Category: Friends

A long day – 17 March 2023

Posted on by Zogman

A day that would last until tomorrow.

In the morning, Scamp went to FitSteps class and I had promised myself a day painting, but that didn’t happen. Instead I spent most of the morning trying unsuccessfully to understand how to reissue my SSL certificate. Namecheap must have the most user unfriendly ‘help’ files I’ve ever come across. It feels as if it was designed as instructions for a professional programmer, which I am not. If any “Webmonkeys” out there hear this plea and can help, I’d appreciate it. I gave up not long before Scamp returned.

By then it was lunch time and after that I took the A7 with the 105mm macro lens out for a walk in St Mo’s to see if the four frogs from yesterday had managed to find any like minded amphibians to join their orgy. Where the had been four frogs yesterday, there must have been a hundred today. The water was literally boiling with ripples and the rafts of frogspawn now stretched right round the pond. I took a few photos and then the rain that had been threatening all day called a halt to photography for the day. One long shot of a pensive looking frog made PoD.

Back home, Scamp read while I did the post-processing of the frog photos, mainly to waste time until we got ready to drive over to Larky for dinner with Crawford & Nancy.

We had a great night, as we usually do. Good food, good company and lots of jokes. Crawford and I had a jam session with Crawford on ukulele and me on guitar. I won’t say the singing or my playing was world class, but we had a good time. We left just before midnight and drove through some torrential rain. I got to bed just before 1am although Scamp was there before me. PoD to post and lots of other folks photos to look through in Flickr. Of course, this is a catch-up. You knew that.

Tomorrow we’re off to Brookfield and I’m sure the morning will come too quickly.

Snow – 14 March 2023

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We woke to an unusual brightness. The snow that arrived during the night was reflecting the sunshine.

After breakfast, Scamp and Jackie were going to investigate the ‘new’ shops. While they were out I took the A7 and a couple of lenses over to St Mo’s to get some snowy pictures. But there was almost no snow. Whether that was to do with an over energetic sun or maybe the tall trees over there were sheltering it from the worst of the snow, I couldn’t tell. As usual, I worked with what I had and today’s PoD became a strange flower that I haven’t managed to ID. It flowers late into the autumn with fluffy looking pink flower. The stem and leaves look a bit like brambles, but the flowers are very different. Google images thinks it’s a carnation and I can see why. I had to cut my photo wanderings early because the snow came on again while I was out and I headed home.

I was home before the two ladies and made myself some coffee. We all had a light lunch after that and it was almost time for Scamp and I to get dressed for Bobby Flavell’s funeral. It seemed to have been agreed that the cars would leave from the house, so we all waited until the hearse and the family car moved off before we followed on behind. Quite a long service at Daldowie led by a Humanist speaker. He covered a long life well lived. Who knew that that wee quiet man was once a drummer for Linda Ronstadt on an American tour? But it was the wee quiet man who cut folk’s grass for them and who brought the empty bins back that we will miss, not the drummer.

After we returned, we changed into different clothes to go for a belated anniversary dinner arranged by Jackie and June at the Red Deer. Taxi to the restaurant whose boiler wasn’t working, so we had to make do with the wood burning fire and blower heaters. June and Ian were already there and there was a surprise for us. A brilliant anniversary cake with Scamp and I as ballroom dancers. Oh, if only I was as elegant as the man who was dancing on that cake! Having said that, he did look very like me! Both the sisters and Shona had a hand in the creation of this cake. Thank you all for such a clever idea.

For a starter, June had Duo of Pâté and the rest of us shared Stone-Baked Flatbread with garlic butter. For a main, Scamp had Fish & Chips, Jackie and I had Gammon Steak, June and Ian had Beef & Chianti Casserole. We all had a glass or two from a bottle of Prosecco and Ian and I had a beer each while the ladies scoffed a bottle of white wine.

The only fly in the ointment was that the taxi taking us home was almost half an hour late. June and Ian went home with it after we had been dropped off at the house. More drink was taken and we set the world to rights after a long, busy day.

A few plans for tomorrow, but they are all weather-dependent.

Bobby Flavell – 24 February 2023

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We found out today that Bobby Flavell, one of our long term neighbours had died suddenly on Tuesday. Such a sad thing to happen to a true gentleman.

It was a dull day. Like Tenerife, but without the heat. I walked over to St Mo’s and got one dull shot that became PoD.

The day after you return from holiday is always dull, but losing an old friend makes it feel worse.

We did have one bright spot in the day that lifted our spirits. That was the delivery of a tall, square parcel. Inside was a wooden crate made from thin laths of wood. Inside that was a bundle of wood shavings that protected a rose plant. A Golden Wedding rose. Of course it had come from Hazel, Jamie, Neil and Simonne. A lovely present to get on a dull day. Thank you all.

Tomorrow we’re going dancing.

A day of comings and goings – 13 February 2023

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Messages were flying this morning.

Message from my brother to say he can’t manage a photo-walk tomorrow. Bummer. Cryptic message from John saying “Will you be in between 12noon and 1pm”. Another cryptic message from Hazy that just read “We’re off!” And all of this before breakfast.

After I’d replied to Alex saying tomorrow was going to be tight for me anyway, so not to worry. Then replying to Hazy to say “Enjoy the short break.” After these replies I began to wonder what John’s message meant. I’d a fair idea what it was and decided to keep it a surprise for Scamp. Next message was for Scamp. It was a phone call from Nancy wanting to arrange a date for us to go to their’s for dinner. Scamp got that sorted. I was hoping there would be a lull in the message exchanges just for a short while to allow us to get Wordle and Spelling Bee done and dusted.

Well, we did manage to get the essential puzzles completed and later in the morning Scamp said “Annette’s coming over to see me about 12 o’clock”. Oh oh! Now I’d need to say that someone else was coming over about midday too and, of course had to reveal John’s message. As it happened, Scamp managed to reschedule Annette’s visit to tomorrow and John was just dropping off a parcel and a card before he and Marion drove off. By now it was lunch time and then we were off to Falkirk to see the man who talks in £s and $s and occasionally €s.

Arrived in Falkirk right on the dot of 2pm. Andrew talked us through the money markets as he sees them with lots of interesting asides to keep us interested. We had some questions for him and he gave us good advice on how to deal with upcoming problems. We left after an hour bamboozled, but feeling more upbeat than I thought we would.

Back home I got a photo of a crocus flowering in the front garden and that became PoD. Just a lone yellow flower against a green background.

Today’s prompt was The Sting. I didn’t relish the challenge of sketching Robert Redford or Paul Newman, so I chose another Sting expert as my challenge. Wasps can be vicious insects. Unlike honey bees they can sting you more than once if they choose to do so. That has never stopped me from photographing them, but I tend to more than a little cautious when they’re around.

Tomorrow I’ve promised myself I’ll get my hair cut. I was going to do it myself, but better to get someone who knows what they’re doing to do it.

A new month, a new challenge, an old friend – 1 February 2023

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Today is the first day of February. White Rabbits (x3), but the first of February also brings the EDIF (Every Day in February) challenge. Let the torture begin.

This month’s prompts are all films. Not such a good topic for me, but that’s what a challenge is all about. Today’s prompt is The Red Shoes. Now I have actually watched this film, or so I’m told by Scamp, so no excuses, I just drew a pair of ballet shoes. But before we get to that, here’s how the day started:

For once, both Scamp and I were bamboozled by today’s Spelling Bee. Wordle was fine and we got the hidden word, but Spelling Bee with its “american” dictionary was a nightmare. Eventually we gave up. If you want to try, here are the letters for today:

N I E Z M T G

The challenge is to rearrange them into a word with at least 7 letters. I put them into an anagram solver and it couldn’t do it. Can you?

I was picking Val up to take him for coffee and a blether today. He’s not been too steady on his feet recently, so we tried out the new Costa which has a drive through. We got parked right next to the front door but although there is a disabled parking and a paved path to the shop entrance, the only lowered pavement for wheelchairs and such can only be accessed from the road! The heavy door couldn’t be opened by someone in a wheelchair. This is a new build. Only about six months old. Don’t they think about disabled access?

Anyway, we had our coffee and a cake each and then it was the old Val I was talking to. We started talking tech! Me talking about running my iMac from a collection of external SSDs and Val talking about having a Raspberry Pi that works better and faster than his Mac Book Air. Two hours flew by. The only down side was the half gallon of full fat milk they put into each of our Flat Whites. Slight exaggeration there, but not much. I drove him home and we agreed to do it again in a month’s time.

The sun was still shining when I dropped him off at his door and I thought I could grab a few shots from up on Fannyside. Of all the photos I took, my favourite was an old fence post with a green mound of moss and its fruiting bodies standing proud against the sky. That was easily the PoD!

Dinner tonight was Fish ’n’ Chips, home made. Lovely bit of fish, although Scamp thought it was slightly overdone. I disagreed.

Back home and just after dinner I got a sketch done of a pair of ballet shoes. Splashed on some red paint, added some ink and that’s the first one done. The challenge has begun.

Tomorrow’s prompt is “You’ve Got Mail” I’ll have to bend the rules a bit to get that one done. Also tomorrow we’ve an appointment with Andrew in Falkirk. We’ll be interested to hear what he has to say.

Busy, busy, busy – 31 January 2023

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A lazy start, but that didn’t last.

After that lazy start and another chapter read in my book, we drove up to Tesco. Scamp wanted a gift bag and a card for a new baby in June’s extended family, no, not Shona, nor the other fella (heaven forbid). It was Ian’s daughter who had a 9lb 9oz baby boy at the weekend (do your own conversion you metric people!). We had bought a couple of baby things yesterday in Glasgow and apparently you then have to buy a gift bag and, of course you need a card. I gave the blue car a tank full of petrol, but thankfully I didn’t need to gift wrap it, or send it a card. I just filled the tank until it was full and it said “Thank you very much, I was thirsty.” We drove home because I needed a cup of coffee.

Next jaunt was to Calders garden centre, although it seems that at present they don’t have a garden as part of it is going to be a new restaurant and tea room. Scamp has always said that’s where the money is made these days. There were six of us crammed into a table that would comfortably have held four, but no more. Food was poor. Scamp’s soup had no taste of anything, she said and my baked potato was tepid and also had no taste or texture. The tea was ok! We were on a timer too, because Scamp had an appointment with the nurse at 2.30, so we had to leave earlier than we’d have liked. Bumped into Isobel who was having tea with her granddaughter and told her I was a “Cheeky So and So!” Who? Me? You must be thinking about someone else, Isobel!

Drove through pouring rain to get to the doc’s and waited while Scamp got an all clear for her chest infection. Next we were off to Tesco where we attempted to buy half the shop. Drove home and I just had enough time to grab a pair of boots and have a short walk in St Mo’s. Just one circuit of the pond and a short walk through the woods. It was in the woods that today’s PoD came from. Although I was focused on the larch pine cones, it was the sunset that held all the interest and the colour. Processed in three different apps. Lightroom, Photoshop, On1 and back into Lightroom. It was worth it, though, in my opinion.

Dinner tonight was Scrambled Egg on a slice of bread for Scamp and Mince with an egg poached in it, also served on a slice of buttered bread for me. A Larky favourite.

Tomorrow I’m intending to pick up Val and take him for coffee in Costa. Looking forward to some good technological conversation. Hopefully it will take his mind off his bad leg.

Dancin’ in the Evenin’ – 28 January 2023

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That was the focus of the day really. The light that would brighten our day. Would we go to the dancin’ in the Evenin’ or not?

It was a bright start to the day with sunshine streaming in the front window and it was when it lit up the wee bowl of roses that sat on the coffee table that I grabbed my camera and took the first photos of the day. I discovered that if I angled the shot in the right way I could frame the flowers with the black screen of the TV. In fact, if I chose to use the long lens of the 105mm macro, I could make the TV screen appear bigger and therefore give a bit more of a background than if I used any of my other lenses. Too much information? Probably. Anyway, it worked and I’d a shot or fifteen in the bag.

Scamp had already decided yesterday not to go to today’s dance class on the grounds that she might still pass on her coughs and sneezes and as it takes two to tango or quickstep or even waltz, that meant I didn’t go either. I didn’t mind, because I’m a lazy so and so and another hour in bed suited me fine.

After she took her final meds for the week, she began to feel better and the coughing reduced in intensity and volume. It looked as if we might go to the ball tonight after all. We didn’t have any cans of juice or lemonade to take to the Saturday Social and it’s not a tea dance, so we walked down to the shops to get some. On the way back I took a detour through St Mo’s and the best I got was a couple of shots of golden light on the trees across the pond. It didn’t matter, because I was sure one of the shots of the roses would fill the bill for PoD.

It turned out I was right. With a little Photoshop jiggery pokery I had a decent shot of roses bathed in sunlight, contrasted against a black background. The shots of the trees across the pond just looked dull and uninteresting by comparison.

Dinner was Easy Chicken Curry from a recipe I’d read about in last year’s blog post where I’d written about the previous year’s blog post, (January 2021) and it was back in 2021 I found the recipe and instructions. It was messy to make up with half a dozen spices mixed by hand into the chicken, but after that and with yellow fingers from the turmeric I fried the chicken and added tomatoes. Basically that was the curry made.

After dinner we dressed for the social and drove to an already busy Brookfield where we got seated with Barry & Cath and Niahmat & Audrey. No holds barred in that crowd, everyone got a slagging for one reason or another. Also Niahmat and Scamp shared notes (no pun intended) on singing with the SNO chorus.

We danced almost every dance we knew, but I drew the line at quickstep. I really didn’t think Scamp was fit for that kind of dancing. We did one of every dance, remembering the nurse’s message not to overdo things. We left just before the end because we were both tired out.

How nice it was to travel over the Kingston Bridge at a gentle 40mph when we’re usually stuck to a stop/start 4 or 5mph on a good day.

Tomorrow we’ll do a self assessment to see how much energy we expended doing the most intensive exercise we’ve had all week. No plans for going anywhere.

Out to Lunch – 9 January 2023

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Today Scamp was out to lunch with an old friend she used to work with. I wasn’t invited.

It was a dull morning with rain. Not much to recommend it and because it was Monday, nobody seemed to want to move from the car park at the house.

Since Scamp was driving to Calders I thought it might be a good idea to change the windscreen wiper blades. I’d had two new blades sitting in the boot of the car since before Christmas and they weren’t going to be keeping the windscreen clear if they were languishing there. Five minutes later they were on and were keeping the screen much clearer than before. Scamp drove off about fifteen minutes later in a downpour.

Left to my own devices, I started another clean up of my room. It didn’t last long. I chucked out a couple of magazines and ditched two exhausted basil plants. The plants went into the compost bin and the pots went into storage in the wee greenhouse. The greenhouse was a mess. Inside the walls were running with condensation and all the plants that had been put in there before the snow and ice came were well and truly dead now. One of the problems with wee plastic greenhouses is that there is no air circulation. I think the greenhouse will need a good hose down, inside and out, on the first dry day – if such a day ever comes.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s later to get some photos. I wasn’t very hopeful, but I did come home with some interesting macro shots of a clump of Cladonia lichen I’d never seen before. The PoD was a photo of a Knapweed seed head, looking like it was covered in little spiders. Actually they are the seeds themselves.

When Scamp came home I started to make some soup in the Magic Pot. Just a variety of “Just Soup”. A mixture of veg with some lentils and a couple of Stock Pots to add some flavour. Ten minutes cooking time and there was a pot of soup. That was dinner sorted.

An hour or so after dinner Scamp began to feel a bit unwell. Feeling sick, and then actually being sick. We both immediately blamed the soup, although I didn’t seem to be affected. Even after she’d been sick, she wasn’t much better, feeling light headed and just not right. She went to lie down for a while and although that helped, she still felt queasy when she got up, so decided she’d have an early night. She and Denise had had sandwiches at Calders, Scamp’s being Tuna. I just wondered about what Jamie always said about not trusting mayonnaise in cafes and restaurants. Maybe that was the culprit and not the soup. Time scale was about right, at 7 hours. Maybe …

I decided I too would have an early night, so this is a catch-up. Scamp is feeling better this morning and is going to risk scrambled egg and toast. The soup went down the toilet this morning.

Today we’re having a lazy morning and probably a lazy day. It’s raining!

Living in the frozen wastes – 14 December 2022

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The frozen wastes of Cumbersheugh.

Despite the freezing temperatures I did go for a walk in the morning, but before that there was the car to defrost. It didn’t take long to defrost the windscreen, the rear screen and the wing mirrors. Two buttons and about ten minutes max and they were clear. It was the side windows that took the time. The ice on them resolutely refused to budge until the sun came up far enough to reach them. After that it was a simple nudge with the old plastic scraper and the ice was gone.

With that done I had time to go for a walk in St Mo’s. It had to be done in the morning because we were booked for a visit to see Margie in the afternoon and I knew we’d be back after the sun had set, so lined jacket, lined walking trousers and a pair of sturdy shoes for a change and I was off to see the frozen world. Actually it was quite pleasant to be out today. The sun was shining from a cloudless blue sky with no sign of yesterday’s fog. I didn’t really like the fog. Like I said yesterday, it seemed to suck all the colour from everything. The frost did the opposite. It seemed to turn up the contrast on everything. Whites looked whiter and blacks looked blacker. I even remembered to old photographer’s maxim. Overexpose by at least one stop when shooting snow scenes. And while this was frost, not snow, the same rule applied. The camera is fooled into making the frost look grey, because that’s what the exposure system is designed to do. The photographer’s job is to make the finished scene look like what he or she saw on the camera screen, or maybe what he wanted to see!

I covered a fair bit of ground, tramping into the wilderness at the back of St Mo’s and the eventual winner of PoD was a cow parsley seed head completely covered in frost. It’s almost black and white, but there are just a few bits of colour there too. I arrived home with just enough time to download the photos, have a plate of soup and a cup of tea before we headed out again in a defrosted car to see Margie. I don’t know what’s wrong with my new phone. Every time I connect it to Spotify it will play one song and then stop. I suspect it’s something to do with bluetooth, but I’m not sure how to fix the problem. What worries me is the amount of folk on the ‘net who are having the same problem with the same line of phones, the Galaxy S22. I did some tweaks and a reset tonight, but I’m not convinced it will make any difference.

Margie was her usual interesting self today with lots of stories to tell. She has such a cheery manner and quite outspoken when she feels the need. Not as fit as she used to be, but doing well for 89.

We got back in plenty of time for the Tesco delivery. Three basket’s worth this time. I pity the poor delivery drivers. It must be no fun lugging those heavy baskets and driving on the sometimes untreated roads. Although, for the first time in a long while, our road has been gritted, or at least the hill has been gritted, which makes a difference.

Fish ’n’ chips for dinner tonight. A lovely bit of cod cooked to perfection as only Scamp can. After dinner we watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. We’ve seen it, maybe twice, but this is the first time I can remember seeing the first ten minutes of it, where we meet the characters for the first time. Still a feel-good film. Worth watching again and again.

More cold weather forecast for tomorrow, with the chance of snow tomorrow night or on Friday. We’ll have to wait and see.

Happy Birthday Hazy – 2 December 2022

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Happy Birthday Hazy. Hope your day was less frantic than ours.

Today was always going to be a busy day, but cramming too much into one day is never a good thing.

The day started well for me. I measured out the ingredients to make a loaf and got the mixer to do the hard work, then left it to do its first rise. Also, I was getting things organised in my head for repairing the damage I’d inflicted on my Lightrooom catalog yesterday. One simple bit of digital housework led to a scrambled catalog. The Lightroom catalog holds the records of everything you do to every photo. Every adjustment however small is recorded and can be played back and altered later … until you screw it up. After that, Lightroom is no longer your friend. I left it last night and by this morning I’d worked out how to fix it.

Scamp meantime had gone off early, 9.15am early, to get her hair cut. She arrived back about an hour later with a new cut that she didn’t like. She rarely likes the cut she gets, but it’s nothing to do with the hairdresser, it just her resisting change, I think. She came home for a fleeting visit, had a cup of coffee and was out again to go to FitSteps class wearing her new dance trainers that make spinning easier!

<Technospeak>
After Scamp left, I started work on the repair. It involved moving the damaged files to a temporary drive, erasing everything on the old drive then putting everything back again, in the right order. Simple. Except, somewhere along the line I forgot to move the catalog on to the temporary drive and when I formatted the original drive, my catalog was destroyed. Only after I had put everything in place did I discover that the catalog couldn’t be found. What a numpty. As usual, I had a backup on the system that gave me nine months worth of catalog data, but October and November were gone into the ether.
</Technospeak>

I wasn’t a happy bunny when Scamp came home, but things brightened up again when Hazy organised a Zoom call. We had about an hour’s worth of relaxed conversation and heard about the further complications of Neil’s op and what it feels like to have your own house. We were both pleased that she liked her birthday present.

Back to work, My bread needed to be ‘knocked back’ that means you knock all the air out of it and put it into a wicker basket to let it do its second rise before it goes into the oven. Going in to the oven at that moment was Scamp’s Chicken and Mushroom Pithivier. A posh name for a Chicken and Mushroom Pie. I’d drawn a circle or exactly 35mm diameter and another of 30mm diameter on greaseproof paper using an old pair of compasses to act as a template for cutting the pastry. It looked good as it went in to the oven, nothing to do with my drawing, but everything to do with Scamp’s skill. When it came out, the bread was ready to go in for its 20min bake and it looked good when it came out, as did Scamp’s Pithivier.

A bit of a break before we cleared the dining table and dressed it up for tonight’s dinner with Crawford and Nancy. The menu was Sweet Potato and Peppers Soup, Chicken and Mushroom Pithivier with potatoes and broccoli followed by Dutch Apple Cake with Custard or Cream.

C&N arrived a bit later than expected, but we had a good night. Lots of catching up and lots of laughter. Maybe a bit too much to drink and certainly far too much to eat.

Just after midnight we waved them off on their journey home and settled down to calm down.

PoD was a Fuchsia in the back garden flowering long after it should have shut down for the winter.

Tomorrow (today) we’re intending to go to Brookfield for our Saturday dance class.