Category: Friends

Sad News – 17 April 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Hazel phoned this morning to say that Neil’s gran had died this morning. We had been expecting this news, because she had been in poor health for a few months. She was a lovely old lady and she will be missed by everyone who met her.

Alex phoned later in the morning to cancel today’s outing to Gouldings because the cough he has been struggling with for the past month or so is showing no signs of improving and he was hoping to get to speak to a doctor and have his chest sounded. That left the day free.

We drove to Tesco later in the morning just to get some essentials and for once what we got was the bare essentials.

After lunch Scamp fed the roses, did the ironing and planted some of her packet of fifteen Cerinthe seeds, also known as Honeywort and they were hopefully getting some sunshine in the front bedroom window sill. While she was working, I took an old lightweight Manfrotto tripod with a couple of cameras up to Fannyside in search of some interesting clouds to photograph. I was also carrying a couple of neutral density filters in an attempt to get some very slow shutter speed photos of the clouds scudding across the sky. I don’t know what I did wrong, but most of them ended up with circular reflections from the lens on them. Must investigate. I did get some normal exposure shots of some nosy sheep and a few landscapes, but PoD went to an old fencepost covered in moss and lichen.

Giovanni Rana tortellini for dinner. Today’s variety was Basil and Pine Nut. Then it was time for Kirsty’s class, the final section of the Tango. After a struggle remembering the last thing we did last week, we managed to bolt on the new ending and that was it done. Not quite as easily as that, but not the drama it might have been, although Drama is an integral part of Tango!

Tomorrow afternoon Scamp has an appointment with the dentist.

Good Friday in the Toon – 29 March 2024

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After sitting around completing Wordle and finding one pangram in Spelling Bee, we decided to take the train to Glasgow.

Got on a busy train in to The Town. Coffee in Nero and walked up to Buchanan Galleries but really only interested in JL. We are kind of looking for a new freezer and possibly a new fridge. A combined fridge/freezer might be a viable alternative to singles. We did find a few that were in our budget and also would fit in the available space. No definite front runners yet. Simply keeping our options open.

Three floors up in JL is the “Toy Shop”. Scamp’s laptop is getting old and a bit tired. It’s also holding a lot of files, mainly photos and videos in its 128GB SSD. That means there’s not a lot of space left, which is the reason it’s getting tired. The “Toy Shop” is where all the laptops live in JL and while Scamp would like a new laptop, she can’t be bothered looking at all the numbers and abbreviations. I suppose that’s my job. We looked at a few that, like the fridge/freezers, were within our budget and surprisingly there were more than I’d thought there might be. Again, this was just an initial investigation of what was out there. No decisions made.

We had a quick wander round the town, but this was Good Friday, so there were loads of folk doing the same thing. I had a look in Cass Art but wasn’t really looking for anything. While I was looking at paint and things, Scamp was looking at dresses for a wedding later in the year. We met up again later and walked back to JL again, in the rain that had descended on us, for a spot of lunch. Italian Deli roll for Scamp New York Deli roll for me. Both fine for a decent lunch with a cup of tea. Walked back to the station and caught the train back, then drove home through torrential rain again for the second time in two days. April showers come early?

PoD was a shot looking down Buchanan Galleries from the Benugo cafe where we had our lunch. Quite a risky shot to take as the guards who prowl the floors are quick to tell you that photography is banned in the galleries, although neither my brother nor I have seen any notice confirming this. Maybe I was just lucky today.

Drove over to Larky for dinner at Crawford and Nancy’s. Great fun as usual. I did take my Spanish guitar and we played and sang as a foursome after dinner. Scamp on piano, Nancy and Crawford on ukulele and me on guitar. Everyone pitching in with vocals as required. Ollie the dog retired to the kitchen and I’m sure lay there with his paws over his ears!

Drove home and amazingly managed to get a parking space! Finally got to bed just before 1am. A long day, but a good one. I think I may practise more on the ukulele for our next foursome, all being well. It’s easier for the chord changes.

No plans for tomorrow other than to be up and out by 10:15 to drive to Brookfield!

Dancin’ – 21 March 2024

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After a lazy morning we were pitched into another day of dancing.

Drove to Glenburn for today’s tea dance. Horrible day, rained all the way there, but we got to sit at a great table and the weather was forgotten. I missed the first two dances, both waltzes because I had something in my shoe or in my sock. It took me two dance tracks to fix it, I wasn’t avoiding the dance … honest. I knew I’d have another opportunity to dance the waltz after tea or find something else in my shoe if necessary.

Next was foxtrot which I staggered through with Scamp’s helpful comments like “Where are you going?” ringing in my ears. On a positive note, we danced an almost perfect Ballroom Rumba and Ria Bachata.

Good to sit and talk to folk the same or similar age as us and hear their plans for the year. Also good to see the floor full for most of the dances.  Even better, was for me to win a chocolate egg in the Easter raffle!  Thank you Stewart & Jane!

Drove home through more, even heavier rain on the M74 and kept the wheels turning. We’d never have managed that on the Kingston Bridge which is just a slowly moving carpark until about 8pm on any day of the working week.

Dinner, after some discussion was Chicken Thighs with Leeks and Peas. Brilliant recipe where the oven does all the work. Lovely crunchy skin on the chicken and the crisped up leeks are great too.

Speaking about Leeks, today’s PoD  was another experiment. I cut off the bottom 20mm of a leek and set it to float in a container of water. That was a few weeks ago. Now it has grown and been tidied up a bit and I’m hoping to plant it in a pot in the greenhouse and see if I can grow a leek from a leek! I have Hazy to thank for the inspiration.

Tomorrow, the plan is to drive to some B&Q that actually has paint to sell of the exact colour we’re looking for for the next stage in Project Spring Clean the House!

Admiring my handiwork – 19 March 2024

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Surprisingly, no aches and pains, no pulled muscles either from yesterday’s tentative return to home decorating.

In fact, we drove up to the local B&Q to see if they had the paint we’re intending to use in the front bedroom. They didn’t have it in stock. It wasn’t a great surprise, they never have what you need in this store. Scamp agreed and said that you don’t see crowds of people shopping for anything in this store. It’s usually joiners and builders we see in this B&Q. I’m guessing they get a good trade discount, paid for through the full price the general public have to fork out. I’m amazed it’s still in business.

So, it was in and out again as quick as possible today and then on to Tesco for the weekly shop. No problem with the general public there. Tuesdays are usually busy and the shelves are usually full. We avoid Mondays when the bakery department seem to take the day off en masse.

Back home and after lunch I had a quick discussion with my brother on WhatsApp about where we’d go this week. I put up a good case for Stirling which has architecture and the occasional grand church which he likes and what can be gorgeous view along the carse to the Lomond hills which suits me.

With that settled I went out for a walk in St Mo’s, but I could just have returned home after a five minutes walk because I found today’s PoD not a hundred metres from our front door. Just a wee daisy that had made its home in a crack in the pavement next to an inspection plug for the wireless cable. A shot in the bag is always a great thing.

Wandered round St Mo’s anyway since the photowalk is not just about taking photos, but also about keeping moving, getting some exercise and increasing my daily step count.

When I got home, I was just going through today’s 17 photos when Scamp started cheering. I thought we’d won the lottery before I remembered we had just torn up Saturday’s failed chance to become a millionaire. No, it was the early arrival of Laura & (Big)Ross’s baby girl and John & Marion’s first grandchild. Three weeks early. Good luck to them all.

Dinner tonight was Paella a family favourite that I hadn’t made for months, and it showed. A bit soggy, but apart from that it was fine. It filled a space as we say.

Tomorrow Alex and I are off to terrorise Stirling. Scamp has nothing planned apart from cleaning and ironing.

Busy, busy, busy – 5 February 2024

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Out just after 10am for an appointment with the sister at the health centre and the day had begun.

It was just a check-up to see if my there had been any sided effects after removing a blood pressure pill from my collection. The sister was happy with the results so far and asked me to make another appointment in three months time. Other than that, she was happy to discharge me.

Drove back home, picking up a loaf and a couple of jugs of milk on the way. Time for a coffee and then I was out to pick up Val and take him to Costa for a coffee and a blether with Fred. The blether lasted for just over two hours and many and varied were the tales that were told, but when Fred’s conversation turned to politics I started putting my jacket on. Val seemed to cotton on to the fact that the blether was over for today and we all walked out into the wind and the heavy rain that had been with us for a few days now. I dropped Val off at his house and then made my exit before I got totally soaked.

Back home I felt a bit sick. I blame it on the ‘coffee’ in Costa. It was good for a couple of days, but it’s back to the floor sweepings again . I knew it was too good to last. I’d taken a few shots of some succulents in the morning and thought I could make a PoD of them, but I was just wasting my time. Instead I used a phone camera shot of ‘Nelly’ the Pleiospilos Nelii looking quite relaxed in her new painted pot. I’d sent the photo to Hazy, but with a bit of a crop it made a decent PoD too.

Today’s prompt for EDiF was “Cream”. I chose the Ice variety of cream and rather than have a neat, tidy, delicious looking ice cream cone, I picked the one that’s half melted and runs down over your fingers, making you wish you’d accepted the offer of the paper napkin. It’s also the time when you realise the ‘wet wipes’ are in the car and you can’t open the car door without without making a bigger mess. Ah, life is full of problems, isn’t it!

That was about it for the day. Short and sweet today. That’s just the way it is sometimes. Tomorrow looks better than today, with a light breeze and the risk of some sunshine! We may take Shona out to lunch.

A busy day – 13 January 2024

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It was a busy day today. I was lucky, I was only making the main course, while Scamp was making starter and dessert. Dinner would be about 7.30pm, but the work started about 11am, in fact, Scamp’s dessert was started yesterday and left to infuse overnight.

Once the kitchen was cleared, I powered up the Instant Pot and got it to fry the chicken. That was a mistake, because it’s difficult to get the heat at the right setting. Too low and it just stews the chicken, too high and it burns, and there are only three settings. Even the middle setting is a bit fierce. In the end, I used the wok to fry the chicken. Ten chicken thighs done in three batches. For some reason the three onions that were to be sliced and fried worked perfectly in the pot! Some things work better than others. From there in, it was just a case of following the recipe and after about 45 minutes everything was working well and the Instant Pot was in Slow Cooker mode and just chugging along.

We’d missed a couple of ingredients, so I volunteered to drive to Tesco to get them while Scamp worked on at the ice cream. When I returned, we began deep frying the haggis bonbon starters. Scamp formed them and fried them while I transferred them to the kitchen paper on a tin in the oven.

By the afternoon we could have lunch and rest a while, knowing that everything was fairly well under control and working. Later in the afternoon I took a camera out for a walk in St Mo’s and got a decent view over the pond with the clouds reflecting on the water. PoD in the bag.

It was nearly 8pm before Crawford & Nancy arrived. While I was at Tesco, I’d bought half a dozen bottles of beer, because I know Crawford likes his beer, only to find that he had nominated himself driver for the night! Ok, not a disaster, because I can always drink a bottle of beer!

Dinner was Haggis Bonbons for starter with Chicken Tagine for main, then Homemade Yoghurt Ice cream for pudding. The tagine was a bit tasteless, but the rest was lovely.

It was a great night, even if I did eat and drink too much and we said goodnight to them just before midnight. That left us about half an hour to load the dishwasher for morning and go to bed. Tired, but fairly happy.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go dancing at Brookfield.

Off east to see the horses – 29 December 2023

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I’d promised Scamp an afternoon at the Kelpies and I hate to disappoint her.

So we drove over to Helix Park in Falkirk where the Kelpies live. It started off as a beautiful day, but by the time we got there, the clouds were rolling in. Paid for parking and walked over the canal bridge, then down the path beside the Forth & Clyde canal to admire the great beasts. I got a few photos as we were walking and we also passed the RE: Wild Thing which is an installation made from recycled bike parts made to represent the nature and wildflowers within the park. Very clever recycling (pun intended).

We crossed over the outfall of the canal and back to the main event, the Kelpies themselves. We both noticed that there were lights inside them today. I imagine they look quite impressive after nightfall. There was a small skating rink in the park, but I wasn’t intending going on the ice. I never did fancy ice skating. Thankfully there wasn’t much of a queue at the cafe and we could sit in relative comfort with our coffee and a scone, watching the folk taking selfies and group photos in front of the sculptures.

It was quite cold today and as the sky was clearing, it seemed to get even colder. Maybe that was because I knew the temperature was going to be sub zero tonight, or maybe the wind was stealing all the heat away.
We had one more walk round the horses and then walked back to the car, then drove home via Tesco for a couple of bags of messages. On the way back to the house I stopped at Fred’s house to hand in a Christmas/Birthday prezzy for him and a box of chocolates for Margo. Poor Fred’s birthday is on the 25th of December! He must have felt hard done by when he was younger, only getting one lot of prezzies!

We watched an entertaining Celebrity Masterchef. It’s not every day you’ll hear me saying that, but this one was special, because it was the food critics who were cooking for the previous winners of Masterchef. I don’t know how faked it was, but the celebs really did seem to be having a hard time getting things finished in the timescale. Worth looking for on iPlayer if only for the looks on the critics faces!

Dinner was a delicious Chicken Milanese. Chicken fillet battered flat with a rolling pin, coated in breadcrumbs and fried in the frying pan. Served with potatoes. A Scamp classic.

PoD was, of course The Kelpies, viewed from the other side of the canal from my usual place.

Tomorrow we might get some of the white stuff. Temperature is already -1ºc, right in the middle of the danger zone. Need to find our snow shovels perhaps.

Dentist – 20 December 2023

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Today I had an appointment with the dentist and Scamp had a lunch appointment with the other Witches.

My appointment with the dentist was in the morning. The easy part of it was the replacement of a filling that was coming loose, but I wanted her opinion on the big tusk at the back of my mouth that was giving me toothache. She checked it by tapping it with her scraper tool and also by scooting cold water on it and it passed the tests. Just to be sure she did an X-Ray and it came up clean, no sign of an abscess. Scamp thought it was the Edinburgh rock I’m addicted to and that a bit of sugar from it had got into the tooth. The dentist said Scamp is probably right, because teeth are porous (didn’t know that) and the sugar could pass through and cause the pain if it reached the nerve. She put some varnish on it and set it with an ultra-violet light thing. I’ll keep a watchful eye on it for a few days until I forget and go looking for that bag of Edinburgh rock again!

The filling was easily removed and replaced with a shiny new one that I’m hoping to keep for a while and not go poking at. It seem that the NHS are now recommending annual dental checks, not biannual as they were last time I had one. It’s just a cost saving exercise, I know, but at least Scamp and I are on the NHS list, rather than paying the full price as a lot of folk are.

By the time I got home, Scamp was ready to get a lift from Jeanette to Calders where they had a table booked. I had a couple of hours to myself, so I added another wash to the painting I’d been doing. What I SHOULD have done was check what that wash was supposed to do. That way I might have avoided the mess that resulted from adding paint where it shouldn’t go. Not to worry, it was a first attempt and I learned something. I think I now know what I’m meant to do with this second stage, so I might try again tomorrow on a clean sheet.

I decided lunch was on the menu and today it was going to he a Larky favourite of an egg poached in mince. Sounds disgusting? Try it before you condemn it. It’s delicious, especially served on buttered bread.

I thought I’d just enough time for a walk round St Mo’s pond before I lost the light entirely and that was how it turned out. Today’s PoD was a fairly close-up shot of a St John’s Wort plant that’s been growing quite happily through the summer, the rain of autumn and the frost and snow of early winter. I’m surprised that those big flat green leaves didn’t collapse under the weight of the snow last month, but there it is with them and the flowers still intact.

Walked back and hadn’t even taken my boots off when Scamp arrived in Annette’s car. Spoke to Annette about her fairly new hybrid Toyota and she told me she wasn’t impressed with it. Mpg is good, but not brilliant and it’s a bit sluggish on hills. However, we agreed on one thing. It’s much better than the Juke she had before. I think we’ll keep to the Micra for the foreseeable future.

I was just heading out to post the last two Christmas cards and I suggested I might bring back a fish supper for dinner. Scamp agree and that’s what we had. A lazy dinner for a change.

Tomorrow we’re intending to go to the last tea dance of the year. Let’s hope Storm Pia isn’t as bad as predicted.

 

 

Another dull day – 16 December 2023

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Today was dull. There is no other way to put it. Just plain Scottish dreich.

Scamp announced that today would be devoted to tidying up the living room and especially the dinner table. With that decided for us, I did my fair share of tidying up, considering that it was mainly my junk that needed to be sorted through into Keep and Chuck piles. It did make a difference to the overall feel of the house when we were finished.

After a plate each of minestrone for lunch, we went for a walk to the shops. We didn’t really need anything there, but it was good to get out in the fresh air for a walk. I brought my camera with me, but didn’t feel inspired to take it out of the bag. It’s so difficult to get inspired on these dull days with no directional light. Scamp got a poinsettia with the money that June had given her for that purpose, but I really went for the walk. Back home a hot chocolate did brighten the afternoon a bit, as did a wee bag of Maltesers.

Spoke to Val when he phoned me out of the blue in the afternoon. It was good to hear from him and he sounded a lot more like himself. Still not fit enough or confident enough to go out for coffee, but a fifteen minute conversation made me feel a lot better. He certainly has had a hard time these last few weeks.

Later in the afternoon we got a message from Hazy to say that both their parcels had been delivered and that they had been divided up. Neil chose a brass cross and will give his mum and dad the other one, while Hazy has another cat too look after, albeit a ceramic one!

I couldn’t find a subject worthy of photographing, but then I found lots of subjects hanging on the Christmas tree. A wee Santa got the chance to shine today. Taken with the LensBaby 35 distortion lens, it looked quite good surrounded by the Christmas lights.

Dinner was Borlotti Beans and Bacon and was really such an excellent dinner for such a dull, cold, windy day. Great choice, Scamp.

We watched the final of Strictly in the evening and I must say it bolstered my opinion that the show is past its ‘sell by date’. How the worst contender of the final three managed to lift the trophy, I’ll never know. I don’t think I’ll watch the show next year, it is too depressing.

Tomorrow we have no plans. Hoping against hope that the sun may manage to shine for a short spell, but not convinced that it will.

Coffee again – 6 December 2023

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Out in the morning for the third time this week, but this time it was both of us who were going out.

Scamp was heading for Glasgow to find an undisclosed purchase and I was going for a coffee. I gave Scamp a lift to the station and then managed to pick up a box of Christmas cards and had just enough time to write them before the meeting began

I was meeting Colin and John for coffee in Costa. I think I’ve had my fill now of poor coffee. Not terrible, just not good coffee. But I did have a good blether with Colin and John. I laughed when one of my FPs (Former Pupils) walked past pushing a pram, and who then did a double take at the sight of at least two of her former teachers sitting there. Even worse, she returned to the counter with another FP, presumably to corroborate her discovery that we were still in the land of the living!

After about an hour and a half we were talked out and went our separate ways. I drove home through what must have been freezing fog, I reckon. It certainly wasn’t very pleasant to drive through. I’d had the fog lights on earlier in the day, but didn’t need them on the way back.

After footering about for a while back home and once again praising a central heating system that keeps the living room at a comfortable temperature, I was just thinking about heading over to St Mo’s to grab some misty, if not foggy photos when a message from Scamp arrived on my phone to tell me she was on the bus home. That’s when I realised I was supposed to be making soup for dinner and I hadn’t started it yet.

The early warning gave me about 45 minutes to get going. It was another “What have we got that’s worth cooking” soup which finally settled down to be Leek, Red Pepper, Carrot, Turnip and Kale soup with a handful of Broth Mix added in for good measure. By the time Scamp arrived the soup was simmering nicely and I did go out with the A7 to get some photos.

There had been fog in the morning, but by the time I was in St Mo’s, it had dissipated and the temperature was dropping just like the weather fairies had said. The fog had left a light film of moisture on the branches and berries on the bushes and as the temperature dropped below zero, that moisture became spikes of ice crystals. Very pretty to look at but very cold. I got a few photos of them, but PoD went to a crop of a shot of wildfowl on St Mo’s pond. The crop made it look, to my eyes, like a sort of panorama. I was quite pleased with it. However a black & white image of a man and his dog walking over the boardwalk got more attention on Flickr.

No dance practise tonight because the teacher is crocked. She twisted her ankle when she was out walking her dogs at luchtime.  That’s a pity, because I’m getting to like her style and her classes.  Maybe next week.

We watched the final episode of Shetland and found out who the murderer was as well as discovering how the sorry tale unwound itself. Clever writing, producing, acting and scenery. I’m beginning to feel that I know what Shetland looks like now.

Tomorrow Scamp is out again for lunch this time with Mags and I may take the opportunity to do some painting or to go in to Glasgow. It depends on the weather!