Category: Folk

Down the Green – 14 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Someone brought a dog into the house next door and it was practising its barking this morning.

So, after breakfast, I drove up to Tesco to post a parcel and get away from the racket. Actually, Tesco at about 9am is quite doable. No big queues and not a lot of people. The biggest groups were men musing about which oversized bunch of red roses to buy for someone they fancied, or had forgotten to send a Valentine card to. The same men were to be seen later striding across the car park looking sheepish and pretending they weren’t carrying a bouquet.

Back home (and without a bouquet) it seemed a shame to waste a good day and Scamp had previous said she fancied a walk down Glasgow Green, so that’s where we went. It seems a bit strange that Glasgow Council provide tour buses that visit the People’s Palace but the building remains closed. Apparently due to ”essential building maintenance works to the building interior” according to Glasgow Life who own the building. If there is work being done to the building, you’d expect there to be builders’ vans and lorries outside, and the sound of essential building maintenance being done, but there is total silence. Strange that. We walked past what used to be a fine building and on down to the McLennan Arch then back past the old Boathouse which is being renovated to make a community hub and here there IS work being done with plenty of folk working on site. The work here is under the umbrella of Glasgow Building Preservation Trust and not anything to do with Glasgow Life, thankfully.

We walked further up river and crossed the Clyde to Richmond Park. Half the park has been sold to developers who are presumably building houses on the site. The park itself has been left to rack and ruin, literally. The boating pond is still there, but it’s been a long time since much boating has been done on it. It gets really depressing when you see the damage Glasgow Council had done to the green places in the city. They have closed so many buildings and failed to maintain others. They should be ashamed.

Yesterday’s prompt was Chantilly Lace. I listened to that song for as long as I could stand and this was my abiding memory, the telephone he kept answering. Why didn’t he just put her on hold like any sensible person would?
I should have posted it yesterday, but the day just seemed to disappear. I blame the whisky or it might have been the gin or the wine!

Love is Like a Butterfly was today’s prompt.  Another delightful melody, thanks for that Dolly. I chose to attempt a painting of a real butterfly (without satin wings). It a fair representation of a Small Copper.

Palomino Blackwing soft pencil
Cass Art watercolours
Seawhite A5 Concertina sketchbook

#EDiF #28DL

Walked back to the car and drove home. I was pretty sure I had enough photos for a PoD and it turned out I was right, but I went for a walk later in the afternoon and took some more. You can never have enough photos. While I was out, Scamp was working in the garden getting things sorted out for a new gardening year. She had to give up eventually because she just couldn’t see properly to get the work done. I think I may be her eyes tomorrow.

Nothing else planned for tomorrow, but we better make the best of it, because Wednesday and Thursday don’t look like great weather days.

A bit calmer today – 2 February 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Thankfully the wind had gone to bother someone else today.

I spent the morning getting my photographs organised into the correct folders in the correct place for my new regime. It took a lot more time than I’d anticipated, but it’s done now. In fact it took me until lunchtime to get it completed.

Immediately after lunch we drove up to Seafar to visit Margie who is one Scamp’s oldest friends in Cumbersheugh. Old in the sense that they’ve known each other for a long time. Old also in years, but not in outlook. The stories she tells have us in stitches. A great painter too. I took last night’s work to let her critique it and it won some praise from her. Then we discussed the prompts for the week and she gave me a few suggestions for the more obscure ones. Things I’d never have thought of. We stayed for a couple of hours and I think Scamp was careful not to tire her out too much. All in all an entertaining and at times hilarious afternoon on a really dull day.

Dinner tonight was house favourite: Cod with Bacon, Lentils and Braised Peas. Simple and satisfying. Two cheap steamed puddings from Iceland provided the pudding.

Today’s prompt was Brown Eyed Girl. Van Morrison is not my favourite artist, so I stuck with my lyrics theme and added the chorus from the song, but gave a nod to Van the Man with his archetypal hat and dark glasses. The cow is called Daisy. Named by Margie.

PoD is further adventures of The Professor. This time he has discovered the fabled Dragon’s Green Tooth. It’s a sprouting garlic clove and I guess that slight double image is because it moved slightly during the long exposure. Just for fun and because I didn’t have anything else.

The Christmas decorations finally made it up into the loft to rest there until next year.  A bit late this year, but it’s been a busy week for both of us and that’s my excuse.  Not a reason, just an excuse.

No plans for tomorrow. Neither of us has any commitments, but we’re open to offers!

A day at the seaside – 17 January 2022

Posted on by Zogman

What better place to be on a bright and not too cold January day, than on a Scottish beach?

Scamp wanted to go to the seaside today, to the seaside on the east coast. That’s why we packed up the car with photo gear and drove across the country to Aberdour and down a road that led to the Silver Sands.

The Silver Sands are well named, because the smooth greyish sand does sparkle in a silvery way when the sun shines on it, and the sun was shining today. We drove down a narrow road with monumental potholes, unavoidable in places. If you missed one with the left tyre, the right tyre found its neighbour. Luckily it wasn’t a long drive and we got parked easily in an enormous carpark, one of about four as far as we could see. From there we walked down to the beach and those sands. I don’t know if they sweep that beach every morning, but it was perfectly smooth and not a lot of litter showing either.

We walked along the beach in one direction, and then in the opposite direction. We saw one girl wearing tee shirt and shorts paddling almost knee deep in the sea … in January (??) I thought at first she was just a child, but as we got closer to the family group, it became obvious that she was a bit older than that, and possibly crazy. Who in their right mind would go wading into the water at this time of year? Well, the answer came when we walked back in the other direction. Two girls waded out of the water, but they were dressed for it in wet suits and with those fluorescent buoyancy aids wild water swimmers trail behind themselves.

We left them to their exercise and headed for the cafe for a coffee and a bite to eat. Panini for me and a tub of chips for Scamp with two coffees to wash them down. The cafe was remarkably busy given the fact that it was a weekday and mid January, but I suppose it’s only the second decent day we’ve had for a long while. I imagine this place will be mobbed in the summer. We both agreed that we’ll come back and find out.

We drove back and got completely lost following the sat nav that was supposed to be taking us in the direction of Stirling. Instead it was determined to take us via Kincardine, so we eventually agreed to go with it. I thought we might stop for a photo opportunity at Torryburn, but the low sun was shining right in our faces and a low mist was obscuring what scenic view there might have been. We drove home.

Well, we drove home via B&Q to get some fixings to make that pedestal I spoke about. Our B&Q is a bit run down. It’s in a retail park where the only store that anyone goes to is Halfords. All the rest are carpet shops or cheaply made furniture sold at about twice what they’re worth. We are getting a new retail park with a cinema, a bowling alley, a hotel, restaurants and, well, anything you could want. It’ll be ready in early …. That’s the problem. It’s just a pipe dream and I’m not sure what they’re smoking in that pipe, but the story is convincing nobody. So, our B&Q had the corner connectors, but no screws to fit them. A do it yourself store that can’t do anything itself. We drove home.

That was about it for the day. I had a look at the photos I’d taken today and they looked pretty good. The new toy does take very nice photos. A view from Aberdour looking over to Edinburgh got PoD. I think Scamp really enjoyed that walk along the beach today. It certainly seemed to lift her spirits. It was a lovely beach and great views across the estuary to Edinburgh. I think it’s on our list of places to go back to.

Tomorrow looks like a return to dull, cloudy weather with the chance of rain for a while. I’ve got some woodwork to do, so that might keep me busy and we might get out for a walk later. We got a message from the couple who run our dance class to test the water for a return to class soon. Let’s hope things are opening up again. We’ll know more when Nick the Chick gives her proclamation tomorrow.

Walking on Sunshine – 16 January 2022

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No dull skies today, only blue and the big white shiny thing was up in that sky.

I was so glad to see the hill basking in the warm glow of the morning sun when I got up. What a difference a day makes. We just had to go out and enjoy that sunshine. We drove down to Auchinstarry and found a space to park at the quarry. From there we walked along the old mineral line path as far as Twechar. On the way there we stopped to let four cyclists past. Further on we bumped into a wee older man pushing his bike up the hill. He told us it wasn’t a true electric bike, it was an electric assist bike which means that if you stop pedalling, the motor stops too. He seemed to be enjoying the freedom of the bike. I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet, although it’s a long time since I last took the Dewdrop out. By that time we were at the halfway point of the walk. I’d taken a few photos, but not a lot.

We crossed the road and followed the towpath back to Auchinstarry. On the way we passed a few folk out walking in the morning sunshine. A lot more photos were taken and with no wind, the reflections in the water were excellent. Most of the bikes that passed, and there were lots, were serious road bikes or hybrids, but there were a few electric bikes too. We even met the wee man on his assist bike. He seemed to be making good time, far better time than us. Back at Auchinstarry the car park had filled up quite significantly since we left the car. Every space was taken and cars were parked along the edge of the climbing wall of the quarryside too. We went to Kilsyth after that to get some potatoes for dinner and a bottle of gin for me. `

Back home and after lunch I started making some bread. Well, the mixer started making some bread and I just watched it. Then it was time to start reorganising the wires and cables behind the TV. We had discussed this last night and come to the conclusion that we could happily do without the DVD player and, since we now had a much neater TiVo box, we should try to build a pedestal for it that would hide the mass of cables that crowd into the space behind the TV. After photographing the back of the TiVo I disconnected the cables, removed the box and the, now redundant, DVD player. The next thing to do was to decide what cables were staying and what could go. Then it was time to plug everything back into the TiVo using the photo as a reference and hope it worked again. It did. For now the TiVo is sitting on a low stepping stool, but we’ve a plan to make a low pedestal from a piece of pine that has been wasting its time in a cupboard upstairs. The DVD player will go to the skip, maybe as early as tomorrow.

Next task was to get my lamb shoulder ready for the oven. Just for my reference, here is what I did:
Heat the oven to Gas 4.
Pan fry the rolled lamb shoulder
Tuck some rosemary into the meat and secure it under the string
Season with salt and pepper
Put in a roasting tray and cover with tinfoil
Cook for 1 hour
Check, then return to the oven for another hour.
Allow to cool for about 30 mins in a warm place.

This is for a piece of meat 600g approx.

PoD was a shot of a bloke walking his dog along the towpath of the canal.

Lamb was delicious. Scamp’s scallops were a disappointment. Bread looks good, although we haven’t tasted it yet

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard all about the extra costs in getting the house the way you want it and how the cost of every repair seems to have three zeros after the first number!

Tomorrow more sun and blue sky predicted. Another walk is on the cards I hope.

Back in the saddle – 11 January 2022

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After yesterday’s little hissy fit, I’ve returned to the 365 proper.

It does get difficult sometimes to keep finding interesting subjects to photograph, but it’s important to remember the associated benefits. It gets me out in the fresh air, although it also ensures that I spend more time than I should in post processing. It keeps the little grey cells working and when I do get a good photo, or find something I thought I’d lost, like today, it does feel good.

The day didn’t start well. We went to a funeral for a girl I don’t remember meeting. She was the daughter-in-law of one of Scamp’s oldest friends. Funerals are never pleasant occasions, but when it’s for someone with her whole life still to live, it’s worse than normal. That’s all I’m going to say, except I have never seen the chapel at Daldowie as full as it was this morning.

Drove home in blinding sunshine and got on with the day. The sunshine mellowed a bit as the day progressed, but there was still blue sky up there and there was directional light. I took a camera for a walk, while Scamp stayed home and read. I was framing a shot through some trees when I thought I saw a ladybird on a tree beyond my framed shot. It was indeed an orange ladybird with white spots. Possibly the one I’ve been looking for since about November. It was still tucked up neatly in a knot in the trunk. This time I know which tree to look for. It’s the one two trees east of the one with the stick. You’ll know it when you see it, well, you won’t but I will.

That ladybird changed the complexion of the day completely. Unfortunately, none of the photos I took did it justice, so it didn’t get PoD. That award went to an orange coloured leaf, beautifully textured and almost translucent when seen against the light. There is another photo on Flickr that I worked on a tiny little bit tonight. It dates from September 2005, over sixteen years ago! It’s worth a look.

Scamp made Carrot and Lentil Curry tonight. It’s not he hottest curry in the world, but what it lacks in heat, it makes up for in taste. An old favourite.

I don’t think it’s going to be as good a day weatherwise tomorrow, but we may go out again for a spin. Need to get a wall calendar some time soon!

The first day of a new year – 1 January 2022

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A day when some people make resolutions they have no intention of keeping. I’ll cut out the middle man by not making any resolutions in the first place.

The day dawned quite bright then lost some of its early brightness. But then, surprise surprise, the brightness returned. Would we? Wouldn’t we go out for a walk? I said wait and see if it lasts, Scamp prowled round the living room like a caged beast and I eventually gave in and put my boots on. The irresistible force always beats the immovable object.

We walked over towards Broadwood Loch where we played our usual game of each taking turns at choosing a direction to go when there was an actual choice. Scamp chose first and her’s was an easy choice. Right would have meant a short walk and we weren’t doing short walks today because the sun was still shining and the day looked set for fair. Left it was and all the way along the side of the loch. She cheated a bit and made the second choice for me by declaring that the winding path through the woods would probably be waterlogged today, so we went right and around to the other side of the loch. I got the feeling that clockwise was the wrong way today as everyone seemed to be meeting us face on, rather than overtaking us, or us overtaking them. However, there are no rules at Broadwood, so we marched on. My choice next was a left turn to extend the walk past the exercise machines and a joint decision for the last choice was to go right and pass between the stadium and the BMX track and from there the decisions were made for us to find our way home.

All in all, it was about 4 miles of undulating track with some chances for photos. My favourite, and PoD was two joggers crossing paths over Broadwood Dam. I reduced it to mono because there was very little colour in it.

Spoke to Hazy in the afternoon and heard how her med reduction is going  and also how others in the family are fairing in these Omicron days, and how percieved protections aren’t to be relied upon!  Speaking about Omicron, I noticed a pair of Omnicron sunglasses for sale in Boots the other week.  They were reduced.  I’d imagine they weren’t selling all that well, even with that extra ‘n’ in their name!

Posh dinner tonight with three courses seated at the table. Starter was Prawn Cocktail. Main was Trout Fillet and sweetcorn for Scamp, Rump Steak and mushrooms for me. Both served with roast potatoes. I pan fried my steak in the fancy grill pan that gets blindingly hot if you don’t use the silicone handles which Scamp forgot to put on before she moved it, resulting in an ice pack for her right index finger and thumb. It meant I had to do the serving or the Apple Crumble with Custard for pudding. Scamp had made it with our the last of our own apples that had been in the freezer since early autumn. They tasted just as good as fresh ones.

Scamp managed to elicit sympathy at every possible juncture tonight and I have to admit it was a good act. Let’s hope the burn is healing by tomorrow.

Tomorrow, we have no real plans, but the temperature is set to take a drop over this coming week, so we might manage another walk if it stays dry. Possibly having Shona over for dinner.

Computers, Drumpellier and Drives – 28 December 2021

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The computer was still acting up today, but walking in Drumpellier woods was refreshing.

It was the blue sky this morning that made us want to get up and go out somewhere. The somewhere Scamp suggested was Drumpellier and I agreed.

We walked round the pond in a clockwise direction which was the opposite to our usual mode of travel. Again, it was like walking on a travelator, everyone walking in the same direction at almost the same speed. We accelerated and walked past a lot of folk. Overtaking on bends too because we were accomplished walkers and could do that sort of thing. Scamp suggested we walk away from the travelator and head up towards the cricket pitch and that’s what we did. The walk took us out into the woods and then we followed our noses until we found a likely side path to travel on. There are literally hundreds of side paths in Drumpellier and today’s one was a path we’d walked before. It was really mucky and I don’t think Scamp was all that impressed with it, but the light was good and there was a fair bit of gentle climbing then a sharp descent on the far side. All in all it was a good walk and most enjoyable. The only down side was the lack of an ice cream van, not surprising really since it is nearly the end of December.

We drove into Coatbridge proper and I went to Currys to get yet another external SSD drive. The computer is still playing up and one possible way to fix it is to remove almost a year’s worth of photos from the internal HDD and put them on to an SSD, so creating over 300GB of extra space. Long story short, the move worked, but the problem is still there. I’ve a couple of possible fixes still in my head, but both of them are more severe and I’m loath to apply them.

Tomato soup for dinner tonight with toasted croutons. Slow cooked roasted tomatoes and peppers, the ones Scamp had bought for less than a pound yesterday. It was a bit thinner than the last batch, but it still worked. Some left for tomorrow’s lunch.

PoD went to a trio of walkers ahead of us just cresting the rise before the descent. I really liked the light on the bushes and trees.

No plans for tomorrow, but it looks wet, so maybe more computer antics.

The world’s gone mad – 23 December 2021

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Everyone in Cumbersheugh was going shopping this morning, including us.

We drove down to the shops, because we were going for a chicken and it was probably going to be heavy. It was drizzly raining and I didn’t relish the thought of humphing a heavy chicken up from the shops in the rain. Life is miserable enough without making it worse. Anyway, that’s what I bought a car for. It’s a great thing a car, especially if you can find a place to park it!  The carpark was chockablock!

There was a long queue outside M&S and Scamp was already in it when I had finished locking the car and footering about. The queue went down fairly quickly, but it’s depressing to think that this is the way it’s going to be for at least a month. Maybe it’s just M&S, though because none of the other shops had a guard stationed at the door, counting them out and counting them in. We did get in, eventually and found almost all we needed, then we drove home in comfort.

The next thing to do was to load up the chopped up cardboard box that has been languishing in the back bedroom and take it on a one-way trip to the crusher. It really does do a great job on cardboard. Minces it up and crushes it into neat blocks. Don’t know what it does with them, but I’ve heard rumours. As well as the cardboard I’d also brought the old Wii surfboard thing that we used stand on and it would say “Measuring”. It won’t say it anymore because the Wii went away a couple of weeks ago and the board went into the General Household skip today. I had to be more careful with the twirly long lasting lightbulb that apparently contains mercury and can kill you if you even look at it the wrong way. It went into shelf with all the other curly long lasting lightbulbs that didn’t last. The guys who work in the Recycling Centre probably lob them all into the skips once everyone’s gone.

I got PoD at the Recycling Center. Lots of jolly little toys were spaced around the place, there was even a life size Santa waving to all the girls and boys. The folk that work in the place really do put on a good show every year.

On the way back I dropped in at Fred’s and gave him his card, a bag of brandy truffles and a wee prezzy for his birthday which is on Saturday, Christmas Day. It must have been a bummer for him having Christmas and Birthday on the same day with nothing to look forward to all the rest of the year. He gave me a bottle of Monkey Shoulder, a mini bottle, bigger than a miniature and smaller than a half bottle. Very nice too.

Driving up to the Recycling Centre the traffic was awful. Queues everywhere. I imagine some were heading for the vaccination centre, the rest were invading the shops. It was madness. Thankfully there was hardly any queue at the skips. Wait until Monday there will be plenty of folk there then, ridding themselves of the packaging from their children’s toys.

Back home there was a lovely smell of soup as I opened the door. That was tonight’s dinner sorted.

The last thing to do was get my hair cut. It’s been on my mind and on my head for too long. Today I sheared myself and Scamp removed all the bits I missed. It felt a lot better to be rid of it, although I’ll curse myself the next cold day!

That was it for Christmas Eve eve, the day before Christmas Eve. Not a lot of plans for tomorrow. I think we’re hoping to take it easy. Weather looks cold and dull.

A walk in Glasgow and a short day, the shortest – 21 December 2021

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We decided we’d go into Glasgow for a walk to see the lights.

There weren’t nearly as many folk wandering the streets of Glasgow as there were a couple of weeks ago when Alex and I were there. We walked down Bucky Street and thought the crowds were sparse. Only half the stalls were in St Enoch’s Christmas market and Argyle street just had normal weekday shoppers. When we walked up Queen Street the streets were almost deserted. I think we were both shocked by the lack of footfall at what should have been the busiest week of the year. Only Covid seems to be doing good business!

Back home, another parcel was ready to be posted and although I had taken a few shots in Glasgow, I wasn’t sure I had a worthwhile PoD, so I took a camera when I went out to post it. For some reason, and for the second time I’d been at Condorrat post office recently, it was surprisingly empty. Maybe everybody is ahead of the game this year and already have all their cards and parcels posted. It’s either that or, as the lack of crowds in Glasgow would seem to indicate, nobody’s buying presents or spending cards. Anyway, parcel posted and cards too, I went for a walk in St Mo’s woods. Couldn’t find much sign of life animal or vegetable, but I did see the wee pond reflecting a leafless tree and took some shots of that. It was one of them that made PoD. A photo of Bucky Street from the Concert Hall joined it on Flickr.

That was about the end of the excitement and the exercise for today, but I did achieve my 10,000 steps which I haven’t done for a long time.

Today was the shortest day and it felt like it too. From now on the days will get longer, the sun will shine bright and longer and that will cause the temperature to increase. Oh look! Another flying pig!!

Tomorrow I’m out for coffee with Val. A chance for some ‘tech talk’. Then in the afternoon we are hoping to visit Margie. Getting out and about for a change.

Back at the Fort – 16 December 2021

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Feeling a bit flat today.

No, it wasn’t the tyres. We were going in Scamp’s car today except I was driving, but when I turned the key, nothing! The battery was flat. Possibly there is an earth leak somewhere or perhaps that cold snap dragged the battery down because it had only been run once in the last month and that was a fairly short run. Whatever, it was my car that I drove to the Fort.

Scamp was going to Next, M&S and Boots. But she had to score Boots off the list because they were counting them in and counting them out today. That’s not supposed to happen until Saturday, so maybe the staff were getting some practise in before the big day, or maybe they were just doing it to screw up the punters day. It didn’t seem to bother the folk who were queueing all the way along the frontage of Boots shop and that’s a really long front.

I was lucky, I was going for two sheets of thin neoprene and a roll of sticky backed velcro. Found both and waited about five minutes to pay. Heaven knows how long the punters outside Boots would have waited for their goods.

Drove home and after peering at the sky, decided I’d go for a walk first to grab some of the available light before it all disappeared. A walk in the woods at St Mo’s got me the PoD. It was an oak leaf with raindrops on it. The detail in the leaf really impressed me as did the colours that were there. No fancy filters or presets were used in it, just an adjustment to the levels (tones) and a bit of judicious cropping. Otherwise it was SOOC or Straight Out Of Camera. Walked down to the shops and felt a bit nervous about being in a crowd of people. I’d felt the same in Glasgow earlier and I did the same thing again, I put my mask on, at least until I was out of the crowds. How the media hype things up makes you think and act defensively at times.

Back home we hadn’t long to wait for the man from Virgin. This one was on the ball. No delving into the innards of the modem, he just tried twice then deemed that the modem was at fault. He put a new one in and it worked right away. All the websites we couldn’t reach without a VPN were now right there. Poor bloke had been working from 7am and didn’t finish today until 8pm. That’s a long shift. He gets 10/10 for everything in the evaluation email that’s coming soon.

Scamp’s been labouring all evening trying to fit a quart into a pint pot. I swear when one of the recipients of a Christmas parcel cuts the tape the contents will expand to fill the room. You have been warned!!

I think that’s the day covered. Scamp has a booking with the Witches for a Christmas lunch tomorrow. I have things to do and a Tesco delivery to find places for until someone tells me where they should all go.