Category: Food

Cold damp and dull – 4 March 2021

Posted on by Zogman

That about sums up today.

Sometimes it’s hard to get up much interest, especially when the sun isn’t interested in doing much work. I assume it is up there, above the clouds, but it’s shirking on it’s job as far as I’m concerned. Nothing but milky white skies and the occasional rain. I’m looking for Spring and not finding it.

Scamp wanted to go for seed compost today and the only place we could be sure of getting any was B&Q. We could have driven to Falkirk, to the garden centre there, but until the Littlest Witch decides we’ve been good enough to allow us to go to garden centres, we’d have to go through the rigmarole of ordering online and then using click and collect. Plus it’s not the same as being free to wander round the plants and look at things. At least B&Q for all its faults, and there are a fair few, has an outdoor section with plants and a selection of compost types and bag sizes. Scamp eventually settled on two bags of seed compost. One for immediate use and another as a backup for later use. We agreed that it’s still a bit early for planting seeds, better to wait until later in the month or possibly even until April. Scotland is always a bit behind the rest of the uk in gardening terms.

Before we went driving through Cumbersheugh to B&Q I thought it might be a good idea to put some petrol in Blue. It’s been so long since I filled the tank, some time last year I believe, that I couldn’t remember which side the filler cap was on. Yes, I know there is a sign on the dash to tell you, but that’s not much use when you’ve just switched the engine off. Besides, it’s something I really should know without a prompt. It was passenger’s side.

Back home and after lunch, which was ‘Gluey Soup’ (Scamp’s description) I went for a walk in St Mo’s with the stated purpose of re-photographing yesterday’s PoD using the macro lens. Perhaps it was that statement of intent that made Scamp decide that a day inside would be better than watching me grovelling around moss covered stones. I did find the source of yesterday’s PoD and as you can see, well hopefully you can see, you get a much more “up close and personal” view with a macro lens. When I was looking at the photos on the computer, later, I was amazed at the detail the new lens resolves. I really am impressed.

The light wasn’t good today, but I was finding some good subjects when I got talking to a bloke who just walks round and round St Mo’s pond. I’d just intended to pass the time of day with him, but instead we stood there for about half an hour talking, or me listening and him talking. Eventually when he left to continue his circuits, what light there had been had gone and I’d missed my chance of more macros. Hopefully the light will be better tomorrow.

Phoned the garage today about the horn problem and the car is booked in for next Wednesday. That will mean a drive to Stirling, breaking the rules set by the Littlest Witch and the rest of her lying cohort, at least that’s the way they are portrayed by the media. While Alex Salmond is held up as a shining light of truth. Aye Right!

Tomorrow, hopefully, we might get out for a walk … together.

Just one of those days – 3 March 2021

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They say they come in threes.

Woke to the sound of something trying to find a way into the loft from the roof! I suspected a bird, but it could have been something more sinister like the squirrel that tormented us for weeks over a year ago. I’d boxes to put up in the loft anyway, so it was up, shower then grab a torch and a facemask. The facemasks we all have to wear these days are great for using if I have to go up into our loft and don’t want to breathe in the fibreglass fibres I usually disturb. The rat trap we had used against the squirrel was still there and still empty but there was definite activity and it seemed to be between the sarking and the roof tiles and it was definitely a bird. That means it has found an access hole in the gable end of the house. There is no way I’m going up onto the roof to fix it. That’s a job for a roofer. That was problem one.

The rest of the day went reasonably well. I sawed up the old steel clothes pole from the back garden. I used to be able to wield a hacksaw for hours of metalwork at work. Today I was knackered after sawing through an old, rusty hollow steel pole about 70mm diameter. Put the pole and a host of other clutter Scamp had found in a cupboard in the car and took it all away to the council skips.

After lunch I made a pot of soup for dinner and with it simmering away I went for a walk in St Mo’s and although the light was poor, I got a few photos. Certainly enough to create a PoD from. It’s a sepia toned shot of some moss fruiting bodies taken with the kit lens. Weather was mild, but when I was heading home it turned into a damp cold smirr.

After dinner we were just settling down to watch the final of Landscape Artist of the Year when the phone rang. It was my niece phoning to say that she and her son were locked out of the bathroom and could I open a padlock. I’ll explain. Her son, has learning difficulties and has a habit of sneaking into the bathroom and filling the bath which sometimes overflows and runs down into the person below’s flat. To stop this I put a hasp and staple on the top of the door and locked it with a padlock. Somehow the keys had gone missing tonight and her son needed to use the toilet. Could I help. Problem two. So I drove up to the house and unscrewed the staple from the door jamb. The easiest thing to do. Drove home. Accidentally pressed on the horn and no sound. Tried it again intentionally and still no sound. Problem three. I’ll check again tomorrow, but I think this will require a trip to the garage in Stirling.

Like I said at the start: They say they come in threes. I hope I’ve had mine for the month! Don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow. We’ll need to wait and see.

Under a milky white sky – 2 March 2021

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Yes, it was a milky white sky this morning. Although the weather fairies told us that the sun would come out of hiding, they forgot to mention that it wouldn’t happen until about 4pm.

There was no real need to get up and go anywhere in the Central Belt today because it looked like the white sky stretched from west to east and there was no getting away from it. Worse still, my phone was out of charge and my Kindle was too. Just to complete the trilogy, my Fitbit was telling me it was feeling a bit deflated on the power front too. I plugged in the phone and the kindle but forced the Fitbit to work for its dose of energy which it did in a disgruntled way beeping every hour to tell me to move my backside, which I also did in a disgruntled way. I blame the milky white sky for it all.

Eventually after lunch, we got ourselves in gear and went a walk to the shops. Scamp went to get milk and sensible stuff while I went for ice cream and sticky toffee pudding. Just a different kind of sensible. We carried our messages home and then while Scamp went out to comb the front grass, well, actually she was raking it, but when it was done it looked as if someone had combed it badly. While she went to do that, I went for a walk in St Mo’s. It felt a bit cold, so I wore my big Bergy jacket with its fleece, but actually it wasn’t all that bad once you were out and walking. The light was improving, but not enough to create shadows. For that you need directional light and there was none. I went to visit the ladybirds which were still hibernating and that’s when the sun started to shine, about 4pm.

Although the photos of the ladybirds are interesting to me, I realise they have limited appeal to the general public. It was while I was walking home that I tried my old 10-20mm Sigma lens and grabbed a few landscapes. When I looked at them on the computer I thought a monochrome format improved them and that’s what you see here.

Dinner tonight was Scamp’s job. She made Chickpea and Spinach Curry and I thought it was delicious. She thought it was OK, but that there was too much salt in it. She’s a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to seasoning, so I let her be right – just this once. My job was to make the flatbread and it turned out OK, but Scamp thought it was delicious. It’s not that I’m a perfectionist about flatbread …

Interesting text from Hazy this morning which I missed when my phone was filling its boots with electricity. She told me that while they were out for a walk they passed a cafe where I had coffee a few years ago and sat writing a speech for a certain wedding. Now that is nice to know. It has changed its name and probably been through a few iterations since that day, but it’s still there.

Tomorrow we don’t have any plans. The weather looks like it will be the same as today. We might go out somewhere and look for breaks in the clouds.

Bakin’ Bagels – 28 February 2021

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That’s not all we did today, but probably the most interesting thing.

I actually got up earlier than usual to start to tidy up the dining table. It was a shocking mess of cables, external hard drives, papers and just junk. All of it mine. Once it was fairly clear and not just dumped in another place, but filed away properly for once, I could start on the dough for the bagels. But first, it was time for a Sunday fry-up. Some traditions must be adhered to.

The bagel kit was part of my Christmas present from my son and his wife. Every month for six months a blue box appears on the mat with the ingredients and instructions to make some bread related food. This month’s had been languishing for a good few weeks. I’ve only once eaten a bagel and that was in Starbucks. As my daughter commented, it might not have been the most representative of bagels. All I knew about them was that they were boiled before they were baked, which sounded strange. Still, the dough awaited me. Got it mixed and kneaded and transferred to the bowl to prove (rise).

It would take a good hour or so for the dough to double in size, so we went for a walk in St Mo’s. The sky had started of milky white this morning and kept promising to clear, but it had just remained white all day. We went twice round the pond with lots of other folk who were also waiting for the emergence of that bit white disk in the sky. It didn’t happen and we all went home disappointed. All except one little girl with pale blue wellies who was discovering the delights of puddles and also the brilliant way that bulrushes smash into a thousand pieces when you bash them on the ground. Such simple pleasures are wasted on children.

I couldn’t see anything worth photographing, even with my new macro lens. I eventually settled on a shot of a park bench sitting under a tree. I spent an hour at home covering up the berm bend of a BMX track with grass in Lightroom and eventually made it PoD.

Back at the bakehouse I chopped up the dough into ten pieces and made them into doughnut shapes before boiling them in water for 45secs on each side (they float, you see). Then I sprinkled most of them with poppy seeds and baked them. The came out looking like the picture, but were a bit chewy and in need of some salt. However, having only once tried a bagel, I didn’t know if that was what they should taste like. I don’t know where you’d find anyone in Cumbersheugh who could tell you what a bagel is, far less where to buy one. Do you think Amazon sells them?

While I was bagel boiling and baking, Scamp was creating a fish pie. It’s one of her sister’s masterpieces and something we look forward to when we visit Skye. Hers was almost as good as the Skye Pie but was a lot of work. First cook the fish in milk, then let it cool. Make a sauce with the milk. Boil the potatoes and mash them with butter before assembling everything, adding some peas and bunging it in the fridge for a while. Finally baking it in the oven to heat it up and also to crisp up the potato topping. I thought it tasted fine, but Scamp, the perfectionist wasn’t sure. More investigation needed I think.

Dancing menu tonight was Mayfair Quickstep – Waltz Routine – Rumba Routine with new steps – Square Tango. We both felt we did really well with all of the above and Scamp got a quick thumbs up text from Stewart afterwards to confirm that we were doing well! Must keep up the good work during the week.

Final drawing for EDiF and 28DL was Bird Box. Mine was a simple wooden bird box like the ones we used to make in school. Birds don’t care about fancy painted details. All they are looking for is a place to hatch and rear their offspring. That’s what my drawing shows. All done for another year, although I may do EDiMay if the prompts take my fancy DV.

Spoke to JIC after the dance class and heard that they have actually been sitting out in their garden!!!  Probably without coats on too!!  What is the world coming to?

Our monthly Covid test is on the cards for tomorrow, otherwise the day is our own. Looks like a better day than today.

An improving day – 27 February 2021

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It started off dull and foggy, but it ended up much better.

We hadn’t anywhere to go today and no real reason to go there anyway. However we drove over to Kilsyth on the pretext of going shopping in Lidl. I wanted a bottle of their excellent Hortus gin and Scamp wanted ‘messages’. We achieved our aim and got both. I was very good and didn’t open the gin right away when we got home. Instead, I went out for a walk in St Mo’s but that’s not where today’s PoD came from. I got that much earlier.

The light was beautifully soft for a while after the fog had lifted and so had the heaviest of the clouds. The freesias on the windowsill were looking great and I grabbed a few shots, but I knew they would look better on a dark background. I hung Scamp’s black cardigan on the handle of the window and banged off another half dozen shots, one of which Scamp chose as PoD. No cardigans were harmed making this picture.

The trip to St Mo’s was just because the light was improving and I did find some more subjects. A tiny little spider for one. The first spider I’ve seen this year. Another was a little branch from a weed with lots of water droplets, probably from the morning’s fog, shining brightly. It seemed to be one of those days when you couldn’t put a foot wrong. Except I did put both feet wrong and came home with wet sox again!

Scamp suggested we do a Golden Bowl (best Chinese food in Cumbersheugh) and I readily agreed. Chicken Chop Suey with Fried Rice for Scamp and Special Chow Mein for me. Washed down with a glass of Red.

In the evening we practised the waltz routine and it is looking good. Much more ‘together’ than it’s been all week. Partly due to S&J’s video, but more to do with Scamp breaking things down and working out whose foot goes where, when. We also found the real name of a song Stewart uses for the rumba routine. Tried Shazzam, but it’s rubbish now. Used Sound Hound and it worked first time. It’s now in the dance music folder in Spotify.

Today’s topic was “Chess”. I dug out my old wooden chess men and set them up to fight. Black lost. That’s what happens when you paint yourself into a corner.

If the weather is decent tomorrow we may go for a walk somewhere.

Dances with Wolves – 25 February 2021

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Honestly, it will all become clear

It was a lovely morning which we kind of wasted by sitting inside. We had a webinar booked with the man from Falkirk. There is the risk that listening to someone who is so steeped in his subject may turn out to be heavy in jargon and ultimately tedious. No fear of that with this twosome. Both he and his sidekick explained the intricacies of the financial world in simple terms, leavened with a fair amount of humour. He and his female counterpart would make excellent teachers.

By the time we were through and had returned to the here and now, it was almost lunchtime so we had our toasted cheese and listened to Nic the Chick twisting and turning, trying to make everyone believe she’s squeaky clean. Now I much prefer the Sturgeon to the Salmond, but neither of them are to be believed. As my pal John would say, “You know they’re lying because their lips are moving.” That sums up politics and politicians as far as I’m concerned. To clear our heads we went for a walk.

We needed food for dinner, so we walked down to the shops, via St Mo’s because the weather was still good, if not as bright as it had been earlier. Came home laden with more than we had intended getting, but who’s counting how many cakes we need?

Today’s prompt was “Wolf” and since there are no wolves near where we live, I resorted to Google to find some likely subjects. With half a dozen chosen I dumped them into Google Drive and sat down to finish today’s Sudoku. Then I dumped some kidney beans, some chilli paste and a few hot peppers in yesterday’s bolognese and voila we have a chilli for tonight’s dinner. Scamp was having fish with veg and rice, so we agreed to half the rice between us and dinner was sorted. Mine was a bit tasteless, but boy it was hot. Wish I’d bought some sour cream at the shops.

After dinner had slid down, we attempted Stewart and Jane’s waltz Spin Turn. I tried it in my dancing shoes, but the didn’t slide enough on the carpet. I tried it in my sox, but the gripped the carpet too. I didn’t trust my bare feet to Scamp’s dancing shoes, but the most help was Scamp’s count of the beats and also slowing down Stewart and Jane’s tutorial video to 75%. I even found how to use iMovie to slow the video but not distort the speech. Perfect. Well, as close to perfect as we were going to get tonight.

I’d already sorted out PoD which is some Cladonia lichen with a little moss tree making a macro garden of sorts. Looks totally alien to me as most macro shots do. It’s a miniature world of its own. Time to tackle that wolf. I glanced at some tutorials on YouTube that promised methods for drawing realistic wolf heads, but most of them were from influencers who just shout at you and then stumble through 25 minutes of ‘tutorial’ with about 5 minutes of content. After suffering a few of these, I took my sketchpad and pencils up stairs, turned the heater on low and had a good look at the wolf pictures I’d found on Google. From them I built up a framework of a dog-like head and from there stretched out some parts and reduced others until a lupine head appeared. A little bit of yellow watercolour for the eye and we were done.

Tomorrow the weather looks settled, so I think we’ll try a drive somewhere with a flask of coffee and a couple of pieces. A February picnic.

 

A dry day at last – 24 February 2021

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Today it was dry in the morning and it seemed a shame to waste the day.

So it was boots on and just a light raincoat, because it wasn’t really all that cold. It wasn’t warm either, well, it is Scotland in February so what do you expect? We walked down and around the Broadwood boardwalk. I attempted a few shots of a goosander that was feeding in the shallows, but the settings I was using yesterday wouldn’t be suitable for today’s camera/lens setup and the photos were junk. Lots of folk out walking along the dam wall, making good use of a dry day for a change.

On the way back home I took a detour round St Mo’s pond while Scamp headed home. Just the two circuits today and got talking to a bloke I sometimes see there. We discussed a chestnut brown headed duck we’d both just seen. Neither of us was sure what it was, then he suggested a Potchard and that sounded familiar. I checked when I got home and it looks like he was right. I’d got a couple of shots of it once I’d sorted out the settings. Later in the walk I spotted Mr Grey or one of his close relatives fishing in the reeds. However it was two Canada geese that made PoD. One of the few clear shots I had today with the Tamron 70-300mm on the adaptor.

Dinner tonight was ‘Rats’ for Scamp with a baked potato and Spaghetti Bolognese for me using mince that had been in the freezer since October 2020. Tasted fine. I might even have the rest for dinner tomorrow if it survives past lunch.

The prompt today was Golf. I’d already worked out what the painting, because it would be a painting, would be. As usual I roughed it out on the cheap Cass Art sketch book and as usual, that became the finished sketch. It’s not the best quality sketch book, far from it, but it has a lovely ‘tooth’ (the grain of the paper that catches the graphite of the pencil). It’s not so clever at holding the paint and the colours tend to be a bit muddy because the paper absorbs the water so much. It’s also not quite white, so that doesn’t help. With all that said, it’s great for working on with a pencil.

Golf is not a game I ever thought I’d excel at, and I was right. Others wax lyrical about it, but I just don’t see the point. I used to have a boss who played every Sunday and on a Monday morning all the folk in the office, including me, would skive off because he would be too busy discussing the day’s golf with the other golfers in the office. My father-in-law was a golfer too. My wife and I couldn’t get married on a Saturday morning because that was his day and time for playing golf. I think it’s the paraphernalia that fascinates people about golf. It’s the dress code, the shiny golf clubs and the language, the jargon of golf that makes them feel part of an elite group. I never was one for joining groups, elite or not. Maybe that’s why golf is not for me.

We watched Landscape Artist of the Year and we were both surprised and shocked at the artists that blagged their way to the final. I could paint better than them!

The weather looks even better for tomorrow. We may go somewhere. I’ll get the settings sorted before we go out!

The sun was shining – 21 February 2021

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For a change, the sun was shining today.

It started in the morning. The sun was shining and for some reason, best known to the weather fairies, it continued to shine on and off all day. After a week of snow and half a week of persistent rain, a day of sun is something to be savoured. We went out for a walk in the morning. Just a fairly short walk over to St Mo’s. Nothing too adventurous, just a couple of circuits of the pond. Once anti-clockwise then once clockwise. Enough to get the sense that spring isn’t too far away now and that’s a good thing.

After lunch Scamp was in the mood for some gentle gardening. Nothing too strenuous, but a bit of planting to welcome the possibility of spring. She also did some of the inevitable pruning that needs to be done at this time of year. Last week at this time we were just breaking free of the ice and snow. Today we were looking forward.

Not being a very conscientious gardener, I grabbed my camera and a couple of lenses and went to investigate the possibility of some insect life stirring in the woods of St Mo’s. Luckily I had a bottle of insect repellant with me which has protected me for about a year from the depredations of stinging and biting insects, so I sprayed my boots and sox before I ventured into the wild woods. It wasn’t there I found the PoD. No, but I did find a little shield bug and a ladybird that had decided it wasn’t quite spring yet, and another week or so of hibernation wouldn’t do any ladybirds any harm. PoD was in fact spotted just beside the circuit path and was a bunch of hawthorn berries, maybe dating back to 2019 and certainly desiccated. It was the texture of them that caught my eye and they were captured perfectly by the new Sigma 105mm macro.

Dinner at home was basic stuff. ‘Rats’ for Scamp and steak mince for me. Both served with potatoes. Mince ’n’ tatties. What’s not to like. Ratatouille, also a good basic staple in this house.

Dance class tonight really centred on our new waltz routine and the Spin Turn in particular. I think we almost have it, but our teachers have promised a video for us to watch and practise with. By next week I’m sure Scamp will have taught it to me.

Tonight’s topic should have been “Eye”, but I just couldn’t produce something I was happy with, so tomorrow will be a catch up.

The weather tomorrow looks good, so we might manage a walk along the canal if the weather fairies have got it right.

 

It rained – 19 February 2021

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All day.

In the morning I started today’s sketch. My thoughts are that although it’s good being able to draw under the daylight bulb in the ‘drawing room’, it’s much better to work with natural daylight, even if it is a poor light at times. Also, if I get the drawing done early then hopefully I’ll get to bed at a reasonable hour.

It worked today. The topic was ‘Yoga’. Many moons ago I did go to a yoga class run by a police sergeant in the gym of a Larkhall school. I became quite addicted to it. When I retired I thought I might take it up again, but the classes were always booked solid and eventually I gave up trying. Maybe once we are out of lockdown I may try again.
As you can see, I couldn’t settle on a subject, so this is a page from my sketchbook and I think the two poses fit quite well. That was a tough prompt, but quite enjoyable.

The furthest we went today was down to the shops for milk. What exciting lives we lead. I didn’t even risk a walk in St Mo’s in case I got the new toy wet (although it is ‘weatherproof’ but probably not ‘Scottish weather proof’). Instead, I took today’s PoD in the warm and dry of the kitchen. It’s a tiny little Narcissus that came in a posy of flowers that Scamp had tastefully arranged in a vase. An old vase that belonged to my mum. It was a six second exposure on a tripod and I really liked it. Great detail in the petals.

Dinner came courtesy of The Chippy in Condorrat. I walked through the rain to get one small fish supper (Scamp’s) and one large fish supper (Mine). They tasted great but I knew I’d be getting the repeats of them all evening and I was right. Might need some Gaviscon tonight to fight the inevitable heartburn.

Found my first tick tonight. On my leg just below the knee, on the sock line. Looks like walks into the wild wood of St Mo’s, or anywhere else for that matter, will be off the cards until at least autumn.

Tomorrow looks like more rain, so we might go out if we can find a dry half hour.

Testing the new toy – 18 February 2021

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Before we got to that, there was the subject of some shearing to be done.

It didn’t take all that long to reduce my overgrown locks to a mess pile on the painting room floor.  I managed most of it myself, but had to rely on Scamp to do the tidying up at the back.  I remember one of my colleagues at work saying that his grandfather stood in front of a mirror with scissors in one hand and a small mirror in the other and cut his own hair.  His acceptance of this skill always bemused me.  He said, “Of course he was a blacksmith, so he was used to it.”  Used to what, I always asked myself.  Are all hairdressers failed blacksmiths or are all blacksmiths failed hairdressers?  Answers, as usual, on a postcard.  Anyway after the hair had been cut to my and Scamp’s satisfaction and the hair hoovered up, I started today’s Sudoku feeling much lighter.

It was a bit of a dull day.  Not really encouraging us to go out for our daily walk.  In fact it wasn’t until late in the afternoon that I took the new macro lens for a walk in St Mo’s.  I found yesterday’s orange ladybird hiding in a crevice in a tree and that made PoD.  Walked to the shops and bought some stuff for tonight’s dinner which was a rehash of Tuesday’s chilli.  Tonight’s was better, but not as hot as a chilli should be, despite the addition of more chilli paste.

Today’s prompt was “carrots”.  Being a generous person, I gave them three carrots.  Subjects for painting should always be in odd numbered batches.  Don’t know why, but odd numbers of items are always more interesting than even numbered ones.  I eventually moved away from the sketch book and painted on cheap Flying Tiger 300gsm watercolour block.  I was happy with the 3 carrots.

Tomorrow is Friday and we’ve no plans.  Hopefully not as dull a day as today.