Category: Food

The gardener’s nightmare – 9 June 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Today was one of those days when you just have to knuckle down and get things done.

Scamp was out for coffee with Isobel and was intending to bring some messages back with her.

Yesterday I made a list of things to do today. Today I added to that list. The only thing to do then was to get started.

The first thing to do was some tidying up of May. I’d a lot of loose ends that needed clearing up. Nothing difficult, but a whole lot of little things that I wanted to sort out. The blog was one of them.

The blog was only half finished but it didn’t take too long to roughly fix it. Next job was to get all the independent units of it into the correct order. I knew the problems it would bring if all the dates were in the wrong places. Best to get it sorted while it was still clear in my head. After that I had some tomatoes and veg to chop up to be made into soup for freezing later.

Scamp returned just after I was checking that all my tasks had been completed properly. By then it was time for lunch.

Jamie and Simonne got back about 4.30 and although the black clouds were gathering, I thought I could get a few shots before the rains came. It didn’t quite work, because I got caught in a rain shower. Nothing very heavy, but then I heard the rumbling of thunder and thought walking through the trees wasn’t the smartest place, but sometimes I’m not all that smart and anyway I was as far from home as I intended to be, so I walked back through the park, just in case.

PoD went to the gardener’s nightmare, Buttercups. Scamp does not like them and I can see why, but they stood out well from the background and I liked them.

Dinner tonight was Chicken and Peas, but it wasn’t as good as it usually is. Maybe I did something wrong, but there is very little you can do wrong with it. Scamp made Syllabub and it was just as good as it always is.

Jamie and Simonne are intending to go off on a walking holiday. I hope they get good weather.

Mowgli – 7 June 2026

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On Sunday we all drove to Croy to get the train to Glasgow.

Arrived in town in a fairly busy train and went for a walk to see the damage to Union Corner that is still not completely cleared. Really high scaffolding and also barricades blocked the view of this memorable set of buildings.

We walked back to Mowgli which seemed to fit the bill for today. Great dinner with far too many and varied food options to share. Just as good as the last time Scamp and I had been there. Unfortunately nobody’s birthday today, so no Brownies with a dollop of ice cream and a candle on top!

In the last few days Scamp and I had been discussing how to get our old home movie films from DVDs into a more usable format. Jamie came to the rescue and showed us how to let the computer do the hard work. He spent most of the evening rebuilding the clumsy DVD disks into a format that could be sent to anyone who has One Drive. I’m still not completely clear on the details, but I understand the method. By the end of the night, we had four DVDs converted. Amazing.

We watched the Monaco GP between the technospeak and lost count of the number of penalties and broken cars in a few hours of mad driving.

PoD went to Queen Street Station’s new architectural ceiling.

Tomorrow Jamie and Simonne are intending to do an overnight with friends in Aylth, near Blairgowrie.

Back in time – 3 June 2026

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In the morning Scamp went to the dentist to get a tooth repaired.

After the we opened up another of those magic boxes that take you back in time. This one was a DVD from 1991 and most of it was about a holiday in Wales. We saw Jamie and Hazy making clay pots, making waves on machines that explained how tidal waves worked. We watched steam trains, although I don’t think we actually went on the trains. Moving forward in time, we were driving up Quiraing and over the top, then down past Uig and onward to Portree, then home to Staffin. Watching that route now, the roads seemed very narrow and treacherous. There were a lot fewer cars on the road then but the roads are probably worse now with too many cars a far too many potholes.

Later that year we went to Hazy’s school concert where she played her clarinet to the parents and teachers and got to take a bow. Around the same time there was a ‘Rock’ concert near the primary school for Westfield Gala Day and Scamp remembers Jamie’s pals joining in.

Great memories. The quality of the movie cameras has moved on greatly, but watching those old videos was great fun once you settled down to remember places and faces.

Back in the present day, the weather was pretty poor. I had intended to go for a walk this afternoon, but didn’t want to get soaked, so today’s PoD turned out to be a photo of one of the Thalictrum plants in the back garden. This is the third or maybe the fourth year they have flowered.

Dinner was a cobbled together Fish Risotto that looked a bit rough, but which worked out fine.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet Alex for a walk if it’s dry or a pizza and a blether if it’s wet, Scamp may be meeting Shona for coffee.

A walk through the trees – 2 June 2026

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Another day of mixed weather, but glad to see that a couple of other folk were out risking the rain.

Up fairly early to see Scamp’s sister off on her journey north. It had been good to see her for a few days, but we knew she was ready to go back home.

Just before she left, I found an old DVD drive that held a lot of memories for us all. Scamp was sure she had seen the disk in a cover fairly recently, but I wasn’t so sure. The ladies had a good half hour remembering where and when the different images came from. Scamp and I spent another two or three hours remembering those days now, well past. My next task now is to record the DVD on to another disk to send up to the north of Scotland soon. That will be a challenge.

Another find today was an old Sony F707 camera with one intact card. It took me a long time to find a charger that would fit the camera, but eventually I did find one and it’s still charging right beside me. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a card reader that would work with the camera. I might go in to Glasgow this week and see if I can find one in Jessops, failing that, it will be a case of checking Mr Bezos’s archive.

In the afternoon I went for a walk over to St Mo’s and managed to get a grab shot of two ladies walking down the avenue of trees, probably heading for the local shops. The lighting was just right with a little bit of warmth to give highlights and shadows from the sun shining through the branches. Just a perfect shot for me. Pod achieved!

Dinner tonight was Jersey Royal potatoes, carrots and bacon for me. Scamp had the vegetables only as she doesn’t eat meat. It was quite, quite delicious. Scamp did the cooking of course!

No plans for tomorrow, although Scamp has a dentist appointment to look forward to!

Families Gathering – 1 June 2026

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It was a wet day and a sad day, despite everything.

Drove up to the car wash at Tesco. The owner must have thought I was mad. Who in their right mind would want their car washed on a day when it was lashing with rain. I would.

A quick lunch of a banana sandwich, then we were in the machine. That’s what it felt like. We three drove over to The Village and picked up Isobel. Then we drove to Cairntoul Court and dropped Scamp off to find her place in the ‘Big Car’. The car arrived and we all drove over to Daldowie and were ushered in.

The celebrant gave his speech which, if you were hearing it for the first time, would probably have been uplifting, but not today. Once the curtains closed it was all over. Nothing left to do but head back to the pub where the meal would be served.

The food I had was delicious. For the second day in a week, I had a chunky, lovely gammon steak with chips. We sat and listened to Ian and Isobel telling stories of times gone by, but the different groups kept to themselves and didn’t mix very much. Probably a Scottish way of dealing with a situation like this. Gradually everyone made their ways home, individually and in groups.

Back home the ladies had a laugh with a few drinks, remembering things that had happened over the years. It’s the Scottish tradition again.

Jackie is off home tomorrow and we’ll start straightening everything out and getting ready for our own lives to begin again.

Paul wasn’t a bad boy. A bit wild at times and out of his depth. May he rest in peace.

Tipping – 31 May 2026

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Not the tip you hope to get for work well done, more the tip that you put the old, broken and useless stuff in.

I drove over to the council tip an waited in the queue of cars for my turn to drop off our old Dyson carpet sweeper, drove round to the other side of the tip and loaded everything else into the waiting maws of the compactor, then drove home.

After lunch and after watching Laura Kuenssberg finding holes in Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that “She knew noting” about her husband’s alleged crimes, I pulled my boots on and went out for a walk, only to find Jackie walking up to the step. She was staying with us for the next few days.

I walked over to St Mo’s and found some Red Campion flowers that were growing by the side of the path. They provided a PoD and a last photo for May 2026. I wandered on past the yellow Irises that I’d photographed yesterday and bought some milk in M&S and some Jelly Babies in Iceland. On the way I found the new path that had been made to connect the retail park to the path to the football park. It’s taken the council at least two years to create that new path, but I shouldn’t complain, at least we got the path.

Dinner tonight was Roasted Chicken and Peas. A staple in this house and one that seemed to go down well with Jackie too. Her and Scamp had a chance to peruse the thirty odd photos we’d put together from old and very old photos we’d found in Paul’s house. Interesting stuff there.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about their plans for coming up to Scotland soon. Looking forward to that.

Tomorrow looks wet, but I’m hoping to get the car through the car wash then drive a full car load over to say goodbye to Paul.

Angelic Iris – 30 May 2026

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It was a dull day with the occasional showers.

We started clearing up the back bedroom under Scamp’s control. It’s amazing the number of things we ( that means I ) hold on to useless wee things that I hadn’t used in years, but that “Might come in useful some day”. I fought my corner well, but I had to agree that most of the things that went in the ’Skip bag’ were well past their usefulness.

The highlight of the day was a drive to The Cotton House in Longcroft. The food is usually good, but although Scamp’s Chicken Chow Mein was fine for her, my Kung Po Chicken was hotter than I expected. My fault, not there’s. I almost forgot the wee tubs of jelly beans that they serve when you are finished. I remember one of my pals just eating the whole tub of them once when we were there. I think I only got one. It’s those additional touches that make us go back there again and again. Overall a good meal. Just right for a Saturday afternoon.

We did a bit of chopping and pruning when we got back to the house and a fair amount of moving pots from front to back and vice versa. The occasional rain shower sent us looking for shelter, but we did get a lot done. Also, Scamp got a chance to try out her new water fountain in the garden.

I did manage to get an hour or so in the garden later in the afternoon and got a surprise, because the Yellow Iris flowers were in bloom. I grabbed a photo of one of them that looked quite like a little fairy. That was easily the PoD.

Tomorrow we’re expecting Jackie to arrive for a few days. I imagine it will be a talking shop, but will give the sisters a chance to go over recent events.

I may go for a walk, and I think I may be chef for the day.

Driving and Rain – 29 May 2026

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The Driving part was taking Shona home and the Rain was constant (and welcome) throughout the day.

We drove Shona home and then we headed east to Klondyke Garden Centre to get a pot to give the Acer a bit more space to expand into. It started out life with us as a small plant and has now started to grow as the years have gone by. In fact, it has grown so much it needs a bigger and more interesting pot than it has had for a while.

Klondyke is our go-to place to find new plants and accessories. Also, its cafe has improved greatly. Today’s offering was Mac ’n’ Cheese for Scamp and Gammon Steak and Two Eggs for me. It’s a long time since I’ve had such a good gammon steak. I hope we can go back some time soon. The only downside is the drive home. A 4pm drive through 40mph roadworks isn’t my idea of a day out. I don’t know what they are doing to the M80, but it’s not funny and not fun. So, the solution is clear Mr/Ms M8. Get your finger out and get it finished. We want decent roads.

We had driven through the rain to get to Klondyke and we were driving back home in the same weather, all as predicted by the weather fairies. Thankfully, as we reached Cumbersheugh, the rain abated slightly and we had a chance to shop in Tesco in the dry. Not totally dry, of course, but better than we’d had for the rest of the run.

A decent cup of coffee when we got home made it all worthwhile and we had a long discussion of what May had brought us. It wasn’t an inspiring month, but it did have a few highlights. Overall, I think we’ll be glad to see the back of it.

PoD today went to a grab shot from the garden centre. It took me a while to realise that what I was looking at was a Sedum. A pretty little collection of flowers.

We have no dance class tomorrow and hence, no great plans for the day!

Ladybird – 28 May 2026

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It was a cloudy morning but it did eventually clear to another bright day.

After we’d had lunch we went to pick up Shona and drove to the Co-op for her to see Paul. Such a busy place.

We all drove back to Tesco in the town centre and came back to the car with some stuff. Well, it was Thursday with all that entails and traditions have to be kept.

Back home I went for a walk in St Mo’s and got a few photos of an 18 spot ladybird that seemed to be reluctant to leave its perch on the wild flower it had found. It would open its wing covers and close them again as if it was practicing for flying off. That made PoD.

Shona was staying with us tonight, but she had left her washing out at her house, so she and Scamp went back to collect it. That left me some time to post the ladybird photo.

Dinner tonight was another of the large pizzas. A bit heavy, but decent enough and it filled a wee space as we say, with an ice lolly each to finish it off.

Although it will probably rain overnight or maybe tomorrow, we watered the garden tonight. We just used the watering can. One of us going clockwise and the other going anti-clockwise. I’m sure the plants will appreciate it.

No plans for tomorrow, but the weather fairies all agree that the temperature will have dropped and there will be the chance of rain.

Squeaky Clean – 26 May 2026

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Nothing to do with Peter Murrell, but everything to do with carpet cleaning.

Today we were going to actually use the carpet cleaner we bought about five months ago and never really got round to using. It really is a clever piece of kit that washes the carpet and sucks up the muck into a big box, conveniently transparent so you can marvel at the amount of dirty water coming out of a carpet. Today was a good day to do it, because the temperature was high, around 24ºc which would help to dry out the carpet properly. Only half the living room done today. Hopefully we’ll get round to the other half tomorrow.

Scamp started on cutting the front grass and it did look a lot better once she was finished. Once she was finished she brought out her folding seat and sat in the sun.Me? I drove over to Fannyside to see what I could find in the way of insect life.

At first glance there was very little going on, but I kept feeling that I was being watched and sure enough, on the edge of the Scots Pines were three wild looking sheep, the ones I’ve called “The Girls”. Their horns had grown since the last time I’d seen them and they did look fierce. Thankfully there was a sturdy wire fence between them and me. They stood watching for a while before they decided it just a bloke with a big black tube. “Nothing to see here. Move along”.

I was told that it would be a good idea to bring back some ice cream to go with dinner. M&S were completely empty of ice cream, but luckily Iceland had plenty. Dinner was mixed Pasta with Spinach and Tuna. The ice cream went down well after that.

We watched the first episode of Master Chef the Professionals with its usual numpties and experts and everything in between.

PoD went to “The Girls” as expected.

I think we’re going to be carpet cleaning tomorrow – hoping to finish the living room.