Category: Garden

Flying Things – 15 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Another bright sunny morning, although the breeze was cold, despite the temperature being 13 point something degrees, according to the old thermometer in the house.

I just had enough time to tackle Wordle although Scamp had already started into the more complicate of the NYT puzzles. Then it was time to get dressed properly for the drive to Glenburn for today’s Tea Dance. A smaller than normal group with quite a few folk calling off, probably because of the good weather.

It was the usual fare, starting with a waltz. We tried hard to work out the steps of Waltz Nioli, but got as far as the first half dozen steps before it all fell to pieces. We eventually gave up and started a wee short nameless Waltz that Kirsty had taught the class fairly recently. That worked, but it was a lot shorter than Nioli.
Next Stewart called for a Jive routine, any jive routine. We danced the Seven Spins we’d learned with Michael, all those years ago – before Covid, that’s how long ago. A couple of sequence dances later and it was nearly tea time with a fairly lengthy chance for a blether.

Second half was more sequence than ballroom, with a few well known sequences and also a few we’d almost, but not quite forgotten. As the clock was just past 3pm we decided that if the next one was worth dancing, we do it, otherwise we’d drive home. The next one turned out to be the Ria Bachata, but not to real Bachata music, so we said our goodbyes and drove home.

An almost non-stop drive from Glenburn, over the Kingston Bridge and home. Not the best drive time we’ve had, but the wheels were turning all the way. That’s very unusual on a Thursday afternoon.

Back home, Scamp was having a rest in the garden and I was going over to St Mo’s to see if any of the dragonflies and damselflies were coming out to play. Well, the dragonflies were, but I only saw one damselfly and it was keeping a low profile in and out of the weeds by the side of the pond. Keeping out of reach of the dragonflies that were patrolling the pond looking for easy takings.

I walked round the pond then went back the other way. Sometimes that gives you a different view of the park. Today I followed a wee butterfly with strange markings and got a shot or three of it. Next a damselfly came past and attached itself to a nearby leaf. Another half a dozen frames made sure I’d a photo of that too. Finally as I was walking home I spotted a bedraggled Crane Fly (AKA Jenny Long Legs in Scotland) was dangling from a trio of Horsetails, the prehistoric perennial plants. That became PoD.

Dinner tonight, just for a change was pasta with a rich tomato sauce. Very nice it was too. I made it!

We watered the garden later when the sun was going down. Scamp did the front and I did the back, despite warnings on the BBC to the effect that water shortages may mean a hosepipe ban. It’s just meant to scare us and we’re not listening!

Tomorrow Scamp may go to FitSteps in the morning. I have no plans.

Where has the sun gone? – 14 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Woke this morning to grey skies and a mistiness all around. Wondering what suddenly happened to Spring.

Scamp was out in the morning for a catch-up with the rest of the witches. (For ‘catch-up’ read ‘blether’). That left me with a morning to fill.

A little reading filled part of the time and a bit of shopping filled another part. It had been recommended to me that I should perhaps get my hair cut, or tidy it up at least. I took these suggestions onboard and drove over to one of the many barbers. For the first time in ages I had to wait to get my locks shorn. Usually there are plenty of hairdressers lurking in the back shop, but not today. They must all have been making the most of the sunshine that had appeared around lunch time. Job done and £10 lighter of pocket I drove home.

Not long afterwards I got a call from Scamp to say that she was ready to be collected. I drove up to the new retail park and we went shopping there for some beer and cakes. I’d bought the sensible bread and bananas earlier for my lunch, but I didn’t complain about these extra essentials.

I couldn’t really be bothered with walking over to St Mo’s today, so took some photos in the garden. I pulled up the ‘whirly’ clothes pole and that gave me the much wider view of the garden I’d been looking for. Later, with the clothes pole replaced, I took some close-ups of the Golden Torch rhododendron flowers. Its name says “Golden Torch”, but it looks pink and white to me. Scamp tells me it will change from pink to yellow later in the flowering period. Those flowers got PoD.

Dinner tonight was pasta with the remainder of the orange and rhubarb jelly as dessert. Delicious with a dollop of ice cream. (The jelly, not the pasta).

Tomorrow we may be going to a tea dance.

A lazy start to the day – 13 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

A lazy start for me, that is. Scamp was already up and pouring her first coffee well before I broke surface.

It was another warm day. Quite breezy, and maybe that was what cleared the morning clouds away. It was just over 13ºc when I raised my weary head.

After lunch, Scamp started building a frame to encourage her sweet peas to start climbing. She has already planted out two areas of climbing frames for them. This one might be the final one for this year.

I went for a walk in the afternoon with the correct combination of camera and lens. I was hoping for some shots of damselflies. I had managed to capture one a few days ago and had seen some flying around the pond yesterday. However, there were only a very few in the air and those were in the centre of the pond and flying low. The reason soon appeared in the shape of a Four Spotted Chaser and it was living up to its name today, chasing every flying insect it could find. I admit, I went a bit over the top with almost 50 shots of the dragonflies taken. They were hacked down to a more realistic number in the first cull. I think the sun had gone to my head. Still, it was the first dragonfly of the year, that’s my excuse.

Dinner tonight was Fragrant Prawn Rice Noodle Salad. A bit of a mouthful and a bit tricky to scale down from four servings to two, but it tasted fine, but was a bit difficult to eat. I think we may have another try at it later in the summer all, being well. Orange and Rhubarb jelly for dessert and it was delicious.

After dinner I watered the veg in the garden. The kale looks a bit dried out and so do the leeks. I’m hoping to get started earlier to morrow and get the rest of the kale and leeks planted. Weather looks set fair for the next week at least. Great for sitting reading in the sun and for sunbathing, but the garden will be taking a beating unless we get rain soon.

By the way, Happy Birthday, Neil!

Tomorrow Scamp is intending to meet up with the other witches and I may be working in the garden.

A grey morning – 12 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

A dull start to the day with mist and cloud blocking the sun. Thankfully the mist and cloud disappeared later in the morning and the warmth was there again, but with a bit of a cool breeze.

We were going shopping today, just a usual Monday shop for essentials and a couple of bottles of wine to restock our cupboard. While Scamp started the shopping, I drove the car to the carwash next door and gave it a wax wash. It cost a few quid, but less than five minutes later I was driving out in a sparkling, shiny car. No sign of the sticky residue from the trees we park under.

A light lunch and then I intended to read a few pages in my new book, but time and a snooze got the better of me and an hour later I wondered where the time had gone.

Scamp was working in the back garden, but I hadn’t much to do there, although I might plant a few more leeks and maybe some more kale later in the week to fill up the raised bed. Instead I went over to St Mo’s with the A6500 and a short lens. Wrong choice today. Not only were there damselflies circling the pond, but there was a dragonfly sunning itself on one of the horsetails. Far too far away for my wee short lens. Should have taken the long Tamron instead.

I found a pair of ferns in under the trees that looked to me like a couple of old style boxers, squaring up to each other. That got PoD. Lots of ducklings in the pond, keeping well under cover on the edges of the water under Mummy Mallard’s careful scrutiny. The pond is certainly coming alive. Warm weather works wonders.

Off to Kirsty’s dance class in the early evening. Only three couples including us, but we’ve now got a fair grip on the Tango we’ve been learning. There is still a tendency for Kirsty to teach short, tight routines, not making enough use of the fairly large hall we have at our disposal. We both feel she could open up the dance floor a bit.

Watched the final of University Challenge and watched our favourite team win by five points. We were both delighted.

We may go out somewhere tomorrow, just to get away from Cumbersheugh for a while.

Another warm day – 11 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Today was hot, but with heavy cloud at times. Actually, it was a nice warmth without the heat of yesterday and with a gentle breeze that yesterday lacked. There was actually just the hint of a threat of rain that never quite materialised.

It was a day that encouraged a lazy man like me to consider doing a bit of gardening. Gentle gardening, mind you. Nothing too strenuous, and with easily achievable targets, like potting up my chilli plants and helping Scamp to plant her home grown sweet peas and build a sort of plastic mesh to encourage them to cling to and pull themselves up with. I even found an old solar powered sprinkler for the bird bath that still worked, and gave tiny little splashes now and again.

Later I took the A7iii out with the Tamron lens and a Lensbaby Sweet 35 to St Mo’s to search for damselflies, but again there were none to be seen. Instead,I concentrated on some Hawthorn flowers and focused on one Buttercup in the grass of St Mo’s to use the Lensbaby’s strange distorted view of the world. The buttercup shot got PoD.

Dinner was a chicken breast done in the oven and served with a salad that was delicious. I don’t particularly like pomegranate seeds, but the light scattering of them in that salad worked wonders. There was a hint of Simonne’s excellent salads there. I’d say they were on a par with each other.

Pudding was a rhubarb crumble. Not our own growing, but hopefully it won’t be long before we get a second pulling of ours too. The ginger in the pudding was just right for me. Pure Goldilocks pudding!

Spoke to Jamie and heard about his week’s holiday. Such a pity that when we were sweltering in the sun up north, down south they were putting on extra layers and a pair of gloves. The wind coming in from the North Sea was to blame. Hopefully there will be gentler and warmer days ahead.

Tomorrow I believe we may be going shopping, probably just for essentials.

More problems – 10 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

Another hot day.  Today we reached over 20ºc although there was a lot of cloud too.

Last night I had a big problem with the iMac. I was attempting to work through my usual procedure of writing the blog on an app. After the blog is written I usually select all the text and then open my app for posting the blog and drop the text into a window that opens. Yesterday the app wouldn’t open. It just gave me a message “403 Forbidden”.

No matter what I did, I got the same message. Finally I went online and read some gobbledegook instructions that I couldn’t understand. I did think of trying some of them, then came across the fix. All the person wrote was “Just leave it. It will sort itself out.” By now it was 11pm and I was tired and panicking just a bit, so I did what the writer suggested. Shut the computer down and went to bed. I slept better than I’d thought I would, and in the morning I switched the iMac on and everything was running normally. I don’t know who you are, but thank you for that helpful suggestion.

Later in the morning we drove over to Brookfield for our regular Saturday morning dance class.  It started with a Line Dance called House of Bamboo. Now I hate line dances, and I’ll add this one to that list. Next was a Melody Foxtrot. A much gentler and better written sequence dance.

Next we were straight into a new Quickstep. I stumbled through it and eventually made some sense of it. Again, not my favourite, but much better than the line dance. I don’t think it’s as good as the other quicksteps Jane has devised.

We did a Sweetheart Rumba which took two tracks before everyone was singing from the same hymn sheet. Then it just fell into place.

Drove home over the Kingston Bridge almost without stopping. It was just one of those days when the traffic ran perfectly.

I walked down to the shops later to get the makings of tonight’s dinner, but the shelves were very bare and I phoned Scamp to ask if a cook-at-hope curry would suffice and she agreed it would. Late on a Saturday afternoon is not the time for food shopping.

We sat in the back garden for an hour or so tonight with a G&T each. As I’m writing this, Scamp is watering the garden. Only fair, I did it on Thursday.

PoD was a photo of a Rhododendron called Nancy Evans, taken in the garden.

No plans for tomorrow

Shooting the breeze – 9 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

In the morning, Scamp was out to FitSteps and I was having a lazy half hour start to the day.

When she returned, Scamp and I had a late breakfast or an early lunch, either way we had some food, then we did some gentle rearranging of the pots in the garden

In the afternoon while Scamp was out soaking up some rays in the front garden, I spent half an hour and more talking to Fred. I’m amazed just how long it’s been since we last had a conversation, just shooting the breeze and putting the world to rights. I really should phone my old pals more often, and if they’re not responding to a call, at least send them an update text. It’s those things that keep us together.

By then the sun had moved round the sky or perhaps the world had turned and Scamp wandered round to the back garden, because that’s where the sun was hiding now. I changed into a pair of shorts on my milk bottle white legs and took the A7iii with a Sigma 105mm for a walk over to St Mo’s seeking some insect life, only to be disappointed because the insects were also sunning themselves somewhere else. I eventually settled on some shots of a dandelion with only four little parachutes clinging to its take-off plate ready to fly away on a gentle breeze. my favourite one got PoD. Yes, it is a bit of a cliché, but clichés have a place too.

When I returned, I was coaxed into planting out a row of Curly Kale and a pot of Leeks. My only contribution to the gardening work for the day, apart from chopping down some dangerous looking thorny roses.

After dinner which was Cabbage, Bacon and New Potatoes with Scamp substituting an egg for the bacon, we sat watching the sun go down behind the trees and the houses. We could have stayed longer, but it was becoming decidedly cool by then.

Tomorrow we’re hoping to go dance class at Brookfield.

Going to Paisley – 8 May 2025

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Heading to Glasgow to meet Alex for a photo-walk on a bright, hot Spring day.

I got the bus to the Greenfaulds, crossed the road and got the X25 to Glasgow. It’s a complicated way to travel, but because of roadworks with three way lights on the outskirts of Cumbersheugh, it’s actually quicker to travel this way.

We went to Caffè Nero first, as usual and discussed places to go. I suggested Paisley for a conducted tour round the Abbey and he agreed. Got the train to Paisley Gilmour Street and wandered down to the Abbey. Bought tickets and as we only had an hour until the tour started, we went looking for food.

Went to the Ugly Duck, our usual haunt in Paisley. Food was slow in coming, but we just managed to wolf it down (a Hoagie for me and a Club Sandwich for Alex) before we quick-marched to the Abbey, just as the lady was reading the intro.

Quite an interesting tour that lasted just over an hour. Her delivery was quite good and heavy on the history of the church. Also, she was good at picking out points of interest as we were walking around what’s actually a Church of Scotland building now.

When we left, we sat and talked to a bloke who had been making 360º movies with a fancy camera on a 3m pole, then he got talking to Alex about short wave radio and I was lost.

I wanted to photograph an engraved pavement I’d found a few years ago. I did eventually find it, but it looked as if it had some of its lettering. I must go and find the original photos I’d taken to see if I was in the correct place.

PoD went to wide angle shot of Paisley Town Hall reflecting on the White Cart Water it stands beside. I was shocked to find, when I got home that I’d only taken 27 shots. Only 27! That’s a travesty!!

We got the train back to Glasgow and had another coffee before heading back to our homes.

A seat in the sun while Scamp told me all the work she’d done on the garden while I was off galavanting with my brother. She really is the power in the garden. Me, I’m just the labourer. She does all the clever stuff, although she will tell you otherwise. We had a wee G&T (Scamp) and a wee dram (Me) to round off the day.

Tomorrow the powerhouse that is Scamp is intending to go to FitSteps in the morning. I have no idea what we’ll be doing in the afternoon

Yet another day in the sun – 7 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

It was an early rise for us. We were heading to Glasgow for Scamp to have some tests done. The taxi was booked for 9am but at about 8:45am she got a text to say that the test had to be cancelled because the required equipment had not arrived from Holland and a new appointment would be generated. That left us with a whole day to fill and a morning to calm down!

The way we filled the time was to do some shopping and have an early lunch. Then we started into the garden. I began moving the pots that edge the front garden and then cut the edges with the Flymo. I knew Scamp had a special method for cutting the grass, so once I had cleared the edges, I handed over control to Scamp and started putting things back into the places I thought they should go. Most of them I got right, but I knew that Scamp would correct my mistakes after I’d finished.

While Scamp was correcting mistakes and finishing the mowing, I spotted a little bright red insect on what was left of one of the Fritillaries. Scamp had beheaded the plants last week to ensure that none of the strength would go in to the seed heads. That was when I read on Wikipedia how much damage the red beetles did. According to Wikipedia, it’s Red Lily Beetle and it eats the leaves, stem, buds, and flowers, of lilies, fritillaries and other members of the family Liliaceae. It lays its eggs most often on Lilium and Fritillaria species.
This one won’t be doing any more damage, but it got PoD.

By the time we’d completed the shopping, cut the front grass, replaced the pots in their proper places, and done some insect research, it was well into the afternoon, so we downed tools and stopped to have a beer in the sun. We also made plans to repair the dilapidated fence between us and our new neighbours. I’d been promising it for years now and always managed to give it wide berth. Maybe this year I need to start working at it.

Fish Risotto cooked in the oven was tonight’s dinner. It should have been made with smoked fish, but I thought it would be ok with unsmoked. Yet again, I was wrong! It was ok, but just ok.

As the sun was going down I remembered I’d told Scamp I’d water the garden. I finally got the connections made and did get not only our garden, but our next door neighbours’ garden watered too. By the time I was finished the air was becoming decidedly cool.

Tomorrow I’m intending meeting Alex for a photo-walk. Scamp has even more gardening on her list on her To Do list.

Plants and Flowers – 6 May 2025

Posted on by Zogman

We met Isobel for coffee and gossip. Always a good mixture.

Drove up to the Town Centre, part of which is being demolished, thankfully not the part we were intending having coffee in. We were late because I’d forgotten my sunglasses, it being a very bright and hot morning. We haven’t had any rain for about a fortnight and even then it was just a splash and dash from the clouds. Not really what you’d call real rain. Anyway, I found my glasses waiting to be picked up on the radiator at the house and we were off again. Isobel had acquired a table for the three of us. I had a not too shabby Flat White and Scamp had a Latte which is really just a jug of hot milk with half a shot of coffee. We sat talking for about an hour and a half before going our merry ways.

Isobel was going shopping and I intended to take Scamp to the Kelpies. However, the road to the motorway was reduced to a single lane and there was an almighty queue down the Wilderness Brae for a couple of miles to the roundabout that would take us to Grangemouth. I took a quicker way back through Cumbersheugh and on to the motorway, cursing the deadheads in the council all the way.

When we were in sight of the Kelpies, Scamp suggested we go to Klondyke garden centre first. We’d been talking about that change of destination during the drive. Klondyke is a treasure trove for gardeners. Flowers of almost every kind and colour. Only, they didn’t have the kind I was looking for. I was looking for Scottish Marigold, but although they had loads of French Marigold, they didn’t have Scottish Marigold, AKA Calendula. They did have compost, wee pot plants, a set of three stackable triangular pots, a variety of vegetable plants, a basket of dahlia flowers and a big square pot that would hold a rose. We now have all the aforementioned articles too! We had lunch at the garden centre which is reasonably priced. However, to avoid the usual holdup on the M80 and to get the plants back to the house in a reasonable state, we had to forego the visit to the Big Horses. As we passed them on the way home, we gave them a wave and told them we’d come and see them again, soon. I’m sure Scamp will hold me to that promise.

A fairly easy drive home and got parked, then emptied the car boot into the back garden, because that was where the majority of the plants and flowers would end up. Scamp took charge of planting the new rose Schoolgirl in a decent mix of composts. It’s the second Schoolgirl we’ve got. This one might live in the back garden while to existing one will stay at the front. Some things will need watering soon, but they’ll survive for a few days.

A quick walk round St Mo’s gave me a PoD. It’s the gardeners nemesis, the Buttercup. Beautiful flower … as long as it isn’t in your garden.

Tomorrow it’s an early rise then hopefully a couple of trains will take us to Glasgow.