Category: Folk

The runaway wean – 15 May 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today we went for a walk round Chatelherault park in Hamilton.

It was my choice to go there today. We could have gone to Drumpellier, but Sundays are really busy there, even if you avoid the ‘conveyer belt’ and walk into the woods. Besides, it’s been a while since Scamp and I have been out for a walk in Chatelherault. Then I found out that there was a Craft & Design fair there today. That would make it a bit busier, I thought, but we’d still manage a walk round the many miles of paths in the park.

A Sunday morning drive and a walk in the park. That would be good. When we got there it became obvious that the C&D fair was a bit attraction because the main car park was almost completely full, but we knew of a better and much quieter parking area and it was almost deserted by comparison. Parked and walked up to the ‘Big House’, and I was right, the place was jumping. Lots of stalls and hundreds of people. Scamp found the stall she was looking for and they had the exact things she was looking for. With the deal sealed, we stood and talked the the husband and wife who run the stall and who make most of the articles themselves. We’ve known them for years and always catch up, finding out how their families are doing and updating them on how ours is getting on. We said our goodbyes to allow them the space to bring in more customers and I suggested a walk down past the steel sculptures my brother photographs so well. From there I was fairly sure we could do a circular walk to bring us back to the Big House again.

We walked down the path to the sculptures and passed a couple with a little girl on what looked like her first two wheeler bike with stabilisers. She was having a bit of bother getting the bike to stay on the path and the dad was giving instructions while he worked with his phone. When we were about half way down I could hear the mother shouting at the girl to slow down, but with the rattling of the stabilisers, it seemed that the wee girl was accelerating. There was no way she knew how to stop, she was just hanging on and she was going at quite a speed. I reckoned I could stop her without tipping her over the bars, so I stood right in her path and grabbed the handlebars as she rode right into me. Got her stopped and asked her if she was OK. She said yes! The mother was racing down the hill and caught up with us, out of breath. She apologised and just kept thanking me. The bloke was still standing at the top of the hill, still reading something on his phone. He said nothing except “You should have pulled the brake”. Some folk shouldn’t be allowed to have weans.

We got some photos of the sculptures, of David Livingstone, William Wallace and Robert Owen. Impressive looking chunks of rusted steel, but the numpty who decided they should put a seat behind them and spoil the effect was obviously not a photographer or an artist.

As I suspected, there was a circular path that took us back to the Big House and it was a lovely walk through bluebell woods. I took a few photos of the bluebells, but it was a single Celandine growing out of the path that got PoD.

When we got back to the Big House it was Scamp who found another line of stalls, but there was nothing there to interest her. We bought a couple of coffees from a van with a proper coffee machine installed and while I was waiting for them, Scamp bought a couple of pieces of fish from another van. Drove home with the air-con on full for the first time this year, I think.

Stornoway Black Pudding and an egg each for lunch, then I gave the car its first wash for ages. I used a spray to remove seagull crap and it worked a treat. Then a quick soapy wash and a rinse with water from Bobby’s outside tap.

My dinner had been defrosting since we went out this morning. It was 500g of really nice stewing steak, Scamp had brought back From St Andrews. Carefully cooked it under Scamp’s instructions while she did the washing and hung it out to dry. It was a strange day. It was really quite warm, but occasionally there would be a sprinkling of rain that never really got anywhere.

Dinner was lovely. Scamp was going to have some of the fish, but settled for Ratatouille instead. My stew was maybe a bit over cooked, but still tasted like the quality meat it was.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard all about their walking holiday in Yorkshire. It did sound interesting, but quite strenuous too. Another big week for him this coming week.

No great plans for tomorrow. Not intending to catch any runaway weans!

 

A busy day – 5 May 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Things getting delivered, things to be collected, people to see and hair to be cut, but not in that order.

A message in the morning to say that my camera bag was at WEX in Glasgow and ready to collect. That’s exactly when it should have been ready. One of the good things about dealing with WEX is that you can have your items delivered from Norwich to their Glasgow shop in a couple of days, free and usually on time. I had a little Lensbaby lens on order too, but it was to come to the house by the despicable Parcel Force. Due to be delivered tomorrow, but realistically by Monday. That’s why I was surprised when I checked their delivery page to find it too was to arrive today. Unfortunately it was to arrive between 2.30 and 3.30 when I should have been visiting Margie with Scamp. The last thing on today’s list was a haircut ready for a couple of weddings that are in the offing. Would I manage to fit them all into my day? Read on and find out!

Drove in to Glasgow in the morning, before I’d even had my coffee. Parked at Buchanan Galleries, right in the middle of town and walked to the barbers and was out of there half an hour later. Fifteen minutes for the bloke in front of me and fifteen minutes for me. Only one barber in today. Much tidier cut than I can manage, even with some help from Scamp. Walked up Bath Street to find the new WEX shop. I started at about number 10 and the shop was at number 240! So it was going to take a bit of time. Finally climbed the hill and down the other side was the WEX sign on a shiny new shopfront. Picked up the bag and told the blokes behind the till the story of the last bag with its extra item for the ‘Babe’. It gave them a laugh and they immediately guessed the unnamed retailer was Amazon.

Walked back up the hill and down the other side, stopping to take a shot looking down Bucky Street from the Concert Hall to St Enoch’s at the bottom. PoD was in the bag.

Drove out of the car park listening to Alan Cumming reading Baggage. I pressed the phone button on the steering wheel to tell Scamp I was on the way home. Selected Scamp from the list and the screen went blank. Remember I was still driving. Tried to play Alan again, but nothing happened, although the screen had returned to normal. Tried the phone again. This time it rang before the same thing happened again. Gave up and listened to Jazz FM.

I got in just in time to say “Hello” and “Cheerio” as Scamp left to visit Margie. About an hour later, a knock at the door signalled the delivery of my LensBaby lens. Unpacked it from its battered box and made sure it was the right one, then left to visit Margie.

Margie was on good form. Telling us about the problems of riding a Stannah Stairlift and getting it to stop in the correct place.  We discussed sketching and painting and “fishtails”.  Margie danced a lot when she was younger and understood lots of the techniques she and Scamp were discussing.

Soon it was time for us to go, but there were lots of stories to listen to.  Best one was about the family searching for an electrician who she was sure was called Shakespeare, only to find he was called Macbeth.  Close, but no cigar.

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening trying to get an old Huawei phone to work.  In the end I gave up and might have to consider replacing my ailing Samsung.

A quick waltz and quickstep practise tonight brought some of it back, but not a lot.

Tomorrow, Alex and I are hoping to go and visit Glasgow Cathedral.

A day in the Toon – 26 April 2022

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We were off to Glasgow today. Scamp was looking for dresses suitable for a wedding.

We took the bus in to Glasgow. The blue car was needing some petrol and the bus was free. No contest! Started off in JL and while Scamp went in search of a suitable dress, I went looking at the ‘bargains’ in the technology area referred to as The Toy Shop by us. Unfortunately there were no toys at acceptable prices, so I joined a sad looking Scamp. It seemed that all the dresses she liked were designed with giants in mind. Anyone under the height of 6ft had no chance. Never mind, there are other clothes shops in Glasgow. None of them had anything that caught her eye. Either that or they too were catering only to the taller ladies. We eventually gave up and went for lunch.

We couldn’t decide where to go, and then Scamp remembered seeing a new Italian restaurant at George Square. It used to belong to Jamie Oliver before his business empire hit the rocks. It’s called Doppio Malto and is essentially an Italian beer shop that does food. We had a focaccia with rosemary to share as a starter. Not just any focaccia, but the best one we’ve ever tasted, anywhere and that means better than the one I make!!! For a main, Scamp had Paccheri due Pomodori (large tubes with two types of tomato) I had Pappardelle Ragu (wide flat strips of pasta with mince and tomatoes). Mine was lovely, but Scamp’s was definitely undercooked as was borne out by two Italian gents behind me who complained to the owner that it was troppo al dente. Coffee was just managing to creep into the ‘OK’ category. I never got to try the beer because I was driving later today and didn’t want to take any risks with some of the beers reaching 10% strength. The food was overall quite good, but that focaccia was excellent. We’ll come back some day to see just how good their pizzas are.

After that we went for a look in Princes Square, but nothing was working for Scamp today. Finally I suggested House of Fraser or whatever it’s called now and we entered the minotaur’s maze, hoping we’d find our way out again. We found a very helpful assistant in one of the areas. She and Scamp found a few dresses while I went for a walk round this massive store. Eventually I was called back and I think it was five dresses they were down to. They were whittled down to three, then two were chosen. Both of them perfect for tea dances and day to day wear I’m told, but maybe we’re still looking for that other dress suitable for a wedding. We found our way back out of the minotaur’s maze and went home in the bus.

We drove to Bishopbriggs after we’d had a cup of coffee and met Jamie Gal in the parking area of The Fort theatre there. We were to be leaders for a drama group that Jamie is teaching salsa to. Jamie’s partner, Patrick is a member of the drama group and had suggested that Jamie teach them some salsa, just for fun. We both really enjoyed the class, working as leaders. We’ve done it for years when we were in Jamie’s advanced class. It was a mixed ability group of women with Patrick the only man who was learning. Highlight of the night was the line dance at the end, Danza Kuduro. We haven’t done it in years. Great fun. We’re intending to go back next week.

PoD went to a slightly edited photo of 110 Queen Street.  The all glass and steel building across from the GOMA in Glasgow.

That was a good day and the search for the next dress for a wedding continues. Hopefully going for the messages tomorrow.

Solo – 4 April 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out driving the Blue car by herself today.

Before that, she drove me up to Tesco partly to get some messages, but also partly to assure herself that she can drive the newer version of her own Red car.

When we returned after the shopping, I took the wheel of the blue car and drove down to the shops were I parked at the far end of the car park and walked over to the repair garage and explained the problem with the red car. The bloke there said it was most likely to be binding breaks or a failing wheel bearing. I have to bring the car down tomorrow and then we’ll find out.

When I got back, and after lunch, Scamp was off again, driving solo this time. She was going to Calders garden centre for coffee and a cake with the now disbanded ‘Gems’. I left before her to post a couple of cards and also to get some photos. It was a fairly dull day with very little directional light, but with the help of the Lensbaby, I did get some useable shots. Not great shot, but useable.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon writing a fairly long email to Alex with some photos to keep his mind of all the things he has to do this coming week. No more word from him about the three generations of the family currently under “doctor’s orders”. No news is good news.

PoD was chosen by Scamp. It’s a wild currant flower. One of loads that are showing over in St Mo’s just now. A picture of a bright yellow whin flower took second place. You may know it as a gorse flower.

We watched the final of this year’s University Challenge and although there wasn’t a Scottish team in the final, at least the winners did have a Scottish captain.

It rained a bit today.  Just soft wetting rain that will refresh the plants in the garden.  More rain is predicted for the next few days and the gardens really need it.  Strange to say that we’re welcoming the rain!

Tomorrow it’s an early rise. The alarm has been set for 7.30am. We’re intending to drive the Red car down to garage and walk back to have an earlier than usual breakfast. Then we may go for coffee with Isobel.

Dancin’ and Drivin’ – 19 March 2022

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We were off to the Saturday morning dance class and then a mystery tour.

The road was busy today, mainly because of the weather. Not bad weather, but exceptionally good weather. Blue skies and sunshine. Everyone was heading for the coast today I’d imagine. Then I found why everyone was driving slowly. It wasn’t just the volume of traffic, it was also because of roadworks. Forty miles per hour and just to make it even more depressing, those big yellow spies in the sky, Average Speed Cameras and they will be there for at least 12 weeks. I suppose the roads do need resurfacing and spring is the best time of year to get the work done. Hopefully better weather and not fully in to summer. We can but hope that other folk will find alternative routes and the traffic will thin out.

Only six people were in the class. There was a dance tonight and a lot of people, like us, were happy to go to class, or the dance, but not both on the same day. Too much travelling to and fro, so most of the normal class had chosen the dance.

The great thing about small class sizes is that you get almost individual attention. The bad thing is that there’s nowhere to hide. Today we started with an easy Midnight Jive and then it was into the Waltz we were learning last week. Thankfully some of the others in the class were still learning the part we’d done last week, so that gave us a chance to reprise that part, then it was in to the more complicated ‘back section’. A short break for another sequence dance, I forget which one and then it was on to the Cha-Cha. The Cha-Cha, in my opinion is a totally pointless piece of fluff with arm waving an extravagance I can do without. I put up with it then put it in its box and left it until next week when I have to pull it out, try to reassemble all the parts and dance it again. But wait! The teachers are off for a week in the sun from Wednesday, so there is no class next week! Oh joy of joys! I mean, of course, “Oh what a shame. We’ll have to wait two weeks for the next class.”

We drove out of Brookside, headed in the general direction of home and then took the dual carriageway to Irvine. It was still a long drive down to the coast, but quicker than the last route the sat nav took us. When we got there it was wall to wall sunshine. Unfortunately, it was also wall to wall cars in the car park. There are loads of car parks at the harbour in Irvine, but all of them were pretty full. However, we did find a place to park and went for a walk to feel what a walk in the sun felt like. Half the world seemed to be there and they all had ice cream. It would have been a terrible shame not to join them, so it was a medium sized 99 with raspberry on top, then a walk along the beach. There were people walking, sitting on the sand, paddling and Scamp even saw two wee boys swimming! In the sea! In March! Are they mad!!?

It really is a long beach and we walked along about half of it then I wanted to look at the big sandstone dragon that sat high on the dunes above the beach. We struggled to climb up to it, wading through the dry sand then up through the dunes proper, but the beast itself was quite impressive. Loads of kids climbing on it, but I managed to get a few photos and remove the weans in Photoshop later.

We said goodbye to the dragon and walked over the hillocks down to to boating pond we hadn’t seen before. This really is an interesting foreshore. Lots of cropped grass, hills and valleys to explore. Just shows what can be done if you have a bit of imagination.

Drove home via a Tesco petrol station to get a fairly cheap, by today’s standards, tank of fuel for £1.62 a litre. Then we drove home via East Kilbride because I couldn’t be bothered driving through the traffic at the Kingston Bridge.

Fish ’n’ Chips which Scamp went over to Condorrat for because I was snoozing on the couch. PoD was a fairly crowded Irvine Beach.

No plans for tomorrow, but apparently we need some messages.

Off to Bombay – 2 March 2022

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Not the hot place, but the place in Hamilton where they make the hot stuff.

It was a dull and wet day in the morning and we couldn’t decide where to go. I think it was me who suggested Bombay Cottage in Hamilton where they make good curries and great big naan bread that is baked to order. Scamp wanted our plain naan ‘well done’ and when it came it was indeed singed beautifully. My curry which was a Chicken Salsa-Syrah was a bit tasteless but hot. Scamp had her usual Cauliflower Shimla Bhaji which was fine, but the sauce was a bit thin. However, it’s the naan and the ice cream that are the stars in this curry house. There is nothing much to see in Hamilton now, so we just drove home.

In the afternoon I went out for a photo walk and brought back one decent shot of a sycamore seed sprouting in the leaf litter and another of a man walking down the much photographed lane between Condorrat and the new shops. This truly is the path that keeps giving. After some consideration, the sprouting baby tree got PoD.

When I came home there was Scamp with a big smile and an equally big bunch of flowers that had come from John & Marion with a card that said “Hope you’re recovering well after your operation”. Isn’t that nice.

I’d intended going out with Alex for a walk and a blether on Friday because the weather seemed to be picking up for the weekend. However, today it looks like Friday will be dull and wet, so he’s suggested we call off until next week. I think it’s a good idea too. We might go for a coffee in Hamilton or Motherwell, if the weather is too bad for a walk. I just want to lust after his new camera which is almost as good as mine, just almost.

Tomorrow also looks wet. We haven’t got any definite plans, but if there’s a dry spell we may risk a walk.

Here’s a thought. I was just browsing on the ‘net and found the Berghaus page. Did you know that they’ll repair any jacket, trousers or boots free of charge. That’s their commitment to Reuse – Repair – Recycle. Wouldn’t it be good if more places did that. I don’t see Apple or Dell doing it though!

Hoping for a dry hour tomorrow.

 

A beautiful day – 27 February 2022

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We got up and went out this morning, pointing the blue car at Auchinstarry.

We were lucky to get one of the last spaces in the car park, then it was off on foot along the canal footpath as far as Twechar. Hardly a breeze to ruffle the surface of the Forth & Clyde canal. The path was busy with walkers taking advantage of the first decent day for at least a week. Lots of cyclist, most of whom were sensible enough to have a bell that worked on their bike. I was thinking I should really get my Dewdrop out and give it a run in the fresh air, but that’s all it was, just a thought!

At Twechar we met up with a wee group of boys, about 12 years old hanging over the barrier trying to get passing motorists to toot their horn at them. This must be ‘entertainment’ in Twechar. No TVs, no computers and no Xbox for them. Just a toot from a car sends them into hoots of laughter. One of the boys who may have been twelve but had the seriousness of a 90 year old great-grandfather agreed with Scamp that it was a lovely morning and told us that it was “good to get out in, er, nature”. I think he thought he was taking the mick! Probably another Twechar pastime.

We crossed the road and the sound of the toots and the laughter followed us for a while until we reached to path to take us back to the car. I’d brought the Sony A7 today and I found a great subject for it in the bank of snowdrops just beside the path. So good to see so many of them all flowering at the same time. We walked on, but apart from some shots of the Campsie Fells, there wasn’t much to entice me. Scamp just enjoys the walk and I sometimes feel I hold her back with my constant stops for photos.

Back home and after lunch I wrote to Alex to see if he was up for a photo walk this week. At present, Friday looks the best day. Then I grabbed the A7 with the posh macro lens and went hunting for the mysterious Female Larch Flowers. The female flowers are big and showy in pinks and yellows. They sit upright, usually at the end of a branch, looking like miniature pineapples. The male flowers are fairly insignificant little things that hang down from the branches in groups and are limited to yellow. There were a lot of the female flowers today. I got quite a few shots of them. Last year there were hardly any.

Today’s prompt was True Colours. I listened to the song until about halfway through and switched it off. I decided there was nothing inspirational in there.
No, I had to change my thinking on this one. There is no such thing as a true colour. There is no true blue or red or yellow. Ultramarine blue tend to purple, as does Alizarin Crimson. Lemon Yellow tends towards green, and that’s just the primaries. Once you get into secondary and tertiary colours it’s just a big mess. So that was my starting point for today’s sketch: My watercolour palette. Not one true colour in the box and as you will notice I ignore the teachers’ warnings not to start mixing colours in the pots. I just go for it. All the colours in the box started out as tube colours, squeezed out into pots and they looked pretty for about a day, then as they dried, they darkened and that gets us to a whole new argument about True Colours. Here endeth the lesson on colour theory. Maybe I’ll be a bit “Happier” tomorrow!

Booked for coffee with Isobel tomorrow.

A palindromic date – 22 February 2022

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As well as being a date almost entirely composed of 2s, today’s date is a numerical palindrome. 22-02-2022 reads the same forwards and backwards. Check if you want to, but it’s right. I didn’t work this out myself, I found it on that great repository of knowledge, Facebook!

Today was one of those days when the weather couldn’t decide what to do. Would it stay dry or would it stay wet. Would it be windy or would it be calm. It couldn’t decide, so it did all of them, sometime it seemed to do all of them at the same time.

I have been looking for a new pair of true wireless headphones. The ones that are just two headphones that plug into your ears, or hang in your ears with no connecting cables. I bought a pair ages ago and they worked well for almost a year before they started losing connection. It seemed that you had to look straight ahead and not turn or one of the earbuds would switch off. It was really disconcerting, but they were very cheap and probably Tesco’s own make, because I never saw them anywhere else. Anyway, I bought a pair of Skullcandy’s to replace them, but the sound was awful. You’ve no way to check in-ear earbuds before buying. Scamp says it’s the same with earrings. I’ve never had that problem, personally! I had some money sitting in vouchers for JL and fancied a new (better quality) pair. A pair of Sony’s. They’d been out of stock at JL for weeks, but today they were back. Not back in black, but they had them in white and that would suit me fine. Scamp didn’t want to come to Glasgow today, she’s more or less self-isolating, getting ready for Thursday.

I drove through torrential rain all the way in to Glasgow and eventually found someone in JL who unlocked the cabinet and sold me the headphones. I only had to pay £4 odd for them because the vouchers paid off the rest. I’d another reason to go in to Glasgow today. We have loads of books in the house looking for a new home. Scamp has collected lots of them up and they’re sitting in bags in various rooms. I’d brought one of the bigger bags with me today and I handed them over, with bag, to the girl in the Oxfam shop in Exchange Square. Two jobs done. I bought myself another concertina sketch book in Cass Art, an A6 one. Scamp gave me my present A5 book and it’s almost half full with EDiF sketches, but a smaller one that could easily fit in my pocket would be useful. On the way back to the car, I was passing the GOMA and it’s usually a great place to people watch and people snap. Today it was a girl on her fag break or to be more correct a ‘vape break’ and a guy who seemed to be bragging about his drawings, you’ll need to go on Flickr to find him.

Drove back home through more rain. It just seems never-ending these days, although I walked around Glasgow and not a drop wet my Bergy. It’s the wind that makes it so unpredictable.

I charged the headphones when I got home and dumped the photos. The it was time to make a chicken curry for dinner. It turned out fine, but I was toying with the idea of using some Padron peppers to add a different flavour to it, but these padrons were HOT, so rather than risk it, they went in the bin.

After dinner I started today’s sketch. Today’s prompt was Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
I started off copying a shot of Noel Coward, but it just didn’t feel right and he really needed the sun in the picture as well as the ‘Mad Dog’ to fit the prompt. So, it became a sort of stereotypical man who is ‘something in the city’ with his times under one arm and a bottle of MD 2020 under the other. According to its website, MD 2020 is “made with juicy, luscious fruit infused with tasty flavors to create a unique variety of MD 20/20 selections”. Made in America, drunk in Coatbridge! Delicious (so I’m told) served cold in a bus shelter.

The headphones sounded terrible to start with, but once I’d worked out how to use the equaliser they came alive. It didn’t help that they weren’t sitting properly in my ears. Sorted now. Great sound with just the gentlest hiss at times.

Scamp’s telephone consultation with the doc went well this morning. Her meds are being returned to the previous dosage.

No plans for tomorrow, although I might need to get the front wipers on my car replaced.

 

Wild Swimming – 21 February 2022

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Not us! Oh no, not us!

I filled the flask while Scamp sorted the tea and coffee things and grabbed a couple of biscuits and some crisps, then with a quick stop for petrol we were off to the highlands.

Yesterday Scamp had suggested that if today was as good as the weather fairies said it would be, we could maybe drive to Loch Lubnaig in the Trossachs for cup of coffee by the lochside. I thought it was a grand idea and as the day looked as promising as predicted we drove out past Stirling and through Callander then out to Kilmahog and that’s where it got a bit worrying. The water coming down the River Leny was very high, almost bursting its banks in places. The Falls of Leny which are usually a picturesque series of rapids were a roaring torrent that took up the entire width of the river. As the Leny flows out of Loch Lubnaig, I was beginning to wonder if the car park would be flooded.

When we got there the water was indeed high, but not as high as it might have been, There is usually a beach a about three metres wide before you reach the water, but not today. The water was coursing around the trees that grow two metres from the beach. Yes, the water was high. However, the wee coffee stall was open and the smell of frying bacon was enticing. We had a roll each, Scamp’s was egg, mine was bacon, with a cup of drinkable coffee. I’m not sure if it was instant or filter, but it was strong enough for me and tasted like coffee should.

I did manage to get a few photos, but I think I’ve been to Lubnaig so often that I think I’ve seen it all, however the high water gave a few more opportunities and the one I liked the best was the almost submerged picnic tables. I think diners would be advised to bring waders! That became PoD.

Another sight we saw was a couple, the man with a full wet suit and the woman with wet suit leggings and what looked like a neoprene bra, walking gingerly into the loch. I’d been wearing a pair of jeans, teeshirt, warm shirt, jersey and a lined Bergy jacket when I was taking photos and when I was standing around for about a minute, waiting for a time exposure to complete, I was beginning to feel the cold. I dread to think how that woman felt.

They eventually had had enough of the wild swimming. Yes they did some swimming, but going too far would have been dangerous today with a fair swell in the loch and a fast current too. I think we both relaxed a bit when they got out and wrapped themselves in heavy towel. I’m told that wild swimming in winter is good for you, but I’ll take their word for it, rather than try it myself.

We came back via the Duke’s Pass over the hills to Aberfoyle and from there to Doune and up to get some more shots from the David Stirling memorial. The view from there is quite phenomenal on a good day and it was a good day today. Photo also on Flickr. From there it was just the motorway home.

Today’s prompt was Edelweiss. I do believe I saw one once. Many more moons ago than I’d care to put a number on, when I was in primary school, in fact, the teacher brought one in for us to see. I don’t know where she got it from, because I don’t remember any growing wild in the central belt of Scotland. Dandelions and Daisies, yes, but not Edelweiss. I remember thinking it wasn’t the prettiest flower I’d ever seen. That being the case, I found this one tough to draw and paint, but that’s what this challenge is all about, isn’t it? It’s being forced to work outside your comfort zone. With that in mind, this one’s now complete and we move on to the next challenge, the next prompt!

Scamp has a telephone consultation booked with one of the docs from the Cumbernauld practice in the morning tomorrow to review her meds. The rest of the day is our own and the weather looks reasonable at present.

Let him wait! – 16 February 2022

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Twenty years ago today we went to a wedding in London and stood in a bit of sunshine when it was needed for the photographs.

There was no sunshine today, at least, no sunshine without accompanying rain. A stormy day too with no chance of a walk, apart from prowling round the house like a caged bear. We were in the grip of Storm Dudley with Storm Eunice to look forward to on Friday. Where do they get these stupid names from? It was a blustery day and Dudley is still bouncing around out there as I write. If the weather had any redeeming factors, they were to force me to grab a photo when and where I could and also to get a sketch done in daylight. More on both of these later.

Just as Storm Dudley was starting, we had a visit from a man who wanted us to stick a sort of cotton bud down our throat and then up our nose before dunking it into a plastic bottle and handing it back to him. Poor bloke had to stand there in the rain and gathering wind while we waited in the dry answering his questions. I hope he gets paid well for what he does with a smile on his face.

Now the explanation of the title. Today was Hazy and Neil’s 20th wedding anniversary. Twenty years ago Hazy and I rode in a white London cab from her house to the church. As we neared the church she told the driver to go round the block just once. I told her Neil was waiting at the church and she just laughed and replied “Let him wait!” It had been a terrible week of weather that year too, but when we went to a little park for the photos, the sun came out, just long enough to get them taken. It really was a lovely day. I remember it well. I hope you both had just as good a day today.

Back in the present day, I finally got a chance to claim my cash-back from Sony after not only sending my invoice as evidence, typing in the serial number of the camera, but also sending a photo of the serial number plate on he camera with me holding it in my hand! I hope I don’t have to go to a photo booth now and get a photo of me (not smiling) in good lighting and not wearing glasses. There were more pages to fill in for Sony than for my passport!

Next was today’s PoD. I noticed the little purple crocus just sprouting in a long tray of green shoots and managed to isolate it with its raindrops. I think I managed five shots in the dry before the rain returned. I was quite impressed with the result.

Sketch was a bit of a trial. Today’s prompt was Vogue.
Sometimes you just have to face your demons, and faces have always been my demons. I’ve tried and failed to get any kind of resemblance in the past. That’s why I decided I’d ‘do’ Madonna today. I could have sidestepped the challenge and drawn the front cover for a magazine, but where’s the fun in that? This is my take on Madonna in her Vogue persona.

Tomorrow we’re planning to go for a run to Braehead, hopefully for someone to see something new.