Category: Flowers

Rain at last – 13 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

We had been promised rain today and it actually came as predicted!

There wasn’t much rain, but enough to wet the ground and give the plants in the garden a drink.

Rather a changeable day which was mainly dry but with occasional heavy showers, especially later in the evening.

After tidying the kitchen and the living room after Saturday’s dinner guests, there wasn’t really much to do except, perhaps watch the water falling from the sky for a while.

Later in the day I took the A6500 out to St Mo’s to look for some photos. Yesterday, I’d set the aperture and shutter speed to manual and had forgotten to reset them. Today, for some reason, I set the ISO to 100. That meant that a lot of todays photos taken in between the rain shower and in bright sunlight were overexposed and too light. It took me about an hour after I got home to see how I’d done all that. Once all the settings were back to normal, Lightroom dealt with the overexposure quickly. The PoD was a bunch of flowering cherries and the overexposure coupled with a wide aperture accidentally provided exactly what I wanted in the flowers. Sometimes things just work.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and told him the 3D jigsaw he and Simonne had given me for my birthday was underway. The base is now complete and ready for the tree to grow in it.

Watched the Bahrain F1 GP and apart from a few interesting passing manoeuvres, it was the same old, same old.

Tomorrow we may have shopping to do – just the essentials.

Cooking, Baking and Polishing – 12 April 2025

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Plus a bit of cleaning and tidying up.

We were expecting visitors today. John & Marion were coming to dinner. I started in the morning picking some herbs from the garden to go into the rolled breast of lamb, then began searing the meat in the heavy Le Creuset before pouring a fairly hefty amount of red wine into the casserole and setting it to roast for four hours (Gas mark 3.5 if you’re interested). After that I made some bread dough to bake into a loaf. Again, it was a fairly long process, but without too much work on my part.

Meanwhile Scamp was dusting and polishing every conceivable surface in the living room and organising the odds and ends that were being taken up to the spare rooms to make the place look better. Then, now that the kitchen was cleared, she made her take on Ratatouille or “Rats” as she calls it.

With most of my work finished, I hoovered the living room before leaving Scamp to do the work on the kitchen and hall. By the time we were both finished the room looked liveable in!

I gave myself an hour in St Mo’s to look for a photo, but actually found the winner in the front garden. Months ago, Scamp had planted five ‘Rasta’ Tulip bulbs and we had been watching them grow and open up these last couple of weeks. With the sun shining on them, they looked fantastic. One of them made PoD – no contest!

The visitors arrived just on time and I was busy again, serving the roast lamb, but actually the star attraction for me was the Greek salad, Scamp had made. Either that or the Tiramisu that was the dessert.

Once John & Marion left, and we’d loaded and turned on the dishwasher, we sat and watched the F1 GP from Bahrain.

All in all, a busy day, but good to hear news from the visitors side of things.

Tomorrow we might be getting the first rain in a fortnight. Goodby sunshine.

Another beautiful day – 7 April 2025

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Scamp wanted compost and agricultural grit for the garden, so we went looking.

We drove to Torwood to see if we could find some. We found all the compost and the bags of grit, but Scamp wasn’t impressed with the price they wanted for delivering the heavy stuff. It would have cost more than the compost and grit combined. However, she did manage to get a few tubs of flowers, big and small with the possibility of getting the heavy stuff locally. We had lunch there too and I got a tray of leeks plants . They’ve come a long way from when we’d get a bunch of leeks wrapped up in wet newspaper from a couple of blokes who worked in the greenhouses along Clydeside. Changed days.

We drove home and stopped at Calder’s where Scamp got Vermiculite and Perlite. Both recommended as good drainage for young plants.

Scamp had been complaining about the length of the grass in the back garden, so I took out the strimmer and gave it all a fairly rough short back and sides. Maybe that should read … a very rough short back and sides. Still, after Scamp had raked it over it looked ok. It’ll need a proper cut in a week or two I think.

After that I went for a walk over St Mo’s while Scamp took a book and a seat into the garden. In St Mo’s I found a couple of clumps of Cowslips, another sign that Spring is Springing. One of them became PoD.

When I came home, Scamp was in the house, on the phone to Jackie, So I kept her seat warm in the front garden and watched the world go by for a while.

Soon it was time to get dressed for Kirsty’s class where we were dancing a Melody Foxtrot. We actually got to demonstrate it to the class because Kirsty had only learned it this afternoon and of course we are experienced dancers now.

One of those classes where time seems to disappear. Hopefully we’ll have two weeks off dancing now because the Brookfield teachers are off teaching on a cruise and the Link where Kirsty’s class runs is closed for two weeks at Easter.

Tomorrow we may go out to lunch in Glasgow.

Another beautiful day – 6 April 2025

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Thankfully without the wind we’ve had recently, just a gentle breeze to keep us cool today. It would have been better if it was a tad warmer, but it is only the beginning of April and it was dry, so we shouldn’t complain too much, although we always will.

Spent an extra hour or so in bed finishing “Paperboy”, my latest book. Enjoyable, but not as good as book 1, “Squeaky Clean” in my opinion. Loved the writer’s use of Glasgow slang and language.

That left us the whole morning to wait before the Japanese GP aired. Finished Wordle after a struggle, gave up on Spelling Bee, but completed the new game, “Strands”. The race, itself was more a procession than anything else. You could hear the commentators attempting to make it sound interesting, but that just wasn’t happening. A dud, I’m afraid.

We spent half an hour wandering round the garden while Scamp explained her intentions for new planting and pruning. It looks like we might need to to reposition some of the branches from Schoolgirl to cover up where I was overenthusiastic with my autumn pruning. Schoolgirl it a tough rose and will be able to take that extra stretching, I hope.

I spent some time photographing tiny little spiders with my big heavy macro lens and then rejecting almost all of them. PoD went to a group of greenfly clambering over a rose leaf. I should mention that the second place photo of one of Scamp’s parrot tulips is worth a look too on Flickr.

Dinner was Cauliflower in a Filo Pastry Case, baked in the oven. It sounds fairly plain, but it was delicious. A lot of work for Scamp to prepare the veg, and it really needed four hands to get the baking tin out of the oven.

Spoke to Jamie later in the day and heard about his asparagus plants and plans for seed planting – vegetables, of course! Also their search for reasonably priced, but good quality outdoor garden furniture. We don’t really get enough sun to merit outdoor furniture!

Tomorrow it looks like we may be going out looking for compost and maybe gravel to provide more drainage for some of Scamp’s pot plants.

Dancin’ – 5 April 2025

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Dance class was in full swing this morning in Brookfield.

Lots of folk desperate to get their fix of dancing, all eager to learn, even including me. There would be no dance class for at least two weeks because the teachers were off on holiday ( or as they described it, “teaching on a cruise” ). So a holiday by another name.

A gentle intro to start with. A couple of easy sequence dances before we charged into today’s topic: Tango and all that it entailed. Bent knees, staccato movements, spin turns, half turns, reverse turns. My head was spinning and we were only halfway through the routine.

A break for a lecture then on again, this time the target was a quickstep nobody really remembered from before Covid. Isn’t it strange that so much is now described as pre-Covid and past-Covid, but nobody wants to discuss the years that were stolen by Covid itself. This dance, though was done during Covid and we were just learners then and hadn’t reached the heady heights of Quickstep. We learned a lot of it today. Even they mysterious ‘Fishtails’ that used to baffle me, but which are quite familiar territory now. Most of it I enjoyed.

We finished with another couple of sequence tracks before being sent on our way back home.

It was a beautiful day. At least, to look at, it was a beautiful day, but it was the cold wind that stole away the warmth of the sun. When we got home it was great to sit and soak up the heat coming through the windows, knowing it was really cold outside. The weather fairies say it’s going to get warmer during the coming week. I certainly hope so.

We decided to have dinner from the chip shop. Scamp settled for a Black Pudding Supper and I had the first Chicken Breast Supper I’ve had for years and years. Both were very filling but Scamp said her’s was a bit spicy.

We watched an old BBC programme about who wrote what songs back from the ‘70s until the present day or at least into the 2020s. It was a bit tedious after a while, but there was nothing else worth watching on a Saturday night. To be honest, there never is at the weekend.

PoD went to some flowering cherries or Gean as they are known in Scotland.

Tomorrow, hopefully we’ll go out for a run somewhere. Prezzies are needed for some folk.

 

Dentist and Wonky iPhones – 4 April 2025

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Scamp was out early to go to FitSteps and I was left to my own devices for an hour or so, but with a reminder to phone the dentist and the optician.

I tried to phone the dentist first, but could hardly hear the assistant in the surgery. Tried three times with no success. I phoned Hazy to check that it wasn’t a problem associated with Cumbersheugh, but the same thing happened. I was about to restart the phone when Hazy phoned back to check that everything was ok. I told her about the phone problem and she made a few suggestions and said she’d look into it. This time I did restart the phone and just as it restarted I thought the problem might be something to do with my headphones. Sure enough, the headphones were on and sitting on the table at the other end of the room. Once I switched them off, everything went back to normal. That’s when Hazy messaged me to tell me to restart the iPhone with instructions for doing it. I phoned her back feeling a bit sheepish and explained about the headphones. See Technology? See Me?!

Next I’d to phone the dentist and apologise for the three silent calls, but Amy was very good, didn’t shout at me and got me an appointment for a dislodged filling for just after midday!

The next thing on my list was the optician. Got an appointment for the end of the month, just when my annual checkup was due. After a disastrous start, everything was beginning to fit into place.

I’m sure a card and a parcel arrived today, but strangely they both disappeared when I turned my back on them! Must be something to do with the weather.

The tooth filling only took about 15 minutes and it seems to be more solid and less intrusive than the one that it was replacing.

After Scamp returned, I drove to the shops to get lunch and came home with nine wee cupcakes, thin and thick sliced chicken, chocolate mini eggs a loaf and a bake in the oven curry for dinner. That’s what happens when you send me for the messages. I usually forget something, but then buy more than we really need. Anyway we didn’t starve!!

In the afternoon, I waited in for a delivery of coffee. 1 kilo of Blow Your Socks Off beans(strong coffee), 2 x 250g Cat’s Pyjamas coffee beans and 1 x Bag of Drinking Chocolate. You see what I mean about buying too much? I’m surprised Scamp allows me to go out myself!

The coffee was delivered early so I went for a walk in St Mo’s. I took my Rab jacket which was sensible, but I forgot my woolly bunnet. Not so clever. It was a bright day, but with a cutting cold east wind that reduced the temperature to just above zero.

The curry was delicious if a bit creamy and with very little spicy heat. It was meant to be Butter Chicken, but could have used more spice. Other than that it was fine. Pudding was yesterday’s rhubarb and pear pie with ice cream. The rhubarb was almost all from our garden with a smidgen from some Waitrose rhubarb. It was very well received!

Tomorrow I believe we may be going to dance class. The last one for three weeks. Oh dear, what a shame!

The last day of March – 31 March 2025

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We went for a walk today. The options were Glasgow Green and Drumpellier Park. Drumpellier won for the simple reasons that it was closer and there was a good chance we’d find an ice cream van waiting at the end of our round trip.

It was a pleasant walk in and out of the trees and across the fields of this lovely park, especially as the trees were now beginning to show some of their greenery. A few of the older trees had been blown down in the gales, but a surprising amount of them were still standing. Possibly the amount of trees in the park protected them. About an hour long walk in total, and yes, the ice cream van was there! I don’t think I’ve seen ice cream vans on Glasgow Green, more’s the pity! Can you believe I didn’t take one photo in that hour long walk!

Drove home and had lunch before Scamp was starting on the back garden, cutting back, planting cuttings and generally tidying things up now that fresh growth was forming after the long winter we’ve had.

The good weather and sun from the morning was disappearing in the middle of the afternoon, so I wore my orange RAB jacket for a walk over to St Mo’s. On the way I bumped into our new next-door neighbours. Two women and maybe three girls. I’d bumped into them Thursday or Friday of last week and they were asking about the house and I told them I’d never been in it, but that it was almost exactly a mirror image of ours. They seem fine. Just wanting to get schools sorted out for the girls and eager to get furniture in. Scamp had bumped into them too while I was over in St Mo’s, and of course she found out names and a lot more than I did. I completely forget everyone’s names … except mine, or only sometimes does that happen.

Today’s PoD came from St Mo’s and was a shot of a dandelion. I had to scramble down a slippery banking to get that photo. Ended up muddier than I’d intended, but I got the shot.

Off to Kirsty’s Dance class for a lesson on Tina Tango. I can’t believe I’ve been dancing that sequence dance for years and only today I discovered I’d been doing bits of it wrong all along! Simple steps that I should have known, but didn’t. Anyway, I was dancing, not with Scamp who was dancing with Kirsty, but with Nicola who has been dancing since she was knee high I’m told, but she too was making a few mistakes … and I admit I trod on her toes, just like I do with Scamp. Scamp introduced Kirsty to Ed Sheeran’s Shivers. So much better than the old fashioned tango music she was playing. Next week it’s to be Melody Foxtrot to the tune of Go Gentle by Robbie Williams. That might be fun!

Possibly meeting Isobel for coffee tomorrow. Who will be the April Fool?

Dancin’ and Flowers – 29 March 2025

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Today we drove over to Brookfield for the first dance class in ages.

The road was busier than normal but we made good time despite that drawback. Busy carpark at Brookfield too. Something to do with a committee meeting … on a Saturday morning? Have these people no other plans on a Saturday?

We started with a couple of sequence dances both Melody Foxtrots to ease us into the routine. I was quite pleased that I managed to tie my shoes, far less dance! Then it was in to the lesson proper with a new-to-us Cha-Cha. Most of it we’d seen before, but some of the steps were new, also the teachers were adding some very technical bits and pieces we definitely hadn’t seen before. I’ll admit it, I was lost for a while.
I don’t know who had been in the hall before us, but the floor was treacherous. Even the teachers were slipping and sliding at times. However, we survived it.

Next up was a Tango. Again, we knew some of it, but not all. Hopefully the short videos I’d taken will make things clearer, as will the short one-to-one lessons we both got from Jane.

We finished with a couple of Tina Tangos the first one being to Shivers by Ed Sheeran, of course.

We left the dance class and faced a gathering storm with driving rain that followed us all the way home. Again the roads were busy although most of the traffic seemed to he heading for Braehead.

A surprise parcel was waiting for us on the steps of the house. It was a bouquet of flowers from John & Marion. Then another parcel arrived about an hour later. A posy of flowers in a glass jar. That made PoD.

I walked down to the shops to get a take-away dinner. The rain had paused and it looked safe to go. Wrong again. When I came out of M&S the wind and rain had redoubled. A day of bad choices, all in

The rain and wind is still with us at almost 11pm. Hoping for a better day tomorrow. Hoping to meet Shona for coffee in the town centre.

 

It rained today – 27 March 2025

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Unfortunately it forgot to stop.

After yesterday’s sunshine, today was a bit of a let down. The farthest we got was Tesco for a shopping expedition. Not much fun to be had in Tesco.

Then it was back home for lunch. I did take the chance of getting some photos in the garden in the afternoon, between showers. My target was a Snake’s head Fritillary. One of many Scamp had planted last autumn and were beginning to flower now. The light was pretty low by the time I got a chance to beat the rain, but hopefully I’ll get another chance tomorrow, or at the weekend.

Not a lot more to say about a typical wet Scottish day.

Hoping for better weather tomorrow.

Dunfermline – 26 March 2025

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We couldn’t decide where to go, but eventually settled on Dunfermline.

We usually go there by bus, but instead we drove there today. Weather was warm and dry and we got a free parking space which was a bonus.

We went to Nero for a coffee, tried unsuccessfully to find a pair of trousers to suit Scamp and likewise tried unsuccessfully to find a book I was looking for in Waterstones, then went for lunch (fish ’n’ chips for two) in Wetherspoons. One of the few Wetherspoons that doesn’t have a sticky carpet on the floor. Then we wandered through the town. It’s really very run down, but we were heading for the park and that’s the interesting part of the town.

I found a lot of exotic flowers to photograph in the heated glasshouse before we went for a walk around the well manicured gardens. Not a lot to see yet, but it is only the first month of spring. PoD was from the glasshouse and is what I think is a Canna paniculata. A flower that’s native to Costa Rica and Mexico.

From there we headed homeward, but stopped at Fairley Garden Centre in Cairneyhill and Scamp was off, wandering around the plants looking for something new to brighten the garden. She came out of there with a smile on her face, and three new plants.

That was about it for the day. Just a walk in the park and a spot of lunch. Hopefully we’ll get out again tomorrow, but the weather fairies disagree. Rain predicted.