Category: Folk

Another day, another walk – 26 May 2020

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Today I thought it was Sunday all day long. No reason why, except for Cabin Fever.

Phoned the bike shop in the morning (once I’d established that it was Tuesday and not Sunday) and got a promise the bike wheel would be finished by the end of the week. I sincerely hope that Big Al was not suffering from the same day-dislodgement that had overcome me.

After lunch we went for a walk more or less the same one as yesterday but in a slightly different direction. By the time we got home the sun was warming the place up nicely and we took the chairs out to the garden Scamp with a Pimms and me with a beer. Read for a while then got a surprise.

The girl next door, Lucy gave us a couple of facemasks she had made for us. We both thought that was very kind of her. They were much simpler than my pattern and much more effective I’d think. Curved to fit the face. She said she’d been making them for her gran and grandpa and thought we might appreciate one each too. Like I said we thought that was good of her, but then I thought, does that make us the old people next door? Scamp said “Yes, probably”. Doesn’t matter I liked the thought and because she’s just finished a fashion design course in London, the stitching was so much better than mine!

Dinner was Sea Bass with Potatoes, Broccoli and Cauliflower. Delicious! Scamp was chef tonight.

PoD went to a photo I took earlier in the day of a winged aphid on a rosebud. Scamp appreciated the detail in the picture, but wants rid of the beasties before they damage her roses.

Today’s topic was ‘A Pasta Dish’. I think by this time the setters were becoming tired with the whole EDiM thing and just throwing words and phrases at the list. This is my response to the prompt. There is a dish and there are two pieces of pasta, but really it’s a vehicle to practise drawing cutlery.

Tomorrow we are booked for an ASDA delivery in the afternoon, so any walks will have to be in the morning.

Windy and Wet – 22 May 2020

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That about summed it up. Windy and Wet.

Parcelled up some fabric to post to my cousin’s granddaughter to make some masks. Pretty Mickey Mouse fabric. There’s no sense in making boring masks when you can make ones that will make someone else smile. Good idea Gemma.

Had to wait outside the post office in the rain while some ‘zoomer’ had a long conversation with the woman behind the counter I thought the bloke in front of me was going to hook him (in a suitably Socially Distanced way, of course). When the zoomer came out the whole queue gave a great sigh of relief.

That was about the highlight of the day. No gardening was possible due to the wind and rain. We just stayed in. Well, I did sneak out during a dry spell to grab today’s PoD which should have been a blurred shot of the rhododendrons blowing in the gale force wind, but none of the shots were deemed worthwhile, so a static one had to fill the bill.

Dinner for me was a mince pie. Not like a mutton pie or a scotch pie, but a pie made with puff pastry and mince. A real mince pie like my mum made. Scamp talked me through the making of it one more time. I think I’ve got in in the grey cells now.

Tonight’s sketch was to be A Book, a Newspaper or a Magazine. I chose Magazine, because I don’t read fairy stories, so the newspaper was out. A book is basically a rectangular prism, but a magazine can be folded and when it’s opened out it’s got curves and little shadow areas. This is a food magazine, so although, unlike oranges, you can’t eat it, you can eat the things it teaches you to make. That’s good enough for me.

Hopefully the wind will calm down tomorrow and we’ll get out for our daily exercise.

Just another day in Lockdown – 15 May 2020

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Today was Friday and we were having Paella for dinner. That much was clear. The rest was up for grabs.

I’d two sudoku puzzles to complete before I even got on to today’s. By about 12noon I’d done that and was on to the phone to Wheelcraft to find if they’d crafted my wheel yet. They hadn’t. But then it’s a three man business and they did seem to have a fair backlog waiting to be filled, so I didn’t really expect them to have rebuilt my wheel in a week. Big Al was very apologetic and said he’d get on to it right away and make some phone calls. I reckon I’m fairly small beer for him and to be honest, I’m not really in that much of a hurry to get it back. I can wait a few more days.

We needed some chicken thighs for tomorrow’s dinner and some paninis for lunch, so we walked down to the shops with our masks in our pockets. No point in having them if we don’t use them. The best bet today was The Food Factory (AKA Iceland). There are rarely queues and the prices are decent. Also, they have the duck eggs that Scamp likes. On the way some eejit from Condorrat was cycling down the the pavement and rang his bell to tell us to get out of his road. I took exception to this and told him to go on the road. He mumbled something and I told him again “Go. On. The. Road”. Single syllables for those with single brain cells. He mumbled a grunted “Fuck off” so I said “You too”. Apparently he’d said he didn’t have a helmet. So what was he wanting me to do about it? Buy him one?  Dobber!

We wandered round The Food Factory getting strange looks from the other shoppers who had never seen anyone wearing a mask before. Probably they’d never heard of Coronavirus “Didn’t know you could catch a disease from ginger.” This will mean nothing to those of an English persuasion. We got our messages and walked home without being accosted by any more helmetless cyclists with. Scamp was delighted because she’d managed to bag herself some Caster Sugar!

The weather fairies are predicting a fair amount of rain for us on Sunday and Scamp was out in the afternoon preparing for it by spiking the grass in the front garden. I was photographing the bluebells, the bees on the apple blossom and the rhododendrons which are just starting their display.

Indeed, as planned, it was paella for dinner tonight. It’s ages since we’ve had it, probably about a month and tonight’s was really good, even if I say so myself. With a wee glass of rhubarb ’n’ ginger gin as an aperitif and a glass of red wine to wash the paella down, we had a fairly jolly Friday.

PoD turned out to be the Bluebells. Sketch today was The View From Your Window. I chose the back window and was fairly pleased with the result. Viewable on Instagram and FB for those who are interested.

By the way, the masks work. They may not keep all the little coronavirus things at bay, but you can breathe in them and they give folk a laugh! We need a laugh these days.

Tomorrow’s dinner will probably be a chicken and pea tray bake if the stars align properly. Other than that, we have no plans.

Not so crazy busy today – 12 May 2020

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I had time to sit down and solve today’s sudoku for a start, then it was the catching-up.

Two drawings needed, but lots of time to get them sorted. The first one I actually planned for once. I roughed it out to make sure everything would fit into a square grid before I got started on the real thing. That’s quite a luxury for me and it helped considerably with the design. Maybe because the prompt was Illustrate a recipe. That meant there needed to be guide lines and such. Anyway, with that done, we went over to Condorrat to get the makings of today’s dinner. It was a second attempt at the Souk Soup and we needed a chicken breast to provide the protein. Cold wind both going and coming back.

After that I started chopping up the veg and bunged everything into the slow cooker and set it for two hours worth of cooking. Then I grabbed my Oly and camera bag and went to investigate the opportunities that St Mo’s would offer a camera man. Walking across the waste ground, I noticed a group of teenage boys heading in the same direction. One had a big bag that was clinking in a bottle-like way. They looked about as apprehensive as I felt, but I told them I wasn’t intending joining them and we all laughed. I was hoping to get some shots of hoverflies on the wing, but the wind was too strong and I had to ditch the idea and come back another day. On the way back I chanced into the group again, this time they had liberated the bottles from the bag and were sitting down with a speaker providing some music. I told them I guessed they were all from the same household and a couple of them twigged and said “Oh aye we are”. “Because”, I said “if you’re not I’ll have to inform Nicola.” Again we all laughed. I wonder what they thought I was doing with a wee brown bag over my shoulder, walking into the woods.

Scamp and I agreed that the Souk Soup was better when it was made in a pot. For some reason it was too watery made in the slow cooker. The Ras el Hanout spice I used was interesting and fairly hot, but I think I prefer my own Moroccan spice mix. We’ll have the rest tomorrow and see if we change our mind.

Two pieces drawn and painted after dinner. First was fairly good and the second was just a place marker. Both posted on Instagram and FB now.

PoD went to a wide landscape taken with the wee 9mm lens cap lens for the Oly. Something went wrong with the lens because a white dot appeared in the sealed unit of the lenses. It’s sitting inside the rear element and I can’t seem to shift it. It shows on the Flickr photo, but only if you know it’s there. I’ve got another, better, lens, but the 9mm was so neat for carrying around. I’ll miss it if I can’t fix it.

We had a sprinkling of rain tonight, but not a lot.  Hoping for more tomorrow.  Other than that, nothing planned.

Webinar Day – 1 May 2020

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Webinar with the man from Falkirk.

I was set up early for the webinar, but for some reason there was no sound, even on the setup screen. Tried the help page and it told me to login again and switch off the ‘unmute’ request that would pop up. Tried that, and no unmute request. Emailed the link to Scamp who got in no bother and with sound. Aha! Scamp is using Chrome. Tried the link on the iMac with Chrome and all was well. Firefox is becoming a bit of a resources hog and seems to get slower with every new iteration. It may be time to move on to something smaller and faster.

The webinar was very illuminating and also very entertaining, thanks to Andrew’s quite dry sense of humour. So deadpan, he sounds like a Yorkshire Chic Murray if such a thing could exist. Lots of graphs and charts, each one explained fully, and it appears that he’s confident we’re on the way out of this mess. Only time will tell. Q&A session afterwards was equally entertaining and the final send-off with “Well thank you all for coming, especially those who dressed for the occasion and the couple who didn’t dress at all, well, hmm…”. Typical Andrew. Facts fully explained with his calm delivery.

Got a message that my meds were ready at the pharmacy. An ideal way to test out the new battery. Out and away without any bother and only three folk in the queue in front of me. If I’d been thinking of going to Tesco instead, there would have been at least forty folk in the queue in front of me. This is the longest queue I’ve seen there. The explanation from Scamp is that it’s a Friday – traditional shopping day. Also it’s the first day in the month, a lot of folk still get paid on a Friday. Whatever the reason, we left them to their day in the chain-gang and came home. Battery is still sitting half way up the scale, so I’ll keep an eye on it for the next few days and maybe give it a longer run tomorrow or Sunday.

We walked over to Condorrat for some fresh meat and eggs at the butchers and was tempted to let Scamp bring the bag the rest of the way and then go for a wander in St Mo’s, but chose instead to come home and find a recipe for black pudding tapas we’d seen on Hairy Bikers. I don’t like them, but some of the food they make is very tasty. That’s where I got my paella recipe from years ago. It was while I was waiting outside the butchers I saw the sign on the top of the butchers van. It almost became PoD, but not quite.

I did go over to St Mo’s for a walk after I sourced the black pudding recipe and got a couple of decent shots. The winner of PoD was the crozier with a bit of back lighting to brighten it up.  The weather helped there and I almost forgot to mention that we had another unexpectedly lovely day.  It looked more like we’d have a fair dose of cloud, but it never appeared until it was time for dinner, thankfully.

Might take the Juke out for a run tomorrow just to give it a chance to charge the battery, because THERE’S NOWHERE TO GO NOW!!

Batteries were included, fully charged and free – 30 April 2020

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Woke to rain again. Just a little and it’s still not overstayed its welcome yet.

New method for the blog, as suggested by Scamp. Writing it in stages as I find time during the day so I don’t have to plug away at it until midnight. Let’s see how it works out.

Tried the car first thing and it was another no response from the battery. Phoned the emergency number after answering a couple of questions about Coronavirus for the safety of the repair man I suspect, I was told the engineer would be with me in about 90 minutes. Just over the 90 minutes later an RAC van drove slowly up the hill, he’d be looking for me then.

It only took him a couple of minutes to diagnose a faulty cell in the battery that was dragging the voltage down from 12v to 9v. Not repairable, no point in charging it and as it was within the warranty period he could replace it there and then with a new one free of charge, saving me £265. Battery was replaced and then we stood and discussed the world and the ’New Normal for a while. I didn’t mind. I started the car and he checked that everything was as it should have been before filling in the paperwork. I didn’t even have to sign anything. He wouldn’t, or that should be couldn’t accept a cup of tea for fear of being contaminated with a potential Covid-19 virus from us and by handing back a used cup, could potentially pass on a virus to us. How the world has turned since March.

We said our goodbyes and I commented that I’d shake his hand, but I wouldn’t be allowed. We went in to have our lunch and I think he did the same in his van, still with the flashers on so no questions would be asked.

After lunch I walked down to the new shops to get some chocolate for me and a set of outdoor fairy lights for Scamp. It was dry for the walk, but when I was in the shop it was teeming down outside. When I came out again it was dry. April showers, even if it’s the last day in April. I waited a while when I got back before going out for today’s photo, which was a smart decision as a hail storm descended on us. After that the sun shone again and I was out like a shot. Found today’s PoD over at St Mo’s. A dandelion on a bad hair day. I also found a pair of very wet reading glasses hanging on a tree branch on the way home. How they got there I don’t know, but I know how the owner felt, having lost more than my fair share of specs over the years.

That was about it for today. Doing the blog in stages is good as long as I stick to it. It also helps to have a laptop that uses the same blogging software as the iMac and can share the part finished articles over WiFi.

Tomorrow we are hoping to be taking part in a webinar with the bloke from Falkirk. Should be interesting.

Another delivery day of sunshine and groceries – 28 April 2020

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This time Tesco were doing the needful for the groceries and the blue skies were producing the backdrop.

A dull day at 4.40am, but the birds were singing happily. Blackbirds I think, certainly not magpies that abound just now and definitely not seagulls they should be banned or better still culled.

Spent the morning clearing off the dried paint from my painting palette which is nothing more than a large white floor tile, but it has a hard glossy surface that works so well with any kind of paint and generally washes clean. It didn’t do it today, in fact I had to take some turps on a rag to it. That got the paint moving. Unfortunately it made the whole house smell too. I think I’ve finally got rid of the smell tonight. Since I had the turps out, I cleaned my oil painting brushes with it and then washed them in hot soapy water. That way they won’t pass any Covid-19 to each other.

Gary, the window cleaner came round today to make an honest fiver. Haven’t seen him in ages and we did a bit of long distance social distancing catching up. He was asking after you JIC. I don’t think you knew him Hazy. He used to go to karate class with JIC and me. Then it was lunch time.

In the afternoon I sat and struggled again with the problems of getting a Pilatus PC12 to follow a GPS trace. Finally, and I say this with a fair degree of certainty, I know how to set it properly and make the aircraft play nice. It’s just a case of knowing which of those screens to set up properly, which of the buttons to press and when. Heaven knows how real pilots know which of the buttons to press and more importantly, which NOT to press.

Later in the afternoon I went for a walk round St Mo’s. Just because it was so nice, I went round twice and got a couple of photos of blossom and flowers. The blossom was Hawthorn or May Blossom. That got PoD. The other little flower I got was a Lousewort. Ugly name for a pretty little flower. I’d read last year’s blog last night and I’d photographed the same flower, but hadn’t found a name for it. Now I know. I used my old trusted Collins book Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe to find it. Of course I cross-checked it with Google!

Dinner tonight was a combined affair. Scamp made Cauliflower Fritters and I made Souk Style Chicken and Chickpea Soup. It was like a soupy tagine. Very spicy, but not hot. We got the recipes from a cooking magazine and Scamp suggested we both look through it separately and write down recipes we would like to try. Not surprisingly, we both chose a lot of the same things. We’re intending to work through the list now and maybe cut a few from it to make a short list of favourites.

Tesco delivery arrived early as usual and with the wrong printout of groceries. Scamp was confused for a while and then she noticed the delivery address was wrong. Most of the stuff we ordered came this time, even bread flour. Now the problem is going to be finding yeast. We’ve enough to do for about a month, so there’s no rush for it. Just a matter of waiting until the panic buying is past its peak.

Read some sad news on the web today. Apparently John Prine a singer songwriter I’ve been enjoying for the last few months died on 7th April with complications from Covid-19. Such a pity. If you get a chance, search Spotify for Some Humans Aint Human. Clever lyrics that mean so much more nowadays.

More rain tonight, but the day was clear and sunny for most of the time. However, the weather fairies say the good weather isn’t going to last. We’ll just have to wait and see.

A seat in the sun, a painting done, a bike to ride and Chinese food besides – 25 April 2020

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All done within twelve hours of the hottest day so far.

Started the day by talking to Hazy. Always a good start to the day. I’ve now got instructions for making a Fat Quarter mask. Not like the one Isobel made with 8, yes EIGHT, layers of material. Her daughter asked if she could breath through it, to which she replied “No, I’ve got to take it off to breathe.” Methinks this defeats the purpose of a mask. Found out how everything was going down south and good to know that the ‘Nancy Pretty’ is growing well and starting to flower in foreign climes.

Next thing to do was to test the coffee maker and see if there are any improvements / alterations I can make. Found some interesting hints and tips on the Gaggia site, but nothing that really related to what’s going wrong with mine. Eventually gave up and made a slow cup of coffee that really tasted good. Maybe good coffee just takes a long time to brew.

Next thing on today’s agenda was to find out how to get the autopilot to work on the Garmin 530 navigational computer on the PC12. I got some useful hints and tips on a website last night and today I put them into practise and they seemed to work. The plane followed the flight plan I’d fed into it. One thing ticked off! Time for a seat in the sun just for a chance to catch some of those 20º rays. It was very pleasant sitting there with just a gentle breeze that didn’t seem to know which direction to come from, so came from them all.

Now I needed a painting for yesterday and possibly another for today. I started with a copy of the Bob Ross painting I’d watch him complete yesterday in less than an hour. I set to to repeat the process using acrylic paint on a canvas, although now I suspect he was using oils. Surprisingly, the finished art work passed the critical judgement of my panel, Scamp and Fred. Both agreed it worked, although both suggested different improvements that could be made. I ignored both, of course and just did what I wanted to do. Second drawing was a pencil sketch selfie done looking in the mirror. It’s not bad, but it looks like the artist as a young man. Slightly dishonest, but still there’s a hint of me there.

We thought we might do Golden Bowl for dinner tonight and I pumped up the tyres on the Dewdrop and took it over to Condorrat to find out if it was truly open. Spoke to a young Chinese lady who was checking for customers and they were indeed open for business. Phone orders only and there was just one person waiting for his collection. Cycled home and phoned in the order. It was on the way back that I got today’s PoD. The outdoor gym machines tied up with red and white tape to decree them off limits. A token gesture.

Half an hour later I cycled back to collect our meal. About ten other hopefuls were waiting too, but it wasn’t long before I took my chance and asked for my collection. Paid for it cash, which in itself is unusual these days. Chicken Chop Suey and Fried Rice (x2) was great after having cooked for ourselves these last three or four weeks. The bike ran well, but I think the front wheel bearing needs some attention. It’s either that or the front disk brakes need alignment. Enjoyed the run in the sun.

It seemed as if the next door neighbours on our left were having a party tonight. Scamp reckoned it was someone’s birthday. They’d sneaked in the back way and Angela had let down a ladder so they could climb up into the garden. Isn’t it a shame that people feel the need to go to such lengths just to meet up with family. In a way these restrictions are taking away people’s human rights. If a family want to be together to celebrate a birthday, they should be allowed to do so as long as they realise the risk they are taking. We are moving towards a police state these days and some folk think that’s a good thing. Some folk in power, that is.

We did a wee bit of ballroom practise tonight and then to round the session off, two Salsa tracks to see what we could remember.

Well, the best of the weather looks like it’s past. Next week we run the risk of rain and single digit temperatures. Oh well, it was good while it lasted and it lifted our spirits too. No plans for tomorrow.

The supervisor – 22 April 2020

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Who would have thought that towards the end of April Showers month we’d have to get the hose out and water the garden?

Gardening today. First I offered to strim the back grass. There is really no point in hauling out the grass cutter and doing a proper cut, because of the lumps and bumps and paving slabs that make it almost impossible to get an even cut. I chose instead to use the strimmer, but only after moving all the plant pots to give myself a fairly easy run at it. Then the pots had to be put back again and we couldn’t be sure exactly where they went. Finally Scamp declared that they were near enough right. I photographed the layout so we’d know next time.  I also took the opportunity to photograph her blue Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) and Chionodoxa luciliae (Glory of the Snow). Muscari made it to Flickr (G o t S didn’t).

The next gardening task was to fit the hose to the tap and spend a fairly pleasant half hour hosing down the back garden. I’d already soaked my sprouting peas in the bird bath to make sure they continued to sprout. Like I said, it was a fairly pleasant half hour, but not for Scamp who was leaning out the back bedroom window apparently “Just supervising.” A quick flick of the spray controller to “Full Firefighter Force” and an accurately directed jet caught her unawares and put an end to her supervision. Of course, I got pelters for that afterwards. As an act of atonement I washed all the back windows and squeegee’d them clean. I even did the awkward back door.

After lunch, when we were speaking again, Scamp went out to the front with her book and read for a while in the sun.  It was warmer today, because the wind was a bit less boisterous than it has been of late . I should have been painting, but instead I went for a walk to St Mo’s. Before I went, I took some macro shots of a pair of yellow tulips. One of them made it to PoD. The only half decent shot I got in St Mo’s was one of a mummy Mallard with her brood of ducklings. Pity they were so far across the pond to be almost invisible in the ripples. I saw and captured one other interesting sign of the times. I’ve seen artists on FB painting messages on stones and leaving them for someone to find. Today I found, not one, but two on a seat in the park. It’s a nice thought that took very little time to do, but might give someone some much needed support. I hope so.

Didn’t get a painting done today, so maybe I’ll manage to play catch-up tomorrow. Hoping for a veg box delivery some time tomorrow. It’s amazing the silver linings that are appearing from these dark clouds.

Dull start – 18 April 2020

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Dull start to the day, but prospects were good.

The plan for the day was to wait stay close to home in the morning just in case the Tesco man came early. By about 11am the sun was out and people were out in their gardens. Went out to speak to the next door neighbours and find out how they were coping. Just the same as us really and it looks like they are keen gardeners too almost as keen as Scamp.

I’d quoted the wrong time slot yesterday for our delivery, it was in fact 11am until midday and he arrived just before midday. With the stock cupboard back to healthy numbers, we had lunch and considered our options for the rest of the day. We needed some fruit and something for tonight’s dinner, so a walk down to the shops was in order.

Bigger queues today. My theory is that those working from home are trying their best to work what used to be a normal week, I.e. Monday to Friday. That leaves their weekend free and that freedom means they can shop. Hence the bigger queues than during the week. We got in fairly quickly to M&S. Slightly more expensive, but shorter queues, and on a day where the sun was shining, but a cold east wind was blowing, M&S was a good option.

Walked back and after some encouragement from Scamp to “Go out for your walk”, I did just that and took the Nikon out for some exercise in St Mo’s. Lots of folk walking round the pond. I don’t think the folk who designed the new boardwalk intended the widened ‘passing places’ to be used to maintain Social Distancing, but they work well in spring 2020. I had decided to wear an old hoodie instead of my fleece for a change. It was warmer and it doesn’t get out much. I think it’s about ten years old now and I’ve probably worn it less than ten times!  It was almost too warm when I was in the sun, but in the shade and in the wind it was quite cool.

I wanted a photo of a coot sitting on its nest away at the far side of the pond. The coots build their nests on floating pontoons of reeds, rushes and horsetails. This one was in an almost unreachable place. I say almost because I thought I could find a way through the bushes to get to it. It took a while and a bit of scrambling to find a spot near enough the nest, but no too near to spook the bird and with a good line of sight. The hoodie was ideal for the task. Hood up I could push my way through the brambles and hawthorn bushes to get to where I wanted to go. When I got there the coot had left the nest to chase off a potential interloper if the shape of another coot. I waited, because I was fairly sure she’d come back to the nest once the offender had been chased off. So she did after about ten minutes sailing up and down the periphery of the reed bed she returned to the nest, got comfortable and sat on the eggs again. I got as many shots as I dared without worrying about frightening the mother away. After that I made my exit.  The coot got PoD.

Back home it was curry for dinner. Not home made and not carry-out and not just any curry, this was M&S curry. I’d made flatbread in the afternoon from brown wheatmeal flour. When I got home it had risen and was looking good. Curries were hot without being too hot, my lamb rogan josh was a bit lacking in the lamb section and Scamp’s was certainly Hot, but quite good. The flatbread was a definite hit. I’ll make that again.

Tomorrow we may go for a walk as the wind is from the south and hopefully it will be a bit warmer.