Category: Garden

Looking for insects – 11 August 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It was another hot day. Not as hot as it was in the south of England, but certainly warm enough for us in Scotland.

The only thing we did today was to go for a walk to the shops. Well, to be honest, Scamp went for a walk to the shops, but I cut the walk short and went down to St Mo’s. Behind St Mo’s is what is usually a boggy area which is usually wet in all weathers. Of course, today it was almost bone dry. I was looking for the seed pods from the Flag Iris plants that grow there, but I realise now after some research that I have to wait until about November to get the distorted seed pods that grow down there! I’ll try to be patient.

On my walk back, I spotted a little Hover Fly sitting and probably feeding on a pink Knapweed flower. It took a few shots to get what I wanted from the wee fly, but in the end I had a PoD.

Back home it was my turn to cook and Scamp requested Pasta Puttanesca. That’s another recipe from a long while ago. I eventually found what I was looking for and Scamp said it tasted just right. I wasn’t too sure, but I’ll stand by her decision.

TV schedules were all over the place tonight which meant that the Sewing Bee hadn’t recorded on our dodgy Virgin device. It seems that every week we find another failure from this recorder. I thInk it may be time to move away from Virgin and get a more trustworthy recorder.

That was about it for today. Sat in the garden for a while soaking up the sun. Hoping to meet Alex tomorrow for a walk. I might even get back in time to watch the partial eclipse.

More butterflies – 9 August 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I don’t think you can ever have enough photos of butterflies.

I don’t want to rub it in, but we had rain again this morning. Not a lot of rain, but enough to let us know that it’s still around, just waiting for a chance to drop on us.

The rain came and went for most of the morning and a bit of the afternoon, but didn’t bother us. Scamp and I did some pruning of the Buddleia bushes later in the afternoon and by then the butterflies were returning to the bushes. I think the rain in the morning dampened the flowers down and maybe that accounts for the limited amount of interest from the butterflies but the bees are much hardier. In the evening all the butterflies returned, circling the buddleia plants again. I got a few photos of a Red Admiral that became PoD.

Scamp and I emptied the last of the potato bags and collected quite a few potatoes. Almost all of them were in good condition, but a lot of the soil was dry, probably from being under the Rowan tree for too long. A few of them were the size of marbles and we used a tip we’d seen on Gardeners World. We replanted two of the potato shaws that still had smaller potatoes attached. Then we filled up the pot they had been in and watered them in well. Hopefully that will produce some more potatoes, but even if they fail, we won’t have lost anything.

Dinner tonight was Cauliflower in Cheese Sauce for Scamp and Stew and Kidney for me. Dessert for both of us was Rhubarb and Strawberries a strange mixture, but really good. We only tried it because our strawberries were starting to go over. We both agreed we’d do it again. Your rhubarb was mixed with our thinner rhubarb, but both worked together, Jamie.

Tomorrow Scamp and Shona are intending to go out for the day, somewhere nice! That’s all I know.

 

A leisurely day – 7 August 2026

Posted on by Zogman

We sort of had a long lie in today but managed to wake before 11am!

After breakfast we discussed what to do with the day. It was Scamp who suggested we drive to Hamilton for a curry in Bombay Cottage and that suited me too. So off we went to Hamilton. No problems with roadworks on the M74 down to Hamilton.

The food was good and the Naan Bread was really hot. Just out of the tandoor. I had Chicken Rogan Josh and Scamp had Vegetable Shimla Bhaji. Ice cream helped take the sting out of my Rogan Josh. We were both amazed that the same person who has always served us was still there doing the same job. He told us he’s been there for sixteen years, but is retiring this year. I don’t know if he will retire. I think he’s in with the bricks.

We discussed whether to go somewhere else or just go home afterwards, and settled for going home. Again, we were on the right road to just drive our normal route home without any roadworks, but many people seemed surprised that the road ahead was closed.

In the afternoon we went for a walk around the front garden. One of Scamp’s favourite rose bushes isn’t doing very well, We’re not sure what the root problem is, but a lot of the leaves are covered in big holes and others are discoloured. I think she might write to one of the companies that have supplied the bushes in the past and find out what we should do with it. For today, we cut the plant back by about a third in the hopes that it will give it a jolt. Also it is nearly time to give the roses a second feed. That may help too. If all else fails we’ll do a more drastic cut in the end of spring.

Today’s PoD really came from yesterday’s shots. It’s from an old broken wall across from the house with leaves hanging over the cracked brickwork.

Hope Jamie and Sim enjoy their friend’s wedding.

Tomorrow should be dance day. Hopefully it will be better than last week.

A Butterfly Day – 2 August 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Beautiful day for butterflies. I counted fifteen butterflies congregating on the buddleia bush in the garden.

The day actually started with some joker trying to reverse a lorry and connected ‘chipper’ along a path that was never meant to carry such a wide load. After a bit of an argument I convinced him to disconnect the ‘chipper’ and push it down to where it should have been and then drive the lorry round to the wider road further down the estate. Then we discussed how to repair the tree he had damaged. After that the ‘boss’ and I worked out that the best thing to do was to cut part of the tree branch down. With it done, we shook hands on it, but some of the minions were still making noises. Scamp and I went back to breakfast.

For the rest of the day, Scamp was happily working on the garden. She had a vision of what she wanted to happen and I was glad to let her get on with it. I must admit that she has made an excellent job of clearing up the garden. It’s not quite finished yet, but a lot of work went into making it look much better than before.

I was busy taking photos of the butterflies that had covered the buddleia bush. About half a dozen different types were flying round and through the buddleia flowers and my favourite was the Comma with its easily recognised ‘Cut out’ on its wing. The most amazing one was the Painted Lady which migrates from Africa and mainland Europe to the Uk, and in this case to Scotland. This is the first time I’ve seen one.

Spoke to Jamie later in the day and heard about the exorbitant price for their water bill. I’m glad we live in Scotland!

Tomorrow Scamp and I are probably going shopping. What fun!

Dancin’ – 1 August 2026

Posted on by Zogman

On the first day of August

It was a busy morning with traffic on the road, probably from folk coming home from holiday and others on their way out. Once we got past Glasgow airport the traffic reduced. Today we were back in Brookfield and dancing old dances. Some were more successful than others. People, including us, were still having problems with Rona’s Rumba. Jane was making changes to the routine but, as someone said, there are too many turns both clockwise and anticlockwise. I can understand that Jane has devised the dance for a friend who passed away, but you sometimes have to stand back and look at the routine. That’s all I’ll say.

It wasn’t my best day. I was complaining about everything. I have no excuse for it, just one of those dance days when things get under my skin and I can’t do anything right. We danced quite a few routines that, normally we’d work our way through without any problems, but today they just didn’t work. Most of it was my fault. Probably best to forget today and come back fresh for the next dance.

For once we drove home over the Kingston Bridge and kept the wheels turning all the time. It’s not often I’ll say that. The weather was variable today. Cloudy one minute and in sunshine the next. Not to be trusted, though because Scamp was complaining about little showers of rain when she was working in the garden later. We both worked on an old tree that’s been growing next to the wall in the back garden and between us I think we’ve given it a good short back and sides today. Our ‘Brown Bin’, the garden waste bin was almost full with one bushy tree.

We had three butterflies changing places round the Buddleia bush in the garden. One of them, a Red Admiral, finally settled on a plant pot and I managed one photo of it before it flew off. That photo made PoD.

I spent some time rearranging my Lightroom catalog, something I’ve been meaning to do for months now. Hopefully it will be a more logical way of working this year.

Dinner tonight was Mac ’n’ Cheese and although it was a bit salty, it tasted great. Scamp was cooking, of course!

No plans for tomorrow so far.

Raining – 28 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I know this will break the hearts of my readers “Dahn Sarf”, especially with another heat wave heading their way, but we had rain almost all day today. Sometimes heavy rain sometimes light, but always there. Hopefully those in the south of England will get their fair share of it too in the coming weeks and months.

I’m afraid there wasn’t much to report today. I walked down to the shops in the afternoon to get some ‘messages’, but other than that I hardly moved from the house.

I was duty chef today and I was making Carrot & Lentil Curry. It’s so long since I last made it, I completely forgot what the ingredients were. Then I remembered that the original was sealed into a double sided, clear plastic sheet. Find that and you find the recipe, and Scamp knew where the plastic sheet was. We almost had all the makings of the curry, but the local shops didn’t sell canned Pimentos. However, our version of it was good enough for today. Tomorrow I may drive to Tesco to get a new jar. Scamp says she was delighted with the cut down version. Happy Wife, Happy Life!

We thought we’d lost the chance to see who won Bakeoff The Professionals because, for some reason ITV were showing it on the wrong day, but Scamp managed to find it somewhere on ITV. I chose the wrong pair, but Scamp got it right. Brilliant program.

PoD went to a branch of Rowan berries from the back garden. They look like plump little oranges!

No plans for tomorrow, but it looks like the weather may improve. Probably not what you were wanting to hear if you live down south!

Back to normal – 27 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

After the faded glamour and glitz of The Blackpool Tower Ballroom and the fun of Glasgow Merchant City Festival, today it was back to reality with a bump. Monday is ‘Messages’ day. A trip to Tesco was as far as we got.

After we emptied the car and put all the ‘messages’ away, we had lunch. Then Scamp decided she was going out to make some changes to the back garden. I let her get on with it and settled down to write some of the blog and put the rest of it back into the places it should have been in yesterday. Then Scamp explained what she wanted to change in the garden and where things were going to go.

Thankfully, it was around that time that Hazy phoned to see if we were busy. We talked about Blackpool and dancing and and dentists. Also, how the hats got on people. If that makes no sense, don’t worry. Books, as usual, were topics for discussion too. Good to hear that Neil is enjoying his school holidays.

After we had said our goodbyes, it was back to the back garden for more of Scamp’s ideas for its alterations. Actually it looks as if it will work quite well, but it will need quite a lot of changes.

It was a cool afternoon with the threat of rain always just there in the wind and very little sign of blue skies. I didn’t really want to go out to take photos, but I did get some photos of the bees on the Buddleja bush in the garden. They were Bombus pascuorum (Carder Bees). One of the shots made PoD.

It looks like we are going to have more rain tomorrow. That will be good for the garden. We’ve had a few showers, but we still need more to keep the plants healthy.

No plans for tomorrow.

A change in the weather – 24 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Much cooler today and it rained overnight. That will save us lugging watering cans around the garden! More forecast for tomorrow.

Scamp was out in the morning for coffee with Shona. I stayed home trying to make some sort of organisation into Lightroom Classic. It seems that as the catalog gets busier and busier, more errors creep in to Lightroom. Yes, it’s a really clever application, but it can be a pain in the backside sometimes. Probably a lot of the problems are human error, but not all.

While I was walking round the garden looking for some subjects to photograph I caught a glimpse of something zipping past the Buddleia bush. It stopped once and I realised it was a Humming Bird Hawk Moth. I’ve never, and I mean NEVER seen one in Scotland. My daughter in law got some photos of one in deepest England a year or so ago, but I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d see one in Scotland. By the time I got my phone camera out of my pocket it was gone. Amazing! I’ll be watching that bush for the next month until I get another chance like that!

When Scamp returned and I told her about the amazing visitor, I don’t think she believed me at first. Then when I laid siege to the buddleia bush she knew I wasn’t joking.

Not a lot other than that to speak of. Dinner was Fish ’n’ Chips from the chippy. PoD was a Japanese Anemone and I did eventually manage to get Lightroom Classic to do what it was meant to do.

I think an early bed tonight will be good. I’ve not been sleeping well, and maybe I just need an early night for once.

Just a bit cooler today – 23 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I think the days of the hot heat are numbered. It does feel a little bit cooler today.

I think I might have had too much of that hot Paisley sun yesterday. While Scamp wandered round the back garden rearranging things, I went to my bed for an hour or so in the afternoon. I felt a lot better when I woke up. Not entirely sure what caused it, but Alex and I had been walking around Paisley for a while, yesterday. It might have been that.

After I woke, I took a camera out for a walk in St Mo’s and almost immediately a Common Darter dragonfly flew over my shoulder and landed neatly right in front of me. I got that ‘dragonfly feeling’ again. The feeling that the insect was watching me even more intently than I was watching it. We both stayed in that pose, each one of us keeping a weather eye on the other and neither wanting to be the one who made the first move. It was a bit like an old spaghetti western. Eventually I blinked and walked past the insect. I’m sure it sniggered as I walked round the pond.

After the impasse I walked down to the shops and brought back some strawberries, some raspberries and a melon. The fruit was for tonight’s dinner once it was mixed with chopped up baby potatoes and little gem lettuce, beetroot and a boiled egg with some mozzarella and a few other veg. It turned into a filling meal.

Scamp and I had watered the dry looking plants in the garden with a watering can when I came back from St Mo’s and we gave it another sprinkle tonight because a lot of the plants were looking quite dry, especially the ones that are clipped to the top of our fence (not the new one). The wind tends to dry these poor plants.

Tomorrow, Scamp is intending to meet Shona for coffee and a blether. I’ve got other things to do. The dragonfly got PoD.

 

Paisley in the sun – 22 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I met Alex at Buchanan Street bus station today and we went for a coffee to give us a chance to say where we wanted to go today.

Alex chose Paisley and I said ok, as long as we didn’t have to go to the Ugly Duck. The service in The Duck is really slow and the food is just ok. I suggested to Alex that we look at Pendulum. Scamp and I have been there and the food was really good. Alex agreed and we got the train to Paisley.

We went for a wander around the town for a while and then we had a look at the menu in Pendulum. We got a seat without a problem. I chose Fish ’n’ Chips and Alex chose Deluxe Burger. When the order came, the batter on my fish was very oily and the fish was just a little thin. Not a great deal of taste in the fish or the batter. Wished I’d got Alex’s burger which he said was great, instead. All I can say is that the last time Scamp and I were there everything was fine. Maybe it was just a bad day for Pendulum, but one bad meal can be a restaurant’s downfall. One strange thing about Pendulum is that they don’t allow those who serve the meals to accept tips. Neither of us had heard of such a thing before.

After lunch we went for a walk round the town. I especially wanted a few photos of the church on the steep cobbled hill. Now remember that today was hot, not just warm, but hot. We climbed the hill and the gates were locked, but Alex had remembered there was a road that took you round the back of the church. We followed the road round and walked round the church. I got a few photos, but I’m a bit edgy about taking photos in a churchyard, so I looked, but didn’t photograph anything apart from the church itself.

We walked further along the road and found the path that would take us down to street level. Paisley has lots of wee vennels and narrow cobbled streets and we both agreed they were good subjects for photos. We walked back to the main area of the town and watched a boy dressed in strange gear feeding the pigeons in a park. He was standing with both arms outstretched and encouraging the birds to sit on his arms. Maybe it’s just Paisley folk that are strange.

We got the train back to Glasgow and went in to a Nero for a coffee before Alex got his bus and I saw mine just leaving the stance. Just not my lucky day today!

Back home, it looks like the fence between us and next door is finished. I’m sure they will be pleased to see it in place.

PoD went to a man taking in some rays, with a glass of beer on his table. How I envied him.

No plans for tomorrow yet.