Category: Friends

Meeting Margie – 17 March 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Another day entering the wonderful world of Margie

Before we get to that, here’s the weather report for today. It will try to rain for a while, but its heart isn’t really in it, so it will stop and consider its options, then it will rain again, but decide maybe sun would be good. No, that doesn’t work either. Probably give them some more rain, just light rain this time, or maybe heavy rain would be better … Do you get the idea the weather was having one of its indecision days?

We stayed at home in the morning and watched the sun then the rain exchange places until lunch time, then after toast ’n’ beans, we did our Lat Flow tests and set off to Seafar to visit Margie.

She lives alone now since Tarry died. Her son visits her every day and has dinner with her every night. It was bucketing with rain when we arrived, but she brightened our day, as I hope we brightened hers. She had one of her paintings for me to look at and I had my Every Day in February sketches for her to critique. I liked her painting of two sax players. It was painted alla prima (in one session without underpainting) and in acrylic. It felt fresh and you could feel the subjects moving. I was impressed. She seemed to like my sketches too and gave reasons for her likes and dislikes. As always, she had lots of stories to tell mainly about Tarry’s family this time. All about his father’s escapades during WW2, being sent to internment camps in the Isle of Man. It’s easy to forget, in these days of Russia invading Ukraine, that Italians in the UK during the war weren’t trusted and sent to what were almost PoW camps here. After an hour or so we left her to rest a while before her son arrived, vowing to come back soon. She’s a great fan of Alan Cumming, Hazy and was interested to hear that he has a new book out. I think it’s on her shopping list now.

We drove home via Tesco at the town centre, because we were near there. As I was coming out, I saw a face that I recognised, but couldn’t put a name to. It was Brian Gregg, one time student teacher at my school, then a probationer with us too. He recognised me too and we talked in a howling gale for a while in the Tesco car park. Strange to think that seven years later he’s married with two kids. He’s still teaching and obviously enjoying it, also making plans for promotion too. It was really good to speak to him. Cheered me up just as much as Margie did.

Back home the wind was still wild, but the rain had turned itself off again, so I went walking in the woods of St Mo’s and that’s where the Larch flowers came from. It was a close thing between it and another blossom shot.

Dinner was the second half of yesterday’s minestrone. Almost as good as yesterday’s.

Today was the end of another of the drops for Scamp. Only one bottle left. Seven more days and four drops a day, so that’s 28 drops to go until we’re done, all being well.

Tomorrow we might go for lunch. Since we’ve been talking Italian today, we might to an Italian restaurant.

Coffee – 16 March 2022

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Yesterday I got a box of coffee. This morning I was drinking it.

Unfortunately it was Costa coffee I was drinking, but the company made up for it. John, Val and I were the trio of Auld Guys today. We just sat and talked for an hour and a half, mainly about folk we knew and worked beside. We also heard about John’s trip to Keswick for Big Ross’s stag party. A relaxed hour and a half for me at least. Eventually we’d talked ourselves out and it was time to go.

I was heading over to Abronhill and Val accepted a lift with me. I think his leg were giving him problems today and he was happy to be driven home on a dull day. I dropped him at his house and headed back to the recycling centre. The reason I was going to Abronhill was to take a DVD player and a bag of other bits and pieces to the skips. For once the recycling centre was fairly quiet and everything got dumped without any problem.

From there I drove up to Fannyside to see if the wee brown ladybird was still there. I though it might have been hibernating, but apparently not, because it was nowhere to be seen. I did find loads of lichen, Stag’s Horn and Cladonia and they kept me busy for a while. Switched to the 18mm wide angle and got some landscapes. Light wasn’t really very good. Quite flat and uninteresting, as were most of the photos. PoD went to a blob of moss with some fruiting bodies on top. Looked like a little green hill.

While I was driving home I got a notion to make Minestrone for dinner. I found the recipe in an old cook book and between us, Scamp and I worked out what we needed to augment the veg we had in the fridge. Then we walked down to the shops and bought just that and nothing that we didn’t need, not even a bottle of gin! We were very good today.

Spent a good hour or so while the soup was simmering away, trying to find a solution to a problem with the 18mm lens. There’s a blue cast at the edges of the frame and although I can fix it quite easily, it shouldn’t be there. After some research, I found out that it’s quite common to have a colour cast on ultra-wide lenses. It’s just something you have to put up with, but there is a fix and it’s built into Lightroom and it’s in the Library module. It’s called ‘Flat-Field Correction’. Google those words and you’ll find directions. Some preparation work needs to be done first before it will work.
Dear readers, that last paragraph was an aide mémoire for me in the future to remind me how to fix the problem of the blue cast.

Hoping to go to see Margie tomorrow and hear more of her madcap stories. I must take my concertina sketch book with me. Other than that, not a lot planned, although weather looks like it’s improving. Sub-zero tonight predicted.

A busy musical day – 11 March 2022

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Music rarely has a place in the blog, but it has today.

The day started with Scamp driving us to Tesco. Just a usual Friday shop. Basics and a bottle of wine. Unfortunately, the wine wasn’t for us but for friends we were visiting later.

Back home I started making dough for a loaf. I usually take a loaf to Crawford and Nancy in Larky. Scamp reckoned a small loaf would be enough for four of us and small loaves are easier to hand knead, so that’s what I did.

After lunch I went out for a walk and a hope for more frog photos, if they were still there. They were, and the photos were taken. They were taken with my big clunky Tamron 70-300mm lens. It was a great lens some years ago when I first bought it for my Nikon D7000, then things started going wrong. The Vibration Control would sometimes take a day off and just refuse to work. Focusing too was a hit and a miss. I got it repaired, and it worked for a while after that, but it really wasn’t to be trusted. Now I’ve got a Sony and a Nikon adapter which allows the lens to work in manual mode only and without VC. I don’t use a long lens very much and this one covers the times when I need a lens that’s longer than 105mm.

By the time I came back the dough had risen quite well and was ready to go into the little cane basket for its second prove as I looked through the photos from today’s shoot. Surprisingly, some were better than I’d expected. In fact one of the m made PoD.

That had given the bread time to puff up a bit and I bunged it in the oven for the required 25 mins. It came out almost as flat as a pancake. I decided we’d try it tomorrow, but there was no way it was going to Larky.

Time was getting on and it was nearly time to drive over to the the Town Behind the Wall. I was taking a ukulele and a steel strung guitar, because Crawford wanted to have a jam session with him playing uke and me playing guitar. I wasn’t looking forward to it all that much, but it was a really great evening. Both instruments were tuned together and we ran through many of his old favourites, but songs I hadn’t expected. I was very rough to start with, but as the night progressed, I started to settle in to the chord sequences. What I did find was that the finger tips of my left hand were painfully tingling. It’s been a long time since I’ve sat for an hour and a half playing a guitar.  While we were singing and playing, the ladies were in the sitting room blethering.

We left just after midnight, so as you will have guessed by now, this is a catch-up. A small glass of rum as a nightcap because I was driving to dance class in the morning, then it was off to bed.

Tomorrow we’re going to the first dance class in about five weeks. Hope we can remember which foot goes first!

 

Off to Bombay – 2 March 2022

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Not the hot place, but the place in Hamilton where they make the hot stuff.

It was a dull and wet day in the morning and we couldn’t decide where to go. I think it was me who suggested Bombay Cottage in Hamilton where they make good curries and great big naan bread that is baked to order. Scamp wanted our plain naan ‘well done’ and when it came it was indeed singed beautifully. My curry which was a Chicken Salsa-Syrah was a bit tasteless but hot. Scamp had her usual Cauliflower Shimla Bhaji which was fine, but the sauce was a bit thin. However, it’s the naan and the ice cream that are the stars in this curry house. There is nothing much to see in Hamilton now, so we just drove home.

In the afternoon I went out for a photo walk and brought back one decent shot of a sycamore seed sprouting in the leaf litter and another of a man walking down the much photographed lane between Condorrat and the new shops. This truly is the path that keeps giving. After some consideration, the sprouting baby tree got PoD.

When I came home there was Scamp with a big smile and an equally big bunch of flowers that had come from John & Marion with a card that said “Hope you’re recovering well after your operation”. Isn’t that nice.

I’d intended going out with Alex for a walk and a blether on Friday because the weather seemed to be picking up for the weekend. However, today it looks like Friday will be dull and wet, so he’s suggested we call off until next week. I think it’s a good idea too. We might go for a coffee in Hamilton or Motherwell, if the weather is too bad for a walk. I just want to lust after his new camera which is almost as good as mine, just almost.

Tomorrow also looks wet. We haven’t got any definite plans, but if there’s a dry spell we may risk a walk.

Here’s a thought. I was just browsing on the ‘net and found the Berghaus page. Did you know that they’ll repair any jacket, trousers or boots free of charge. That’s their commitment to Reuse – Repair – Recycle. Wouldn’t it be good if more places did that. I don’t see Apple or Dell doing it though!

Hoping for a dry hour tomorrow.

 

Coffee with Isobel – 28 February 2022

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Coffee with Isobel in Costa. Always an entertainment.

I was glad the company was good, because the coffee was awful. Watery liquid with no taste of coffee. You should watch some time and see how much hot water goes into the cup and how little coffee. However, that wasn’t why we were there. It was just a chance for Scamp and Isobel to catch up on recent events. Isobel goes for her pre-assessment on Wednesday and was full of questions for Sheila.

After an hour and a half or so, we went our separate ways. Isobel to meet a friend and us to go and get the messages in Tesco. Drove to Craigmarloch and frightened ourselves with the price of petrol. Nearly £1.50 per litre! I don’t know if I can afford to fill up the tank of the wee blue car.

After lunch I went out for a walk in St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which was another larch flower. It looked as if it and the pine cone were having a discussion, or more likely that the pine cone was giving the new arrival some hints and tips for an easy life in the woods. Or is that just me being stupid again. It’s called Anthropomorphism, just in case you are wondering. Then I thought the larch flower looked like a wee cup cake. I don’t think there is a name for that and I do believe I should severely reduce my alcohol intake in the mornings!!

When I came home and was perusing the photos I’d taken, I noticed the sun had come out for the first time today. It had been noticeably missing when I was out walking.

Today’s final prompt was Happy. This is me sitting at the table trying to think up something to draw for the final sketch of February 2022. I think that this is fitting. I’m happy that I’ve finished all 28 again. As always, it’s been a struggle some nights, but it was good to get ‘likes’ and even some comments, so thank you for your ‘reactions’ as FB describes it. It does make you want to continue and gives value to the sketches and paintings. Also, a thank you to my wife for being my most honest critic. I don’t think I’ll torture myself with an Every Day in March, but maybe I’ll participate in the May edition, if I’m allowed, DV.

Spoke to Fred tonight and he was asking how Scamp was getting on. Then we discussed the quality of work on Landscape Artist of the Year and what we’d have done to improve it. While Fred and I were talking, Scamp was talking weddings and outfits with Jacqueline (Big Jac). Later Jamie phoned and we discovered that the survey of the roof timbers of the house had found that the woodworm was historical and nothing needed to be done, but as usual, other timbers needed strengthening. Good news and bad news. That’s the way of the world. You just hope that the good outweighs the bad, because there’s usually little you can do about it anyway.

So with that thought, I don’t think we have any plans for tomorrow. It looks like rain.

Another wet and windy one – 20 February 2022

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It was raining today when we woke up. What a surprise!

I took Scamp’s car out for a run to Tesco to top up its fuel and to buy some stuff. I had a voucher for groceries that I’d been meaning to spend, so I took it with me too. Scamp gave me a short list of her requirements and I got most of them. Bumped into Fred at the shops and we spent a good few minutes catching up on what each of us had been doing, which wasn’t much. We discussed the merits and demerits of the current participants on Landscape Artist of the Year. He asked after Scamp and I asked after Margo then we went our separate ways him to but more groceries and me to get one of those fancy scanner things everyone in Tesco seems to use these days.

With the scanner beeping away as I recorded all my purchases, I had a great time. Then I realised I didn’t know what to do next. I did what most sensible people do, but what most Auld Guys don’t, I read the instructions which said “bag as you go”. Had I done that? No. I’d just loaded everything into the trolley. However, I planned to use the Auld Guy card when I went to the checkout and plead stupidity. It comes naturally to me. Eventually the girl at the checkout sorted everything out and I apologised to the next couple in the queue, then made a hasty exit after paying my dues and using my voucher. A lot of my stuff was going in the Food Bank box which was now overflowing, but I managed to squeeze it all in. Feeling I’d actually made a difference to someone, I drove to the petrol station where the Wee Red Car got some much needed expensive petrol. After that I drove home. It really is a lovely little car. You can see for miles in it. Probably the best visibility I’ve ever had in a car.

After lunch and after marinading the short ribs I was having for dinner, I wrote an email to Alex explaining the difficulties of being a nurse for Scamp and sending him some of my latest photo offerings. With the email sent, I went for a walk in St Mo’s. I’d hoped to get some decent light, but, of course with my luck, I got the rain that had threatened most of the afternoon but hadn’t appeared. Just as it was beginning to clear, the sun shone brightly and I grabbed half a dozen decent shots looking straight into the light. When they were processed, there was no doubt they were going to be competing for PoD. The one I chose was the easiest to process. No fancy shading or sepia toning, this was virtually out of the camera.

I cooked the short ribs in the Le Creuset in the oven for two hours at gas 6, then for about half an hour at gas 4. My marinade was Salt, Honey, White Wine Vinegar and Olive Oil plus Mustard. (Salt, Sugar, Acid and Oil) You see Hazy. I do remember the important things. By the way, the mustard helps the olive oil and the vinegar to mix. The chemist will probably disagree. They were well cooked, but they had to be, they’d been chilling in the freezer since March last year! They tasted as fresh as if they’d been bought yesterday. Scamp had a simpler pieces of salmon cooked in tinfoil. No fancy marinade. No Le Creuset. Just simple good cooking. Both tasted great with potatoes and a little butter.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard how they survived the recent storms and more work needed in the house. He got an update on Scamp’s eye situation too.

Today’s prompt was Beautiful Day.  Unfortunately it wasn’t a beautiful day where I was today. Rain, wind and occasional bright sun, but beautiful? Not really. I watched the video for the prompt but nothing really jumped out at me apart from this bloke who girned and groaned into the camera. He’s probably someone important, at least important to himself. To me he’s a bloke with black glasses who needs a shave. Before you say anything, yes, I do know who he is. He’s Bozo, no, he’s Bono. Bozo is another thing entirely, not quite human, but still bumbling along, pretending he’s Churchill.

Tomorrow looks like it might be a good day. If it is, we may go somewhere scenic.

 

 

Coffee with a crowd – 9 February 2022

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Four of us meeting for coffee. When was the last time that happened?

Up and out fairly early to meet Val, Colin and John for coffee and a blether this morning, and there was a lot of blethering! I’d forgotten to tell John which of the town’s three Costas we were meeting in, but after that we got down to the business of comparing ailments, discussing our latest tech and telling tall stories. Two hours flew past before we knew it and it was time to say cheerio until the next meeting. Hopefully we’ll be able to coax Fred to join us next time.

After the coffee we all made our separate ways home. I dropped in at Tesco on the way to get some baby wipes to allow Scamp to swab her eyelids, apparently it has to be done twice a day for a week before the op. After lunch I watched the hail battering down and decided to wait a while before going out again. Later, I took a calculated risk thinking that I might manage to get a few photos at St Mo’s then get down to the shops and back before the next shower. I almost made it too. I just lingered too long getting photos of the pond looking very placid. Five minutes later I was being battered by hail. I did get to the shops, though and brought back the necessities for making tonight’s stir-fry dinner.

The photos weren’t too bad. I was using an old 10-20mm wide angle Nikon lens bolted onto an adapter which in turn was connected to the A6000. After reading about it last night I managed to get the combination to focus manually and was really pleased with the finished result. A worthwhile PoD.

Today’s prompt was Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White. I sort of knew it as a piece of music my dad used to have, played on trumpet by Eddie Calvert. I never even knew there were lyrics for it. I listened to both today, the Eddie Calvert version and the sung version and wondered why they added lyrics.
But today’s sketch didn’t come from either, it came from a suggestion from Scamp that I draw a couple of paint pots. That sounded like a good idea and that’s what you see here!
Doesn’t it irritate you when the colour that goes on the wall is nothing like the one on the paint chart or the paint tin? I think that’s what happened to this poor decorator.

A short dance practise tonight with Mambo Marina, Tina Tango and two variations on the Rumba. Meanwhile our two dance teachers are sunning themselves in the Caribbean! It’s just not fair.

No plans for tomorrow. High winds and snow predicted.

A bit wet and a bit windy too – 5 February 2022

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There wasn’t much to say about today. We could have gone out, but we didn’t. It tried to snow, then it got fed up with that and it just turned to sleet, then rain, heavy rain. We didn’t even have a dance class to go to.

I went out in the afternoon for a walk round St Mo’s and came back with a few shots of rivers of rain running down the paths, Not very interesting. Oh, yes and it rained some more. Torrential soaking rain. My boots kept my feet dry, and my jacket took a beating, but kept my top dry. The walking trousers are great for keeping me warm, but no use for keeping the rain out. They just soak it up. Admittedly that’s not what they’re meant to do, they’re just to keep my legs warm, so I shouldn’t really complain. But I do!

When I looked at the photos I had, they weren’t really worth looking at. Instead today’s PoD was a photo of a couple of carnation flowers with the kitchen window and some raindrops providing the backdrop.

In the evening we drove to Hamilton for dinner with John and Marion. A cold starter of Salmon and Lemon Juice. Two of my least favourite flavours, but it was delicious. Main was Chicken & Chorizo with Pan Fried Cubed Potatoes and Green Beans. Also delicious. Of course Scamp didn’t eat the green beans, because they squeak, but she apologised to Marion. Pudding was Deconstructed Black Forest Gateau for Scamp and Pear & Apple Crumble with a Praline Topping for me. That had to be the best crumble I’ve ever eaten. Nuts, grains of some kind and home made crunchy caramel. Amazing.

Scamp and Marion discussed Laura and Ross’s upcoming wedding almost all night, plus we got our official invitation to the event in May. It was a really good night that we both enjoyed. Nice to meet up with folk again, face to face.

It was late when we got home, so a G ’n’ T for both of us as a nightcap ensured that this would be a catch-up blog, as you’ve probably guessed and we hoped that tomorrow (ie today) would be better weather wise.

A bit calmer today – 2 February 2022

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Thankfully the wind had gone to bother someone else today.

I spent the morning getting my photographs organised into the correct folders in the correct place for my new regime. It took a lot more time than I’d anticipated, but it’s done now. In fact it took me until lunchtime to get it completed.

Immediately after lunch we drove up to Seafar to visit Margie who is one Scamp’s oldest friends in Cumbersheugh. Old in the sense that they’ve known each other for a long time. Old also in years, but not in outlook. The stories she tells have us in stitches. A great painter too. I took last night’s work to let her critique it and it won some praise from her. Then we discussed the prompts for the week and she gave me a few suggestions for the more obscure ones. Things I’d never have thought of. We stayed for a couple of hours and I think Scamp was careful not to tire her out too much. All in all an entertaining and at times hilarious afternoon on a really dull day.

Dinner tonight was house favourite: Cod with Bacon, Lentils and Braised Peas. Simple and satisfying. Two cheap steamed puddings from Iceland provided the pudding.

Today’s prompt was Brown Eyed Girl. Van Morrison is not my favourite artist, so I stuck with my lyrics theme and added the chorus from the song, but gave a nod to Van the Man with his archetypal hat and dark glasses. The cow is called Daisy. Named by Margie.

PoD is further adventures of The Professor. This time he has discovered the fabled Dragon’s Green Tooth. It’s a sprouting garlic clove and I guess that slight double image is because it moved slightly during the long exposure. Just for fun and because I didn’t have anything else.

The Christmas decorations finally made it up into the loft to rest there until next year.  A bit late this year, but it’s been a busy week for both of us and that’s my excuse.  Not a reason, just an excuse.

No plans for tomorrow. Neither of us has any commitments, but we’re open to offers!

A really Yuk day – 28 January 2022

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The highlight of the day was either shopping in Tesco or getting petrol in the same Tesco.

The Tesco shopping was in the morning. Nearly a highlight was bumping onto Colin and Evelyn in Tesco car park. Sorry you didn’t quite make the highlights Colin & Evelyn. Better luck next time.

We went home and had pizza for lunch. Really nice extra thin Pizza Carbonara by Pizza Express. I commend it to you.

Later in the afternoon I decided I’d have to go out and get petrol, because I’d less than quarter of a tank left and we are intending to drive to Bridge of Weir in the morning and although I had enough to get there, it would be nice to be able to get back home again. With the tank almost full, I took the blue car for a run just to see if there was anywhere nearby with sufficient photons available for capture by the pixels in the sensor of the camera. It was dull, but I did find a spot looking over Condorrat that seemed promising, or as promising as Condorrat gets. I took a few photos, but I knew as I was pressing the shutter that it was a pointless exercise. I came home.

A glass of wine and a bowl of home made paella made me feel better. So did Scamp’s happy smile. I think she may be getting excited with the prospect of saying goodbye to contact lenses. No matter how dull the day, her smile brightens it.

We watched a dire episode of Death in Paradise which was nowhere near the highlight of the day. DiP used to be a fun escapist romp in the sun. In this latest series they’ve tried and failed miserably to be a real action cop show. Stick to a format that works for you and gives us a bit of Caribbean sunshine, please. Leave the real acting to those who have trained for it.

We got an email from Jamie to say that he’s back home safe from his US trip. Lots of stories, hopefully, on Sunday. That is, if jet lag doesn’t get to him first.

None of the Condorrat pictures got past the first cull, as I suspected. PoD went to a little fading flower from a pretty bunch of cut flowers that are suffering in the overly warm dry living room. Central heating just kills flowers.

Tomorrow it’s a fairly early rise for dance class. Can’t say I’m looking forward to driving in the gales that are predicted for the weekend, but at least we should have enough petrol to get there and back.