Category: Garden

In Glasgow – 29 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Today we were going in to Glasgow.

It was what I would call “A Roaster”. I don’t know what temperature was reached but it was certainly in the mid to high twenties. We were on a mission though. We had a list of things to buy, or to be more precise, Scamp had a list of things to buy, but this time they were for me:
A pair of Crocs – Failure. Couldn’t get my size in anything other than white. Can you imagine me in a pair of white Crocs? How long would they stay white?
Dubbin for my boots – Success. Even if it was one and a half times the price of my old tin!
A new Concertina Sketch book – Success and I also got a ‘Rigger’ which is a very fine long haired brush for painting fine lines.
A Hat – Failure. The Tiso shop I was in didn’t have the fancy sun hat I was looking for, but it did have a cheaper version. Maybe …

That took us an hour or so of wandering around, then for lunch I suggested going to The Burrell. It was a good idea, but all of Glasgow seemed to be there. A lovely lunch there, although Scamp complained that the scone she had was a bit dry. I had the New York Special which wasn’t dry inside!

Drove back home and began to feel a bit tired, hard to explain. A fifteen minute snooze on the couch turned into a two hour sleep. I think I should have bought that hat and worn it to keep the sun off my rapidly balding head.

Eventually sat outside with Scamp and a bottle of beer.

Dinner was another Scamp salad with Tuna Macaroni, Baby Tomatoes, Grated Carrots and Peaches and a variety of leaves. Quite delicious and to finish a slice of M&S Bramley Apple Pie.

PoD went to a couple sitting in a chair at the end of a corridor at the Burrell.

Today’s prompt was Something Under A Magnifying Glass. I was initially at a loss as to what to draw, then I thought about the distortion a magnifying glass brings and this is the result. I’m not sure if the person holding the glass is being examined, or if they are examining ME!

Tomorrow Scamp is booked for coffee with June and I’m intending taking stuff to the skips.

 

Water, water, everywhere – 28 May 2023

Posted on by Zogman

We’d been promising ourselves for over a week that we’d water the garden. Today we did … and a little bit more besides.

Spoke to Hazy before we got started and we were pleased to hear that Penny was no worse for her op and was making good progress, despite having a blue lampshade on her head. Heard too about their progress with getting a new boiler installed.  I asked her about a book I’m reading The Left-Handed Booksellers of London and she laughed, because she’s presently re-reading it! How strange is that?!

The hose was unrolled and the tap adapter fitted in place, but this was a fairly new tap and the adapter didn’t fit very securely, but it would do, or so I thought. Scamp started on the front garden while I kept an eye on the adapter. I went to check that the pressure was suiting Scamp when I heard the splash. The adapter had worked loose, but was still connected to the tap and sending a fountain of water over the kitchen window. I turned the tap off and fixed the adapter again, this time tightening it was a pair of mole grip pliers and turned the water on again. This time it seemed more secure so I removed everything from the kitchen sink area and wiped the window and the sill down. I was just about to tell Scamp to keep the water flowing when she was finished and to tell me, because the back pressure would blow the connection again, when the same thing happened again. She hadn’t turned the water off, but a kink in the hose had done the same thing and stopped the water flowing and the back pressure had washed the windows again. A few expletives later we were back in business with a reduced water pressure this time.
I watered the back garden and as Scamp said, you could almost hear the plants sighing after their fairly lengthy drink.

With the watering done and the kitchen back to normal again we had lunch and I went out for a walk with a different lens combination: Wide angle, 50mm macro and LensBaby 50mm and +1 diopter CU lens.  That should cover all eventualities!  I was looking for a little bluebell I’d seen yesterday and I reckoned the LensBaby and CU lens combo would give me the effect I was looking for.  However, despite having the correct tools for the job, the light just wasn’t right. I took some photos, of course, but they just weren’t what I’d intended. Then I saw the bright yellow splash of colour. At first I thought it was a Brimstone Butterfly before I got close enough to see that it was a moth, not a butterfly. Later research discovered it’s true identity. It was a Brimstone Moth. I’d never heard of such a thing before, but Google Image Search confirmed it. That was PoD sorted.

Plodded home, happy for once that I’d seen something new in St Mo’s woods.  Scamp was reading in the back garden when I got back with a glass of wine, so I thought a bottle of beer for me was in order.  Later Scamp went to prepare dinner which was Caprese Salad for starter followed by Prawn Salad as a main and Apple Pie for dessert.  Thoroughly enjoyable and while we were eating, Tubular Bells was playing in the background. Isn’t it strange to think that Tubular Bells is 50 years old this year!!

We’d just finished when Jamie phoned to tell us about the Open Gardens project they are taking part in this year and that Their boiler might, just might be being fitted quicker than they’d thought.  Keeping our fingers crossed for you both.

Today’s prompt was A Tin Opener.

The only one we had in the kitchen drawer was a clumsy plastic scissor action tin opener, then my wife suggested. this one.
It was sold to us a long time ago as a Baby Can Opener. it’s only 50mm (2″) long which probably accounts for the name.

We did a lot of Youth Hostelling in our younger days and this tool was ideal. It took up very little space in a rucksack and could open tins and bottles, plus it was much cleaner and sharper than the “Bonzer” can openers the hostels supplied. They had been clean once, I believe, but one look at their fearsome blade was enough for me to reach for our Baby can opener instead.

Since it is such a tiny little tool I thought I’d be generous and sketch it open and closed!

We watched an interesting and crash happy Monaco GP.  Wildest Monaco GP we’ve seen for years.  It even rained, which is strange.

Tomorrow we may go in to Glasgow.

A glass of wine and a cucumber – 26 May 2023

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The glass was a prompt but the cucumber was in the garden.

While Scamp was off at FitSteps class this morning I did a rough sketch for today’s prompt which was A Glass of Red Wine or Juice. I chose the wine of course and as usual, the rough sketch got more and more refined until it became the painting. I was running out of free space on my concertina sketch book, so I’d drawn it on the back of a sheet from my A5 sketch book and I’d already been doodling on it weeks ago. That meant I had a lot of erasing to do once I’d finished painting. I think it worked really well.

When Scamp returned we went for a wander round the garden and that’s where I saw the wee green spider. It’s a Cucumber Green Spider and it looks like it’s just caught its lunch on its web. The web was stretched across one of the rhododendron flowers in the garden.

After our lunch, Scamp went and sat in the garden for a while and I put up a hook on the fence to hang the watering can from. That was the sum total of my work today, other that frying my lunch which was a venison burger that I found in the freezer. It was a bit past its ‘sell by date’ and had lost a bit of its flavour, but was ok with potatoes and beans. Scamp had the same potatoes and beans, but with a veg sausage.

She stayed out a bit longer but eventually gave up because the sun was coming and going all the time, just as the weather fairies had predicted.

Hoping to go to dance class tomorrow if we can get a quorum.

Leeks, Kale, Flowers and a Bow Tie – 25 May 2023

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Today we went to Torwood to buy some plants. We didn’t buy a bow tie.

We were off out this morning to get some flowers for Scamp. I bagged myself a tray of Kale and another of Leeks, both of which will be going into the raised bed once I get it fixed up again. Lunch was at Torwood too. Quiche for both of us. Scamp’s tomato and cheese seemed fine. My chicken and bacon was a bit too dry. Maybe I’m just a perfectionist! When she was last there, she’d seen a garden kneeler that converted into a seat and was quick to add it to the trolley.

Back home, I started work on today’s prompt which was “A Gift Loop or a Knot or Towel Day – a tribute to Douglas Adams.”
That is a bit of a mouthful and I had no idea what a Gift Loop was, so I took the Loop and Knot part and made today’s sketch a Bow Tie which has a Loop and a Knot. Simples!

While I was drawing and painting, Scamp was eager to get her Rozanne Geranium, planted out and an ornamental grass put in its place for now. I left my kale and leeks to stand outside for a while until I get some wood to repair the raised bed. With that done, she took her seat out and found a place in the sun until a call from Jackie interrupted her. I knew the two of them would be busy blethering, so I took that as my cue to get out of the way for a while.

I took the A7 back up to Fannyside, but first I went to M&S to get the makings of tonight’s dinner which was to be potatoes and spaghetti with a pesto sauce. Then I posted a card I’d been given in the postbox at Condorrat. Then, finally I was on my way into the great wide open. It’s such a lovely place, Fannyside. Much nicer than its name implies! Unfortunately there was a lack of insect life today. A few of the black Hawthorn flies, but that was it. I did get a quite twee rural scene of sheep lazing in the shade of the big pine trees. I quite liked it and it became PoD.

The potato and spaghetti pesto was not voted a great success, which is a pity because the pesto took a long time to get looking right. However I’ll remember to forget it for the next time!!

Hazy’s cat, Penny was at the vet’s today for a little op.  She got home tonight and was looking quite sorry for herself in the photo Hazy sent us.  Poor wee soul having to wear a lamp shade for a week.  How embarrassing!  Hope she  feels better soon.

Scamp is intending to go to FitSteps tomorrow morning and I might go for a walk to get a photo, because the weather fairies say it will be a bit cloudier than today in the afternoon.

Grass Cutting and Water Drops – 24 May 2023

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Not me, Scamp was doing the grass cutting today.

I was the hired help who moved the plant pots for the gardener to cut right to the edge of the path. Then once the cutting had been done, I moved them all back again. It wasn’t an onerous task and I’m much rather do the lifting than the cutting.

Today’s prompt was A Water Drop. It seemed such a simple task, but even with a few photos in front of me, I just couldn’t get anything like a drip to grace the paper. After three attempts, I gave up and had a “Piece ’n’ Sausage” for my lunch. I really needed to clear my head of water drops, so I drove up to Fannyside Moor and went for a walk with the A7. I’d two lenses with me. One wide angle and one macro. I reckoned I could use both today and I did. I took a few landscapes with the wide angle, the best of which is on Flickr. It’s a view from my parking place, across the moor to the Campsie on a beautiful spring day. Changed to the macro and caught a little ladybird, a Striped Ladybird to be precise. Red with white spots and stripes. I also saw a strange beetle which Mr Google says is a Two Banded Longhorn Beetl, quite a mouthful, and a host of slow flying Hawthorn Flies.

The best of the wildlife was still to come and it was the PoD. It’s a Drinker Moth Caterpillar, about as long as my middle finger and it was walking along a barbed wire fence. It was walking because these caterpillars have feet, not all do. I remember seeing one before, but I can’t remember where. Will have a look through my records.

Back home Scamp was reading in the garden and I encouraged her to have a glass of wine while I had a beer. Well, it’s ‘hump day’ (the middle of the week) so we were allowed. Scamp made stir-fry for dinner and it was really good, better than mine. After dinner I returned to the painting of the water drop and went back to basics. No fancy backgrounds, just the water drop. It worked, but I’m still not happy with it. Could do better is the expression I’m thinking sums it up.

No real plans for tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

Recovery – 22 May 2023

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.