Driving and dancing – 5 August 2023

That’s all we seemed to do today.

Drove to Brookfield in the morning. It was a small group of only four couples, quite normal on a day with a dance in the evening. The floor in the room is still not quite right after a kids party with a bouncy castle inside about a month ago. My guess is that the bouncy castle scraped the floor and someone decide that polish or oil would repair the damage. It really won’t be properly fixed until footfall wears that skin off. So we had a shortened room again and also a shortened class time because the bowling club who use the hall were having an afternoon and needed time to set up. So a small class, a shortened floor space and fifteen minutes less time to dance.

We started with a sequence dance then went into the class proper with the new unnamed cha-cha routine which Scamp suggests should be the “Slippy Cha-Cha”! She should suggest it to the teachers. That was ok, but not wonderful, but much better than my attempt at Joy’s Waltz. Given that we hadn’t practised it since May, that wasn’t really surprising, and also, Jane did her usual and added in an extra feature, a Curved Feather. Were do they get these names from? Although they are much better than Michael’s dancing by numbers. At least Curved Feather give you a clue what shape you’re (supposed to be) making on the floor. I could hardly remember the start steps of the original waltz and had to rely on Scamp’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the dances. Even she was struggling with this one for a while. One more track of sequence and we handed the floor over to the eagerly waiting bowlers. They were like a well drilled army. Pulling out the tables and assembling them under the eagle eye of Mrs Sergeant Major who was in charge of the operation. We left them to it.

I made a bad decision on the way home and tried the route through the Clyde Tunnel, only to find, as many others did that there was NO THROUGH ROAD. Barriers and diversions everywhere. I eventually gave up and took the easy way out by driving back west along the M8 then the M77, took the first exit and joined the M77 again heading east this time. After that I just followed the car in front over the Kingston Bridge and home.

A roll ’n’ corned beef and another roll ’n’ fresh made bramble jam was lunch for us with Scamp substituting tomato for corned beef. While Scamp read, I took the A6500 out for a walk in St Mo’s and got PoD on the way home. It was a bunch of wild geranium flowers against the sky that caught my eye and my ultra-wide lens. Once the image had been dunked in Lightroom it looked quite the part!

Dinner was Chicken Milanese, then we sat and read for a short while before we got ready and headed off to the dance. Weather was the usual Scottish. Bright sunshine then immediately after that, torrential rain that changed back to sunshine again then the cycle repeated. I think the blue car now knows the way to Brookfield itself. Twice in one day is maybe too much, but there were extenuating circumstances today as there is no class next week because the hall will be being used for a village fete. Maybe the feet treading on the slippy floor will wear off the shine!

Sitting with Peter and Gillian, Naimat and Audrey and another couple whose names evade me as ours probably did to them. Good banter with Peter and Naimat, while Audrey, Gillian and Scamp did their best to add some decorum to the evening.
We danced all but one of the sequence dances and as many as we could, of the ballroom and latin dances. We really need to do more practise. We didn’t need to practise the salsa dances, they just came from muscle memory. We even got praise from Jane afterwards!

We stayed to the end and did a bit of cleaning up round our table then say our goodnights and drove home straight down the M8 to the M80 this time. No getting tangled up in Cycling World Championships that cause the earlier debacle. Even got parked right outside the house! A very good night.

Tomorrow we might go visit the cycling in Glasgow, but we’re hoping to get the train there. No road blocks on the railway we hope!

A busy day – 27 July 2023

A day that started fairly slowly, then accelerated.

After Wordle and Spelling Bee and a cup of coffee in the morning, I finally posted some of my recent photos to Alex. I’d meant to send them on Monday, but didn’t have the time. Told him yesterday that I’d post them that night but left it too late, but today they flew into the ether in two batches. Found the box for the A6000 and checked that all (most) of the bits and pieces were there. Did some last minute shopping later in the morning. Stew in the Instant Pot was set to Low and allowed to cook in slow cooker mode. Scamp made the Coffee and Brandy Trifles and then it was lunch. After lunch Scamp made the starters Portobello Mushrooms with Parma Ham then started hoovering downstairs while I dusted shelves and window sills then carted all my accoutrements (rubbish) upstairs to where I hoped I’d be able to find them again when I needed them!

Simonne texted to say that she was finished a bit earlier than she’d expected and arrived in mid afternoon. That left lots of time for Scamp to interrogate here about what was happening down south and also to break the news that Crawford and Nancy would be joining us. That didn’t faze her at all, I never thought it would. We talked for quite a while before the other two arrived.

Lots more to catch up on with Crawford’s eye injury. Who knew a floater in your eye could tear away the retina or that it could be laser ‘stitched’ back in place! My part in the dinner was the stew that would have potatoes and cabbage as an accompaniment while Scamp had a lentil stew instead. Lots more stories to tell after dinner but Simonne had to leave to drive back to her hotel in Edinburgh for a couple of hours sleep before her early flight the next day. We said our goodbyes and she drove away with the agreement that she’d come and stay the next time business brought her up north.

Crawford and I had a whisky later because Nancy was driving today. They also left a bit earlier than usual because Nancy was driving down to Wales in the morning and Crawford was following later in the day.

The dishwasher did the heavy lifting later and the rest was left until morning.

PoD was one of Scamp’s alliums with the seed buds just opening.

Tomorrow, a more relaxing day would be good.

 

 

The Auld Guys – 25 July 2023

Coffee, Sarcasm and Laughs. That’s what the Auld Guys are best at.

In the morning I drove Scamp up to the town centre to get her nails redone for Saturday. Back home I had time for a shower and browse through my photos on Flickr before Scamp returned with shiny pink nails and a smile on her face. These were non-sparkly nails this time Hazy.

Now I was driving over to Abronhill to pick up Val and we were meeting Fred for coffee in Costa. This was a Return of the Auld Guys. We’ve not met up for probably more than a year, and to be honest, probably not since Covid put an end to meetings entirely for two years! I think we all enjoyed the banter and the blether. Val’s in a wheel chair and I can see that he’s not happy about it, but at least he can get around with it, if slowly. The chair folds up quite neatly and fits in the back of the car quite comfortably. Fred was his usual charming self, and yes, that was sarcasm. After a couple of hours we were talked out and I drove Val back home where Jeanette was waiting for him.

I went home via Tesco where I’d been given a shopping list to bring back because Scamp was baking shortbread today. This was the first switching on of the new food processor. It was certainly efficient at mixing the butter flour and sugar and beating it into submission. With the shortbread in the oven, Scamp washed and dried the bowls of the machine and then demonstrated the fine slicing of a courgette. We didn’t really need sliced courgette today, but we’ve got in a little Tupperware box, just in case we find a use for it, yes, more sarcasm!

We were going to need some meat for Thursday, so we drove over to Muirhead to stock up on more meat and fish than we really needed, but the meat, especially in that shop is so enticing, I always buy too much. Drove there on the motorway and came back the scenic route, on the wee narrow country roads that Scamp hates but the views of the Campsies took her mind off that.

Back home again, I took the A6500 out for a walk in St Mo’s and found a strange wee yellow insect. It turned out to be the nymph of a Bronze Sheildbug. I’d never seen one before, but Google Images found it right away and confirmed its existence.

Yesterday I’d quite fancied the Mushroom and Bacon Carbonara at The Bothy and today, for dinner, I made my take on what I thought it would look like.

That was about it for a fairly well filled day. The shortbread, by the way, was probably the lighted Scamp has made in a long time.

I’m probably meeting Alex for coffee and serious camera talk and Scamp is booked for coffee with one of her ex-workmates.

 

Off to Hamilton – 20 July 2023

… but not to “buy the wean a bell.” That cryptic message will be lost on almost everyone, but I’m not explaining it further!

After a lazy morning on what was a beautiful, almost totally dry day, we eventually went out and walked down to the shops. Scamp wanted something to take to John & Marion tonight, and also wanted a hanging basket for the back garden. We accomplished both in double quick time and walked back home.

A knock on the door heralded the arrival of the parcel Scamp was expecting earlier in the week. It was a surprise present for two of our friends, but we were both underwhelmed by it. It wasn’t quite what she was hoping for and her disappointment was obvious.

Later I took a walk over to St Mo’s to see what was worth photographing while Scamp started the ironing. It was St Mo’s that the PoD came from (not the ironing!). It is one of two real ‘keepers’ from a batch of about 50 I’d taken with the big camera on silent motor drive. A great way of filling up the SD card, but a trick that rarely seems to result in any good photos. Luckily for me today was one of those days when it worked. The ‘Marmalade’ hoverfly was the PoD. It was almost beaten by the result of another ‘blitz’ shot. This one was a lone soldier beetle testing the strength of a single strand of a spider web. Both are on Flickr.

By the time I got back from my St Mo’s Safari I just had time for a wash and brush up before we headed off to Hamilton for dinner with John & Marion. It’s ages since we’ve been there. We’ve both had such a busy year this year. Big birthdays for both Scamp and Marion. Retirement celebration for Marion and a Golden Wedding anniversary for us. Of course, she’s not really retired until the schools go back in August!

Back home late and for some reason there was a parking space just waiting for us back home. That was nice of someone to do that for us.

Tomorrow Scamp has the dentist first thing in the morning. Best time for it, I suppose. I’m waiting in, hopefully not in vain, for yet another parcel.

A surprise parcel – 19 July 2023

A warm sunny morning, at least it was in the house with the sun streaming in the window.

The postman arrived just before lunchtime with a parcel. Scamp was expecting a parcel today, and was sure it was for her, then she noticed it had my name on it! It was a camera bag from Alex. I’d completely forgotten he said he had a spare bag that wasn’t big enough for his needs and it was too late to send it back. It was an ideal size for my A6000 and space for an extra lens. I phoned him to say thanks and we had a good talk about what we’d been doing. I also sent him a link to a website where you can book a Glasgow walk for free with an option to make a donation to the RNLI. We agreed it was worth looking into.

I’d noticed today how dusty and rough the inside window sill had become, so while Scamp was off up to the town centre I sanded down the sill and gave it a first coat of varnish. Waited for it drying which was almost instantaneously given the heat coming in from the sun and gave it a second coat. In all, the sill had three thin coats of varnish and looks much better now. I wonder who invented the disposable vinyl gloves. Whoever they were, they must have had the idea after they’d been painting window sills. I finished the job with clean hands. A first for me!

Scamp had had her nails done for going away on the cruise and now she wanted to get the remaining coating removed. The lady who did her nails said it was fairly easy to get them done and she has now booked a session to get the coating removed and redone.

When she returned I grabbed my camera and went out for a run to find some scenery worth shooting, but first I dropped in at Colin’s house to find out how his wife was keeping. She’d been in hospital after she’d come home from holiday and had an emergency operation. She looked a bit tired, but that’s to be expected. I remember Scamp looking a bit like that after her op. Good to see her up and about, albeit with a stick, but we’re all getting to an age when we need some extra support sometimes.

We stayed for a while just blethering in the sun. I hadn’t realised what a lovely little sun trap they had in their patio. Colin wouldn’t allow me to go without some veg so I came home with four courgettes and a cucumber from his garden.

I did get a chance to get my landscape photo, but PoD went to a bunch of Hydrangea flowers. Scamp’s Hydrangea Paniculata ‘Switch Ophelia’. A variety of hydrangea that changes colour throughout the summer. We feared the hot weather might have killed it, but here it is flowering happily after a fair bit of hydration.

Busy day tomorrow. Things to do and places to go, hopefully.

Another day, another lunch – 16 May 2023

This lunch was with Crawford & Nancy.

We were booked at The Cotton House for midday. The secret with Cotton House is to get there early. We were the first to arrive with about ten minutes to spare. C&N coasted in about five minutes later. Food in Cotton House is always good, and it didn’t let us down today. Chicken Satay, and Spring Rolls for the girls and Chicken Noodle soup for the guys. Mains were Lemon Chicken and Chicken Chow Mein for the girls and the guys sticking together again with Sweet & Sour Chicken with Fried Rice. Ice cream for all as a dessert. Then coffee for three and a Chinese tea for me. We took all of the available two hours as did a few other diners and discussed cruises and family and C&N’s grandson’s up and coming skydive! A good catch up. This going out to lunch could catch on, you know!

The morning had been beautiful sunshine but with a cold wind and quite a strong wind too, it was nice to look out at, but not so much fun to be out in. That’s my excuse for not taking any photos in the morning. By the time we got home after our extended lunch, the big heavy clouds had rolled in and the sun had disappeared, but at least the wind had died down. I still couldn’t gee myself to go out and take some photos, so it was flowers in the garden that were the subjects for today, specifically another pink Aquilegia. A bit more careful framing this time. That became PoD.

Today’s prompt was Something Sticky and what could be more sticky than honey. Well, as some of the artists in EDiM have shown, there are many more things that are sticky and some of them I don’t want to think about. I’ll stick (no pun intended) with honey. Lovely sticky golden honey.

Scamp is off getting her hair cut tomorrow morning and that is as much as we have planned.

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!

Rain – 30 April 2023

It was hard to decide if it was just starting to rain, or just finishing a spell of raining when we woke. In actual fact it was just trying out the different textures of rain to see which it liked the best. That too was a difficult decision for the weather, and one it toyed with for a good few hours before finally choosing to stay dry and allow the sun to shine.

There were things to do today. There was milk to buy and a sensible plain loaf, a cake wouldn’t go amiss either, cakes never do. There were people to bump into. People I hadn’t spoken to for years. The people, or person in question was Mary Jane Hunter, ex of Cumby High. She and Scamp had a lot in common apart from height. They had both had cataracts removed and corrective lenses inserted that took away their shortsightedness and gave them a totally new view on life. It’s nice to meet folk you got on with years ago and who you still admire.

Back home Scamp had covered the draining board in the kitchen with an off cut from a waterproof table cover and was potting up her ten Cerinthe seedlings to separate them and to give them a chance to develop better roots. I liked the idea and planted out some Acer seeds my brother had given me last autumn. They had been in plastic bags in the little greenhouse to keep them dry while they ‘conditioned’. Apparently the exposure to sub zero temperatures is needed for them to germinate once they are planted out in soil.

Dinner tonight was Potatoes with Carrot and Onion Mash. Protein was Hoggit Shoulder Steak for me, bought at the farmers market in Embra yesterday and Salmon for Scamp. Unfortunately for her, the salmon just didn’t taste ‘right’. So it was a vegetarian dinner for her. My hoggit was excellent soft and delicious. (2mins 30seconds per side and 5mins resting time). I couldn’t eat it all, so I’ve about a third of it sitting in the fridge for tomorrow or Tuesday. Bananas fried in Rum was requested was requested for pudding. It was excellent too. Hot, sweet, sticky orange flavoured rum coating bananas sliced long ways. Sounds messy and it was, also sounds a bit sickly and it was, but we both enjoyed it. Can’t remember exactly where I first saw it being made, but I think it was on a cruise, years ago.

Because of the rain, I couldn’t be bothered wandering around St Mo’s, getting wet and not finding anything worth photographing, so today’s PoD came from the garden. It’s an Aquilegia playing host to a family of greenfly. I think I might have to evict them soon. As usual with macros, I didn’t see the greenfly until the images had been loaded into the computer.

Spoke to Jamie and Scamp was delighted to hear that he has taken her advice and cleaned all the glazing panels in his greenhouse. They have had a few days of good weather and have almost all the flowers planted now.

We have no plans for tomorrow, and it looks like more rain.

Saying goodbye to Margie – 20 April 2023

Today we said goodbye to an old friend.

It was a tough morning and I’m not going into details. She was a lovely lady, a singer in Scamp’s Gems singing group. She was also a painter who produced some beautiful artwork in all media types, but her favourites were ballet dancers in the style of Monet. We’ll both miss her greatly. May she rest in peace.

Back home it was a beautiful day, as long as you had shelter from that east wind again. It looks like spring, but it doesn’t feel like it. However, I went for a walk in St Mo’s with a macro lens doing all the work today on the A7. The first thing to do was to check up on the three little orange ladybirds. My first surprise was that three had become one. Where had the other two gone? The answer was waiting a couple of trees away. There had only been one orange ladybird there last week. Now there are three! So have two ladybirds moved from one tree to another or is it just a floating community in the woods? I reckon they are just fed up with me photographing them and are trying to mess with my head.

Not a lot else happened today. Potatoes, bacon and cabbage was dinner for me. Scamp replaced the bacon with more cabbage!
PoD was the new trio of ladybirds, but take a look at the pair of old leaded glass windows I captured on my phone last week in Glasgow.

Remember I was writing about Scamp and I being labourerers the other day?  Well, today Scott’s wife handed in a bunch of roses and a box of chocolates to say thanks for the help!  That was a brightener for the day!

Tomorrow we’re intending doing some planting in the garden.

 

Out on the moor – 4 April 2023

Scamp was off having lunch with Mags today. I was going to Fannyside Moor.

Scamp had a lunch booked with Mags at Wetherspoons. She had other things to do, (unspecified) and as you can only park for 3 hours anywhere in Cumbersheugh, I offered her a lift, with the added benefit that I’d pick her up once she was finished. I dropped her at the restaurant and drove off to the council tip to ditch some old garden things and a load of cardboard. After that, I was free.

I drove up to Fannyside Moor hoping for some decent light. I’d just parked when the light appeared and lit up the landscape down as far as the old ruined farm at Jawhill. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to get the camera out of the car before the light was gone. I took a walk along the road, but that light didn’t come back. I did get some photos of a couple of fence posts covered in lichen, then walked back to the car to photograph some sheep huddled together because it was a really cold west wind. Such a change from yesterday’s balmy weather with hardly a breath of wind. That photo eventually made PoD after a fair bit of editing and re-editing. Drove home after that and tea and toast for lunch. Nothing like Scamp’s lunch of Fish & Chips which she described as “mmmm lovely”. Some of us just have to make do with what we have.

I’d almost finished the re-editing of the sheep photo when my phone rang once and stopped, then the house phone (old tech, but reliable) rang. It was Scamp asking for a run home because she’d forgotten her bus pass. I didn’t mind at all because it gave me a reason to turn the computer off.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s late in the afternoon, but I took completely the wrong set of lenses. I don’t know what I was thinking. Unless I was thinking how good I was to get an “Explore” which is a First Prize from Flickr for the Horse Chestnut bud from the other day. That’s the second one this year.

I think that was about the end of our galavanting for the day. Dinner for me was Baked Potato and a portion of stew from the freezer. Scamp added to her lunch with a baked potato. We watched another episode of Death in Paradise, series 1 tonight and although we’d seen it before, it was better than the last series, series 10..

Tomorrow is going to be busy shopping, cards to post and arrangements to be made.