Category: Food

Dancin’ – 5 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Dance class was in full swing this morning in Brookfield.

Lots of folk desperate to get their fix of dancing, all eager to learn, even including me. There would be no dance class for at least two weeks because the teachers were off on holiday ( or as they described it, “teaching on a cruise” ). So a holiday by another name.

A gentle intro to start with. A couple of easy sequence dances before we charged into today’s topic: Tango and all that it entailed. Bent knees, staccato movements, spin turns, half turns, reverse turns. My head was spinning and we were only halfway through the routine.

A break for a lecture then on again, this time the target was a quickstep nobody really remembered from before Covid. Isn’t it strange that so much is now described as pre-Covid and past-Covid, but nobody wants to discuss the years that were stolen by Covid itself. This dance, though was done during Covid and we were just learners then and hadn’t reached the heady heights of Quickstep. We learned a lot of it today. Even they mysterious ‘Fishtails’ that used to baffle me, but which are quite familiar territory now. Most of it I enjoyed.

We finished with another couple of sequence tracks before being sent on our way back home.

It was a beautiful day. At least, to look at, it was a beautiful day, but it was the cold wind that stole away the warmth of the sun. When we got home it was great to sit and soak up the heat coming through the windows, knowing it was really cold outside. The weather fairies say it’s going to get warmer during the coming week. I certainly hope so.

We decided to have dinner from the chip shop. Scamp settled for a Black Pudding Supper and I had the first Chicken Breast Supper I’ve had for years and years. Both were very filling but Scamp said her’s was a bit spicy.

We watched an old BBC programme about who wrote what songs back from the ‘70s until the present day or at least into the 2020s. It was a bit tedious after a while, but there was nothing else worth watching on a Saturday night. To be honest, there never is at the weekend.

PoD went to some flowering cherries or Gean as they are known in Scotland.

Tomorrow, hopefully we’ll go out for a run somewhere. Prezzies are needed for some folk.

 

Dentist and Wonky iPhones – 4 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out early to go to FitSteps and I was left to my own devices for an hour or so, but with a reminder to phone the dentist and the optician.

I tried to phone the dentist first, but could hardly hear the assistant in the surgery. Tried three times with no success. I phoned Hazy to check that it wasn’t a problem associated with Cumbersheugh, but the same thing happened. I was about to restart the phone when Hazy phoned back to check that everything was ok. I told her about the phone problem and she made a few suggestions and said she’d look into it. This time I did restart the phone and just as it restarted I thought the problem might be something to do with my headphones. Sure enough, the headphones were on and sitting on the table at the other end of the room. Once I switched them off, everything went back to normal. That’s when Hazy messaged me to tell me to restart the iPhone with instructions for doing it. I phoned her back feeling a bit sheepish and explained about the headphones. See Technology? See Me?!

Next I’d to phone the dentist and apologise for the three silent calls, but Amy was very good, didn’t shout at me and got me an appointment for a dislodged filling for just after midday!

The next thing on my list was the optician. Got an appointment for the end of the month, just when my annual checkup was due. After a disastrous start, everything was beginning to fit into place.

I’m sure a card and a parcel arrived today, but strangely they both disappeared when I turned my back on them! Must be something to do with the weather.

The tooth filling only took about 15 minutes and it seems to be more solid and less intrusive than the one that it was replacing.

After Scamp returned, I drove to the shops to get lunch and came home with nine wee cupcakes, thin and thick sliced chicken, chocolate mini eggs a loaf and a bake in the oven curry for dinner. That’s what happens when you send me for the messages. I usually forget something, but then buy more than we really need. Anyway we didn’t starve!!

In the afternoon, I waited in for a delivery of coffee. 1 kilo of Blow Your Socks Off beans(strong coffee), 2 x 250g Cat’s Pyjamas coffee beans and 1 x Bag of Drinking Chocolate. You see what I mean about buying too much? I’m surprised Scamp allows me to go out myself!

The coffee was delivered early so I went for a walk in St Mo’s. I took my Rab jacket which was sensible, but I forgot my woolly bunnet. Not so clever. It was a bright day, but with a cutting cold east wind that reduced the temperature to just above zero.

The curry was delicious if a bit creamy and with very little spicy heat. It was meant to be Butter Chicken, but could have used more spice. Other than that it was fine. Pudding was yesterday’s rhubarb and pear pie with ice cream. The rhubarb was almost all from our garden with a smidgen from some Waitrose rhubarb. It was very well received!

Tomorrow I believe we may be going to dance class. The last one for three weeks. Oh dear, what a shame!

Dancin’ – 3 April 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Or as my brother said “Enjoy the Jiggin’”

We drove over to Glenburn wondering if there would be big holdups on the way after a warning message on BBC about a car on fire on the M8 near Charing Cross. However we needn’t have worried because the traffic was fairly light all the way there.

The ballroom was quite quiet when we arrived, but then people started to arrive. Maybe it was our presence that gave them the courage to come. Along the lines of “Well, if they’re coming, we won’t be the worst dancers on the floor!”

We started with a waltz. Actually we started in the living room with a waltz before we set off. Just the basics of Kirsty’s waltz to make sure we knew all the moves and had most of them in the right places. The actual waltz went well and we managed a couple of tracks. Then it was the usual story of a Latin dance followed by a Sequence dance followed by another Ballroom dance. We danced a fair bit, but also spent a good bit of time just talking to folk we hadn’t met for more than a month.

We left, as usual, just after 3pm to avoid the school rush. It was the next part of the return journey where I made my mistake. I decided that as the last couple of times we’d chanced the Kingston Bridge and the traffic was light both times. It was worth another chance today. Not so. We were only just in the line when it was red tail lights everywhere and everyone ground to a halt with easily a mile and a half of stop-go traffic for the rest of the journey up over the bridge. I won’t make that mistake again … until the next time!

Went for a walk down to the shops to get fruit and nuts because we had no tangerines left in the fruit bowl. It was a cold wind that was blowing all the way to the shops. You forget how chilly it can be in April, especially with a wind blowing.

Scamp was making dinner tonight and it was a Spiced Coconut Chicken Traybake. Really quite spicy, but certainly worth another try, although it required a fair amount of preparation. The rhubarb tart and apple tart that followed it was a delight!!!

No plans for tomorrow but I’m hoping some coffee will be delivered.

Out on the town – 2 April 2025

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Alex and I were doing a photowalk in Glasgow today.

A beautiful day for it. I wasn’t wearing my Orange Rab jacket, nor my other rainy jacket, although I did have it with me, just in case there was a change in the temperature. There wasn’t.

We started off in Nero as usual and once a plan had been discussed and accepted by both parties we walked down Buchanan Street and on through St Enoch’s Square then down to the Clyde Walkway. We watched a bloke setting up his grid of white squares on a newly painted bare black wall. Once he was happy with the grid he didn’t take long to sketch in the rest of the tag. I’d meant to go back and see how it turned out, but I forgot, so that will have to be a walk to take on another day DV.

Instead, we walked along the Walkway and I got some shots of the St Andrew’s Cathedral as a flight of pigeons did a flypast. I seriously thought that was going to be PoD, and it was, temporarily.

By then, food was calling and Alex said he fancied a lighter lunch, so we went to Greggs for a Mexican Chicken Oval Bite. Basically sliced up chicken with salad leaves and chilli mayo on a soft roll. Maybe that’s doing it a disservice, because I really enjoyed it. We dined alfresco sitting on a statue’s plinth in what used to be George Square. Now it’s a barren wasteland with almost all the grass removed and a paltry few benches around the central statue were all taken, that’s why we settled for the plinth.

Fed and watered, we wandered down through the Merchant City looking for a building Alex had seen, but couldn’t remember where. What we did find was a quiet wee cemetery which I couldn’t remember seeing before, but now realise was the Ramshorn cemetery.

Once I got my bearings I easily found the building Alex was looking for, it was the Cranberry’s building a three or four storey almost round building. Once Alex got some photos, we walked down to Argyle Street and had a coffee and a blether then headed for home.

I managed to catch an x36 bus that would take me to Condorrat with a lot fewer stops than the usual X3. Then we had a wee glass of Clarence wine in the garden. Very civilised!

That was a very enjoyable day. 84 photos taken and about three quarters made it through the first pass. Just over 13,000 steps. I even remembered to take a selfie of Alex and me as we headed for our buses, just to prove to Hazy that I’m back, but probably not normal – never normal! You’re right. That’s boring!!

PoD was some ladies being served a trio of cocktails in a posh restaurant in Exchange Square.

Tomorrow we may go dancing, proper dancing, among people.

Coffee with Isobel and Shona – 1 April 2025

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We were booked for coffee with Isobel and Shona today. Just the usual Costa in the town centre on a beautiful warm spring day.

The temperature was all set to reach 18ºc by afternoon and I’m sure it reached, if not exceeded that temperature. Shona was looking quite relaxed and seemed to be enjoying the benefits of not having to worry about Ben because he was being looked after by his minders. After a fairly interesting coffee chat, we went our separate ways and in our case, headed home.

Scamp was desperate to get back into the garden and tidy things up. I can see the difference she is making and am glad she’s enjoying seeing the growth coming in all her plants. In the afternoon she declared that she was going to sit in the sun. Not long after that I saw the thick black clouds of smoke that looked like something was burning fiercely on the far side of the motorway. I was intending going over to St Mo’s anyway, but I thought I’d have a look from the vantage point of the bridge over the motorway. The motorway was running normally, but the black clouds weren’t going away. If anything they were worse than they had been before I left. They were still too far away for me to see the source. Quite a few ambulances coming and going though.

I walked back and in to St Mo’s and with the help of my phone managed to work out the direction the smoke pall was coming from. It seemed to be near Greenfaulds School, although, maybe a bit beyond that. Later we heard on the news that it was a recycling unit that was burning and that Greenfaulds occupants were warned to keep their doors and windows shut.

I grabbed a few shots in St Mo’s and my favourite was the PoD, the Horse Chestnut buds unfolding. It was a tough decision if it was a sycamore leaf opening or the horse chestnut, but the horse chestnut won. Surprise of the day was a butterfly darting about under the trees. Couldn’t get a clear shot of it, but hopefully there will be other chances. Walked home and joined Scamp with a bottle of beer in the front garden.

Dinner tonight was fish ’n’ chips. Giant pieces of fish with baked chips. Really lovely with beetroot and tomato sauce! Scamp made it, of course.

Watched the final episode of Death in Paradise and it was just as bad as all the rest had been!

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet Alex for a photo walk. Scamp, I’m sure, will be hoping to work more magic in the garden.

The last day of March – 31 March 2025

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We went for a walk today. The options were Glasgow Green and Drumpellier Park. Drumpellier won for the simple reasons that it was closer and there was a good chance we’d find an ice cream van waiting at the end of our round trip.

It was a pleasant walk in and out of the trees and across the fields of this lovely park, especially as the trees were now beginning to show some of their greenery. A few of the older trees had been blown down in the gales, but a surprising amount of them were still standing. Possibly the amount of trees in the park protected them. About an hour long walk in total, and yes, the ice cream van was there! I don’t think I’ve seen ice cream vans on Glasgow Green, more’s the pity! Can you believe I didn’t take one photo in that hour long walk!

Drove home and had lunch before Scamp was starting on the back garden, cutting back, planting cuttings and generally tidying things up now that fresh growth was forming after the long winter we’ve had.

The good weather and sun from the morning was disappearing in the middle of the afternoon, so I wore my orange RAB jacket for a walk over to St Mo’s. On the way I bumped into our new next-door neighbours. Two women and maybe three girls. I’d bumped into them Thursday or Friday of last week and they were asking about the house and I told them I’d never been in it, but that it was almost exactly a mirror image of ours. They seem fine. Just wanting to get schools sorted out for the girls and eager to get furniture in. Scamp had bumped into them too while I was over in St Mo’s, and of course she found out names and a lot more than I did. I completely forget everyone’s names … except mine, or only sometimes does that happen.

Today’s PoD came from St Mo’s and was a shot of a dandelion. I had to scramble down a slippery banking to get that photo. Ended up muddier than I’d intended, but I got the shot.

Off to Kirsty’s Dance class for a lesson on Tina Tango. I can’t believe I’ve been dancing that sequence dance for years and only today I discovered I’d been doing bits of it wrong all along! Simple steps that I should have known, but didn’t. Anyway, I was dancing, not with Scamp who was dancing with Kirsty, but with Nicola who has been dancing since she was knee high I’m told, but she too was making a few mistakes … and I admit I trod on her toes, just like I do with Scamp. Scamp introduced Kirsty to Ed Sheeran’s Shivers. So much better than the old fashioned tango music she was playing. Next week it’s to be Melody Foxtrot to the tune of Go Gentle by Robbie Williams. That might be fun!

Possibly meeting Isobel for coffee tomorrow. Who will be the April Fool?

British Summer Time begins – 30 March 2025

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I had thought the days of coughs and stuffed up nose were past now that we are sailing into warmer days, but I was wrong.

Woke this morning to a thick head (nothing unusual there) and blocked nose. Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water, so to speak. Scamp told me to dose myself with paracetamol and Vitamin C and go back to bed. That felt like sound advice, so I took it. An hour or so later I felt better.

Scamp was off meeting Shona for coffee on a Sunday! A bit strange, but they both seemed to enjoy it. When Scamp returned I was already on my feet and had put a load of washing in the machine. She wanted to pot up some new flowers and was concentrating on that. I was off to enjoy the sun with a walk in St Mo’s. I took the long lens on the A7iii and managed to capture a few shots of a robin on a branch in the sunshine. Not very inspiring, I know, but it was a photo in the bag and it ended up being the PoD after some messing around in Lightroom.

Didn’t see much else worth photographing, so I made my way home. By that time, Scamp had finished her re-potting and was reading. We discussed dinner and came back to the suggestion she’d made yesterday which was an old favourite; Mushrooms and Chicken.

Speaking of Lightroom, it’s beginning to slow down a lot. I think there may be Gigabytes of photos, probably two month’s of them clogging up the system. I’m intending backing them up to storage on the external drive and clearing out the ‘deadwood’ soon. Soon, in this case meaning on the 1st of April which is just around the corner. January’s and February’s photos are backed up, as far as I can remember, but March needs to go soon. Also there are a lot of last year’s files that can safely be cleared out. Effectively, those older files can be removed any time and that might create more usable space.

Spoke to Jamie later in the afternoon and heard about his visit to HQ in London with days and evenings working. Glad I’m past all that stuff now. Also heard that Simonne is off on her travels soon too.

I’m hoping my stuffed up nose has now gone for a while, likewise my cough. Hoping for another sunny day tomorrow.

Dancin’ and Flowers – 29 March 2025

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Today we drove over to Brookfield for the first dance class in ages.

The road was busier than normal but we made good time despite that drawback. Busy carpark at Brookfield too. Something to do with a committee meeting … on a Saturday morning? Have these people no other plans on a Saturday?

We started with a couple of sequence dances both Melody Foxtrots to ease us into the routine. I was quite pleased that I managed to tie my shoes, far less dance! Then it was in to the lesson proper with a new-to-us Cha-Cha. Most of it we’d seen before, but some of the steps were new, also the teachers were adding some very technical bits and pieces we definitely hadn’t seen before. I’ll admit it, I was lost for a while.
I don’t know who had been in the hall before us, but the floor was treacherous. Even the teachers were slipping and sliding at times. However, we survived it.

Next up was a Tango. Again, we knew some of it, but not all. Hopefully the short videos I’d taken will make things clearer, as will the short one-to-one lessons we both got from Jane.

We finished with a couple of Tina Tangos the first one being to Shivers by Ed Sheeran, of course.

We left the dance class and faced a gathering storm with driving rain that followed us all the way home. Again the roads were busy although most of the traffic seemed to he heading for Braehead.

A surprise parcel was waiting for us on the steps of the house. It was a bouquet of flowers from John & Marion. Then another parcel arrived about an hour later. A posy of flowers in a glass jar. That made PoD.

I walked down to the shops to get a take-away dinner. The rain had paused and it looked safe to go. Wrong again. When I came out of M&S the wind and rain had redoubled. A day of bad choices, all in

The rain and wind is still with us at almost 11pm. Hoping for a better day tomorrow. Hoping to meet Shona for coffee in the town centre.

 

Keeping Fit – 28 March 2025

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Scamp was out early this morning to go to her Friday morning FitSteps class. That left me with the opportunity to read a bit more of my book. I’d done my bit this morning by driving up to Tesco to ensure that that wee Blue car had enough fuel to take Scamp to her class.

As I said, I had done my bit by making sure the car had enough fuel to get Scamp to her class. The next thing I had to do was make a decent cup of coffee and find my place in my book. A quick review of the photos in Flickr and a solution to Wordle and I was done until Scamp returned.

I’d received a text from JL to say that my new bedside lamp had arrived in Glasgow and was ready to pick up. Once Scamp returned, we drove through heavy rain, then hail to get to Glasgow. Wild weather these last few days. Lots of thundery rain and high winds too, but we got to Glasgow without too much bother and collected the lamp and the bulb which was almost as expensive as the lamp at just over £7. Seven quid for a bulb? What is the world coming to?

We went for a coffee in JL where there seemed to be a lack of cups in the cafe and we were handed our coffees in paper cups. No reason given, so it’s probably something else to blame Mr Trump for. Well, we can’t blame Boris this time and Starmer hasn’t a clue what’s going on, so DT is the easy fall guy.

We took a walk down Buchanan Street and on to St Enoch’s Square where I found a view of the old subway office and the new magic greenhouse that is the new entrance and those two buildings made the subject of PoD, along with a guy looking serious as he avoided stepping on the lines as he walked past. You can’t be too careful these days.

Lunch with Scamp was in Paesano. It’s usually Alex and I who eat there every couple of weeks, but this time Scamp seemed happy to be my guest. The pizza place was very quiet, as was the town in general. That is, except for a bunch of wahoos who were toting banners and singing songs. No polis to be seen, so they weren’t Rangers or Celtic fans, just wahoos!

The lamp seems to work well, and I’m off to bed now to see how easy it is to work with its touch technology in the dark!

Tomorrow there may be a return to ballroom dancing. Oh dear!!

Dunfermline – 26 March 2025

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We couldn’t decide where to go, but eventually settled on Dunfermline.

We usually go there by bus, but instead we drove there today. Weather was warm and dry and we got a free parking space which was a bonus.

We went to Nero for a coffee, tried unsuccessfully to find a pair of trousers to suit Scamp and likewise tried unsuccessfully to find a book I was looking for in Waterstones, then went for lunch (fish ’n’ chips for two) in Wetherspoons. One of the few Wetherspoons that doesn’t have a sticky carpet on the floor. Then we wandered through the town. It’s really very run down, but we were heading for the park and that’s the interesting part of the town.

I found a lot of exotic flowers to photograph in the heated glasshouse before we went for a walk around the well manicured gardens. Not a lot to see yet, but it is only the first month of spring. PoD was from the glasshouse and is what I think is a Canna paniculata. A flower that’s native to Costa Rica and Mexico.

From there we headed homeward, but stopped at Fairley Garden Centre in Cairneyhill and Scamp was off, wandering around the plants looking for something new to brighten the garden. She came out of there with a smile on her face, and three new plants.

That was about it for the day. Just a walk in the park and a spot of lunch. Hopefully we’ll get out again tomorrow, but the weather fairies disagree. Rain predicted.