Category: Food

Decisions made – 24 July 2025

Posted on by Zogman

After yesterday’s problems and the early morning repair iCloud Drive had done, I found that another part of the tangled web was also self-repairing.

I made the decision to drive in to Glasgow and speak to someone who could explain what was happening in the iMac, but not until I got my hair cut!

After the shearing, Scamp came along in to Glasgow for the ride, but she was heading for Waterstones to buy a gardening book. We split up, she went up Sauchiehall Street and I went down Buchanan Street at almost exactly 90º to each other. Central Glasgow is built on a rectangular grid. That’s why it is constantly being used as a substitute for New York by film makers.

As usual, all the ‘Geniuses’ were busy in the Apple Store and I didn’t have an appointment, but one member of the sales team answered all my questions, including what was going on with the self repair thing. I decided there and then that I’d order a new iMac 4 with a decent amount of storage and a nice fast processor. Decision made. Now I just have to be patient and wait a couple of weeks for the Blue iMac to arrive.

I walked up from Buchanan Street to Waterstones to meet Scamp and it was there I saw the opportunity for today’s PoD. Three ladies having lunch and setting the world to rights and demonstrating that they could do it much more efficiently than any three men!

Scamp got her book. A well written description of lots of flowers, only flowers, so that’s exactly what she wanted.

We walked back down to Paesano for a pizza lunch. A coffee in Nero and then drove home. Thankfully Glasgow wasn’t nearly as congested as it had been last week.

There were a couple of surprises waiting for me back home. Scamp handed me a Mowgli recipe book written by the owner of the Mowgli restaurant we went to for my birthday, back in April. All 30 minute recipes. The second surprise was that today was the anniversary of the day we got engaged back in 1971! An auspicious day.

There was still a bit of heat in the air when we got home, so we sat in the front garden for a while with a G ’n’ T each before the sun was almost dipping behind the nearest houses.

Another busy day, but when I got home, the confirmation email was on my old iMac and I felt better.

No plans for tomorrow yet.

Out early to speak to a Genius – 22 July 2025

Posted on by Zogman

I’d a 10.35am meeting with a genius. Not an everyday occurrence, but this was a problem solving mission and only an Apple Genius would do. Scamp, meanwhile went for a coffee in the Benugo cafe in JL.

After lugging my big heavy iMac to the Apple Store, I met a big friendly giant Genius who was going to sort out all my problems. He didn’t actually solve all the problems, but by watching carefully what he was doing I managed to remember the sequence he worked through to get the Desktop back and other stuff too. The rigamarole below took him about 10 seconds, but undid a lot of the damage last week’s outage had created. He seemed quite impressed that I was running the system on a couple of SSD drives and told me to connect the master drive to the new Mac if I was getting one and use it to enter all the complicated stuff for me. I didn’t want to tell him I’d done that about four or five times already over the years.

<Technospeak>

Find ‘System Settings’ from the Apple menu

Click on my name

Choose iCloud

Choose iCloud Drive and then ensure that the top two buttons are set to ON.

Done

I later found that I could also mess about with the bottom buttons too, but didn’t.

</Technospeak>

Packed up the big heavy iMac again and took it back to dump in the car, then I went to have a coffee with Scamp in the cafe and told her whole story.

We went down to the JL basement to look at fridges and freezers and fridge / freezers. Scamp found a few she liked and we made a shopping list of them, but we bumped into a very helpful salesperson who told us that JL have a cutprice sale of goods on the first Sunday of every month. I think we might be going there to see what they have. Just to finish off the morning, we bought a DIY fan, because it’s still quite warm and this big old fashioned fan will help to keep us cool.

PoD turned out to be a couple of Red Clover flowers. I found them during a walk round St Mo’s.

I was a bit disappointed with the amount of cleaning out I’ll need to do before the iMac is ready to give up it’s place at the table and meet the new challenger, but nothing is perfect in this life, as Scamp always reminds me.

Dinner was an M&S stir-fry. Not the best one I’ve ever had. Too sweet for me and Scamp didn’t like the Singapore noodles. I don’t think we’ll get that again.

Watched Bakeoff the Professionals tonight and wondered where they get the ideas for the challenges.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending to meet Shona for lunch. I think I may be ironing out more of the ‘puter problems.

 

 

Another dull day – 20 July 2025

Posted on by Zogman

We seem to be having more than our fair share of dull days recently.

The day was brightened up when I saw a butterfly on the Buddleia bush in the back garden. I know that’s not exactly earth shattering, but this is the first butterfly to have sampled the nectar on our buddleia. Just as I was about to capture this yellow butterfly, Scamp said she’d found another one, a Tortoiseshell, I think. It was difficult to see as it blended in so well with the dry foliage of the bush. Unfortunately it was more skittish tha the yellow one and flew off. (Mr Google said the yellow one was a Cabbage White. I think he must be colour blind.)

I did get a few shots of the yellow butterfly and one of them made PoD. I think Scamp got some photos of it too.

Dinner tonight was Sea Bass with potatoes and roasted veg. I thought the sea bass was one of the best I’d tasted. Scamp said the veg was a bit limp after she had put a lid on the pan. There’s no pleasing some folk.

Spoke to Jamie and we discussed our differing weather systems. We have had some rain and so has he, but both of us would like more.

Tomorrow we are expecting more of the wet stuff with the possibility of thundery showers too. Oh what fun.

Dull and Wet – 19 July 2025

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We did think of going in to Glasgow to watch the Pride march, but the weather was against us.

Rain showers seemed to be the order of the day and neither of us wanted to stand in the rain for the hour that it would take for the procession to pass, then have to sit in a bus for another three quarters of an hour to get back home. Blame me if the march was really good. It was my fault!

The rain wasn’t continuous today, but for a while it was ‘straight doon rain’. Fairly heavy for a while then just drizzle for an hour while it caught its breath, then back to heavy again. We seem to be caught in this cycle of heavy rain, then light rain and repeat for the next few days.
The furthest I got was a drive down to the shops to get bread and fruit. Two loaves we bought earlier in the week were now speckle d with the blue spots of mould. All to do with the moisture in the air we think.
After lunch I did take some time out to get some rainy photos in the garden. Photos of clothes pegs dripping with rain in the garden next door. That made PoD.

One of the problems I’ve had since before the the computer took a flaky earlier in the week, is that I can’t send files from the desktop computer to the laptop and vice versa using iCloud Drive. Both drives seem to on speaking terms now, but unfortunately they are still arguing about who’s the boss, like squabbling weans!

The iMac has actually been running really well today, perhaps because it took a couple of hours yesterday to sort out its problems. Again, we’ll wait and see.

No plans for tomorrow as yet. The weather fairies say wet, with the chance of thunderstorms and heavy rain. This is how we pay for the recent good weather.

A wee girl – 17 July 2025

Posted on by Zogman

We were driving to Falkirk today. Scamp’s bracelet was ready to pick up and so was my coffee. Unfortunately not in, or even near the same place.

First stop was Falkirk for the coffee I’d ordered a couple of days ago. Next was a drive back the way we’d come to find ourselves at the centre of the town where I parked and Scamp walked over to the jewellers to pick up her bracelet which had had a new catch welded to it and was nice and shiny. From there we drove back home for a quick cup of coffee and then it was time to get dressed properly to go to Hamilton for lunch with John and Marion.

It was a lovely morning when we were doing our circuit of Falkirk, but by the time we reached Hamilton, the clouds were rolling in. Lunch was a Salmon Fillet wrapped in Prosciutto with pesto and baby tomatoes. Dessert was layers of puff pastry wrapped round strawberries and whipped cream. I know there is a fancy name for it, but I can’t remember it.

Then came the surprise visitors. Laura and her daughter Erin arrived and we spent a couple of hours being entertained by this one year old wee girl. Such a happy little child who kept us amused all afternoon. She took Scamp’s hand and they walked hand in hand round the living room. Scamp didn’t instigate it, Erin did! I was given teething toy to play with until she asked for it back. Erin, that is, not Scamp!
Too soon, it was time for mum and baby to go home and off they went. Not one cross word from Erin, just smiles.

We sat and talked with John and Marion for a while, then it was time for us too to go home. Just as we were leaving the rain came on. It had been predicted, but I think we were just too busy playing with Erin to notice.

We drove home through the M74 busy with homeward bound workers. I’m glad we don’t have to work anymore!

PoD was a wet Rudbeckia flower from the garden.

Tomorrow we may go in to Glasgow to see the start of the Merchant City Festival.

In the Ancient Woods – 16 July 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today Alex and I went for a walk in the woods.

Special woods, these were the ancient Cadzow Oaks. They are estimated to be nearly 800 years old. Many have fallen now and some have been vandalised, but a gallant few are still alive and producing leaves and acorns.

It’s not a long walk from the cafe in the country park to the oaks, and it’s all downhill to start with to cross the Duke’s Bridge over the Avon Water, but then it’s a drag of a walk back up the other side to the oaks themselves. However, it’s worth the walk. It really is. It puts me in my place every time I see them, amazed that they are still standing, still producing leaves and acorns after about 800 years. I sat for a while today just looking at these giants, and some of them are giants, imaging how the landscape would have looked back in the time of Robert the Bruce when the trees were just saplings.

We had been hoping for the sunny skies the weather fairies had promised, but although the skies were clear in the early morning, by the time we got to the oaks, we were treated to a white sky and the very occasional break in the clouds.

Strangely, Alex and I took exactly 45 photos each today. Not a great score, but enough for us to need another coffee back at the cafe to sustain us. After that I drove back home, via Motherwell to drop Alex off at his house. He suggested Glasgow for our next outing, all being well. I think I agree with him. It’s been about a month since we’ve been. There will surely be something new to photograph.

Scamp made Carrot & Lentil Curry for dinner. It was a bit salty, but will improve and settle into itself in a day or two.

As regards yesterday’s computer disaster, the laptop and the desktop computers are linked with iCloud Drive. The laptop is almost back to normal, but the desktop is hanging by a thread now. One nudge in the wrong direction and it will be curtains. So I’m afraid I’m going to bite the bullet and buy a new one. I’m intending going in to Glasgow this week to ask one of the ‘Geniuses’ at Apple for their recommendation, but I know it will be a case of don’t fix it, buy new.

PoD was the remains of a fallen Cadzow Oak with a live Beech tree behind.

Tomorrow I’m intending to drive to Falkirk tomorrow to pick up some coffee from “Henry’s At Home” my go-to place for decent coffee beans. Meanwhile Scamp is hoping to pick up her repaired bracelet, also in Falkirk.

Now that’s better – 13 July 2025

Posted on by Zogman

A slightly cooler day. Much more like what we expect in Scotland in July.

I wasn’t feeling great in the morning and ended up having toast and tea for lunch while Scamp had her usual Sunday fry up. After a pretty lacklustre Laura Kuenssberg offering we allocated each other jobs to do in the garden

It may have been cooler, but there was still a lot of work to be done. Scamp was determined to get both the front and the back grass cut and I let her get on with it after I’d moved all sixteen plant pots out on to the path to allow her a clear run with the mower. I also evicted at least twenty slugs from their previous living quarters under the pots, then rehoused them in the bushes in front of the house.

The sweet peas have been growing at an astonishing rate and really needed some extra support. The wind was getting strong too, so I cut and tied some bamboo canes to prevent the sweet peas from getting broken. I know they aren’t as delicate as they seem, but wee bit extra wood and twine wouldn’t do any harm. They now reach almost 2m in height. Scamp thinks we will need to pinch out the growing tips to force the growth into the body of the plant. I think she’s right.

With the tasks and the front and back grass successfully cut, we could rest for a while. I still had to find a PoD and walked round St Mo’s to see if there were any contenders. The first thing I saw was a curved and twisted bunch of sycamore seeds, probably not this year’s growth, but almost definitely last year’s. That was PoD, but further into my travels, I came upon a Clouded Border Moth. Tiny little thing smaller that a 10p coin. First time I’ve seen one or even heard of one. Must look out for them.

Dinner was a demo by Scamp of the best ways to make an omelette. She did her’s one way and I did mine as directed. Both ways worked and both were different. I’ll try to repeat the exercise this week.

Spoke to Jamie and found that their temperature yesterday was almost exactly the same as ours, about 400 miles apart. It’s a strange world. I think they might be considering buying an air fryer. I know Scamp says they are bulky and probably not much use to us, but it might be interesting to hear their opinions if they do get one.

Hope the temperatures continue to drop gently for a few days and that there is some rain, both for England and Scotland. The gardens need it.

 

A late night leads to a late morning – 12 July 2025

Posted on by Zogman

We were slow to rise today. Too much moon gazing last night.

It was going to be another hot one today, in fact the temperature did reach 29ºc in the afternoon, as predicted by the weather fairies. We did attempt to sit outside at the front of the house, but had to give in and move to the back garden, despite a whole bunch of children from next door, all having a wonderful and noisy time splashing in a paddling pool. Water and Sun are the main constituents for fun when you’re under 10, I think. I can’t really testify to that, but I do remember going with my mum on a bus that took us down to Millheugh and going paddling among the rocks in the shallow water to catch minnows which we called Minnens. I also remember stepping on a broken bottle there and getting a taken back to the doctor’s in Larkhall in one of my mum’s friend’s car to have it checked out. I’ve still got the scar to this day. No stitches nor anything, just a big plaster and either TCP or Dettol.

Back to the 21st century, Scamp and I had lunch inside because it was too hot outside today. Later we found a fairly cool spot in the back garden after the noisy weans had gone somewhere else. Scamp and I went for a walk in St Mo’s which is where today’s PoD came from. It’s a Common Blue Damselfly and it sat there posing for ages. A big blue dragonfly was patrolling the pond at the time, but it hardly stopped its circuit, so I didn’t get a photo of it. Sometimes they choose a resting site, a boulder or a bulrush that it will cling to for a while as it scours the pond for interlopers, but not today. Too busy.

I was on dinner duty today. Scamp had made a lovely light salad a couple of days ago, but mine was going to be different. A mixture of sweet and savoury. An apple, a pear, strawberries, beetroot, cucumber and lots more went into the bowl, along with cooked chicken breast pieces and some lettuce. I was quite proud of my creation. It was based on a salad Simonne had made for us a year ago. It was a success, I’m glad to say.

Thankfully the temperature is going down again as the sun sets. We’re hoping for a slightly cooler day tomorrow too.

Another day in the sun – 12 July 2025

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Scamp was out in the early afternoon, meeting a friend for lunch.

While she was out, I started dismantling a couple of bird feeders. One had been partly demolished by a squirrel a couple of weeks ago. The other one was almost new, but just wasn’t fulfilling the brief, so it too was being taken to pieces. The problem with the second feeder was that when I was filling it with the fine seeds I’d been using ran right through it. I reckoned I needed a baffle or a temporary block in the metal mesh tube that makes up the body of the feeder. I cut a piece of brush handle and roughly shaped it so that it would reduce the volume of seeds going into the tube. Then I needed to fit the wooden block into the mesh tube and screw it in place. It took me some time and a lot of swearing to get it into the place I’d selected for it.

On the first test, it seemed as if the model worked, but still too much seed was flowing down the tube and out at the bottom. I set it up hanging from a tree branch in the garden and it appears to work … partly. Now I think I need to reduce the seed flow a bit more.

By the time I’d cleared up the workbench and most of the mess, Scamp had arrived back home. With the temperature rising we had lunch in the garden and discussed our mornings. Then, as the sun was brightening the back garden we sat and read for a while. PoD was two Osteospermum flowers soaking up the sun

We were heading to Larky for dinner with Crawford and Nancy in the evening and we sat on their patio and blethered for an hour and a bit, had a light dinner inside and then retired to the patio again to get a conducted tour of the garden. Later we watched the full moon rise and rise above the trees. A very mystical sight and one I’ll remember for a long time, I think.

We drove home and arrived back at the house just after midnight. A wee dram for me and a G ’n’ T for Scamp completed a lovely day out with friends. I’ll remember the guitar next time Crawford … promise.

Tomorrow the temperature is forecast to be at its highest. With 29ºc predicted.

Sitting in the sun – 10 July 2025

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Scamp was up early to go to the hairdressers. I didn’t need my hair dressed, so I stayed at home.

Scamp returned home looking wonderful and without a hair out of place not long after I started today’s Wordle et al puzzles. She had about an hour free before her next appointment, this time with Isobel.

When she had left to meet Isobel, I took one of our folding seats out to the front and read another chapter of “Stone and Sky”, the latest Ben Aaronovitch book. It’s probably the most confusing Rivers of London book I’ve read so far. I keep thinking I’ve read it before, but I haven’t. Sometimes it reads like a Young Adult book, sometimes it’s Police Procedural. Sometimes it’s about fairies and unicorns. Always it’s worth reading and now at book ten in the series, it’s getting complicated, but I know it will mostly all turn out fine in the end.

It was hot today. Not just warm, but hot. I think the maximum temperature that was reached was just over 25ºc which is hot for Scotland. Tonight the weather fairies were warning us that it’s going to be even hotter tomorrow. I don’t think I can take much more of this heatwave nonsense!

After Scamp returned with all the gossip from her meeting with Isobel, we had lunch and Scamp went in to Gardener mode and I just kept out of the way. Eventually I decided to take a walk to St Mo’s and get some photos. There didn’t seem to be too much insect or animal activity, so I headed down past the back of St Mo’s school and found today’s PoD waiting for me. As far as I can see the mating insects are Five Spot Burnet Moths, but what is the creature below them, breaking free of its cocoon? Another Burnet Moth perhaps? It doesn’t look like one. Maybe some clever person will be able to ID it.

Dinner tonight was a salad with baby potatoes, beetroot, feta cheese, prawns and lettuce. I’ve probably missed something out, but you get the idea. We washed it down with a half bottle of Bijou white wine. Highly recommended!

And that was about it for today. A hot day due to get even hotter tomorrow. Speaking about tomorrow, we’re hoping to go out for dinner with our pals in Larky.