Category: Flowers

Rain – 7 December 2023

Posted on by Zogman

It rained all day. Non stop rain. Continuous and soaking rain and it was so dark outside too. Get the message?

Scamp was going out to lunch today with her pal, Mags and I was hoping to get myself a cheap(ish) pair of jeans.

I was also hoping to drive in to Glasgow for an undisclosed shopping expedition. Instead, I chose to drive to The Fort. For once I got parked quickly and went for a walk around the circular shopping area. I didn’t find what I was looking for and thought I’d cut my losses and just do what I’d intended doing to start with and drive down the M8 to Glasgow. However, after I’d walked back to the car, I was soaked, well, I wasn’t, but my jacket was.

Instead of Glasgow, I drove back to Cumbersheugh and got the veg and chicken I needed for tonight’s dinner. That and a Ginsters for my lunch. Then I drove home. Scamp was on her way home on the bus by that time.

I kept hoping that the rain would stop, but I’d seen the weather reports yesterday and had read the forecast on my phone, so I knew it was a forlorn hope. The rain was on for the day.

By the way, I got my jeans and Scamp enjoyed her lunch!

Let’s hope tomorrow is bright, like the Gerbera, but I’d settle for dry!

Just a normal Sunday – 19 November 2023

Posted on by Zogman

A dull day with not a lot to recommend it weatherwise.

I spent most of the morning flicking through Flickr and for once enjoyed just looking through other folk’s pictures. I’m sure Scamp was doing Wordle and Spelling Bee, but I’d fallen out with both after Wordle had claimed that I hadn’t completed my 146th puzzle and sent me back to 1 again. I’ll not have that from these dastardly americans. I’ll just stop playing their stupid game and then they’ll be sorry.
I’ll start fresh tomorrow!

Lunch for me was bacon, egg, mushrooms, tomatoes and scorched Padron peppers. The only place I know I can get the peppers is Waitrose, so every time I go there I get a packet of them. Some of them are a bit hot, and there’s no way to tell if you’re going to get a hot one or a normal one. That makes them more interesting. Scamp had the more sedate egg, black pudding, mushrooms and tomatoes.

We watched what turned out to be a really interesting Las Vegas F1 GP. Lots of thrills and a few spills with the lead changing hands a few times before the inevitable happened and the world champion bullied his way to the front. As always it was the battle for 2nd and 3rd places that held the most interest and probably skill.

It was the first time the race had been held in Las Vegas and the lead up to it took more time than was really necessary, but I’m guessing it’s the American way to overload the race with the glitz and glamour. Because the race took so long to get started, it was late in finishing too and the light was beginning to fade when I finally walked over to St Mo’s for what I thought would be today’s PoD. As it happened, I got one landscape shot that was worth uploading, but PoD went to a grab shot I’d taken in the morning of a Rudbeckia flower in the garden. The plant has been flowering for about two months now and it’s survived high winds and torrential rain and is flowering still. While I was out in St Mo’s, Scamp was gardening, planting out some bulbs that will hopefully provide some much needed colour next spring.

I’d my apron on today to make my dinner. I’d bought a couple of short ribs at Waitrose and the recipe I was using said to brown them in a casserole for ten minutes. I knew I’d need a bit of protection from the spatter that would come from the fatty meat and I was glad of the protection the apron gave me. Then the meat had to rest while I made the slurry that would provide the base for it in the pot. Too many things to list here, but half a can of stout went into it too. Finally the meat went on top, the lid went on and it was set to cook for about 3 hours in the oven.

Scamp had chopped up onions, carrots and turnip and that made the veg part of the meal which we had with potatoes. I was too slow getting the meat roasted and the slurry made, consequently I had to cut the cooking time to two and a bit hours, but the meat was fine, and the veg went well with it. Scamp had a veggie version of the dinner and her’s seemed to be good too.

Spoke to Jamie later in the evening and heard about poor Vixen being upset having been in different kennels twice in a month. Poor thing wouldn’t know if she was coming or going. I’m sure she’ll settle down soon. Jamie and Simonne were meant to be doing a run today, but the weather was against it and Simonne wasn’t feeling well into the bargain, so they’d cancelled.

No real plans for tomorrow, although we need to get the CO2 monitor replaced before we get the boiler maintenance done. Also, I believe a visit to IKEA is on the cards for this week.

Still Wet, Still Windy – 20 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

I could write, “For details of the day see yesterday”, but I won’t.

It started like yesterday, with wind and rain, but things needed to be done. Scamp was off to FitSteps until the phone rang and it was Kirsty hoping she’d catch Scamp, which she just managed to do. The message was that today’s class was cancelled because too many folk had called off. I must say it sounded like the most sensible answer, but I think Scamp was disappointed. Can’t blame her.

So where to start? First thing and easiest to set up was the tomato soup. Just a case of tipping the roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic and peppers into a pot adding a tin of tomatoes a cup of water and a litre of stock. Bring it to the boil and simmer for 30mins. Next was to thaw out the stew and dust it with flour, salt and pepper and leave it to dry out a bit and once the soup had had its 30mins, we drove to M&S for fripperies like fruit and bread, then Tesco for breakfast stuff and essentials like tonic and ice lollies. Got to get your priorities right.

Back home it was time to fry off the stew in the big wok and, once it was nicely browned, pitch it into the Instant Pot with carrots and onions and some stock, set it to slow cook for about 4 hours. Sit back and enjoy a Ginsters lunch. I know they’re not good for me and that they give me heartburn, but they do taste great. Scamp had a fried egg sandwich. Much healthier I’m sure. Simonne phoned to say they were on their way, so we were all running to schedule.

I kept thinking (hoping) it was getting lighter outside and that the rain was getting lighter, the way you do when you know you’re just lying to yourself. I eventually decided that an inside photo was the way to go today and took today’s PoD which is a bunch of carnations sitting at the kitchen window with the rain splattering on the glass.

The bed for the visitors was still to be made, so we got that done and the remaining obstacles were removed to the front room, leaving the room quite neat and tidy.

Next task was to blitz the soup and decant it to another pot. It was looking good, then Simonne phoned to say they were almost at Scotch Corner and were going to break the journey because the traffic was really bad and there had been a number of accidents. I think we both felt relieved to hear that. It’s a long journey in normal weather, but much more challenging with so many weather warnings across the whole country. We got a message later to say they’d arrive at Kendal and were going for dinner and a pint! Well deserved I’d say.

So we had some of the soup for starter with some Giovani Rana pasta to follow. Not the best we’d had from that range, but still better than Tesco.

Today’s prompt was ‘Frost’. I could not decide what to draw for Frost. Then, lateral thinking again, I found a picture of Robert Frost and tried another fifteen minute sketch. It worked.

We’re now expecting the visitors tomorrow, just as I predicted in Thursday’s blog! Some of us had these skills and some haven’t! Oh yes, and I did have heartburn thanks to the Ginsters, and I’ve taken my Gaviscon!

Lunch – 2 October 2023

Posted on by Zogman

We were heading for Calders today to meet up with June & Ian and Crawford & Nancy for lunch.

It was a good day. I think everyone enjoyed it. Just a catch-up with some decent food. We’d been to Crawford and Nancy’s for dinner a fortnight ago, but June and Ian hadn’t met them for quite a while. Lots to talk about by everyone and lots of jokes and laughs. Like I said, a good day that everybody seemed to enjoy.

When we all broke up, Scamp and I went for a wander round the plants in the garden centre and she bought some violas and a cyclamen to fill up one of her now empty pots. Those pots don’t stay empty for long because Scamp usually has something in mind for them.

While she was doing that I filled a bucket of hot soapy water and gave the car the wash I’d been promising it for the last week and more. It really did need it and it looked so much better afterwards. That left me with just enough daylight time to get some photos in St Mo’s. “Spiders” was the topic for today in Inktober and that’s what I found all along the path round the pond. Spiders of every shape and size, from the size of a pin head to ones as long as my pinkie. However, they didn’t make PoD. That went to a wide angle shot of a bunch of wild geraniums growing in the wilderness area near the pond. The big blue flowers really brightened my walk.

Back home it was time to work on today’s sketch and it was a solitary spider that was my model from one of my own photos. I don’t think I’ve really done it justice, but it’s better than yesterday’s “Dream” in my opinion!

We had a quick practise of the Waltz Nioli and it worked quite well. Still a few rough edges to work on, but most of it is there now. Hopefully we’ll have another practise tomorrow.

We had a look in Which tonight hoping to get some hints on what to look for in a new fridge and a freezer, or maybe a fridge-freezer combined. Just a bit of preplanning since the freezer is not looking in good health just now. Prices are a lot higher than I expected, but I suppose everything is going up in price these days.

No real plans for tomorrow. The weather looks decent without being brilliant, but we’ll wait and see what we get.

Roses, Freezers and Heather – 22 September 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was off to FitSteps this morning and I was looking for something to do.

The sun streaming in the back window lit up a pair of roses Scamp had put in a vase to keep them from getting battered useless in the wild winds. I thought it would make a good photo and gathered a camera, a lens and a tripod, plus some wee microfibre cloths to make a mat for the vase to sit on and also for a backdrop. I thought I’d get it done in a few minutes, half an hour at the most. An hour and a half later after Scamp returned from her class I was finally working on what was to be the PoD! It’s the fading flowers of the rose Lady of Shalott. I liked the way the sunlight through the window picked up the textures of the roses. Scamp wasn’t impressed, she doesn’t like to see flowers, especially roses in this condition.

We drove up to Calders in the afternoon because Scamp wanted a white heather plant to replace one that didn’t survive the summer drought. I thought at first we’d gone to the wrong place, this seemed to be a Santa’s Grotto with giant Santas, fairy lights and decorations of every shape, size and colour, especially white. The place was mobbed, I’m guessing it was people waiting to be buzzed for lunch or wandering round the grotto after lunch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the garden centre looking so busy. Christmas may be coming, but we haven’t even had Halloween yet!

We stopped at Tesco on the way home to get some veg to make Veggy Chilli for dinner, but before that there was the matter of a freezer that had almost as much snow in it as Santa’s Grotto! We’re not sure what has happened to it. Scamp reckons SOMEONE had left the door slightly open, but when I was clearing it out and scraping off the frost that had formed, I noticed the seal at the bottom of the door was twisted and wasn’t making proper contact with the frame of the freezer. I think we’ll need to keep an eye on it for a few weeks. Between us we cleared off all the frost and found very little actual ice, which is also suspicious, and it’s freezing away quite happily now.

The veggy chilli wasn’t a great success. Too much water too little chilli and not enough flavour sum it up. First time I’ve used the Magic Pot for a while, so we’ll see if it will be good enough for lunch tomorrow.

Tomorrow we think the dance class is back on, although we haven’t had a confirmation from Stewart yet. We might be going to Larky later.

Dancin’ again! – 21 September 2023

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Today we were going to a tea dance in Glenburn.

It was a lovely bright morning, but cold. Well, I felt it cold anyway. I should have gone for a walk, despite the temperature and shot some photos, but I didn’t, preferring to stay in the warm living room and complete Wordle and Spelling Bee. That meant I’d need to squeeze in a shooting session when we came back from Paisley. Never ideal, but I’ve only myself to blame.

I hadn’t realised just how windy it was until we were on the motorway heading west, and meeting that westerly wind head on. Despite the wind and the intermittent rain we made good time reaching Glenburn before the dance started … for once.

First dance, was a sequence to ‘warm us up’ apparently. I’d expected a waltz, but it was not to be. The waltz was next and I got lost again. Before we left the house I got Scamp to list all the figures we did and I wrote them all out in order. They went clean out of my head. I always think of a waltz as being a slow dance, and it is, but there are a lot of steps in the Waltz Nioli and that means your feet and brain need to be nimble and mine simply aren’t nimble enough. That compounded with a lot of folk on the floor made it difficult for learners like us … or me. We sat with a good crowd at our table and the banter was good. We attempted everything that was flung at us apart from a ballroom Tango and a Tango Serida. We struggled through a Cha-Cha and by the end of that particular one, almost remembered how to do it.

As usual we left early at 3pm to avoid the school rush and almost made it. As usual the Kingston Bridge was a congested car park, but we were on the M74/M73 route and avoided the stop – start – change lanes – change back of the M8. It takes a bit longer in miles on the M74, but at least you are moving at the legal limit most of the time.

Back home I went out for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which is a Common Carding Bee on a Scabious flower. We couldn’t decide what to have for dinner and finally chose Fish Fingers, Egg and Fried Potato. Perfect for what was turning out to be a cold day.

Tomorrow we may go looking for a small heather plant to replace one that died during the drought in the early summer.

What a glorious day! – 17 September 2023

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Yes, that was meant to be sarcastic. The rain started this morning, an extension of yesterday’s deluge and forgot to stop, it seemed.

The furthest I went was a drive to the shops, not even a walk. There wouldn’t have been any joy in a walk and no point from a photographic point of view.

Toast and beans for lunch and dinner was an oven baked fish risotto, the drive to the shops was to get the fish. The good thing is that the oven does all the work, as I’ve said before.

We watched what turned out to be a quite exciting Singapore GP and that was NOT meant to be sarcastic. The race kept us in suspense right up to the end, a tension only released when George Russell crashed out on the last lap. Oh dear, what a shame (back to sarcasm!)

Jamie phoned just as the race finished and we talked about their holiday in Wales. Hope they have some decent weather for that.

I did manage to get a PoD. It was taken in the rain and is a Fuchsia, a purple and white one tucked away in a corner of the garden.

Hopefully our dishwasher will be delivered tomorrow. But the message from Currys is that it will be delivered and fitted between 6.35 and 9.05AM tomorrow. I can’t remember when we last had to be up at 6.35am. Probably the last time we went on a cruise, many months ago!

Other than overseeing the installation, we have no plans for tomorrow, although the weather looks better than today.

Old Glass and the Owl Woman – 16 September 2023

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Today we drove over to Klondyke at Falkirk for the worst lunch in living memory.

Actually the garden centre is really good. Plants all look good and are reasonably priced, but we thought we’d try their lunches. Scamp ordered her favourite test piece, Mac ’n’ Cheese. I wasn’t all that hungry (for once) and ordered Home made Pork & Leek Sausage Roll. What arrived after about half an hour was a sloppy looking macaroni in a tasteless white sauce and a giant sausage roll that had been microwaved. I’m the first person to say that I’m not a chef, but I know you don’t microwave flaky pastry. It just isn’t flaky after that kind of treatment, but obviously the ‘chef’ was oblivious to that. The ‘meat’ inside the inedible wrapping was almost as bad. My advice if you fancy stopping there for lunch? Don’t, just don’t. If you want some plants, fine, just don’t eat there. You’ll only regret it.

We did buy a couple of plants, because it only seems to be the restaurant that’s affected by the lack of culinary knowledge. The plants are fine. We took away a batch of pansies and a new Japanese Anemone and since the Kelpies are nearby, we went there for our second, and edible, lunch. A scone each and two coffees with a view out at the horses looking sparkling in the sunshine. A walk around the Kelpies and a few photos taken. One with old glass, the eleven year old E-PL5 with the squeaky 20mm Panasonic lens. One with the cantankerous 28-70mm kit lens on the A7iii. Nothing is perfect in my photographic repertoire! The Old Glass shot of pansies taken at Klondyke won the day and that became the PoD.

We finished off our lunch with an ice cream ‘Boat’. A plastic boat with two servings of Mr Whippy ice cream and one chocolate flake to share. While we were consuming this dessert, a man and a lady walked past and the lady had an owl on her arm. A real owl clasping the gauntlet on her hand. It was interesting to watch the looks on folks faces as they did the ‘second look’ thing and then turned to look at a woman with an owl on her arm. We just spent a few minutes trying to outdo each other with jokes about the “Owl woman”. Which, if you’re Scottish (or Irish) translates as “Old Woman”. Oh what childish fun we had at her expense. Of course, all the time she was preening herself for being the centre of attention, while the owl just looked superior and blinked … as owls do. Said goodbye for a while to the big horses and drove home.

Back home, Scamp was deadheading more of the flowers while I repotted the sad looking Berberis plants that were looking a bit sad.

Dinner tonight was a Spice Tailor almost instant Goan prawn curry which no doubt Delia would say was nothing like what a Goan curry would taste like. It was certainly better than a dodgy Mac ’n’ Cheese or a nuked sausage roll.

Watched an ‘interesting’ Singapore GP where neither of the Red Bull cars made it to Qualifying 3. That means they’ll be in he middle of the pack and will have to prove their prowess. Some folk are just getting too big for their boots. The signs that Xmas is on the way is that the days are getting shorter, the temperature is dropping and Strictly is starting its annual run. Tonight was that night. Oh what fun it was to see all the hopefuls finding who their dance partners would be. I wonder who’ll be first to go.

We have no plans for tomorrow. It took a long time for the sun to come out of hiding today and it might take longer tomorrow. Some rain predicted.

Lucky 13th – 13 September 2023

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Not very lucky, though!

The Dishwasher Man arrived right on time and started by asking when we last cleaned the dishwasher. I told him we’d run the cleaner just the other day, but then he cut me off and showed us the muck that had gathered round the seals, especially at the bottom. This he said was the probable cause of our problem. And, give him his due, he got down to it with a scrubbing brush and a bucket of water and by the time he was finished the inside of the dishwasher was shining. He pressed the start button and after about five seconds the “Check Water” light came on. An hour and a half later he admitted defeat and told us the problem was most likely in the PCB at the head of the machine and that meant it was time to replace rather than repair. We paid him his call-out fee and I knew Scamp was aware of the path this conversation was taking and had been teaching for prices for a new dishwasher.

Also, while the work was going on, Hazel had phoned and was waiting for a call back to say we were free again. We spoke for a while and heard about the decision Neil and her had taken about the Deaconship. Probably now what either of them had wanted, but they were being realistic about the situation and giving up the plans for the deaconship was the sensible solution. We also talked about weddings and the need for a new dress and shoes. I say ‘We’, but I mean Scamp and Hazel, of course.

After we’d put the kitchen back together again, we drove over to Coatbridge to see what Currys had on offer. Not a lot was the answer. They had three slimline dishwashers that would fit into our tight little kitchen, with prices ranging from around £250 to over £500. We’d hoped for a better selection, so drove over to Bishopbriggs. After driving through the stupidest signage ever at roadworks we found that we had four choices with roughly the same price range. After a coffee and a bite to eat in Costa that served as lunch we came to the final decision that was a Hotpoint. Not the cheapest, but certainly not the dearest! Hopefully it will arrive some time on Monday. Until then it’s basins and soapy hands!

Tonight was the new dancing night and I was actually looking forward to it. The practise sessions at home over the last week had helped greatly. Before we got started a girl came over and said “It is you!” She had worked at the office in the school and for some reason, her name jumped into my head. We talked about folk we had known, some good ones, some not so good.
The dancing tonight was the final part of the four week set of Waltz Nioli and with at least one tricky bit, may need more ‘home schooling’ to get it polished up for next week.

I didn’t have very much chance to take photos today, so today’s offering of PoD was a sunflower growing in a pot in the back garden and living up to its name!

Tomorrow Scamp is meeting Mags for lunch and I’m hoping it stays dry enough for me to get some decent photos.

Rain stopped play – 10 September 2023

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Cloudy morning today, but the sun did manage to get through after a while. A coffee first then I could start work.

Today I was making Focaccia as the starter for tonight’s dinner and also a variation on Bread & Butter Pudding for dessert. Scamp had the much easier main course to make which was Sea Bass with Tomatoes and Potatoes. Focaccia is a sloppy dough with loads of olive oil to make it slippy and also sloppy. The first time I made it I kneaded it by hand and I remember chasing this messy dough all over the work surface. Yes, I did learn how to control a very wet dough, but vowed that the next time I’d let Mr Kenwood’s Chef do the hard work. So it was that I added all the ingredients into the bowl and let the dough hook go to work. About twenty minutes later I had a sort of dough and decide I could make it a bit wetter. Bad move. That meant the dough was too wet and I’d to add more flour. Eventually, I had the dough I wanted and I slopped it into a plastic tub to rise.

After lunch and after we’d watched Laura Kuenssberg tearing apart a new politician, it was time to check if the dough had “doubled in size”. Not quite, so I gave it another half hour to be sure and the sun was shining. That was the half hour it needed. It was ready to be slopped out on the work surface again, chopped into two big slippery pieces and stretched out in two baking trays to rest and stretch and grow bigger again with more olive oil in and around it. Another hour later, the sun was still shining and the dough was ready to be prepared for baking. I turned the oven on and poked my finger into the focaccia making big deep holes in it and then adding even more olive oil plus some rosemary, sun dried tomatoes and some sea salt. Then they went into the oven for 20mins. When they came out they looked fine, so guess what I added. Yes, more olive oil and then left them to rest and drink in all its green oily goodness.

I was watching the weather that wasn’t looking quite so sunny but I reckoned I could still get an hour in St Mo’s for some photos. A few minutes later, it was the sound that alerted me. The rain was coming down in torrents and Scamp’s washing was almost dry. Managed to save most of it, but the walk in St Mo’s wasn’t going to happen today. Instead I decided to photograph the rain. That will explain the title of today’s blog.

Later buttered four croissants, spread jam on them and set them aside. Next I beat up three eggs, some vanilla essence and some sugar then nearly boiled some milk and cream before chucking it into the bowl with the eggy mixture, arranged the croissants, tastefully, in a heatproof bowl and poured the creamy-eggy mess on top. Drizzled some sugar on top and stuck it in the oven to do its thing. I’d only made custard!! A bit lumpy in places and a bit thin in places, but custard, none the less! I was impressed. Plonked some rasps on top and there we had dessert.

Scamp only had to fry a fish or two, boil a few potatoes and chuck in some tomatoes. I had created a dessert with my own bare hands!

Focaccia was lovely and sticky. Scamp said it was missing something and I have to agree, I just don’t know what that ‘something’ was.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about swimming in the sea and thankfully the bat survey may now have passed muster with those who know about such things. I bet that’s a weight of their minds.

Tomorrow we may go in to Glasgow on the bus or the train. Oh, yes, and it’s still raining!