Out to lunch – 15 May 2023

We got the text just after 9am. Ben went to school!

That meant we were on track to take Ben’s mum, Shona to lunch. Picked her up just before midday and drove by the backroads to The Stables because it was such a lovely day. Shona was adamant that this was her treat. In fact this was her contribution to our Golden Wedding anniversary. When she told us that, how could we refuse. Scamp and Shona had a Fish Finger Sandwich each. Big chunks of fish in batter in a panini, with a cup of chips each. I had the meat eater’s version which was a slice of fillet steak cooked rare and also served on a panini and also with a cup of chips. Both lunch meals were delicious.

After lunch we went for a walk along the towpath of the Forth & Clyde canal which runs past the front of the restaurant. We walked for about a mile in the general direction of Glasgow before we turned back. Loads to see today. Butterflies all along the path, Peacock, Orange Tip and Cabbage Whites, mainly. Bluebells growing under the trees and a big Aquilegia growing wild in the hedgerow. Loads of people out on bikes making the most of an unexpectedly good day. There was even a canal boat chugging sedately heading for Glasgow, probably. It was the Yarrow Seagull and it got PoD with Scamp and Shona getting in on the photo too.

We dropped Shona off at her house and we drove home via Tesco. Back home, Scamp swithered, whether to cut the front grass or not. Eventually she decide she would and I was enlisted to lift the flower pots out of the way of the mower and replace them when she was finished.

Some of the roses needed a last trim before the flower buds appear and that was my job. I also pruned the Forsythia now that the flowers had gone over and before the leaves come fully out. My final job was to tie back the pink fluffy plant in the back garden. I can never remember its name. I know there are two of them, slightly different from each other but both are planted beside each other. The one I was working with today is really tall and although I’m sure it can stand up for itself, a bamboo stake and a couple of fairly loose cable ties wouldn’t do any harm to give it a little more support in today’s gusty breeze.

Today’s prompt asked for “Artwork you love”. Scamp and I both love the massive Kelpies. The 30m (100ft) high artwork was created by Scottish sculptor Andy Scott. They stand in Helix Park in Falkirk at the eastern end of the Forth & Clyde canal. They are made from steel and each one weighs over 300 tonnes. They were modelled on real Clydesdale horses Duke and Baron.

We’d ordered a pair of slipper shoes for Scamp at a fair discount last Friday. They were supposed to be delivered today, but the postcode was wrong. A mix up at the ordering stage. My fault for not checking properly. However when we got home the parcel was there waiting for us. One of the benefits of having the same postman all the time is that they get to know the names and addresses and don’t rely too much on postcodes.  And while I’m on the subject of shoes.  A big thank you to Scamp for sneakily getting my favourite black and white dance shoes soled and heeled for me.  I’ve been meaning to do it myself, I even bought Evostick glue to do it, but just never got round to doing it.  Sometimes you have to get the expert to do it properly, so thank you again, Scamp.

Tomorrow, unbelievably we’re hoping to go out for lunch again with Crawford & Nancy.

 

Was that summer? – 13 May 2023

A quite beautiful day of sunshine.

We drove to Brookside in the morning through the 40mph zone that wasn’t quite as bad as last week, although some folk were mistaking 40mph with 20mph, it seemed. We got to the class just in time. Just four couples including a decidedly pregnant Jasmine who, with her partner made light work of just about everything.

Started off with a couple of Mayfair Quickstep tracks to warm us up. The hall had a curtained off section today for some undisclosed reason, so we were dancing on what was virtually a square. After that, and after an explanation for those who hadn’t been there last week, the teachers launched into Joy’s Waltz. I thought we’d found a sneaky shortcut to get us through the Overturned Spin Turn, but was quickly shot down in flames by Jane who explained that although it did speed up the OST, it meant that when we came out of it we’d find our feet were tangled. Back to the drawing board then! I still can’t get the hang of the OST and I think I’ll resort to Scamp’s suggestion that we just fake that step and concentrate on getting the rest working.

Next we did the Sweetheart Cha-Cha with a few new adaptations just to make it more difficult, I think. Most of that went quite smoothly, even the new steps that they’d squeezed in. Thankfully Jasmine had filmed the new improved Sweetheart Cha-Cha and posted it to the group tonight.

Final dance steps were the Jive with American Spins, Alternative Stop & Go and Cha-Cha Walks. These words mean very little to me and will be forgotten by the time I finish the blog!

One last wee sequence dance, Rumba One to finish and that was us released to face the traffic going home. Overall, it was a good class, although the lady that Scamp has named Mrs Posh was being a bit of a know-all.

The drive home was easier than I expected, possibly because everyone was going to the seaside today to make the most of the sunshine. We just drove home and after lunch we worked in the garden. Scamp was chopping up a dying azalea and I was concentrating on potting up my sunflower seedlings and the wee rosemary bush we bought about a month ago.

I’d just finished doing my gardening and was putting the compost away when I felt a familiar sting on the back of my leg. I’d picked up a tick somewhere, possibly yesterday. First this year. Let’s hope it’s the last.

Dinner was a roast chicken and salad with a bottle of Prosecco to brighten it up even more.

PoD went to a purple aquilegia flower in the front garden.

Today’s prompt was An Elephant.
We don’t get many elephants roaming the hills in Scotland, and the only ones I’d photographed were either made from cast iron or paintings on billboards. However, Mr Google kindly supplied me with a model that fitted neatly on my A5 page.

I think the sky is clouding over as I write this and we’re expecting rain tomorrow. Let’s hope today wasn’t Summer! The weather will determine what we do tomorrow.

Curry – 12 May 2023

Yesterday Scamp suggested Hamilton for lunch in the Bombay Cottage in Hamilton.

Scamp was out at FitSteps in the morning and I thought I’d spend that hour and a bit sketching today’s prompt which was “Your house or the neighbour’s house.” Surprisingly I got it finished just as she was coming through the front door. One tick in a box.

We drove to Hamilton and got parked fairly easily although the carpark was busy. Again we forgot that some people have to work all week and like to go in to town on the weekends. We used to be in that crowd, but thankfully we’ve seen the error of our ways and go midweek now. Food was just as good as usual, and the portions too, but really it’s the naan bread that makes us come back again and again. No chopped up dried out naan here. It’s light as a feather at one end and soft and pillowy at the other. Oh yes, and enormous!

After we’d had our three courses we paid and left, then drove down to the retail park. Scamp went and investigated the Home Bargains and Aldi while I walked over to what used to be the town square, but is now a building site, an untidy building site. I got the photo I wanted of the wee dog sitting on a seat, a statue by Shona Kinloch. That eventually made PoD. I also grabbed some shots of “The man with the rope” which is on Flickr now. Somebody decided he would look better with a traffic cone on his head, obviously not realising that joke had been done already a thousand times in Glasgow.

I walked back and found Scamp filling her basket in Aldi. We do have an Aldi in Cumbersheugh but we rarely visit it because it’s a shambles of a shop. Everything everywhere with nobody checking stock. At least it doesn’t smell so bad now as it did when it first opened and they didn’t realise they had to clean it every so often.

Drove home and the sun was shining brightly, but we didn’t sit out because it wasn’t really that warm. Cool breeze was blowing from the east and that’s never a good direction.

We did have a half hour practise of Joy’s Waltz. Once we got past the tricky “Overturned Turn”, the remainder of the waltz is quite doable. At least it was tonight. Whether it will continue in that vein tomorrow is still to be seen.

Tomorrow we are hoping to go to dance class in the morning and the rest of the day is set fine, according to the weather fairies.

Panic! – 11 May 2023

How helpless are we without a phone.

The day started well, sun shining in the window and the garden looking good. The Shooting Stars were enjoying the sun and I thought I might just catch a few shots of them before we headed off to Paisley. A quick lunch and we were off to Glenburn for the first tea dance in was seemed like months.

This was a displaced tea dance. It should have been last week, but for various reasons it had to be moved to this week. Whether because the change of date didn’t work for some folk or because everyone was confused, there weren’t many of the regulars there. We did get up for a few dances, even struggled through a Quickstep. Almost managed to make the Foxtrot work for us too. It wasn’t the same though with too few folk on the floor.

This extra dance was also a celebration of the Coronation and Stewart & Jane had put up bunting, had hot sausage rolls and extra cakes at tea time and generally put a fair bit of effort into making it a success.

We left a bit later than our usual 3pm because there were a couple of sequence dances Scamp wanted to walk through, then we were on our way home by the long way along the M74. Longer in miles, but much quicker in the long run. Also no stop go going over the Kingston Bridge.

When we got home I thought it might be a good idea to go over to St Mo’s to get something to add to the shooting stars I’d taken in the morning. The sun was still shining and everything looked fine, but apart from startling two deer in the woods, there was little to interest me and I walked home. I heard a strange engine note from a plane as I was walking back and checking with Flight Radar I found it was a Pilatus PC 12, a turbo prop which would explain the high pitched note.

Back home I had a seat in the garden with a beer while Scamp put the finishing touches to the dinner which was chicken with new potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. She was disappointed because the chicken was a bit dry. I did think we might have had our dinner outside, but it was getting cool by then, so we ate inside.

I was just getting ready to start the sketch for today’s prompt when I realised I hadn’t seen my phone. It wasn’t in my pocket, nor was it anywhere in the house as far as I could see. I decided to retrace my steps and see if I could find it before it got dark. I walked over to St Mo’s going by the paths I’d taken. I knew that the last time I’d used the phone was when I was checking the PC12 and I knew exactly where I’d stood to do that, and that was where I found the phone, lying face up in the grass with a little slug giving it the once over. Black phone in a black case in the gathering gloom. It could have gone completely unnoticed. Oh lucky man! I phoned Scamp and told her the hunt was over.

The prompt asked for a Lighthouse today.
After rifling through my photos for an interesting subject I came upon a photo I’d taken back in 2008 of Neist Point Lighthouse on the Isle of Skye. It’s not the typical shape for a lighthouse, but it was interesting enough to draw. A bit squint perhaps, but that’s ok.

Tomorrow we may be going to Hamilton for a lunchtime curry.

On a Boat – 10 May 2023

Or maybe it was a ship, I’m not sure.

Waited half an hour for a bus that didn’t come. Apparently the previous one hadn’t come either. Thankfully Scamp gave me a lift to the train station and I got in to Glasgow almost on time to meet Alex. Today we were heading for the Riverside Museum out in the west end, but first coffee and a quick catch-up.

According to the First Bus app, we could catch the 100 bus at George Square and it would take us right to the museum. It didn’t, because it didn’t come either. We walked back to the bus station and got the 77 which did arrive on time and a helpful driver told us were to get off and also the quickest way to get from Partick to the museum. We followed his directions and found the strange looking museum building. Inside was disappointing. Racks of cars reaching up about five storeys with no chance to see inside them and not even a viewing gallery to get a better view. Also, everything was dusty and just manky looking. Interesting building, but not very practical. Thankfully the window wall that faces the Clyde made a brilliant mirror and we used it to our advantage. That’s where the PoD came from. The great cloud and its reflection looked like a gigantic bird. Even the red crane in the background looked good.

We walked round the big sailing ship, The Glenlee, that’s permanently moored next to the museum and is free to enter. I couldn’t imagine sailing on a three masted ship like that. Equally scary was reading the captain’s log. Written in 1919, it was testament to the abilities and courage of the sailors of the time.

As we left the museum, I thought “I won’t come back until they find a better way to display the contents.” Too much crammed in to a small space. There were two high points. Lunch, which was great and that window wall. Almost everything else need spruced up and some of the items removed to storage.

We walked back to Dumbarton Road and got the bus back to the bus station. Said cheerio and went to catch our buses home. Good company, some good photos taken and the lunch was worth paying for. The final problem was that the bus I was waiting for disappeared from the display with no explanation. Three different buses from three different companies and none of them arrived! As Alex’s wife said, “You could walk from the City Centre to Partick”. We could have and probably should have!

Today’s prompt asked for Cutlery.
A knife a fork and a spoon, what could be difficult in that? Metal, that’s the answer, shiny metal objects are incredibly difficult to draw. Knives aren’t too bad, but forks and especially spoons are the very devil to render. There is a whole book waiting to be written on rendering shiny metal objects, but it can be summed up in one word.
DON’T!

Tomorrow we may go dancing!

A mixed up day – 9 May 2023

One of those days when one thing changed everything.

We were supposed to be going to lunch with Shona, but after a flurry of emails between her and us about a problem getting Ben to go to school meant that we had to reschedule to next week. It was disappointing for all of us, but I think it was the best thing to do in the circumstances. We’ll hope that Ben is more amenable next week.

That left us with a day to fill. I’d called off a photo walk with Alex on Wednesday because I’d planned to go into Glasgow to look for a suit. Maybe if we went to Glasgow today instead, I could speak nice to Alex and we could get that photo walk on Wednesday after all.

So that’s what we did. Scamp confirmed a date with Shona for lunch next week, I sent Alex a text explaining that a slot had opened on Wednesday for a walk and a blether. I’d one more call to make and that was to the electrician who fixed our dodgy wiring a couple of months ago and got him to give me a call with a suitable date to come and fit a new distribution board. All done we headed over to Glasgow.

We went to Slaters, as more than half of Glasgow do when they need a new suit. Service was as smart as ever and we left a few quid lighter but with a suit, a shirt and two ties. Scamp had her eye on something in M&S and while she went there, I walked up to leave the suit bag in the car at Buchanan Galleries carpark. As I was walking across the JL bridge I looked out over Glasgow as I usually do and the rain was bucketing down, but the sky was brightening, highlighting the rain against the dark of Queen Street Station. That made a PoD photo, for sure.

If you read yesterday’s blog you might remember that I found a cut in the tread of my boots and I said “I wouldn’t think it’s repairable, although someone on YouTube will know different”. Well, someone did and I’ve possibly found a solution. It’s a tube of repair glue stuff that might stop the leak for a while. Thankfully Tiso on Buchanan Street had it in stock, so I bought a tube. Now I need a wee drop of Isopropyl alcohol to clean the tear. I bought a bottle of Surgical Spirit today that might do the job, but now that I think about it, I’m sure the liquid I use to clean the camera sensor it indeed Isopropyl alcohol. I’ll check tomorrow.

Just as I was leaving Tiso, Scamp phoned to ask where I was, we met up and went to Paesano for lunch. We were served by a grumpy looking waitress who was maybe just having as bad a day as Shona.

Scamp had bought rather a pretty dress in M&S for a lot less than my outfit cost. But in my defence, it must be nearly nine years since I bought a suit.

The photo of ‘Raintown’ did indeed make PoD and it was also my 10,000th photo on Flickr!

Today’s prompt was for “A Rock or A Stone”.
I thought long and hard about this prompt considering and rejecting an actual rock (boring), Edinburgh Rock (porous soft multicoloured sweets), Edinburgh Castle Rock (the rock the actual castle stands on) and the Bass Rock which is a gannet sanctuary in the Firth of Forth. I finally settled on a stick (or a stalk) of seaside rock.
Probably a British tradition, it’s a hard, slightly porous candy stick with letters formed into it that run all the way along its length. Traditionally white with pink writing inside a shiny pink shell. Delicious and deadly for teeth!

Tomorrow with the agreement made that we intend going for a photo walk, I’m hoping to meet Alex in Glasgow.

 

Down The Green – 7 May 2023

It was a dry but cloudy morning and we were up and out early.

Scamp suggested we go down Glasgow Green for a walk. Why not, I thought. It’s been ages since we’d gone a walk down The Green on a Sunday morning and this one looked promising. No boots needed today because the sky was clearing and I was sure it was going to stay dry. It did.

The car park at the old Templeton’s building was busy, but there were spaces, not many, but we only needed one! Parked and walked down to the McLennan arch at the west end of the Green. We walked back along the banks of the Clyde, but not before I got some shots of the Albert bridge reflected in the almost still waters of the Clyde. I also got a caught a couple of squirrels climbing trees. Further on the old boathouse is now re-opened as a community hub and there were quite a few folk taking advantage of the brightening weather to prepare boats for rowing practise on the river. We walked on to the suspension bridge and watched the rowers going through their paces. That’s where I got the PoD which is a view from the suspension bridge, looking down towards the city.

We walked on as far as the bridge over to Richmond Park and then headed back to the car along the way we’d come. Lots more folk out today, some pushing prams, some running some cycling and some like us, just out for a morning walk.

There had been roadworks on the way through the east end to get to the park, so I decided to go back via the motorway. Little did I realise that there were even more roadworks in that direction. At first we thought they were removing the stupid cycle lane that nobody ever cycles on and we cheered. Then we realised they were removing the wee line on bumps that marked the width of the cycle only to replace them with a wider concrete kerb and still nobody will cycle in the lane. It will look good on the council’s propaganda, but that’s all. I really should just have gone back the way we’d come it would have been quicker. Hindsight is the only 20-20 vision.

Back home it was just past midday and the sun was shining (occasionally) . Scamp was delighted and for the first time this year she got the folding seat out and the Pimms and sat in the garden for an hour or so. While she was reading in the garden, I was drawing. Today’s prompt was A Chair or An Armchair. I’d already chosen what I was going to draw. It was a wood and leather chair I saw in the Burrell Collection in Glasgow recently. It was one of a pair and was extremely comfortable. It was also quite low, which made it difficult to get out of! It reminded me of a Gerrit Rietveld chair I made a copy of many, many years ago. I had a photograph of it and that’s what I drew it from, then splashed some paint on it. In the end I was quite pleased with the result.

Dinner was a beautiful fillet of Sea Bream perfectly cooked by Scamp so that the skin was crispy. Served with Jersey Royal potatoes and broccoli. Gone in minutes!

Spoke to Jamie later and heard his tale of woe. The cost for the new roof of the house has increased, Simonne’s car needs an expensive engine part and their boiler is dead and needs to be replaced. They won’t have heating for three months We were without heating for three days at the start of the year and we knew how hard that was. However they have an elegant solution to the problems of getting shower. If I could remember all the details I’d explain it to you! They can still smile though, so it’s not all bad news.

Tomorrow we might go shopping. It looks like it will be wet.

Driving the 40mph motorway – 6 May 2023

That motorway is the M8. No sooner is one set of repairs finished than another set are announced. It seems that we drive more miles at 40mph than we drive at 70mph. PITA.

Yes, we were off to Brookfield this morning for the first dance class after a three week lie up. I thought the Charnwood Cha-Cha would be the end of me. It’s not good to spring things like that on us without warning, or access to a defibrillator. The only thing I can say is WOW, that was hard work. Thankfully we knew all of the steps and I had a rough idea of the order they should be danced in.

Next was a new one, a waltz this time and we both think we were guinea pigs here to see how quickly we’d pick it up. Not that easy was my answer. Thankfully we both filmed it so we could watch it at home and work out what was being described in the walk-through. The Charnwood was a workout for the body. Joy’s Waltz (named for a friend of Jane’s who died in January) was a workout for the brain. Eventually we got the hang of the first three sequences and after watching the videos this afternoon we’ve got an even better idea of the bits we’ve never done before.

The final workout was another quite fast one, a Jive routine this time. It had a few routines we have picked up along the way in the last few years from different teachers, so it wasn’t totally alien to us, and not so fast that we were too exhausted to fit in the final sequence dance of the hour and a half, a Mayfair Quickstep. Just a fairly easy dance to ease us down to drive through the 40mph zones again on the other side of the road.

Back home we had lunch and watched the pageantry unfold in London. I took myself off for most of it as I’d a sketch to complete for EDiM. I was doodling a sketch on a bit of backing paper and the picture came to me. It was a highland cow, but there was too much rubbish on the paper and I knew I’d need to redraw it, so I left the rough there and went to get a photo for today. As I was walking over towards Condorrat, I noticed a snail tucked into a corner of a fence and knew that was the PoD. Of the three photos I took, the one you see here is my favourite. I also got a shot of the inside of a dandelion puff ball. It’s like the highland cow in that it’s not the finished article, but it’s worth another try, possibly in an inside setting with a camera on a tripod. We’ll see.

When I got home, Scamp was whizzing through the recording of the actual Coronation. It is one mighty big and complex piece of organisation. How they worked out how to get all those people into the cathedral and how they covered the lawn of the palace with the thousands of army, navy, airforce personnel from almost every country was astounding. I wasn’t really all that interested in it, I was waiting for Zadok The Priest to be sung. When it was, it was a little disappointing. Scamp said it was too fast and I thought it was lacking in power. Had we been conducting, heads would have rolled.

Dinner was from Golden Bowl. Scamp had her usual Chicken Chop Suey with Fried Rice. I had a treat that I knew I’d suffer for later and had Sweet and Sour Pork Balls and Fried Rice. I did suffer for it, but it was worth it. Pure decadence.

I redrew the Highland Cow and it does look better than the original. I’m happy with it and Scamp laughed out loud when she saw it. That was enough of a stamp of approval for me.

We have no plans as yet for tomorrow and there have been no street parties in and around Cumbersheugh, I’m glad to say, so not many sore heads tomorrow morning. Well no more than usual!

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

For the parcel to appear.

The parcel was for Scamp and it was being delivered by Royal Mail. According to Royal Mail it would be delivered yesterday, and I quote: “Thursday 4th May 2023 by 3pm*” note the asterisk! The parcel didn’t appear. Today I got a message from Royal Mail to say: Your parcel will be delivered Today, Friday, 5 May 2023* Between 12:07pm and 2:07pm*. Again, note the asterisks. If you read the very small print on the email you discover a footnote that says: *Please be aware any time or date shown is not a guarantee. This is their Get Out Of Jail Free card. The parcel didn’t arrive until 3.15pm. Why bother to give an exact time slot when you can’t keep to it. This new time slot thing is something they’ve pinched from DPD and others, but the difference is that, at least in my experience, DPD stick to their time slots. For Royal Mail it’s just a fantasy.

Right, I’m glad I got that off my chest. At least the parcel did arrive. We’d decided on risotto for dinner, real risotto for a change, made in a pot with a lot of stirring with the fancy risotto paddle. Scamp plumped for Mushroom Risotto and we didn’t have any mushrooms, so I loaded a camera and a couple of lenses into the bag and walked down to the shops to get some. As usual I came back with more than I set out to get, but at least I did get mushrooms. I won’t list all the other things I got, because you’d only get jealous! On the way there I found a clump of daisies and grabbed some photos of them. On processing the shots, I wasn’t impressed, so went out again with the LensBaby Sweet 50 and a +1 diopter Close Up lens (Don’t worry Jamie – that information is for me in case I need it sometime). The resulting photos were much better with a lot of swirly distortion round a sharp central flower. In fact one of them became PoD.

It’s ages since I’ve had to hand make the risotto and it was a bit of a chore, but the finished article, while looking a bit like lumpy porridge, tasted fine.

Today’s prompt was for a Traffic Sign. Mine is one of those old signs that don’t get used much and therefore don’t get updated. It’s actually a warning sign (triangle) for a level crossing without a gate or barrier sign. It’s a bit confusing because it looks like warning, steam trains ahead.

I spoke to Val this morning.  He’s not in a very good way, physically and is considering getting a motorized wheelchair.  He’s having difficulty standing and can hardly walk unassisted.  Having said that, he’s cheerful enough and we had a good blether this morning.  I must go and see him soon.  He was asking after Alex because he’s still interested in radio and so is Alex. It’s just a reminder that we’re all getting older and less mobile than we used to be.

Well, it looks like the holiday is over. Tomorrow we may be heading for an hour and a half lesson on Charnwood Cha-Cha, a new Waltz and the Jive routine we started before the Teachers’ holiday. Back in the old routine as they say!

I have a cunning plan – 4 May 2023

But first I have an appointment with the dentist.

No need to worry about it. I was only on the dentist’s chair for five minutes max. She recited all those mysterious letters and numbers that dentists shout to their assistants who record these codes. She seemed delighted with the state of my teeth and I was delighted that I got off so easily.

Back home Wordle was a bigger challenge than normal, but I did manage to complete it with a little help from Scamp at level 6. The Phew! level. Then it was time for lunch which was a pizza that had been languishing in the fridge for almost too long.

This is where my ‘plan’ comes into play. I usually leave my sketch and painting until the evening, but as artificial light is quite ‘warm’ and that affects the colour choices quite badly, so today I wanted to get the painting done in the afternoon when the light is more natural. Today was Star Wars Day, May the Fourth be with you. Usually the topic asks for something to do with Star Wars, but today there was an option to draw a Tea Bag! That was what I was painting. I had the composition in my head and it involved a cup and a wet, leaky tea bag. It turned out almost as I’d imagined it. It was scanned as soon as it was dry and posted right away. First part of the plan completed.

I went for a walk in the afternoon, partly to get some photos and partly to get a curry from M&S. The PoD is a young fern shot against the light in the woods at St Mo’s. I actually got a few flower photos today. Another sign that Spring has sprung. Photos now processed and posted on Flickr.  Part two of the plan completed.

Both curries were very good. Scamp’s was a Prawn Bhoona and mine was a Lamb Rogan Josh. Both large portions and both quite filling.

The blog is posted before 11pm.  The final part of the plan is complete.  How long it will continue is a matter for conjecture!

Tomorrow Scamp is Fit Stepping in the morning and the rest of the day, hopefully, is free.