Category: Garden

Recovery – 22 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today was a day of recovery. No dancing, no red hot feet!

Scamp was out meeting Isobel for coffee while I ran the computer red hot, rather than my feet. I wrote up three days of blog, if you can call yesterday’s a blog. Saturday’s epistle made up for it though.

When she got back, Scamp started on the garden. There were flowers to plant and seeds to sow and tidying up of pots to do. There were snails to capture and put in a bag for later disposal. Our lupins have been covered in snail slime for weeks now but before we went to Perth, Scamp dusted the pot with lots of slug pellets. It wasn’t slugs that were doing the dirty on the lupins, it was snails. How they managed to haul their big fat bodies and their shells up those fine stems I will never know, in fact I don’t want to know. They have nearly all been dealt with. Hopefully the remainder will go for a walk with me tomorrow to St Mo’s. It’s said that snails have a homing instinct. Well, good luck to them crossing the road from St Mo’s!

After lunch I took the A7iii out for a walk in the woods and that’s where I got today’s PoD. It’s a pair of Lousewort flowers (Pedicularis sylvatica). Tiny little things. There wasn’t much else on offer today. I was hoping the warm weather would bring out some damselflies, but none were to be found. I did find a couple of Wolf Spiders squaring up to each other with their little pedipalps raised like a couple of prize fighters wearing boxing gloves. They were a bit quick for me, I’m out of practise at catching spiders on the hop.

By the time I got back, Scamp was sitting in the garden reading with a glass of wine in her hand and I chose to keep her company with my glass and a book. The book is Jimi Hendrix Live In Lviv. It is very, very strange. Based in Ukraine around 2011 and translated from Russian!

Dinner tonight was yesterday’s leftover risotto made into arancini (deep fried rice balls dusted with breadcrumbs) and they were really quite filling. We both scoffed them.

The prompt today asked for Vegetables.
The basket full of vegetables I have for you today, carrots, onion, leek and mushrooms, would make a good pot of soup, perhaps ‘Just Soup’, given some water and a stock cube or two.

No plans for tomorrow as yet. Something will turn up, I’m sure.

 

Going Home – 21 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Like I said yesterday, today there was a sad wee hour long dance class. I’d much rather have joined the ones who left after breakfast.

But there was music and a much less crowded dance floor, so room to breathe and dance without getting elbowed off the floor, so we danced for that hour then said our goodbyes.

Paid our £16 odd for the parking and drove home on another sunny day. Not a lot you can say about heading south for an hour.

PoD was a shot of a pansy I took on a quick wander around the garden.

Today’s prompt was for a paper bag.  There is a movement for less plastic and more recyclable materials. I understand the need to re-use and recycle, but in a country with more than its fair share of rainy days, paper bags are impractical.
This is a sketch of a brown paper store bag made completely from paper, including the handles. On a wet day, would you rather carry your new suit or new dress home in it or in a plastic bag? I’m afraid I’d choose the plastic bag. Better protection, and it’s re-useable. There is a place for both, I believe, if used sensibly.

We had to make our own dinner tonight. No dining in the breakfast room or with the other dancers at their tables. Just us and a baked fish risotto.

Tomorrow I believe Scamp will want to do some gardening and I will be writing up these blogs!

Stay home lunch – 18 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

What is going on here? We had to make our own lunch today after three days of eating out, we’d almost forgotten how to make lunch!

Luckily we remembered in time. Scamp remembered how to make a speciality omelette whose content must remain a secret. I had Brie, Apple and Honey on Brown Bread. I don’t mind disclosing the ingredients because it’s the way I cut the brie and the way I slice the apple and of course the way I manage to make the ordinary honey become runny honey that make mine special.

After lunch we drove down to Calders to get some flowers to fill a planter that will sit on a corner of the front lawn. She chose some Violas, some Nemesia and a little trio of plants in a pot. The planter is now full and we’d like some rain soon to augment the watering she did after planting everything out. But it was the buds on our Golden Torch rhododendron bush in the back garden that made PoD.

Not only did we have to make our own lunch, but we also had to make our own dinner tonight. It was ‘Easy Fish Risotto’ the one you make in the oven then add Creme Fraiche to lighten it I made. Then we watched Jim Moir painting gannets, a program I’d recorded from Sky Arts. Fred Parker had told me about it and it was actually very good. Painting tips and of course guest artists who got a little bit of air time. Overall, it was worth watching, as is Clive Myrie’s Italian Road Trip on iPlayer. Fifteen episodes of beautiful Italian scenery and away from the tourist traps. Recommended.

The prompt today asked for A Hat or A Cap. I settled on the old wide brimmed hat I wear on holiday when the sun is hot. It’s not the most elegant hat, but it does its job well shielding me from the sun and folds up quite neatly to go into a case. Roll on the time when I need to use it again!

Tomorrow Scamp is intending doing her FitBit thing and I think I’ll make an early start on the prompt for tomorrow. Oh yes, and post a card to Murdo who will be 80 on Saturday!

Another day, another lunch – 16 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

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.

Out to lunch – 15 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

We got the text just after 9am. Ben went to school!

That meant we were on track to take Ben’s mum, Shona to lunch. Picked her up just before midday and drove by the backroads to The Stables because it was such a lovely day. Shona was adamant that this was her treat. In fact this was her contribution to our Golden Wedding anniversary. When she told us that, how could we refuse. Scamp and Shona had a Fish Finger Sandwich each. Big chunks of fish in batter in a panini, with a cup of chips each. I had the meat eater’s version which was a slice of fillet steak cooked rare and also served on a panini and also with a cup of chips. Both lunch meals were delicious.

After lunch we went for a walk along the towpath of the Forth & Clyde canal which runs past the front of the restaurant. We walked for about a mile in the general direction of Glasgow before we turned back. Loads to see today. Butterflies all along the path, Peacock, Orange Tip and Cabbage Whites, mainly. Bluebells growing under the trees and a big Aquilegia growing wild in the hedgerow. Loads of people out on bikes making the most of an unexpectedly good day. There was even a canal boat chugging sedately heading for Glasgow, probably. It was the Yarrow Seagull and it got PoD with Scamp and Shona getting in on the photo too.

We dropped Shona off at her house and we drove home via Tesco. Back home, Scamp swithered, whether to cut the front grass or not. Eventually she decide she would and I was enlisted to lift the flower pots out of the way of the mower and replace them when she was finished.

Some of the roses needed a last trim before the flower buds appear and that was my job. I also pruned the Forsythia now that the flowers had gone over and before the leaves come fully out. My final job was to tie back the pink fluffy plant in the back garden. I can never remember its name. I know there are two of them, slightly different from each other but both are planted beside each other. The one I was working with today is really tall and although I’m sure it can stand up for itself, a bamboo stake and a couple of fairly loose cable ties wouldn’t do any harm to give it a little more support in today’s gusty breeze.

Today’s prompt asked for “Artwork you love”. Scamp and I both love the massive Kelpies. The 30m (100ft) high artwork was created by Scottish sculptor Andy Scott. They stand in Helix Park in Falkirk at the eastern end of the Forth & Clyde canal. They are made from steel and each one weighs over 300 tonnes. They were modelled on real Clydesdale horses Duke and Baron.

We’d ordered a pair of slipper shoes for Scamp at a fair discount last Friday. They were supposed to be delivered today, but the postcode was wrong. A mix up at the ordering stage. My fault for not checking properly. However when we got home the parcel was there waiting for us. One of the benefits of having the same postman all the time is that they get to know the names and addresses and don’t rely too much on postcodes.  And while I’m on the subject of shoes.  A big thank you to Scamp for sneakily getting my favourite black and white dance shoes soled and heeled for me.  I’ve been meaning to do it myself, I even bought Evostick glue to do it, but just never got round to doing it.  Sometimes you have to get the expert to do it properly, so thank you again, Scamp.

Tomorrow, unbelievably we’re hoping to go out for lunch again with Crawford & Nancy.

 

Where did the sun go? – 14 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Yesterday we had wall to wall sunshine, but not today.

Today the sun chose to play hide and seek among the clouds and it was more hide than seek for most of the day, although in the evening we did get a clear sky for an hour or two.

There wasn’t much to say about today other than we were promised rain and we did get a thimble full (if you know how much that is). It wasn’t much. Enough to wet the path and that’s about it.

I did nip out in the afternoon to photograph a delicate looking pink aquilegia that had just flowered today, or maybe yesterday. Anyway, I liked the colour of it. That got PoD.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and heard about their recent food poisoning that they are attributing to stuffed squash.  Strangely we had that self same thing when we were down there last month and felt no ill effects, but Toxic Squash Syndrome is a known illness.  Who knew vegetables could be bad for you?  Both appear to be over the bout and Jamie said he doesn’t think he’ll eat another squash.

Today’s prompt was Something Typical From Your Region. I thought I’d draw and paint a kilt. Never, ever call it a skirt. That will cause a great weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and probably a brick thorough your window! This is an approximation of Modern Campbell tartan.
Note:
1. The Sporran – originally for holding your money, now your phone, house keys, wallet, car keys and loose change.
2. On your left side is a little dagger shaped Kilt Pin to stop the wind blowing open the front flap of the kilt and frightening the horses.
3. Tucked neatly into your stocking top another dagger, the Dirk. Originally a real one for defense, but now probably a plastic or wooden replica. No good for fighting off the enemy, but at least you won’t be marched of the premises by the police.
5. The Buckfast tonic wine is what’s really typical of my region.

Hoping to take Shona for lunch tomorrow if Ben goes to school, that is!

Was that summer? – 13 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

A quite beautiful day of sunshine.

We drove to Brookside in the morning through the 40mph zone that wasn’t quite as bad as last week, although some folk were mistaking 40mph with 20mph, it seemed. We got to the class just in time. Just four couples including a decidedly pregnant Jasmine who, with her partner made light work of just about everything.

Started off with a couple of Mayfair Quickstep tracks to warm us up. The hall had a curtained off section today for some undisclosed reason, so we were dancing on what was virtually a square. After that, and after an explanation for those who hadn’t been there last week, the teachers launched into Joy’s Waltz. I thought we’d found a sneaky shortcut to get us through the Overturned Spin Turn, but was quickly shot down in flames by Jane who explained that although it did speed up the OST, it meant that when we came out of it we’d find our feet were tangled. Back to the drawing board then! I still can’t get the hang of the OST and I think I’ll resort to Scamp’s suggestion that we just fake that step and concentrate on getting the rest working.

Next we did the Sweetheart Cha-Cha with a few new adaptations just to make it more difficult, I think. Most of that went quite smoothly, even the new steps that they’d squeezed in. Thankfully Jasmine had filmed the new improved Sweetheart Cha-Cha and posted it to the group tonight.

Final dance steps were the Jive with American Spins, Alternative Stop & Go and Cha-Cha Walks. These words mean very little to me and will be forgotten by the time I finish the blog!

One last wee sequence dance, Rumba One to finish and that was us released to face the traffic going home. Overall, it was a good class, although the lady that Scamp has named Mrs Posh was being a bit of a know-all.

The drive home was easier than I expected, possibly because everyone was going to the seaside today to make the most of the sunshine. We just drove home and after lunch we worked in the garden. Scamp was chopping up a dying azalea and I was concentrating on potting up my sunflower seedlings and the wee rosemary bush we bought about a month ago.

I’d just finished doing my gardening and was putting the compost away when I felt a familiar sting on the back of my leg. I’d picked up a tick somewhere, possibly yesterday. First this year. Let’s hope it’s the last.

Dinner was a roast chicken and salad with a bottle of Prosecco to brighten it up even more.

PoD went to a purple aquilegia flower in the front garden.

Today’s prompt was An Elephant.
We don’t get many elephants roaming the hills in Scotland, and the only ones I’d photographed were either made from cast iron or paintings on billboards. However, Mr Google kindly supplied me with a model that fitted neatly on my A5 page.

I think the sky is clouding over as I write this and we’re expecting rain tomorrow. Let’s hope today wasn’t Summer! The weather will determine what we do tomorrow.

The gardens needed it – 8 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today was wet. It went from drizzle to full on downpour, but it was wet all day!

We weren’t going far today anyway. I might have gone in to Glasgow to get myself a new suit, a dark suit, both my other suits are light grey and a dark one would be a change. Also, only one of my suits actually fits me, the other one fits like a sugar bag. Not a good look. Anyway, that decision was taken away from me with one look at the weather. The furthest we were going today was Tesco.

Just a normal Monday shopping trip. Nothing exciting unless you class short dated tomatoes, carrots and onions as exciting. Three bags full it was today, all bundled into the boot and drove home.

What we did do was give our plants a bit of a soaking in the rainwater. My two chilli plants seemed to come to no harm in it and Scamp’s Cerinthe seedlings seemed to grow even taller after being in the downpours.

After lunch I gave in, put on my boots and my walking trousers and went out looking for a photo that would become PoD. It was really wet wherever I went and after about half an hour I was sure I could feel that squidgy sensation that you only get when you’ve got a leaky boot. But I was out in the middle of the park when it made itself known and I still hadn’t got that magic PoD. Then it appeared. It was a water droplet hanging from a larch needle. I took my time and eventually shot half a dozen frames of it. One of which I deemed sharp enough to become the PoD for today. Then, and only then, I squidged my way home. The sock on my right foot told the tale. There was a leak and it looks like there is a crack in the tread of my boot and that’s where the water is getting in. It might be a cut, not a crack, but the result is the same. I wouldn’t think it’s repairable, although someone on YouTube will know different, I’m sure. I might need to shell out for a new pair of boots now.

Today’s EDiM asked for An Ant. I originally thought of drawing a couple of Leaf Cutter Ants, but couldn’t find a clear enough photo to draw them from. I finally settled for a Flying Ant. There were a lot of these scary looking beasties flying around last year, I seem to remember. Apparently there is an actual Flying Ant Day. In the UK it seems to be around the 17th July. It all depends on the temperature and windspeed. There, I bet you didn’t know that!

Tomorrow we’re booked for lunch with Shona. Not sure yet where we’ll be going. Like the Flying Ants, it depends on the weather!

Rain – 30 April 2023

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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.

Stuck in the toilet – 28 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was out in the morning to her FitSteps class and out again in the afternoon for coffee with Isobel. I was stuck in the toilet.

Actually it’s not as bad as it seems. Yes, I was in the toilet, but I was replacing the carpet tiles in there. There are only six tiles to lay, but every one has to have cut-outs to accommodate pipes or the curved base of the toilet bowl or door frames.

This was probably the third or fourth time I’ve had to relay the tiles. The good thing about it is that the outgoing tiles act as templates for marking out the new ones. It’s the cutting that’s the most difficult stage. It’s been quite a while since I last had to do this job, but after a couple of tiles, it all came flooding back. The secret is to mark the back of each tile out using the old tile as a template and a white wax sewing pencil. Then with a sharp Stanley knife you cut halfway through the stiff backing. That should allow you to crack the new tile along that line. The most awkward part is hacking through the carpet fabric. It’s not easy working in such a confined space, but once you get into a rhythm it all goes fairly smoothly, but I don’t fancy having to do it for a living! By the time Scamp got back from FitSteps I was working on the last tile. Six new tiles laid in just over an hour.

After a spot of lunch I drove Scamp up to Costa in the town centre to meet Isobel, June and Ian. I didn’t wait, I had other fish to fry or in this case sausages to fry. Stopped at the butcher’s in Condorrat for mince, stew rolls and flat sausages. Some call them Lorne sausages, some call them square sliced (pronounced Skwer Sliced). To me they have always been flat sausages. That was my section of the freezer filled again with mince and stew. One of the sausages was for lunch, as was one of the rolls.

When Scamp got home I took the A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s later to get some photos. I couldn’t really see anything that appealed to me, but the two trees with the upwardly mobile branch made me smile. It became PoD.

When I got back, Scamp was working in the garden. That reminded me that I hadn’t planted my anniversary present, a packet of Sunflower seeds, so I set to and planted almost all 20 of the seeds. I had some left and offered them to Scamp to plant. Not that it’s a competition or anything like that. Just a friendly neighbourly gesture. We’ll see who’s pops out of the soil first – of course it’s a competition.

There is just an outside chance that we may go to Edinburgh on the train tomorrow. Weather permitting, of course.