Category: Flowers

Visiting the Kelpies – 6 October 2026

Posted on by Zogman

The lighting was good today and it seemed a shame to waste it.

We drove over to Helix Parkwhere the Kelpies live. For once it was a lovely day, a little bit cool, but nothing my Rab jacket couldn’t cope with. We went in what Scamp calls the “wrong way round”. That means we crossed the Forth & Clyde canal and walked clockwise to reach the great beasts. It’s a totally different view you get from this direction. One worth trying if you’ve never been there before.

Unfortunately the wind was from the North West so the smell from the sewage works was just a wee bit overpowering. Typical Scotland. Design and build a beautiful pair of statues and position them right next to a sewage works and a line of pylons. That’s what the people want to see and smell apparently!

The tea shop was a bit overcrowded when we went there for a scone and a cup of coffee, but we did get a seat which was better than I thought it was going to be. Then we wandered round the ‘souvenirs’ on display in the shop. Most of it a bit overpriced, but lots to look at.

We drove from Helix Park across to Klondyke Garden Centre looking for some plants to brighten up the garden. There were lots on display and of course the inevitable Christmas toys and books. Well, at least it was October and the nights were drawing in! Scamp and I found a couple of plants that looked as if they would inject some much needed colour to the garden. I managed to find a Sarracenia (Pitcher Plant). I hadn’t seen one for ages. I think my last one didn’t like the hot weather we had during the summer. This one looked quite small, but fairly healthy.

Drove home and logged 40,000 on the way back.

Dinner was a baked potato with prawns in a Mary Rose dressing. I’d meant to make a pizza, but didn’t have the time by the time we got home.

PoD went to one of the Kelpies, backlit and with a tiny starburst shining through it.

No plans for tomorrow. Alex has his apron on and is looking after Carol while she recovers from a new knee op. So no photos for us.

Michaelmas Daisies – 4 October 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It was a very dull day today. I didn’t see any signs of sunshine at all.

However I managed to get a photo of some Michaelmas Daisies by some sneaky date and time changes that we won’t talk about. It’s the final result that’s important.

After getting Wordle et al sorted, and after Scamp was finished watching Laura Kuenssberg scare the pants off most of the politicians, we settled down to watch the strangest F1 race where the Bahrain race was run on the Sepang Circuit in the rain. Lots of thrills and spills and a strange mixture of contestants vied for position. Weirdest race I’ve ever seen, but quite interesting too.

I think Scamp spent most of the day working out our travel problems without much success. I spent my afternoon trying to squeeze yesterday’s Michaelmas Daisy photos into today’s PoD. I managed it with help from “A Better Finder Attributes V6”. A wonderful piece of software that allows you to do things to photos that they were never meant to do. I may even purchase V7!

That was about it for today, other than that Scamp had bought a lovely slice of smoked Hake. Not a fish we get very often in Scotland, but it was delicious. Served with potatoes and peas.

Hoping for at least a little bit of sunshine tomorrow!

Cosmos – 2 October 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was going out for lunch with Shona in the early afternoon today. I was carrying slabs of Chipboard out to the car and on to the much used Council Tip.

Chipboard if you don’t know is a manufactured wood product made by compressing wood chips, shavings, and sawdust together with a synthetic resin or binder. Those of you who have used it will know it’s really heavy. The largest sheet I was carrying was even heavier than normal because it was backed with mirror glass panels. I almost apologised to the wee Blue car for making it carry that weight!

I dropped Scamp off at the Town Centre and drove my chipboard to the Council Skips. I carefully lowered the mirror glass panels very carefully into the skip because I didn’t want it to break and give me ten year bad luck! The panel slipped in easily without even a chip, so someone else may have collected the bad luck.
The other sheets were lighter and they also dropped into the waiting skip without a problem.

I’d some time to spare before I went home, so I took the Blue car to the car wash and got the bloke to give it a good wash. I’m sure it enjoyed the wash, because it had been really mucky.

I managed to meet Scamp and Shona at the cafe in the town centre for lunch:
Starter: Chicken strips with a spicy coating for all three of us
Main: Scamp had Risotto, Shona had Spag Bol and I had a Burger
Dessert: Tiramisu for the ladies and I had Ice Cream trio.

After a lengthy blether, Shona went shopping while Scamp and I drove home in a nice clean, shiny car.

The day had started with sunshine in the morning, but by the time we got home the clouds were coming in, the rain had started and the wind was getting up. I thought my chances of getting any photos today were nil. Then the wind dropped for a while and the rain stopped. The clouds were still there, but I’d enough time to get a dozen or so photos of flowers in the garden. PoD went to a Cosmos flower.

I think we may be going dancing over the weekend.

 

Back to the grind – 28 September 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Back from a quick holiday to Jersey that we both enjoyed.

I made a suggestion to Scamp while we were on our short break. We really do need to do some tidying around the house, especially in the living room and we both agreed that it needs a fair bit of work. Today we took the first steps to do the first clean up.

I tackled a four shelf cupboard that has been sitting in a corner for almost as long as I can remember. It holds a load of stuff, but to be honest, has outlived its usefulness. Shelf one was the hard one. I knew it would be and most of it is now in a black bag ready to go to the skip.
Tomorrow we should be able to cut through the remainder of the clutter, and after that we just need to disassemble the frame. Some of the contents will stay, but not nearly as much as we had.

While I was starting to empty the cupboard, Scamp was working her way through music books galore, more cookery books than we have looked at in years and magazines, I was amazed at the amount of foody magazines that really should have gone ages ago. We were both working and making changes. It’s amazing just how much in this house is simply clutter.

I got out for a walk in the afternoon in the sunshine while Scamp was deciding what dinner was going to be. I got a few shots over at St Mo’s and the best one was a deep pink Antirrhinum trying to squeeze its way through a wooden fence. That was PoD.

Tomorrow will hopefully be much like today, but with a bit more effort from me at least. There are more plans for other areas on the ground floor that also need tidying!

An afternoon to myself – 16 September 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It’s not often I get an afternoon to myself, but I had one today.

Scamp was off to lunch with the rest of the Witches. Two or three hours of blethering seemed to fit the bill for them. I read for a while, a new book for me, Deception by Alan Parks. So far it’s a good read.

Other than reading and struggling my way through Wordle (I scraped a poor 6 today), I didn’t do much, although I did go for Scamp’s meds and watched the clouds rolling over the Campsies. Every time I thought I’d go out for a walk, the rain would threaten and although I’ve been pretty lucky with the wet stuff, I didn’t want to push my luck too far.

I did have a look at getting a new roller cabin case, because the old one I’m using now, the one I took to Hazy’s, is just about falling apart. I’ve had it for about 12 years now and it really needs replaced. The problem is that I really want to have a look and a feel at the case, because, as Scamp will tell you, I’m not all that careful with these things. I might have a look later in the week.

Today’s PoD went to a couple of wee daisy-like flowers that grow quite happily beside the step in the back garden. One is white and the other is pink. I’ve always called them daisies, but I’m told their proper name is Erigeron. They looked quite happy in their place beside the steps.

Tomorrow we may go dancing if the weather fairies are correct. For once I’m quite looking forward to it.

 

Dancin’ – 12 September 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Back in the old routine.

Today started with a drive through the rain to Brookfield. One of those strange days when the weather couldn’t quite agree whether it wanted rain or sun and in the ended opted for both … at the same time. Heavy rain showers and rainbows at the same time. But we weren’t there to gaze at the weather variations. Oh no, the teachers had a new ‘dance’ for us Rhumbumbumba! A silly name for an equally silly piece of nonsense. We danced it twice an by the end of the second repeat, I was lost. I’ve a feeling the teachers are going to push this piece of nonsense for all it’s worth. Not impressed!

The next dance was the Butterfly Jive. No butterflies were injured in the making of the dance, but it was much more sedate than the Rhumb…. We did kind of remember it, Scamp says it’s been around since 2024 when we last attempted it. I vaguely remember it and had a go at it with Scamp leading.

Next up were variations on the Quickstep. I don’t claim to be able to do it, but at least I can place my feet in roughly the correct places for the music without tripping over myself … well, almost. By the end of the session I was beginning to understand how the figures went together.

Stewart and Jane were determined to get us up on our feet again for yet another session of Rhumb… etc, but I sat that one out. If you want to involve yourself in a line dance, search YouTube for Rhumbumbumba. It appears to be all the rage! Good Luck.

Drove home in the rain but made good time for a change, taking almost the same time getting home compared to the time we took to get to Brookfield. Forty five minutes each way.

Back home I made a watered down espresso coffee for Scamp. She wasn’t impressed, but said it was much better with Drinking Chocolate added to it. I’ll take her word for it. I think I’m coming to terms with the new machine and getting good results from it.

Today’s PoD is a wee flower from the garden a blue flowered Polenium.

No plans for tomorrow.

Bad Hair Day – 11 September 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I found this guy, above, yesterday, but kept him just in case I’d need a quick photo.

As it turned out I did need a bit of a fall back and Boris, because that’s his name, fitted the bill perfectly.

I thought we were going to find a cruise or a mixture of cruise and stay, today, but it didn’t work out like that. Scamp delved into quite a few different cruises, but very few had balcony cabins and we both love our balconies. That was a disappointment, but we felt we could probably work round it. Then I messed things up by suggesting we might not be able to get insurance because Scamp was still waiting for a procedure. This was something we hadn’t thought of. In the end we decided it would be better to leave the cruise until next year and have a few mini breaks up to Christmas instead. Not what we’d intended, but maybe a few days in Jersey would be just as good. Also, we’d thought of taking a few days in Newcastle.That would mean we could take our time selecting a cruise that we both really wanted.

In the afternoon we started work in the garden. The Buddleia bush was really needing cut back and Scamp had a box of Pansies that should have been planted weeks ago. So while I chopped the buddleia, Scamp planted out the remaining flowers. The buddleia now looks very sparse, and like Boris, it was having a Bad Hair Day. It still looks a bit rough and ready, but I’m sure it will grow back fairly quickly.

Dinner tonight was yesterday’s chicken made into a semi-salad. Another of Scamp’s suggestions that worked well. A “What have we got in the fridge” meal, that just worked.

It looks like dance class will be a going concern tomorrow. The teachers arrived home from a week’s holiday in Tenerife and there were enough folk ready and willing to be taught. So despite my best efforts, we’re going to Brookfield in the morning.

Boris made PoD. I’d found him hiding in behind the vegetable trolley on Wednesday and I thought he fitted the bill perfectly.

Other than dancing, no plans for tomorrow.

Crocosmia and Coffee – 6 September 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Not a very promising day for weather.

It felt like the rain was ready to start at any minute. I didn’t have much hope of getting out, but as usual, I live in hope.

Shona was staying with us for the weekend and it felt like she really needed the rest. While Scamp and I were up fairly early, she took almost the whole morning to break surface. We were agreed that she probably needed the rest.

I turned on the new coffee machine later in the morning and it performed exactly as Scamp and the bloke from JL had described it. In no time at all I was holding a full coffee cup of the dark strong flavoured liquid. Maybe just a little bit too strong flavoured if I’m being honest, but a few drops of water soon reduced the strength enough to give it a more pleasant taste. As Jamie says, it takes time to get it tasting the way you want it.

Later in the day and once Shona had returned from the Land of Nod, I went for a walk over to St Mo’s, still being careful not to wander into the greenery or the possibility of more biting insects. On the way back, I found another Painted Lady butterfly feeding on flowers in our garden. There had been a couple of cold snaps recently and I felt sure the delicate butterflies would have taken shelter, but there it was feeding on our flowers. A quick check with Google confirmed it was indeed a Painted Lady.

The butterfly didn’t stay long and was soon off on the wing again, but by then I had a new PoD and it was a Crocosmia flower growing against a wooden fence and showing off its orange and copper colours to all and sundry. That became PoD.

After Shona had left to go home, we spoke to Jamie and I thanked him for his helping me work out how to adjust the grind setting for the coffee I was using. Who knew how difficult it was to make delicate adjustments to coffee grinders. Good to know that someone is there at the other end of the phone to explain what went wrong a day or so ago. I’ve just opened a new bag of coffee which will need a different set of tweaks to get it to deliver the same taste and strength as the one I’ve just finished. It’s all highly technical, or maybe it’s just me who is a tech freak!

Hopefully we will be on our travels again next week sometime.

Freesia – 2 September 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It was wet today.

Sometimes drizzle, sometimes heavy rain, but always wet. I couldn’t find a suitable subject, so instead I took a shot of these Freesia flowers with an out of focus background. It seemed to brighten up the day.

We drove to in the morning to find a new pair of dance shoes for Scamp. Actually she got two pairs. One pair sparkly silver and one pair bright red. I couldn’t find a pair for myself. The only pair I liked the look of were too narrow and I knew I’d end up going over on my ankle, so it looks as if I’ll have to resort to polishing up my Black ’n’ Whites for any ballroom dances. The lady in the shop told me she was expecting a new delivery of gents dance shoes later in September. I’ll see what she digs up. She is usually good at choosing mens shoes.

We drove home and I started looking at ‘New Toys’. One was on my list, but wasn’t available anywhere near me. I’ll keep looking just in case there are some cut price goodies near me to whet my appetite.

Dinner tonight was Fish Risotto and although I thought it was a bit wet, Scamp seemed to think it was excellent. I think she is just buttering me up because there may be another pair of dance shoes she has her eye on.

We watched “Mrs Harris Goes to Paris” after dinner. We had seen it before, but it was just as good the second time around. The only problem with it was the amount of adverts that cut across the storyline and broke our concentration.

I’m supposed to be going out with Alex tomorrow because we thought Thursday was going to be the best day of the week. It doesn’t look much like it now, especially after a really heavy rain shower earlier in the evening. We’ll just have to grin and bear it tomorrow and maybe find somewhere interesting to go for lunch.

So, hopefully a run in the country for us. Not quite sure what Scamp is doing.

Flowers in the rain – 1 September 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It was one of those days when it rains almost all day.

Last night Scamp admitted that she’d been having toothache. It was coming from a big molar. She’d had pain from it before, but this time it was more severe and it wasn’t going away. She had taken Ibuprofen and Paracetamol. Both worked to a degree, but when the pain returned this morning she phoned the dentist who very kindly fitted her in to her busy schedule in the afternoon. I drove her over to the the dentist, dropped her off and waited. That’s when the rain started. Some torrential rain and some, just wet and noisy, rattling on the car’s roof. Just over half an hour later she got her wish and the big old molar was gone. She seems ok now. The pain has gone and the swelling has gone too. I hope the fairies leave her a present for being a brave girl.

Afterwards, I was making a late lunch in the afternoon. Scamp didn’t really want anything to eat, but then she decided that she could manage a mashed up banana because it was soft and easily swallowed. That seemed to help settle things too.

The post came late today and the postman brought the details for our visit to Dundee along with his usual collection of junk mail. So now we can see where we are going and who we’re going to see. We still don’t know how long we’re going to be there, but hopefully we’ll have more information once we’ve spoken to the doctor and the surgeon.

Today’s PoD was twin Japanese Anemone flowers taken in a grab shot in one of the dry spells in the garden.

It’s been a busy and exciting day, all things considered. Hopefully things will calm down for a bit now.