Category: Garden

We asked for rain and got it today – 12 April 2022

Posted on by Zogman

It was dry for a while in the morning, then the rain came … and stayed all day.

Not the best of days weather wise. It was just a wet day. All day long the rain continued. Sometimes lighter, sometimes heavier, but always there in the breeze.  The garden need the rain, so we shouldn’t complain too much.

Since we weren’t going anywhere important today, I got some thread and a needle and started sewing on a pair of elbow patches that I’ve been promising to fix for at least six months, probably more. They’re supposed to be iron-on, but the glue isn’t very strong, so it’s much better to stitch them on. Finally with the help of a needle threader that Scamp had, I managed to get both of them sewn on. It’s amazing the things you do on a wet day.

Lunch was a highlight. Hazy had given me a “Crimpet” for my birthday. It’s a two part press device for making sealed little bread parcels using bread ‘Thins’. I’d never heard of ’Thins’ before, but Scamp had and we bought some yesterday from Tesco. Basically you put one slice of ‘Thin’ in the black bottom tray of the Crimpet, then load it up with your chosen filling. My first one was cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes and wafer thin beef. Next put another ‘Thin’ on top. Place the yellow Crimpet part on top and press down firmly. What comes out is a beautifully sealed bread parcel that can be toasted, fried in a frying pan or baked in the oven. We toasted ours (Scamp’s was cheddar, tomato and turkey breast) and we both agreed it was a winner. I don’t know where Hazy gets these amazing gadgets from, but this is one of her best so far. Thank you my dear. I think we may try dry frying them tomorrow to see how that affects the taste.

After lunch we went down to the shops in the rain to get some messages and the makings of tonight’s dinner which was to be Stir Fry. It really was a miserable day, but when we got back, I took the camera out into garden in the drizzle and got a few photos. The best one, if slightly out of focus was Scamp’s sweet peas growing in a tray in the greenhouse.

Tomorrow we’re off on our travels taking Shona to the hospital in Falkirk where the orthopaedic surgeon wants to have a look at a wee bone she broke in her arm. It happened last week when she had a fall.

We might go for a coffee at Torwood while she’s at the hospital.

The man who worked in the garden – 10 April 2022

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Well, more likely, the man who makes a mess when he tries to help the lady who actually does work in the garden.

We were gardeners today. I was planting potatoes in potato bags. Three potatoes in each of the two bags. Maris Peers. We’d planted them last year and they had produced a good yield. They have been chitting on the window sill upstairs, light but cool. The spell checker thinks they’ve been ‘chatting’ which they might well have been, but they were actually firming up their sprouting shoots in a process known as ‘chitting’. Any chatting was purely accidental. While I was doing that, Scamp was pottering around the garden, filling watering cans, emptying bins and refilling them and pruning, always pruning. We did a quick survey of the garden and I found to my surprise that the Shooting Star which I feared was dead was showing signs of decent growth. Hooray! Also a plant we got brought back from Cambo gardens in St Andrews and had recently planted in the bed outside the back window was also showing signs of shoots as was another plant whose name neither of us can remember but is planted near the Cambo. Almost everything in the garden was rosy!

After lunch I put a decent pair of boots on, not gardening boots, and went for a walk in St Mo’s. With me today I took my old Tamron long zoom and the big, heavy Sigma macro lens. In addition I took a bag of slugs. There were loads of them clambering all over the compost heap and I just wanted rid of them and the eggs they’d be laying, so I put on a pair of disposable vinyl gloves and filled a plastic bag with them, then took them for a walk in St Mo’s. I dumped them in the woods. I hate killing creatures just because I don’t like them, so re-housing them is ok. If I call it re-wilding the countryside I’ll probably get a medal for it. I got today’s PoD in St Mo’s.  It was a coot sitting on its nest, floating among the stooks of last year’s horse tails.

I messed up a setting on the Sony and ended up with three photos for each one I meant to take. Don’t ask for details, just accept that it wasn’t what I intended to do and the excess have now been dumped in the bin.
Saw a duck that I thought was a Potchard, but turned out to be a Widgeon. I remember photographing it last year and being confused about its name then too.

Dinner tonight was the leftover curries from last night and it was fine. Watched a quite interesting F1 GP where Verstappen ran into car trouble and Le Clerc won the race. Unfortunately Hamilton could only manage fourth ;-).

Spoke to Jamie later and heard about all the troubles and tribulations Simonne was having in Trinidad with catching Covid and the aftermath. Also heard the exorbitant price her flight home would have cost if she hadn’t had travel insurance.

Maybe dropping off a present for Olly at his gran and papa’s tomorrow.

 

Solo – 4 April 2022

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Scamp was out driving the Blue car by herself today.

Before that, she drove me up to Tesco partly to get some messages, but also partly to assure herself that she can drive the newer version of her own Red car.

When we returned after the shopping, I took the wheel of the blue car and drove down to the shops were I parked at the far end of the car park and walked over to the repair garage and explained the problem with the red car. The bloke there said it was most likely to be binding breaks or a failing wheel bearing. I have to bring the car down tomorrow and then we’ll find out.

When I got back, and after lunch, Scamp was off again, driving solo this time. She was going to Calders garden centre for coffee and a cake with the now disbanded ‘Gems’. I left before her to post a couple of cards and also to get some photos. It was a fairly dull day with very little directional light, but with the help of the Lensbaby, I did get some useable shots. Not great shot, but useable.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon writing a fairly long email to Alex with some photos to keep his mind of all the things he has to do this coming week. No more word from him about the three generations of the family currently under “doctor’s orders”. No news is good news.

PoD was chosen by Scamp. It’s a wild currant flower. One of loads that are showing over in St Mo’s just now. A picture of a bright yellow whin flower took second place. You may know it as a gorse flower.

We watched the final of this year’s University Challenge and although there wasn’t a Scottish team in the final, at least the winners did have a Scottish captain.

It rained a bit today.  Just soft wetting rain that will refresh the plants in the garden.  More rain is predicted for the next few days and the gardens really need it.  Strange to say that we’re welcoming the rain!

Tomorrow it’s an early rise. The alarm has been set for 7.30am. We’re intending to drive the Red car down to garage and walk back to have an earlier than usual breakfast. Then we may go for coffee with Isobel.

A bit of gentle gardening – 3 April 2022

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Not a lot of work. Just planting one bush and preparing the ground for this year’s veg.

Actually, most of the morning was spent sitting in the warm, looking out at the world going by. Eventually after a lunch of fried lamb’s liver which was just a bit overcooked, but better that way than too bloody, I put my old boots on and went to pot up a Buddleia bush Scamp bought me about a month ago. It’s allegedly a tricolour bush, but the jury is out on that at the moment. We’ll see what we get. I dug over the raised bed again, but it really needs to be strengthened before we plant anything in it this year. I’m thinking maybe some leeks, peas and a few kale plants. Those are the things we grow and actually eat. I’d love to be like Jamie and plant courgettes and marrows, but we know they won’t grow in our climate. Heavens, we had snow falling three days ago!

After the planting and a bit of gentle pruning too, I put on the big Bergy jacket and kept my old boots on, then went for a walk down to Broadwood and across to the repair garage, but as I suspected, it was closed on a Sunday. I’m intending to walk over tomorrow to book the wee Red car in to be looked at. From there I went to M&S to get pudding for tonight’s dinner which was to be Paella, Scamp’s request. It seemed a shame to be passing St Mo’s and not visit, so I dropped in, but couldn’t see anything that warranted me taking a photo. On my walk past Broadwood I’d taken a few shots of tiny little white flower which must be some fruit blossom. One of them got PoD.

Spoke to Jamie after dinner and heard of Simonne’s bad luck. With a few days to go until they were due to fly home from Trinidad, her sister got a positive result for Covid, then the next day, Simonne got one. That meant cancelling the flights and booking new ones. Not only that, she and Sophie have to isolate from their dad and that was the reason for going to Trinidad in the first place.

More good news from Alex today. Ollie is going from strength to strength and Carol got home today. Hopefully now things can return to some sort of normal.

Scamp is out for coffee tomorrow with most of the disbanded ‘Gems’. I’m intending booking the Red car in for a new wheel bearing.

Mothers Day – 27 March 2022

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After the crowds and rushing about of yesterday we wanted a quieter day today.

A lazy morning, taking some photos in the garden. Completing today’s Sudoku and just generally chilling. That was the tone for today. Scamp spoke to Hazy in the morning, and found that Neil was feeling a lot better and talking about going back to work tomorrow after his Covid scare. Scamp too was in good spirits and seemed to be enjoying the good weather.

After lunch we went out and did a bit of gentle pruning of the Schoolgirl rose that grows up the trellis beside the front door. Last autumn we’d done some drastic pruning and cut it back quite hard. It seems that the brutality of the pruning has encouraged a fair amount of new growth and perhaps we can do even more cutting after the risk of frost is past.

With the work in the garden done, we went for a walk round St Mo’s. Just one circuit. I was going to go for a second round, but the light was fairly flat, even for a bright day and we both walked down to the shops to get milk and sweeties. No gin today. Back home, Scamp made herself a Pimms and I opened a cheap bottle of beer that tasted like a cheap bottle of beer. I don’t think I’ll buy another one of those, but I would definitely have another bottle or two of Wainwright. Cheap beer that tastes like good beer. We sat in the garden and had a wee drink and I took some more photos, but most of them failed the cut because of striping, something to do with the electronic shutter. Too technical for me, but annoying. PoD went to a shot from the morning of some lovely scarlet anemones. Taken with the new toy, the Lensbaby Sweet 50.

With the sun going down, the Pimms drained and the beer finished too, it was dinner time. The main constituent was there remains of yesterday’s chicken with potatoes and cauliflower. Dessert was ice cream with our new raspberry sauce which tastes a lot like the raspberry we used to get at the ice cream van when we were wee.

Later Scamp spoke to Jamie and heard about the problems of travelling to Trinidad and the difficulty of getting Covid tests in the correct time scale. Not for him, but for Sim. Also the joys of cutting an enormous lawn in the new house.

Tomorrow Scamp is booked for lunch with Nancy at The Fort. I think I may go down the Luggie to get some photos, all being well.

Waiting, waiting, waiting – 23 March 2022

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For the postman to arrive. Hopefully bringing a parcel.

It took a while for the postman to arrive with the parcel and two cards. Scamp had already been down to the shops and back, leaving me to wait for the parcel. I did spend my time wisely, going out into the sunshine and photographing the Forsythia bush with my strange new lens. It’s a bit cumbersome and difficult to work with. If I’d put the camera on a tripod and then adjusted things, it would have been better. However, like most things photographic, the instructions that come with it are only a starting point. Mostly you learn by doing.

After lunch we set off for a walk in Drumpellier park. Scamp got to choose the paths this time, because it’s her week. She wanted to try a path to Bishop Loch. The sign pointing out the way seemed to think it was 1.5 miles to the loch. We followed its path until we came to the main road. There was a another signpost there telling us to go left. That was strange, because I was sure Bishop Lock was right. Also, the distance to the loch was now 1.75 miles. We both though the signs were just leading us a merry dance and we went back the way we’d come.

We hadn’t walked far when I got a call from the lady who asks us questions and gives us cotton bud things to stick down our throat and up our nose. Not out in the wilds of Drumpellier park, you realise, but back home. We agreed a time and walked a shortened version of our original route. A route that took us past the ice cream van, where we stopped for a ’99’, or as I said “a 99 with a flake”. Silly bugger. We found a seat by the loch (not Bishop Loch) to sit and watch the world go by as we ate our cones.

On the way back we stopped at The Fort. Scamp went to browse clothes shops and I went looking for a book in Waterstones. I came out with two books and still with a fiver in my book tokens to reduce the price of the next book I fancy. I’d hoped to get a birthday card for Scamp too, but Waterstones didn’t have any and I didn’t want to run the risk of Scamp spotting me going in to a card shop.

Back home, we still had an hour to spare before the Covid Survey lady was due to come, so I grabbed my camera bag and told Scamp I was going over to St Mo’s to get a few more pictures. Instead I walked down to the shops and got a card there. I’d also intended getting a bottle of Bramble Gin, but the queues in Aldi were ridiculous, so I gave up, put the bottle back on the shelf and walked home. Sorry Scamp. IOU a bottle of Bramble Gin. On the walk I did find something to photograph. It made the cut too and is on Flickr. It’s another bunch of seeds from a Silver Birch, lying on the ground. A boy on a bike watched me as if I was mad. Had he never seen a man on his hands and knees photographing a bit of stick lying on the ground? These are exactly the antics that get photogs a bad name!

The lady came and we told her some lies variations on the truth, but mainly truthful. We shoved the stick down our throats and gagged a bit. We stuck it up our nose too, both nostrils. Note! It’s really important that you do the throat first, not the nose. Think about it. There are some things you don’t want to put down your throat!  The last question they ask you is always “Have you been out of the country in the last 28 days?”.  We always look sad at that point, but today the lady did a little dance and said that she was hoping to get out of the country and go to Teneriffe next week.  She looked so excited I forgave her for making us feel worse!  It’s nice to get an interviewer with a sense of humour.  Actually most of them have been fairly happy folk.

Dinner was Easy Fish and Cabbage Risotto. The oven does all the work and nobody will be able to tell that you didn’t spend half an hour feeding hot stock into slowly thickening rice starch.

Hoping to go for lunch in Falkirk tomorrow, then a visit to Torwood Garden Centre.

 

Another beautiful day – 21 March 2022

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Almost wall to wall sunshine today, although the old weather station in the living room and also my little weather device in my alarm clock were both predicting rain that never came.

It was very relaxing, doing today’s Wordle and catching up with my Sudoku and reading, with sunshine streaming in the front windows. In fact it was so relaxing, neither of us wanted to do very much at all until lunch time.

After that, Scamp went off to the shops to get some oranges and apples and I eventually got my act together and went looking for photos in St Mo’s. I managed to capture my first fly of the year and my first spider. Both separated by a couple of meters, so no insects were injured as part of the photography process. However, with a little bit of back lighting, it was a couple of leaves from a Dogwood bush that got PoD. I just liked the colours in the translucent leaves (which are really shields for the flower buds) and the textures in the background. While I was away, Scamp had returned and couldn’t just sit around, so she strimmed the grass in the front garden.

I also brought back a tick. The first this year. It is now much flatter than it was when I found it and also much deader. That’s what happens when you ignore the obvious fact that you have to keep using preventative measures. I’ll order some Smidge tonight.

Not long after I came back, the clouds started to gather and it looked like the weather stations would be right after all, but it didn’t happen. It was just a bit of light cloud the weather man said. His idea of light and mine don’t quite line up I think. These were big clumsy looking clouds, but it seems they’ve passed by now.

Tonight’s dinner was the remainder of yesterday’s veggie chilli. Scamp had added some more chilli powder and it had a better kick today. Still the best veggie chilli ever, I think.

That was our lazy day. Not a lot done, but sometimes you don’t need to do a lot. Tomorrow Scamp has an appointment with the dentist in the afternoon. Our morning is might be free.

Off to look at the flowers – 3 March 2022

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We were off to Torwood today to look at the flowers and probably buy some.

As it happened, it was only me who got some flowers and Scamp got grass. It was good to see a business starting to build itself up again after the damage Covid has done to so many. Everywhere there were rolling cages of plants being unpacked and put into displays. Spring was springing up. Scamp got two little ornamental grasses. Last year she got one and it has survived the winter winds, the snow and the ice and has come back smiling. I couldn’t understand the reason she liked it, but now I do. It brings a little bit of movement to a dull season. The new two will increase that interest and movement. I got a tri-colour buddleia, something I’ve never seen before. I’ll be interested to see how it turns out.

Today’s PoD was another flower. This time, from the garden. The flower is a Heleborus Orientalis Lenten Rose (Christmas Rose) which is just beginning to flower. I don’t know what I was doing wrong here, but this was the only acceptable shot I got of it on a calm day, so it wasn’t a problem with the wind buffeting the flowers. With a good sharp lens, and with a good camera. The only weak point was the finger that pressed the shutter. I must take the blame for the twenty odd shots that went in the bin. There’s another good shot of a trio of crocuses (‘croci’ sounds so affected although it is grammatically correct) on Flickr.

I was supposed to be meeting Alex tomorrow, but we both agreed that the weather had taken a turn for the worse and as he’s on duty as taxi driver incase his daughter’s baby decides it’s time to face the world, he’d better stay near home. It makes sense and family must always come first.

Weather tomorrow doesn’t look good, but we might go in to Glasgow on the bus. Long time since we’ve done that.

 

Out early – 24 February 2022

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The alarm rang at 7am and we had to be out before 8am.

A phone call yesterday asking if we could make it in to Braehead to the eye clinic for, say, 8.50am instead of 10am? We said yes, having already planned our leaving time after considering the traffic on the route. Today we were allowing an extra fifteen minutes or so for rush hour traffic. Then there was the threat of snow and high winds, leading to blizzard conditions. Let’s aim for an hour and ten minutes for a trip that would normally take about twenty minutes. The threat of snow had materialised into real snow this morning. We left at about 7.45am and Google Maps though that should be enough.

Snow wasn’t too bad to start with and on the motorway at that time of a morning you’re riding in someone else’s tyre tracks anyway. Just stay in line and keep the pace. Actually we arrived with a few minutes to spare. I walked Scamp to the clinic door, from the snow covered car park and told her I’d see her in about two and a bit hours. Drove home by the alternative route on the M74/M73. Same tyre tracks maybe even the same car, who knows. Took about the same time too. Had a coffee and solved today’s Sudoku then the phone rang. The bloke said the op had gone well, no problem and Scamp would be ready to pick up in about 15 mins. I wasted no time getting into the tyre tracks again and Scamp was waiting for me when I parked the car. Drove home through various clumps of falling snow, some sleety, some large light fluffy flakes, some just dirty spray. I’d meant to wash the car at the beginning of the week. I’m glad I didn’t now, it would have been such a waste of time. Also glad I had fitted the new wipers!

Another coffee and time to relax a bit. I did go out later to get a pair of swimming goggles for Scamp. Apparently they are recommended for patients after eye surgery so they can use the shower without getting their eyes wet. Then I left the car at home and walked over to St Mo’s to take a photo for the PoD. It’s actually one I took from the door step. Miniature daffodils poking through the slush that used to be virgin white snow.

Dinner was a cut down version of Bacon and Borlotti Beans. It was more a “what have you got in the fridge?” version.

No sketch yet, because I’d dog tired and am going to bed. Scamp has already gone to bed she looks shattered, but she says she can see much better now that both eyes are done.  She said there was a ‘gritty’ feeling from the new lens, but that’s sometimes quite usual and it’s clearing up now.  I remember one of my eyes feeling like that after my cataract surgery.  Also there was some water leaking from one eye for a while this morning when she came home, but that seems to have cleared up now.  I’m sure she’s looking forward to getting the eye patch off tomorrow and seeing with both new eyes.

Today the Russians invaded Ukraine. Such a senseless waste. Such a senseless loss of life.

No plans for tomorrow yet. If the slush and the lying water freeze tonight we won’t be going far tomorrow.

Let him wait! – 16 February 2022

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Twenty years ago today we went to a wedding in London and stood in a bit of sunshine when it was needed for the photographs.

There was no sunshine today, at least, no sunshine without accompanying rain. A stormy day too with no chance of a walk, apart from prowling round the house like a caged bear. We were in the grip of Storm Dudley with Storm Eunice to look forward to on Friday. Where do they get these stupid names from? It was a blustery day and Dudley is still bouncing around out there as I write. If the weather had any redeeming factors, they were to force me to grab a photo when and where I could and also to get a sketch done in daylight. More on both of these later.

Just as Storm Dudley was starting, we had a visit from a man who wanted us to stick a sort of cotton bud down our throat and then up our nose before dunking it into a plastic bottle and handing it back to him. Poor bloke had to stand there in the rain and gathering wind while we waited in the dry answering his questions. I hope he gets paid well for what he does with a smile on his face.

Now the explanation of the title. Today was Hazy and Neil’s 20th wedding anniversary. Twenty years ago Hazy and I rode in a white London cab from her house to the church. As we neared the church she told the driver to go round the block just once. I told her Neil was waiting at the church and she just laughed and replied “Let him wait!” It had been a terrible week of weather that year too, but when we went to a little park for the photos, the sun came out, just long enough to get them taken. It really was a lovely day. I remember it well. I hope you both had just as good a day today.

Back in the present day, I finally got a chance to claim my cash-back from Sony after not only sending my invoice as evidence, typing in the serial number of the camera, but also sending a photo of the serial number plate on he camera with me holding it in my hand! I hope I don’t have to go to a photo booth now and get a photo of me (not smiling) in good lighting and not wearing glasses. There were more pages to fill in for Sony than for my passport!

Next was today’s PoD. I noticed the little purple crocus just sprouting in a long tray of green shoots and managed to isolate it with its raindrops. I think I managed five shots in the dry before the rain returned. I was quite impressed with the result.

Sketch was a bit of a trial. Today’s prompt was Vogue.
Sometimes you just have to face your demons, and faces have always been my demons. I’ve tried and failed to get any kind of resemblance in the past. That’s why I decided I’d ‘do’ Madonna today. I could have sidestepped the challenge and drawn the front cover for a magazine, but where’s the fun in that? This is my take on Madonna in her Vogue persona.

Tomorrow we’re planning to go for a run to Braehead, hopefully for someone to see something new.