’m not all that smart and anyway I was as far from home as I intended to be, so I walked back through the park, just in case.

PoD went to the gardener’s nightmare, Buttercups. Scamp does not like them and I can see why, but they stood out well from the background and I liked them.

Dinner tonight was Chicken and Peas, but it wasn’t as good as it usually is. Maybe I did something wrong, but there is very little you can do wrong with it. Scamp made Syllabub and it was just as good as it always is.

Jamie and Simonne are intending to go off on a walking holiday. I hope they get good weather.

The Japanese Garden – 6 June 2026

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Jamie and Simonne arrived last night and today Jamie drove to the Japanese Garden outside Dollar.

The route his sat nav took wasn’t the one we would have chosen. Narrow single farm tracks that didn’t leave much room for driving and certainly wouldn’t accommodate two cars meeting. Thankfully we didn’t meet any other cars!

The weather wasn’t great, but there was almost no wind which gave me great reflections on the pond and it would have been perfect if I hadn’t forgotten to take a spare SD card! However, I managed to offload some of the older photos to create enough space to get some decent shots.

We had coffee and a scone each in a wobbly wee lean-to bench at the back of the booking hut. We walked up to the Fairy Houses that are still there and thankfully the sun was shining for a while. I think the visitors were impressed!

Drove home by a more sensible route and Jamie & Simonne got ready to drive over to see Andy and Cat and the children in the evening.

We stayed at home and watched the qualifying for the Monaco GP. A few bumps, but not as many as we suspected.

PoD was a trio of Rhododendron flowers from the Japanese Garden.