Category: Garden

The Bunny – 29 September 2024

Posted on by Zogman

A lazy day. At least, for me it was. Scamp was dividing plants in the garden.

Scamp was dividing a Candelabra Primula. One mature plant made an extra three plants. The original plant went back into the hole it came from and the three divisions went around it. Hopefully all four will survive the winter. I’m pretty sure she did some pruning as well. She just loves pruning plants to make them nice and tidy.

After the gardening, it was lunch time and of course we watched Laura Kuenssberg interrogating two Conservative hopefuls for the top job. Why anyone would want a job where apparently everyone hates you, I’ll never know. An easy life and a lazy Sunday is more my expectation these days. In fact, why restrict it to Sundays? Let’s make it any day with a “Y” in it. There, that’s something to strive for.

Next for me was a walk in St Mo’s for a few photos. Not a lot going on over the road today. A few shots of a dark red dragonfly and another couple of a pigeon surveying the pond, but the PoD went to a bunch of Michaelmas Daisies. I thought it was fitting that these flowers should find their way into Flickr on the 29th of September, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel.

Spoke to Jamie later and found that he’s having to deal with problems at work that he hadn’t expected. Life isn’t easy sometimes. I felt really sorry for him. On a brighter note, it seems he’s going to have a new back door some time soon. One that fits the frame this time.

I was standing at the window this morning looking at nothing when I noticed a movement on the path. It was a rabbit, munching away at the weeds on the far side of the path. I pointed it out to Scamp who thought it might be a pet rabbit that had escaped from its owners. It certainly didn’t look as skittish as wild rabbits usually are and seemed quite happy to have found some new free food. We watched it on and off for about half an hour before it disappeared. Must keep an eye out for it in the next few days.

I’m intending going down to the village tomorrow to price four new tyres for the blue car.

Busy – 20 September 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Almost a duplicate of yesterday, but with Scamp being the busy one.

Scamp was out at FitSteps in the morning and I was rolling around under the downstairs wash hand basin squirting more silicone into the place where the leak was in the hope that it would stave off the drips, at least for a couple of days until we could get a plumber to fix it properly.

I was making my morning coffee when I saw a blackbird having a wash in the bird bath in the back garden. By the time I’d grabbed a camera with a long enough lens, the blackbird had been ousted by four young starlings who were squabbling as starlings do, all trying to get washed in the bird bath. Eventually the fighting became more restrained and the numbers dropped to two who were splashing away merrily. That was PoD taken care of, because soon it would be all hands on deck.

When Scamp returned with lunch, I was again rolling on the floor. The living room floor this time adding an extension to the round table that would turn it into an oval table. After lunch, work started on the starter and the dessert, both Scamp’s strongholds and nothing to do for me. Instead, I got the hoover out and gave the hall, kitchen and living room a good going over.

I did think of taking a walk in St Mo’s, but the weather had turned dull and misty and there really wasn’t the need for more after the starling photos. Instead, I processed the photos.

Crawford & Nancy were the first to arrive and almost immediately afterwards, June & Ian’s taxi appeared. A full house tonight. Lots of catching up to do with everyone. Dinner worked out well. The starter was Prawn Cocktail (no tomatoes for Nancy). Main was Chicken Tagine (no olives for Scamp). Dessert was Tiramisu for everyone.

We showed some photos of the holiday and the wedding. I’d spent most of the afternoon coercing the tablet into playing nice with Chrome and actually casting the images on the TV.. Thankfully it worked on the night.

The visitors eventually left just before midnight and, after loading the dishwasher and a gin each, we finally got to bed about an hour later.

We might need a morning’s worth of work to get everything back in place.

The Messages – 17 September 2024

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Today we went for the messages, but just for a bit of fun, we went to Morrison’s in The Fort.

Before that, Scamp was out early checking on her roses and cut three flowers which are now sitting in front of me in a vase on the coffee table. With the light in the morning coming in the front window they were easily a possible PoD.

It’s surprising the difference in prices between Morrison’s and Tesco. It’s also surprising the different range of food and drink in the two. If we had the time, we could buy half our shopping in one store and half in another, but we’d probably spend more on petrol driving between them. We got a really cheerful checkout girl who managed to wangle a free bottle bag for us because we’d bought six bottles of various alcoholic beverages. Try getting that in Tesco!

We drove home and after a quick lunch, Scamp started cutting the grass in the back garden. I volunteered to cut the front grass, but forgot that I’d then have to clean the mower. A fly move by Scamp there. Before I got inveigled into doing any more gardening I went for a walk in St Mo’s.

About halfway round the circuit, I had a wee problem with the zoom lens. It had managed to put itself into manual mode ( it should have been in ‘autofocus’ mode). I couldn’t understand what I’d done wrong this time. There were no benches to sit on while I puzzled it out, and the big boulders beside the path aren’t the most comfortable seats, but I did resort to them for a while, but could find no solution. The standard lens was working fine and so was the camera, so the problem was with the zoom lens. When I got home and checked the settings, I found the solution to the problem. This next paragraph is for my benefit.

If the camera goes into Manual mode, move the zoom switch to No 3 position and hold the button down for 1 second. That should fix it. The No 3 position is programmed to switch between manual and auto and it requires a press of 1 second to switch between them. Now remember that for next time ya daftie!!!

There, that’s me telling myself off!

Back home Scamp was making dinner. Fried potatoes and fish. The fish had come from Morrison’s today and was lovely. Scamp had opened a bottle of wine so we had a glass each to go with our dinner. A glass of wine on a Tuesday? The sun must have gone to our heads.

PoD did turn out to be the three flowers. The pink one is Gertrude Jekyll the rose bud is the winter colour for Lady of Shalott and the warm yellow one is a fully out Lady of Shalott. They were too good to miss.

Tomorrow is to be as warm as today in the west, so we probably won’t be heading east, but we might go out for a spin.

 

 

Dancin’ ( or trying to) – 14 September 2024

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We drove over to Brookfield for the first dance class in ages.

The first dance in the unheated Brookfield Hall was a sequence dance, the Melody Foxtrot. Two tracks to start with and an extra one for Peter and Gillian because they were late. Would they do an extra track for us or for Leslie & Gordon? Maybe not, but Peter and Gillian are friends of the teachers. Petty? Me? Oh yes, but if your face don’t fit here you don’t get privileges.

First dance was the Butterfly Jive. I’ve never really sorted this one out in my head. Too many things coming at you too quickly. Scamp seems ok with it, it’s just me who’s too slow.

The tempo slowed down for the next dance which was the Four Seasons Waltz which I thought I was dancing correctly, but Scamp kept telling me I was wrong. For once, I was sure I was right because muscle memory was telling me to do one thing and Scamp was telling me something else. Eventually, after calling the adjudicator, Jane, I was proven right. It’s nice to be right … sometimes. We’d danced this waltz on Thursday and most of it was encoded in my head, I just couldn’t play it back with confidence, but Scamp could. I can usually rely on her to keep me right.

The third ‘real’ dance was a Quickstep which may have a name, but I can’t remember it. It’s quite quick, but again, muscle memory came to my rescue and the entire first section just flowed perfectly. The next section we hadn’t practised, but struggled through. It might need some homework to get the footwork fitting in perfectly, but it was much better than I anticipated.

The torture finished with a Sally Anne Cha-Cha which is just a bit of noisy fun with hand claps and shouts of “OI!”. Then we left for a quick trip into Glasgow, or so I thought.

I was heading to WEX to drop off a lens I was selling. It should have been easy, but the sat nav had found a new way that didn’t allow for roadworks or diversions. After a good half hour of going the wrong way, we eventually found the carpark and dropped off the lens at the shop. We dropped in at Nevisport where we’d had a good chat last week with one of the sales guys. Not so today. Almost none of last week’s stock was there. It had been replaces with “SALES” stock. None of which was what I was looking for. We left to have a decent cup of coffee in Waterstones and drove home empty handed. Stopped at M&S in Cumbersheugh to get some fruit then went home.

In the fading light I got today’s PoD which was a James Grieve apple on our apple tree, viewed through a LensBaby distortion lens.

Dinner was a very spicy chicken curry with an ice lolly each to cool us down. Not a bad day as far as weather was concerned, but tomorrow looks better. We’ll see.

Dancin’ – 12 September 2024

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This was the first tea dance in ages, at least, it felt like ages!

A very small group today, spread thinly around the hall. About ten couples in total which is most unusual for a tea dance. But we danced. That was what we came for and we were going to get our money’s worth. We were sitting with Leslie and Gordon who don’t usually get to the tea dances because of Grandparent Duties. But other that them, it was ’Weel Kent Faces’ at the rest of the tables. The usual suspects, you could say.

The dance started with a waltz as usual and to my surprise I could remember most of the steps. We danced to two tracks with occasional ‘brain fade’, but nobody seemed to notice. Then it was in to the usual routine with the Ballroom Jive, then sequence dances. The afternoon really did seem to fly in and we took part in most of the dances.

As usual we left just a little bit early to avoid the school rush an this time we seemed to get it just right. A few spots of rain on the windscreen occasionally on the drive home, but otherwise a bright day as long as you were in the car. Outside it was cold, a measure of what is to come tonight, apparently. Temperatures around 1ºc predicted widely. It’s definitely autumn now.

PoD was a Tiarella flower from the garden with a distorted background courtesy of the LensBaby again.

Tomorrow Scamp is intending going to FitSteps. Afterwards we might visit Isobel who isn’t feeling well just now.

The Wedding Day – 31 August 2024

Posted on by Zogman

As has become traditional when we’re away from home, the write-up is more of a place marker than anything else. With bullet points to keep the memories fresh without taking up too much writing time.

  • A walk through a different part of the town on a dull morning
  • Found a monument to Jersey Cows!
  • One calf had found a toad
  • Wandered round the indoor market
  • But soon it was time to get dressed to impress
  • Got a taxi to La Mare Vineyard
  • The weather had improved
  • It was time for Pimms on the lawn
  • More butterflies in the garden
  • Alex and family arrived later
  • Just in time to see the happy couple’s entrance
  • Saw some folk we hadn’t seen in years
  • The meal was delicious
  • The dancing was hilarious
  • I took over 300 photos here are some:

 

 

Rain – 25 August 2024

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It rained today from early morning until late at night.

Actually it did stop around 6pm when, for an hour, the rain stopped, the sun shone and I managed to get a handful of photos of flowers in the garden. After that the rain returned as heavy as ever and I think it’s still raining. Usually I say that the gardens need it, but the gardens are fed up with it too and just want some late season warmth and sunshine. An Indian summer we used to call it.

In a way, the rain was a blessing. It forced us to start tidying things up. Making bundles and packing those bundles away for better days to come, but first there were some messages to get.

Normally Monday is the shopping day, but we’d meant to do it yesterday, then yesterday slipped from our grasp and it turned into today. We couldn’t let it go any further or else there would be no food in the house, so we braced ourselves and drove to Tesco to buy some much needed supplies. Just the essentials today. Fruit, veg, milk and some sausages. No wine, no beer, just the bare necessities.

Then just as quickly as we finished our lunch, and read a few chapters in our books and played the occasional game of Angry Birds or finished a jigsaw for some, it was almost dinner time.

Just before dinner was when I got the PoD. It’s a bunch of Japanese Anemones with a bit of bokeh in the background courtesy of a hand made steel Allium that holds the raindrops beautifully. Thanks again for that Hazy.

Also around that time we found a PDF of the Holiday Recipes had arrived in the WhatsApp mailbox. Thank you for that Neil. Very well presented. It’s now downloaded and will be printed off tomorrow.

Spoke to Jamie later and agreed that stripping paint is not the most pleasant of ways to use your weekend, but sometimes it just has to be done. If we could string a few dry days together here, I’d like to give the window sills a fresh coat of paint, but if present weather systems are anything to go by, it would need to very quick drying paint!

I have an appointment with the nurse tomorrow to review a possible change in my meds. Hope it’s not as wet as today.

Dancin’ – 22 August 2024

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Bright sunny day that developed the look of rain, which never appeared until evening.

We were going dancing today at Glenburn, but before that, Scamp went shopping for bread and milk, so that after lunch we could get changed into dancing clothes and go.

We didn’t dance as much as we’d thought we would because we were sitting with a couple from Largs. The lady struck up a conversation with Scamp while we men sat around and chipped in the occasional comment, as men do.

We did manage a fairly lengthy quickstep without making it too obvious that we were repeating a lot. I attempted Fishtails, but need a lot more practise on the actual strategy of fishtails before I can confidently insert them into full dance. There are lots of little steps like that we know and just need the confidence to add them to our short routine. Practise, that’s what we need the most. Anyway, it passed an afternoon that otherwise we’d have used up sitting around the house.

Drove home and had an M&S curry for dinner. For the first time I was distinctly unimpressed with the Chicken Tikka which was just bland with nothing to commend it in my opinion.

We watched episode 1 of a series called Vienna Blood, set in 1906 Vienna. I drew comparison immediately with The Turkish Detective which even with occasional subtitles was a much better series. Scamp took issue with the close-ups of staring eyes. Maybe episode 1 was a good place to stop.

The PoD was a robin that stopped for a quick splash in the birdbath in the afternoon. Another swimmer I saw today was a snail, complete with shell in an old mushroom tub sunk in the raised bed, I’d originally poured some no alcohol beer into it to see if the smell would attract slugs to drown in it, but they appeared uninterested in pretend beer. This snail, however wasn’t drowning in the now rainwater tub, it was actually swimming. I’ve once seen a big black slug paddling in puddles with its ‘head’ above water, but this snail seemed to be floating in the water. Maybe the shell holds enough air to make it buoyant. I must investigate that.

Tomorrow we may be going east in search of some sun.

Another stay at home day – 18 August 2024

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Dull and a bit cool for August. Nothing to make us want to go out.

Didn’t even want to take any photos today, although later in the day I did take the camera for a walk in the garden.

I’d promised I’d wash the downstairs back windows and that’s what I did. A bucket of warm soapy water and a combination sponge scrubber and squeegee made short work of the windows. A quick wipe down with a polishing glove and the job was done. As promised!

While I was busy cleaning windows, Scamp was potting up some geraniums into bigger pots.

Eventually I got round to taking some photos and at Scamp’s suggestion, it was the miniature sunflowers time to shine. They have slightly smaller ‘faces’ than normal sunflowers, but very short stems. Barely 250mm overall height. Their big cousin is still growing in the same raised bed and is not far short of 2m at present. Another ‘carder bee’ appeared to have a closer look at the sunflower!

We couldn’t decide what to have for dinner tonight and it eventually turned out to be Tempura Prawns with Ayrshire Potatoes and Peas. An odd mix and the prawns weren’t anything to write home about, but the potatoes were lovely.

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about his birthday fish ’n’ chips with Simonne at the seaside. We also discussed the problems of removing ourselves from the clutches of BT.

Tomorrow I’m expecting to see the nurse in the morning then a vaccination to look forward to in the afternoon. Getting my money’s worth from the NHS!

Happy Birthday Jamie – 16 August 2024

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Good to see you took the sensible approach and worked from home today, Jamie.

We’d talked about going to Edinburgh, but I wasn’t in a rush, so told Scamp she should go to her FitSteps class first. While she was there I messed around the house and had a long hot shower to ease my back which is still giving me grief some days. Scamp returned early from the class, and she didn’t look well. She knew herself that she had a little infection and phoned the surgery. After the usual questions they said the nurse would give her a call later in the morning. Good as her word, the nurse called back and asked a few more questions and said she’d leave a prescription at the desk in the health centre. About half an hour later I drove to the health centre, picked up the prescription and had it filled at the chemist next door.

That was us home for the day. No big deal, because we can go to Edinburgh next week some time, all being well. We may even have to forego tomorrow’s dance class too. You have to be sensible about these things.

Lunch for both of us was tea and toast. Neither of us was all that hungry. The afternoon dragged a bit, mainly due to the weather which was looking rainy without actually raining. Plus there was a cold wind blowing. Scamp was looking better and more relaxed too, so I took myself upstairs to do a bit of painting with some watercolour markers Fred had recommended. I wasn’t really impressed with the quality. The markers themselves had very coarse brushes and the ‘pencil’ end of the double ended markers was a bit soft. Just cheap markers, pretending to be something better. However that made me set up an easel and start painting with real watercolour. Just a wee landscape that will probably never see the light of day, but it kept me amused and out of Scamp’s hair for an hour or so.

I also got the PoD. Two roses in the garden had had their petals blown away in last week’s gales, leaving their stamens and pistils exposed, but in bright colours. The title of the PoD is Naked Roses! That should generate a few views!!

Alex sent me a message late in the afternoon to say that the Environmental Health people had visited and sprayed some white powder over the wasp nest and sealed off the room they are in. They were told not to open that room until the experts in their “Ghostbusters Uniforms” returned in a week’s time. I’m sure he will obey those instructions. I told him that I think the white powder the bloke was spraying might have been ‘Oofle Dust’. It always seemed to make things disappear for Sooty!

That rain never came today, but the wind was strong and the temperature was dropping away rapidly. Almost, as the weather forecast man said, as if it’s already autumn. Do you think there’s a way to get our money back for the summer we never had? Answers on a post card, please.

Tomorrow we will wait to see how the invalid is before making any judgement on what to do with the day.