Category: Food

Another cold blast – 20 November 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Another sub-zero morning.

I was out in the morning to get my meds and some messages from Boots and Tesco in that order. I was meant to get sone veg, milk and a chicken, except I completely forgot about the chicken. It wasn’t until I got home that I realised my error. Scamp said it was ok and we could survive without the chicken and I took her at her word. I also realised that Boots had short-changed me on my meds. Two lots of them just weren’t there. I did get a message from them two days ago to say that my prescription was partially ready, but yesterday’s message said that it was ready to collect. Crossed lines somewhere, Boots. This is the first time I’ve had a message like that. I’ll maybe have a word with them next week if I have the time.

Back home it was time to get ready to drive to Glenburn for a Tea Dance. I thought we were going to be late because of what looked like a collision between two large lorries, but the Polis managed to sort it all out and we arrived just in time, before the doors closed.

I thought it was a bit of a washed out tea dance. Just not a lot of life in it. Maybe that was because most of the attendees had recently been at Perth for the autumn dance weekend. For whatever reason, there was just not the same ‘life’ to the day. We left later than normal and got caught up in the homeward bound masses. Just as we neared M&S in Cumbersheugh, we saw the line of waiting traffic and gave up on any idea of having a chicken for dinner. Instead we had a very nice pizza I’d stashed in the freezer earlier in the week.

Watched another episode of Portrait Artist. Some good work, but some equally poor stuff. I won’t say I could do better, but I was veering that way.

PoD was a setup shot of a Lindt chocolate bear. That’s what happens when you spend an hour going for the messages and then your day disappears and you don’t get an outside photo.

Hoping to meet Alex tomorrow for a blether and some photos.

Freezing – 19 November 2025

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Yesterday was wet. Today it was freezing with temperatures around -1ºc in the morning.

However, we were safely tucked up in bed by then. When I did eventually get up to make the breakfast for us, the temperature had risen to -0.4ºc. Positively tropical. Not tropical for us to get out of bed, though. When I took a proper look out the back bedroom, there was a covering of snow on the Meikle Bin and also a scraping of snow on the Campsie Fells too, but the sky was blue with just a few clouds.

We didn’t venture far in the morning, although I did take out a pair of secateurs and gave the Alec’s Red rose a gentle trim, just to remove the old flower buds. That will probably be the last cut for this year.

I went for a walk in the afternoon, well wrapped up, of course. Alex is still holding on to my Sony A7iii and the 25-105mm lens, so just for a laugh I took the A7c and a very old 28-70mm kit lens I got with the Sony A7ii a long number of years ago. I must have a look through the records to see just how old it would be. At the time I thought it was the bees knees, but now I see all its faults beginning to show. It’s not the best lens in the world, but it is better than nothing at all. PoD was a photo of a dozen Canada Geese walking from their feeding ground in St Mo’s park to the relative safety of St Mo’s pond where fewer predators threaten them. I’m guessing they were overwintering from their summer habitat in Alaska to our milder winters in the uk.

By the time I was walking home, my ears was getting chilled, but by adjusting my trusty St Andrews ‘Buff’ I kept them from getting frostbite.

While I was out, Scamp was making a rhubarb pie with some of the rhubarb Jamie’s had brought up with then the last time they were up in Scotland for a wedding. The rhubarb was really quite sharp and although it had some stem ginger in its mix, I felt it could have done with some more sugar. Pastry was up to Scamp’s usual excellence. Home made fish ’n’ chips for dinner, followed by rhubarb pie with home grown rhubarb. Excellent.

We watched another episode of Shetland and the plot thickens even more. Can’t wait for the next instalment.

Hoping to get to Glenburn tomorrow for a Tea Dance. However, it depends on the weather. Ice and snow forecast. Temperature just now at 11.15pm is – 0.9ºc.

It was Wet. – 18 November 2025

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It was wet from start to finish today.

Sometimes heavy, sometimes light, always wet. Thankfully we weren’t going anywhere today. The furthest I got today was a quick trip to the tip to dump some of the odds and ends we’ve gathered in the past year and some that have been lingering in cupboards for a long while before that.

Other than that, I set up a still life of Alstroemeria flowers and that became the PoD. Not great, but it worked quite well on such a dull day.

Dinner was pasta with tomato sauce and spinach. It looks like becoming a favourite in the house.

For once I watched the World Cup 2026 qualifiers because Scotland were playing in it. I wasn’t expecting them to win against Denmark. Imagine my surprise when they not only won that match, but won by four goals to two. Amazing or lucky? I don’t think it matters to the Scotland fans, judging by the antics on the park after full time. Good Luck to them all.

No plans for tomorrow, but it would be nice if the rain would stop for a while.

A day on my own – 17 November 2025

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Scamp and Shona were booked on the train to Inverness today, but …

We were both up and dressed nice and early. I had warmed up the car and defrosted it, while Scamp was having a swift breakfast, then we drove off to pick up Shona at Paul’s house. That’s when things went wrong. Despite three phone calls and knocking on the door, there was no sign of Shona. We waited for a good four or five minutes, and Scamp was getting worried that we might miss the first train, the one that would take her to Stirling where she only had 5 minutes to catch the connection to Inverness.

I dropped Scamp at the station with enough time to spare to walk over the bridge to the far side to catch the Alloa train that would drop her at Stirling. Just to satisfy my nagging worry that Shona might be waiting at her own house, rather than Paul’s, I drove past her own house, but there was no sign of Shona. Knowing that we’d both done everything we could, I drove home and had my breakfast. No need to rush now. Scamp had sent a text to say she was now on the Inverness train. I thought I’d take my time and read a bit more of my latest book ’The Fathers’.

The plan for the rest of today was to put some air into the Blue car’s tyres. Then if time allowed, to take some clutter to the skips. The tyres had been gradually losing pressure for the last few months and needed it fixed. I remember when air was free at a petrol station as long as you were buying fuel, but not now. Thinking back on it, that was at least 20 years ago now! Anyway, I paid my quid and filled the tyres. I hadn’t realised just how low those tyre were. The car went skipping along now.

I checked the box with the stuff for the skip, but wasn’t certain I was looking at the correct box. Better to be safe than sorry, so I left it for another day. Instead I drove to Tesco for bread and a pizza which would be my dinner tonight.

Lunch time was coming up soon and that was going to be a ‘piece ’n’ banana’. Healthy and nutritious and, best of all, easy to make. Another nose dive into the book and it was time to go for a walk. Somewhere close to home, because light was fading again. The days are certainly getting shorter.

PoD came from that walk. The pond was frozen, really frozen, not like yesterday when there was a thin sheet of ice on the water. This ice was hard. I tapped it with my fingernail and it sounded hard. Time for one of my ‘Dangerous Dan’ ideas. Set the camera to the aperture and shutter speed you want and gently place it on the ice, holding on to the wrist strap, just in case! Gently press the shutter and get ready to swipe it off the ice at the first sign of a crack. Just as I was pressing the shutter button I saw the ice start to shift. It wasn’t as solid as I’d thought. Whipped the camera away, unharmed. It would have been a great shot, but maybe another day. The final photo was take from a slightly higher viewpoint and it looked almost as good as the photo that never was.

After my pizza dinner I got a message from Scamp to say she was on the Inverness train heading to Stirling. The next message a couple of hours later told me she was on the Glasgow train. I drove down to the station and parked just as the train came in.

That was a long day for Scamp and Jackie, but not for me. I just relaxed through the day. Shame about Shona missing the trip, but there will be other days.

Absolutely no plans for tomorrow.

Another bright, but cold day – 16 November 2025

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The temperature when we woke this morning was 0.4ºc. At least it was still positive!

We both struggled with Wordle, but survived to tell the tale. Other puzzles were not as successful. It must have been the cold temperature that was doing it.

We didn’t actually do much and we certainly didn’t go far. The temperature did rise a bit in the afternoon, but not enough to entice us out, there was even some ice in the bird bath in the back garden. First time this season.

In the afternoon I managed a walk around St Mo’s to get some photos. The cloudscape was very nice, but by 4pm the sun was heading towards the horizon and the colours were changing. My favourite photo was another of the reflection shots I’ve become attached to. This time it was taken with the Sony 10-18mm lens. It’s really an APS-C lens, but it works magnificently on the full frame camera. It became PoD and was a shot looking across the flooded pond to a beautiful skyscape.

One circuit of St Mo’s pond was sufficient for me today, not because it was cold, although it still was, but because I was cooking a stubby short rib for my dinner. Scamp was having salmon. Her’s was cooked in about ten minutes while mine took three hours. Both were deemed lovely, but my short rib was a bit tough. It might have been left in the freezer just too long. I must go back to Muirhead to get another one, soon, and not keep it so long in the freezer this time.

We spoke to Jamie and heard about his plans for the next couple of months. It must be great to be going to warm places while we shiver, even if it’s not for the happiest or reasons. We also heard that he has a leak in roof somewhere. It’s in a place that wasn’t updated in his previous work. Thankfully he says it doesn’t look too serious.

Scamp and Shona are booked for on a one-day trip up north tomorrow. I hope the weather is kind to them. I might be taking some stuff to the skips.

A bunch of flowers – 12 November 2025

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Off to see the doc, bright and early.

I was out early, well, early for me. Just before 9am, in the midst of the school run. Spoke to the doc who explained that my bloods results were normal, as were was my PSA test and my Iron levels. I asked her about my painful nether regions and she did a quick exam of my egg shaped ‘dangly bits’ then checked my stomach too and said there was nothing to worry about. I had been worried, I admit, but she seemed sure everything was ok. Possibly the result of a fall I’d had last week, thankfully a fall onto soft, wet, mucky grass. It made a mess of my Rab jacket which I’ll need to wash now, sometime soon. Just to check everything, she gave me a prescription for a week’s supply of something unpronounceable and with far too many letters. Take one, three times a day. I left with a smile on my face.

Back home and after Scamp and I had completed most of the daily puzzles, we drove over to Waitrose in Stirling where Scamp got lots of fish and I got lots of meat and then, basically we bought the whole shop. That’s the way it seemed when we left and piled everything into the wee Blue car. As we were getting in to the car, I’m sure I heard it say “One at a time, please!!” Drove home and picked up the aforementioned prescription. Then we unpacked the car and there was a great sigh from it as I locked its door.

We’ve had problems either with squirrels or magpies, coming into the garden and searching Scamp’s pots for spring bulbs. I think between us we’ve blocked them for now, but magpies and especially squirrels are devious bugg@rs and will find a way in. Just to make it even more interesting, I sprinkled the top of the soil with Cayenne pepper and Hot Chilli pepper. That should tinkle the squirrel’s nose for a while!

Tonight’s dinner was mixed pasta with a tomato sauce and a generous handful of spinach which apparently is great for building up the iron reserves. Popeye swears by it, I’m told.

Today’s PoD was a vase with a selection of flowers. Dried flowers that open out when you put them in water. Quite magical to watch. It took me ages to get it set up the way I wanted it and Scamp was a great help, finding big white boards that had been hidden behind a cupboard.

Tomorrow is Scamp’s turn to visit the doc. This time in Coatbridge.

Chasing the squirrels – 10 November 2025

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Annoying little “rats with furry tails”.

When I was making the breakfast I spied a grey squirrel walking vertically down the fence and investigating the pot that Scamp had planted some of her bulbs in. Usually I just open the kitchen window and that’s enough to scare them away. Not this one. It just looked up at me and I swear it grinned. Rattling the back door had no effect on it either. It wasn’t until I’d opened the back door and started to walk across the garden that it decided a few bulbs weren’t worth the bother and scampered away. I know it’ll be back, but before it does, I’ll lay down some hot pepper. My mum used to swear by it for chasing away cats and other creatures from her garden.

It was a fairly decent day, although my weather app on my phone was warning about heavy rain coming tomorrow, so I kept that in mind. However, nothing much came of it today.

Scamp went out to get some bread and something to put between the slices for lunch. Afterwards I drove over to the town centre. What a sad looking place it is now. All the upper shopping area is boarded up, the ‘going down’ escalator is boarded up too, although the ‘going up’ side is still struggling along. For how long, is hard to say. I was looking for a hard drive for my computer and did find one there that did the job, even if it cost about twice what my old, full one, did.

I drove back via the east end of Broadwood Loch. I was fairly sure there would be some gulls preening on the outfall of the loch and I wasn’t disappointed. Lighting could have been better, but “Beggars and Choosers …” I managed to get a few decent shots, enough to make it worthwhile. Enough to make one of them PoD..

Back home it was time to get ready to go to Kirsty’s class. A disappointing class tonight. Only two couples and one girl without a partner. Scamp and I were agreed that Kirsty just wasn’t prepared for tonight’s class and was trying to ‘wing it’. I’ve tried that myself in the past and it rarely works out well. So it was tonight. Maybe she just had a bad night. We’ll give her another chance next week. It must be soul destroying teaching to five people.

Back home we had a slice of Focaccia which was ok, just ok. I think I could have made better, but at least the one we had was just ready to heat in the oven. A real focaccia takes ages to make. We watched the trilogy of Monday game shows we usually watch. Very informative and we even got some right!

Tomorrow we might head east,

 

 

Much calmer at last – 5 October 2025

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Today I think Storm Amy has left the building.

It was much quieter this morning and we only had Wordle and Strands to worry about. If that doesn’t make sense to you, I’d suggest you look for puzzles in New York Times, online of course. Once we had solved the puzzles it was almost lunchtime and Laura Kuenssberg’s morning battle with politicians. Today it was Kemi Badenoch and she was a much feistier opponent for Ms K. It was a close fought battle, but I do believe this round went to Laura.

After lunch I started changing things around and putting stuff away. It only happens once or twice a year and it usually doesn’t last long before I get fed up or get side tracked after finding something new to play with Today it lasted for almost a half hour before I got fed up, put my boots on and went out for a walk.

It was just damp today, never really amounting to rain. That dampness created a host of different fungi growing in the grass. My favourite was the Star Pinkgills you see here. Described in First-Nature as “Definitely not one for the pot!” I took their word for it and photographed the pair, but didn’t touch … just in case!

Last night our next door neighbour knocked at the door and said his wife had made too much chicken soup and would we like some. Yes please was the answer. We had it today as a starter for dinner. We both agreed it was lovely. Scamp had made pan fried trout for our main with broccoli. Dessert was Bramley apple pie. Not home made, M&S. The next best thing.

We watched what could have been a really exciting F1 GP from Singapore. It was spoiled by the childish complaints of Oscar Piastri who basically said he wanted to win. Tough son, that’s the way the cookie crumbles I’m afraid.

We spoke to Jamie and I did feel sorry for him. Back from a weak hill walking in Wales and now having to drive all those miles in the darkening gloom of autumn. At least he wasn’t moaning like Piastri who my spell checker thinks should be Pastry!!

Pod was the Star Pinkgills, although I just missed a clump of Ink Cap fungi that had just gone over into a black slimy mess.

Tomorrow, it’s more organising, I’m afraid. The blogger’s work is never done!

Still fighting Amy – 4 October 2025

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Storm Amy, the first named storm of the season was still clinging on to Scotland today. I don’t know who named her, but she wasn’t behaving in a ladylike manner. Gale force winds and heavy rain battered the west of the country. Although there were some respites, it wasn’t a great day to go out anywhere.

Scamp and I had a couple of exchanges to make in M&S, so we drove there. There were a few trees blown down on our route to The Fort in the east of Glasgow, but nothing we couldn’t handle. We debated whether to have lunch in Glasgow or to just head for home. A splashy rain shower settled that discussion and we drove home.

Lunch was tea and sandwiches as we watched the weather systems come and go across the Campsie Fells from the comfort of the house. No sense in going out in the squalls that were coming in the western winds. Later in the afternoon I did give in and took the A7c out for a walk to St Mo’s with the intention of getting a fish supper for two at the local chip shop. I wasn’t long out when I wished I’d taken a warmer jacket. The wind was icy cold.

I did manage to get a couple of decent photos of reflections in a pool that had been a path a couple of days ago. The water in the big pond was a lot deeper too. The swans and cygnets were drinking clean water for the first time in a long while. The flooded path became PoD.

I walked over to the chip shop and was heading home with two fish suppers in a bag when I turned a corner and found the path blocked by a couple of big trees. At first I thought I could walk round them, bus soon realise that wasn’t going to work so I headed back the way I’d come and found a path that would take me by a slightly longer road to miss the trees. It only took a few minutes, but saved me a long walk round the park. The fish and chips were still hot when I got home.

We got some sad news this morning. Anju, a long time salsa dancer from our classes in Glasgow when they were run by Jamie Gallagher had died last night. Anju was a lovely Indian lady with a wicked sense of humour, and great fun to dance with. We’ll both miss her, even although we haven’t seen her for a while. We’re hoping we’ll be able to say goodbye to her properly this month.

Tomorrow we intend to tie up loose ends and check everything twice.

 

Dancin’ – 2 October 2025

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It was another wet autumn morning with a loads of clouds.

Spoke to Hazy in the morning and found out what’s going on down south, or “Dahn Sarf” as my old pal Ray would say. We talked for a while and never once mentioned books! That’s a bit strange, but here is what I was going to tell you Hazy. I’ve must started ‘Babycakes’ by Armistead Maupin. Not very far into it yet, but enjoying (maybe that’s the wrong word) it so far. It’s a long time since I’ve read his books. Just thought I should mention that. After we had finished blethering and said our ‘Cheerios’I took a drive up to the doc’s.

I had to drop some samples off and arrange a blood test. Then I drove home via M&S to get some sweet things for Scamp. She got a Raspberry Cheesecake Cookie and I had a Chocolate and Hazelnut Cookie. Actually both of them survived until we returned from Tea Dance! Sorry Hazy, I’d imagine they both had eggs and other contraindicated things in them.

We were almost late getting to Glenburn for the Tea Dance. Pesky roadworks again. No diversion signs, just ROAD CLOSED. Not the most helpful signs. We did find our way round the labyrinth that encloses Glenburn by following our noses. A much bigger group today. Lots of ‘Weel Kent Faces’. Ones who we hadn’t seen since the spring. All coming back because the heating was on in the hall perhaps?

It was a bit of a lacklustre dance. Not quite as good as we were hoping for, but Scamp sat and talked to Carol and I sat and talked to David, her husband. We did dance almost all the dances that were thrown at us, some of them were variations on the real dances, but they were close to what we were trying to do. We left just a wee bit early hoping to miss the traffic jams getting out through Glasgow, but I chose the wrong lane and we ended up taking almost an hour to crawl over the Kingston Bridge and eventually got out of first and second gear.

That was about it for today. Driving through the rain was the theme. I didn’t really get a chance to take any photos. PoD went to Mrs Salt & Mr Pepper who were sitting on the table looking a bit lost. I think getting their photos taken brightened their day.

I might have to take some ill fitting clothes back to M&S at The Fort tomorrow and Scamp may meet Shona for a blether.