Category: Flowers

Meeting Isobel – 14 April 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp and I met Isobel for coffee in the morning and it was a lovely morning.

Blue skies and fluffy white clouds. What’s not to like. I had a cup of coffee with the ladies and listened to the stories Isobel was telling. I’d forgotten that she is well travelled in South America and further afield before she and her husband settled down in Scotland. She must have been a bit of an adventurer when she was younger.

Eventually she had teased enough information from us both and was ready to go back home, so we bundled her walker into the back seat of the wee Blue car and squeezed Scamp in beside it. Then we drove over to The Village and left her to make her own way up to her house. She wouldn’t hear of either of us helping her, she is so adamant that she can manage for herself, and I actually believe she can.

We drove home via M&S to get something for our lunch and we challenged ourselves in Wordle. I thought it was a goner when I realised there wasn’t a vowel in the grid! I suppose that’s not really true because there was a ‘Y’ in it and that sometimes takes the place of a vowel. Still, it was a strange grid that eventually formed although it was a common enough word that appeared.

After Wordle and its extras, and after lunch I was toying with the idea of going for a walk in St Mo’s, but then Scamp told me it was raining. I didn’t want to get the 24-105mm lens wet so I gave in eventually and took a few shots from the open back door. I also took the inside shot you can see here. It’s a couple of dried cut flowers in an old vase I like from the cupboard. That was the PoD sorted.

We watched a film Scamp had recorded about the dangers of allowing AI to control what’s happening in hospitals. Although it was based on situations in the US, it could possibly get a toe hold here too. Very thought provoking.

Tomorrow I may get my hair cut. It’s not quite a ‘Pure Affro’ yet, but it’s heading in that direction. While my locks are being shorn, Scamp ma be looking for a new pair of sandals. Then, if there’s enough time, she might buy herself a pair of dance shoes.

Garden Flowers and shopping – 13 April 2026

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Too many showers to risk going out anywhere  to take photos.

Instead we drove to Stirling to do some shopping. On the way there, we passed a few warning signs of imminent road closures beginning today. No reason given, but I’m sure it would be “Essential Maintenance”, it always is. Three months of this on the M80 was what we were told we’d have to look forward to. Oh what fun.

When we turned off to go into Stirling town we had to suffer more roadworks. Thankfully we were, going IN to Stirling. The queue on the other side of the road coming out of the town was much, much longer. I think we’ll try to avoid Stirling for a few months.

We got parked in Waitrose car park quite easily for a change and we filled our trolley nearly to overflowing, but not quite. As usual we bought lots more stuff than we really need, but it’s a comfortable place to “go for the messages in”. Our small Tesco doesn’t have a great selection and if we go to the big Tesco at the town centre it’s always mobbed. Anyway, we got what we wanted and drove home by avoiding the Three Way Traffic Signals and instead drove through the outskirts of Stirling, heading roughly north and then joined the southbound carriageway of the M80 and got home in half the time. Wild weather again with heavy rain. It didn’t feel like April at all.

The rain was on and off most of the rest of the day. I did manage to get a few shots when the sun was shining and my favourite was a deep purple Hellebore called Viv Mirabella. It has been flowering all through the winter and into spring without showing any signs of stopping any time soon.

Not much to say about the rest of the day. We went to Stirling. We went for the messages. It rained. There, that about sums up Monday for us.

Under the weather – 10 April 2026

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I wasn’t feeling great this morning.

I’d been feeling a bit sick last night and thought I was better today, but an upset stomach told me that I wasn’t all that good. Scamp was meeting Shona for lunch and a blether around midday, but I stayed home, not wanting to pass my dodgy tum on to someone else. The usual copious amounts of tea and toast wasn’t making things any easier, but at least the sick feeling had disappeared.

It seemed a waste to just sit there drinking tea, so I dug out my new potato pot and planted another three potatoes. Most of the work is done for you with these fancy planting pots, so I wrote a label for the pot and went back into the house. A bitter wind had appeared from nowhere and I didn’t want to linger outside, so I came in and read for a while.

I had a wander around the front garden after that and noticed a bee on one of the Snake’s Head Fritillaries that Scamp had planted last spring. This was the first bee I’d seen in the garden this year, so I grabbed my camera and got its photo. I’m still not sure what kind of bee but Mr Google insists it’s a Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum) I’ll take his word for it. Itseemed quite interested in a few of the flowers in the front garden before buzzing off to tell all of its Carder Bee pals where the good flowers were. The place will be buzzing with them tomorrow. I must be feeling better tonight because the jokes are getting worse.

When Scamp returned she made a lovely dinner with Cod, mashed potatoes and cheese sauce. It was excellent.

In the evening we sat and watched Gardeners World. Not a program I often watch, but this one was particularly interesting with lots of good advice.

I’m off to bed now because Scamp thinks I need the rest. PoD did turn out to be the Carder Bee.

We may go dancing tomorrow if my stomach will take it!

Happy Birthday to me – 8 April 2026

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I had a lovely day today, waited on hand and foot.

Breakfast in bed and lots of cards and prezzies to open, of course, it was my birthday.

Scamp said she was well enough to go in to Glasgow, to Mowgli, a restaurant we found because it looked interesting, almost three years ago. I’d asked for it as my birthday prezzy and Scamp had booked it.

We drove to Croy in the morning and took the train in to Glasgow, after leaving the car in the furthest place in the car park, because there were very few other spaces available. I’d wondered about having a coffee in Glasgow, but Scamp said we didn’t have enough time to search out a Nero and I agreed. Instead we went for one more walk to look at the old Union Street building. It’s still as scary as ever, just thinking about what it could have been like without the work of the fire fighters. It never ceases to amaze me that nobody was killed.

We walked round the boxes that make up the streets in that area of Glasgow and eventually went in to Mowgli. I can’t remember what I had, but I’m sure Scamp will have a note of it somewhere. Since it was my birthday, I asked for the swinging seats. Wooden seats without cushions suspended from the ceiling by ropes. Just a bit of fun. The food was good and I really enjoyed it all, but I ate too much, in fact I can still feel a bit stuffed, hours after we finished our meals. I liked the fact that I had an Old Fashioned (whisky) and a chocolate brownie with ice cream, free because it was my birthday. It was a great meal, just as good as the last time, I can recommend it to you, the next time you’re up our way.

We walked up to Sauchiehall Street when we were done and I got the book, Hazy. Ink& Sigil in Waterstones. I think I’m well stocked up with books now and I’ve still got a book token to spend when I’ve finished this lot.

Scamp drove us back to the house because she hadn’t been drinking anything alcoholic and I had a snooze on the couch! Too much of everything, but that’s what birthdays are for!

Thank you all for making my birthday great. I don’t deserve you lot, but I’m glad you’re there.

PoD was a grab shot of a branch of blossom I took when we got off the train in Croy.

Tomorrow we’re out in the morning and it’s back to “Auld Claes and Purrich”

A cold bright day – 6 April 2026

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In the morning, the sun was shining. Such a difference from yesterday!

We weren’t going anywhere and Scamp wanted to plant some more flower seeds. She did mention that it would be good to have a tool to press the seeds into the soil, and I took this as a request.

I dug out my old panel saw, a Sandvik that I’d bought when I was at college, more years ago than I care to remember. I measured up a piece of plywood and also measured the size of the tray I was going to need for the job. I was originally going to work outside, because the sun was warming the place up, but rather than keep going into the house for a plane and sandpaper then a pencil, it made more sense to just set up my old trusty Workmate in the back bedroom and work there. About an hour later I had the tool Scamp was asking for. Originally I was intending to screw a handle on to it, but realistically, some Araldite adhesive did a better and quicker job. Of course I had to tidy up the room afterwards, but the hoover made that easy. I hope it suits the purpose and I think it will.

After lunch I was going to check for updates on Flickr but I kept getting the same message that Firefox can’t connect to the server at flickr.com.
I remembered having the same message on my old iMac and fixing it by loading up an old Flickr photo from way back and that seemed to clear it. That same trick seemed to work again.

The foregoing is just a reminder to self if I need to fix this in the future

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk and saw a young deer on the path round St Mo’s. I hadn’t seen any deer in the woods for a couple of years and thought they must have moved on to somewhere less open, but there it was, walking along the path quite blithely. I got a few photos of it, but it was too well camouflaged and too far away by the time I caught a clear glimpse of it to get a decent photo. I’ll keep my eyes open for it returning in the next few days.

PoD is a bunch of bright yellow Goat Willow catkins that caught my eye.

Dinner tonight was Pasta with some Chicken and Mushroom. Usually Scamp makes it, but mine was a decent copy.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet up with Alex in Glasgow to see what he’s been up to in the past weeks.

Out to lunch – 3 April 2026

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Today Scamp and Shona met Isobel for a chat and a coffee. I stayed out of the way!

I met Scamp and Shona for lunch just after midday, at a new restaurant in Cumbersheugh, Bellissimo.
Scamp had Mussels for a starter and Seabass with Lemon sauce and mixed veg.
Shona had Italian Meatballs as a starter, with a main of Pollo Milanese.
My starter was Seasoned chicken strips in batter and my main was Penne Arrabiata.
All in all, a good meal although the food was slow in coming. We’d give it another shot, especially as our old faithful, Brodens is now gone.
We dropped Shona off at the Lidl store in the north of the town and then we drove home.

I took my Sony 24-105mm lens and the A7c out for a walk later in the afternoon. Gusty winds made photographing difficult, but not impossible. One of my favourite shots, a Horse Chestnut leaf just about to burst open, got PoD. It was another cold day and that gusty wind didn’t help.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go to Edinburgh, but there have been a lot of high wind warnings in place, so we’ll check the weather before we make any rash decisions tomorrow morning.

Spending money – 31 March 2026

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At least it was money I was spending this time.

I’d had two lenses break down on me recently. One lens I’d been using almost solely and another older lens that had a limited range, but which produced lovely clear photos.Two within a week. I couldn’t believe it. I think I read every article that existed, trying to find a solution but couldn’t find anyone who would admit to having the same problem as me. I thought I could just run them until they completely failed, but then realise that would be damaging the cameras too, so I stopped using them and fell back on another pair of older, but solidly performing lenses for a while. But they weren’t the same as the two broken down lenses. The final straw that broke my camel’s back was when I took one of the lenses to a reputable repair company in Glasgow and was told how much it would cost to repair it.

Today I paid for one new lens. It’s exactly the same make and model as the one that failed me but this time I have a 2 year warranty and a guarantee from John Lewis that covers me for accidental damage. I hope I never have to use it.

Alex was the first person I’d heard talk about Buyers Remorse. The feeling, just as you leave the shop or when you remove your credit card from the machine, that you’ve made a mistake. We’ve all felt it at one time or another, but for some reason the feeling wasn’t there this morning. Scamp had run me to the train station. I was intending to go to JL to see if they had the lens and even if they did have it, I’d have a try with it. Even if I liked what I saw, I’d still walk up the hill to WEX to compare it with the one I knew they had. But I didn’t do that either. I just checked there were no scratches on the metal mount, no fingerprints on the lens glass and bought it there and then. It was mine. Even more was what the tech guy in the repair shop had said. “Don’t buy second hand. It’s false economy.” He was right.

The PoD was one of the first shots I took with the lens today. Looking through the front blossoms to focus out the flowers and then to have the blurred image of the flowers behind. It worked exactly like I planned it.

Tomorrow I may get Buyer’s Remorse tomorrow, more than likely I will, but it will disappear.

Scamp is intending to go to a ‘Witches’ lunch tomorrow and I may go and take some photos.

A dull, windy day – 30 March 2026

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I had great plans for today, but none of them came to fruition.

Neither of us could settle last night. Scamp seemed to have the ‘Rumbling Tums’ and I was wide awake and just couldn’t get to sleep. I think it was the changing of the clocks in the middle of the early Sunday morning that caused it.

I’d half thought of going in to Glasgow to look for a new lens that would work on all three cameras. Then I looked at how to Reissue the SSL and Reinstall it on my Namecheap account. That’s when I realised I hadn’t a clue what any of that actually meant, so I left it and had a cup of coffee instead.

It was another blustery day to begin with, but as the day trundled on, the windspeed gently dropped away. In the afternoon I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got good use of my little rechargeable hand warmers. Lots of Canada Geese again, more than yesterday, so I’m guessing they are getting ready to fly north again although the temperature isn’t as high as I’d expect now that we’re on the edge of reaching April. Not a lot of buds on the trees here, so I’m thinking there might be another spell of cold weather to come yet.

Despite the increase in the waterfowl groups, PoD was Colt’s Foot Daisies. One of my dad’s favourite wildflowers. Every spring when I see them, it reminds me of him, showing me how the stems looked like horses shoes.

Dinner tonight was Mince and Tatties again with a few slice of beetroot. Scamp had a Fried Egg wit her Tatties. Later in the evening I had a home made Tattie Scone made with yesterday’s leftover potatoes. Scamp has left her’s and if she doesn’t grab it by midday tomorrow I may be tempted to snaffle her’s too!

No dancing tonight, because Kirsty is having a fortnight off. It was good not to have to drive over to the town centre for an hour’s dancing. I do enjoy it, but she sometimes repeats and repeats the steps. We could do with a bit of variation in the classes.

Tomorrow we may make that trip to Glasgow. Both the lenses I have are now useless. I’ll just have to bite the bullet and spend some money on one new one, at least.

Dancin’ – 28 March 2026

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We drove to Brookfield for today’s lesson.

We drove through rain and hail to get to Brookfield for today’s lesson which was less than scintillating. To much recapping of dances we’d done before. Nothing at all that was new. I felt it was disappointing and a lot of treading water, meaning that for the second dance we’ve had, it was a bit underwhelming. I didn’t enjoy it.

I enjoyed the drive back home, even less. It seems that every time we drive to or from Brookfield, the route is slightly different. Different road layouts and longer queues. I gave up in the end and went via the Clyde Tunnel. At least you are driving between 30 and 40mph for most of the way and there are traffic lights to ensure that you get your chance to get on to the M8 at the end. Driving over the Kingston Bridge is a lottery. Some days the traffic flows slowly, but it does flow. Other days it’s just a car park with the occasional chance to move forward by a car’s length. I hate driving on a Saturday!

We did get back home in about an hour which is quite good for a Saturday when there’s football on. After that, I fell asleep on the couch, so don’t ask me who won, or even who were playing! I was just glad to be off the main road,

I went for a walk in the late afternoon and managed to get some photos of some Salmonberry flowers near the outfall at St Mo’s. I know I’ve photographed them before, but they are pretty little flowers and deserve a place in the sun, and there was sun today.

Dinner tonight was home made Fish & Chips. Two lovely big slices of haddock fried in batter with homemade chips. We watched the Japanese F1 GP while we had dinner. Not as exciting as the previous ones, but Suzuka is a scary looking race track. Today was the qualifying race, hopefully the race tomorrow will be just as exciting.

No real plans for tomorrow. If we can avoid the rain we may go for a walk.

Sunshine and Showers – 27 March 2026

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Scamp was off to FItSteps this morning. Possibly the last of these classes for a while at least. I think she’ll miss the company and the banter.

I stayed at home and took some photos of a bunch of Tulips, like Parrot Tulips with layers of flowers. They were a birthday present for Scamp and had their bulbs still attached to the stems. I’d never seen a plant like that before and neither had Scamp. The sun was angling down in the living room and I liked the stripes on the carpet. A really interesting composition that definitely needed photographing, so I did it! PoD captured and posted before 10.30am!

Somebody, at some time had left an upstairs window open (probably me). It had swung over and knocked three geranium plants off the window sill. I attempted to refill them, but the soil was very dry and I just refilled what I could and left them for Scamp to fix properly, then I used the Dyson to clear up the resulting mess. That’s when I realised the Dyson wasn’t working at its best. Presumably that will mean another trip to Currys for a replacement. It’s been a hard working machine and doesn’t really owe us anything. It’s just another item to add to the bills.

When Scamp returned we had lunch and she fixed the geranium plants. Meanwhile I was thinking about taking the 16-35mm out for a walk in St Mo’s. That was until I looked out the front window and saw the rain streamers and clouds blowing along the Campsie Fells and decided that I should maybe give it fifteen minutes to blow past. It took about half an hour before the sun came out and I went out to meet it.

I was hardly over the road to St Mo’s when the clouds returned and this time they’d brought hail with them and started pelting me with the snow pellets. It would have taken me too long to go back to the house, so I zipped up my Rab jacket, pulled the hood up and faced the onslaught. Just like the rain before it, the hail didn’t last long and I walk around St Mo’s in a field of sunshine. Got a few shots, but didn’t really need them because the PoD was already posted. This was just for the fun of it.

Back home Scamp had made Slow Cooked Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms for dinner. It was delicious fall-off-the-bone and just melted away. Scamp should be on Masterchef!

That was about if for a lazy Friday. I’m guessing we may be dancing tomorrow although snow and ice warnings are coming from the weather fairies. We’ll just have to grin and bear it.