Category: Garden

Dancin’, and more Dancin’ – 1 April 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Learning in the morning. Putting it to use in the evening.

Drove to Brookfield in the morning and we started with Charnwood Cha Cha then the Foxtrot and finishing with the Quickstep that we’d been practising all week … except, they weren’t interested in what we’d been practising, they only wanted to add in extra steps. We just ignored the new steps and concentrated on trying to get the ‘basic’ quickstep danced properly in a ballroom situation. There were, of course, a collection of sequence dances to leaven the more demanding ballroom dances.

We drove home through a much quieter motorway than last week and were back home in a little over forty minutes.

We talked about whether we’d go to the evening dance or not. I wasn’t keen. Driving the M8 twice on the same day didn’t appeal to me, and sometimes the evening dances are a bit dull, but it’s not only about me, and although Scamp said she didn’t think we should go, I knew she was only doing it for me. So, eventually I convinced her we agreed to go. And we had a great time. We joined Peter & Gillian, Barry & Cath, plus Cath’s sister. We danced most to the dances. I wasn’t perfect, but then I never am, so nothing new there. We laughed with the crowd at the table which you can’t avoid doing with Barry and Peter. The main thing was we enjoyed the company, the music and the dances.

The hall will be closed from tomorrow for a week at least, probably more because the floor needs repaired and re-varnished. Then the teachers are off working on a cruise ship for two and a bit weeks. So this would be the last dance until May! How quickly the year goes round.

Drove home along a very quiet M8 and we both had a little nightcap before turning on Sunday morning. So this is another catch-up. PoD was a LensBaby shot of Forsythia in the garden, because it was a bit too cool in my opinion.

Later on Sunday we intend to watch the Australian GP and do very little else.

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.

Preparing for Spring – 6 February 2023

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Scamp wanted seeds and seed compost. Spring is in the air.

We drove to Torwood at lunch time to get the seeds and seed compost. Scamp also wanted a one tonne bag of general purpose compost. Ok, it maybe didn’t weight a tonne, but it certainly felt it. It was probably full of water because it just kept twisting and turning when I tried to lift it. Why don’t they make bags with handles on them that you can at least get a grip on?

Anyway. We dumped the bag in the blue car’s boot and went for lunch. The place seemed to be full of old folk. I know I’m a member of that illustrious community, but these folk seemed a lot older than me. I ordered a Cajun Chicken Wrap and Scamp had a bowl of chips. I also got a mug of burnt water pretending to be coffee while Scamp went the sensible route and had peppermint tea. I really think, in retrospect, that I was served filter coffee ‘by mistake’. It was brown, had no crema and tasted of nothing. Two sachets of sugar and a fair dollop of milk made no difference to the taste. It was absorbed by the burnt water. I’ll follow Scamp next time and have what she’s having.

Drove home and yes, the sky did seem to be lightening, but only slightly. In the east, the area we were leaving, the sun was definitely breaking through. After I’d humphed the one tonne bag of compost through the house to the back garden, the clouds were closing in again and I knew if I was going to get any photos today I’d have to move soon. The PoD was a snowdrop, flowering in a pot of bare stem roses. To isolate it from its neighbours I used a sheet of matt black neoprene. Not real neoprene, but something that looks and feels like it. It’s great at creating a black backdrop for photographing flowers. Photos taken, PoD on the way.

While I was doing that, Scamp was busy at the kitchen sink, the draining board of which she’d covered with a plastic tablecloth. This gave her a neat worktop to use for taking cuttings of Geraniums. A sensible arrangement, because it was getting cold outside. She has also planted some Sweet Pea seeds. I didn’t get round to planting my kale seeds today, but I will soon. Honest!

Dinner tonight was a “What’s in the fridge that needs used” type of dinner. Basically it was half a tin on chopped tomatoes, a slice of bacon sliced fine, some capers that needed to be used and some penne. It all worked well, for a change.

What I did next was plan out my sketch to meet today’s prompt of The Fast and The Furious. I’ve never seen this film, one of many I’ve never seen, but for some reason an image came into my head of a Reliant Regal 3/30, a three-wheeler I had many moons ago. In fact it was my first car and I could legally drive it on a motorcycle license. It was a great car which carried us all round Scotland for years. Just for the fun factor, I gave the sketch a snail to speed past the Reliant. The driver of the Reliant was Furious to be passed by a super Fast snail.

Tomorrow, Isobel requests our company. No reasons given. It’ll be a surprise.

 

Another Scottish Day – 5 February 2023

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It was a bright start to the day, but then it faltered.

After lunch Scamp walked down to the shops to get some stuff for dinner. While she was out I started on my dinner which was to be Rolled Breast of Lamb. Actually it was already rolled. All I needed to do was preheat the oven to Gas 4 and sear the rolled lamb in a pot, then put the lamb into a pre-warmed roasting tin and deglaze the pot with some wine. Next I’d to pour the sticky wine over the lamb, wrap it in foil and bung it in to the oven for four hours. I was just finishing when Scamp arrived back.

She wanted to start cleaning out the greenhouse and after she’d laid the contents of our tiny wee plastic greenhouse, I was called upon to choose what I wanted to keep, which wasn’t much. With that done, I left her to it while I walked aimlessly around St Mo’s for an hour. There wasn’t much to photograph, especially as the morning sun had now long disappeared and was getting ready for bed if the amber light on the horizon was anything to go by. I did get a couple of photos of some gorse flowers which I’d say were flowering far too early, but they don’t listen to me, they just do as they like. One of them became PoD.

Today’s prompt was “National Velvet”, an ancient ‘horsy’ film with Elizabeth Taylor. I made no attempt to sketch Elizabeth Taylor. Instead I drew one of the ladies I saw at the Christmas Fair last December in Glasgow, enjoying a ride on the carousel horses, which don’t look anything like The Piebald in the film. Also, the woman I saw on the horse looked nothing like the person illustrated here. I hope that clarifies everything. I liked the painting of the horse, but the proportions were all wrong. Carol commented that the woman looked like Mickey Rooney. I said it was probably the lady’s five o’ clock shadow that gave that impression!

The roast lamb was, even if I say so myself, absolutely beautiful. The crunchy bits, especially so. I’ll look for that in Waitrose the next time we’re there. Scamp’s lightly smoked salmon could have been lighter still, she said. Foodies! What can you do with them?

Spoke to Jamie later and heard more of the details of Simonne’s trip to Kobe in Japan. Long way for a two day conference, but that’s the way the world turns these days.

I finished Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir today, a Christmas prezzy from Neil and Hazy.  A great story, well told. Ok, maybe a bit heavy on padding in places but really thought provoking and well researched. At 465pages it was a bit of a mammoth tome for me, but really worth reading.

Tomorrow I was hoping to get out with Alex to take some photos and to see his new Sony 70-350mm f4.5-6.3 G OSS lens, but I’ve heard nothing from him, so maybe not. In that event, Scamp wants a trip to a garden centre, probably Torwood to get some seeds and some fresh seed compost.

The day that never started – 20 January 2023

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This will be short.

We’ve both had a heavy cold today. I had it first. I really thought it was something more serious, like flu. We hear so much about it on the news these days, their propaganda gets hooked into your brain and you immediately think the worst, but it was just a heavy cold.

Scamp went to her FitSteps class in the morning, but later, in the afternoon she felt a sore throat beginning. Me, I just felt really exhausted and spent the afternoon in bed for a couple of hours.

It was an early bed for both of us with paracetamol to keep us company and to ensure a good night’s sleep.

While Scamp was out at FitSteps I went for a quick walk around the garden and grabbed a few photos. One of them with a bit of help from Photoshop became PoD, but not until Saturday!

Tomorrow I’m hoping we’ll both feel better.

What!! No Coffee!!! – 8 January 2023

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The orange warning light was flashing on the coffee maker this morning, indicating that its innards needed cleaning and I had no cleaning solution. Oh my! What would I do without coffee?

Well, the answer, of course was to look on Amazon. Ah the relief, they had the descaled, but it wouldn’t be delivered until TUESDAY!!! That would be three days before I’d get my 11am fix. What other options were there. Thankfully JL came to the rescue. John Lewis had them in stock and actually cheaper than Amazon too, so I could get them today. We just dropped everything, jumped in the car and drove to Glasgow where I picked up the life saving liquid. Scamp was looking for tops to go with skirts, but I had the important stuff paid for and in my bag. We’d nothing else to go for today, so we just drove home.

After lunch I started the long winded cleaning routine. It takes a good half hour to descale the boiler of the De Longhi 685 and then another fifteen minutes to wash it out. Life is tough when you’re a home barista.

While I was engaged in this delicate operation, Scamp was out pruning the roses and tidying up the plants in the back garden. She came in to tell me she’d found a Snowdrop, the first one of the winter, and a sign that spring wasn’t too far off. The flower was growing in a rose pot, surrounded by vicious looking thorns, so I was extra careful getting its photo, but I did get it, more than once. We compared the photos I’d taken and Scamp chose her favourite. She’s becoming really good at spotting the good shots and sidelining the poorer ones. I think she chose the best one to be PoD and I started work on it.

She was almost finished when I thought I’d broaden my photographic horizons and went over to St Mo’s to see if I could capture some of the reflections of the setting sun from the boardwalk. I managed a good dozen shots of various formats and angles and then quite suddenly, the light was gone. It was like the sunsets you get in much warmer places, when the sun sets and fifteen minutes later it’s almost dark. It’s not something you find very often in more temperate zones. It didn’t matter all that much, because I was on my way home by then.

Dinner was Chicken Milanese (battered flat and dipped in breadcrumbs before being pan fried) with a baked potato each. Beautiful. It was followed by coffee from the sparkling clean and descaled coffee maker. I’d say the coffee was better than normal, but it was probably something to do with the extra glug of Kahlua that went into each cup.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard that he’s got ‘Mallet Finger’. I was telling him that my pal, Fred has ‘Hammer Thumb’ which sounds similar and that I get a less painful version of that. Then the strangest thing happened, my thumb (always my left thumb) went into spasm and folded across my palm and refused to come back out. How strange is that.

Tomorrow Scamp is out in the morning for coffee with one of her, recently retired, work colleagues. I’m tidying up the living room table of all the calendar junk that’s been living on it for the past month. If it’s dry I may go and take some photos in St Mo’s.

Dull and Wet – 3 January 2023

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Yesterday was cold, today was just miserable.

Dull and wet. That sums up today. After our counter-clockwise walk yesterday, neither of us really wanted to go much past the door today. However, to prevent us starving we did have to drive to Tesco to get the bare essentials. The ‘Bare’ essentials means No Alcohol. New Year is past and Christmas is only a vague memory, so that means back to working week abstinence. I can’t say I’m delighted, but it does make sense.

I swear there was more water on the inside of the car windscreen than on the outside. Apparently it’s because modern cars are so well sealed that the water we give off in our breath and sweat condenses on the cold glass and that’s what causes wet windscreens inside the car. I’m not so sure I believe that, but if it’s true someone must live in the headlight housing of the car, because it mists up too, quite often. Thankfully Nissan has installed a heavy duty blower to get rid of the last remnants of moisture once we’ve wiped up the worst of the water and it was used with a vengeance today.

After lunch and in the rain, I went out into the garden wearing a raincoat to keep me dry and with a towel wrapped round the A7iii to keep it dry and I snapped a few photos in the back garden. My favourite subject is the hanging basket at the back door. It’s falling apart and covered in moss, but there are always a wide variety of leaves and almost dead strawberry plants to photograph in it. It created the PoD although it was an untidy looking subject.

Early in the evening a mist descended, and looked like it might be quite photogenic, but by then it was far too dark for even the most intrepid photographer to venture down the dark lanes of Cumbersheugh and that includes me. Instead, Scamp and I made a Salmon and Prawn Pie in a Pan. Of course, Scamp did most of the work and I just helped chop some tomatoes, but those tomatoes allowed me to claim my share of the glory if it worked. It did work. Lovely crunchy Filo pastry, slices of salmon and juicy tomatoes with some couscous to soak up the juices. Jamie Oliver isn’t as stupid as he looks! We may try some more recipes from his vastly overpriced book.

Entertainment on the TV was Paddington 2 which was a delight. That’s our kind of film, I think. No complicated plot lines to follow and everything turns out fine in the end. I hope I’m not spoiling the film by giving away the ending! If I am, just ignore this paragraph.

Tomorrow looks a bit drier than today, not that that would be difficult. We may go out for a walk if it is.

Snow, Sleet and Rain – 27 December 2022

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That’s the short list of our weather today in chronological order.

It was obvious when the snow started that we weren’t going to get that walk today. What we did do instead was rearrange the kitchen and some of the cupboards. We were trying to make space for New Stuff and also use it as an excuse to get rid of old stuff. However, it was unlikely that the council skips would be open today, because today was a Substitute Bank Holiday for Christmas Day. Does that mean that Christmas Day gets a holiday to itself today? I don’t know, but as it came up only on my Samsung calendar, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. Anyway, I collected some unused or broken small electrical items and they are now sitting in an IKEA bag in the back bedroom. I’m hoping to take them away later in the week.

I did make a loaf in the morning, but it didn’t turn out very well. Oven too low? Yeast too old? I’m not sure, but we’ll try toasting it tomorrow and if that doesn’t improve it, the remainder goes in the bin. I also braved the rain and took some photos in the garden. Abstract images for a change. Today’s PoD is a macro shot of the pea netting after it’s been messed about with in various apps!

It really was a dull day today. It started getting dark just after midday, but to keep our minds off it, Scamp launched into her ‘tidy the kitchen’ project. I’m sure it’s something to do with New Year. My mum, and her mum too were fanatical about having the house tidy for New Year. It was considered bad luck to allow the new year in to a dirty or untidy house. I’m sure it’s in the Scottish genes to continue this tradition. My part in the process was cleaning the extractor fan filter above the cooker. It’s a filthy job and it took me quite a while to get it looking decent and a new filter fitted. It’s done now, but I reckon it may need checked in about six months.

In the evening, we watched the first two episodes of The Crow Road, a Scottish mystery drama by Iain Banks from 1996. It was strange seeing these younger versions of folk who have aged a bit since it was filmed and also remember some who are no longer with us. Hoping to watch the final two episodes on iPlayer tomorrow.

That was a dull day but we got stuff done. We also had a practise at the Quickstep and Foxtrot, just to keep them fresh in our heads.

Tomorrow we may go for a walk, but it all depends on the weather.

 

December’s here! – 1 December 2022

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Got a lot to do in the morning, and dancing in the afternoon.

While I was bringing in the bins in the rain this morning, I saw a few little leaves on the path and got some photos of them and they would have been PoD until I saw the Ammi majus, like a delicate cow parsley, in the back garden with its flower heads holding a vast amount of rain drops. That became PoD.

It wasn’t our best set of dances, more like a refresher for us and a chance for some exercise! Heavens, we couldn’t even remember how to do the “Baby Waltz” which is a short and fairly easy waltz. Sometimes we practise and practise the more difficult new dances and forget to refresh the older ones. I’d say we’ll practice some more for Saturday’s class, but that’s unlikely we’ve been busy tonight but more of that later.

Today was a Christmas Tea Dance. Christmas themed dress was encouraged. Scamp had her Christmas Tree dress and I had my jolly reindeer tee shirt. We did manage to struggle through the new Cameron Quickstep, but that was mainly my problem. Sequence dances are easier for me, firstly because they are short and secondly because they are repetitive and muscle memory makes it easier to remember. Longer dances like the quickstep and foxtrot are interesting and challenging and I enjoy them one I’ve worked out the pattern of the individual steps. I think “could do better” would be the comment on my dance card for today.

Back home Scamp suggested a fish supper each would be a good idea, because Crawford and Nancy are coming for dinner Tomorrow and we knew we’d be doing prep tonight. I’m in charge of soup and bread. Scamp is in charge of the main course and pudding. She wanted the main course started tonight and I wanted to get the soup made too. So, we took turns working around each other doing our prep and lessening the load for tomorrow. So far, the soup is made and the main has been cooked. The fish ’n’ chips were brilliant. Just thought you’d like to know!

Tomorrow the prep and cooking continues. I’m hoping to get the bread started in the morning and then Scamp can continue with her prep. So, very little time for photos, but hopefully I’ll find something.

Out to lunch – 24 November 2022

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This going out to lunch is becoming a bit of a habit, I hear you say. We would disagree.

Today after we’d solved Wordle and Spelling Bee we got a bit better dressed and drove over to Motherwell. When we parked at Alex and Carol’s house, Alex told me to park the car and we’d take his daughter’s car to Gouldings for lunch.

It was very, very busy at the restaurant. Usually they hand out a buzzer to tell you when your table is ready. Today that wasn’t going to work. Today we had to queue. Actually it didn’t take that long for the queue to go down and we were seated at table 40 out of 41. Take 41 tables and multiply it by 3 to get an average of 123 people all eating or drinking or just talking at the same time with the kitchen and servers keeping things going smoothly and you see just how efficiently this restaurant works. I’m not going to list what everyone at our table had for today’s lunch, but I’d say that we were eating, drinking (non alcoholic) and talking for a couple of hours and it was really good.

Scamp hadn’t met Alex or Carol for close to twenty years. In that time three children had arrived in their family and two of our ‘children’ had been married. There was a lot for the ladies to catch up with. Alex and I had already talked these things through over the past year and a bit.

We had a walk round Xmas which had been delivered to the nursery, almost replacing the plants that are usually sold there. After the walk through and the disbelieve at the number of light-up reindeer that can be crammed into a given space. Although according to the signs in Xmas, you can run 1,000 LED lights for thirty days for 55p. That’s what they say, but how would they go about proving it? And why?

Alex drove back to Motherwell and we said our goodbyes and then drove home. It was a much brighter day than we’d expected with a sunset beginning at about 3pm. Thankfully I’d grabbed a few shots this morning in the garden and I managed to create a PoD from one of them. It wasn’t what I intended, but it made a decent abstract after being dunked in three pieces of software. Sometimes Ansel Adams quote about ‘Taking’ a photograph and ‘Making’ a photograph rings true.  Just in case you’re interested, it’s a macro of part of a Curly Kale leaf.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps and I’m hoping to stay home and drink tea!