Category: Food

Old Glass and the Owl Woman – 16 September 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today we drove over to Klondyke at Falkirk for the worst lunch in living memory.

Actually the garden centre is really good. Plants all look good and are reasonably priced, but we thought we’d try their lunches. Scamp ordered her favourite test piece, Mac ’n’ Cheese. I wasn’t all that hungry (for once) and ordered Home made Pork & Leek Sausage Roll. What arrived after about half an hour was a sloppy looking macaroni in a tasteless white sauce and a giant sausage roll that had been microwaved. I’m the first person to say that I’m not a chef, but I know you don’t microwave flaky pastry. It just isn’t flaky after that kind of treatment, but obviously the ‘chef’ was oblivious to that. The ‘meat’ inside the inedible wrapping was almost as bad. My advice if you fancy stopping there for lunch? Don’t, just don’t. If you want some plants, fine, just don’t eat there. You’ll only regret it.

We did buy a couple of plants, because it only seems to be the restaurant that’s affected by the lack of culinary knowledge. The plants are fine. We took away a batch of pansies and a new Japanese Anemone and since the Kelpies are nearby, we went there for our second, and edible, lunch. A scone each and two coffees with a view out at the horses looking sparkling in the sunshine. A walk around the Kelpies and a few photos taken. One with old glass, the eleven year old E-PL5 with the squeaky 20mm Panasonic lens. One with the cantankerous 28-70mm kit lens on the A7iii. Nothing is perfect in my photographic repertoire! The Old Glass shot of pansies taken at Klondyke won the day and that became the PoD.

We finished off our lunch with an ice cream ‘Boat’. A plastic boat with two servings of Mr Whippy ice cream and one chocolate flake to share. While we were consuming this dessert, a man and a lady walked past and the lady had an owl on her arm. A real owl clasping the gauntlet on her hand. It was interesting to watch the looks on folks faces as they did the ‘second look’ thing and then turned to look at a woman with an owl on her arm. We just spent a few minutes trying to outdo each other with jokes about the “Owl woman”. Which, if you’re Scottish (or Irish) translates as “Old Woman”. Oh what childish fun we had at her expense. Of course, all the time she was preening herself for being the centre of attention, while the owl just looked superior and blinked … as owls do. Said goodbye for a while to the big horses and drove home.

Back home, Scamp was deadheading more of the flowers while I repotted the sad looking Berberis plants that were looking a bit sad.

Dinner tonight was a Spice Tailor almost instant Goan prawn curry which no doubt Delia would say was nothing like what a Goan curry would taste like. It was certainly better than a dodgy Mac ’n’ Cheese or a nuked sausage roll.

Watched an ‘interesting’ Singapore GP where neither of the Red Bull cars made it to Qualifying 3. That means they’ll be in he middle of the pack and will have to prove their prowess. Some folk are just getting too big for their boots. The signs that Xmas is on the way is that the days are getting shorter, the temperature is dropping and Strictly is starting its annual run. Tonight was that night. Oh what fun it was to see all the hopefuls finding who their dance partners would be. I wonder who’ll be first to go.

We have no plans for tomorrow. It took a long time for the sun to come out of hiding today and it might take longer tomorrow. Some rain predicted.

Two new cameras – 15 September 2023

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Well, not exactly new, but not been used in a very long time, so maybe nearly new.

<Technospeak>
Scamp was out keeping fit in her FitSteps class and I was looking for an SSD I’d misplaced. I eventually found it, but not where I thought it would be, and in the process I came upon two old cameras I hadn’t used in a very long time. One, the E-PL1 is really ancient at 13 years old and beginning to show its age. The other, the E-PL5 is 11 years old and still going strong. Both are based on the four thirds system where the proportions of the length to the height of the images is in 4:3. Both have much smaller sensors than my full frame camera, and for that matter my APS-C camera, but today I got them both working and producing some decent images. The E-PL5, especially, would make a decent pocket camera with a couple of compact lenses. I was quite chuffed with that Friday morning’s work. Not sure Scamp agreed. She’d much rather they were consigned to the bin, but she doesn’t get a vote in the photography stakes!
</Technospeak>

Lunch was a Piece ’n’ Banana each, then I went out to get the makings of tonight’s dinner which turned out to be a disaster. We’d made it last week and it ended up a claggy mess. Tonight the result was the same although we had the correct ‘Skin on – Bone in’ chicken thighs and were using paella rice instead of orzo. We hardly ate any of it and settled for a bag of M&S puffy crisps instead. I think we’ll just cut that page out of the magazine and burn it. Such a waste of good ingredients.

While I was waiting for the oven to warm up so that I could start the Disaster Dinner, I watched two blackbirds and a starling stripping the rowan berries from the tree in the back garden. What was I thinking? I had no PoD and here was not one, but two perfect subjects. But alas and alack, when I returned with the camera, they had gone. I waited a while and when they didn’t return I put the chicken in the oven to roast. Then I saw a thrush wandering around the garden, possibly scrounging the rowan berries the other birds left behind. I didn’t think twice and took a series of shots on an old manual focus Tamron 70-300mm (that’s long) lens and with a bit of work in Photoshop, ON1 2023 and Lightroom that became PoD.

After we shared the washing up we discussed plans for tomorrow because it’s a Saturday without an early rise to drive to Brookfield. As usual if and where we go will depend on the weather. I might even take one of my new cameras!

The Black Dragon – 12 September 2023

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After yesterday’s adventures in Glasgow, today was quite relaxed.

Quite relaxed, that is until the dishwasher started acting up again with the water problems we had last week. I phoned the dishwasher repair man and got a call back from his partner to say he could come out to have a look at the machine tomorrow morning. That was better than I’d expected and I quickly agreed.

Scamp and I signed an agreement with Andrew, the man from Falkirk and she went out to post it while I hoovered the living room. That took us up to lunch which was bread and cheese.

After lunch I restarted work on Inktober 2023. The prompts for which are now available online. Nothing greatly exciting this time, and some vague ones, but I’ll try to get by with some lateral thinking.

More washing was hung out to dry in a quite warm gentle breeze. The temperature when I was making breakfast in the morning was 10.1ºc, but the afternoon sun had lifted that a fair bit, but nowhere near last week’s heights.

I took the A7 out with the heavy 105mm macro lens to see if there were any interesting insects about. I did manage to capture a Black Darter dragonfly which was a bit skittish to begin with, but settled down on an old tree branch that had been stripped of its bark. That gave it the chance to heat up in the sun and thereby producing a source of heat for the dragonfly to soak up. One shot of the black darter became PoD. It’s an enlarged image, something that ON1 2023 does very well. I liked the way the insect’s distorted shadow draped over the old tree branch. I don’t know if you can see, but the forewing nearest the camera has a big chunk ripped out of it, possibly the result of a fight.

Another short practise to try to hammer the new Wednesday Waltz into my head.  The more of these short sessions the better.  Too much just seems to prevent it from sticking.

That was about it for a normal Tuesday. Now we’ll need to wait and see how much the dishwasher repair is going to cost us.

Out on the town – 11 September 2023

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We were going in to Glasgow today for lunch.

Scamp had given me an Itison voucher a week or so ago, and today we were using it to have lunch in Cafe Andaluz in St Vincent Place. There was no way I was driving in today, and we weren’t taking the X3 either. Instead we got the number 435 Canavan’s bus from outside St Mo’s school to Croy station, then caught the train in to Glasgow. Scamp wanted to get vacuum seal bags from a shop in the town and I wanted to get new pens to encourage me to prepare for Inktober. We ended up getting a few more things, but we did get the bags. Then we walked down to Argyle Street to get the morning coffee in Nero. While we were in there I saw a print on the wall of a mechanical technical drawing, a stepped section, it’s called too awkward to explain and of little interest except to me who had to teach folk how to draw it, but more important, how to visualise it. High flown stuff for a Monday morning.

We wandered round M&S with Scamp trying to encourage me to get a new jersey, but nothing took my fancy. Walked up Queen Street and, while Scamp went looking for shower gel and fancy chocolates, I bought a couple of Tombow Fudenosuke brush pens and a book about sketching architecture from Cass Art. Then we met up again in Buchanan Street and wandered around Buchanan Galleries until it was time to go the Cafe Andaluz.

We had a glass of Sangria each as a starter. The food was lovely 5 tapas dishes to share, I think my favourite was the prawns that Scamp ordered, my next best favourite was Albondigas, which is spiced pork & beef meatballs in a tomato sauce. Unfortunately the Spanish black pudding with apple chutney we were both going to have was finished. However we did enjoy the meal and then Scamp noticed two mojitos going out to a table and decided she’d have one. I asked if they could make a barraquito and the girl taking the order just said “Yes!” Would it be the same as I’d had in Tenerife, I asked myself as I waited. It certainly was, in fact it was in a bigger glass and tasted even better. It’s an alcoholic drink made with layers of Condensed Milk, Licor 43, Espresso and Foamed Milk with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top. It honestly seems a shame to stir it up and drink it. Scamp’s Mojito seemed a bit of a disappointment, being not as alcoholic as some she’s had.

We walked back to the station and realised we’d just missed the train home, but Scamp sat and waited while I went out to take some photos. As I was walking out of the station a woman stopped to ask me what the building was in the square and I explained it was Glasgow City Chambers and told her my brother says it’s beautiful inside and if she gets a chance to visit it, she should. She and her friend were going on a Hop On – Hop Off bus the next day and she said she’d ask the driver. That was my good deed for the day. PoD turned out to be a photo of the inside of the busy station which might have taken a long to build, but is so much lighter and airier than its predecessor.

We got the fast train to Croy, walked across the road and got the bus back to St Mo’s school then walked the rest of the way. 10,171 steps so far today and counting. For some reason, typing doesn’t generate steps. The old Fitbit did record key presses as steps!  We did record some steps in the evening with a practise session of the new Wednesday night waltz. Mystifying and confusing steps for me. Apparently devised by an Australian, which might explain everything.

That was a quite excellent day in Glasgow. It did rain today, but not very heavy rain and thankfully it waited until we were in the restaurant.

We have no real plans for tomorrow, but apparently hoovering may be on the cards.

Rain stopped play – 10 September 2023

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Cloudy morning today, but the sun did manage to get through after a while. A coffee first then I could start work.

Today I was making Focaccia as the starter for tonight’s dinner and also a variation on Bread & Butter Pudding for dessert. Scamp had the much easier main course to make which was Sea Bass with Tomatoes and Potatoes. Focaccia is a sloppy dough with loads of olive oil to make it slippy and also sloppy. The first time I made it I kneaded it by hand and I remember chasing this messy dough all over the work surface. Yes, I did learn how to control a very wet dough, but vowed that the next time I’d let Mr Kenwood’s Chef do the hard work. So it was that I added all the ingredients into the bowl and let the dough hook go to work. About twenty minutes later I had a sort of dough and decide I could make it a bit wetter. Bad move. That meant the dough was too wet and I’d to add more flour. Eventually, I had the dough I wanted and I slopped it into a plastic tub to rise.

After lunch and after we’d watched Laura Kuenssberg tearing apart a new politician, it was time to check if the dough had “doubled in size”. Not quite, so I gave it another half hour to be sure and the sun was shining. That was the half hour it needed. It was ready to be slopped out on the work surface again, chopped into two big slippery pieces and stretched out in two baking trays to rest and stretch and grow bigger again with more olive oil in and around it. Another hour later, the sun was still shining and the dough was ready to be prepared for baking. I turned the oven on and poked my finger into the focaccia making big deep holes in it and then adding even more olive oil plus some rosemary, sun dried tomatoes and some sea salt. Then they went into the oven for 20mins. When they came out they looked fine, so guess what I added. Yes, more olive oil and then left them to rest and drink in all its green oily goodness.

I was watching the weather that wasn’t looking quite so sunny but I reckoned I could still get an hour in St Mo’s for some photos. A few minutes later, it was the sound that alerted me. The rain was coming down in torrents and Scamp’s washing was almost dry. Managed to save most of it, but the walk in St Mo’s wasn’t going to happen today. Instead I decided to photograph the rain. That will explain the title of today’s blog.

Later buttered four croissants, spread jam on them and set them aside. Next I beat up three eggs, some vanilla essence and some sugar then nearly boiled some milk and cream before chucking it into the bowl with the eggy mixture, arranged the croissants, tastefully, in a heatproof bowl and poured the creamy-eggy mess on top. Drizzled some sugar on top and stuck it in the oven to do its thing. I’d only made custard!! A bit lumpy in places and a bit thin in places, but custard, none the less! I was impressed. Plonked some rasps on top and there we had dessert.

Scamp only had to fry a fish or two, boil a few potatoes and chuck in some tomatoes. I had created a dessert with my own bare hands!

Focaccia was lovely and sticky. Scamp said it was missing something and I have to agree, I just don’t know what that ‘something’ was.

Spoke to Jamie and heard about swimming in the sea and thankfully the bat survey may now have passed muster with those who know about such things. I bet that’s a weight of their minds.

Tomorrow we may go in to Glasgow on the bus or the train. Oh, yes, and it’s still raining!

 

 

Signs of change – 9 September 2023

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Maybe the last of the really hot weather for this year.

We had half intended to take the train to Edinburgh, but neither of us were all that bothered about getting out and about today. The clouds were low and the sun was taking a lazy day too, not trying to break up the clouds. Which meant that by the time we were up and organised, it was too late to go to Edinburgh.

While we’d both been reading after breakfast in bed, we’d heard the ominous thump of a bird hitting what sounded like the back room’s window. When I got up I found the body of a thrush lying beside the back door. It looked like the poor wee thing hadn’t suffered and had broken its neck in the impact. I disposed of the wee body.

Instead of Edinburgh, we went to Tesco. We’d chosen a recipe to try out. Chicken Thighs with Apricot Jam and Roasted Cauliflower. It sounds a bit cobbled together, but it was worth a try. We drove to Tesco to get the ingredients, but didn’t go any further. Really, it was one of those days when we were just waiting to find out when, rather than if the rain would come. Never one to sit back and wait, Scamp suggested we strip the bed and get some washing done, so that’s what we did, and it went in to the washing machine and out onto the ‘whirly’ before lunch. Lunch was a pizza that had been languishing in the fridge for almost too long. Almost, but not quite.

This weekend was the Ayr Air Show and although we’d decided not to go, instead I found a live feed on YouTube from Ayr and spent a good hour watching the planes go through their paces. It wasn’t as good as actually being there, but I was sitting in our living room, not wandering around the Low Green with a couple of thousand other folk. I sent Alex a message and sent him the link to the website. He texted me back to say that the Red Arrows had just flown over his house in Motherwell heading north east and then returned flying south west! Some folk just need to be better than you!

The Chicken Thighs with Apricot Jam and Roasted Cauliflower traybake turned out a lot better than I thought it would, but strangely, the star was the roasted cauliflower! Tomorrow I’m booked to make starter (focaccia) and pudding. Scamp is in charge of the main course.

It being a lazy day, I took today’s photo in the garden. It’s a close-up of a Rudbekia flower and it turned out better than I anticipated. An easy PoD.

It rained this evening. The first real rain we’ve had for about a month. The gardens really need a good soaking rain and this might just be the start of that. Thunder storms forecast for tomorrow

No plans for tomorrow, for obvious reasons!

Too hot to do much – 8 September 2023

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What a strange thing to say in September!

Scamp was out at FitSteps in the morning, but I’d already been out walking in St Mo’s. Last night when I was going to bed I noticed that it was quite misty outside and this morning when I was making breakfast that mist had changed to fog. Absolutely perfect for some atmospheric shots. So I dressed for the climate and went for a walk in St Mo’s. The fog was lifting in the heat of the morning sun, but there were spiderwebs everywhere covered in tiny water drops from the fog and mist. Just what I was looking for. An hour later I had a variety of images to provide me with a PoD.

After Scamp left for FitSteps I had a look at the photos and used my normal method of rejecting the obvious ‘no hopers’, then grading the remaining shots as one, two or three stars. Two of the three stars were selected, edited and cropped to a better format, oh yes, and I also had time to have tea and toast!

When Scamp returned we discussed where to go for lunch, it being Friday and settled on Broadwood Farm. Cheap grub and the chance of a pint or a glass of wine to wash it down. With that settled, we walked over to Condorrat first to post a card and a letter, then walked down to Broadwood for our usual Friday lunch which was a carvery for me and fish ’n’ chips for Scamp.

Wandered back to the house after being fed and watered and sat in the garden soaking up the sun for the remainder of the afternoon. We could have gone to the Air Show at Ayr beach instead of Broadwood, but the thought of sitting in the car for an hour, especially after driving for a couple of hours yesterday didn’t appeal. The lazy way is sometimes the best.

I split up my basil plants and repotted them into three pots. Scamp potted up one of her new plants then removed one of the pots from the front garden and replaced it with one from the back garden that looked as if it needed a bit of sun. Later we watered both the front and back gardens. Although heavy thundery showers are predicted for Sunday, the plants need the water today.

PoD went to a spider repairing its web. One of the photos from this morning.

We’ve a couple of prospective places to go tomorrow. It will, as always, depend on the weather. Today was a good day.

Glasgow in the sunshine – 6 September 2023

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I was going in to meet my brother in Glasgow on a very hot day.

Scamp very kindly gave me a lift to the station and for once I just managed to collect my ticket as the train rolled in to the station. It’s my usual luck to collect the ticket just as the train is rolling out of the station!

In Glasgow I wandered over to George Square to see what people were demonstrating about today. It appeared that it was all about GIRFEC or, Get It Right For Every Child. I don’t know who devised this acronym, but surely they could have made a better one. I remember being told by those who had been force fed this hype that it was the way forward in education, the ONLY way forward, in fact. Actually I’m surprised it’s still talked about, because it simply isn’t possible to get it right for every child in a class, but it’s professional suicidal to say that in a school. If there are 30 pupils in a class and one teacher and let’s say a period last for 45 minutes that would mean 1.5 minutes for each child. What can you teach in 90 seconds and not leave any time for questions? Zilch. Oh, I’m so glad I don’t need to worry about crap like that now.

However, I dutifully took some photos of the banner waving folk, just for the practise and then walked back up to the bus station to meet Alex. As usual we went for coffee in Nero and set out our plan for the day. Today was his choice of destination and he chose the financial district of Glasgow. I thought that would be good, because we could go there via the suspension bridge and the newly sprung mini skyscrapers on the south side of the river.

As we were walking down through the now almost empty George Square, I was surprised by his suggestion of going to Paesano for an early lunch. I didn’t think he liked Paesano pizzas, but that’s what we did and I introduced him to a No 5 (Cooked ham) and also told him he could add or subtract any ingredients. He chose a ’no cheese’ version and seemed to enjoy his lunch. I like that flexibility of Paesano. Add or subtract anything you want or don’t want.

After lunch we walked down to Argyle Street and got some nice shots of a bloke power washing the pavement there. I asked his mate if the bloke would do my car and he just laughed and said “Sure. Just bring it round!” We walked over the suspension bridge and on to the new financial district on the south bank of the Clyde. There is always something interesting in the “money making” places! What I found there was the PoD which was a wee man sitting on a seat with a 3/4 size guitar, playing for his own enjoyment, very quietly, while following the tablature on his phone. It really was a nice looking guitar, but he was playing so quietly I couldn’t hear the tune.

We crossed back over the Squiggly Bridge to the place where the “Old Money” is because that was the the place Alex wanted to photograph. The sun wasn’t quite as low as he’d expected and just not far enough round. He has an app on his phone that tells him when is the best time to get the best light, and today it just wasn’t right, but we took some shots anyway. Walked back up by Central Station and had another coffee in another Nero. They seem to be everywhere these days, ousting the Costas!

After that we walked up to the station where I was getting my train after I’d contacted Scamp and asked for a run home from Croy. Alex went to get his bus and I went home to get ready for tonight’s dance class.

This was the first time I’d been to Kirsty’s class for a while and we were doing a new waltz that’s not been released from copyright yet, so isn’t available on YouTube. I must admit I was lost to start with, but with a bit of thought and some encouragement from Scamp I think I’ve got the basics of it. Tomorrow I’ll know for sure.

It was a busy day, for sure and a hot one too. Really enjoyed the walk round Glasgow and the pizza, even if it took a while coming from the pass and was just a tad cool as a result. I’ll forgive them.

Tomorrow we might be taking Isobel to the tea dance in Glenburn.

 

Dunfermline – 5 September 2023

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After a short discussion we headed for Dunfermline for a day in the sun.

Scamp had a dentist’s appointment this morning, but only for a checkup.  I had an appointment with a dishwasher.

I thought while Scamp was out I could have one more try at clearing out whatever was clogging up the outlet from the sump of the dishwasher, because I was sure it must be the exit pipe, not the inlet.  But before that I thought I’d try the machine on a different program, a short wash.  Maybe something was clogged in pipework connected to the program we’d been using.  It worked! It went right through the wash and rinse cycle without any mishaps.  When Scamp returned, it was just finishing the program.  She suggested we do no more to it and go out for the day.  That’s when the short discussion took place in the kitchen with the carpet rolled up and tool all over the worktop.  We were going to Dunfermline.

Drove over the Kincardine Bridge to Dunfermline and parked in a space in the park.  A place I haven’t been in for years, but it was a legal parking place and there were spaces in it while the main parking area was full.  We walked down to the Peacock cafe in the park. This cafe sells the worst coffee I’ve ever tasted.  I once watched the woman making a latte and a flat white. Both had exactly the same amount of milk and coffee in them! Either they were both lattes or both flat whites, but neither of them was a coffee.  It must be a change of staff today because Scamp said her latte was quite strong. I opted for tea and it tasted like tea.  Yes, it must be new staff, things are looking up!  We both had a scone with butter and jam and that’s when things went a bit skewiff. The scones were suffering from soggy bottoms.  Maybe the woman who used to make the coffees was now doing the baking!

We left the cafe and went for a walk round the glasshouse which isn’t always open. The heat in the glasshouse was quite oppressive after a short time inside.  I got some photos of the flowers, using the same lens and camera as yesterday, but being more careful to check the photos. Next we walked round the formal garden which seemed to be mainly roses and Echinops which Scamp thought were just past their best. I knew she was desperate to deadhead the roses and any other plants that needed the chop, but she was a visitor today, not a gardener.

We left the garden and walked into town for lunch in Wetherspoons. Fish ‘n’ Chips for Scamp and American Burger for me. Both were small portions but the cost was small too, so no complaints there. A quick scout round what used to be a bustling shopping arcade, but which is now a collection of second hand tech shops and pound shops.  Much like most of Scotland’s retail areas these days.

Drove home and managed a seat in the garden for a while Scamp with a G&T and me with a Guinness.  I’ve happily switched my allegiance from Guinness to Brewdog stout, and after drinking that Guinness, I know why.  Try it Jamie, you might like it.

PoD turned out to be a mono conversion of a Hogweed seedhead in the park in Dunfermline.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet Alex in Glasgow for a photo-walk and Scamp is off bargain hunting. Dance class at night in Cumbersheugh!

A morning at the races – 3 September 2023

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This morning we headed off to see the start of the annual 10K race just half a mile away from the house.

Unfortunately (1) when we got to the football stadium where the race was to set off from, we were just in time to see the runners, in the distance, leaving the stadium. I’d intended getting some sharp, slow shutter shots of the runners with the blurred out faces of the audience behind. Unfortunately (2), there was no audience. Not one person standing applauding as the runners sped past. Maybe because there was virtually no publicity and no map of the route. The best I could find was one of a Strava map from 2018. Now, I’m sure that if it was a Motherwell 10k we would have been overloaded with information and maps galore. There wasn’t even a countdown in the stadium. Maybe the bloke whose tannoy the council usually borrow couldn’t make it today. Disappointed and disillusion. It’s time Cumbersheugh shucked off NLC and became a notion in its own right. We stayed to watch the first men and the first women finishers running past.  I also say Scott Meenagh the double amputee who went to Cumby High run past.

We walked home and had badly made, scrambled egg and smoked salmon. I made it. After that, and after Laura Kuenssberg getting stuck into a Tory, we walked down to the shops to get the basic ingredients for tonight’s dinner which was to be Chicken and Orzo One Pot thing. It was also, almost a disaster. Should have been Skin on, Bone in chicken thighs and we got the Skinned and Boned variety. The orzo went claggy and although it was one pot, there was a lot of decanting and recanting (if that’s a word) of the various ingredients. The chicken was fine, as was everything else. We may try again, but use rice instead of orzo.

I’d gone out in the afternoon while Scamp was gardening. I was looking for something that would generate some photographic interest in me.

Spoke to Jamie tonight and learned that his and Simonne’s car insurance had gone up by as much as ours. That, in a strange was made me feel a bit better, but not a great deal.

I’d walked half way round the pond at St Mo’s when I sat down on an old wooden bench and found a Female Common Darter sitting beside me. It allowed me only three shots before it took off. Lots of male common darter about this year, but few females. Don’t know why. Later in my walk, I found a male darter on the boardalk. Always be wary when a dragonfly stands up, especially if it lifts its wings. It’s getting ready to flee, like the male common darter in today’s photo did. It was PoD.

Tomorrow I must write to Alex and find out where we’re going on Wednesday if he’s still free. Other than that, no plans.