Category: Food

Visiting the Kelpies – 6 October 2026

Posted on by Zogman

The lighting was good today and it seemed a shame to waste it.

We drove over to Helix Parkwhere the Kelpies live. For once it was a lovely day, a little bit cool, but nothing my Rab jacket couldn’t cope with. We went in what Scamp calls the “wrong way round”. That means we crossed the Forth & Clyde canal and walked clockwise to reach the great beasts. It’s a totally different view you get from this direction. One worth trying if you’ve never been there before.

Unfortunately the wind was from the North West so the smell from the sewage works was just a wee bit overpowering. Typical Scotland. Design and build a beautiful pair of statues and position them right next to a sewage works and a line of pylons. That’s what the people want to see and smell apparently!

The tea shop was a bit overcrowded when we went there for a scone and a cup of coffee, but we did get a seat which was better than I thought it was going to be. Then we wandered round the ‘souvenirs’ on display in the shop. Most of it a bit overpriced, but lots to look at.

We drove from Helix Park across to Klondyke Garden Centre looking for some plants to brighten up the garden. There were lots on display and of course the inevitable Christmas toys and books. Well, at least it was October and the nights were drawing in! Scamp and I found a couple of plants that looked as if they would inject some much needed colour to the garden. I managed to find a Sarracenia (Pitcher Plant). I hadn’t seen one for ages. I think my last one didn’t like the hot weather we had during the summer. This one looked quite small, but fairly healthy.

Drove home and logged 40,000 on the way back.

Dinner was a baked potato with prawns in a Mary Rose dressing. I’d meant to make a pizza, but didn’t have the time by the time we got home.

PoD went to one of the Kelpies, backlit and with a tiny starburst shining through it.

No plans for tomorrow. Alex has his apron on and is looking after Carol while she recovers from a new knee op. So no photos for us.

Michaelmas Daisies – 4 October 2026

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It was a very dull day today. I didn’t see any signs of sunshine at all.

However I managed to get a photo of some Michaelmas Daisies by some sneaky date and time changes that we won’t talk about. It’s the final result that’s important.

After getting Wordle et al sorted, and after Scamp was finished watching Laura Kuenssberg scare the pants off most of the politicians, we settled down to watch the strangest F1 race where the Bahrain race was run on the Sepang Circuit in the rain. Lots of thrills and spills and a strange mixture of contestants vied for position. Weirdest race I’ve ever seen, but quite interesting too.

I think Scamp spent most of the day working out our travel problems without much success. I spent my afternoon trying to squeeze yesterday’s Michaelmas Daisy photos into today’s PoD. I managed it with help from “A Better Finder Attributes V6”. A wonderful piece of software that allows you to do things to photos that they were never meant to do. I may even purchase V7!

That was about it for today, other than that Scamp had bought a lovely slice of smoked Hake. Not a fish we get very often in Scotland, but it was delicious. Served with potatoes and peas.

Hoping for at least a little bit of sunshine tomorrow!

Cosmos – 2 October 2026

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Scamp was going out for lunch with Shona in the early afternoon today. I was carrying slabs of Chipboard out to the car and on to the much used Council Tip.

Chipboard if you don’t know is a manufactured wood product made by compressing wood chips, shavings, and sawdust together with a synthetic resin or binder. Those of you who have used it will know it’s really heavy. The largest sheet I was carrying was even heavier than normal because it was backed with mirror glass panels. I almost apologised to the wee Blue car for making it carry that weight!

I dropped Scamp off at the Town Centre and drove my chipboard to the Council Skips. I carefully lowered the mirror glass panels very carefully into the skip because I didn’t want it to break and give me ten year bad luck! The panel slipped in easily without even a chip, so someone else may have collected the bad luck.
The other sheets were lighter and they also dropped into the waiting skip without a problem.

I’d some time to spare before I went home, so I took the Blue car to the car wash and got the bloke to give it a good wash. I’m sure it enjoyed the wash, because it had been really mucky.

I managed to meet Scamp and Shona at the cafe in the town centre for lunch:
Starter: Chicken strips with a spicy coating for all three of us
Main: Scamp had Risotto, Shona had Spag Bol and I had a Burger
Dessert: Tiramisu for the ladies and I had Ice Cream trio.

After a lengthy blether, Shona went shopping while Scamp and I drove home in a nice clean, shiny car.

The day had started with sunshine in the morning, but by the time we got home the clouds were coming in, the rain had started and the wind was getting up. I thought my chances of getting any photos today were nil. Then the wind dropped for a while and the rain stopped. The clouds were still there, but I’d enough time to get a dozen or so photos of flowers in the garden. PoD went to a Cosmos flower.

I think we may be going dancing over the weekend.

 

The last day of September – 30 September 2026

Posted on by Zogman

September turned out a fairly decent month. A fair mix of photos, but over run with flowers as usual. Must try harder to get a wider range of subjects.

Today was another day with good intentions that were never really fulfilled. I’d intended to drive over to the Council Tip to get rid of the collection of hardboard and chipboard we’d collected when we disassembled the cupboard in the corner. Unfortunately the rain stopped play and we had to wait too long a while, so the Council Tip will have to wait until tomorrow or maybe Friday before we completely clear that space. Scamp did sterling work clearing the dining table of the odds and ends that were still cluttering it up.

I spent over an hour struggling through all the complicated rules and regulations that made a once great hosting company almost impossible to navigate. It really is a pity when things like that happen. Thankfully I did get a lot of support from Hazy and Neil and there is now light at the end of the tunnel.

I did manage to get out for a walk in the afternoon, dodging the rain showers and the oppressive looking clouds, to find a Red Admiral sunning itself on a leaf next to the path. That was the PoD. The weather is forecast to cool down again as we enter October.

I won’t even get a chance to get out for a photowalk this week, so I’ll have to apologise to Alex and hope we can both get out next week.

Tonight’s dinner was a half and half event. Scamp made the first half of the dinner (Puttanesca Chicken Traybake) and I finished it. Not a great dinner, but interesting. I don’t know if I’d make it again.

We may go dancing tomorrow but only if the weather holds.

Spiders – 29 September 2026

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Actually yesterday’s photo, but it deserved to be today’s.

Scamp was out today to meet Shona for a blether and to give her back her washing that had been languishing in our house while we were off in Jersey. I know, it’s a bit complicated, but that’s the way things panned out. I’m not going to bore you with the reasons for the exchange, let’s just say it worked for both parties.

While she was out, I completed the emptying of the clumsy big cupboard that has been taking up space in the living room for years. It’s amazing the amount of stuff that was in that space. It took me about two hours to decide what was staying and what was going. For once there was more going into the black bag than was staying in the living room. It was sad to see some things going into the black bag, but that’s what we’d planned and we stuck to it.

When Scamp returned, I filled the Blue car with as much stuff as it would hold and drove it over to the Council tip. At first I thought I wouldn’t get in, there were so many cars queued up outside, but the crowd gradually filtered down to my turn. I passed the test of the guard at the gate and told the truth for once. One black bag of refuse and three or four sheets of cardboard. I got a space and did as I was told, dumping things in their allocated spaces, then drove back home before I was told I’d put something in the wrong skip.

The next thing to do was to put some of that expensive petrol in the car. My, how the numbers in the petrol pump whizzed past until I had about three quarters of a tank. I almost closed my eyes when I saw just how big the numbers were!!! But we needed the petrol to get the car home. Also, we are hoping to drive to Glenburn this week for the tea dance and we’d need petrol for that too.

The final task for today was to carefully demolish that old cupboard. Carefully, because there were sheets of mirror glass on the back of it and I didn’t want any of it to shatter and leave shards of glass all over the living room. My little used DeWalt drill made short work of the multitude of screws that were holding the cupboard together

Scamp made a brilliant Saag Paneer Kedgeree for dinner. Absolutely wonderful!

PoD was, as I said, yesterday’s photo of a little spider hanging upside down on its web. Delicate little thing.

I think I may have to speak to the Namecheap experts tomorrow to get them to show me how to Reissue my SSL Certificate. You’ll understand that Hazy. I can never remember the exact method. Hopefully I’ll get a patient expert. Wish me luck!

Four wheels on my wagon – 18 September 2026

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Well, actually eight wheels if I’m going to be pedantic!

Scamp and I drove up to the town centre to have a blether with Isabel. Costa was cool as usual with the chance of a gale blowing through it at any given moment. The place was crowded as usual on a Friday with weans and their parents. Spoiled screaming toddlers wanting things, any things, just wanting! Scamp seems to be able to zone out these annoyances, but I can’t. One day I might manage to work out how she does it. Anyway, we stayed for the usual hour and a half in this cold cafe before Isabel felt she had to go for a walk round the shops. She went one way and we went another.

Scamp and I were looking for a reasonably priced and a suitably sized cabin case to take on holiday, when we get round to going on holiday. The cases seem to come in three sizes: Small, Medium and Enormous. I was looking for a small, but ended up with a medium. One of the new fangled eight wheeler cases that everybody seems to have these days. After some research it seemed that the one I chose could be squeezed into an EasyJet frame. However, I don’t think it would fit in a Ryanair frame. I think an empty is the size that Ryanair would countenance. So, we think our bags/cases will fit. All we need now is a holiday to go with them.

It was a dull day today, with lots of showers and squally rain. In the afternoon I went for a walk to the shops to get the requirements for tonight’s dinner which was a very old favourite, Cod and Prawns with Fennel and White Wine. It’s a bit fiddly to make, but once you make it a couple of times it all becomes fairly simple. Today’s was very nice, even if I say so myself, although Scamp thought the cod needed more salt. I couldn’t see it myself, but I knew there was salt and pepper in the mixture. Sometimes that changes the taste for you. Strange but true.

It was good to get out for a while, even if I didn’t get any photos. Instead, I found a photo from earlier in the and after some jiggery pokery, it became a new photo. Funny that 😉.

Tomorrow we’re intending to go dancing at Brookfield.

Dancin’ – 17 September 2026

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Tea dancin’ and not a spot spilled!

We drove to Glenburn for the tea-dance. For once there were quite a few already there already waiting for it to begin. We had a blether with the usual suspects at their usual table before the dancin’ began.

The usual two waltzes to begin with. First circuit of the day was a ‘getting to know your feet again’ sort of thing. When the second waltz was called, my feet were becoming used to this ‘complicated walking’ as Jamie Gal used to call it.
Next was a Cha-Cha which I managed to body swerve. Then, the first of the sequence dances. To close the first half, was the ‘Rhumbumbumba’. A line dance that the teachers demonstrated before encouraging the class to join in. It had to happen. Stewart and Jane were desperate to show it off and I believe most of the dancers on the floor had already tasted this ‘dance’. The other thing that I noticed was the distinct lack of men taking part! A House of Bamboo finished off the first half, and it was tea time.

The second half of the afternoon was mainly handed over to sequence dances. They are good because most people know them or are learning them and by the second dance of the set they are comfortable dancing them. I think we were on the floor for most of the time.

We left soon after that in an attempt to avoid the homeward bound drivers. Actually it wasn’t bad, especially because we were avoiding the Kingston Bridge with its snarled up traffic by driving along the M8 the M74 and the M73. It’s not the fastest, but at least the traffic moves at a decent pace.

I think it rained all the way home, in fact I think it rained all day today. Scamp cooked a lovely piece of cod with roasted potatoes and long stem broccoli. I really enjoyed it.

PoD was an apple, a James Grieve apple from our small apple tree. I’ve found them to be more ’tart’ that last year’s, but still perfectly edible.

Tomorrow I think we may be going to meet Isabel for a blether.

Work, Work, Work – 14 September 2026

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Scamp was determined to get rid of rubbish today.

Two sweeping brushes, two bags worth of assorted rotting wood, one cardboard box, one kettle and a few odds and ends. It all went into the council skips and a few went into the compactor. Once it goes in to any of those, it’s gone for good. I think we were both pleased to see this junk go.

We drove up to the local garden centre for lunch and a chance to look for some cheap plants. For once, Scamp was more interested in getting a new plastic shed for the garden. We did see some possible contenders, but nothing that was exactly what she was looking for. Lunch was the same for both of us. Quiche with Black Pudding. Scamp said her’s was fine, but I wasn’t impressed. Too dry and with big chunks of black pudding. Nah! Not my idea of lunch. Worse still was the fact that Scamp had asked for Peppermint Tea and was given plain ordinary tea. She couldn’t be bothered to change it. I had black water in a cup. Allegedly it was black coffee. Well, at least they got the ‘Black’ part correct, but there was no coffee taste.

I think it must have been change-over time at the garden centre, because there were lots of ‘bargain’ plants that were just reaching the end of their flowering time while the new plants hadn’t arrived yet. We did have a wander through, but for once we didn’t buy.

Back home, Scamp was determined to chop up some flowering plans that needed more space. She was hoping for a few clumps from the polyanthus plants, and that was what she got. She’s a determined lady, and when she sets her mind to something she gets what she started. I was more interested in filling up the pots of seed potatoes. Hopefully they will be big enough to eat by Christmas.

The weather had been threatening all afternoon and by the end of play today the rain came. Probably a good thing, because a good day’s soak will wash the plants in.

PoD was a shot from yesterday. I think it was a Four Spotted Chaser.  Almost black with a bit of yellow on its back.

No plans for tomorrow.

Gardening – 13 September 2026

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Scamp wanted to get the grass cut today.

We hadn’t cut the grass properly for ages and today looked like being a decent day, so the strimmer and the mower were brought out. Scamp worked through the rough stuff at the edge of the front grass with the strimmer, while I moved the pots on to the path. Then she started on the main area of the grass and I wrapped up the strimmer. It all sounds a bit shambolic, but it does work. Once everything was done and cleaned, we stashed both the cutters away in their place in the cupboard.

While Scamp had a coffee, I went for a walk over to St Mo’s still keeping to the paths just in case any little nasties were lying in wait. On the boardwalk there were quite a lot of dragonflies circling each other and I did manage to get a few shots. I thought one of them would have made PoD, but after looking through the final shots, the winner went to a little spider wrapping up its lunch.

Back home Scamp started dinner which was an old favourite. Prawn and Pea Risotto. Quite delicious.

Spoke to Jamie later in the evening and Scamp gave him the full explanation of last week’s visit to Dundee.

Bad Hair Day – 11 September 2026

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I found this guy, above, yesterday, but kept him just in case I’d need a quick photo.

As it turned out I did need a bit of a fall back and Boris, because that’s his name, fitted the bill perfectly.

I thought we were going to find a cruise or a mixture of cruise and stay, today, but it didn’t work out like that. Scamp delved into quite a few different cruises, but very few had balcony cabins and we both love our balconies. That was a disappointment, but we felt we could probably work round it. Then I messed things up by suggesting we might not be able to get insurance because Scamp was still waiting for a procedure. This was something we hadn’t thought of. In the end we decided it would be better to leave the cruise until next year and have a few mini breaks up to Christmas instead. Not what we’d intended, but maybe a few days in Jersey would be just as good. Also, we’d thought of taking a few days in Newcastle.That would mean we could take our time selecting a cruise that we both really wanted.

In the afternoon we started work in the garden. The Buddleia bush was really needing cut back and Scamp had a box of Pansies that should have been planted weeks ago. So while I chopped the buddleia, Scamp planted out the remaining flowers. The buddleia now looks very sparse, and like Boris, it was having a Bad Hair Day. It still looks a bit rough and ready, but I’m sure it will grow back fairly quickly.

Dinner tonight was yesterday’s chicken made into a semi-salad. Another of Scamp’s suggestions that worked well. A “What have we got in the fridge” meal, that just worked.

It looks like dance class will be a going concern tomorrow. The teachers arrived home from a week’s holiday in Tenerife and there were enough folk ready and willing to be taught. So despite my best efforts, we’re going to Brookfield in the morning.

Boris made PoD. I’d found him hiding in behind the vegetable trolley on Wednesday and I thought he fitted the bill perfectly.

Other than dancing, no plans for tomorrow.