Category: Flowers

The first day of Spring – 1 March 2024

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Meteorological spring that is, but it certainly didn’t feel like it. A cold wind put paid to any thoughts of warm spring days.

We drove up to Tesco for messages, but they didn’t have the whisky I was looking for at a price I was willing to pay. I can wait. It will come down to a reasonable price soon.

One high point of the day was our Friday lunch in Brodens. Fish & Chips for two and a glass of Merlot for Scamp and a pint of Guinness for me. All the elements of the lunch were perfect, as usual.

I was tempted not to take a camera out later in the afternoon, but I went anyway. However I might as well have stayed home in the warm house for all the interest there was over in St Mo’s. My PoD was a branch of four catkins bolstering my belief that this is Spring, despite the cold and the wind.

It was good not to have to think about sketches and painting. But there’s a lot more to it than just the drawing. There’s the time it takes to get the sketch scanned, cleaned up and then there’s writing the story that I always like to add. After that I post the sketch to Flickr then Facebook and finally add it to EDiF and/or 28DL. It’s not just about painting pretty pictures. I may do it all again in May, all being well.

I’ve just been told that the dance class is on tomorrow. Don’t know what the ‘menu’ is yet, but it seems we have more than enough couples for a qourum.

 

A dull day – 28 February 2024

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One of those days when it started raining and forgot to stop.

Scamp was out at midday to go to a Witches Lunch in Moira’s house so I was left to my own devices. I decided I’d spend my time gathering together bits and pieces in the back bedroom. I got about halfway down my list and decided to have lunch. I was hoping the rain would take a lunch break too, but that didn’t happen. Like me it was busy and didn’t have time for frivolous things like stopping for an hour or so. It just changed from heavy rain to light rain and then back again.

Almost every day this week I’ve been blog writing almost to midnight. The sensible thing to do today would be to start with the sketch in the early afternoon and that would let me concentrate on the posting and writing earlier in the evening. I struggled to find something that would fit with today’s prompt “Navy”. My first though was a naval ratings hat. I sketched that, but it didn’t really look like it was intended to. I didn’t want a hat that Lord Nelson might wear, then I found an advert for a child’s duck shaped toy made to look like a sailor. That would do fine. I got the sketch done quite quickly, but the painting took ages. It wasn’t possible to use my ’Splashy’ technique. It had to be painted neatly and cleanly. I did manage to finish it and that ticked a box.

That made it coffee time and it looked like the rain had stopped. Of course as soon as I took a camera out it started again. I wasn’t going far, just into the garden. Five minutes of photography and I had enough for today. The subject was a tray of purple crocuses and with the right lens and a wide aperture I could almost blur out the roughcast in the background. Dunked into a couple of processing apps and it looks good.  That was PoD catered for.

Scamp got a lift home which saved me driving over to Moira’s to pick her up. Her day seemed to go well. Dinner tonight for us was a pizza from the freezer.

Still got a bit of work to do in the back bedroom, but I’m hoping to get most of it done by the weekend.

I’m intending going in to Glasgow to meet Alex tomorrow. Scamp may go and visit Isobel.

Going Spanish – 26 February 2024

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Today we took the bus in to Glasgow. We were going for a late lunch.

“Late” because it should have been last week we went for lunch in Café Andaluz in the West End, but I really wasn’t at my best last week and thankfully Scamp got the date changed to today. The lunch was a Christmas gift from Scamp. Christmas seems such a long time ago now. We had a lovely lunch of five plates of tapas. Spanish black pudding, Chicken pieces on skewers, Patatas Bravas, Lamb tagine and Prawns in garlic oil, with sides of olives and bread and a glass of Sangria. Dessert was Churros for two! Just brilliant on such a lovely almost warm and very spring like day.

We had taken the X3 in to Glasgow and then while I went to get my hair cut, Scamp went browsing for sandals without success. Then we got he subway out to Kelvinbridge and I grabbed a few photos of the River Kelvin rushing over the rapids. From there we walked through the park and up the steps that led to Great Western Road. We walked past all the posh and weird shops that it’s been famous for, since I can remember. When we got to Byres Road we went looking for the restaurant which is well hidden in plain sight along a narrow lane.

We were far too early, so we went for a walk in the Botanic Gardens. We didn’t go to the Kibble Palace circular greenhouse today. Instead we walked up to the garden area which was covered with black polythene sheeting to heat up the soil ready for planting. It was when we were walking back I saw PoD which is a line of magenta coloured crocuses. They were shining so brightly in the sunlight, they just had to be the PoD.

We just had time for a gentle walk back to Café Andaluz and lunch.

When we were finished there, we walked down Byres Road checking out the shops that had changed and the ones that have been in the same place for years. I saw a couple of books I fancied, but I’d left my book token at home, so I hope I remember their names. I’m sure I will.

We had an afternoon drink in Oran Mor G&T for Scamp and an Innis & Gunn IPA for me. Quite fruity and almost floral. Worth paying extra for.

And that was us almost done. Subway back to Glasgow and a crowded X3 home. A lovely day.

I’d a bit of catching up to do. Two sketches to do. One for yesterday and one for today. Thankfully the blog for yesterday was done and posted on time

Yesterday’s first:

Yesterday’s prompt was Salmon.
This one took me a bit of time. First I had to get myself a new rod and reel and also some fly fishing line. Then I had to catch the fish. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, mainly because I went fishing at night. Not so many nosy folk out on the river asking if you have a license and things.
After an hour I had half a dozen decent sized salmon. I chose one the right size and got the sketch done and then splashed on the paint. Job done. Anyone want a salmon? Just don’t ask where it came from.

And today’s prompt was Rust.
I chose a rusty nail. Not the most exciting sketch ever, but it fulfilled the prompt. That’s the one on the right, by the way.
The other one is also a Rusty Nail. For those who have never heard of it, it’s a mixture of Whisky and Drambuie. Very nice!
The difference between the two is subtle. The first one is hit with a hammer. The second one, if you make it in a big enough glass, make you feel like you’ve been hit with a hammer!

Tomorrow we’re hoping to see the only man brave enough to wear a loud shirt in a built up area. Andrew.

Another lovely, but busy day – 25 February 2024

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It was Sunday and a sunny day. Usually a day of relaxation, with little work being done.

We both did a bit of work. Scamp wanted to rehouse an old photograph of Hazel, Jamie, Neil and Simonne from ‘quite a few years ago’ in a new frame. She had already earmarked a suitable frame from my odds and ends collection. Unfortunately, the picture didn’t fit the mat properly, so I was tasked with making a new mat from a suitable piece of mat card from my collection. It wasn’t a hard job, in fact it was quite enjoyable. Making the aperture fit the picture is all to do with subtraction and long division which I can just about manage without a calculator. The hard bit is remembering how to cut the angled mat to fit the picture. If you do this day in, day out, it’s not a problem, but when you do picture framing once in a blue moon the old maxim “Measure twice, cut once” is a useful guideline. I had a lunch break before I started the cutting.

There was some mince left over from hmm, must have been Thursday. Scamp suggested Mince with a Poached Egg. Definitely a Scottish meal, especially if served on a slice of buttered bread. If you haven’t tried it, don’t scoff. You are missing one of life’s delights, unless you’re Hazy or Scamp. It was delightful. Slightly overdone egg, but that was my fault, otherwise it was delicious.

Back in the workshop, the glass was cleaned the mat was cut and the photo was an exact fit. It’s now assembled and hanging in pride of place in the living room. Both families together in a photo that’s probably eight years old at least. Baldock is what we think. I’ll try to get a photo of the photo tomorrow.

With that done, there was some easy gardening to be done. Scamp was taking cuttings of some of her geraniums and I was pruning the Budleia bush in the back garden and also cutting down the seed head of the sunflowers from back in the summer. I think I’d like to plant some more this coming year. I like those big yellow heads.

Around 3pm the light was getting interesting. A bit warmer colour than earlier in the day, but bright enough that it wasn’t going to cause gritty digital noise. I got a few, but the best one, and PoD was one of the first I took today. It’s a view of the pine trees in St Mo’s reflecting in one of the new ponds. There were a few other contenders, but this one stood out for me.

Dinner was SeaBass with crushed potatoes and spring onions served with marrowfat peas. Quite, quite delicious.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and it seems he is quite happy with the way the reconstruction of the roof and the dormers, more importantly, so is the structural engineer. Those are both good signs. Not so much flooding this week, but a fair bit of mud on the road that needs to we washed away before it becomes a problem. Poor Vixen can’t get out for a walk until her paw if healed. I hope it doesn’t take too long. Simonne seems to be having a good start to her holiday with her sister and their dad. Nice photos.

Watched another school play masquerading as a detective mystery in Death In Paradise. I think the cast need a re-shuffle.

Didn’t quite get around to sketching today’s prompt which was Salmon. Maybe fish tomorrow, but not fish today.

Read Monday’s for Sunday’s story and sketch!

Tomorrow we are hoping to have a lunch in a Spanish restaurant in Glasgow, rescheduled from last week.

Looking for mythical creatures – 16 February 2024

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Scamp was out in the morning to get her hair cut. I was left in charge of the house.

When she returned looking glamorous we discussed what to do with the remainder of the day. We discussed various options and came up empty handed. Finally, after a long wait I suggested we go shopping in Lidl in Kilsyth. My ulterior motive (there is always one) was that I’d heard tell of a kingfisher frequenting the Garrel Burn.

So after we’d bought our shopping we took a walk through Kilsyth and followed the burn all the way to the main road without seeing any life in the burn whether fish or feathered. We walked back to the car by a different route and found a tributary to the Garrel, but it didn’t look as if there was any activity in it either. I’m not sure if the story of the kingfisher is a myth or not, but I’ll give it another chance some time, maybe going downstream as well as upstream this time.

I did get one decent photo on our walk. Looking through a circular hole in the cast iron bridge over the burn to look upstream through the trees. I just liked the frame the circle made for the burn. That became PoD.

On the way back to the car we discovered the fresh fish shop we used to visit in Kilsyth. Scamp was impressed with quality of the fish and bought a piece of salmon for tomorrow’s dinner. I’d already selected a thick slice of rump steak for mine from Lidl.

We drove home and found a nearly empty car park and had our choice of parking places for once.

Today’s prompt was “Violet”.
I chose to paint some African Violets, at one time my favourite flower. They used to be seen in garden centres all around the country, but now they seem to have fallen out of favour. One of the easiest plants to propagate from cuttings, I may go looking for some once the cold weather has gone.

That was about it for the day. Dinner was the remains of yesterday’s chicken which for some reason disagreed with Scamps teeth and a very old filling came out. It had to happen late on a Friday when the dentist isn’t open at weekends. I think it might be something soft and easily chewed for breakfast tomorrow, maybe porridge!

It appears that the dancing teachers have returned and so have the classes, starting tomorrow.

Out to lunch – 14 February 2024

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But a case of the Curate’s Egg

Today Scamp mentioned that she would like to visit a new garden centre called Homegrown. We’d nothing better to do, so we drove over to Gartcosh to see what it was like.

We found it easily enough, just a few minutes off the M73. It was a new-build rectangular block. We went straight upstairs to the restaurant and were one of the last to get a table. All the other tables were already reserved, but didn’t have any notice on them to say they were not free. We both settled on the soup, Leek & Potato, and chose to have coffee afterwards. The soup was fine, lots of flavour, but apart from the obvious L&P I couldn’t quite put my finger on the other ingredients. When we finished and the waitress was taking away the plate I asked what was in the soup and that’s when things started to go wrong. The waitress just couldn’t answer my question and mumbled “Well, leeks and potatoes … “ Scamp leapt to her aid by suggesting “Celery?” She agreed that “there was celery in it and onions…”

In the end I gave up and we both ordered coffee and a scone. When mine arrived it was absolutely roasting. Just one notch down from glowing red hot. Worse, it was brick hard (probably a fire brick.) The final flaw was that it was baked onto the black serviette it was sitting on, I had to tear the thing off. Scamp said her’s was fine, but a bit hard. When a second waitress came to take away our plates, Scamp mentioned the problem with the scones. The waitress made a few noises, but seemed unable to string the noises into a coherent sentence. We paid and left to see what treats the shop and plants had in store for us.

The answer was “Not Much”. It seemed a bit of a shambles. Shopping trolleys filled with cushions were being wheeled about in quite a tight space and shelves were being re-stacked in the shop area. Some lovely pieces were on display for ‘lovely’ prices. The outside plants area was the same. Lots of workers with wheelbarrows bring in raw materials and the sound of a Stihl saw cutting through sheet steel. Almost everything was overpriced compared to the garden centres we’re used to visiting.  The overall impression was of a work in progress.

Would I visit again? Well, today could just have been a bad day, but there was definitely a feeling of style over substance here. Also, people were being turned away from the restaurant because tables had been pre-booked. That is fine if there is a card on the table to say ‘Reserved’, but there wasn’t. They company might also think of investing in buzzers to hand to potential customers if they want to keep them onside. I’m usually happy to give a company a second chance, but I’m not sure I would for this one.

We drove home. I’d managed to get a couple of grey photos of a grey landscape on a grey day. I turned one of them into a sepia toned monochrome image that would become PoD.

Next task was to get sketches and paintings done for today and yesterday in EDiF.
Yesterday’s prompt was Lime, so being cantankerous, I made it Limes. After a couple of aborted attempts at using salt to give me the texture I was looking for in the lime’s skin, I eventually searched on YouTube and found the answer. I learned that the best way is not to remove the paint using salt, but to add the texture with a fine brush and a stippling action. Lo and behold, the additive method works. I’m done now with limes. I’ll keep them and the salt for Margaritas!

Today’s prompt was for “Rose”. This might have had something to do with today’s date, 14th February is traditionally Valentine’s Day. To me it was just a chance to sketch and paint a rose, more or less freehand with very little pencil sketching. I did it in what an art teacher once called my ‘splashy style’ totally the opposite of yesterday’s ‘Lime’ which was quite tight and calculated. Strangely I enjoyed both techniques.

Tomorrow looks a bit like today as far as the weather is concerned. I’m not sure where we will be going yet, if anywhere.

We did lunch – 9 February 2024

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Just an ordinary lunch in Brodens. It was that sort of day. A day for good filling food and a glass of something to wash it down.

I admit that I suggested it because it was Friday and for no other good reason. Also, Scamp had raved about the Fish ’n’ Chips in what used to be The Masonic Arms in Condorrat and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Well, the fuss was all about the slab of Peterhead Haddock in Breadcrumbs served with hand cut skin-on chips and the Breadcrumbs have a capital ‘B’ because they just made the fish great in both our opinions. It didn’t quite knock their Steak Pie off the number one pedestal, but it came very close. The lunch of champions.

The weather was awful. A bitter east wind driving rain that was horizontal at times with no letup all day long. Now at about 11.30pm the rain is tapering off a bit and the wind isn’t howling as much, but it’s still pretty cold.

I did some renovation work on yesterday’s project, but I think I may have to do a ‘Ribbit’ to quote Hazy and rip it all out and start again. Pity, it looked quite good, but it just didn’t work.

Today’s prompt was Charcoal. I hate charcoal. The only time I’ve used charcoal sticks is on an evening class on portraiture in college at the town centre. I found these fragile bits of burnt twig too messy to work with and spent more time cleaning up the paper than putting charcoal on paper. I still have the box you see here with about five of the original twelve sticks and a lot of charcoal chips. Charcoal isn’t for me (and neither was portraiture), so I’ll draw a rather grainy smudged line under it and say no more.

We watched an uninspiring episode of Death in Paradise that had an over complicated plot line and the usual almost ready to retire actors, making a few bob. That is one of the things that keep us watching. “Who is that?” and “What was she in?” Today’s guest appearance was Sean Maguire who was ‘Teggs’ Ratcliffe in Grange Hill from 1978 to 2008. A couple of my readers may remember him. Allegedly he was also in Eastenders, but we never watch is so we can’t verify that.

Basically that was it. PoD was a photo of a bunch of pink carnations with a very old joke tagged on to them. When we were walking back from Brodens I made the conscious decision not to go out for a walk in St Mo’s. I may be daft, but I’m not stupid. Neither did I want to catch a cold from the rain and that vicious east wind. I think I’m with Vixen in the avoidance of bad weather brigade.

Tomorrow looks better say the weather fairies. Not sure I believe them yet. We’ll wait and see.

Dull and wet but dancin’ inside

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Today was a day for driving to Glenburn and dancing for a couple of hours.

For the second time in a row, we drove to Glenburn, just outside Paisley and danced almost everything the threw at us. We both made a mess of some of it, but there was a quiet confidence to us that wasn’t there before. I don’t know exactly what was happening, but I’ve a curious feeling that I was leading for a while! Usually I rely on Scamp to tell me what comes next, but for some of the dances, I knew what came after what. It’s hard to explain, but there was definitely a difference to our dancing.

The afternoon started with a waltz and that led on to cha-cha and then an interspersing of ballroom or latin with a sequence dance. I’ve complained here in the past about Stewart’s plan to have, let’s call it formal dancing, in the first half and sequence in the second half. I don’t think that works well for everyone, but the mixing he and Jane were doing today seemed to encourage everyone to get on the floor more often. We covered usual trilogy of waltz, cha-cha and quickstep with lots of sequence dances. We even attempted a Gay Gordons as well, but stayed well clear of the Canadian Barn Dance, the music for which seemed never ending. It was good to see that folk were taking to heart Stewart’s recommendation to wear something tartan for Burns Night. He even ‘accidentally’ played Donald Where’s Yer Troosers because he said I liked it! Cheeky get!

The two hours went quickly and then it was time to go home, have a cup of tea and a biscuit before getting ready to drive Scamp up to The Link to get her Shingles jag. That didn’t take long. Probably about 15 minutes maximum, then we were heading home again for Haggis Neeps and Tatties. Standard fare for a Burns Night. I don’t know why we call turnips ‘Neeps’. Burns was born and bred in Ayrshire, but Neeps is a north east coast word. How did it get inveigled into Ayrshire dialect? I blame the Aberdonians. Or better still, I blame Boris who was a bit of a turnip heid!

With the traditional Burns Supper meal and a wee dram to toast it, the excitement for the day was all but over. Today’s PoD was a photo of a bouquet of cut flowers, well, it was a Thursday. The flowers weren’t “arranged tastefully, in a vase” as D.P. Gumby used to demonstrate on Monty Python, but laid down on the kitchen worktop, but the little light that filtered in through the clouds lit them perfectly.

Tomorrow we may drive somewhere for lunch or we may walk somewhere local for it instead. As usual, it depends on the weather.

Another cold one – 17 January 2024

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Temperature this morning was -7ºc when breakfast was being served – in bed.

I downloaded a To Do app last week and am beginning to use it. I had three tasks for today and took great delight in ticking them off one by one. I even added another couple to the list and ticked them off. How long it will last, I don’t know. Probably until they start asking me for a subscription and start removing parts of it or adding adverts. That’s when it will get the heave.

The first task was to post my calendars to some folk. I actually really like the photo on the front page, but it’s more than halfway through the first month and the poor folk will only get this one for half the time it deserves. Unless, of course, they get crafty with a pair of scissors! I’m not saying what the picture is, but it’s not alcoholic, that’s all I’m telling you. I only did five this year. One for me one for Alex and one each for three lucky people. I strengthened the calendars with some corrugated cardboard, so they should arrive intact. I also spent ages working out how to mail merge my database of “Where Was It Took in 2023” into a Word document, eventually giving up and using first Scamp’s computer and then my old Tosh to do the job. Mickeysoft make some clever office apps, but they don’t give a toss about whether they work on a Mac or not. Anyway, I digress – as usual. At least one of you recipients didn’t get a copy of WWIT2023, so if it’s you and you really want to find out what was taken where, email me and I’ll send you a PDF of the script.

I walked over to Condorrat and posted all three off to their recipients. Then walked down to St Mo’s with the shiny new lens on the A7iii and let it take some photos for me. I think it was 35 photos in total today and about 5 of them ended on the cutting room floor. Not bad odds. Everywhere was white. Not snow, just frost. Best of a bad lot was one of a St John’s Wort flower well covered in frost. Despite being well wrapped up, I was beginning to feel the cold on my face and any other bits of exposed flesh, like my hands. I did have a pair of cycling gloves with me, but they are a bit cumbersome to wear when you’re operating a camera. I was glad to get in to the warm house and heat up some soup for lunch. Scamp was away to a birthday bash at Castlecary Hotel, so she wouldn’t be needing any, I thought.

Next task was to order some coffee. I still get it from The Bean Shop in Perth and get it delivered to me. It’s the sensible way to get it. £3 for DPD to deliver it and about twice that in petrol costs to drive there and buy it. DPD are pretty good at delivering it within the one hour time slot they state. I also ordered a new UV filter for the new lens. The old one I had was ages old and showing its age with a handful of scratches. However it was protecting the lens for now at least.

As it turned out, Scamp’s lunch date hadn’t been all that good. Two of the group, Scamp included weren’t impressed with the quality of the food which is a a pity as it was always a good restaurant. But, as we know, things change.
So it was Mince ’n’ Tatties for my dinner, cooked by my good self and Fish Fingers ’n’ Tatties for Scamp.

We watched the weather report on BBC and tomorrow looks just as cold as today, if not colder. I’m booked to meet Alex in Glasgow. We were going to go to Paisley, but if the weather is so bad, we may, at Scamp’s suggestion, take the subway up to Kelvinbridge and have lunch in the Paesano there, then spend the afternoon in the warmth of the Botanic Gardens greenhouses!

 

 

 

 

Freezin’ – 7 January 2024

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It really was freezing. Freezing fog. Temp just below zero.

Just to check it out I took out the rubbish, slipped on the icy step and landed with a bump, knocking over the bin in the process. I don’t do it every day, but occasionally I do try to get a bit of gymnastic practise in and this seemed like a good time to do it. Thankfully it was foggy, so nobody was about to see my wee slide. Then I went round the garden in baby steps picking up all the fallen cardboard and yoghurt tubs. I think Scamp got a bigger fright than me!

Back inside I grabbed a camera and gingerly walked out into the back garden to grab a photo of what were our sunflowers with trails of frosted ice crystals hanging on them. It wasn’t a day for hanging around, so I equally gingerly made my way back inside again to the nice, warm, safe kitchen.

If you read yesterday’s blog (published today), you will have read that last night I gave up on trying to fix the botched attempt at clearing up the mess of the Lightroom catalog. Well, I did sleep on it, and somewhere in the restless night, I came up with a plan. Why build a new catalog when you can just adapt the one you’ve used for a year. There must be a way of changing the name from 2023 to 2024. There was and it was a Scottish lady who explained the intricacies of the renaming in a YouTube video. It was really simple, but also convoluted, with some parts being done while Lightroom was active and others when it was shut down. Long story short, it worked. So now it looks like I have an operating catalog for 2024. However, I’ll know better tomorrow.

Dinner tonight was the opposite of last Sunday’s three course meal and was lentil soup with apple pie and custard for dessert.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about aquaplaning cars and flooded fields and roads. However he says it’s not too cold in the house and the builders start again this week. So work is progressing.

The frosted sunflower stalks with their necklace of ice crystals were PoD.

I think we will have to go out tomorrow to get some much needed supplies. Just simple stuff like bread and milk. No alcohol was mentioned!